e e e e e e e good evening the regular meeting of The Independent School District 279 School Board is called to order at 6:00 p.m. on
February 25th 2025 the regular business meeting of the oio school board is being conducted in the boardroom of the Education Service Center the meeting can be monitored electronically by streaming online from the district website an archived
recording of tonight's meeting will also be available on the district website seated in front of you this evening from my left and your right are direct dor Kelsey Dawson Director Erica Foster director Thomas Brooks myself
Tanya Prince director Keith Tate and director Sarah Mitchell also present in the boardroom is superintendent Dr Kim H and members of the superintendent's cabinet as well as our school board Representatives reasen Atkins for 279
online Gavin Chaba a Maple Grove senior and uh is that that's all we got okay thank you those of you who can please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance director Dawson will leave the pledge to the flag of the United States
of America and to the repic for it stands one nation God indivisible andice for all board members are there any additions to the agenda is there a motion to accept the agenda
as presented sove okay move by director Dawson is there a second second move by director Mitchell is there any discussion all in favor say I I I all
opposed the motion passes 60 our next standing item is recognitions we have no recognitions this evening all right our next agenda we're very happy to welcome Scholars from our high schools this evening um and so this
is part of our board meetings where we have the opportunity to really see and hear um from our Scholars um so tonight um they'll be presenting charting new Waters the CTE Journey at Park Center Senior High School Dr Antoine Harris Park Center Senior principal will start
us off with introductions Dr Harris good evening everyone uh Madam chair Vice chair superintendent Dr Hy cabinet members directors I am Dr Harris the unwavered principal Park Center Senior High uh members of our leadership team
that are present this evening um to share their insight and provide uh assistance Eric Thompson uh one of my assistant principles and Matt s our respected technical education instructor uh along with us today are two of our exceptional student Representatives
Aaron dunie and Jack janowak we extend a warm welcome to the uh esteemed pirate families who have come as well we are pleased to join you this evening to share a brief overview of the remarkable experiences and opportunities our Scholars are engaged
in at Park Center we have provided each of you a packet that outlines our CTE plan and their connection to our International back at principles I will now hand it over to Mr sa who will present the CTE information good evening my name is Matthew S I
appreciate the opportunity to speak with you tonight about something that directly impacts both our students and the success and strength of our community Career and Technical education as a CTE teacher my goal is to connect the strengths and interests of the
student with real career opportunities After High School in CTE we don't just create Engineers computer scientists skills trades people mechanics doctors nurses what we do is build student confidence through rigorous Hands-On
industry-based projects we equip them with the skills to be competent by developing leadership and problem solving we teach resilience and give them the courage to follow their passions this is our mission and tonight I will show you how Park Center is charting new
Waters throughout this presentation you'll hear me use the phrase preparing students for University Technical College and on the job training not every student follows the same path After High School My Hope Is these new strands equip students with the skills
knowledge and opportunities to find a career path that fits them think of these strands not as direct or or destinations excuse me but directions so we've got construction management that will'll be introducing shortly and Manufacturing students that are
passionate about these careers both stem and Technical it's not just about whether they become an engineer or a construction manager it's about keeping them engaged in the fields that excite them when students are aware of the many career opportunities that they have they can
start at educ level that makes sense for them knowing no matter where they end up the doors will always open for them for future growth if we can capture their in interest we can they can find their own path CTE isn't just important it's essential tonight I'll be showing how
Park Center is expanding CTE opportunities by launching two career strands giving students direct meaningful career options after graduation the first strand I'd like to introduce to our board is our construction management strand this strand is designed to give students a
comprehensive understanding of the construction industry through coursework in management engineering design and business we will also include safety construction practices through the training for OSHA 30 as well as industry
aligned technology such as the Drone program that introduces students to real world applications in surveying and construction site management additionally we are working to build a direct partners parip with North hennipin Community College giving students the opportunity to start on the
path towards a construction management degree a construction management degree is typically a four-year degree but the skills and experiences students gain in this strand will prepare them for whatever the future holds these are the courses that we offer currently today um here at Park
Center this is the foundation of our program but this isn't just Park Center these are courses that are offered throughout the district District students from many high school already have access to these foundational teched courses all designed to give them a strong start in career focused learning
these classes prepare students for University Technical College and on the job training this means that no matter where a student attends High School in our district they will have the opportunity to explore career Pathways and develop technical skills I brought a couple of examples of the projects and
you're going to see some from our our student speaker as well uh this is a box that a student made uh in our wood tech course so in our wood tech course we're really getting students engaged with the typical materials and construction uh
machines and so students are making these along with a couple of other smaller projects 21st century skills I'll direct you to the screen this is a picture of students app Park Center that are wiring up kind of a mock wall so getting real life kind of construction
practices uh skilled trades in a small classroom setting so we're not uh wiring up an entire wall but they're getting the same exact experience we've got light fixtures Outlets switches uh most common residential appliances I did bring in a
robot this is a car that um just stole out of my classroom today actually uh this is a autonomous vehicle so everyone's heard of self-driving cars students are learning how to build as well as program
these cars with the sensors I flip this around on this side we've got a distance sensor on the front uh Optical sensor on the bottom so students are not only learning how to you know physically design and build these cars but they are also getting the experience of coding
programming and then testing it out like an engineer in the field one of the strands that you're going to hear about today um ties directly into intro to engineering and design um this is a
little squirrel that a student uh designed we cut out on a machine um so 21st century skills um you know woodtech is fun I love teaching the class but truthfully this is where our careers are in Brooklyn Park and the regional area
um learning how to run these machines code these machines design and have them fabricated by high Precision machines um this directly ties to the careers and the things that we need here in Brooklyn Park all right before I dive into the
advanced courses for the construction management pathway I'm going to invite uh our first Speaker Aaron dunie to come on up and he's going to tell you about his experience in our uh foundational courses for construction management hello everybody uh it's a
pleasure and honor to speak in front of you all my name is Aaron dunie and when I first came to Minnesota my sophomore year I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life I had a plan for how I was going to do it and I knew all the
resources that were in front of me yeah right so actually I was more focused on not getting lost on the hallways and how to join the football team my counselor sat me down and had me look over the curriculum and classes available for me
to take and mentioned the new class that was available 21st century skills and trades she said it was Hands-On and would be a nice shift from the usual computer work or writing I'd be doing in my classes that was enough to sell me little did I know the doors and
opportunities that would open up from this simple decision in 21st century skills and trades I learned how electricity worked how to wire up an electrical outlet and the feeling of creating something with my own hands that had meaningful and useful
value this was new I learned how to cut wood safely to turn into boards for projects and the Precision and patience needed in welding by using the augmented reality gear A New World opened up for me and when I learned how
these small things we were doing in class could lead to a real career in high school a faint light bulb was lit in the back of my mind fast forward to my junior year and that was the same no no fast forward to
my junior year in that same trades career fair flyer that had been sitting on the wall and I'd walked past countless times barely giving it a Second Glance suddenly had real
meaning this this time it wasn't just a piece of paper on the wall it was a connection to something tangible a real experience I had lived through and found success in so a few weeks later I went
there I met countless professionals and hiring Representatives that were all looking to hire or enlist in their programs before this I had no idea employers were actually looking for high schoolers or people fresh out of school for a good paying
job at this career fair I met Miss Corey shingles who's in the crowd and I asked her about possible opportunities for people who haven't graduated yet she introduced me to Lake Street Works which is a 10-month program which is a 10-month program
focused on building both soft and hard skills in propelling students into a career I also asked our CRC counselor Miss Shriner a similar question and she introduced me to GPS Ed which led which had internship and paid job
opportunities with companies willing to work with high school students all of a sudden I was presented with opportunities that allowed me to think Beyond just a job this was different than Taco Bell it wasn't about a quick paycheck it was about building
something meaningful something that could lead to a real career I ended up joining Lake Street Works which has been a great opportunity to give us networking skills growing and developing practical skills
in the shop my previous work with our electrical and woodworking projects in the 21st century skills and trade program even gave me a head start in some of my classes so but as I stand here today I realized that this journey wasn't simply
about learning skills it was about finding direction the path ahead is clear now but it wasn't given to me it was shaped by my own efforts and opportunities placed before
me the support from this course helped me recognize the door that had been quietly waiting and I'm grateful for that opportunity is like a light switch in a dark room where only once you
become conscious of it can you illuminate what has been in front of you the whole time thank you thank you the intermediate and advanced courses that you see up on the screen here will be for students interested in
pursuing a career in construction management these courses would be offered exclusively at Park Center so unlike the foundational classes these ones would be offered exclusively app Park Center the construction management strand includes includes college
preparatory coursework while while offering real world experiences like team leading Building Systems planning management estimating bidding budgeting all the necessary parts of a construction manager's job again these
are directions not necessarily destinations we won't judge our program on how many construction managers we we graduate right we want to get students excited about a career like Aaron just uh illumin for us and let them find
their path and find their way in what excites them for their future now we'll turn our attention to our second strand which is our manufacturing strand this strand will prepare students for modern Manufacturing Technologies through
Hands-On learning students will develop the skills to control machines and robots that create the products we use today 3D printers computer numeric controlled milling and Laser machines Robotics and automation these are the
tools of modern manufacturing Brooklyn Park is a manufacturing Hub according to the Brooklyn Park 2040 comprehensive plan which guides their long range vision for growth the manufacturing industry is the biggest industry by employment 177% in Brooklyn Park these
local Partnerships will create opportunities for students close to home whether through on the job training technical college or university students will have a place in this career field at this time I'm GNA ask Jack up
to the stage Jack is a student currently enrolled in intro engineering design and has been a large uh or a a what you call it an a participant athlete of Robotics participant uh of
our robotics uh team at Park Center um and he's going to tell you how our foundational courses have prepared him for his future all right hello everyone um my name is Jack janok it's an honor to be here um I am a junior at Park Center
Senior High and as Mr Mr solder mentioned um part of the robotics team at Park Center so I'm here to talk about manufacturing and my journey began in about halfway through seventh grade I got my first 3D printer purely because I
thought it was really cool and interesting my friend who my neighbor friend had a 3D printer and I thought it was really cool so I decided to get one I got into the Hobby and I started making stuff and and it was amazing to be able to make my own little things I
actually have right here and I think on this slide nope other one oh okay then uh I have my first ever 3D print right here um it's just a little little figurine that I designed
um yeah it's really cool to be able to do that um yeah it was just a hobby though um I didn't get I didn't did a little bit of Designing on the side but main mainly I was doing um 3D printing models that were pre-created
online but eventually I got more into designing for school projects in 8th grade I started using a software called tinkercad that is a very kind of beginner level design software that I believe many Elementary and Middle School uh level classes use currently um
and I began to do school projects I also started making um projects for robotics um part intakes our fall robots that were specifically designed for the game element for That season um but still it was still very
much a hobby at that point I remember 3D printing a bunch of little figurines that had Dwayne The Rock Johnson's face across them all sorts of variety it was quite interesting um but then I took my first CT class at PC in my freshman year
it was intro to engineering or no intro engineering 101 so in the class we did a lot some programming some um building robots kind of like Mr solder showed earlier and then some 3D printing and we got I got introduced to Fusion 360 which is a more professional software that we
use to design Parts which we use in IED currently now and I got to learn more about Cad and design through that class which allowed me then to um which helped me make a project after an the next
coming try I don't think is it going to is it going to show try yeah try relo nope does that work oh that's unfortunate the one that you need the one the one that I need is the one that isn't showing so basically with with the
skills I designed um an award pedestal for our robotics team our competition in duth for our winter robotics team which is actually this weekend um that year freshman year we won an award and so I decided to make a pedestal using 3D
