##VIDEO ID:jHkHqB0fb2w## all right good evening uh this work session of the ISD 279 School Board is being held in the Forum room of the Educational Service Center 11200 93rd Avenue North in Maple Grove on Tuesday January 7th 2025 the work session is being audio recorded the recording will be made available on the district website within two business days after the work session is end it with regard to the audio recording our communication staff has asked that we that we share a friendly reminder that side conversations during the work session are picked up by the recorder and can affect sound quality also conversations during transitions between agenda items are on the recording as well the intent of the Schoolboard work session is to allow for Schoolboard discussion of topics work sessions do not include an opportunity for audience members to address the board to acknowledge attendance this evening I'll ask that all present at the table State their name starting with the person to the left director Tanya Prince Schoolboard member Ivon Schwarz Len executive director of HR uh director Kei Tate School Board member s Mitchell School Board member Kelly parpart assistant superintendent for secondary schools Steve Fisk assistant superintendent for the elementary schools Brian bass assistant superintendent for equity and achievement John morstead executive director finance and operations Brian serson Hall executive director of community engagement K EX director of community relations Anthony pis executive director of Technology Amy Moore general counsel Director Erica pter School Board member Kelsey Dawson Schoolboard member superintendent uh Kim H and I Thomas Brooks Schoolboard member and present the purpose of school board work sessions is to build trust and teamwork to exchange information and when applicable to provide Direction in order to facilitate efficient and effective decision-making in regular board meetings Dr Hy you please share checking thank you Vice chair Thomas um um welcome everyone and Welcome to our new school board members we're so excited uh to have you here one of our goals with our work session that may have changed over the last year or so is for us to have an informative collaborative discussion where we're all learning from each other so please feel comfortable if there's questions or if there's something that you want to ask us our whole goal here is to share information but also to receive information back so I'm going to apologize to our new school board members we're going into some heavy topics for the first time so uh get your seat bels ready and we're going to get started so we'll start out with enrollment Trend information with Don morstad please thank you Dr H um so enrollment turns are reviewed annually at this time of year in order to project enrollment for the next fiscal year and to make new 5year enrollment projections the purpose of tonight's presentation is to provide an overview of En Trends used in making fiveyear enrollment projections these projections are important for decision making regarding budgeting and Staffing with the upcoming school year all the data we'll look at tonight is based on our November 1st 2024 enrollment counts the first two charts um include prek numbers which give a picture of the total comprehensive enrollment other than these two the remainder um of the charts will focus simply on K through 12 And1 overall District enrollment for fiscal year 2025 the current year which includes preek through 12th grade exceeds the 2024 actual enrollment by about 310 students or 1.5% it's the column on the far right additionally our K12 enrollment of 20539 was within 42 students just under our projection from last fall are approximately 2/10 of 1% less than the projection it addition to students coming into oio schools from other public options school choice means that some oio area residents choose options outside of our district please note that for fiscal year 2025 data is preliminary because again it reflects November information and um that it changes on actually almost a daily basis um but we will true it up so that the previous years are true to year end data but the the current year is just preliminary so the the chart here shows our fall enrollment Over The Last 5 Years Broken Out by secondary um Elementary and secondary grade levels the red line shows students served in secondary grades 6 through 12 um and and blue line shows K through five typically a thorough analysis of our fiveyear history trend is a key component in projecting future enrollment over all the past several years we've seen enrollment stabilize and grow particularly at the secondary level with the exception of the pandemic year here we kind of at the very end of that um showing it on the graphs and enrollment is trending up for both Elementary and secondary Minnesota has an open enrollment option program commonly known as our an enrollment option program commonly known as open enrollment families can make choices to enroll their students in public schools that are not the school district where they reside oio schools has consistently enrolled between 1300 and 1700 students from other Minnesota school districts annually our overall open enrollment increased by 64 students to 1709 this year this represents 88.3% of the school district's total enrollment the vast majority of these students come from Anoka henen Robinsdale Minneapolis and Brooklyn Center um we do lose more students to Anoka henen Brooklyn Center and Fridley but we gain from Buffalo Minneapolis and Robinson um just note the Open Enrollment numbers typically grow throughout the year so we'll continue to again monitor these levels as we progress um probably easier to see this in your packet but there's two additional documents to dig a little bit deeper into actual enrollment versus how we did versus how we ended last year and also versus projection the first is the uh actual variance this shows the breakdown at each school and grade level of enrollment from Fall of 25 compared to the final 24 enrollment you'll see that the Green in the total at the bottom right hand corner of the page that indicates 331 student increase over the end of the previous year the second chart highlights actual enrollment versus what we projected for the current year um if the cells in red it shows an enrollment of 10 or more students below projection and green is 10 or more above projection Again by building by grade um overall we were again under just under projection by about 42 students or or 210 of 1% here you can see the biggest impact on enrollment came um at our at the senior high and our alternative options um we came in 42 students below projection overall K12 um 60 above at the senior high 21 Below at the middle school five above at the El Elementary and then 102 Below in a combination of oec um the osto education center transition program oalc the Alternative Learning Center and 279 online um always see consistent gains across the district there were a couple of schools that came in above projections by at least 10 students which include Edenbrook at 22 Garden City at 17 Palmer Lake at 32 Rice Lake at 23 Weaver lake at 14 oio senior at 43 and Park Center Senior at 80 students AIO schools residents choosing to attend other public school options are listed here open enrollment into other districts decreased noticeably over prior year by 191 students to 2,587 um enrollment into Charter Schools also increased a little bit by about 117 students to 3902 this is actually the first notable decrease we've seen in um open enrollment out since 2011 it's even before that as far back as I could track the numbers so so a good a good um change for this year families who choose public schools of those families who choose public schools 74.4% of our resident students are choosing AIO area schools the can be referred to as our resident capture rate so for a area schools in the current year we estimate we're capturing almost three out of every four students whose families choose a public school option um this has been holding pretty steady right around 74% for the last four years Al we did see about a half a percent increase for this year over the previous year next couple of slides will provide a bit more detail about specific Public School options where are the students going the slide contains a list of all Minnesota school districts that enroll 60 or more students from oio area students that school students that reside in uary schools because Choice can go both ways the first four columns Show net gain or loss for oio the in the previous three years and then the fy2 so we again are still showing a net loss but but our number for this year is a net loss of 775 students down from 809 the previous year and 916 year prior to that and you can kind of see the bigger bigger gains in losses on on the list of of where the kids are actually coming from and this slide contains a list of public charter schools again which 60 or more oio School area school residents attend um enrollment has grown over time at most of these Charter Schools Parnassus is the largest school we lose residence to 97 down a little bit this year by about six students um athlos is the largest outlier in this we we lost 70 additional students to athlos this year than we did previous and if you look at their Trend it's really jumped up and down so 22 was 535 then it went down to 487 then down to 406 and now come came back up so not 100% sure what caused 70 kids to move there um but again as we uncover the details then we turn around and look at those opportunities and work with community relations to to dig deeper into the finding out the why and finding out who we can again capture and keep within our own schools overall our students lost to these top 10 um Charter Schools increased by about 137 students this year so while our open enrollment out and private school enrollments decreased our charter school and home school enrollment increased um altogether we still gained a net of 22 more students versus last year in those areas oio are schools residents choosing to attend private or home schools make up 2381 students in the current year a decrease of about 145 students interestingly enrollment in private schools decreased by 145 while home school increased by 33 um the big private schools where we see most of the students go marinata is 304 students that is down 45 students from the previous year um St Vincent 281 up two um a lot of them are are Heritage CHR Christian about 240 students up seven Providence Academy 159 down 13 a Maria in Maple Grove which is a prek through 8 Catholic School 72 students down 13 um got a few more on the list the general category of other non-public schools um we lose we it's Wednesday Tuesday so it falls kind of beneath our list we lose about 135 students again down 17 um over the previous year it is important to note that one of the schools did close St alons closed this summer and so some of those students were uh we received a number of those students back and others made choices to go to other privates this chart shows the overall resident capture rate um so this is public private doesn't matter what your choice is so what you're a resident of Aer schools today 68% um for the current year of those students that reside within our area choose to attend oo area schools this is the first increase we've seen in the past 5 years of note um most the most recent five years we're holding at about 67% and then the four years prior to that were about 70 so so we we're hoping we've turned kind of plateaued at the bottom and are starting our way back up kindergarten um we'll talk a little bit about kindergarten it's it is historically the most difficult grade to provide an enrollment projection for um in the past we used the henan county live birth number as a good indicator of our kindergarten enrollment so traditionally our district residents equate to somewhere between 15 and 16% of the live births uh of kindergarten students in henen County so you can see a decrease of 6 66% for this year our own kindergarten numbers decrease as did Kindergarten enrollment at Charters privates and open enrollment out this data is a good represent a representation of the overall picture of declining enrollment across the state just a declining population we're consistently seeing smaller incoming kindergarten classes than we are seeing outgoing senior classes that there place we take this information and apply our capture rates and historical Trends to come up with a kindergarten enrollment projection for the next year now normally the kindergarten capture rate is not a slide I'm very proud to show but today's a different day um normally this isn't a great number we're normally we had been coming in in that 58 59% of every kindergart or every kindergarten student available we would get coming to us um that's not a great number however our kindergarten capture rate currently has moved to 61.4% of our available kindergarten student students this year this is a notable increase of 2.6% higher than the previous year um and I would like to call out our team and Kay and her team from community relations who made a very pointed effort to market for kindergarten for us and I think this is a direct result of that we are simply seeing more students so a huge thank you to Kay and her team for making that happen and and helping us retain the students that live in our district all the trend information um we combed together to use to create a 5year enrollment projection um now the numbers I'm going to show you here that are on the screen are probably different than what you have in your packet because I found a little Minor error and had to make some corrections stay so what's on the screen is correct and I will happily send you what this is but uh these are the numbers we're going to talk about um couple points of interest over our historical data shows Trends over the past few years which we talked about earlier henan County birth data um so typically you're looking at Birth data from 5 years ago so the example I'll give you is for fiscal year 26 um we use birth data from from calendar year 2020 but what happened in calendar year 2020 Co the kipen county births if you look at that number it's the very top one of the orange column decreased by what 2300 less births in henpen county that year alone so this is the first year that those kids are coming into kindergarten is this coming fall so we're we're starting to see um and and originally I think when we first looked at it that number was north of 200 kids less now it's come down because of other growth and things in our district are kind of covering it um the other piece that we don't know here is henan county is a pretty large County we have no idea within henpen County where the births actually lie um we could be up 10% in our district and Bloomington could be downtown um we just don't know because the the county won't provide us any detail specifically Beyond County borders so so we have to do our best guess based on those percentages in his history to kind of tell us 15 16% is we're going commit um that that birth rate by the way for for 2020 the 13130 is a uh more than 50e low so it's it's a big change in the number and as you see what's going up for the next years the 14 23 144 um and and the through fiscal 29 that those are are real numbers the very last number for fiscal 30 is an estimate um but you know we were in the high 16 and we're in the 14s and 13s so so again good example of what a declining population actually looks like when it starts to matriculating into schools um so finally getting to the the nitty-gritty here the bottom line if you're going down our orange column shows you predicted growth of 383 students for next year um which is about a 1.9% increase we are projecting a decline of 85 students the following year and then kind of a little dip and then starting back up anywhere between four and 9% over the next three years why the dip um the biggest change is number one you um in fisal 27 you have two years of the low be birth years for covid and we're actually we have a kind of historically High projected senior class for next year at 235 students um and so that will graduate out so we're graduating out a big class and bringing in a smaller kindergarten in first great so we make up a lot of it with growth but not quite all of it uh this chart depicts the same information we just looked at on a trend line data so you you see the slight increase rolling through in secondary enrollment and a similar decline for elementary enrollment typically again that large birth part is mixed in there as the board knows growth data is one of the most important items utilized by the um ECM or um enrollment capacity manag management advisory committee and that uses that information to make recommendations about capacity needs um and opportunities in coming years indications from the city of Maple Grove and and all of our cities are that development in um within the district is accelerating um specifically in the Northwest area but in other places as well we're currently aware of over 5700 new housing units that are