now I can put it all together right and good evening everyone I'd like to call the regular meeting of the pric Savage School Board to order would you all rise and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the repic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all
okay all members are present uh do we have open for tonight any speakers no all right no speakers tonight for the open Forum so first on the agenda then will be the approval of the agenda uh the first one is the actually the approval of the agenda sorry is there a motion to approve tonight's agenda B made by Mary second second by Charles any discussion hearing none all in favor signify
by saying I I I opposed that carries 70 move on to the consent agenda these are items that are considered routine in nature and will be taken in one motion before I accept a motion to approve the consent agenda is there anything that anybody wants to take off and discuss separately yes can I pull off uh number 7 A7 which is the monthly check detail
okay we will we'll pull that off and I'll just move it down if you want to turn your page over I'll make that like 7g after we do the cons if that's okay if we could pull seven C the monthly financial report just have a couple questions I'm sorry what number is that Jess 7 C the monthly financial report okay and that will be 7h anything else okay I'll I'll entertain a motion
to approve uh the consent agenda minus A7 and letter C so moved by Lisa second by Mary any further discussion hearing n all in favor signify by saying I I oppos that motion carries 70 then move down to uh what is now 7g the monthly check detail I will entertain a motion to approve the
monthly check Detail no made by Jess second can we uh discuss that soon as I get a second second by Lisa sorry uh any discussion oh yes I apologize no problem yes so can we uh discuss the CPM educational check um on there and Dr Thomas would you like to Sure uh bring in Dr Edwards to discuss that a little bit sure I'll just give some context
here um so on the check register you'll see a payment to CPM which is the parent company of a curriculum Publishing Company um we have a trainer that we've utilized for our Middle School curriculum um our at our last early release our high school math department made a request to get math strategy training um they H they they have a curriculum that's been around since 2011 and we
are going to be in the process at some point of looking for a new curriculum and um but for their early release they wanted to have a trainer coming in and talk about a variety of math strategy trainings and so the um the provider that has been doing training on a curriculum at the middle school level also did um curricul not curriculum strategy training at the high school with our High School Math teachers per their request um for their
current curriculum that they have um I know a couple of you had questions about CPM at the high school CPM is not being taught at the high school um it is a curriculum that is not of interest at all to our high school math department um like I said we are at a 2011 curriculum and with new math standards we are going to have to adjust and go for a a math um curriculum review for the high school and I'll just be very honest that is not one that they have
any interest in in pursuing um but that trainer because of of efficiency because we have a relationship with that trainer in our district from a cause standpoint that's who we utilize to do their training um for the high school U math strategy um Dr Edwards anything I've left out okay can you um elaborate on what specifically he he taught within there
was it a CPM kind of found no nothing to do with CPM um director Johnson um he was training specifically on math strategies um you know computation strategies etc for their their current materials that they currently offer at the high school um this has nothing to do or any remote backlash to um CPM whatsoever um it was agnostic training so math strategy doesn't matter which curriculum you're having that that's what the high
school teachers were looking for for their early release and Dr Edwards if you want to share any more specific content yes uh the and and just for clarity sake uh the ask was for multiple days we did it in J both January and February with our Math teachers and at the high school level and it was instructional strategies as Dr Thomas has spoken about to meet the newly uh adopted and required State Standards um and our curriculum our existing curriculum is
absent those State Standards uh because as the publication date would suggest in 2011 um and there's work to be done in uh modifying uh to meet the required state standards and so we're exploring and and this was a conversation that had been had and the trainer was somebody who had worked uh very effectively with our Middle School teachers uh again that was that particular work was specific to CPM this work was not this was more
Broad in instructional strategies aligned to the state standards moving forward I'll just add um in talking with the high school team we will be looking about um for next year ways that we may be piloting um different type of curricular or resources for um the high school math department um and that information will have more of an update for the board in March um when we do a K12 math review
as well so this wouldn't fall in the Realm of the CPM cost that we that the board approved last year the 373 right no that that's correct uh that is correct the the cost of that was specific to the middle school this was uh additional cost that was uh professional development uh funded through our professional development thank you any other discussion um I just have a question for director Edwards can you um elaborate you mentioned the mass
standards um those standards are you referring to the ones that are being updated I believe it's in 2728 or the one which standards are you referring to well there have been a number of revisions to the standards um and in some cases it's related to standards that are outdated even since our 2011 uh curriculum adoption uh catching up to those standards and certainly looking forward as well and again as Dr Thomas just uh spoke of