printing and 3D design as well as some programming and electronics to just kind of honor the team and their progress and the SE te is it going to work keep going keep going uh great now onto my sophomore
year I did um more designing and 3D printing got further into it with another robotics um project and intake and then Along Came the IB personal project for this uh since freshman year I had always thought about I've always been
interested in 3D printing ah we got we got three out of four four so the second one the second one uh is a progress photo from designing oh my goodness all right it's okay try we yeah
yeah it's good um yeah so for my personal project I wanted to do a 3D printer and I had an idea about it from since freshman year and the IB personal project gave me an opportunity to do so and all the skills I had learned helped me design and kind of project manage of sort figuring out how to put it all
together so the printer I designed and made is the one that you cannot see but it is um made from parts from 3D printers and Custom Design pieces put together and it works pretty well it's a proof of concept for an idea that I've
had um but my the CTE classes and Park Center classes that I've taken have definitely helped or fully helped I wouldn't have been able to make that had I not taken those previous classes it supported my kind of exploration into that uh
realm all right so now for my junior year um currently I am in IED which has been a very fun class we started off doing some kind of projects and then we got into some more 3D printing and I learned more skills with Fusion 360 um
along uh during that time we also had win uh fall robotics which I'm going to direct you guys to this I spent about two and a half months designing an intake for our robot that would um effectively pick up the part so for
robotics we have we play a game and we have have to score these little pieces this year was a little box so I designed an intake that would um pick up the box top down very um automatically and efficiently and it was product design
for the most part um I got to work out the engineering design process over here are all of my iterations that I went through getting to the final product and all the stuff I've learned at PC and the CT classes gone through designing as well as the engineering design process
and all the project design really helped in creating this final product which won awards and worked very effectively in our competitions um and then comes winter robotics which is currently the season I'm in right now
um uh parallel with IED we started working on the CNC projects which we learned to manufacture and design using the CNC machine to cut out and Trace Woods similar to the squirrel that Mr Sher presented earlier and I decided I
wanted to take a step forward and he with the help of Mr solder we made um I learned how to cut wood plastic and metal all for parts for our robot for this year all of which are currently on the robot and serve a vital purpose each in their own way for the functioning of
our robot and I had I not taken IID class I would have not have been able to do that in the uh to the extent that I have and I'm very I've learned so much about all the manufacturing and I'm very passionate about it it is an amazing
skill and so kind of to recap I started from 3D ing little Trinkets and starting as a hobby to designing and Manufacturing technical Parts at a high level for a robot that can it's it's incredible um all thanks to the CT
programs and all the just the amazing engineering programs at Park Center so thank you [Applause] thank you Jack good luck this weekend um
in duth and um hope those parts survive the trip all right so uh the intermediate and advanced coursework again this is going to be um students at Park Center so uh students from across the district
invited to come and take these Advanced and intermediate and advanced course work classes um to learn about manufacturing engage in the Engineering Process just like you saw Jack demonstrate uh we've kind of got two main courses or I guess one main course
and then um the Capstone and internship is really going to lean on those uh work-based learning opportunities those communities that uh we can rely on to uh help our students grow the computer integrated manufacturing is a Project
Lead the Way class uh which we have a variety of Project Lead the Way classes here in the district it's a nationally recognized engineering and design course and this one really focuses on manufacturing uh and would give students the opportunity to learn more and dive deeper into some of the manufacturing
things that Jack was talking about so throughout all of our program and our strands um really at the heart of CTE what is our focus and what do we really want to do um with and for
students uh CTE we want to focus on transferable and Industry specific skills um you heard Aaron mention kind of the soft and hard we want to make sure students understand what is important in the workforce we
want them to have the credentials and the certificates that prove that they are ready something that they can take directly to an employer that they can take with them to a technical college or to a university according to the Minnesota Department of Education 9 2%
of students who take two or more CTE classes graduate high school this means that students inrolled in CTE see the value in their high school education and they complete it nearly two-thirds of those same students
that take two or more CTE courses enroll in a university or a technical college so CTE isn't just jobs these are students that are looking for higher level education taking on high High skill High wage careers to advance
themselves finally in Minnesota 86% of postsecondary students completing a CTE program found employment within four months these careers are high skill High wage and high need all right so how do this play out
well in the fall of 2025 we are going to start informational sessions for students families to help them learn and understand these Pathways and make informed choices during registration our goal is to ensure that every student knows the opportunities
available to them and how they can align their education with their future goals looking ahead after that we will prepare to launch these programs for the 2627 school year so they will register next winter and then the following
school year after that we would start rolling out these Advanced uh and intermediate courses all right that is it for me thank you to the school board for allowing us to present thank you to those that are working behind the scenes our cabinet um and everyone that makes
these strands and these these programs are reality uh thank you to our two student speakers and their families uh and everyone that was here to support them we're excited about the future of career and Technology education at Park Center and across the district these programs will give students real skills
real opportunities and a real future thank you wow that was really incredible um are there board members do you have any questions or comments um I do actually I work in construction and we have a lot of manufacturing clients and um I there's
such a huge need for this so it's really amazing to see our district invest in this and um see kids find this as a pathway because construction's such a great industry um and there's a lack of Workforce so it's a great fit in this area especially thank
you thank you I just wanted to say excellent public speakers and I love the t-shirts is that part of your CTE or is that robotics that say be the leader you would just Park Center in general Dr Harris Dr Harris I love it I love it we
all need one that's great thank you I yeah I think similarly um to director Foster um working for an employer that I know um is itching to build build jobs from time to time and um I've even talked about you know some of the
programming that's happening in our district I was happy to see the internship program uh being built um and excited to see that you know students are already being introduced to these job opportunities um to be ready to go you know after graduation so um with that I
know I really excited and hopeful from this presentation today um from all of you um I think one of the questions I had is when you mentioned that this would be promoted to students and families is it just Park Center families or will all um high schoolers from all
schools get access to the same information yeah so these strands will be um kind of published and and broadcasted out across the district um much much like the
um aio's got a pretty um solid uh Auto autot Tech and Health Services that's similar to how we will publish the information I believe there are booklets and yeah so information is being made
and getting ready for uh fall which will be here sooner than we can really imagine so um I I just have to say I remember when we kind of first started talking about this was when I was on the board the last last time and just to see this um kind of in real life and and and
hearing I mean Aaron and um Jack you know your Journeys are so um I love how you described your journey um and um it really kind of sparked and ignited your passion and I think that's why we're all here and why we believe in um the power
of education and and and opportunity and so I I think it's just excellent and I think that I'm just grateful for the team at Park Center because um just how you explained of how these came to be just the thoughtfulness behind that and looking kind of um at the future and and
um and to position our Scholars to be you know have every opportunity um and so this is very very exciting and um I'm just I'm excited as you roll this out yeah I loved the handson minds on learning and I think um just be able to
demonstrate um what this industry is like at this point in time I think I think maybe sometimes still people still have an outdated image um around the programs and about the industry um it really is like so Hightech now in that
integration of the handson um with that advanced skill set um in design in robotics uh just this is going to position our students so well for their Futures as as we saw and just evidenced in the way that um that you guys spoke
and communicated this you're just exemplary for our Park Center and I know Dr Harris is creating all sorts of incredible change over there so thank you I know this is just one fantastic thing happening at Park Center thank you all right thank you
everyone thank [Applause] you okay oh my gosh thank you in what are they called they're called something oel oel
that's it that's fun so cool thank you so glitter oh my gosh we never get wow my God yeah you have a bright future
awesome thank you again that was just outstanding we'll move on to our next agenda item which is concurrence with the American Indian education parent advisory committee Ethan nal's coordinator of Indian education will you come on up to the podium to lead off the presentation and introductions sure good
evening members of the school board my name is Ethan nales I'm here tonight on behalf of the American Indian parent advisory committee to present our resolution vote of concurrence for U area schools as you know Minnesota statute 124 d78 requires districts with 10 or more American Indian students or
within 50 miles of an Indian reservation to establish an American Indian parent advisory committee or APAC this committee ensures that the district is meeting the needs of American Indian students and families aligning with the American Indian education aid program plan submitted to the Minnesota Department of Education each year the
APAC reviews District data and determines whether to issue a vote of concurrence or non-c concurrence based on progress towards program goals this is an important accountability measure ensuring that our American Indian students receive Equitable educational opportunities and culturally relevant
programming I am pleased to report that the APAC has issued a vote of concurrence for the 20242 school year this decision was made February 24th 2025 following a thorough review of District data student outcomes and progress towards the six Key Program goals outlined in our approved American
Indian education Aid plan the committee formally presents this resolution to the school board tonight February 25th 2025 in closing the APAC recognizes and appreciates the district's efforts in advancing academic success cultural inclusion and student
support for American Indian students by issuing a vote of concurrence we affirm that the district is on track to meeting its commitments outlined in the American Indian education aid program plan however we see opportunities to build on this progress using elements from the American Indian strategic plan created
by the Indian education department these include implement M menting culturally responsive multi-tiered support systems for American Indian students developing stronger intervention models increasing access to Native student tutoring Services additionally embedding indigenous perspectives across all
subject areas enhancing landbased learning opportunities and experiences and integrating native storytelling and oral Traditions into literacy programs in addition to that expanding culture-based social emotional learning supports and further integrating traditional doot noj values into
schoolwide initiatives expanding mandatory cultural competency training for All District staff and developing indigenous centered curriculum for all students fostering stronger Partnerships with local tribal Nations this clearly aligns with the statutory requirement of indigenous education for all at mde
additionally ensuring long-term funding for native language programming specifically OJ andot language increasing indigenous based extracurricular activities and expanding culturally relevant Mental Health resources lastly it is also important to recognize the role of the Minnesota
school trust lands Fund in funding ISD 279 each year assu area schools receives over $1.4 million annually to the general fund from the Minnesota Department of Ed School trust lands fund this revenue is derived from mineral and
Timber assets on indigenous lands while these funds contribute to the district's overall budget we emphasize the need for increased transparency and and accountability in ensuring American Indian students receive direct benefits from resources generated by Lands that are stewarded by indigenous peoples we
thank the school board for your ongoing support and look forward to continuing our work together to ensure Equitable and culturally affirming educational experiences for All American Indian students thank you thank you board members are there any
questions or comments I just want I mean um I'm just pleased to hear that and I know that I know Dr H and your leadership this is um excuse me an Indian and an American Indian um students are is um you know a high priority and in terms of just um kind of
standing in the Gap like you talked about and and building upon kind of that strong foundation and I know as for me as um the board member that's the ls on with apek I'm really excited to to be engaged and um and to um just have a
stronger connection so thank you yes thank you thank you so much for um sharing with us tonight and I know we've had recently had the language Spotlight uh at a board meeting and we often uh have updates in our work sessions so um as
you said there's still always work to be done and improvements to be made and um I think I can speak on behalf of the board that we're continue to be committed to the ongoing improvements um that you mentioned excellent thank you thank you okay uh our next agenda item are the
student School Board Representatives reports uh reason uh would you please share your report yes good evening everyone my name is rean Atkins representing 279 online I'm sure that you guys probably missed out
on hearing on how 279 has been doing these past two months but we have been doing well and it's okay because I am back to lay down another report once again we recently had our elementary activity night hosted on the 22nd of January with arts and crafts including a
Lego room and a star a star lab I'm not sure what that is um our secondary registration night was the 30th and our secondary activity night will be held on March 7th with similar activities that are like more suitable for Scholars their age our student leadership team uh
has been working a lot uh our staff member Miss Bano and a student named Brooke have been doing extra work to make sure that our online community is getting delivered a good amount of information on upcoming events and other interactive activities and opportunities so shout out to them our counselors have
been doing a great job of uh pushing out scholarship opportunities and informations on how to apply as well including uh information on our upcoming commencement ceremony that is being held on later this year and other than that our staff members have been doing a