either um in one of the stages of development and more to come and we also are aware of another 1,200 housing units that don't fall within our border but fall within a mile of qu of our borders so again another um potential stressor that could come to our system that we're just monitoring ECM will be receiving detailed information on this and other projected residential growth at their next meeting and we've Incorporated the growth information into these projections um however there there are certain triggers that that um again accelerate things for the example the uh if you drive on Highway 610 and you see the construction over 94 that when completed will create another artery into the Northwest Corridor of um of Maple Grove which makes easier access to those farms and Fields that are out there right now um that in in tandem with the Dayton Parkway extension that was completed just a couple years ago you're starting to have easier access to that area which is going to SP development and will just come faster and faster so over the next coming weeks we will finalize our grade level and site level enrollment projections we sent um the the detailed data for each building today they all receive that information and these projections will be used to prepare prepare our Revenue budgets and Staffing allocations that will we will use to inform facility planning for next year we will continue to monitor household and economic Trends carefully as we examine that data with ECM and with that I will turn things back to Vice chair Brooks for any questions thank you uh board members any questions just a clarifying question John where it says 102 below projection at oec oalc and 279 online is that number spread throughout 29 okay and how many students are enrolled in 304 something like that low 300 I think I think most of our projections stay maybe a little less or close to that number is what we're projecting right now um it's that's a tough one to project because we we started in the 900s and then have good as people's Comfort level of coming back to school has has increased we see that number go down and they're going to a more traditional model but there are still you know 300 and some students that still a ton of revenue for a district um and and so we need to I guess trade carefully as we're looking at that um because there's still value but it's it's determining what is that the right value so so we're looking at that and we have we have teams working all over on it to try to analyze and study that information but it's definitely something we keep in mind no actually oec is up a little bit because they added another year transition program used to be 18 through 21 and as of this year it's 18 through 22 so we actually added about 20 kids there oalc is about the same it fluctuates you know 10 20 students up and down year to year um and the 2799 online's open to is it to anybody in the state or is it all you have to do is be a resident in Minnesota to attend and so we' again utilizing K and her team have done some um accelerated marketing and other places to try to help drive that interest um it's there's a lot of competition there's a lot of other schools that are out there as well and then there's a lot of niches that that fit and you got to find your right fit so so I think we're our 279 team is diligently working through that um but it's still a learning curve for all of us and just let the board know you will be receiving an update on 279 online at our uh March 11th excuse me our February 11th School Board we exension so the current active enrollment at 279 online is 363 so that doesn't count anybody that's in enrollment process um in addition our supplemental online has about 150 to 200 students that are accessing courses for one or two courses online so when we' to 279 online that's just full-time students then we have another subset of students who are participating parttime that don't show up in these enrollment numbers so can a student can like physically attend in school and take an online class so we'll have that updated ready for you February 11th um going back to the projector TR L this uh graph so I think I SW the projections the logic behind them but can you talk a little bit about how the you know our our K through five is is you know going one way and our our you know six through 12 is going the opposite direction so one of the things that's really hard to show in this is and this comes with kind of the conversation around a number of the charter schools and privates they're not K12 they're k6 or k so in a number of situations we see as you hit certain grade levels like you hit sixth grade middle school we see an influx of students that don't match the number of elementary students who just finished fifth grade and are moving to sixth same thing at ninth grade so as you get those levels that's where we see bigger jumps up and you'll see a lot of people that make the decision to say hey I I might have wanted to be at a charter school for whatever reason for this long but now I want the activities and programs that come with a traditional high school and so I'm going to switch back so so that happens a lot and that's why why why the number tends to go the other direction um and and maybe even more so in the future is what we're thinking yeah I think I think more and more we're seeing that that even though we bring in a good chunk that the class coming behind it keeps getting smaller so if you oops let me go back to here really if if you look at the kindergarten line going across just here and this goes back to 20120 169 and now we're at 3 you know 1,300 and that change going into the 1278 now that's 300 plus less kindergarteners coming into the system and then down at our grade 12 yeah it's going up it was at 1636 and it's coming across to 2035 and then holding it 1950 and then you know kind of holding in there a little bit we still never made that Gap back up the 300 we started behind you know so that's that's kind of where the anomalies come in and it's one of the the good points of like predicting enrollments a little bit so from from our standpoint if we can hit something like less than 2/10 of 1% on 21,000 students I'm pretty happy do you ever have any realator data as far as people moving into the district if they are coming with kids at a like the older age we do um Realtors don't necessarily want to share the makeup of their clientele but um you can get some information um sometimes it can be hard to get detail a l lot of times they want more more information from us about where the boundaries are what schools are available is this in this District or this school or that school um but a lot of it depends on the realer it's really Case by case on what they're willing to share um but a lot of times what we tend to do are have a better luck with and we have a company called predictive enrollment analytics that goes and has conversations with the developers themselves so especially in the newer area they're talking to them like what's your how many homes homes are you going to build this year when do you think those will be occupied and they can take those dates and start applying metrics of we think the average single family home has 3/10 of a kid in it times every single family home we have um and they start applying that information and saying this is what we think your home is going to increase by so they're out on the streets with planning commissions talking to those organizations to say what are you actually building hey insurance rate or interest rates went up a lot last year so we're going to pull back back on what we thought development was going to be just because houses weren't selling well now the interest rates were going down so we're starting to see you know you go out to the evanswood area where the the new school will be next to um that is incredibly different from not even a year ago till now you know there were we were starting a town home and now there's 15 buildings that are just of town H and that doesn't include the 10 and some single family homes that are now up and there were 20 so so that it's spurred and it's moving fast um and we're right in line and next to it so knowing that they're a development wrapping around us already on the other side it's just going to continue but not everybody's on track to buy a home so how do you like you know with the you know in brooken park the closing of or whatever is happening with Huntington like how does that impact us or you talked about like I mean I I also wonder about our populations that you know aren't home owners and they're they renters or they're looking or they have affordable housing or things like that like how do you um account for that and when you talk about the 5700 new housing units um and you mentioned Maple Grove but that isn't that's everything that's right so like where like where that's a lot of housing units are they apartments are they doing all like are they yeah we have the we have the full breakdown um the 5700 is all housing UNS so that includes apartments and we actually break it down when we're doing our our survey and our analytics to um single family home multif family home town home and apartments and then we'll even break Apartments into market rate apartments and um subsidized apartments I'm just curious because obviously there's housing disparities in the state significant and very star and I'm just wondering how we're addressing and kind of like to my you know um kind of connected is just you know when you talked about K go um doing um marketing and Outreach for kindergarten like you know how do you start to what are you doing to like really attract you know our diversity population to ensure that you know um we're really meeting the needs and kind of understanding what those needs are for our families or what attracts our families like obviously you've had success so I'm just kind of curious also what's worked one of the uh new things that we did this year um as opposed to um years previously we did a school choice Fair um which was uh heavily attended and was quite a success so um so not just focusing even on kindergarten but um all of our grade levels to sure people know about all the opportunities that are available in our school district so um I think we've had some great success with that and and we are continually trying to ask people like and and decipher like what it is that attracts right we know we have some unique programs and really centering those as well we have magnet opportunities throughout the district um all the CTE programming that we have going on right like pulling out some of those unique things um to try to get people to connect with our district and and know about what those are so that they can um do what's best for their families yeah we even had a little bump in the high school I think Sage Academy on 85th um closed on the Wednesday before the first day of school which was a charter high school you know so we probably had gosh well we we learned that about it at about 9:30 a.m. at the enrollment center wow family showed up CU they just got an email from their principal that the school was closing that day but you know we probably picked up 30 kids just that week from Sage closing on 85th so um you know that that was back to Keith's question I think on like the high school level so that in that even was a charter that was high school so that was an anomaly with that one Clos so there's kind of there it can be Ever Changing with kind of the level of Charters we have in the district too with enrollment so a lot all these questions are factors into enrollment it seems like John had a similar question to um director Prince um more along the lines of home sales um it seems like we rely heavily on um development numbers in the Northwest part of the district for enrollment projections but um I'm wondering what data we have access to in terms of home sales throughout the rest of the district um and in particular I'm just thinking about all of the Cities all the other cities in the Metro that don't have the same development challenges that we have like how are they um projecting their enrollment numbers um we don't necessarily look at specific home sale data into the enrollment because typically um when I when I this is going back a little way when I worked in Eden Prairie they had kind of finished their big growth STI and we're just into that sales versus turning over property and we're studying it and what they basically found is it became a wash it was it was a non-material difference of the number of people leaving versus the number of people coming in because they were filling each other's homes um so it just became number one it just became not really worth the time and effort to try to track it um and and most places that I've talked to in other districts they they might look for if there's G suddenly a whole bunch of homes that go for sale in an area and that's where there it's that comes to your relationship with the Realtors around you to say hey what's what you seeing that's unusual well they'll help you find that Trend or you know hey there's there's a you know there's a a going to be a Redevelopment in this area that doesn't have a lot of growth and so you're starting to see all the homes sell but this is what's going to come in um but but it's not a lot and we we've tried to look at it a little bit in a couple districts I've been in the past but just knowing that it's it's typically um very minimal it's not typically worth the effort to deep into that so just being honest um on the slide about our overall capture rate what is the typical how do we compare to surrounding districts and then what's our goal for that we're we're definitely less than surrounding districts we have um an abundance of options available um I think I I don't have it on this I I I have to go look back at at previous years because we actually had the count I think may it was last year the number of charter schools and the number of private schools that our students attend and it was I want to say it was something like 93 different private schools and 120 some chart it was it was well over 200 schools total that we comp that doesn't count the public schools around us or now you throwing the online schools that can reach from anywhere within the state so um our capture rate has been declining um you know at one point this District had almost 25,000 students and we're in the you know the mid 20,000 range right now um but competition is competition and um there's kind of always been an Unwritten rules that that schools don't steal from other schools um nobody apparently told the charter schools in the project but they told us and so it's it's really just now that we're starting to push back a little bit and say hey we want to keep our kids and so we want to show people that we are a choice destination we want you to come here and that's really what K te is starting to teach people is here's why you want to choose oio tools versus these other things there's always going to be the exceptions and that's okay I mean it's okay to have choice I think it's healthy but at the same time um we want to make sure we're we're offering the best product we can offer what is the kind of standard goal for that K address I would I would yeah on specifically on that so it should be at least in the low 70s for capture rate um that's a health number so I would say we're a little below what um a healing M should be so um all the things that we've been telling our school leers is that just that we we need a above that's the and I think building a better future is going to help us with that um as just at Brooklyn middle and when you look at the renovations I don't think that our community has have been in our schools honestly in some time to see um what the buildings are like what we're offering so I think continuing to lean into um the work that we're doing and kind of reselling our schools to our local communities where we know that we have the greater competition I I think we'll shift start to shift things got another question I guess um do do we have any cu we on you know starting at kindergarten do we have any information as far as the folks that start with PR and how many of those you know we don't track um or project PR um it it's something that I think maybe we need to talk about but we we haven't the past um it's kind of been hard because if you really look back you know like the VPK program only came on a handful of years ago it hasn't been what 17 18 some there Years Years about seven years um prior to that you know we even earlier we you know kindergarten wasn't even a full-time program it was a part-time program so we we haven't we really only tracked kindergarten because that's where funding always came from so that's what was driving enrollment where now that in the last few years the some funding has come with those other positions we don't we don't reject it but we're always looking at what we have and again we have all the trend data to be able to say this is this is our where we think that number is going to come and we do um within the business office apply that into our budget