##VIDEO ID:4RKrNHVJdMg## e e good evening the regular meeting of the Independent School District 279 School Board is called to order at 6: pm. on January 21st 20125 this regular business meeting of the oio school board is being conducted in the boardroom of the Educational 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 Director Erica Foster that's the wrong order director Kelsey we're all mixed up tonight okay then 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 Hile and members of the superintendent's cabinet for the purpose of consistency of no activities for students due to the weather our school board our student board Representatives will not be participating in this evening's Meeting those of you who can please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance director Foster will you please lead the pledge I pledge aliance to the plag of the United States of America and to the repic for stand one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all board members are there any additions to the agenda is there a motion to accept the agenda as presented so move so of move by director Dawson uh is there a second second second by director Brooks is there any discussion seeing none all in favor say I I I all opposed say nay motion passes six to zero our next standing agenda item is recognitions we have no recognitions this evening our presentation planned for this evening charting new Waters the CTA Journey at Park Center Senior High School has been moved to our meeting agenda in February uh our next agenda item student School Board Representatives as we said um we look forward to our reports from our school student School Board representatives in February okay the next agenda item is audience opportunity to address the board I will review a few of the guidelines for those who will speak to the board um as we get started as a board we welcome all voices and strive for public engagement and transparency in our board work public comment is one of many Avenues to achieve this speakers will be called to the podium in this order student parent staff Community member and others please keep your comments to three minutes comments should be directed to the entire board not to any 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 Sher the board secretary will provide copies to board members the board and audience will listen and not respond back at this time if you would like someone to follow up with you on your questions and or comments please let the board secretary know Personnel concern concerns should be directed to the 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 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 okay Amy Jordan speak here okay uh my name is Amy Jordan and I am here to advocate for my daughter yla to attend Maple Grove senior high school and I am a district resident um Lyla is currently slated to attend oio high school in the fall she is a straight A student an aspiring writer and a competitive wheelchair dancer she has cerebral poliy and uses a Power Wheel chair she also perseveres through sensory processing disorder and generalized anxiety disorder she is a truly remarkable child who is here with me today I am so proud of her for advocating for herself as only she truly knows what she needs to meet her full academic potential while both asio and Maple Grove senior high schools are both technically wheelchair accessible the reality is that not all accessible environments are created equal aio's original Construction in 1924 relies heavily on on retrofitted accommodations which present challenges for Lila for example interior doors at oio are heavy and lack automatic openers requiring significant physical effort to navigate as a mother I am hardwired to fear the worst and in emergence in in an emergency such as a fire or other evacuation scenario these barriers could delay her exit the few accessible ex exterior doors are located near Main exits and require additional steps or backtracking which could increase her risk in a crisis Maple Grove High School on the other hand was built in 1996 after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act and with modern accessibility in mind examples uh include improved ex examples include more automatic doors wider hallways and better designed emergency exit routes these differences are not just conveniences these are the kinds of things that non-disabled people like you and I never have to worry about about for yla they are critical critical for her to thrive for her to focus on her academic PS Pursuits and for her to do so without undue stress lyla's also looking forward to participating in musical theater this aligns with her passions and goals the theater at oio has just four wheelchair spaces and narrow aisles while Maple Grove has 12 spaces and wide aisles again these are the things that my 14-year-old has to think about I want to be clear oio High School is a wonderful school and it is where I would choose to have lla attend if it offered the same level of accessibility as Maple Grove High School does my request to you today is about holding the district accountable to the law in my handout I have detailed Minesota statute section 125 a08 which states that students with disabilities must have access to extracurricular and academic opportunities in the least restrictive environment deny yla access to attend school in Maple Grove is denying her access to attend school in the least restrictive environment those of you who have family or friends with kids like lla know that we will fight both tooth and nail to ensure our kids get what they need every day we deal with barriers large and small will there be handicapped parking so that Lyla can exit our vehicle safely will her school be staffed with enough esps to provide her with the support she needs will her teachers continue to honor her IEP today we are faced with a new challenge will the school district where we live provide disabled