great job allowing their students to take it it easy into the next trimester giving them all the time resources and availability that they need and that is all I have for you guys thank you thank you Gavin uh good evening everyone my name is Gavin Chaba and I'm honored and
thrilled to represent Maple gr senior high school tonight uh first off I want to give a little uh report on all the sports going on at Maple Grove um our boys basketball team is looking strong heading into the section tournament our girls basketball team is on fire they're
insane they're ranked uh first in class 4A um and they're looking like a top Contender for the state championship um our boys hockey team just wrapped up a fantastic season with an impressive 16- 10 record our girls hockey team had another Sellar season finishing
17-8 um wrestling uh we had a one of our wrestlers break the school record um Ben Schultz so a big shout out to him uh additionally four of our wrestlers are headed to State we also have had a girls wrestling team this past winter and
we've made history with eight wrestlers in the program and our first ever State qualifier freshman Sten CC Stevenson um our most decorated team across all programs is our dance team and they have showed out yet once again
uh coming in second in second at State our competitive cheer team went to Florida and the game day team finished third and vars Steve finished seventh in Nationals um our Nordic ski team team or both of our Nori teams did really well
um the boys took first in conference and our girls came in third both of them going to State and then our boys swim dive team is looking great going into their section tournament this weekend as for clubs mod un has their mallister
spring conference this Friday HOSA is preparing for upcoming events our DEA members are tirelessly preparing for their state conference this Sunday and our NHS had a blast uh this January with putting on snow days our robotics team
will be joining Jack um in duth his Thursday and Friday um and we're proud to announce that seven Maple Grove students were recognized for their artistic talents with cat beer being one of the five from the whole state of Minnesota to take home the American Vision and nominee award and with the
end of the try looking a little too close for comfort uh students are taking cramming and doing anything they can to finish well and with the really good weather we've had I hope that ends up happening um I'd also like to talk about some policies and updates that both students and teachers would love to see
implemented across our schools first up I'd like to give a report on the phone policy um it seems to be still doing well um students are staying really productive in and out of school and I think the phone policy is a major major
contributor to this um I also recently attended the DECA District conference um last month and I had the opportunity to see and meet so many so many other students from other districts and learned about all the resources and support systems that their schools
provide so um basically just I had some thoughts on what we should Implement as a district um first up we have a fantastic Writing Center um I believe at all the schools in the district and I'm proud to be one of the tutors helping students with the writing however I've noticed that we don't have a similar
resource for math especially as that being major struggle point for a lot of students and we only have tutoring up until I believe Algebra 2 so providing a math Center for students would be a great thing to implement um especially with material up to I'd say Calculus if
not farther um and just creating a space where students can ask questions get tutoring and build confidence in their math skills um also it has been an ongoing discussion among teachers and students alike the grading system needs a change and or some sort of improvement many students feel our grading system
does not accurately reflect Student Success well many teachers feel as though it is an obstacle both in teaching and over complicating their work lastly I'd like to propose incorporating LinkedIn education into our curriculum we already have resume
work and interview skills or we do mock interviews within our English classes um so whether it's foundations English classes social studies um providing some sort of LinkedIn education and getting uh our students educated ated in that department because it is sort of the new
way that careers are built um getting them some sort of Education I think is something that is very much needed in addition to just general foundations for the general foundations curriculum just providing more practical skills that we we recently had a module detailing how
to build credit and I think that was great it was a lot of students enjoyed learning about it and just having more stuff like that with building practical soft skills and it doesn't have to be just something you can apply to job it could also be just psychological things but creating more learning opportunities
within our foundations that are like ready to apply for life I think is very important thank you for your time thank you thank you reasoning Gavin um so board members of student Representatives review the board meeting packet in advance and are prepared to
answer any question for the from the board members on issues to seek student input related to agenda items or anything that they shared as well you may I know I have some thoughts um so board members do you have any uh agenda items or questions for the student
Schoolboard reps it's fun to hear Gavin from your mouth as a student that the cell phone policy has been made you more productive can you just tell us a little bit more about that how your day has changed for your fellow students I mean yeah in class I'd say students are much more
productive they I I've noticed a lot of people say they're enjoying the subject material that they're learning which is something last year like oh it's such a drag all this stuff and now it's kind of people are really engaging in the stuff they're learning and thinking more about what they're going to be able to be
doing in college and in the perspective careers and how these different things they're learning in school will help them so I think just getting people off their phones and getting them more engaged in class has really been a big success at our school it's fun to hear almost a protective barrier from protect
you from yourselves so thank you it's fun to hear from a student's perspective Thank You Gavin um do have a question the so the LinkedIn learning that you're talking about you're talking about the courses that are available on LinkedIn that you can uh take and get they pop up on your um
I'm more speaking on getting students accustomed with how LinkedIn works and how getting their account set up sure um I'm aware manat Tonka High School in their district and Yetta District both have programs that allow students to do that so they're very educated in that going into college and going into their
prospective careers which is something that our district doesn't have and I feel like it kind of sets us back compared to them um so I think that's something that really needs to be brought into our curriculum I was curious if there's anything more you wanted to expound on related to the grading system like is it
the complexity of the standards based is it like like the actual kind of U assessments um I not right I so I've I've been meeting with some teachers in like like hearing their complaints about it I do have one teacher that ran a whole study about it so I could bring
that to you next meeting um however basically just why not A's and B's is what I've heard from almost every teacher is why aren't we just using simple a b c 90 and above is an a 80 to 90s A B that sort of thing instead of having this different system which is
different from almost every other high school that we've seen um across the districts in colleges often times don't know what to make of our GPA because it's so different from every other schools and how um that works in addition our AP classes and advanced courses do not provide much weight in
terms of GPA so there's not much incentive to take them and try to go further with your education great thank you any other question I have a lot of questions um
but I I I'll save them um I think I just I want to say thank you for like that information that you added at the end is I think what we really need um and even more than just hearing it from you I think we need spaces where
we're either having these conversations or you all the students are having these conversations to create these programs um but yeah I just want to say thank you for um the additional thought that went into this report today and um actually bringing back some information that um I
think we can hopefully actually do something with so um I'll say the other questions but thank you okay thank you so much uh and student reps are uh excused at this time thank you so
much all right our next agenda item is the audience opportunity to address the board and we have um quite a number of speakers tonight uh and so I'm going to share some comments um regarding U our public comment our opportunity to
address the board uh as a board we welcome all voices and strive for public engagement and transparency in our board work public comment or audience opportunity to address the board is one of many Avenues to achieve this speakers will be
called to the podium in this order student parent staff member uh Community member and others please keep your comments to three minutes comments should be directed to the entire board not any one individual board member if
you have a handout for the board please place it on the information table or hand it to the board secretary Sherry the board secretary will provide copies to the board members the board in audience will listen and not resp respond back at this time if you would like someone to follow up with you on
your question and or comments please let the board secretary know and of course if anything is raised in public comments that needs to be addressed we always um the appropriate staff members take action personal concerns should be direct Personnel concerns should be directed to individuals in the following
order building principal executive director for human resources assistant superintendent superintendent and finally in writing to the school board the complete guidelines for public participation are provided on the meeting Materials table and on the Schoolboard section of the district
website um we do ask out of resp respect for all speakers and their perspectives um that we withhold that the audience withhold from any cheering or Applause um just out of respect for everybody when I call your name please come to the microphone and state your name and topic
and whether or not you are a district resident we're going to start with the schroer family um so uh several family members um go ahead and come up and share your uh name um and uh and you'll have your time allotted
um well for the kids yeah okay that was fun um good evening my name is Chris and I'm a proud parent of Dana and Thelen uh two students at 279
online uh for them the the school it is it isn't just a preference it's the only place where they feel safe supported and have the ability to learn in the way that truly works for them um when they learned that their school was closing They begged for the chance
to speak uh to share in their own words what 279 online means to them they spent uh weeks uh carefully preparing their thoughts and hoping that somebody would listen so tonight I ask
um for your grace and your patience as you give them the time and opportunity to be seen and heard hello my name is Daniel S gr they can come out hello my name is Dan my second grader at
2799 hello my name is feel I'm a at 2799 people used to tell me that I have too much energy and to sit down but at 279 online people don't say that anymore
I can the energy out and still Lear I love learning Lear sometimes I feel really shy and get really nervous but bullies and other bad things happening my anxiety Mak it hard for me to focus by today night online I feel safe and when I feel safe and learn
please don't make me go in person school I I love 279 online cuz I get to eat swing with my
with and play with and Jacob and we s with misson and playing in gy Plus I love to I love to on line because the
teachers are amazing the is my favorite actually it was hard for me to make friends but 279 line I made so many and I feel safe being myself and I'm not afraid to make mistakes and I J focus without distractions oh I love Alla
too please s yourbody s dress and all the other students you're in ping when you where to close our school there's no other online school we can be with teachers and friends all day like we can here I don't want Dad learn alone you're
taking away what need to learn we love to9 online thank you thank you guys thank you okay so um we did we have other we had Jennifer yeah yeah you can good evening members of the school
board administrators and community members my name is Kira kissk I'm a teacher at 279 online and I'm a Community member my name is Jennifer schroer I stand here today with many of my colleagues to speak about the recent closure of 279 online
Elementary I'm with the teacher and parent of 279 online when I heard about this closure 3 weeks ago I was shocked no discussion no warning no input from the families and staff directly impacted when I told my daughter the news she looked at me with tearful eyes and asked
one question who decided I wasn't good enough that question didn't just break my heart it demanded an answer for weeks I have sought that answer speaking with my principals fellow staff members board members cabinet members lawyers and even
the Minnesota Department of Education what I uncovered is deeply troubling the district claims this isn't a closure but it's a reconfiguration a conv a convenient loophole used to bypass Minnesota statute 12351 and Schoolboard policy and
procedure 727 your justification well it's an online school and some grade levels will remain open but according to the administ Department of Education this is simply untrue 279 online receives separate funding for elementary and secondary students funding that classifies them as
two distinct schools and definitely not a program the law currently does make no distinction between online and physical schools by exploiting a legal gray area the district is evading responsibility but is this the precedent we want to set one where definitions are twisted to
avoid accountability one where families can be blindsided by the very District they trusted with their innocent children because let's be clear a school can't be closed without a public hearing a school can't be closed without a Schoolboard vote and a school can't be and just shouldn't be closed without
input from the people it serves yet here we are if a district disregards policy and makes decisions in secret what recourse do parents have who holds them accountable the reality is unless the school board steps in a district can
violate these policies or any other policies without consequence I've learned the only way to fight back is to hire a lawyer and take them to court is that the kind of system we are willing to accept one where Justice depends on who can afford it at a recent District
Equity meeting I intended the leader quoted Ricardo Morales stating quote nothing about us without us is for us end quot but this decision was made without us and anyone who believes that it was made for us is lying to
themselves as a teacher for 279 online I have spent years advocating for The Unique needs of our school yet I've never felt seen or heard we had been held down while we begged and pleaded to be recognized and understood in a Way Beyond non financials as I know I am not
alone in this feeling I urge you to listen to our staff and students not to defend past decisions or Justify what you believe this program was supported it is a fact that 279 has online has not been given what it needs to
thrive some board members said that the writing has been on the wall for this school but I ask who put that writing there over the past three weeks I have searched for other online op options for my children and I can say with certainty there is a need for a fully synchronous
online Elementary School family after family has voice concerns looking for an option exactly like the one we are closing an option that they simply didn't know was out there and that raises a critical Equity concern during an interview with CCX media this