formulist to make sure that we are capturing that information we just don't necessarily mix it into this and does it reflect in our capacities I'm sorry for each building then yes thee pre did you want to share your yeah one thing that we're one thing I think we can do is um I think our last board work session we had a couple questions around like prek open slots or something around that um and our fourstar program does keep retention from fourstar to kindergarten numbers um so I think we should pull that I'm going to AIT to pulling that for bpk as well as ECF I don't know what those numbers are going to be I do know that the fourar numbers are um the last two years 90% And 92% of our kids who attended fourstar attended kindergarten which is he of a lot higher than 58% capture rate right now I don't know the numbers for VPK in ecfp but when Christy Johnson from uh fourar gave me those numbers right away it was like oh let's just add this just like we collect TS gold evaluation at the end of our four-year-old programming let's collect retention rate to kindergarten you know and then maybe even try to find out some of the why clearly some of these families are motivated to get into the school district but they're not automatically in the pre- that they're going to go to kindergarten either necessarily so um the fourstar numbers were highly encouraging right that's a really big percentage but even if even if they're 10% higher than the average capture rate for kindergarten that's something worth pursuing that the earlier you get them in the the later so no promises that they'll all be at 90% but it after like I said after receiving that information it feels like a good thing to add to our metrics how many of the kids who get involved in four-year-old programming continue on in kindergarten especially since that's a a lagging captur grade level in this District so so that's something that we uh from a marketing standpoint have jumped on like we have connections right with those um Early Childhood programs so for for example for the school children Fair we reached out to all those connections that we had make sure they had the information they needed and a lot of them attending them there so um we reach we know that for sure that um if we can get them at a younger age the in the Younger You preschool right they're going to tend they tend to stay with us so that's our hope with and how much easier is that at the enrollment process once you're in fourar or any the pr programs well it's it's not easier if you're in fourstar because that's separate from um but the bpk are actually enrolled in the school district so they don't have to enroll again uh in kindergarten four four stars is uh through Community Education so it's it's a registration not an enrollment and so is ECFE so there is some it's a good question Thomas there are some distinctions between the four-year-old program that you show up so bpk again is very nice because um especially if you get into your home attendance VPK then you don't have to do like an IND District transfer for example so you just continue you've already started at your home school as a pre- so that's really slick and we like that that the families are already enrolled when they start dpk and it help makes it easier to people on emergency weather days CU they're enroll just a side note because we have to do another process for the kids in the other programs right so but it's nice to get them that way they're all set up they're in parent view they're in Mars they're they're on everything right so that's a nice system I think the big thing to note on the separation there is bpk gets reported to the state through our data through like K through 12 where fourstar is not a state reported program that's why they don't go through an enrollment process Cas students get a student ID and they're in the full reporting process for State reporting thank you okay to turn over all right okay thank you so we're going to move on to our next presentation uh is what we wanted to share with the board our draft vision card update so that's going to be shared uh with myself by myself today with dark bass as well as as well with Kila um and any time uh because it's a work of the entire uh cabinet that they may jump in as well so um in our Pursuit that never goes away uh for continuous Improvement and having a goal of how to are we can we be in highly effective and efficient School District um they're representing to the board to saing our work in refining our current vision card metrics so the reason and the purpose behind us refining our vision cards is dressed the need to streamline our actual metrics and to enhance Clarity in alignment with what our strategic priorities are so basically our goal this evening with the board is to share what that refinement process has been for our vision cards as well as the opportunity for the board to give us input for further considerations so first of all we want to acknowledge our new school board members that we have here this evening and some of for our new school board me Members um they do not have all of the necessary background knowledge they may need to have on our vision cards so we will be presenting to our new school board members onboarding opportunity to meet and get more detailed information around our vision cards and how those original metrics came about so we don't want you to come and feel like you're not getting a gold star cuz you don't know what's going on but uh we will provide time for you to get all of the personal detail information that you need for that we also want to share with some of our new school board members that our vision cards are reported out throughout the year so this is just not a one drive by and we're done so you'll get more information throughout the year on our vision cards and our metrics so uh here so what is the role of our vision cards so basically our vision cards provide us with opportunity to assess our progress of our district goals and our priorities so in using various uh sources of data we're able to measure our success toward meeting our goals and where are areas of growth that are still needed in order to achieve success toward our strategic uh priorities that have been set by the board so our strategic plan was actually adopted back and approved in December of 21 so in reviewing the Strategic priorities over the last year became really apparent that we needed to attentionally take some time and look at and take some weight off of our system so how we went about doing that this has been done through us really focusing on what are the main areas that we need to address and what has become distractors from our meeting the main goal of what we want to meet our next goal was for us to ensure that we had alignment and we do that through the three C's um which is consistency in what we do in the district having connection between of our sites and our departments and coherence in our institution understanding the why and the priorities behind what we do and why we need to do it and in turn from that is having action and being intentional in our work in what we need to do and making sure that what we're doing is being done with Fidelity and that we don't have too many distractors coming in and um taking our attention off on what needs to be done in our district then of course coming back and having measurement and choosing what is that correct measurement to sure that we're getting success and the growth that we need so how we go about doing that is literally for our next one because this a beautiful picture if you want to go to the next one Brian there's our babies so literally it's all about our Scholars from the time that they hit the Nature Center at our review all the way through the program into when they leave us so one of the goals that personally that I have is for AO Area School District how do we go about becoming the best place to learn and how do we come about becoming the best place to work because it's it's for both it's for our students and for our staff which to impact our community and our and our families so looking at it this is a perfect visual that we have here of how coherence is occurring in a district do having consist consistency and connection do is having a really tight focus and Alignment so of course continued Improvement guides our three-year operational plan so that starts at the top and that starts where the board sets priorities through governance and giv us our Direction and what we want to do uh the goals of what we're supposed to have in a district so from there just to show the tight alignment that we do have so as a superintendent my own personal goals go back to match what the district strategic priorities are the next we go to the cabinet the cabinet personal goals also align to the Strategic priorities and then their Department ments individually create a three-year operational plan that also aligns to what the board has um requested for us to follow then from there we actually go to from departments having their own three-year operational plan we go to our sites and our schools also develop their own three-year operational plan that is once again aligned to what the board has directed us in strategic priorities and that goes all the way down to where our teachers set their student learning goals each year and have their own professional growth goal which all results in Focus alignment in meeting the needs of our Scholars so our refinement is needed for us to look at our system to ensure that we're meeting the goals of not only what the board has set but the needs and the goals and the wishes of what our families have for their dreams and their goals for our kids so our next slide is like why do we need to refine our vision card so I'll let Dr bat go ahead and start with that okay wonderful so um as we reflected on the feedback received from board in our presentations last year um and then our cabinet conversations debriefing the feedback you all gave us um it became clear to us that there were some things that we wanted to address within uh the vision cards and so some of the themes that drove um our why for wanting to refine included trying to reduce redundancy the board receives an annual presentation on the world's best Workforce which is required by the state of Minnesota and also an annual presentation on our achievement integration um progress and so those are things where we were having metrics over there and then also duplicating those metrics in our vision cards and so we wanted to reduce some of that uh duplicative uh reporting data that that you all receive um it it it can be a lot of data it can feel overwhelming at times when we're seeing so much data presented at one time um and is it the right data that that provides a clear story of the success of our Scholars um and the progress towards the Strategic directions across our system that that we need to we need to report to to the board and to our community um the next area is so how do we get focused and prioritized um Dr H spoke to taking weight off the system how do we get how do we drill down to those things that are most influencing the achievement data that we most want to see influenced and impacted with our with our uh highly directed uh resources and then the last one as Dr House spoke to is again uh lifting the weight off of the system when when Dr H arrived I think coming out of the pandemic we were so eager and anxious to have all of the work in the system aligned to these strategic directions we we we put a lot of effort into showing all the things we had 28 items 2 we 28 items that year 22 23 we're like oh my gosh this is so much that we're working on and if you have that many things that are priority what's really getting prioritized right so really trying to narrow the focus so then our goal um there on the slide which I don't I don't want to mean uh before you all have had opportunity to see this but you see what our goal then is trying to provide you with um meaningful data that tells a clear story of our our success and progress towards the achieving the Strategic direction that you all have have said for us going back to December 2021 so here's what our refinement process looked like um it included these four big steps um reviewing those Vision cars that were attached on your board packet so we review those as a cabinet and then we we engage in this process called DOI drop ad keep and improve and through that process we began to prioritize and categorize metrics we're going to show you some some evidence and artifacts of that work and then we gathered some themes from these discussions that we then got to that uh four step which is some recommendations we want to make to our data and assessment team and our department of learning enement that will partner with us to populate and update the vision cards for you later um this spring so so we're in one of these conversations reviewing metrics and there's like this aha moment that we have as a Cabinet when we were engaged in this conversation and it emerged these questions that became critical ways of framing our thinking so as we as we look and look and study each of these Vision cards we're saying to ourselves okay wait a second we're noticing a pattern here so some of these look redundant right we shared in other places some of these look like data that are internal to the system and then some of these look like yeah this is what we want to share with the board and to the public and so we started to then have this conversation where we framed it okay so there's data that we want to go up and out to the board in public and then there's work that we need to prioritize internally data that we need to look at internally to inform that we're on track for what we want to report out to the community so these two these two the questions underneath each became a pivotal and how we looked at each card to say okay that first question under up and out what does the board and public need to know to show progress on the Strategic plan that becomes a serious Focus question for us and so we look at that card and we say Okay are these the metrics that that answer that question for us if not then they become ones that we recommend to be dropped not dropped from our our use internally but dropped from reporting out of an out and then as you look at the down and in that second question what needs to be shared down and in so that principles administrators and school program staff know how they are doing and can make an adj can make adjustments if needed to their site Department operational plans to show that tight alignment to showing Improvement and impact on what we want to see show up in our achievement data so this was I get kind of geeky on this one just because it was such a great conversation it was like finally we got this Clarity we've got this way of framing how we look at each each of the vision CS so that we're giving you the data that tells a meaningful story and we have the data that we need to look at to to track and monitor internally is that okay so here are some of the themes that came out of our conversation across all five Vision cards so we we use remove instead of drop but it's drop at keep improve um and so under remove again going back to those questions of what's up and out is it repetitive is it taking weight off the system right so those are some of the things that led to how we sorted some of this information so you see in remove um removing uh data that's also in the world's best Workforce in integration some of that MCA and Dropout data you get you get plenty of of um visibility on those pieces and then also some of the operational details like cyber security metrics and other things that will move to other reports when we talk about adding um K is going to touch on this a little bit later around a CommunityWide survey that we would um conduct annually that gives us some even more robust information and really ensures that we've got balanced rep representative data across the district um around the community's feedback to us on our progress on how we're doing in some of these measures um and then the this one I'm really excited about um in in K push really hard um for this one is is creating an exit survey for our seniors and really understanding if they feel prepared for their uh for post-secondary Readiness Readiness either college or career then we go to keep um we know the safety and belonging is really important for our families and so we know that that that those metrics related to that belonging trust Equity cultural Equity U from our student surveys those are measures we want to continue to see and then our graduation rates tied to College and Career Readiness and then improve um we had some really strong conversations around rigorous coursework and how do we ensure and k k brought this in in the context of communication how do we how do we make sure we're doing well with our community at the beginning of their experience experience in prek and kindergarten in the middle of their experience and at the end of their experience how do we how do we understand those those milestones and those benchmarks across the way