students the access to academic programming and opportunity in a way that best suits the individual needs of that student the district has made its decision but the board today has a choice to live up to the standards set by the law which requires individualized solutions for students with disability or to apply uniform policies to solutions that are far from uniform I urge you to reconsider the decision and thank you so much for your time this evening thank you lla Jer good evening my name is lla and I'm really excited about starting High School I've always loved school and I work really hard because I want to go to college and become a writer someday and start my own business I also do competitive wheelchair dance in Maple Grove and I love theater and music I use a power wheelchair because I have a cable policy while AO High Senior High is accessible there's a big difference between what is technically accessible and what's actually easy easier to use at Maple Grove I wouldn't have to worry as much about he heavy doors older narrower hallways or tricky exits at my most recent I meeting it was decided that I was no longer I no longer need full-time ESP support I'm up for the challenge of navigating more of my day independently but I need an environment that supports that Independence not one that makes it harder navigating my day often depends on someone else's availability given the right environment I actually I actually am quite independent my teachers in current esps could tell you just how far I have come in the success they see in my future but again the right environment is key my cereal policy already impacts my energy levels and dealing with accessibility barriers can be frustrating and ex Ling both physically and emotionally I don't want to spend my time and energy worrying about how to navigate a crowed hallway or exit safely in an emergency I want to focus on my schoolwork my friends and my goals this decision is about my dignity Independence and equality it's about giving me the same opportunity to fully participate and succeed as every other student the law says I deserve to be educated in the least restrictive environment and for me that's my senior high I'm asking the district to reconsider and give me the chance to start this new chapter in the right environment thank you for listening thank you so much for coming and speaking with us our next agenda item is the superintendent report Dr h thank you good evening chair Prince Vice chair Brooks and the school board members I thank each of you for your commitment in coming out on such a cold night it's appreciated as well as as the cabinet and um Sherry and Ashton so as we meet this evening I would like to provide just more information on attendance boundary changes that will begin in the fall of 2026 and this process will be using one of our District's leaderships uh District system leadership tools will help us to support our schools becoming a human centered culture so holding space is a tool which ensures we take the time to ensure all stakeholders are valued and heard as we enter into the work around potential boundary changes with transparency and a need for input from our stakeholders as the final decisions are made so you are needed and you are important so I just want to take some time again to share information of what we're doing in regards to attendance boundary changes so just as a reminder attendance boundary change proposals were shared online on Tuesday of last week four scenarios were presented there almost 12,000 community members have visited the attendance boundary website since that time our first Community informational meeting was also held last week on Wednesday and we will have another informational meeting scheduled for this Thursday at 5:45 p.m. in Maple Grove Middle School please know that this is just the beginning of a several week Community engagement process we're at the bolded part of the timeline that as you can see on the PowerPoint so it is very important for you to share your voice during this time as it will help our team make potential adjustments I'll talk about the ways you can share this feedback in just a minute so the school board expected to finalize new attendance boundaries by this may then they'll go into effect of September of 2026 so our boundaries website has a plethora of information so if you're wondering if your household is impacted by any of the four proposals you can just type your address onto these four web pages there are also maps online to assist you with us there's over 30 frequently asked questions are also available to view on the website our goal is to be transparent and give you as much information as possible as what is needed the website is address to access all this is at district279.org boundaries so as I mentioned earlier we're at that very important feedback portion of our timeline so please make an intentional effort to share your thoughts on the four proposed scenarios you can do so at the community informational meeting on Thursday at Maple Grove Middle School or via the online form on the website and the QR code here is a direct link to that online form so we have heard from 600 community members to date so please consider sharing we want to ensure all voices are valued and heard we value each and every one of you you are all part of our Ox schools family and this understandably can be a challenging change so just a note Thursday's meeting will also be live streamed you can watch that presentation portion portion as it happens or you can view the recording at a different time if that works better for your schedule then if you haven't already I'd encourage you to fill out the online form again we need your feedback all your feedback whether via the group or online form will be reviewed by our team in the next coming weeks adjustments will likely be made as a result of all of our meetings and input new proposed scenarios are expected to be shared by March so