we intend to uh the teaching and learning uh Committee in March to bring representation from our high school team in that K12 uh update and we'll bring that here uh to the board as well in March and then I just have a question because I I saw this on the register as well and I questioned um about the CPM training and my question is is that and I just want clarification on this um was the training based on the meth methodology of like the big building
thinking classrooms um was that the training that they received in the high school or was it go ahead the the building thinking classrooms is is a body of research that our teachers have looked at K12 um as a foundational body of research uh it is not uh that to is not a curriculum uh once again the instructional strategies might have some alignment uh with the framework of building thinking classrooms we did have some teachers at the high school
previously that were engaged in a book study at their choosing uh around those practices and made some uh instructional changes uh the desire from the high school was that all teachers at the high school be engaged in this work and we felt like that was the uh best approach thank you any other discussion we already voted on the consent agenda right yes okay a couple other questions from the check
detail um I think I don't think I got a response on the um there was two different invoices I wasn't sure why they were split for the audit that are on here on page 67 I think it was about 18.5 and 11.2k there's two separate invoices why were those split and then are these mandatory auditory audit services that we have to do annually or is that something unique who is the vendor um page
what I'm sorry director 67 67 thank you mmkr certified public I'm sorry what who is the vendor M KR it was our it's our auditor
director Frederickson mmkr oh mfkr yeah that that is our audit or but that's an annual required audit correct at the end of every year we have um statutorily we're required to have an external audit firm come in um we are in the process of trying to get their estimate for next year because we are considering an RFP okay and we split those I just was
curious why they weren't on the over 25k because they were split invoices uh there was two different bodies of work they had some additional um post audit work if you will that they had to get some additional information and um so they just sent us two invoices okay um and then my second question I know we had um some conversation around the uh rotary membership on page 71 and
we're just curious if that what types of membership dues do we um or what groups I guess do we engage in is that the only group that we're part of or are there other membership dues that we're yes director Mason um that would be the only uh Community Civic group in um I'm sorry that would be one of two Community Civic groups Chamber of Commerce is another one that we've historically had Partnerships with um and again these these well preced me that they've had
Partnerships as a district um in those two organizations and then we also have affiliations with our lobbying organizations so msba asbo amsd and we dropped um seek yeah thank you we dropped seek just because the redundancy um within amsd and msba we we did that last year um and I believe that is it and
in terms of the lobbying organizations for our professional uh associations um I had a question about that as well and as we look at our strategic plan with Community Partnerships I think um the question that came to mind is while I think we're obviously looking to expand our Community Partnerships um being a member of an organization just one specifically um raises in my mind some concerns about bias or when we think about other memberships I'd ask why are we not members
of the liance or why are we not members of the prior league players um so I I too have the concern of why are we specifically paying for a membership with this organization when I think the rotary they've done great things in our in our district they would continue to partnership us but when we become a member with an organization it it just becomes it's concerning for a public school district to um pick one organization to be a membership versus other organizations that would probably take that membership due as well so I
had a question about it as well yeah oh sorry so first of all the the concept of it being biased is is um um invalid but it is part of our community engagement and um the uh superintendant going back as long as I can remember have been members of the local rotary clubs um as as individual members to show up and represent
the school district and they also speak there to inform the rotary and other and they go to the Lions Club and they've gone to Club prior and things like that some of those don't require memberships um some of them invite us in um that sort of thing um so um if if the if the board would like to discuss um the memberships that we do all together particularly in terms of budget then that probably should be a study session discussion I would agree moving
forward if that's something we could we can look at um at a future study session um I'd be open to taking that that feedback maybe on the 24th when we when I ask if there's any future topics it's necessary especially given our new community um Partnerships um our strategic plan and especially given because just because we've done something in the past doesn't mean it aligns with our new strategic um our new strategic plan so I think it's definitely worth a conversation well keep that on your on your mind for the
24th you want to bring it back up but I think there's no other discussion around the check detail we have a motion in a second on the table there's no I have one question does this mean we are not going to do the 7 C and 7A a new business are we going to rediscussed to drop it at the just just after the consent agenda two additional items okay so again I have a motion and the second on the table to approve the monthly check detail if there's no further discussion all in favor signifi