and so what does it look like for R's coursework whates it look like at the beginning what does it look like at the middle what does it look like at the end and so we're excited to see what metrics um our data and assessment team can come up with to help us tell the story of rigorous coursework and experiences around that and then the other piece there and improve is um continuing to work on and strengthen recruitment and retention of uh a diverse Workforce and really uh disaggregating our data with that Equity lens and that Equity focus and so K I'm search over to k k is going to talk through specifically with vision card for strategic direction see how we went through this process and some of the uh the key points and and soing Qui pass F thank you Brian so this is an example of some of the refinement that our cabinet team has been doing with each of the Strategic directions on this particular side like Brian said we're looking at strategic Direction C which is to promote inclusive participation of all of our communities and provide timely relevant and easily accessible communication so on the left side is the existing vision card and then the right side is what's being considered to refine it um these are the same things that Brian was mentioning of removing or dropping adding keeping and improving so we went through each of those things um with in particular with C that you're seeing on the screen so I just wanted to take a little bit of um a minute on that so it's clear there was some opportunity with strategic direction see some of the pieces that we felt were missing um at least on that left side of what we have right now are the quality and the effectiveness of communication so our current card is mostly showing simply messages in or out or kind of numbers um mostly um so like numbers of messages going out or number of messages received from family so all good things to capture but it didn't really tell that story or that experience that we were looking for we want to um really capture that entire communication experience from preschool to graduation and Beyond so we felt the need to add a survey data that focus on communication and on those questions so when we talk about timely relevant and easily accessible communication right we can Center our questions directly on those pieces to really capture what is that experience um kind of after the fact otherwise until we talk to people and find out what those um kind of reflection pieces are we're not really sure of of what the experience itself is so we also talked about um focusing and as John shared today really focusing on those enrollment numbers to make sure they where our capture rate is where it needs to be um and then as uh Brian mentioned about the um you know asking our graduates before upon graduation right like are are do you feel like do we reach our mission right where are you what are your plans PL for after graduation um so these are kind of the up and out um high level data that we want to be able to show uh show you in the revised um Vision cards um this will better paint the picture of the progression forward here at AIO area schools um now some of the data that we were talking about in regards to the numbers like again those are still important things um and those things will still be monitored um in the Years um forward but we really are going to start seeing those is like the the down and in um numbers that um we'll make be making adjustments to our operational plans kind of based on what those um numbers are and then this um uh you can really see kind of our refinement um progression so um you can see with uh strategic Direction C kind of just based on on what I shared here um we're focusing on more of the communication with families and the on the right side there and the area um so just making sure that we're focusing on that piece kind of moving forward um because we we found out that that was of missing a little bit in what we had so for strategic Direction a it's going to be kind of more of a focus on belonging and safety for B academic rigor College and Career Pathways academic achievement and student Agency for D resource allocation aligned strategic priorities and then um strategic Direction e staff recruitment retention Equitable outcomes I'm at this time going to turn it back over to Brian for a feedback opportunity so our first two outcomes is one to give you um some visibility and window go into the refinement process and then this this part is the pause and give you some some opportunity for some initial feedback to us um and so again as Dr H said you're you're going to have a number of occasions to provide us with feedback um and this is just an initial feedback so we're going to do something we haven't done returning board members um at a work session I'm going to actually pause and give you all five minutes to actually choose one of the vision cards from the packet that you are interested in looking at um and then these two questions um in the spirit of of this presentation what what what do you think might be missing or what do you think um might be improved and if you want to share out um in five minutes when we come back you can share out or if you want to think about this a little bit more um and forward your feedback to Dr H and then she'll make make sure that get back to our team is going to be working with um integrating all of the feedback that we've provided our data and assessment team around updating and refining division cards so so again so we're going to choose one of the the the areas one of strategic Direction areas uh vision card take five minutes what about be missing what could be improved and it will come back and if you're comfortable sharing out you can share out if not you want to share it in an email with Dr how you can share it that way as well so we're going to pause for five minutes and then if you do go ahead I'm sorry which page you want to so it's the um it's the attachment that had the original Vision cards from 23 24 okay so it was the other attachment okay thank you and then if you do have any questions um just feel free for our new board members feel free to connect with one of our board members that have been here or any of the capab that knows like knows it like the back of our hand as well so it's just an opportunity um what do you see what are your questions what are your aha moments um particularly for our new board members but um for our board members that have been here what are some things you think we can improve on and what are we missing so director Foster if it's helpful I could pull this up for you on the screen so slides 38 like those are the cards right yeah whichever that that you're interested in just choose one and just uh provide some input thoughts on this is perfect thank you friend for that you for for for for timer says 30 seconds some like sh 30 seconds 30 seconds remain yes 30 seconds remaining all right um so I feel like that was a lot of pressure to get we warned the wrong answer welcome to the new Ro um board members any uh comments or feedback for staff on the vision cards thank you Thomas I agree with you I'm having trouble choosing so I like a little more time I mean vision card a I mean Safety and Security is still foundational from our last work session I'd love to focus on vision card B to build and um nurture the um the rigorous culture of achievement and then see I mean family and Community engagement to increase and promote that and build trust so I need a little more time to we really have to pick one what we can do is uh create a Google doc that we can have that you can put your input put in that we can send out for that so I don't know could you pick one US you were you look pick I um so I didn't pick just one but I had kind of General themes that kind of came up um just from prior vision card sessions um so one of them was just being um so I always kind of questioned the Baseline um percentages for some of the vision cards um but feeling comfortable with that since I've seen them so many times um I would like some sort of like consensus or just general understanding around um the target percentages or the vision percentages um from the board um especially if we're communicating our goals out to the public um and then the other one that I mentioned was um I saw that we're doing some senior sort of exit surveys um and I don't know if we're doing anything for like incoming freshmen but um data that just speaks to um higher ed um enrollment or like career and job entrance just something that speaks to sort of what they're doing when they leave here um would be helpful as well just to know if we're meeting what they hope to achieve in our system um those are kind of the two things that kind of stuck out to me um the down and in I did was more just wondering how we'll have access to that data I know that or know that it's still being tracked and progress is being made but um I also want to respect it that's going to be operational I think part of what we have done is provided you with more um of the granularity the more in-depth data in the monitoring report but the card itself and the presentation would high level so your reports would include some of that some of that down and in data but not at the high level of the card itself so for me it's the vision cards around culture and then achievement um and then also consolidating there's um I think some achievement data in um kind of spread out if we can consolidate that in to say one clear picture of achievement um and that is kind of along with the rigorous courses of study um kind of that whole academic achievement I don't I also don't want to lose kind of the full surround so I don't know if there might be something around participation in after school activities because we know that can be um a a really critical um factor to student performance so to me as I was looking through and I've always wondered when we have our cards are what are the most highly correlated to the outcome that we're looking for what's really addressing the root causes um I know that there's way too many variables and many we can't control when it comes to student outcomes but if we had a it should reflect our most finite set of these variables that we control are most correlated with the outcomes that we're seeking to accomplish um and I think it's you know one of I'd always reinforce that we want we even if the data is bad we want we want to see it right we can't know what if we don't know what the real story is so um I want to make sure that as as the teams work this that they know that they have the full support of the board that it's it's there's no condemnation for where we're at today it's focused on what are we going to do to move forward in the future so there should never be fear of showing something that doesn't look good um because we're here to make sure that we're doing the right thing for our students um under the vision card a um what I wondered was um if we go back to like the center of the circle which is the daily desired experience are the metrics really getting at that because that looks and it also looks different by grade level like Elementary versus Middle School versus high school so differentiation might be needed in the what we asked in questions when we looked at our stakeholder survey in DPAC we saw Middle School is particularly suffering um and so there um the the survey uh exit of seniors maybe we need to have exit of middle schoolers as they're going into 9th grade what is their middle school experience because that's one that we I think really need some work in based on the stakeholder survey um we were looking at curriculum so if I look at um vision card B um what do we know about what our grading systems are telling us about Mastery and we saw some of the breakdown between what some of our cumulative um grading outcomes are versus test scores and of course test scores are not everything but how can we um continue to have the right metrics on um Student Success um I do want to retain uh under culture of achievement B4 we I think we do have some good measures in there um around participation in postsecondary and the career paths and the credits earned so those are good 12 by 12h y um I wonder if there should be something in there around gifted though the talented and gifted participation um perhaps um you know I love promising practices um how are we measuring the effectiveness of our staff that's another key driver um in terms of student outcomes having highly effective staff so are we measuring that so I'm sure I could think of some more but those are some that on my mind um when I look at vision card a I think that one thing I'm curious about um is when we talk about a sense of belonging and and and engagement and um and success kind of starts with students actually being in school and so do we at all look at you know student attendance I mean I see that it's aut of school suspensions Behavior incidents but um I know oio is one of the districts that does a lot of referrals to the county attorney's office in terms of students in school and it's very disproportionate amongst our population and I'm just and it's such a key indicator of success um in a sense of belonging and so I'm wondering if that um is something that's missing in here in terms of a way to start to assess um outcomes in um delivery because I I I I mean I think that again it's just such a strong indicator of if you're not in school if you don't have and it's not even like being in the classroom it's just like if you're not engaged age if you're not have a sense of belonging if you don't have a trusted adult if you don't have you know no matter what's going on at home there's so many stories of um you know kids thinking that school is a safe place but until it's not and then you know and then what does that kind of how does that impact our student population and their success in the future yeah having looked at this for uh total five minutes um I do appreciate what you're trying to do with the up and out um I kind of think of it as you know when you go up you have to it has to be kind of easily discernable the so what right what what's the value of of what this is so I appreciate that that's what we're what we're trying to do because otherwise you're just getting yeah lost in a ton of data right so so I'm probably going to go through all of these and so what so what that's good so this was just the beginning just a start that we start getting information so we'll get that um Google doc out to gather that oh I'm sorry go ahead I'm so sorry Dr it's all good so um so K is actually working on that Google doc we speak with um with a space for four members to drop in additional feedback so we'll send that out to you in the next uh day or two um so that you all can provide the additional feedback that you want to share um so you don't feel like you know this is the only moment and then goad sorry I wanted to show that okay um and so what will happen is our our data and assessment team and our group that's going to be looking at all the feedback that's come in we're going to be talking about what are the what are the types of metrics that we can pull and start looking at does this help us tell that story um are these the things that connect to the things that we think going to really have high leverage um impact um then we'll we'll populate some Vision cars that will be a pilot and we'll present those to you all um as as Dr Kyle said in our next cycle of reporting out the vision cards later um this winter and early spring through the remainder of the school year so we'll we'll we'll be able to finalize those after you all have provided some additional input on the the selected metrics that we're bring before you to say did this get it do we do we h The Mark with these um and so feedback is is something that we value throughout this process the vision because this is the first time um we've done it in this way the last this will be our third year of of providing providing this level of transparency with our our data I I did I so I was like a little taken back when I found out that we were redoing the vision cards um but looking at the refinement themes like I just felt I'm so grateful to all of you I feel like you did listen to the board um and that's captured in those themes um yeah so I'm I'm excited so yeah thank you for all the work we we had the opportunity to attend an amsd presenter um John Tanner from Brave Ed and and he really emphasized in his presentation of superintendent around the state that that what we really want to try to get to is what are the benefits um of AIO area schools education that our community wants us to meet so when you think about the benefits you want your CH your children to receive in our system do so in in the portrait of what you want your child to experience at the beginning at the middle and at the end the portra of oio scholar do these metrics help us understand that story and our progress towards achieving that for each have there been any focus groups connected to that what the community is Desiring from our school I love I love Focus perfect we told her to ask that so so