at that time you'll once again have an opportunity to provide the district with more feedback so here are multiple ways to stay informed during this process we just refer to the district279.org boundaries for the latest update again parents and caregivers can stay tuned to regular updates via email and text all our community members can also connect with these hotlines to build a better future at district279.org or at the following phone number 763 391 899 all once again from the bottom of my hearts we thank you for your help with making these needed changes the best that they can be and once again we need your input okay so regular part of our superintendent report is to share points of pride of our district by sharing points of Pride we are taking time to recognize and celebrate the scholars our staff and community members who are contributing to the accomplishments of our mission which is to inspire and prepare each and every scholar with the confidence courage and competence to achieve their dreams contribute to community and engage in a lifetime of learning so I have members of our district cabinet here to assist in sharing some examples from the last month thank you the six District senior high school students have been honored for their dedication to academics Athletics and the Arts with the AAA award for 2025 the winners include two students from each of the district's three comprehensive of senior high schools this year's winners are Juna Kong and Jacob Robin from Maple Grove Senior High Brennan CR and Emily Wong from oio Senior High Ben Marshall and Abigail saac from Park Center the media center at Cedar Island Elementary School is a place of learning books and rock music on the evening of December 17th 18 fourth and fifth graders in the modern band took over the media center to put on a show for their families and friends modern band is an extracurricular activity for students at Cedar Island organized and led by music specialist Stefan wolf and physical education teacher Michael frell the band offers a way for students to immerse themselves in music that is of their uh musical vernacular but isn't traditionally honored in the academic musical setting making music fun relevant and real for students in the days leading up to winter break multiple schools hosted concerts and singals including Park Brook Fair Oaks Fernbrook Birch Grove and oio Senior High School fifth graders at Elm Creek Elementary spent the the last 14 weeks participating in the drug abuse resistance education or Dare program with with the Maple Grove Police Department and they held a ceremony January 10th to celebrate the program's completion with family and friends the ceremony started with opening remarks from officer slaon the de officer for Maple Grove Police Department who worked with the students throughout the program Chief Eric Warner was also in attendance to congratulate students and help hand out their certificates robotics teams from across the district recently put their skills and determination to the test test at two major tournaments Maple Grove Senior High School ISD 279 and Park Center Senior High School uh competed in the First Tech Challenge FTC tournaments graciously hosted by Maple Grove Senior High Crimson robotics while AIO Senior High School showcase their talent at the Vex robotics Granite Granite City High School uh Stakes tournament congratulations to all these talented students in the in the area of contributing to community staff members at the oio area Learning Center or oalc and 279 online have recently taken an active approach to championing recycling efforts earning them a free park bench to be placed on site at the O oalc for collecting and recycling 1,000 pounds or 81,000 um items plastic bags within a year year Jesse Huff Larson who led the effort said we are trying to instill the recycling mindset in kids going forward so they can go out in the world and teach the world to do better before the winter break students at oio Middle School worked with the American Indian education culture and language specialist Jill lindel to learn about how many indigenous uh many indigenous cultures including ojibway and Dakota blankets are given uh to honor someone that they may feel um the collective warmth and embrace of their family friends and Community their ojibway word of the day was wabu Nik or she or he makes a blanket students at oio middle worked together to make two fleece uh tie blankets that were later smudged and donated to a homeless shelter that serves the native community so that uh their their unsheltered relatives may feel the warmth and embrace of the Native community at oal midle in the area of lifelong learning the day before winter break the Halls at Rush Creek Elementary were filled with cheers joy and jingle bells as students participated in an all School Bingo the students decorated their own boards choosing where to put each item each classroom joined the Google meet uh for a few rounds of bingo with the winners ringing Jingle Bells and claiming their prizes in the hallway Birch Grove School of the Arts offers elective art offerings as part of their students regular specialist rotation the school students recently showed off their elective artwork during showcase events some some of this year's elective options included stop motion video creation yoga and a nail art studio equipped with icing Cy and candy and plenty of imagination students across the district celebrated the last few weeks before the holiday break by decorating gingerbread houses including students at Elm Creek Fernbrook parkbrook and Rush Creek Elementary Schools CCX media recently featured Park Center Senior High School's Mariah paw who is a full international baloran student and has entered a full ride scholarship to Stanford University P told CCX since its senior year I've been thinking back on how I've grown and how this school has helped me grow I've been here my whole life I think I just want