by saying I I opposed motion carries 70 and then the monthly financial report Jessica you had some questions thank you yeah um so I mean obviously the report is great I what I struggle a little bit with was just um some of the you know it's a lot of yourto dat comparison versus the prior year so looking at some of like for example the federal sources were 71% versus last year 17% at the same time I guess I'm curious if if
it's the will of the board could we potentially get some type of like rolling monthly forecast if it's available to show like if we're on track where we're forecasting Beyond track for the C current period versus last year like I don't you can't tell from looking at this if that is like expected or if it's you know something out of the ordinary you know what I mean I don't know if that's readily available or if that's something others would find useful but yes we can certainly add that
report there's um a report that the department of education issues twice a month that shows all of the um check payments for the state aid I can certainly include that in here um we can whatever the board request we can certainly try to put together a report to show I think the intent when is in our financial statements to give you three years of data and to kind of show what they were the last two years um
compared to the actuals from a couple years ago but we can certainly provide more detail if that's the will of the board for me it would be helpful just to know if we're tracking or even like food service fund we're quite under where we were sitting last year is there a reason for that or is it just you know we're spending less I don't you know it's hard to tell from this but yeah I I mean I I would agree I think this is something that um like I said this report is great but it's hard especially as we are
tracking um to ensure that we're staying within our budget um guard rails that I think it'd be super helpful to have just a onepage um rolling budget shall we say for expenditures and um Revenue chair chair thank you chair white and board directors um to director frederickson's point the the reports can be generated um through mde the only thing I would like to caveat if that's the will of the board
is um doing a quick little inservice on the volatility of the reports um education funding is not static whatsoever and so what would on paper maybe alarm someone um on a traditional budget process if you will in our industry the volatility can swing quite a bit from one month to the next and so I just want to be pre I just want to preface that so that there's some context around how do you then read
said report um so that we don't have assumptions going in um and then um the regularity of the reporting and when we can get that information too uh Tammy is that a is that a I'm sorry director FR is that a scheduled run or is or is that something that would hit our upload date because that's the other factor that we're running into is some of our financials um getting it in in a
current time timeline to meet the Monday sometimes it might be a month behind to get everything put together cuz sometimes we get reports that get run or publish on a Saturday well we don't get that until Monday and then you know so we'll have to adjust the Cadence of what will be coming to you that could sometimes be a month leg because of waiting for certain reports that we don't necessarily control or generate director feder thank you um one of the things you'll notice is that the financial statements are for through December
that's because we don't have a bank statement yet for January it just it physically is not uh possible to give you a financial statement including of um bank reconciliation because we don't have it yet so that's why the financial statements are always going to be a month behind all the other reports the check registers those are just uh data runs that we pull off of Skyward um the mde reports they for their payments
they usually post them fairly regularly they they run them on the 15th and the last day of the month um so those we can get um you know right after those dates they send the it's like a check stub that shows all of the different Aid payments that they make at that um on that payment so that one we can certainly include if that's the will of the board if you'd like to see that one and I know that that um Lisa and Tammy and Dr
I sat down and and chatted about maybe the possibility of of um cuz I don't want to pile anything else on top cuz it's already hard enough to get stuff to us on on time if there are things that we could wait for and end up seeing a month later that may not matter if it allows Tammy to give us information that might matter um a little easier and and get it to us earlier so we have time to digest it um uh so that's things we we talked about maybe that's I don't know if that's a i to keep piling on study sessions I don't know if that's a
a a conversation that that maybe the treasure can have with Tammy about what what what do we really need at at these meetings what can wait if we get it a month late doesn't really matter is that would that be a better way to go about it instead of adding on to a session yeah thank you director I think during even during our conversation um with director V you mentioned there is a report that is about like a something that you already have created that shows a rolling budget I mean I don't think we're looking for you to recreate anything or pull anything off of mde I think what we're just really looking to
understand is that if like for instance on the year-to DAT expenditures were half a million over well if it was broken out that that is where we're forecasted to be and broken out by oh it's coming out of busing or where it's coming out of on a monthly basis I think holistically is a it helps me as a board director to be able to see where are we coming in so there's no surprises at the end of the year so yes I'm happy to work with um director Frederickson or if she has a coup if you have a couple examples you can show to the board um I think we've I provided one from um