we we uh assistant superintendent uh myself um and our directors actually met today to talk about the the process so we're we're actually studying a video next week that that the U American Association of school administrators put out that's a webinar on how to help people walk through how to create a portrait of a of a of a scholar for your District so we're going to be leveraging some of that uh National best practice toay process where we will have um groups that will be from the community that we'll be working with to give us valuable that's great I've been hoping that we would do that for year the whole time I've been on the board but I know we've had turnover as we've gone so um this uh next decade or two while you're here never allowed to go toit Dr how's been on this for a while but we just don't have capacity say right monitor on the system be a patient for we killing them but well I mean in the with the portrait of the scholar with some of the ways that you're putting the metrics together it also lends itself along with Abid to the student um goal setting where they're charting out their career in our schools and they're setting their goals and me and achieving them um so I'll be really excited when we one day have every student has their their own uh Journey their school career journey in their hands um two final thoughts uh the resource alignment that's key um so you had mentioned ensuring that we've got the the um honing in some of the resources alignment under operational so where we have need is where our dollars should go like when we as we looked at the curriculum um as we looked at where we might need um additional support that to me should be considered fluid as we're seeing um the metrics move that we're moving the dollars where we're providing that support um and then um on page 25 with that um coherence Community groups so just put this in in the when we have capacity list um aligning our community groups as well um who's coming into our schools who's providing support what are all of the different uh I know like rotaries in like we just there's I know there's no shortage of groups are they all aligned with what we want them to be doing um are they all align to what our outcomes are um desired for our students if that's achievement and knowing that they do different things but can we just bring them in and focus them consistent with our goals and outcomes that we're seeking I'm done good good thank you thank you great input and there there is no uh rusher timeline Keith it's okay okay doesn't have to be done by 9:00 tomorrow you're p on you didn't tell you the Schoolboard rules yeah yeah exactly exactly um so thank you thank you for that valuable input I'm I'm just so excited with our work session that our goal is just um this is just all our house and all of our input we're going to get what we need to get for our stakeholders so I get excited about that so um okay so we have U another update um because once again our goal is to um meet the needs of our boards requests of our board but as well as um always uh being transparent and shared what things change and what may come up so we're presenting today to the board um just a repurpose site update and um and just to get some um advice on you uh from you on next steps so uh John go ahead please as well as Brian serson Hall will be joining in as well as well as k all right thank you Dr hyle so tonight we'll be giving a brief update again on the crest repurposing and the recommendation on how the board would like us to proceed as you're aware this has been a significant change in our system especially on staff and families at crw um throughout the process of the repurposing our goal is when to make sure that families are cared for along the way um our Crue staff and families are being fully supported and we think the process has been progressing along very mly so far uh a very special thanks to principal Stephanie Webster um the current principal at Crestview as well as the teachers and staff who've really worked hard to make this a successful year and to create a path of transition that respects the history and accomplishments that CH view has done so far so outcomes for tonight we are going to review the process that led to the repurpose section of the build a better future plan get everybody grounded on the same page so so we can uh continue the conversation forward update the community based spaces um an update on those as the repurpose s and how they'll be used understand why there is a proposal to build a new facility versus renovate the current facility and determine directions and next steps moving forward with Architects so we're going to start with history um let's take a look at some of the history why um and why behind the need to rep purpose the building um so this has been a relatively exhausted process that was followed with many years of research that brought the district to this point staff students parents caregivers and community members have been a part of this process the enrollment and capacity management advisory committee or xmac um has been studying our enrollment patterns and capacity and building use and has identified recommendations to address both the under capacity and over Capac capacity enrollment situations specifically there are under capacity schools in Brookland Park and growing schools at over capacity and gr EAC and six other focused groups such as Comm uh Career and Technical education and magnet provided recommendations for the build a better future plan that included several facility improvements and the repurposing of a school or schools the oversight task force again which some of you are all members of in the um reviewed that work and made the final recommendations to the school board using criteria in alignment with the district's Mission and values the criteria used included Equitable impact fiscal responsibility districtwide alignment to standards capacity long-term IMPACT Program Improvement communication engagement and flexible adaptable spaces uh this finalized build a better future plan solidify the decision to move forward with an elementary for repurposing the 2023 Bild the better future plan shared that an elementary school would be repurposed to serve pre kindergarten grades enrichment and Community Based programming needs after much research and consideration including uh build a better future and the enrollment and capacity advisory committee Crestview Elementary was the site chosen this means crestview's kindergarten through five students and staff will be moving schools in the fall 2025 for the start of the 25 26 school year uh CR why why was crw chosen crw specifically was chosen for a variety of reasons that include its centralized location to Neighborhood schools opportunities to expand and offer more community services and a lower student enrollment or impact that had reached unsustainable levels to give you an understanding of that today uh there are 185 students in that school today students that currently attending Crestview um this school year have had the opportunity to choose a nearby Elementary School to continue their learning for the fall of 25 and their remaining Elementary years three schools that families were able to choose from were Edinbrook Elementary School fa Oaks Elementary School and Zanewood Community esteem School expansive learning opportunities and supports are of course available at these schools like any other school in our district and the choice was needed before winter break um noted on the slide are the approximate numbers of students who've chosen each of these three schools we needed that information before winter break to to uh feed into the enrollment information that we provided to you earlier Transportation will be provided to all three of these School options and I note though in District transfer and open enrolled families will continue to provide their own transportation to Crest View but if they're optioning to another school from cres will'll transport pick them up from there and take them and if anyone's wondering why that number doesn't add up to 183 is because 50 of the students are going to middle school next year so they didn't need to choose an elementary school just as an FYI so we did get all the families did turn in their choice which was amazing that all all the students did that so that's why there's a little bit of discrepancy in numbers just as an FYI they already automatically matriculate up into middle school but fifth graders and just to let you know these students will not be impacted by the valy change in 2026 they will not need to move again okay so as uh We've shared in the weeks uh and months prior there are some programming plans in place for the crust view repurposing space however still exists to offer more opportunities in addition to the initial needs and commitments that we talked about during the uh the referendum time this fact was shared with our community last spring as well along with an opportunity to provide feedback on potential directions the feedback has helped the team with creating a full repurposing plan so I'm going to take just a few minutes to talk about how the feedback opportunity was shared and what the results were um so this opportunity was shared in a number of different ways and places um including um a mailing even to the um the CR view attendance area so those are um those will be to any families in that um area those with and without students attending our schools um District Communications including our E news web and social media platforms um our Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center School Communications included in there be newsletters website social media and our math notification uh text messages um there are also graphic displays near at both our Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center Schools um Flyers were there as well they were displayed on bulletin boards available for pick up in main offices and then pass out at um inperson events for instance like a PTO meeting or end of the year Gathering uh from last spring uh Community Communications included this in their E news web and social as well um our our community engagement team or face um partnered with us and our multilingual Communications team partnered with us to get us out um in different languages um the cities of Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center welcomed our uh flyers and Communications and shared those out um in ways that they were able to and then our Media Partners um the hyper local CCX sunpost and press and news captured this as well um some things so a tool called that exchange helped to gather um the input this gives participants the ability to anonymously share their ideas their thoughts and rate the ideas of the other participants um we had 249 participants in total there were 97 thats and then there were 2363 readings of all the participants that so very high on on the reading portion those is on this slide are some of the high Lev themes that were shared via the that exchange opportunity and there in no particular order but um after school programs Family Counseling Services special needs support adult English classes early childhood education steam education tutoring Services Community Gathering spaces mental health support outdoor educational spaces cultural emerging programs indoor recreational facilities job placement services and parent education programs U I'm now going to turn over to Brian to talk through how um we've shape the programming based on our needs and commitments as well as this feedback all right thanks K so as previously shared the the building will transition from an elementary school to an educational site serving pre kindergarten grade enrichment and Community Based programming needs so um some of the new school board members one of the things we need to follow as for a repurposing of a site it needs to have an educational component moving forward that's why you see the prek grade levels that stay even though it's no longer a K through five building there's a prek uh component and that's why you see the 125 seats approximately and and in this particular case when we talk about prek we're really talking about four-year-old programming for that component of it so uh with the prek grade component we're very excited uh envisioned to provide an Innovative Heritage learning model focused on cultural immersion uh centering indigenous among East West African and Spanish cultures um that's in partnership with our American Indian education program the Indian American Indian Cultural Center um this proposed site will set to become the permanent home of our American Indian culture center featuring featuring a curated Library boasting over a thousand texts authored by American Indians and housing the American Indian education department the department will offer experiential learning opportunities based on Dakota in a jibway lifeways in partnering with our early childhood programming which I think is is exciting um also the community programming uh could include but not be limited to enrichment for adults and youth Community Gathering spaces opportun to engage with Partners around access to the building and outdoor space and others from ideas collected in the design process and um designate and I'll talk a little bit more about designated multi-use space rooms exist to offer more opportunities in addition to these needs and commitments we identified and Tanya I made a note when you mentioned like Community groups aligning to what we do I made a little note to that because I think that's an interesting way to think about it what groups might we partner with that could use that as a hub we we already have some examples Brooklyn Bridge Alliance For Youth is certainly a group we partner with got Maple Grove Community gymnasium which is a Community Partnership we've got Zan Wood Community Center which is a partnership helping primarily Middle School and High School Youth and then I forgot what other one I just said Maple Gro Community G did I say that yeah okay there was a third one I was thinking of oh the Northwest Family Service Center where we have the enrollment center SE in hin County right so we have some examples I think in the school district already where at different points in time we've taken an opportunity to uh maximize use out of building and create Community Partnerships and I made a note a former cooworker of mine Nam Margaret Boer she had a great phrase I've always stolen selfish altruism how do you create contribute to the greater good while also advancing what your goals are right so I think that there's some possibilities with Community groups there so needless to say I'm excited about the original feedback we've already received from uh Community groups but also pairing that with some of the areas that we think we have specifically for district needs including a production kitchen uh at a at a school that you know has an opportunity to do that so I did want to take a minute to just talk about the next slide um multi-use spaces it sounds kind of obvious but a multi space is exactly what it says a space that can be used for multiple things so it's in other words it's not permanently fixed right so this is not a sheet of ice is typically used for hockey or broom ball it's pretty fixed it's not going to be used for your Schoolboard work session right it could be fun wouldn't work might keep us awake at 9:30 but it might not work right this is a multi-use space right this space is used for many things so one of the things that I think is important about U multi-use spaces is it allows ample opportunities it could be senior programming in the afternoon it could be an early childhood family education program for parents with infants uh in the morning it could be an after school chess club in the afternoon and at night it could be a gathering space for a community group and on the weekend as many of you know we already have seven faith-based communities who utilize our school buildings every weekend for their services right so a multi-use space uh allows those wide range of activities that could happen there but it also um allows us to adapt if Community needs should ever change right so like right now we've captured I think Kay and the team has done an amazing job of capturing as much information as we can through thought exchange and doing some preor but that doesn't mean we would stop asking the community what they need right so think about um I joted down a couple examples does everyone know that Arbor viw Early Childhood Center didn't always exist used to be Maple Grove City Hall right so things change we used to have a teen pregnancy program at the oalc that Community Ed ran for uh young people who had uh infants in early childhood and wanted to attend high school pregnancy rates I think thankfully went down dramatically and that's changed so some things come in some things go out we didn't always have driver education in askary schools and now we do so I think for me those are examples of when you create additional multi-use spaces it allows you to adjust and adapt to what might be the changeing