District quoted 279 online was built to give a pathway to students for whom brick and mortar does not work end quote the district acknowledges that for some students 279 online is their only viable option and yet they are taking that
option away without a plan for those Left Behind These Scholars cannot simply be busted to the next close to school which they're given less time than other schools to prepare anyway but their education their stability and their success depend on an option that is now
disappearing without care without warning and without a transition plan so I ask what efforts were made to understand the needs of these students before making this decision what guarantees do we have that every scholar will still have access to the education
they need and when did our district decide that a Scholar's education is only worth protecting if they contribute to the bottom line we have recently passed multiple referendums promising that funds would support all students so how do we justify closing a school that
serves some of our most vulnerable Scholars who gets to decide which Scholars are worth the investment we cannot preach Equity while practicing exclusion some may say it's just a few Scholars but I ask how many scholars must be impacted before you're willing
to care this isn't just about the elementary families losing their school this decision affects everyone in this District because if leadership can override policy and Silent stakeholders today what stops them from doing it again tomorrow what precedent does this
set for the next decision ision and the one after that I was advised not to speak out tonight that it would just stir up anger rather than create change but I believe in this District I believe in our school board in the cabinet members and in this community mistakes
happen oversights occur but real leadership means course correcting when an injustice is exposed tonight I Peg you will you stand for Equity transparency and the scholars you vowed to serve 279 online Elementary deserves
to thrive thank you our next speaker is Mark brener school or members and superintendent H uh on Friday last week I read a news report that former Basswood Elementary teacher was charged with four counts of criminal sexual
conduct towards fifth graders from September 2022 to June 2023 as a parent of two elementary students and two more on their way to elementary school I was shocked disgusted and saddened to hear of this report
furthermore the report detailed a statement from our school district that quote there was only one complaint about the teacher that did not result in disciplinary action unquote and quote the teacher previously received two verbal warnings for touching of female students
quote what has been unclear after subsequent news reports have been made was the district's response to the complaint against the teacher in one report it was reported that the response was no discipline action in another report it was reported that authorities and the Department of Education were
notified what is clear is that two verbal warnings were made and our school district failed to act to protect these students altogether this is a shame and failure of our school district My Hope Is that steps will be taken by the school board and the school district to
ensure transparency to the families of our district concerning these charges and the district's failure to prevent and protect students several questions that have come to my mind um could guide this one how is a complaint of this nature not followed by Swift disciplinary action by our district
where students and parents heard by the district as this complaint was made uh two how was more than one verbal warning made without our School District Acting to protect students and alert authorities three how were families in the district not made abundantly aware of the situation
earlier um seen as how it's 2025 uh What uh uh four what district policies govern complaints and verbal warnings what errors have been made in writing and enforcing of those policies within the school district uh number five um would this criminal sexual
conduct have continued had a student not spoken up um we should be thankful that the students did SP speak up but we should not be satisfied when it when it only stops when a minor speaks up uh lastly for my estimation the time
period involved in the charges has occurred during the period where our district has had a lack of focus on education and safety of all students in our district my opinion is the school district has chosen to focus on the Viewpoint of activist groups over the education and safety needs of all students and families in our
district hopefully this terrible failure is a wakeup call to the district to work quickly and transparently towards creating a safer environment of schools where quality education is provided to all students I think an encouragement is that I work in an FDA regular environment and it is possible to
eliminate failures to protect people through proper policy training and enforcement um and if it's possible there then we should be focused daily on that happening in our district thank you thank you the next speaker nick uh
watler good evening um coming here basically to speak to the school board tonight just to raise awareness for the uh esps in the district that are currently going to contract negotiations and while I know a lot of that is behind closed doors not always you know fully open to everybody on the school board unless you're part of those
negotiations I think it is good to bring awareness that um their colas and other pay has been lagging behind um where the rest of the districts are in the state and also the fact that right now I think what they're
asking for is just above the uh federal pover poverty guidelines right now now and currently all the esps as are starting are below that and so just coming here tonight to raise awareness to you guys and bring support to that aspect and hopefully we can get a little more uh
traction going forward with that and get that put through before obviously the uh everything keeps going up in price so hopefully we get that contract negotiation done moving forward so thank you thank
you next speaker Tina Collins hello esteemed board members fellow District employees and members of our beautiful Community um I've talked a few times up here and this is pretty much a little bit of the same speech of little changes
um my name is Tina Collins and I've have been in ESP in the oio district since 2008 over the years I have held many different positions I've been at my current site for 15 great years Through The Years my employment with the district has become not so much
of a job but a passion I have been entrusted with the care and safety of over 2,000 students in my years with the district I take my duties very seriously I am a recess ESP and I'm one of the lowest paid esps in the district
I am one of two adults designated to keep 120 to 150 children safe on an open playground 10 yards from swampy areas 10 yards from open wooded areas and about a thousand yards from two major roadways the actual play areas consist of a large
open field about two football fields in length and width two large climbing structures with multiple slides two goaga pits if you don't know what a Gaga pit is it's something um and four new um sport for new goal Sport Court this
play area also has many swings and Spinners sometimes we may have a third adult with us but this is never a guarantee depending on what's going on in the school and on the grounds at the time not only are we supposed to keep all of our kids safe but we frequently have to let them in to use the restrooms
because the doors are locked get hats gloves or even jackets that they forgot continuously help them solve problems or conflicts that occur help them learn compassion sharing taking turns kindness fairness how to be a friend and a lot of times simply how to make a friend we are
also on the spot nurses we wipe tears bandage owies and comfort everyone who is either hurt physically or emotionally we are overwhelmed and understaff and while we do all of the above we still have to keep an eye on all of the other children outside we are also expected to
build meaningful and trusting relationships with all of the children in our care so that they can feel safe and nurtured yet we are not considered as instructional esps personally I give everything I have in me to my job as an ESP no matter what
my role is and keeping our kids safe our administrators on site do the very best that they can but they too are overwhelmed with the responsibilities that we are all entrusted with my story is just one of hundreds just like it across our district we need funding in our district to pay a livable wage at
step one we actually know some instances where new staff is being hired at step two or even step three rates because our new hires will not accept the low pay that class one is currently at we need to offer relable wages if we are going to hire qualified and committed ESP
staff and especially to retain all of us that truly care so much for our community's children thank you thank you the next speaker is Tracy Dorne hello my name is Tracy Doran I'm a
parent of two Maple Grove graduates and my youngest is currently a senior at Maple Grove I'm also an academic intervention ESP at Oakville Elementary and I'm here to tell you a story this is my daughter Abby back in 2022 graduating from Maple Grove I'm 99
% sure that's the back of Dr B Bart Becker's head this is a picture of Abby this past January in Costa Rica Abby is a junior in college at Carol University in wakasa Wisconsin and recently spent an amazing
two weeks in Costa Rica for a cross-cultural immersion class this was an opportunity that I highly encouraged her to grab hold of because it's one that I that but it's one that obviously came with a price a price that my
husband and I were not able to help with so Abby worked hard this past summer to save up the $4,000 to pay for her trip to Costa Rica she worked three different jobs one of which was a sub for kidstop
but the most lucrative of those jobs was when she worked as an ambassador for Target at the USA Cup Soccer Tournament in Blaine Target is a t tournament sponsor and set up an area with lots of fun activities for players and families to take part in along with samples aby's
job was to hand out samples and to get the kids who came and to visit engaged in the activities there's actually two tournaments at the USA cup a short weekend tournament followed by a longer weekl long tournament because of aby's two other jobs she was only able to work
the shorter weekend tournament meaning that she was hired for exactly three days as her employer Target did not need to keep her happy to retain her as an employee they did not need to show her
respect they did not need to honor her dedication she was only there for 3 days after all they simply had to pay her a wage that they thought she was worth let me add that Abby had never done anything like this before she had no prior
experience Abby was paid $25 an hour $25 an hour a wage that it took me 10 years working for this District to reach a wage that is currently in discussion as a minimum wage for esps in
the Minnesota state legislature as part of the ESP Bill of Rights as esps we believe the ESP Bill of Rights will pass we are asking for you to respect our work on honor our
dedication $25 an hour is not too much to ask we are worth it time thank you uh Michelle dinard good evening esteemed board members cabinet members
Dr how fellow District employees and members of our community my name is Michelle dard and I am a special education vocational trainer education support professional and I want you to know this is not about
the district this is about ios's education support professionals and that is exactly Who We Are are professionals our work is the foundation of academic success we serve with
passion expertise and unwavering dedication to our students now is the time for the district to match our our commitment with action we want oio to be the District of choice for esps a place
where people want to work stay and build long-term careers a district that values us not just with words but with wages and benefits that reflect our worth $25
an hour is not too much to ask it's an investment in US choose to be the district that leads with Integrity courage and vision choose to change what isn't working together we can create a
Turning Point a moment where the district proves that esps are the backbone of our schools as we advocate for fair wages and Equity let's reflect on the district's own core values honor
and integrity are we holding ourselves to the highest standards when esps cannot earn a livable wage belonging are we fostering a sense of belonging when many of us are forced to consider
leaving AIO for better pay inclusion are we truly valuing the diverse voices of esps who dedicate themselves daily to our Scholars Innovation and Excellence how can we cultivate Excellence when our
pay hinders professional growth and retention transparency will the district present Real Financial prop proposal in dollar amounts that prove its commitment to change intrinsic value do you truly
value us if our contribution aren't reflected in our compensation we are not asking for anything that doesn't align with these values we are asking to lead with Integrity transparency and Equity to make AIO the District of choice for
esps let's turn these values into meaningful action and remember what you are not changing you are choosing the time to act is now $25 an hour is not too much to ask because we are worth it thank
you thank you uh the next speaker Kendra Coleman good evening School G members superintendent Dr H cabinet members community members fellow District employees my name is Kendra I'm a
housing stability social worker for the district I run our homework starts with home program it is a grant-funded program in partnership with the county and the YMCA a program that assists our families in our district who have fallen
behind in their rent so we help to pay their back rent um avoid eviction uh provide Case Management Services for Families uh if you would like for me to come back a different time to explain more about the program I am happy to do that I did give you some information
cards um but I'm here to talk about the ESP contract today and so I also gave you a handout so it was mentioned before about the federal property guidelines so the program that I run homework start of
with home we follow the henen County area median income guidelines and so if you look at the first line 30% Ami we follow that guideline so families um let's say for example the highlighted middle column a family of four uh who
has a total income of 37,2 if a family is falling below that they would income qualify for our program and sadly I've had fellow colleagues esps in our district who have
qualified for our program and so I would just highly encourage you to keep this in mind when you are looking at contract negotiations not only for our esps but I've also had uh AAS who have also income qualified for our program so thank
you thank you uh the next speaker Steph Larson Steph here okay okay um the next uh speaker woodro Piner chair board members uh grateful to
be here tonight uh first and foremost my name is wood Riner I'm here as a constituent taxpayer ISD 279 I'm also currently employed by the nor Central States Regional Council of Carpenters and I've been there for 10 years one of my key roles there is serving as a lead on labor exploitation
task force that collaborates with enforcement agencies on cases where men and women are being exploited and contractors are operating outside of the law to gain a competitive advantage over law-abiding Union and non-union contractors this is what brings me here tonight our office was recently made
aware that eert construction was was awarded one of the upcoming elementary school projects in this District typically this kind of information isn't shared at a school board meeting because contractors like the one I'm about to discuss doesn't end up on school projects last year eer construction was
involved with school projects in Rogers and Oro and absolute Drywall Incorporated ended up as a drywall subcontractor on both of these in the past eert had hired absolute on woodframe apartment buildings but never a school project absolute drywall has a
history of multiple States Federal citations for labor violations including employees a 14-year-old to work more than 50 hours a week two years ago a brave Woman by the name of Norma isera came forward about a sexual assault that
happened on a construction site in Egan working for absolute drywall isager was hired by absolute to clean up after the other workers finished hanging drywall hauling out garbage and sweeping up dust it was one of the lowest paying jobs in the site but isiga saw as an opportunity