the Lakeville School District I believe which is I don't know what your thoughts are on that one I don't know if you saw that one or okay well then if it's it's okay Mary well the only thing I would say is first of all um the will of the board gives Direction um to them but I am more concerned about the not the volatility of the income and the expenses but the fact that we there's some months of the year that we just get hit right particularly at the end of the year and in December and then when we
have these big bills come in like the Ellers payment and things like that that can actually make our fund balance look highly skewed um that's so and it's the expenses too not just the reue talking about make sure we have contact so looking at this we really need to take the annual view uh and then somehow or another um and I'm sure that because the budget already has acred into the current fiscal year those payments um
somehow or another reflect that so we don't get statements saying oh yeah look at our fund balance it's way high and then next month of course it drops below our our required level so that happens throughout the year and it can be very misleading um the amount of time to explain that uh and the and the ability to to actually accurately put that into report is something that that um is kind of a combination of teaching about Finance but then also uh the amount of
work that that would have to go into that in order to give an accurate picture at any one point in time so I want to keep that in mind um and that's been an ongoing um misinterpretation often times when people grab one month over the next month when it can wildly fluctuate but is that maintaining like that's in the forecast right we would have forecasted that fluctuation right so it's more the comparison of actuals to what you're forecasting to a certain period of time that I think you
know to highlight if we were expecting something that we maybe didn't get you know what I mean necessarily the fluctuation we can't really highlight the fluctuation but highlight the that we're on track right to meet the end of the year um that's the thing uh without actually looking at the physical months um that's the thing that that I would get concerned about and that happens in any business obviously any other
questions I think a comment um would just be I you know in hearing the different suggestions and will of the board is you know it is the determining Factor but also um you know being able to work together with you tamy I think to figure out what is the the best way for this information to be presented um whether it be studies session or
um our Treasurer working with I think it does need to be discussed among us so that we can that um you know director Frederickson isn't like I'm hearing all of these different things so making sure that the board comes together to give that direction I think is really important and to hear um you know our different experiences in life and business is is
different than the from you know it's there's it's vastly different so making sure that she's hearing what we're looking for and then we come together and and give that direction I think that will be the most efficient maybe okay sure wait if I may um first I guess I would like to understand if this is the will of the board for that uh rolling monthly and if so then I would like to request that we do that by way of the treasure um as
the role of the treasure to co codify what that actual report would look like aligned um so that we can bring present that information back to would it work if if you Lisa is going to go ahead and and sit down with director Frederickson sometime if individual members have have a request or some kind of information they like to see get it to to Lisa you guys noodle something together and then bring it back to us that would be my request okay absolutely
that's no problem okay if that's the will of the board that sound good good okay perfect thank you thank you all right um do I have a motion in a second on the financial you do I forgot all right if there's no further discussion um all in favor of the monthly Financial reports signifi by saying I I I opposed that motion carries 70 and now we move
down to a resolution we actually have two separate resolutions for two separate gifts and if I can find them here and we'll require two separate roll call votes because one of the gifts tonight is uh a donation of real property so gift number one is a donation from Mortenson company in the amount of $2,000 for supplies for the mcaps trades program and I'll
entertain a motion to accept that gift so made by Amy second by Charles any discussion this does require a roll call Jessica sorry Jess I was going to keep that sep I Charles I Lisa I Amy I Mary I Jessica I and I that motion carries 7-0 gift number two is a
um a donation of real estate from a Nancy shown wer in the approximate value of $116,000 for just a little bit over an acre of property right behind Red Tail Ridge Elementary School is there a motion to approve that gift F made by Lisa second second by Amy any discussion hearing none Jess I Charles I Lisa I Amy I Mary I and Jessica
I and I that motion carries 70 with gratitude yes with gratitude and next on the agenda is Laker pry Dr Thomas thank you chair white board directors um this evening we got two things um for discussion the first is our student Spotlight and going to showcase our student mentoring program between some of our high school students and um our our Laker leader mentors and uh some of our uh loal um Mente and so principal
kazinski will come forward and uh he is going to set the stage in the context and uh I have certificates of appreciation for everyone there and I'll hand those to you principal kazinski to uh pass out to the students afterwards uh good evening Dr Thomas members of the board um we have some fine um gentlemen here that we're excited to share about um this past year uh actually was kind of back to last year our fourth fourth graders do a kindness Retreat every year and new last