community needs so I would uh I'm glad that in our planning uh we have not I like to use the phrase we haven't put everything in dark pen like it's not like youve walked through every room and said this isn't dark P this is only what it will be we've created multi-use spaces in order to uh adapt to community needs so uh the next page of K thank or John or k whoever moved the slide I think we' have already mentioned the uh family and Community engagement team uh they would be located potentially at this site and they would help generate Community engagement activities Out There community group initiatives uh we've already talked a little bit about that Brooklyn Bridge Alliance this last couple years has done an amazing uh program called youth on boards you know and we even have a student cabinet now with the superintendent you know those are examples of initiatives that haven't always existed in communities that we could add and certainly I already mentioned after school um but we also think there's an opportunity with multi-use spaces and design to create some large group staff development and training areas is um that we could utilize for our own purposes instead of renting out spaces like we have to do now as well as open it up to some Community groups so um the last thing I would say uh that I would add to this besides uh being excited about the opportunity to expand opportunities in our community I also believe uh having a Early Childhood Hub on the east side versus only in Maple Grove like we currently have would be amazing and um what we know that once you establish these types of programs it starts to become a more known location and it attracts more people right because they know they can depend on it it's there so that's just briefly uh some of the current programming ideas that have come up through public feedback and staff input through um District needs so thank you thanks okay so in circling back when we took all that information we sat down with our Architects and they started planning the space and said okay here's all the ideas here's all the things that you see are your needs and we want to put those within the box that exists today as cres knowing that at the time when we started we knew we had a general budget set through build a better future and then we said okay how we can we fit these programs in and how do we do that and how do we make them um how do we meet the needs of the programs as much as the space meet the needs and still being able to live with in so this is the original view of what um The Architects came up with now when you set an initial budget you're making some assumptions um and we made some assumptions of what we knew about the building at the time when we got in there opened up ceiling tiles went down in really creepy tunnels things like that we discovered a a whole lot more information that really changed what we can do um and that's one of the big reasons why we're back is because this isn't what we originally said we uncovered information and we need to share that with the board so we can together make a good decision um so from what was originally proposed to the oversight task force with bvf to what was uncovered once we went in deep on the design um a number of things changed Administration is committed to maintaining transparency and fiduciary responsibility with the school board and so it was determined that we need to have this conversation to explain what happened and to make a recommendation for next steps as we got further into that process our Architects and Engineers discovered significant structural and mechanical issues within the building that are going to make the modifications that we initially had hoped to be um extremely expensive in addition to the other amenities that we had wanted and needed to support the programming um also carry with them their own additional significant costs all those added up to what ended up being just about $10 million over the initial 16 or so million do budget because of this the project actually crossed a Tipping Point where where the experts we work with with our Architects um and our Building Company IC recommended that we stop the process of renovation and consider the process of rebuilding um MD actually has an established guideline that they use to recommend that their guideline is if you take the value of the building and the land and what's in it and if your renovation cost exceeds 60% MD's recommendation is you tear down and start um and we feel we cross that we have not I again in full transparency we have not done a formal assessment of what that building is worth but in some informal things of looking at what is a 15 acre plot of land on Zan wood in the middle of of Brooklyn Park worth it's a decent amount of money in the building we're going to be in the 30 million range um so so as we were doing our rough math once we cleared $18 million we we cleared the Tipping Point um and so then the concern for are we being fiscally responsible comes in so that original bucket of of6 million or so dollars predominantly was coming out of our ltfm or longterm facility maintenance fund as I said the costs today exceed we wanted to do what was on that plan we're we're in the right at 25 million or so in order to hit 25 million we still have to take some things up we originally wanted to put a a separate Bus Loop in for the 25 little kiddos coming in we can't do that and stay in with within that cost um there's a few other pieces we wanted to add we talked about a community garden and better Green Space and we're just not going to be able to do that within the dollar amounts we have available today and really when you come down to it we are still renovating a 61y old building and and is 21 million $25 million worth the investment in that versus what we'll show you um as the other option so information based on renovating versus rebuilding so in order to try to look at this Apples to Apples we estimated if we took the same square footage roughly 59,000 ft that Crest View is today and we built a brand new building on that site about that same size including the demolition of the current building our cost would come in as estimated by our own um construction firms at about $27 million now when we went through when we're placing programming within that building we have more space than we need we don't think we need 9,000 ft um having had a number of conversations with Architects we really feel that number comes in probably closer to 50,000 ft so so 27's a c that's that's the top we think it would cost to do anything um when we talked about the 25 million to renovate the building that's 25 million based on what we know today um and the example I would give you is this last summer we walked into Brooklyn Middle School we started doing demo we got into the middle of the media center and we found aestus all over the place why it's an older building we thought we knew where it all was we didn't guess what we had a almost a month delay to go in and a whole lot of expands and take out this suest because we have to once we uncover it we don't know what we're going to uncover at crust view if we go in and R it's an older building you're you're we can do the best we can and the reason we we originally chose atnr for the architect of that building is they built it so they have the best plans of what should be there doesn't necessarily mean it's always how it was so um typically in a renovation you have to have a much larger contingency than you do in a new build because you're going to uncover stuff some um I think I I always go back to Dale carlstrom our facilities director telling me about them out digging in the back of Park Center and they got the you know big excavator and they're digging out to put the turf fields in and all of a sudden they cooh hit something and they scrape with the the excavator and they pull up an absolutely perfect Clean Slate of tile and what it was is a milking parlor that just simply got buried in the ground as an Old Farm well that tile looked like it got laid two days ago it was brand new why it's all aesus so we had to dig up this entire building encapsulate the whole thing and take it all up had no idea that was there we were just digging in a field to put up a dome so you never quite know what you're going to come up with and that was in a grass field so um it just it just lends to the the unknown piece of of renovation so um today as we're looking at this we've only issued part of the bonds for for all of build a better future just a just about half um typically when we're doing that and what the voters have approved us to sell is broken into again the ltfm bucket and then U What's called the school building Bond bucket they can be used for different things in order to maintain a zero impact on taxpayers as we look at a rebuild recommendation um and because the timing still works we can make the decision to say We'll Bond less for ltfm and not use the full tax impact available to us and potentially if needed use other funding streams to get back to the authorized tax level again not going over enough everything is is is we can potentially do this as a tax neutral option we're not asking anyone to increase taxes anywhere we've already asked the money we're going to ask from our taxpayers we don't need to ask for more um and we may not need to do anything that's the other plus is we have other funding sources that will be coming when we issue bonds um we earn money that comes in with new bonds the example I'll give you the first round of bonds issued there's something called a bond premium that many times comes in we we initially thought on $138 million no $238 million bond that we did we might get 10 or 11 million in a premium we got 25 um we also do not intentionally ever allocate the interest that we'll earn on those bonds while they're sitting in our accounts waiting to be spent on anything until we know we need to so for example the school building Bond portion of of that 238 million we're sitting on the interest for that that could be allocated into this bucket so zero taxpayer impact um any new building bond which the school building portion of the second one will be in the $123 million range and then there's the ltfm portion we have to keep from separate but any interest earned on that $123 million which I think we estimate somewhere in the 7 to 8 million range again could be put into this pot if we wanted to so what's what's happening with this is we've kind of created a very unique opportunity with both timing and um so I'm glad we uncovered what we uncovered when we did but both timing with where we are in funding our bond projects and also this unique opportunity to create a multi-generational asset for both the district and the city of Brooklyn Park um today we have in our inventory if you look at our buildings as assets we have a abundance of late 20th century elementary schools what we don't have is Early Childhood as Brian mentioned Community Education dedicated American indiia Education space and that multi-use flexible programmatic space that we would have the flexibility to be able to adapt and change based on the needs as they come and come this would provide that opportunity so next step based on a rebuild option um the next few weeks are critical for us so we have bids that are coming in the biggest two come in on January 15th and January 21st being the new elementary schools bid comes in a week from tomorrow and the maple girl High School editions a week after that uh and then I want to say by first part of March we'll have oio Senior High so those are our three major projects um depending on how those bids come in if they come in you know even at or under we're in a really really good spot we may knowing that we also have these potential other funding streams coming to us um might not need to ask the board to do anything but we want to be transparent and tell you that there is the possibility that if things don't come in perfectly we might but if we do it's still tax neutral it's still going to meet the needs of the district and again we we still have have that ability to say here's a unique opportunity to provide an asset that the district really could use Brooklyn Park could really use um and I think especially for our community you're you're resetting the clock on a 61y old building to brand and and and just to have that now here's your multigenerational 60 70 plus years of a new asset that the district can use um our our goal simply in this is and and I'm hopeful that we can use what we have in alternative streams that we wouldn't not have to ask the board for any action but again want to make sure that you understand what we're looking at um timeline wise kind of here's if you were looking at the the rebuild option um originally Crest View was intended to go under construction right away in Juna July uh we cannot do that um it was originally intended that it was going to be um a renovation we would reopen in the fall of 26 we are now looking at the fall of 27 um much like a new Elementary if you're doing a new building it's a roughly a one-year timeline now we've already done three three plus months of the work we've already figured out design wise what can what do we need in the building um so that's just a matter of shifting gears and saying okay rather than fitting in existing you have you have a an undrawn box figure out what you want to do so the most likely this summer construction would be demolition of the building they would have to take that down we do know there's aestus in that building if we have to demolish it um so we can plan for that the cresy staff and students get to begin their new Journeys starting the fall of 25 here again that new site tentatively scheduled to open September 27th and again we would be sharing all that information um on the progress through the district to build a better future your website and and more of that information to comes um so really we're we're too a point of of of asking the school board um to support a recommendation from the district and and from my my perspective as you know you know our our our district team our financial team we take incredibly great pride in ensuring that we are fiscally responsible to every dollar that our district spends um I I tell people many many times when I sign my name on that audit it means something it means something to me and I'm not going to sign my name if I don't agree with what's on there and I'm backing this with that same level of support to say that I would not make this recommendation and this wouldn't come from our our facilities team our district team if we didn't think this is the best option available right if we didn't think that it makes more sense to rebuild this and create a strategic asset for the district long term than put the money into renovating a building that um it just won't turn out the same way you know and again it comes to that unique opportunity to say we can do something great or we can do something I hate using the term but half fast and I feel like the repurpose part is going to be a little halfast we're going to put a little lipstick on a pig we're going to do the best we can but we're not going to do a great job to me a are school is here to do a great job and the recommendation to rebuild is a great job so with that chair Thomas I'll turn it back to you Thomas uh thanks John again um board members comments questions yeah I have a few questions unless anybody wants to start things off make sure I start at my beginning here um so you mentioned some of the specifics of the remediation cost or the additional cost that we weren't expecting it's the structural mechanical was and then asbest remediation is that correct yeah structural is the biggest one what's really unusual about this building most buildings you can think of as a box the outer walls are the strength of the build right in this building like if you have a sheet of paper and the outer walls are the string in this building it's the inner walls that are the string so the architect was telling us we could actually rip off the entire outside of the building and put all windows in and it doesn't change the structure where our problem comes in is we would like you know our pre- K classrooms are in the 12500 foot range the classrooms in that building are 8 to 900 square ft so if we want to make them that big I don't have to move a major structural wall I have to dig down 12 ft put in a new footing in the middle of a room to build this wall back up and now I have two I need six of those so so that structural component is so it's not necessarily Integrity of the structure no no I yeah than you I don't want to I don't want to say there's anything unsafe about the building it's not it's just to modify it to the needs we're trying to do um is just you know it's just not it's so expensive um the that system that school is old enough that it has a u I mentioned the tunnels so underneath the hallways are tunnels and that's where a lot of the each back some of the stuff runs um but they're dirt floor tunnels there's nothing in there if we want to actually upgrade those to use that with