to expand and grow somewhere students at enbrook elementary school got an introduction to coding last week when they participated in a coding activity in the media center with library media specialist Valerie Jeffrey the students broke into teams taking on their roles of material manager Information Specialist and drivers they Ed the Cod cars to figure out which color tiles did what Acts including driving slowing down stopping turning left and right and spinning in a circle they then built tracks using the colored tiles to make the cars follow the track they will continue to build their coding skills using the cars as the school year progresses students in all grades at Basswood Elementary School kicked off their kids heart champ on January 9th sponsored by the American Heart Association the kids heart challenge aims to educate students on the importance of heart health and raise money for efforts to improve heart health to get students pumped up the Double Dutch team from parkbrook elementary school performed showing off individual and partner tricks and inviting Basswood staff to try their hand at jumping during the kickoff students also learned what their heart looks like and why it is important and how to keep their hearts healthy by eating fruits and vegetables drinking water getting a good night's sleep avoiding tobacco and vaping and getting in movement two Minneapolis Fire Chiefs visited Brooklyn Park Steam School shortly before winter break began to share about their career and fire safety with students during a steam explorers class where BMS students can sign up to learn more about different careers from local professionals I'm living my childhood dream buer Chief David Carson said I wouldn't trade it for for anything helping people is really where I found my purpose Park Center Senior High School's latest career panel focuses on many different ways that students can pursue careers related to sports such as sales Human Resources coaching Sports technology and more students in community education's kid stop at oakw elementary school and Basswood Elementary school didn't let winter break stop them from having fun as they participated in a bowling field trip on December 27th the crash of bowling pins and Che from the students echoed through the alley at Sundance bow as the students put their skills to the test the trip was filled with laughter and friendly competition fourth graders at Elm Creek Elementary School recently had the opportunity to visit the Eastman Nature Center to learn important Winter survival skills students learned what they would need to survive if they were stranded outdoors and how to build a shelter and a fire in the area of mission driven employees each day the dedicated transportation department department at oio Area Schools Works to get students to and from school safely despite the rain snow and ice so common in Minnesota one key member of the transportation team is Jim gy assistant director of Transportation who was recently featured as a staff Spotlight my favorite thing about my job is how the service we provide in transportation benefits families and students grey said we can get caught up in the day-to-day grind of our jobs and it can be frustrating but when it all comes down to it what we do is pretty impactful helping students get to and from school safely check out the full staff Spotlight on the district website Heidi stoa instrumental music teacher at oio Middle School presented at the Midwest Clinic an international band and Orchestra Convention held annually in Chicago on December 20th stoal and presenting partner Laura Goucher from Mod gave the same building teamwork in a large Ensemble classroom and what to do when things go wrong presentation last year at the Minnesota music educ a convention to a standing room only crowd through the presentation in Chicago December they have now received invitations to speak at several other state conventions two staff members recently received Statewide recognition for contributions to Community Education programs the Minnesota Community Education Association recently recognized Carrie cab U area school's director of community engagement for her remarkable four years of service on its board of directors during her tenure on the board cab held several leadership roles including Treasurer President elect President and past president leaving a lasting impact on Community Education Statewide Nancy Johnson program manager for oio area schools adult basic education has been named the 2024 recipient of the ainger volunteer engagement award this honor presented by literacy Minnesota recognizes profession profs who demonstrate Vision diligence and commitment to integrating volunteers into literacy programs thank you both for all of your work thank you a few final notes and reminders for this evening we have some great upcoming events open to our families and to our community members so join us for the second annual face Black History Month celebration on Saturday February 1st of 2025 from 1:30 to 4:30 at Park Center Senior High School enjoy free food DJ is Showcase and to support bikep owned businesses we also highly encourage everyone to join us for the District 279 foundation on Friday February 7th at 5:30 p.m. and this will be held at Edinburgh Us Golf Course for a night out benefiting District 279 Foundation grants program learn more and register on the district website also you can join us here at schools in partnership with Brooklyn Park recreation and parks on Thursday February 20th for the third annual all abilities resource fair this free open house includes exhibitions and information for individuals with disability related needs families and caregivers last not but least I'm sounding like a broken record today but I want encourage your our preschool Elementary and Middle School families to participate in our attendance boundary change process taking place right now once again details are online in district279.org