or newer last year was the involvement of the Laker Leaders with Jeff Marshall and just seeing the impact that the students the high school students have made with our elementary students is impactful like they they look up to them so much they're so excited to see them um and we wanted to think about how could we make something kind of sustainable um more than just like a onetime thing so kind of build that relationship so um unfortunately our our amazing dean of students Samantha shenberg is not here today she really was
kind of the the work behind this um she collaborated with um principal abdala at the high school um and Sam Oak um and kind of created a program uh where we outlined um the opportunity for I think we have six high school students that came and I do believe there's a total of how many visits six visits so um they kind of mapped it out and then of course creating like a little curriculum of like what they would do um including um an opportunity for lunch um but uh the the high school students were coming
over to uh develop relationships with um some of our fourth grade uh boys um really specifically aim for that that male leadership opportunity so um here we are uh we have some students here tonight that are going to share with you um some of their highlights and with that I'll turn it over to all of them my name my name is Jake and I like the program because it was nice to
meet people different people and it had exciting stuff for us to do my name is Jefferson and I really like this program because we could share or the high schoolers could share their thoughts and what to do cuz they've been through these type of situations my name is brenon I like the program because I like playing the games and writing on the sheets hi hi
my name is Stephen and my favorite part about the program is I can see my friends and have a conversation with the high schoolers hi I'm Skyler um my favorite part about the program is just being a role model for these kids and showing them what they can do uh just in school and just have fun while they're doing it uh hi my name is Elo Jake and um I just love being an influence in the
um young kids coming through the school system and having an impact on what they do every day so as you can see there's a mutual uh benefit here um not only is a great opportunity for our high school students to develop some leadership opportunities but also for our um fourth graders uh to have the opportunity to develop some relationships and with things like that so with that again I want to say thank you to uh Mrs shenberg and Mr abdalah and Sam Oak for help with some of the transportation and kind of the initial setup
so it's something that we do hope to continue um in the future that's awesome any board members have any questions I have a question so when you this is for the students the younger students when you first started meeting with your um High School mentors were you nervous at all um
I I guess I wasn't really nervous I was just excited to be in this program wonderful anyone else want to share I was not very nervous I was excited to meet new people and to have fun I think that's great that says a lot about you high schoolers too yeah
much picture thank you
okay one more here um I would like to call um major promotable David Brown forward or as we just call him Dave from the alc um know know he was recently
deployed overseas and uh has spent some quality time doing some great work around the world and uh we are spoiled to be able to have David with us every single day and the impact that he makes at our ALC and um when he returned this summer uh or this year uh he was sharing with our learning leaders just about some of the experiences that he's had and just some of the um kind of the social structure like education that he saw in
different parts of the world and just how good we have it here and how proud We Are to be an Americans um given the perspectives that he shared with us and um we are just honored that we can call you one of our own and so we thank you for your service here in our community but we also thank you for your service um in our country and what you do every single day and uh like to give you an opportunity to share a little perspectives um about your um recent deployment thanks so much uh Dr Thomas
board chair white and board of directors uh first of all I don't know how I can follow that that is just great to see our wonderful students uh it's great to see what's happening here so maybe what I'll do is just Begin by saying standing here as a veteran now having served in two deployments and multiple International training and exercises overseas during my military career I'll just I'll start echoing your comments Dr Thomas by saying I could not be more proud to
be an American and I am so grateful to live in the United States it's the best country serving and working in multiple countries during this last deployment specifically really provided me with the valuable experience to work with and experience different cultures and different systems of our allies and partners and these experience experiences I think will be really beneficial for me as I work to support our families at Bridges and our students uh at
the l c my wife Maria who is a teacher at Prior Lake High School and myself are just incredibly grateful for the support of our district leadership for my military service as well as my team at Bridges while I was not in combat during this last deployment the demands were incredibly challenging and taxing as a service member and I could not imagine that experience what it would be like if I didn't have the consistent and unwavering support for my leadership for our leadership and my