to work with a large company and to pay her bills shortly after she started another employee for absolute Diego ciceris Medina started making unwanted advances towards her despite trying to avoid Medina he eventually cornered her
and sexually assaulted her in one of the unfinished unit showers upon the horrific incident isager reported the incident to a supervisor for absolute the complaint was ignored and she was fired for creating a toxic workplace when company leadership from absolute was questioned by the Minnesota
Department of Human Rights they responded with it was a consensual relationship that turned sour fast forward to February 13th of this year at a hearing at the Dakota County Government Center Medina pled guilty to felony sexual misconduct in the criminal
court hearing isager has already filed a complaint against the contractor with the Mota Department of Human Rights there have been a request for list of projects that absolute has performed in two of the prior school districts around on those as elected school board members all of you have stepped up to take on
difficult tasks as one of the most reputable school districts in Minnesota fiduciary responsibility for constituents who you elected is very important picking Lan numbers on contractors to perform work on school project is understood and part of the fiscal responsibility Norma could have
taken a settlement from absolute out of court and started over she took the Hard Road time and and she went this way I ask you to not to take the low number if it's absolute drwall thanks for the opportunity thank you
okay the final speaker We Have Tonight uh Cindy devonish is Cindy here good evening esteemed school board members and community members it's a pleasure to be with all of you tonight
uh my name is Cindy devonish I am proud to uh introduce myself uh as a new community engagement experience manager for the city of Brooklyn Park it's a pleas pleasure to be with all of you tonight thank you for all your hard work and dedication um I'm here to uh tonight to
share updates resources and supports and opportunities for our community members I have brought items uh that are placed on the table over there uh and they're also available on our website Brooklyn park.org um first and foremost is our um
700 uh acre project for the Northwest growth area I encourage everyone to participate in shaping this Vision um so we look forward to your response it is a QR code and it is also available online
uh and once again your input is needed uh also I brought in resources for spanishs speaking uh community members uh frequently asked questions regarding citizens citizenship statutes in Brooklyn Park and including green
card holders work visas Etc this information is also available on our website in various languages well um these documents ampli are available I'm sorry um there are to targeted to
amplify awareness um I also brought red cards uh these come from various uh Community organizations you might have seen them in the community one side is Spanish one side is English and what they do is they
just State constitutional rights regarding deportation and birth right St status um there is a lot of confusion a lot of fear in the community so this helps um hopefully address some of those uh concerns and fears
um if anyone else is interested in being involved with the city of Brooklyn Park as the community engagement experience manager I look forward to interacting in with you um my per my work sell number is 612
946 9401 again my name is Cindy devonish I'm here on behalf of the city of Brooklyn Park as a community engagement experienced manager and my number is 612 946 9401 and I did leave some of my business cards as well thank you it was
a PR privilege to be here so thank you thank you okay I believe we got everybody was anybody missed okay thank you everyone for your um participation and the audience opportunity to address the school board
we are now going to move on to our next agenda item the superintendent report Dr Hy thank you good evening chair Prince Vice chair Brooks and school board members As We Gather here tonight we are presented what a significant period of change and transformation across our
district there are several key initiatives that we are preparing to implement in the coming months each designed to improve our schools and better serve our Scholars these initiatives include addressing site capacities undertaking Renovations at various School sites placing new
furniture to enhance learning environments and revisiting attendance boundaries we recognize that these changes pose challenges and we understand the potential impact they have or may have on our students families staff and all of of our
stakeholders however please know that we are deeply committed to staying focus on our work to build a better future for our scholars in our community tonight I specifically want to provide an update on our attendance boundary process and shareed then
connect and Insider newsletter this week we were grateful to receive feedback from a few thousand community members in our first four proposed attendance boundary scenarios via community meetings in online form and hotlines this feedback is now being reviewed and helping to narrow the
number of scenarios and make and make tweaks to those that as we move forward these updated scenarios are expected be to be presented online this Friday February 28th this will begin the final round of community
feedback once we the updated scenarios are released community members are once again to share their voice and their thoughts on the updated scenarios it's very important for you to share your voice during this time is would help our team make any potential adjustments a
new online feedback form as well as a form to RSVP for two Community informational meetings will also be made available at district279.org boundaries as soon as the scenarios are available Tuesday March 4th will be our community informational meeting for
round two the March 4th meeting will take place at 5:45 in Northview Middle School Wednesday March 19th will be the final community informational meeting for this process and this will take place at 5:45 at oel middle school and
the feedback form will close on Friday March 21st the school board expected to approve final attendance boundary changes in May and the new attendance boundaries once again will going to effect a fall of 2026 again please take advantage of
these feedback opportunities your voices are important a regular part of our superintendent report as well as our Shar we share points of pride in our district by sharing our points of Pride we're taking time to recognize and celebrate the scholars staff and community members for are contributing
to the accomplishment of our mission I have members of our district cabinet here to assist in sharing some examples from last month please in the area of achieving dreams each February schools and students across the district about people or
events that have impacted Black Culture in our country country's history during Black History Month to kick the month off students staff and community members gathered at Park Center Senior High School on February 1st for the family
and Community engagement also known as face Black History Month celebration this event was organized by the dedicated face staff members and students from the Park Center and AIO Senior High black student unions the
event included a meal Boo from bipac businesses organizations and a number of performances the AIO education center spent February celebrating Black History Month with a variety of events students
gathered for an all school movie to watch the six Triple 8 movie based on the true story of an all black all female Battalion during World War II students also celebrated Black History Month with the sole food sampling
tasting foods such as Fried Chicken candied yams cornbread mac and cheese greens with smoked turkey sweet potato pie and peach cobbler they also visited a a Minnesota African-American Heritage Museum and gallery multiple times
throughout the month on February 24th just last night students in the black student union at oio Senior High School hosted the eth annual AIO speaks a Black History Month showcase the event held in a packed Auditorium included dance
performances poems spoken words a drum performance singing skits and a fashion show it was fabulous and if you ever have an opportunity to go you should be sure to attend recognized for the second Monday in February each year National
African-American parent involvement day celebrates the critical Partnerships between African-American families and schools around AIO area schools several elementary schools marked the occasion with opportunities to gather strengthen
community and share information with students congratulations to the district students who put their hard work and creativity on display by submitting their work to the Minnesota Scholastic art Awards work work are submitted from high schools throughout Minnesota each
year the art is submitted in 16 different categories Ceramics drawing photography painting sculpture portfolio fashion print making design film mixed media jewelry digital art expanded
projects comic art editorial cartoon and architecture the joyful sounds of young musicians filled the air as fifth grade band and Orchestra students took the stage these last few weeks at oio Middle School to perform concerts showcasing
their hard work and budding musical talents students at AIO Middle School recently competed in the Minnesota Junior High Math League which enables students to meet mathletes from other schools and provides recognition for
students excelling in mathematics after competing in five meets and getting first place in two of them the AIO middle school math team placed third overall at the competition for the 2024 25 school year with 12 other teams
participating in the event AIO Middle School student Parker Lincoln was first overall in the individual rounds Andrew Erikson was third and Shawn Williams placed in the top 10 congratulations to Maple Grove Senior
High School student Jacob ranic who was named the region five doua AAA award finalist each school in the state nominates one male and one female student with the 32 finalists being selected from those students ranic will be honored at a recognition banquet in
March where the league officials will announce the four Statewide AAA Award winners at that time shout out to oio Area School two Magnet Elementary schools that received merit awards from the magnet schools of America for
2025 Zanewood Community a steam school has been named a magnet school of excellence and Weaver Lake a science math and Technology School received a 2025 top Magnet School of Excellence distinction in the area of contributing
to community District 279 foundation's a nightout fundraising event took place on Friday February 7th at Edinburgh USA Golf Course the event featured a Social Hour silent and live auction activities dinner and a program attendees were
encouraged to wear Western attire and a best dress cont contest was held during the event Funda raised over $1,300 and the silent auction exceeded its $115,000 goal thank you to everyone who joined us
for all the all abilities resource on February 20th which was hosted in partnership with the Brooklyn Park Recreation and Parks at the event students families and community members visited with representatives from the district including CVB student services
special education advisory Council and adapted Sports representatives from hopin County Special Olympics of Minnesota Wilderness inquiry rise Alina Health St David Center mini hops
gymnastics best buddy the Wild and ween ride also had booths in addition to many other local resources that families and community members can utilize in the area of lifelong learning Brooklyn Middle steam school held a
festive celebration of culture the evening of February 13th when students families and the community came out to the school in large numbers to take part in the colorful event the Multicultural Fair included student speakers a dinner with ethnic
food offerings Gam games Hannah tattoos and a fashion show with traditional clothing from countries all around the world several district schools closed out the month of January with science technology engineering and math stem themed events for their students and
families the recent events included a stem night at Garden City Elementary a math night at Zanewood Community a steam school and a science and engineering night at Palmer Lake Elementary oio area schools community-based vocational assessment and training or
CVB program hosted its annual manufacturing skilled trades and construction career fair on January 29th though hosted this year at Park Center Senior High School the event was open to high school students from any District High School the career fair had 26
different companies unions and organizations represented I think she's approximately 75 students from parkbrook elementary school attended the luminary lopit February 8th where the school's choir performed a concert for
attendees the luminary lpet is an annual winter festival that features a candle it Trail Ice features opportunities for outdoor recreation on skis and snowshoes fire dancers music and youth events thanks to a grant from The
District Two 79 Foundation Birch Grove School for the Arts has begun offering ukulele lessons for interested students during the School's art electives time the students will perform at a Showcase Event March 17th in the area of mission-driven
employees the Minnesota Association of school administrators or Masa recently announced their 20125 Regional administrators of excellence and our very own superintendent Dr Kim h has been recognized as the organization's Award winner for region 9 award
recipients are chosen based on their leadership concerned for students an active involvement in professional and Community Affairs along with their strong communication skills and high expectations for themselves and others congratulations Dr
Hy during the last few weeks we have been we have celebrated National School counseling week paraprofessional or ESP recognition week school bus driver appreciation day and school resource officer day check out our district website to learn more about these
recognitions and some of the dedicated staff members who work with our students each day thank you to all of these staff members for everything that you do four oio area schools Educators were named candidates for the 2025 Minnesota
teacher of the year award in the next few months semi-finalists and finalists will be named from the pool of 142 candidates with the teacher of the year being announced at a banquet in May congratulations to the nominees Stefan Wolf the music
specialist at Cedar Island Elementary School was recently named Minnesota music educator education associations mmea Elementary music educator of the Year this award recognizes exemplary music teachers throughout Minnesota that
have demonstrated excellence in teaching leadership and advocacy in music education all right so we just have a few final notes and reminders for this evening kindergarten orientation events uh believe it or not will be taking place during March April and May at all
district elementary school sites for students beginning school in the fall of 2025 to learn more and view all orientation dates please visit our website at district279.org kindergarten hyen orientation and once again just a reminder intendance
boundary timeline February 28th updated boundary scenarios will be posted online Community Information meetings will be held on March 4th at Northfield middle school and March 19th at oil middle school thank you for your continued support and that concludes tonight's superintendent
report thank you Dr h our next agenda item is our Schoolboard reports uh director Dawson do you have a reporter update I do not director Foster do you have a reporter update I do um I
am a member or Le aison with DPAC as part of my board duties and I was able to attend the February 10th meeting that was held virtually the speaker that evening was Angie vaton I'm hopefully pres pronouncing that correctly um she's a teacher at Park Center that's leading
the bar building assets reducing risk program um and this conversation came out of the December meeting the group um has chosen to pursue digging deeper into the middle school experience of our students and how we can create a better experience at those grade levels so it
was a really cool meeting thank you director Brooks yeah I attended the rise committee meeting um earlier this month and um a couple of um topics that were discussed at the meeting were one um