modern equipment we have to go in and pour cement into those tunnels and seal them up so again you're just talking these weird extra expenses you would never think in a normal situation I'm going in to upgrade a boiler and all that I don't think I have to pour a concrete floor underground um but you suddenly have to do in this particular situation so just the uniqueness of how the building was built when it was built what's the typical life cycle for an atsr design like in our school district how long have they typically lasted I I don't know if I can answer that because it's the you know each architect is different and um they're they typically build to the design that that's we gave direction to at the time who was responsible for it um but so I'm I guess I'm not sure quite how to answer that is that something we could find out from them like what the projected life cycle was on this building um we can ask uh if they if they still have staff around that were there at the time I mean this this would have been designed in the early 60s so um you know most most School builds buildings that we see you're going to fall somewhere in that 20 50 to 75 years this is a typical normal time frame for a school so we're right there um and part of that too is the understanding of okay if we're we're in the sweet spot right we're close it's still is a viable building is 25 million work are we going to buy 50 years for 25 million or buy 30 years or are we going to buy 10 or 20 you know so so again it kind of cost benefit um then the difference between 16 and 27 is pretty significant aside from the funding streams that you mentioned how how can we justify that to our district that it's an additional 11 million so it's to be clear the 16 was the original budget today if you want to renovate that building we're at 25 so so what we're comparing is just state of the Apples to Apples is 25 to 27 of of rebuild versus renovate or sorry renovate at 25 rebuild at no more than 27 the 16 we can't do we just can't do 16 but uh we'll just sorry to jump the 25 though doesn't get us all of the features that are in the 27 right we just stopped estimating at 25 right is that way said yeah we had we kind of backed down to 25 originally their number came to almost 2 and then we said okay if we took out this Bus Loop and we took out these pieces and and um typically when we start what's called value engineering taking away um we start outside and work our way in you know so with our new Elementary that we bid in a week we did that exact same thing we a little over on where we thought our estimate would be so we went outside and said okay we're not going to put Irrigation in the ground um on the ball fields out there we're not going to put a softball field in we're going to take a few of those $100,000 costs here couple1 000 there um we're going to trim those down to not affect the school building so that's where we're doing the same thing we're starting to take away stuff outside to work our way in but you're still going to have some programmatic issues because there's like prek really needs dedicated drop off and and so we would have to be running buses through a Common parking lot which we try not to do but those are all things that are still in the build the 27 the 27 build is comprehensive okay yep CU essentially having a clean slate we're not dealing with a footprint where a building already exists we can put the roads where we want we can we're we're truly clean SL we start over with a pen and point back a sheet of paper and figure out what you want to do on the property could you tell me what kind of um cost per square foot you're looking at for the clinic because those typically have a higher cost per square foot there is no I I guess I didn't address that um originally we were looking at the concept of a potential clinic at that site the feasibility study we did with Park nicholet said that's not a feasible s so that is not on the table okay um there are mult that's where again I guess we go kind of back to the multi-use thing if we could partner with somebody like a mobile dentist who needs just space to come in for a day you know or on Mondays and Fridays we can figure that out in a multi space but I don't think we're going to design a specific space for it now prek requires a nurse so we'll have that type of a space but that's again included in Des and then what is the hotel so hotel is just meant to be itinerant staff hoteling space where I can come in and Pi space for the day so it's just kind of compacted tight spaces we have a few examples around here yeah that's that's what that that piece was thank you so oh I'm I'm very excited at the possibility of having a brand new building um and a site that we can start from scratch um um to meet the needs in Brooklyn Park uh we just looked at enrollment data if we were to look at the percent of student capture in Brooklyn Park I would wager that is well below the district average because all those charter schools are pulling the students in Brooklyn Park away our most significant need in Brooklyn Park is achievement support so I'm excited at the opportunity that we need a new building in Brooklyn Park and that this opportunity has presented itself um with a new site um investing at 20 $7 million it leads me to ask a different set of questions as to what belongs in that site that's going to best meet the achievement needs we know that the needs in Brooklyn Park are really centered around teens that's not to say prek isn't um important to be there especially with what's required by mde and the shifting of the other sites but I think outside of the prek we should be really re-engaging the community um with a different set of questions about it's not about repurposing EX exting building but how do we reimagine what's truly going to move the dial and impact students in Brooklyn Park the greatest so um I'm fully supportive of a new site but I would say that I don't agree with the same plan going in at that site anymore that I think that we should re-engage I just want to throw out even at the time when we were considering it for Brooklyn Park that the city manager of Brooklyn Park was saying could we give them space uh for Head Start because they have several Head Starts they're looking for place for their younger kids so um so Brooklyn Park does have a need for prek and I think if we're looking to address the needs of academics of what's coming in I you know I just they more children if you're looking at four star what those uh babies are getting it four star that the kids in Brooklyn Park should be able to have that opportunity as well because they just come in kindergarten and they don't have that um Fork prek experience and they do come in behind their classmates so I just wanted to share that okay uh can you remind me what question was asked on thought exchange to feedback well she's looking that isn't just clarifying question isn't the addition to the community center say what addition well you're looking that up as well did all of the opport feedback opportunities direct everybody to thought exchange or was there any inperson engagement was there um you know when we did the Strategic plan we went out to the community um and had iners interaction engagement did all of these Avenues go back to thought exchange um they that's where like the feedback was coming in but there were some in-person like connections to try to get people to fill in that exchange so there were some so like the PTO meetings are a great example of that um or if people are coming into the main offices at schools that's a great example of that as well so all the data was coming in in that direction but there was some inperson um engagement to try to encourage people to fill that out um so we shared U like a couple paragraphs of information on like where we were at and um the timeline and things like that and we really wanted to have Community engagement but like the main question that was asked was how do you believe the additionally available space should be utilized at the repurpose site indoors and or Outdoors thank you so to director Prince's Point um I agree with the recommendation to um build um a new site versus renovating um and the last thing I want to do is downplay the importance of prek um in Brooklyn Park um I agree that I think this increase and and cost is a game Cher um this isn't the original request or information that we presented to the public and so for me um I look at this new amount and I do think we need to go back to the community um and give them the opportunity to reimagine what this space could look like in Brooklyn Park and what those needs are um particularly as director Prince mentioned um to help with student achievement um I know that there's a new building um that's receiving funds right now the teens Center um that addresses some of the needs um as it relates to teens in Brooklyn Park but um 2527 million specifically for uh prek um and the um American Indian um education center uh which doesn't seem to take up a significant amount of space I guess I'm struggling with um I'm struggling with this new um 25 plus million doll number um so yeah I I'm not comfortable moving forward with the existing plan as is one thing to think about with the prek in there statutorily because you're repurposing the site you have to do grade reconfiguration so prek is part of grade reconfiguration to keep that as a Repose site which would potentially change board action if that moves but you're not saying not to have pre no not at all saying you're saying to keep yeah keep that part of it and even the emphasis on that it looks like our entering kindergarten rates are plateauing or declining at the worst case what does how does that impact our investment there and I think that kind of ties into what you're saying Thomas so that would be something to chew on definitely and I I would like I mean I support the rebuild on th% I do Wonder um I feel like regardless whether we did the repurpose or rebuild and the significant increase in budget and you know I work at the County so I know that happens all the time when we this buildings and um there's such an increase I feel like you know we're going to have to somehow communicate to the community um what it is and I would imagine questions would come up about well what else is what is going to go in there um and how do we you know I feel like every time when I think about world's best Workforce and all these reports it's like you see the disparities and achievement over and over again so like what's going to move the dial and immediately I thought but like what are these achievement zones doing the north side achievement Zone the Harlem achievement Zone to really bring in all these different services to really Advance um achievement and could we be um kind of the next achievement Zone whatever that looks like inclusive of prek and things like that because I mean at the end of the day we want to ensure that our our students um have everything that they need we're not leaving like one ounce on the table that to to succeed in their life and we know that the there's disparities in our education systems particularly in our district um so I I do agree I mean I think that there is this opportunity and I don't know when we talk about engagement um what would that do to the the timeline of things I mean that's you know um and um but I I think it's kind of I think I for me especially being newly elected I feel like that's my due diligence as a school board member elected official to be able to have have that conversation in our community um again I do have a question about the prek and I fully support prek but like why is there no focus on African-American students I guess that's my question I see that you know there's native um Spanish speaking um but West African um I'm just really curious about um African descendant of slaves in particular knowing that um that particular population's often overlooked um and that's a little concerning to me that I'm even thinking of like Freedom school or you know things like that um which we don't have anymore but we did and that's a highly successful um f school program um and so I I think I'm aligning with Tanya or Prince and Brooks around kind of how do we advance how do we ensure that we are addressing an achievement in our because we talk about it all the time and this is kind of this golden opportunity to do that and I know I'm newer to the conversation again but but I but if you're asking about my preference I wouldn't want to rebuild well and I think one of the good things to to think about when that is is so we had an architect who said okay here I'm going to cram all this stuff and he said great throw that stuff start over we can have that conversation in the design process to say okay what needs to be in the building now do we have the right things does something need to change you know we can still have that conversation I don't want to say that we limited but we we still have that ability I think that's that's just our due diligence of doing the job right and building it that we would do that the other point I wanted to bring in when you're thinking about the I don't want people to get hung up on 16 million versus 25 million within the authority the board and the voters granted us within build a better future we can do this that's what you need to focus on it's my job and my team's job to make sure that we figure out the difference between 16 and 25 or 27 to make that happen and what I'm telling you today is we think we can do that um otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation and part of it as well we're looking at um achievement is uh branon speak to that to though as well as having areas for um uh parent and child education classes if you go to West Side you see that all the time you can go to the west side and you can walk in you have parents in one room or they're watching their kids in the other room play with the teachers or they're playing it together we don't see that on these so how much more can we develop that in you know providing skills and giv achievement and giv experiences the same as others are experiencing as well because I think at sometimes we and we of course we'll you know I'm just talking of course we'll do whatever but um I think if you weigh by second grade you weigh by third grade you're trying to catch up you're constantly on a hamster real where you're trying to catch up or catch up where do we start you start at Birth read to your child and your Billy is where you start right you start with putting books in her hands and things like that so when you go and any teacher can tell you when you go in in kindergarten who's had pre and who has not had pre so you know just to think of that as well is like how do we give our parents the same opportunity that some of our parents on the WB side has as well where they're able to go and have these parent child education classes can I uh I don't know if you're able to answer this one John but roughly of the 50,000 square foot I know we had looked at that originally about how much of that would still lends itself to like flexible multiple space I mean so there might be some opportunities additional opportunities to bring in some of the community based programs or or maybe some other programs that aren't necessarily permanent but could be permitted into the school so that it's either during the summer or after school or some of the other kind of program programming that they have I'm trying to remember we were in a third of the building is has a flexible component to it at least yeah I mean there's things like a production kitchen is an absolutely not flexible proponent as an example um we can't let the public use a uction kitchen but we've talked about creating a a similar to a fax laab that we have in a school creating that type of flexible space there's a kitchen flexible space that can be used for ethnic cooking or American Indian Ed can bring in and have meals that that their um families are are cooking on site there as well or learn how to cook things you know so you still have that flexibility um to use it a bunch of different ways so I think that's that's a big piece of it in knowing um you know as a district we we rent space all over the place can we capture some of that maybe this that's a good idea here maybe shifting Focus to something else would be a better idea I don't know um again we're happy to explore all those things and say what's the right way to use this because what's most important um is again we we build it right and we do not exceed that budget that we know that hey know what what our our statutory authorization is a absolute cap and we're not going to go past that I was taking some notes too and I think um back to kind of our multi-use spaces or Focus areas you know I I I'm just trying this onise you know we can make sure our multi-use spaces have some academic support Focus areas you know um I'm just going to State Brian Brian ating here academic achievement is for the K12 Academic School day that's where the primary responsibility for achievement is we can we can create these other programs whether