boundaries you also will find a feedback form on that site that is open until February 7th and round one's final Community informational meeting has been held Thursday once again at Maple Ro middle in the cafe there at 5:45 so please make sure to RSVP online if you wish to plan to attend and of course you can learn more about all of these three events at our district website thank you and that concludes tonight's superintendent report thank you Dr H thank you our next agenda item is Schoolboard reports director Dawson do you have a reporter update I have a few um I'm sitting on the association for metropolitan school district um group and so we had the legislative preview a couple of Fridays ago so it's really good and they're very much centering um keeping students at the center of all of their legislative priorities and you know our district is a member um and then I attended the Minnesota School Board Association conference and I just wanted to highlight it was really great I one of the sessions I went to um Park centers Anthony Turner uh presented on Park Center's innovative ways that they are addressing chronic absenteeism it was really well attended um a lot of people were very interested to look and and understand what Park Center is doing in some of the ways that they're addressing um treny and then um finally on Monday yesterday um we I was able to attend with AIO School District the um Martin Luther King breakfast and it's always just a good time to it's always inspiring and um a way to honor Dr King's Legacy around um Justice and um what that means to us so that's what I have thank you director Foster do you have a reporter update I do not director Brooks no reports okay director Tate uh no nothing for me director Mitchell I don't tonight but we had our new assignments um at our last work session so I'm sure we'll all have a report um and I do have a brief report um I did have the joint uh Power board for the Northwest Suburban integration School District um and they had their organizational meeting as well um covered the year end audit uh and had some policy reviews though there were no changes okay all right our next agenda item is a presentation on bid awards for several Elementary sites and the ESC John morstead Executive Director of Finance and operations will present the information okay thank you chair Prince um so this is one of the fun things that we get to present so as we uh have been working our way through the build a better future process um we've moved out of a lot of design elements and into finally getting bid documents in and part of the presentation today is kind of showing you what some of the changes that we are proposing either with new buildings or changes to existing buildings will look like and then in the consent agenda we're asking the school board to approve bids that we've received on all of these particular projects so the buildings that we're going to talk about projects for today are the new Elementary School in Maple Grove Oak viiew Elementary Woodland Elementary Rush Creek Elementary Basswood Elementary and the Educational Service Center maintenance Edition so I'm going to give you an idea of what all those the renderings of what those um new either renovations to the the existing elementaries or what the new Elementary will look like I'm not going to show the ESC because we're just adding a box onto the warehouse so the first picture you're looking at is a site plan of the new elementary school and for those of you that don't know the location of this site um it's in Northwest Maple Grove on and they just changed the names of the road so I'm going to give you the old names and then the new ones it was the corner of Troy Lane in 101st which has been changed to Arbor Ridge Parkway and soon to be Ste Road um if you know where the Hindu temple is that's located up there it's just about a block south of that um so just to give you a quick configuration of what the school looks like the school's about 139,000 Square ft it will hold about 1100 prek through five students with full capacity so main entrance is coming in off Arbor Ridge Parkway um that'll be on the right side of this and then bus entry coming off Ste Road around the back um with field use in the to the South and then there's actually quite a bit of acreage that still goes to the north into a forest and Wetland area where we'll have some outdoor classrooms and just nice Green Space up in that area give you a look at the main front entryway um and I'm going to just kind of go through a bunch of the pictures I'll tell you what they are but we'll just kind of roll through them real quick um just another view as you're driving in um of the front this is a unique Elementary in that this is aio's first two-story Elementary School so it does have a main level and an upper level um this is the student entry in the uh on the Bus Loop side and then this is once you've come in the main building this is kind of the crossroads inside the building so this is the point where you would either go to your left down towards the gymnasiums the cafeteria in front of you or to your right to the media center and learning Studios view of the cafeteria um we've really taken the opportunity to let natural light be a a huge Foundation of this particular building there is a um natural theme that you'll see a lot of what feels like kind of trees built into the architecture within the site um here's a view of the outside patio around the cafeteria area there are actually also three patios that sit outside um the three lower learning Studios that are a learning patio so it's kind of like a an impromptu Outdoor Classroom where we have formal outdoor classrooms a little farther outout towards the woods and prairie area um as you continue down the hall you come to the media center so you have again a lot of natural light that is let in here and this is where you're going to branch and the building goes up to to the