military service here in the district so I'd like to personally thank you Dr Thomas uh Miss Herman Dr Edwards and Dr bezik for their support uh during that time as well as the as well as the board here those of us who serve while in a civilian career really rely on that support while we serve our nation uh you all simply could not be more of a patriotic employer your support was especially valuable as I
transitioned away from Bridges and into active duty and then when I transitioned back for active duty uh here back into the district and your warm welcome and your love and care um I can be it could just could be felt through and through so thank you I would like to say I'm deeply grateful for my team at Bridges area Learning Center as well for the great work they've done this past year supporting our district and communities families and students so I would like to say and maybe kind of close just by
saying what we do here at Prior Lake Savage it has it definitely has Global effects I had the privilege during this deployment as well as the last deployment while serving overseas to serve with a Bridges graduate Andre he was a fellow service member and it was a pleasure serving with him and it was so nice to see that grad and Prior Lake Savage area school grad do so great overseas and I I relied personally on him uh for the work that we did
and maybe I'll just close by saying this that's an example of the importance of bridges prior like high school and more broadly the work we do here in Prior Lake Savage our Public Schools ladies and gentlemen are the great equalizer in the United States providing an opportunity for all students and an education for all of our children each year we serve our community here in Prior Lake Savage all of our teachers uh
administrators all of the work of all of the staff supporting and inspiring our students to reach their full potential it was great to see while deployed so many public school students serving our country and specifically our bridges grad fulfill this Mission and do so well as a veteran ladies and gentlemen it's my pleasure to serve our country thank you so much for your support that
you offered me during this time thank you thank you Major Brown for your words and everything thank you welcome
back yeah thank you thank you and that is all chair white all right next one on the agenda Personnel items director Herman none tonight okay no unfinish business we will move on to new business uh director Frederickson the 2526 enrollment update I have uh included in here the monthly en update for 2425 um that
you see every month um you can see that we have 11 fewer kids than we had October 1st we still have 29 more students than we had at the end of last year so it's pretty consistent um not a lot of uh impact changes um for the current year enrollment the other report that's on here is the kindergarten enrollment that we're tracking um as
we look forward to the budget projections for next year obviously one of the uh pieces of the puzzle is kindergarten so as of last Monday we have 301 uh students from our district enrolled in kindergarten with 78 open enrolled for a total of 379 uh and then I have the last
uh six years data to show how that compares with the last few years you can see we are slightly down from what we had last year and quite a bit down from the previous three years before that then I've also included just for context um on those same years how many students were enrolled on July 1st because obviously we're doing enrollments uh now through September so
just as a point of clarification what did it look like in July and then what it looked like for the official October 1 count um so for instance for 2425 and February 3rd of 2024 we had 421 kindergarten enrollments we ended it with July having 525 and then the official October count was 552 so you can see kind of the
trend and as we do projections um we'll continue to watch this uh and make whatever adjustments we need to but as of right now we're down a few kindergarten kids from what we've anticipated in the past few years I can take any questions anyone have a question for director Frederickson okay thank you for breaking that out next we move on to
the 2526 preliminary budget update directors Herman Edwards and Frederickson oh this we have just updated our timeline um obviously we the last couple years we've tried to get allocations out to schools by the middle of February uh we kind of jok that it's their Valentine's Day present um obviously we're not going to make that this year so we're moving everything down by a couple weeks we'll have um um the study session on February 24th where we'll
be asking for kind of a thumbs to give us direction for that final allocation um and then we'll send allocations out that week of March 7th to all of our learning leaders and then everything else just kind of got moved down two weeks any questions I'm sorry chair wa I'll just add to um want to just thank the board for the discussion that we had um initially on the 2 27th of
January um and uh one of the areas that I think was a a deeper discussion that evening was around how we're meeting the needs of our Advanced Learners and just want to share with our board and our community that we are continually committed to serving all Learners whether they need special ed gifted education or anything in between and um our team is continually looking at ways that we can um address how we're um offering that model of support for our kids um you know working with our staff as well as
looking at the confinements that we have within our budget and ways that we can continually make those um support structures as best as possible so more to come when we provide um a an iterative update on the um or I'm sorry not an iter another update on the next two two weeks from today and that we'll be coming back to the board um with that as well and also finalizing some of the other areas of reductions that we were working through that were still kind of in process the last time that we shared um our initial presentation with you