it's uh tutoring programs some literacy initiatives to meet our read well by third grade after school programs um Kelsey just brought up Freedom schools different cultural immersion programs steam focused after school programs that support um science technology and math you know I think I think that's doable um so I I guess I you know for me I'm I'm right I wrote down the word academic support Focus I know you you use all of you I'm just talking out loud because I'm I'm trying to hear what he said and and capture it um but you know you're using the word like achievement zones or achievement um I'll just have to I'm just letting you know it's a proven it's a model so they have parent and youth education they have have um academic K through 12 or college or whatever Beyond academic supports it's family achievement coaches it's prent Financial Mobility it's emotional and physical health and wellness I mean those are the components that seem to kind of advance and and move the dial um in terms of the success of not only our students but Dr high like you said to our our families because I think that's such an important piece to the you know that parent and youth education yeah I agree with um uh director Dawson that um when you study the achievement zones and we this to me it's a unique opportunity we haven't had before and um I've been interacting with a number of groups that come to to Rotary and talk about the limitations they have because of not being designated as an achievement Zone versus work that's being done elsewhere in the Metro um so if we could really kind of step back and say if we could do anything we wanted to what would that really be that is a true Legacy for the community and for the students and um the as director Dawson pointed out like this is about a surround so achievement isn't in these models it's not during the school day only it's a full surround so I'd be more comfortable if we were really intentional with the programming that says it's this programming for these outcomes comprehensively rather than Cobble together with well maybe this group could use this space or that group could use this space yeah okay it's like anchored and I'm feeling like there's a big question mark right now around the multipurpose and flex spaces um and given again and you said not to get hung up in the increase in cost but to have this Flex space that has a huge question mark we don't quite know what we're going to use it for um I don't love that either um as we talk about being good stewards of taxpayer dollars um and then I think the the other thing to you know director princess point we it's really how we communicate to the public is really important how we phrase things how we create space for them to provide feedback is really important and both as a board member and as a community member I don't feel like we ever really got an option um to really imagine what the space could look like um from the ground up um because because it was always presented as a repurpose space um and the district was very clear in that communication all the way through um so yeah I I think we if we do need to take a step back which I do think we do I don't want us to rush through that um to then end up in the same place that we're at right now um I'd like us to actually take the time and and have those discussions with the the public um and what we need to do in that part of the district um and particularly given the board's concerns today um how we can use a space to um truly invest in um the youth on that side of the district um and increase um our investment in student achievement so how I just want to make sure we're all understanding so how do you use this space the flex spacing are we still seeing the entire building okay so if we are we saying that it's because the board would have to vote we're not talk and having another educational program you're going to have to vote to close the building I think we've said consensus is that the 125 seats should be there it's what is the rest of building okay that's what I'm trying to find we're you guys all got that okay okay okay I heard that so then go back and get feedback in regards to the rest of the space and do we have a date on the calendar that we need to approve this recommendation so here's where timing is a bit of a problem um as I mentioned with a the other new building we were building we started planning that 13 months ago and and the bids come next week now we we kind of already are two or three months ahead of that number but essentially we need to be planning this in the next 3 weeks we need to be started on the planning process now because we're starting over we have to have a conversation with Architects still um we from a district perspective you know we have two architects the reason atsr was chosen in this building is because they had a history in this building we would like to if we're going to go to a clean slate and again that conversation can still happen um of of what that clean slate looks like but we want to talk to both of our Architects and say what's the right fit here for the clean slate and what's the you know Direction so we may take the opportunity that's probably the most pressing thing we need to do is can we engage Architects to pick one to say this is what we're going to move forward with and in that process we can be gathering more information and starting to look at that um I don't know if we can stay on the timeline of fall of 27 but again this isn't necessarily uh we don't have to open the whole building at the same time either you know the goal is from a standpoint of we have we have three years so from June of 25 when the building temporarily closes we have June of 28th um that's that's to stay within statute and not having to do something different so we could technically approve a new build but say we want the programmatic intention to be rethought as you're going through the design process so we can do both it doesn't have to be as long as as as you understand the flexibility and we'll you know keep bringing this to you as we get farther into it that I might not be able to hit us uh you know day after Labor Day in 2027 open date for the whole building now there's nothing wrong with saying we can do that for the prek the rest of the building we're still working but does does prek have to be the first opening that has to be it do have to be 27 it just has to be before June of 28th thank you um we're in general we were trying to wrap all projects by the end of 27 but again it comes back to do the right thing don't let a timeline screw up the right thing I I think as a board we can make the decision it's more important to be the right is 27 the cap but it um with the funding that we have or if we were reimagining this is there still space above that because I don't want to if we're going to reimagine it I don't want to necessarily say it has to be 27 million if we have room we have options but but options may require board action again I will say do none of those options will cause a tax impact anyone but there are levers to make those options happen that do require certain board things like a public hearing the example I'll give you is so today we have $8 million sitting in the bond pot for parking lots the new one the two parking lots at the new school the additional parking lot at maper Grove the new parking mod AIO so on we have the ability board to just say we're going to approve an abatement bond that a batement bond can only be used for parking lots it's a really dumb special bond that's there all we have to do is have a single hearing for public comment to say here's what we'd like to do we know because of what we'll play with bonds that that won't have any tax impact to us we just have to go through the levers to make that legal part for MD um and then that frees up this $8 million that now goes to the abatement Bond piece for parking lot and I can now put that in my chunk of of free you know much more flexible um School building Bond money so so it's that's like the lever that I'm talking about we have a couple of those that we two or three of those that we could actually do just kind of depends on what ultimately is in the building but we've talked with ERS as our financial adviser they're well aware of those in an Ideal World we would come in and premium looks great and we don't have to you don't have to exercise anything else and we still fit in cap but you have options there's there's it's the uh the benefit of my job is there's some creativity being able to find those things and stay within that magic cap that we say you know are tax the funny thing is legally when we said $223 million legally it's a tax percentage that that that sets for us and as our tax base grows the percentage goes down automatically so my percentage is still there so growth helps us um all those things help us to maintain that level that that's our statutorily approved level by the voters that we don't go above so so long and short is lot lots of options for the board um and this is is not a rushed decision like we don't we're not going to sell bonds for at least another year so we're not in a rush to do that um Ellers was telling us we could even wait another 18 months if we want it just depends um but it may be in our best interest to sell them sooner so we can earn more interest I just want to chime in from a staffing standpoint right and I know this discussion is surrounding um repurpose versus rebuild um but I just want to make sure that right when we're when John's talking about options that we still remember that um you know we do need that decision you know or to know if if the if there's still a commitment to um moving forward in the same timeline or whatever that timeline is going to be because there are Staffing implications and we have been working towards making sure that we uh look out for the staff that we have and that they um are guaranteed spots and we we do you know we're working on that now um so I just want to remind everyone about that when we talk about options that there are Staffing implications that we have to address yeah I don't think we have a preference to be suddenly another year out so we have a sense of urgency so just to summarize and make sure we have the rights so giving permission to go ahead and talk to the Architects um maintaining 125 the prek program but getting more feedback from a public on Pacific programs that's there we don't want Flex spacing I'm just trying to make sure I understand that part I mean honestly I would like a really well thought out plan from the district on what would really accelerating achievement for our scholars in the east side of the district look like if if we could do anything that we wanted to like like how would we I would like to see us create an achievement Zone yeah like why don't we meet with n like s i we should maybe you would tell me you know I mean like to what when Dr high like I mean what comp what are those components to kind of Advance had and like and I it sounds like some of it's already like was planning to maybe be in that building anyways but I do like that idea of like whatever we do should be anchored and be really intentional um and whatever organization we partner with work with I I I mean I think that they have to kind of kind of have to have this nor star to to kind of go after um I don't think it feels good to be like this organization this organization this organization because it's I don't know if it's a little server well you're so it it sounds like one of the things the board is this is a a move from more of a community center based site to an achievement Center is what I'm I'm just trying to summarize what I'm hearing right that's what I'm hearing right cuz Flex all the things that we've so um whether or not everyone agrees we got enough Community feedback I'm not going to argue that but the programming that we brought forward was based on the community feedback we received right so that so I would just that and so that was that's the focus of a community- based um that's why you do some Flex spaces right so that you have you can meet whatever needs the community is bringing forward but if we're the request is to have a more academic support feature then that looks different that might not even get a ton of Community feedback frankly I was just going to say like do we want to present it as that do you want to present it as um we thinking of putting more achievement specific programming in here and what will that be question we very much had I mean like in our explanation it was very much Community Building kind of specific because we talked about those Community Education specific needs that's what it was talked about I think the question I get hung up on is when if when was phrased were people only thinking of repurposing the building not a new build like if you had anything you wanted what would it be and versus like using an existing elementary school so do we want to open the question up to if you could dream of anything if you want to dream let's think with that cuz like then you're going to get like we want we want our Aquatic Center oh don't go there if we're the focus is dve we did get that if the focus is to drive achievement you're right though that may not be crowdsourced but it we should better understand how the community sees for their students for their kids in the in that area what would best Drive achievement for their family so I do see the difference between it's Community Source versus a district strategic Direction and maybe it isn't a big Community maybe it is being strategic of meeting with there's you know lots of organizations in Brooklyn Park and and maybe it's just intentional kind of a convening of M you know so it's more assigning those Flex spaces to groups like that and then keeping some of that like a gym or whatever you'd still have that it just be identified specific so it's like I got sence pain all of a sudden I don't know where this is coming from but it's it's it's it's like I had the opportunity to open I help open up a steam School in Robin so the two questions was whatever we did was how are we different and what if right so what if what Kim we build what if so now I see what you're saying now that okay we have this whole new brand new building what if and how are we different and doing it in an achievement type way so our our team could easily research you know the different achievement Zones North Side achievement um we'll have to figure out how communicate with families because it's more precise now so yeah the good news is on you know um like Nas for example you know they do early childhood they do after school program right so a number of the components they have beacons they've got beats and R I can name all the programs they do it right so and have some health Focus you could have some career they have some career FOC they have some health mental health components right so it's more it's I just took that off the these are all the things that they that is part those are all the components we cheated we l yeah my mom worked at oh 14 years you just full of surprises it is I just think it is a golden M all right we're on it we have our assignment uh just so real quick the board meeting calendar review particularly for um our new uh School Board uh members this is a always a working document it's always not totally solidified of what's there um so it kind of give you an idea of what's coming up on the 14th we have our PD next week at Northwest of bban I think um Sher I don't know if you gave it back to her already she needs to know what you wanted for dinner uh it it'll let what we have in our regular meetings as well you'll get that in the school board updates in February we are going to have our board work session at Northfield middle school and we're going to try to do that a little bit more we're going to open it up to you to be able to take a tour 30 minutes beforehand so this is our way to be able to allow the board to see all the work that has been done and get out into other sites doesn't mean we'll do it every month but this will be our first one um and uh we're excited about in March March 11th we're going to go deep into committee work what's the committee what's an advisory what's our role what needs to be there what so we're going to do a lot of work uh around that and talking with the chair Vice chair from last year so this is a Workman document if there's any like topics or ideas or something else you want you just freely say and we'll uh try to get that worked in so Vice chair one more thing you have these the 279 Foundation I'm expecting all board members to purchase their discounted ticket so we can all sit at a table with as many people as we want to bring that can be around the tables the next ones my cowboy hat came in a mail today seriously use your social media we like Western my new leather cowboy boots neighbors wonder what's going on yes you had to dress West bring my horse no I'm sorry never know what I do the most that would be amazing contest for sure that's arrival not a great thing all right uh this work session is adjourned at 9:08 pm thank you all right