twostory portion another view of the media center from up above looking down and then we move into the Learning Studio so there are six different learning Studios each Learning Studio has six classrooms and a number of breakout spaces an actual like office space for the teachers so they can office separately from where their their Learning Studio is um a mudroom so the kids have a place to put boots coats all those things separate from the classrooms um they all have their own bathroom Suite to go with it um and then a kind of a common central area out front then we can potentially open up and close depending on the needs of of whatever those classes are doing at the time so there's one of these for each grade level the only one that's slightly different is kindergarten where the rooms are just a little bit larger for the the little small kiddos um this is a little bit of a distance view from outside but also kind of a look at that one of those learning patios outside looks like um and then this is a view if you went down to the other end this is half of the gymnasium space so this gym space is Four Element size courts or that can be converted into two full size high school basketball courts um now I'm going to move into some of the uh new or excuse me current elementary schools where we're doing renovations to the media center and adding some flex room spaces so this um and I'm not showing pictures of every one of them because a lot of them are very similar or they've done some minor architectural tweaks where some have used you know a a triangle or a rectangle as their primary um just descriptive piece others have used more arches you know so they're very similar in general concept just a few tweaks that we allowed each of the buildings to customize to their own needs so this is the Edenbrook Media Center as you're coming in um they all have a bit of kind of this hallway um entry feel with kind an opening and that room to the left is actually a maker studio and I'll show you another picture of it here but here's a good example of kind of the opened um media area similar feel into Basswood but you'll see some of the changes different geometric shapes to it but again you kind of feel the similar Oak View and Rush Creek actually chose the same design so they went more to a square oops and then they wanted their um circulation desk to be in the middle and work around it so we again gave them that flexibility to make the decision that was best for their building still meeting all the needs that the district had established here's a look at Fernbrook where you're getting a little more of that Arch to it just bringing in a rounded um appeal that that that school preferred Fernbrook Woodland have kind of a similar more of a peninsula circulation desk and then here here's your other geometric shapes in those same schools um here's an example of that maker space what the it's very flexible we can do a lot of things with it um lots of opportunities for different classes that can be brought in and taught in these areas um there's this is a good example of what a flex space looks like and then we have a second one also in the buildings as well just to give you an idea every one of our elementaries and middle schools that don't have them today are getting an uh an outdoor classroom added so in within the bids for these elementaries include outdoor classrooms so just some examples of what some of those pictures look like this is the Woodland Outdoor Classroom um model of what they're planning to do so you have a variety of things here for a full class space even some small little meeting group areas a bit of a Nook um a water potential water feature I think they wanted a dryy creek red in this particular case and then there's some sales to kind of create a little natural shade when you're out there if it happens to be a warmer day or just bright um here's more of a look at what rush Creeks looks like they actually have a a kind of a smaller one here and a little secondary one that's a little bit more in the woods so again opportunities for each building to customize based on what their site provides and that's it for the slides are there any questions that I can answer for you board members questions or comments what's really exciting to see it come to life and one of the things I'm always reminded when you're sharing about um Renovations and we show some of them when we think about across the system we're elevating all of our sites I know we've talked before about the selection of finishes making sure that all of the sites have the same quality and level of finishes to select from um so just that always sticks in my mind we're seeing some of them yeah and it's a great Point there's there's um like we're doing brand new furniture in all K12 classrooms and it's not really a great picture to throw up what brand new furniture looks like but it is rolling out across the system it is definitely needed we're trying to either recycle sell or donate off the old furniture that we have and obviously there's some pieces that we've gotten that are relatively new so we can keep those and mix them in um but at the same time I want I think we've already done four or five schools and are adding another 10 this summer so the the total Furniture um package is in the kind of mid2 million range for in order to do furniture for across our entire District but it is very needed and we're excited as we slowly roll that forward and we learn through the process and make little tweaks to make it get better and better as we go and reach back to the schools that we're very uh we were blessed to have some schools willing to be the guinea pig and pilot a few things up front so we want to make sure we reach back to some of those schools and make sure that if we did make an improvement that they didn't have that we we can offer it and get that Blended in so so far all these projects that I can tell you through today that we're asking you to