all so more to come in two weeks all right any questions for Dr Fon or Dr Thomas um yeah I have a question um just you know thinking back to our last meeting um and then I went back and looked at the minutes and it says in the minutes that after a lengthy discussion a revised budget update will be brought to the board on February 10th and so my question is is that um so are you saying that we're going to
see the revised Budget on February 24th yeah we are bringing the uh the revised timeline for our budgeting process that we brought today um because that's something that we're changing that would kind of change our our our schedule and then on the 20 I'm sorry whatever that date is two weeks from now we'll have um the additional aspects of the budget reductions that we'll be presenting to you all in terms of um our final recommendations that we would uh provide to the board so our our update um was around the the budgeting timeline
process and and shifting all of that so that we can accommodate the changes necessary for us to make those decisions so I think my concern is coming out of that study session um there wasn't a real will of the board as far as the direction of the budget and I think it's important as um director France um mentioned this evening that it's really important to ensure that there is Will of the board and especially regarding the budget so at what point if you're going to be presenting a revised Budget on the 24th fourth I mean is this something that we should be discussing
this evening um regarding um the last budget that we looked at and feedback regarding Direction um as far as the will of the board goes um I'm just concerned because that piece that element was missing I I kind of walked away going I'm not sure where we're headed with this and I know I've had a couple community members reach out and kind of say kind of ask the same questions based on watching that meeting that's what you said is going to go on on the the 24th now instead
of tonight you that's that is register okay I guess my question is coming out of the comments that were made of on the meeting the last meeting what direction are you basing your revised Budget on I guess is my question because there was no will of the board uh correct so we presented that information to the board for your initial um processing of our recommendations to you all and um in terms of our recommendation on the 24th
that's where we would be seeking the actual directional support so again as we shared two weeks ago we weren't looking for directional support this was mainly a pre presentation to the board and that we would be coming back to you all with a final recommendation um you know in a subsequent study sessions as well as our update here changing our timeline to reflect some of the adjustments that we would have to make because a lot of folks in our district are we preparing for Staffing Etc so so that's where
we'd be looking for that directional support yeah I mean my concern is that we early on in our budget process we also talked about that um and I don't remember the actual actual meeting but you had talked about Dr Thomas bringing two possible scenarios to the boards that we could um shall we say look at the scenarios and make some decisions um and I remember the specific term saying we couldn't cherry pick the two different scenarios so at this point
we've only seen one scenario we've had some board feedback um at the meeting I guess I'm trying to figure out in my mind when are we going to see my concern is going into the meeting on the 24th that we're going to be shown something and um I'm just concerned you know like we're not having enough time to really process this and or um make sure that our the feedback that we're hearing from the community is included in the budg budget process it seems it seems like there maybe maybe we need to add another
meeting in there or something I mean I know nobody extra wants extra meetings but so I guess my question would be what was your intention as far as when we would receive the information that we'll be seeing on the 24th so we have time to digest it and yeah so that would be coming back to you all um on next Monday's um submission to the board for the 24th and again that night um I think I shared so I I don't
recall director Atkinson um talking about multiple scenarios I do recall cautioning around cherry picking um for sure that uh as we as we look at a target of $4 million um we presented a Target to you all last week um heard um perspectives from a variety of you next week or last or whatever two weeks ago and that when we come back that night I shared that we may have to revise our budgeting timelines because we typically would do our staffing allocations mid-February and that
we would have to likely adjust that and that we would be off about a week and a half maybe two weeks and that was something that we would say that we' be coming on the 24th because we weren't looking for directional support so I do recall talking about that that evening as well so that was my recollection of the process um so unless I recollected that differently I mean like I said I remember I gave feedback dror Mason gave feedback um but there was no will of the board based on
so that's that's my concern is that how are you making decisions on these budget cuts without will of the board and and so what we presented that evening um there there wasn't anything from the board at that point to say as as a board body to go in One Direction or not and so what we are continuing to move forward with is what we've shared um initially one of the points of feedback that I heard that we spent a lot of
time discussing that night was around some of our talent development um aspects and so that was very loud and clear to me um that is something that I brought back to our team based upon the discussions that we were having to figure out how we um continue to move forward with a $4 million Target but definitely there was a lengthy discussion around some concerns in that specific aspect and so we are really working through how we can address that that was that was one area that um that I took as