making sure that they were aware and had a space to ask questions related to the boundary changes um so grateful to staff for being able to being willing to dive in um a little more on that topic and then also uh spent some time talking about um the concerns in the community
around immigration um impacting um you know many of our students while in school but also their families while um they're in school um and so talk to a little bit about our process um and some of the communications um that have come out from the
district um to manage that process um and then lastly I feel like we forgot an important uh point of EX Excellence um the two part Center grads that were featured on Love is Blind on Netflix
so um I just learn about that today yeah all right dor Tate do you have a report uh yeah I do so uh ebac uh was at that which is some you know great feedback there particularly around our all the work that's happening with our
Elementary and Middle School boundaries um I love the tour and the session we had at northv Middle School uh even though I realize I can't help myself when I'm in a middle school I got slap the door frame as I go through um and then uh they've had some some really
great intermediate 287 meetings um and they're doing some really interesting work around reshaping the goals for the students and staff and particularly you know as you as you're not looking at traditional quantitative measures uh that can't be you know universally
applied um in those communities so it's good director Mitchell yes also the recent um ecme meeting and there with Keith and we were presented reports and an in-depth analysis taking a look at the enrollment and capacity numbers in light of the bond boundary change
scenarios um and I think this was helpful to get in you know breakout rooms where you're talking with District staff and community members and parents um so that they can have some of those immediate questions answered um there's also an in-depth report taking a look at the growth of the Northwest part of our
district and I really encourage people I recently drove in this area and I think your eyes are really open to see the growth the explosion of growth um and just the need for these changes so if you haven't seen that yet I encourage you to take a drive and check it out so thank you and as a reminder with all of our
advisor committee advisory committees um they're all available on the website most of the Committees generally have openings and are always looking for more community members um parents and parents to participate so always go look and keep your eye out um and there are um
times of the year where we specifically open it up for applications so just want to make sure to make that plug um sometimes serving on those committees like with ma there's a lot of monitoring and then we get to this point where there's boundary changes and and really um that's a key group that we use to
provide input to the processes so um so serving on those advisory committees are a really great opportunity to have your voice heard for me I have one report for bbay the Brooklyn Bridge Alliance For Youth um as we serve on the board for joint powers and um that was just our first meeting of the Year where we
reelected our officers uh for the the board roles on that uh organization and uh reviewed our strategic plans so um that's one of the organizations that we work very closely with and I I know you get the reports and um take a look at
those I also want to pause just to uh acknowledge the award the regional uh administrator of Excellence award um that Dr H received and um we have so many incredible leaders and just even with the teachers that are up for the award and um our cabinet members and um
and principals and educators are winning Awards um left and right we're really are yes our students um and so this is just really uh a district of excellence and uh who leads our district in the superintendent role is really
instrumental to creating that environment and Dr H has always um brought integrity and honor to her role as superintendent so congratulations and we're thankful to have you thank you our next agenda item is a presentation to be shared by John mored
Executive Director of Finance and operations uh it'll be on the Maple Grove Senior High School building a better future um okay so we're GNA have a little bit of a pause because the the few presentations we have coming up got deleted off the screen so Kelly's running to grab them real quick we have
them all on a flash drive just give us a sec but I'll go ahead and kind of get started because um what I'm going to show you from Maple Grove is first of all thank you chair Prince and everyone on the board kind a little flustered but we can get it um the the Maple grow project is a little
bit unique in one way in that we split it so normally when you're doing projects of this size it goes out for public bid and it's one everything we do in there is part of the public bid document this project is a little over $90 million as a total um but we had an opportunity to utilize a Cooperative
agreement through sourcewell which is a um an organization that does joint Powers agreements that school districts and government agencies can use to to essentially guarantee we're getting the the best pricing possible um and so thank you and so we utilize
that okay we'll get there we utilize that on our um the mechanical portion of of everything that we're going to do for all the mechanical Renovations at Maple Grove senior so that ends up being about a third so about about $30 million of
the project will be in the packet as you see as just an approval of um a provider via sourcewell so the nice thing for us is with that we're actually able to guarantee a certain price level which is very rare in projects of this normally
we are bound by the lowest um lowest bidder in the process and the benefit for the district is the contractor that won the the state contract for the lowest bid through sourcewell is the preferred vendor that we normally use for mechanical and definitely one that has a great reputation so we're really
excited to be able to do this it is new for our district um the sourcewell contract has only been available for about 3 years so it's the first time we're you're we're using them though that's the reason why you're going to see in the consent agenda there's a bid award and a sourcewell approval just again from a transparency we wanted to
put both even though by using that Cooperative agreement we don't technically need to bring it in front of the school board so that is my stalling while I try to figure out what happened here quick so what I'm going to show is um all the
pictures of everything that's going on and all the changes that we'll have at Maple Grove um this will open for us we'll get started all right okay so I'm just going to kind of walk you through the building and I'll Orient you on um the first couple pictures as we
start outside to the upper right is a little description of the building and the direction that you're looking and this is throughout the the presentation to just kind of show what the angle is um and if you're not sure your orientation in the building where you're looking from that's what that means so this is a view as you're if you had
parked down in the student parking lot and you're walking up to school oh my what are we doing um this is what that view is of you from the upper parking lot for the high school the main entry we're we're actually putting a really large
addition on the front to bring it forward to add office um make some changes to the um to bathrooms in that front area and really open it up so you have a much more open entry Commons that that you would see more traditionally in in newer
school buildings um this is a view coming in from the the Northern end um as you coming down towards more towards the activities there's an addition that'll come onto this corner that I'll show you in a little bit that is strength and conditioning um this is your first view of the three-story Edition on the um
northeast corner of the building this is the primary academic Edition we're adding 21 classrooms down here and this is a look at where the new um much much expanded cafeteria I think we a little more than doubled the size of the cafeteria here in this school
um and so we push that out into the commons which as you can still see we still have plenty of space out front to have like a outdoor seating area um and even um a potential like Outdoor Classroom type environment this is just as you're going around continuing around the corner this isn't a view you can actually have
because there's trees and a dome in the way once you get over to this spot but they uh they still gave us that view so we move inside this is a look at the new front entry as you just walked in the front door uh um as you can see it's a lot more expansive and it opened up and connected so no longer do you go through
a sliding door that can come down and separate off the academic Wing or separate off where the auditorium is that's all gone and open and meant to be more of a central common space so here's a look back as you see kind of the main glass front entry um and each of those
areas the the new um there's an addition to the front office to add additional office space conference space and a secure front entry that we have not had at that site previously you got buzzed through and could come in the door and had to walk across to visit with Mona our lovely colleague who
always took takes care of everyone at Maple Grove um now that will be in a secure vestibule similar to the other security um that we have in our other schools this is now the um for lack of a better term the living room of the school it the media center has been
expanded to come out into this living area soft seating comfortable places for students to gather do homework do projects um there's actually a tech help Des within it and then the heart of the media center is just behind it but just to kind of give you an idea and this also spills into what would be the lobby
area of the auditorium as a look as a couple views of inside the media center here just updates and Renovations you's still going to have kind of a bookstack area and then a more teaching area on either side and some other flexible spaces with some
conference rooms this is a look at the new cafeteria so just to orient you a little bit the The Columns that you see the big ones in the middle that's about where today's cafeteria ends so everything to the left of that is n um you will also
see off in the distance a very large staircase so we're connecting the second floor to the first floor with a staircase that the the part on the right is really your circulation part and the part on the left is what's called The Learning staircase it's really an opportunity to either have an Amphitheater type impromptu class or
students to just hang out if they want to on it there's actually plugs and and ways to plug in if you wanted to charge devices and all that along that it's just a good place to be able to go do something else that might not be sitting at a lunch table here's a view from up above that same
area um we are putting a school store in actually all three of our high schools but this is the view of what Maple Groves would look like um the kitchen in and um along with the cafeteria Renovations the kitchen is getting a full renovation here too to expand it so we will go um to five full
lines to be able to serve all the students that are expected at this building this is the um what's kind of the secondary comment so today when you walk into that building if you're on the main floor and you make your way back into the academic Wing towards the The Forum room there's a bank of lockers and
a kind of a staircase that goes down we're actually removing that staircase out since the big learning stair and circulation stairs onto the side and turning that into a secondary common so there's another area to be able to do again the intention is independent work options to be able to break out and do
something else in another space it's also over the top of the cafeteria so if you want a maybe less noisy area than the cafeteria you can come up here and eat if you want just giving more options so now we're moving into the academic Wing so this is the hallway that's that's connecting the two
together um it's a hallway it's not all that exciting um once you're in the middle this is kind of what that feels like so you have again those those different learning options down the middle and then um classrooms on either side with learning on display so we can see there's glass into the classrooms
and you can see in and out very easily um also allows teachers who might be working with some students inside the classroom to be passively monitoring students who might be working on a project out in the hall uh just a good look of what a renovated classroom looks like
like um in a number of places through the building we have um updated our bathrooms to provide more of a universal or a privacy bathroom option so in this case there's six bathrooms that are all individual stalls with individual doors one of them has a sink inside it as well
um but it's just again is with the intention of providing more privacy and options for students um the one of the big additions that was talked about with Park Center um is CTE and so while we're just in the planning process with theirs this is what the CTE Wing will look like in
Maple Grove so again where we're really focusing on that career in Tech education there's dedicated space that will be 100% renovated a big portion of the addition is driven to this and then the last piece is the strength and conditioning area which is
an add-on um this is an addition for two reasons one to provide more strength and conditioning but two to add another fiet space with the growth in students we need another PE space that could serve for the class and so that's what this space is and another look when you're in it and how it connects to the existing
weight room and that is it for those so that is one of of there's a few other um bid approvals that you'll see in your consent agenda this is obviously the largest one and as we were following through with our BBF um presentations we wanted to make sure as we bring the
major projects forward we show everyone what they look like and so we've already you've already seen Fernbrook and Eden Brook's views in the previous presentation but those are also in for your approval this evening so um any questions I can answer for you board
members questions I don't have any questions but I think it looks amazing it's very exciting yeah this um so the mess will begin the Monday after um spring break we we're actually taking over the fied
portion the locker rooms down there and this strength and conditioning and getting started immediately while school's still in session so we we're been working with the school to make sure that we can shift things but the the blessing for us is the athletic locker rooms really aren't used in the
spring so we can shift and use fed locker rooms as athletic locker rooms while we rebuild the athletic locker rooms and start putting this addition on and then all the other additions you'll see start to go up but they'll take a a good year before we're connecting to the building in the summer of 26 thank you for stating school is still in session
school is still in session for that one yes you you will see us do that on on numerous occasions and that the reason is to try to get a little bit ahead so we can meet the goal of being done when kids come back not still working trying to work through bugs and I mean there's always little things but trying to get
through the um the 98% is done by the time we get there great thank you it's um really awesome to be able to see all of the rendition and we were like was mentioned we were just atthew middle school and there's been a lot of work done already there um
I love that the the way that we're re um investing in our schools more closely mirrors like the real life experience out in careers and in college um all of the natural light creates a different environment um for the students and
Scholars so um this is really nice to kind of show and tell so every time we do this it's it's fun and lots more coming all right thank you thank you okay the next agenda item is the consent agenda board members our consent
agenda items this evening include meeting minutes and financial reports for January 2025 organizational meeting minutes extended educational trips fundraisers Personnel items grants many construction bid approvals and several other organizational business items are
there any items that you would like to remove for SE separate consideration okay seeing none is there a motion to approve the consent agenda as printed move by director Brooks is there a second second seconded by director