approve as a collective plus ones we've done before are on budget so we're real happy to say that um keep your fingers crossed for things going forward um but but again I think we're financially in a really good place so far and more pieces to come okay thank you thank you the next a agenda item is our consent agenda board members our consent agenda items this evening include meeting minutes and financial reports from December 2024 organizational meeting minutes extended educational trip Personnel items grants the annual radon report a bid award for refuse and recycling construction bid approvals and approval of the district's property insurance carrier are there any items that you would would like to remove for separate consideration okay is there a motion to approve the consent agenda as printed so move so move by director Mitchell is there a second second seconded by director Dawson is there any discussion all in favor say I I all oppos say make motion passes 6 to zero okay we only have one action item this evening uh and that is approval of gifts to the district wow see it's year end wow uh okay we have uh gifts to the district this month of $227,400 184 wow that is amazing um that's amazing um we always say thank you so much to all of our partners who support us in many different ways and avenues of giving with that is there a motion to approve gifts to the district totaling 227,000 $484 so moved so moved by director Brooks is our second second seconded by director Foster any discussion all right again thank you all in favor say I I all oppose say name motion passes 6 to zero our next agenda item is is informational items this evening we have several policies up for first reading information will be shared by General Council am any more Amy thank you uh so these policies will be uh read for the first time tonight will'll be posted for the next 30 days and we'll have a second reading at the next general meeting um so there's any comment uh members of the public can provide that through our website at that time during that time so the first policy is 404 family and medical leave for School District employees um just a couple of changes to clarify eligibility and qualifying reasons for FMLA um and um also clarifying that spouses who work for the district are entitled to combined total of 26 weeks of leave in a 12-month period um so really a matter of some clarifications in the policy for FMLA I'll just pause and then I'll keep going um policy 420 is the next one students and employees with communicable diseases and infectious conditions um we are proposing no updates to the policy uh but uh for the procedure on that for 20 um we did clarify a few things related to um that we will comply with Minnesota statute regarding immunizations um and then clarifying that eye drainage by itself is not something that we send kids home for by itself um which was a good update um and then referenced n95 math and the procedure procedures are not something you vote on but because they're tied to policy I'd just like to let you know when we do those updates next policy policy 427 workload limits for certain special education teachers um for this one uh what we did is we took the the definitions um and uh move them into the policy uh to make it uh to make it clear they were in procedures and it just made sense to move that into policy and have a be one so for policy 442 travel the proposed edits that we have again are more clarification regarding the purpose and the general statement of the policy um and then to update to reference taxi or ride share service since we use more ride ride share service um and then we uh for a procedure 442 on travel um we are removing that procedure because we want to guide staff to um the guidelines that are on our website because that's where they'll find forms and the process um rather than having it in the procedure that makes it more flexible okay policy 707 I'm sorry 705 Investments um the language that you'll see in these 700 um policies were meant to align the district statute with Minnesota school boards Association um our staff in looking at it felt like that the msba policies were in line with what we we were doing um it's nice to use msba policies because they are reviewed and updated regularly and so it makes things fairly consistent as well so for Investments that's the language for scope and purpose and the general statement of the policy and then clarifying the uh in maintaining the Public's trust that all officials employees are part of the investment Pro process acting professionally and responsibly uh for policy 705 you'll see more updates in the procedure regarding the expectations for ethics and the general standard of conduct of what a prudent person standard is um that's in line with what you'll see generally um out there in the business World um we do talk about some changes to monitoring and adjusting Investments and what that means there were some questions um at the policy meeting regarding um whether we use or should we be using third parties and in fact our uh staff do consult um with uh investment advisors with Min trust and uh prudent prudent man advis advisors Financial Network um there are several conversations that happen throughout a month as they are looking at Investments and what they should do uh when we buy what's available um how should we invest so there is constant communication with these external um um agencies to make sure that what we're doing is what's in the best interest of the district and like I said you'll just see uh it's it's a long um procedure because uh there's lots of different details obviously with Investments of what are qualified in institutions and broker deals but um what we are doing is reducing redundancy and then making everything in line with what you'll see in Minnesota school board's Association policy all right I will keep it going policy 706 again this is Investments for other post-employment benefits trust