Dawson is there any discussion all in favor say I I all oppose nay motion passes 6 to zero all right moving on to our first action item uh the first action item is
the approval of the fiscal year 2025 midyear budget information will be shared by Kelly vusa Director of Business Services Kelly good evening chair Prince board members and superintendent Dr H the purpose of this evening's presentation
is to PR provide information on the fiscal year 2025 midyear budget revisions tonight you'll see a few places where expenditure adjustments continue to be impacted by Staffing shortages these items are noted in the presentation as onee only adjust ad Ms and will need to be added back to our
fiscal year 26 adopted budget at last year's June meeting the board approved the adopted budgets for all of our budgeted funds the first column on this slide shows the adopted budget for the general fund the second column highlighted in blue are the midyear adjustments for revenues and
expenditures the net change is an increase to fund balance of 98,000 this is made up of an increase of 4.7 million ion or 1.51% increase for revenues and an increase of 3.8 million or
1.21% for expenditures overall the net change is 0.14% of the combined revenue and expenditure budgets will continue to project a deficit for 25 of 741 th000 included in this revision are additional
new revenue and expenditure categories that are part of this last legislative session as you'll see see these new revenues are being offset by new expenditures these were not part of the adopted budget since guidance was not available at that time on the next
slides for expenditures we'll have highlighted items that are one time only savings or costs which need to be added back to that fiscal year 26 adopted budget the revenue budget changes are as follows $3.2 million increase in special
education due to revised formula estimates and a $1.7 million for the prior year decreased tuition costs $775,000 increase in interest Revenue a $749,000 increase for new redact teacher
training which is offset by new redact expenditures for one year only this is a new Revenue category from the 23 legislative session and a $426,000 decrease in summer unemployment this slide shows several smaller items
such as a $37,000 increase to tax shift for re-employment and career tax and an increase in delinquent taxes a $284,000 net increase in general education which includes a prior year under acral of
$300,000 a $250,000 decrease in desegregation transportation and a $200,000 increase for endowment this slide shows the remaining Revenue adjustments for third part party billing and non-public Transportation the
decrease in thirdparty Billing is offset by moving expenditures out of third party billing expenditures and into either Federal special education grants or state special education all of these amounts total the $4.7 million positive Revenue adjustment
next the expenditure budget is increasing by 3.8 million from the adopted budget throughout the expenditures you'll see onetime savings or costs that need to be added to the fiscal year 26 adopted budget we analyze those expenditures in four categories
salaries benefits purchase services and other so starting with those salaries we have a $3.3 million increase in FTE estimates for counselors and psychologists and contract settlements and estimates a $1.1 million decrease for open special education teachers
School psychologists nurses special education esps and human resource staff those are all being offset by increases in our Consulting Services those are onetime savings then we have the $749,000 offset for the new Reda teacher
training component which we just talked about the EXP the revenue piece which is an also a one-time cost we have a $741,000 decrease for about 8 three FTE teachers that were not deployed due to actual enrollment being below our
projections and then a $482,000 decrease for open positions for custodians and esps and those are onetime savings we have a $474,000 decrease for 4.9 teachers not deployed due to 27 line actual
enrollment being below projection those are onetime savings we have a $379,000 decrease increase for attrition and allocation adjustments and those are going over to the benefit area we have $110,000 decrease for open custo Information Systems tech support staff
positions and those are being offset by increases to both supplies and equipment and those are onetime savings we have $132,000 decrease then for our thirdparty billing salaries which are being moved to Federal special education grants and then a $96,000
increase for one FTE student management specialist staff for safe schools which is offset by a decrease in the purchase Services area for the school resource officer open position and again that's for one year only so this is a combined increase to salaries of 691 th000 from
the adopted budget and then some of those savings are going to need to be added back for the 26 adopted next we'll look at the benefit expenditures we have A1 $35,000 net increase to employer paid health insurance premiums and HSA contributions
due to a combination of plan migration our plan migration was actually 21% um at our midye and then we have a $379,000 increase for both attrition and allocation this was the offset that we saw in salaries and then a
$348,000 increase in our FICA this slide shows the remaining changes for benefits for TR and disability insurance and this is a combined increase in employee benefits of about 2.4 million from our adopted budget so moving on to purchase Services
we had an overall increase in expenditures the largest adjustment is for $1.1 million increase in consulting services this is off offset by those Open salary positions it's a onetime cost we have a $766,000 increase in
postsecondary education or PSO intermediate District 287 and other Public Schools tuition and then we have several smaller adjustments which include a 36 $376,000 decrease in utilities for electric and natural gas and then
$167,000 decrease for our safe schools unfilled position then we saw that offset in salaries and that's for one year only so this is a combined increase in purchase Services of 1.5 million from our adopted budget and then some of these onetime savings will need to be
added back again to our 26 adopted budget so finally moving on to our supplies capital and other expenditures we had an overall decrease of $748,000 we have a $533,000 decrease for curriculum adoptions carryover based on prior year
actual spend a $444,000 decrease in intermediate District 287 lease Levy for our area Learning Center instru instuctional spaces so based on Minnesota Department of education's new coding requirements those expenditures are now required to move into our capital expenditure fund
and they're part of our Capital fund um Med your rision we have $120,000 increase in judgments and then $110,000 increase in supplies and equipment for that offset that we saw in um salaries for custodial and Technology positions
those are a one-time cost so overall the net expenditures adjustment is 3.8 mlion more than are adopted and it's about um just short of $300,000 that are going to have to be added back for our 26
adoption so next we'll review the impact of a midyear adjustments on the five-year Financial projection for our general fund and this is a highlevel visual organizer of our financial forecast so there's three different sections to this projection top section shows our revenues expenditures
differences our fund balance and then our fund balance percentage for a seven-year window that begins in 23 and 24 which are shown in pink the revised budget for 25 which is in blue and then projections for 26 through 29 which is in green so you typically see any
operational adjustments that would be needed under the chart there aren't any at this time so then the Assumption section shows both the revenue and expenditure assumptions for revenues they'll fluctuate between a two and a 3% increase to the general basic formul
allowance and those estimates are provided by the Minnesota Department of Ed and then our expenditures are projected to increase 3% which is consistent with prior your tactics and isn't being changed currently so if we exceed those 3% of costs we'll be
outside our parameters and we be deficit spending at a greater rate than what's on this projection so also included in this projection is a potential hold harmless for compensatory funding of 5.5 million for 26 only so compensatory is
currently estimated to decrease for our district by about five and A5 million from our fiscal year 25 to our fiscal year 26 entitlement so this would provide the district one year to determine a plan for potential reductions in compensatory funding due
to changes in how it's being calculated so there is consideration at the legislative session to maintain compensatory at that fiscal year 25 level for 26 however due to the timing of the session ending and then any guidance that they can provide currently um it would have a
negative impact on our staffing which needs to start um in February for 26 and that's why it's being included so this next section shows the budget projections for both revenues in blue and expenditures in red and the lines show the general trends of each of
those items so as you can see expenditures are projected to outpace our revenues beginning in the current year by by 741 th000 so we don't have another lever like the operating referendum that was approved by our community for last year to account for any additional spending in the
future and then this final section looks at the fund balance projection for the same time the green bars represent our actual and projected fund balances for each year and then the orange bar shows that minimum required 5% as set in board policy again the lines show the general
trend for the fund balance as it relates to that minimum as you can see fund balance as a percentage of expenditures is projected to start decline in the current year so we are going to continue to monitor the financial projection to maintain that board required minimum fund balance of 5% in the
future so moving on to the food and nutrition services fund the revenue and expenditure budgets are increasing for a net positive change to fund balance of 1.1 million revenues are increasing due to higher partip in the prechool meals program for lunch and breakfast as well
as allart sales expenditures are increasing for increased Staffing of previously unfilled positions and then food costs due to higher meal participation the community service fund revenue and expenditure budgets are increasing for a net positive change to
fund balance of 339,000 revenues increased because of moral participation in youth enrichment and kidstop programs as well as interest and then expenditures increase due to filling open positions for kid stop due to more participation the capital expenditure
fund Revenue budget will be increased by 1.7 million the expenditure budget is increasing by $954,000 for a net positive change to fund balance of 77,000 revenues are increasing by 830,000 for the redact curriculum
component for fiscal year 25 only a $51,000 increase for e- rate Revenue collected from 24 projects and then $500,000 in technology equipment sales expenditures are increasing mostly in additional computer purchases purchase
order carryovers for technology equipment and leases partially again due to that new Minnesota Department of Education coding requirement those items previously were in the general fund and then the last fund is The Debt Service fund and that Revenue budget
will be increased for a positive change of 202,000 so revenues are increasing due to incre increased interest revenue and our fund balance for June 30th 2025 is projected to be about 11.5 million or 44% of
expenditures and then this last slide shows a summary of the net midyear budget revisions in those five funds that we budget for which are all positive for this revision and that concludes the presentation thank you is there a motion to approve the
fiscal year 2025 midyear budget as presented so moved so moved by director Tate is there a second second seconded by uh director Foster is there any discussion very thorough as always um
appreciate all of the detail I think that's really um important for our um public transparency to see this and we've reviewed this in work session as well and um so I think we just have a really fantastic process as usual as we
move through this okay thank you thank you all in favor say I I I I'll oppose n the motion passes six to zero the next action item is the approval of fiscal year 2026 general
fund and community service adjustments and capital expenditure budget information will be shared by John Morad Executive Director of Finance and operations John thank you chair Prince Dr H board members good evening again uh the
purpose of this evening's presentation is to provide information about the um FY 26 recommended operating budget adjustments and FY 26 proposed capital expenditure budget our recommendation this evening will be that the school board approve both budgets as
presented uh the recommendations are being shared this evening are part of the annual budget planning process budget decisions are made using the longrange financial planning framework or lrfp this framework includes a financial forecasting model that projects out for the next several years
and provides a basis for our budget planning while focusing on financial stability and you just saw that as Kelly went through it for the current year the budget decisions are evaluating using evaluated using the collaborative approach that engages a multitude of District stakeholders budget planning
includes aligning our Resources with the mission and strategic plan an assessment of the impact on productivity and essential services and compliance with legal requirements the school board engages in several work sessions through throughout the budget development process and at
the February 11th work session the board heard and considered budget adjustment recommendations so this evening our first action item for your consideration is the FY 26 budget adjustments in keeping with the direction provided by the score School
Board the FY 26 general fund budget adjustment recommendation includes maintaining a zerob based budget the lrfp budget summary document in your board packet gives the details of all program efficiency abandonment and redirection or pairs including the
category for the change of the dollar amount and the summary of the change I'll just give you kind of quick highlight starting with Community engagement in the general um this is a $350,000 increase for repurposing of Site Staffing and Operational Support which is offset and I'll jump to the
division of leadership teaching and learning where we're offsetting that $350,000 um with a few changes um but I'm going to go through the full list so the addition of boys and girls lacrosse at all high schools including coaches supplies transportation and event fees
expenses are offset by participation fees and gate receipts the addition of one shuttle for oec are the oio education center students for out of school job experiences due to an increase in the number of students in the program as you
recall um in previous legislation they changed the range for the transition program from 18 to 21 18 to 22 so there's more students and we need to have more opportunities there the addition of 2.0 FTE special education teachers and 2.0 FTE educational support
PA professionals or professionals excuse me in voluntary pre kindergarten to support additional seats allocated to oio Area Schools the reduction of 2.0 FTE special education teachers and 2.0 FTE educational support Professionals
for special ed General support these FTE will be funded through Federal special Leed grants the addition of 7.21 FTE social workers to continue the current FTE previously funded with a one-year Strategic investment now funded through
the increased um in pupil support Aid provided by the Department of Education and also on here in the area or the instructional and informational technology team division or it22 um is the addition of 1.0 FTE cyber
security analyst and reduction of 1.0 FTE application analyst to provide dedicated Staffing allocation to support continuing cyber security efforts for oio schools these changes in the general fund result in a net zero change to the budget and the last item that we always
add is our annual contingency for enrollment growth Pro above um projections this is an addition of 22.1 FTE teacher contingency this proposal creates contingent budget capacity to target areas of non-projected enrollment
growth with additional classroom teacher FTE if needed the final three recommendations are listed here uh the addition of 87 FTE lead leave and absence management specialist to support changes in