um much of the same uh updates that you'll see in that policy um making some consistency but also uh in line with what you will see in Minnesota school boards ass Association for the scope and purpose um again talking about you know maintaining Public's trust about our expectations of all officials and employees that are part of these processes and then similarly for the procedure 706 you will see um a bit more of the updates um regarding our process um there were some questions at the policy meeting about you know routinely and what uh goes to the board you'll see as part of tonight's meeting in the agenda that monthly report um that the board gets on um our finances um there was some question about the uh investment officer in the standard of conduct um again with a reference to should there be a third party this is similar to what I explained in the other policy that there's constant communication with the minust and the other agency to make sure that everything that we're doing is in line and checked and in the best interests of the district so the next policy 7 uh 22 is policy on public data and data subject requests um much of the policy uh was fine what I did add was you will see section J an individual subject of the data May contest accuracy of data that we hold as a public institution um so that was just uh information that is has been always a part of the statute um but wasn't necessarily in this policy and I felt it would be good to include uh that information in the policy it's consistent with what you'll see inota school boys Association and other um policies as well I you have a question about that one I'm sorry I cannot tell where sound comes from obviously so I know and and so you know I think it makes sense and it sounds like it's you know you mentioned msba and um just the changes in state law um I do know that you know just to note that amsd and I think msba are looking kind of exploring different proposals around um to support school districts um and managing kind of the increasing cost of these data requests and so I was just curious if there's been I don't think there has been anything drafted or anything by know that the last couple sessions they've y looked into uh so yes there has been um this isn't the first uh go round of um public entities in general but school districts in particular with other state agencies you'll have a whole department that that's all they do as data requests and even they are struggling with public data requests um and with school boards as school districts in particular there's been quite a rise in uh requests because requests can come every anywhere they you do not have a have a name attached to it and sometimes there's they're pretty broad um so yes the uh different agencies are kind of looking to see if we can um put some uh expectations parameters around it to make it more um to make it so that school districts can still be transparent what they do but not necessarily um be so overwhelmed um because there are districts that are spending um even like months and years on one data request and it can be quite costly um and often those those requests are coming from out of the state um so yes uh but I haven't heard anything in particular um it's it's always the transparency versus you know the the burden on the school district thank you y so uh policy 7:30 is fund balance um the updates you will see is you know scope and purpose and the general statement and the clarification of the uh definitions um to update them so they are consistent with what you see in the rest of the policies and Minnesota school board's post uh um policies so there was one question in policy committee about the minimum fund balance being 5% and a question of should it be more um and you know in talking with our experts they felt that 5% was the appropriate fund balance to have in the procedure um you will just see versus using the unappropriated uh designation it's uh been updated to unassigned um and referencing food and nutrition so clarifications on the procedure then with policy 731 post issuance debt policy uh debt compliance policy um not much of a change except um some of the titles uh being capitalized not capitalized that was more style um which again you'll see in the procedure is you'll see more style updates and then policy 740 uh electronic signatures is our last policy for tonight this was a policy that uh was new last year um so that we could have an official policy on uh that we do accept electronic signatures this has been helpful uh for uh our community ed department but then we've been able been able to use it with other um District purposes as well um it was just updated last year new so there are no proposed updates at this time and that is it all right thank you and as you stated earlier um there's a period of time between now in the second reading at the next board meeting and um lots of opportunity to share input feedback um through the website for the public okay any other questions or comments board members yeah um I just want to say thank you uh to General Council Mo um not just for thoroughly explaining the changes for each of the policies but also referencing what we discussed in policy committee um I think it's helpful to refresh my memory of what we talked about but also like board members that don't get to go to those meetings so um thank you you know for that and on that note uh the meetings are open to the public so um anybody in the public can come and join us and listen to all of the great discussion on all those amazing policies all right okay at this time there will not be a closed negotiation strategy session this evening so our final item is adjournment is there a motion to adjourn the regular business meeting at 6:56 p.m. move move by director Thomas Brooks is there second second seconded by director Mitchell all in favor say I I I all oppos say n motion passes 6 to zero the motion is the meeting is adjourned e e e e e e e e for