legislation related to Paid Family Medical Leave earned safe and sick time and unemployment the addition of 433,000 300 or so to add budget capacity to support a new payroll tax for the family medical leave change changes in legislation this is the number we know
today um I did find out something earlier today that said that number will change they're already increasing it so just be aware we'll we'll at least start the approval where we can um the addition of 1.0 FTE principal 1.0 FTE resource manager for n months 1.0 FTE
elementary school administrative assistant for 6 months 1.0 FTE building engineer for two months and 1.0 FTE grounds person for two months to support the startup of the new Elementary School in NorthEast Maple Grove and I will turn it back to chair Prince for a possible
motion to approve the FY 26 budget recommendations is there a motion to approve the fiscal year 2026 general fund and community service adjustments and capital expenditure budget as presented so move uh motion by director
Mitchell is there a second second second by director Tate is there any discussion so this isn't the capital part this is just oh sorry okay let me amend that we'll come back to the capital part okay any discussion no okay uh all in
favor say I I all oppose n motion pass is six to zero okay so now we'll move on to the capital thank you so to continue the number parade we'll talk about the fiscal 26 capital expenditure budget again School Board discussed this at the February 11th work session and we'll
give you a quick overview of those expenditures um that we're proposing this slide shows the proposed budget for our operating Capital by each division and Department operating capital is a zerob based budget so each item included in this funding proposal was accompanied by a capital request
that was moved through the lrfp process the items included in the operation operating capital budget must align with statutory guidance for designation as a capital item any staff salaries benefits included in these Capital budgets must be directly related to the acquisition operation and maintenance of telecommunications
systems computers and related equipment in the with the community engagement division uh just under $73,000 to replace two staff computers replace 200 student computers for adult basic Ed purchase eight computers for
facility scheduling staff and a contingency for equipment replacement with the division of leadership te teaching and learning uh 3,1 100,000 to replace sports uniforms and equipment music attire and marching band uniforms following a predetermined
replacement schedule Place instruction excuse me purchase instructional materials and curriculum resources maintain concurrent enrollment offerings purchase Media Center materials maintain online software resources maintain a contingency for the career and Tech
education program maintain capit Capital allocation and replace Capital Equipment and pay leases for venues hosting oh sorry we're not doing that one anymore um the in the human and administrative resource team heart 5 million about
5,200,000 to maintain our lease commitments for instructional spaces athletic facilities flexible rooms equipment camera systems and so on contingencies for equipment special assessments Insurance deductibles and
security and Emergency Management purchase Capital Equipment for a new Elementary for interior and exterior maintenance replace Grounds Maintenance and custodial equipment and replace nine automated external defibrillators or aeds um and the instructional and
information technology team I2 T2 division they're actually just using eate Revenue to maintain Enterprise technology licensing support internet and Cloud backup SST um backup solution so it's just a zero net charge to the district overall operating Capital total
of 8,347 485 the next slide shows the proposed budget for the capital projects or Technology and Safety Levy voters approved this in 2022 at 4.71% of adjusted net tax capacity so
again by division just two divisions in this group um the hearts division is utilizing just under 2 2.1 million for replacing camera and card access systems maintaining camera licenses visitor Management Systems tip lines the door
intrusion system um adding additional digital two-way radios throughout the district contingency for technology related security equipment the addition of 1.0 FTE Technology support specialist to support security and emergency management technology
systems and in the I2 T2 division 12, 300,000 to continue Enterprise technology positions secondary support positions and administrative support position transfer 875 FTE instructional technology ESP staff from specialed
federal grants to the technology Levy maintain Enterprise technology licensing support software and licenses internet filtering Wi-Fi access and Technology repair parts maintain existing technology equipment leases maintain
digital displays cyber security services phone systems software switches wireless access points mobile device management software software subscriptions and licenses the school notification system and a unified print solution maintain a
device repair contingency purchase and install Wireless displays for new Elementary classrooms and purchase charging carts the total Capital Project's technology Levy is1 14,400 497 so the recommendation from the
district is approval of the 20 2026 capital expenditure budget that includes operating capital and capital project technology safety Levy expenditures which total 22 m747 n82 and I will turn it back to chair
Prince thank you is there a motion to approve the fiscal year 2026 capital expenditure budget as presented so move moved by director Tate is our second second seconded by
director Brooks is there any discussion again thank you for all of the work from the finance uh department and all of the Departments that go into um preparing this uh and we reviewed this in depth at the work session as well so um with that all in favor say I
I I I'll oppose Nate motion passes six to zero okay so the approval of these budgets will allow our leadership teams to proceed with the Staffing process and begin pre-planning for items that require lead time um significant lead time for completion prior to the start
of the 26th school year we will finalize the budget details as well as monitor ongoing legislative sessions and the impacts on the 2026 budget these budgets will be included with the entire budget P package discussed at the June 10th
Schoolboard work session and presented for approval at the school board meeting on June 24th thank you very much thank you our next agenda item is a recommendation for approval on the agreement on the terms and conditions of
employment before the between the ISD 279 school board and student management Specialists July 1st 2023 through June 30th 2025 information will be shared by yvon shortz slin Executive Director of Human
Resources yon thank you chair Prince excuse me um first of all I wanted to thank the Labor Relations director and the bargaining team of the student management Specialists this is the first contract for this group um I do want to point out um the dates were
just read but I do want to point out that this contract um is uh starts uh the effective date is July 1st of 2023 and it ends uh this June um this group was um um was embedded in another
contract and this is a new contract so um we're we're pretty much towards the end of that contract um so again I want to thank um all of the parties for reaching an agreement um I'm just going to provide a high level overview because the board has um the redlined um uh
contract as well as the memorandum and your board materials um substantively the terms and conditions of this agreement um include uh compensation contractual increases in the first and second years of the contract the first
year year of the contract which again is 2023 24 fiscal year is a 5% increase to base salary the second year a 3% increase to base salary um that second year of the contract is again this current fiscal year the um agreement
also includes changes in other terms and conditions of the contract uh um changes to um employer contributions to Group insurance coverage some changes to the leave of absence section of the contract
and also um deferred compensation um this contract also has uh five memoranda of understanding um and they were either uh again revised um some were pulled out from the I through M contract or added to this new contract with student management Specialists the
total amount of um uh of the total package of the increase is 9.01% the total Financial investment for this um group of SMS uh employees is $28,750
which is within the financial parameters established by the board it is the superintendent and my recommendation that the contract be approved and with board approval and ratification of the contract HR and payroll will begin
implementation thank you is there a motion to approve the agreement on the terms and conditions of employment between the Independent School District 279 school board and student management Specialists July 1st 2023 through June 30th
2025 moved move uh motion by director Brooks is there a second second seconded by director Dawson is there any discussion so echoing uh appreciation for everybody involved um and um I'm
glad that we were able to come to consensus um for this group we value all of um all of our different groups and staff members every single um group and staff member contributes um to our district of excellence and to the student
experience thank you all in favor say i allose n motion passes six to zero okay the next set of action items are the second reading of policies um so we have quite a number to
go through uh all of the policies up for second reading were shared in the first reading on January 21st 20125 and we did go through those one by one in detail as well uh General Council Amy Moore will share the information and we'll take action on each individual policy Amy
thank you um so these policies have been posted since last month um and we have not received any comment or questions for updates um so what is being presented is what you heard at the last board meeting so the first policy 404
family and medical leave for School District employees we moved up the eligibility and qualifying reasons for FMLA leave FMLA leave and uh clarified uh what those two sections uh mean meant in more precise language and then some
other um um wording updates uh that you'll see um and the other change was in section um nine uh really eliminating um some wording that wasn't
needed uh for clarification reasons so those were the updates to policy 404 is there a motion to approve the second reading of policy 404 family and medical leave for School Employees with proposed edits so mov moved by director
Mitchell second second uh by second by director Foster um any discussion all in favor say I I'll oppose n motion passes 6 to zero policy 420 students and employees
with communicable diseases and infectious conditions we are proposing the policy uh to be approved as it is there were no um updates that we found were required for the policy we did include an update to the procedure
talking about how we will comply with Minnesota statute as it relates to immunizations and documentation as well as as well as some other updates regarding that we don't um keep out students for eye drainage unless there's some other uh illness
involved okay is there a motion to approve the second reading of policy for20 students and employees with communal diseases as presented so motion by director Brooks second second um seconded by director
Dawson any discussion all in favor say I I I'll oppose n motion passes 6 to zero policy 427 work will limits for certain special education teachers what we did is we um
removed the procedure which just included the definitions that you see now in the policy okay is there a motion to approve the second reading of policy 427 workload limits for certain special education teachers with proposed edits
moved by director Tate is there a second second uh seconded by director Foster is there any discussion all in favor say I I all oppose nay motion passes six to zero policy 442 travel uh we added a
purpose and general statement of the policy consistent with other policies uh that we have um and then reference the fact that taxier ride share services are now in use is there a motion to approve the second reading of policy 442 travel with
proposed edits so mooved motion by director Brooks is there a second second second by director Foster is there any discussion all in favor say I I all oppose nay motion passes six to zero
policy 705 on investments um the updates you will see uh are to at that you will see with this and um other policies to come are to align the language with u Minnesota school boards Association policy language um as well as including
scope and purpose and general statements of the policies is there a motion to approve the second reading of policy 705 Investments proposed edits so moved Mo by director Mitchell second second by director Dawson any
discussion all in favor say I I all oppose nay motion passes six to zero policy 706 Investments for other post-employment benefits trust um similar to the last we updated to
include scope and purpose and general statement that aligns with Minnesota school board's Association policy policies um as well as with that one kind of clarifying that officials and employees part of investor prous uh sh act professionally really setting our
expectations for our employees uh when they're involved in these um Investments is there a motion to approve the second reading of policy 706 Investments other post employee benefits with proposed edits so motion by
director books second second seconded by director Foster is there any discussion all in favor say I I all oppose nay motion passes six to zero policy 722 public data and data
subject requests uh for that policy we updated to include um an a section section J informing uh individuals of their rights um under data practices and kind of what that process would look
like is there a motion to approve the second reading of policy 722 public data and data subject requests with proposed edits motion by director Dawson second second seconded by director
Brooks any discussion all in favor say I I all oppose nay motion passes 6 to zero policy 730 fund balance uh we updated the language to align with Minnesota
school board's Association policy and to make sure the language is consistent with other policies that you have now passed is there a motion to approve the second reading of policy 7:30 fund balance with proposed edits so moved moved by director Tate second second
seconded by director Foster is there any discussion all in favor say I I'll oppose n motion passes 6 to zero policy 731 post issuance debt compliance policy uh the updates are really to the titles
of this policy for consistency is there a motion to approve the second reading of policy 731 post issuance debt compliance with proposed edits motion by director Brooks is there a second second second by director Mitchell any
discussion all in favor say I I'll oppose nay motion passes 6 to zero last one uh policy 740 electronic signatures this was a newer policy to us last year um and because it's in the 740s we're keeping it a part of the three-year
cycle there were no proposed updates um since we passed it recently is there a motion to approve the second reading of policy 740 electronic signatures as presented so Move Motion by director
Tate seconded by director Rooks any discussion all in favor say I I I'll oppose name motion passes 6 to Z thank you all right the final action item is gifts to the district is there a motion to approve
gifts to the district totaling $66,872 18 all moved by director Foster is there a second second seconded by director Brooks um is there any discussion thank you so much to
everybody who um gives in this way to continue to support our district every single month it's um you know large numbers after large numbers and it really makes a difference in what we're able to offer our students um in addition to our
funding all in favor say I I all oppose nay motion passes 6 to zero okay at this time we'll take a brief recess and then reconvene in the Forum room for a closed session the session will close be closed pursuant to
Minnesota's statute 13d do3 for labor negotiations with aesp esps kid stop instructors RNs and LPN is there a motion to recess the regular meeting for 10 minutes and reconvene in the Forum room for a closed
session motion by director Mitchell second by director Dawson all in favor say I I'll oppose name motion passes 6 Z this meeting is recessed at 8:41 p.m. the school board
meeting will adjourn at the conclusion of the closed session for