the superintendent to give direction to my team to explore different Pathways for meeting that need um outside of that um I think a lot of where we shared our information in the rationale as to how we can make that happen um we feel very confident with um and so that's that's the direction that I walked away with um based upon the depth of where we spent our conversation points but yes you're right at the very end there was no
direction to say we want this or don't want that um but it was I believe it was pretty clear in terms of a a specific area of one aspect of of a line item that was there that we wanted to continue to have some different exploration there before we would come back um with regards to presenting a budget reduction I I have a question too um with these with the schedule here um we're talking about the immediate budget going into next year but we also
have some pretty big decisions and some deadlines uh that have to occur um on some decisions that will affect the year after that um I don't see those reflected here for instance closing of a school potentially the the the uh the uh disposition of this building a few other things that we now have deadlines to notify the state and the mde for is that buried in here somewhere are we uh chair chair France or I'm sorry
director France um that that is no that that's not buried here um as we discussed that evening that's a longer term conversation we have until October of 2025 to be able to deliver that notice to mde so I thought we had to give them a heads up in July or August and then we finalize it in October you have to you can notify as early as July um and we have until October of 2025 to give our our notice to mde we
have time with that we're prioritizing the things that we need to do for next fall right away and then then we'll start working on that longer term um kind of repurposing of of buildings in the district okay I think concern sorry go ahead thank you um is just if if we on February 24st meeting maybe don't have we're not where we feel like we need to be if there's further adjustment ments that people are requesting or the will
the board is there more time for adjustments beyond that I think maybe is my concern is that kind of where you're going yeah and also like I'm I'm just thinking from your standpoint I feel I feel bad that we weren't able to give you will of the board at that meeting so like would it be helpful for you when make you know making these changes to the budget to have a discussion about what we saw and what our thoughts are we've had a couple um weeks to think about it to give you that feedback now
um that's kind of what I thought we were doing this evening so I I um that's why I'm a little that's why I'm trying to get get an understanding here why we're here tonight talking about this budget um so would that is that would that be helpful is that something that like so so I would I would say that um if there if there is direction from the body of the board after processing discussion that um you feel is important
for us to take under consideration for us to meet that $4 million Target um and there's something specific then then that I guess that would be helpful to to understand and know that um if that's what the whole will of the board is I would say that the board table the business meeting probably isn't the venue for that and that as these numbers and hopefully people are meeting with the admin Administration a meeting with you to
uh vet out some of that so that that is all inclus inclusive on the 24th and we can dedicate the majority of that particular study session to this very important topic but um I'm not sure we should conflate a business meeting with the study session in which we do want um a lot of that to occur um and go in depth I hope at the study session as well um director France I would just challenge you I've seen other boards give
direction at at work sessions on it and given the timeliness of the we really have two weeks and I think also to be transparent with our community I think it's important for the community here to hear what the will of the board is going forward there's a lot of unanswered questions about what's what is the will of the board regarding these budget cuts well you just exactly said but I said it's a work session this is a business meeting no I'm saying it's been done at at business meetings I would suggest CU I've talked all of you about this and the lat of the meeting was my
handy excuse and that that was my one I dropped the ball on not getting the W of the board that night and I I think I've owned that with all of you uh I think we're at the point now where what I can commit to the board is if we can if you can um if you can wait till the 24th um we'll take as much time as it's required to get the will of the board to make sure these cuts are are are are what the board wants to have happen and I'm I'm I'm confident we can accomplish
that in the 24th if there's a scenario that pops up that you just can't find agreement well I guess we'll deal with it at that time I'm not trying to uh you know cut off discussion here tonight but I think the kind of discussion that we need to have suits itself much much better at a at a work session and we'll take whatever time is necessary that's my commitment to to the rest of you whatever it takes to to uh get to agreement and consensus so is it possible that we can get the
presentation on Monday MH I mean the Monday prior to the meeting so that we have so we have enough time to process this we from today I think we always do get it there there are times that we are not able to get certain information based upon when we get the reports but generally speaking yes we will for this we will have that presentation for you all on uh Monday it be the 17th yeah Dr Thomas with that are you going to group those things together like you did some of those other items or
is everything going to be individually done um group what do you mean by group so there were some items and I don't have it just pulled up that were um do you have it yeah by chance oh perfect look at that pause benefits of being a pack my friend perfect right so so is this um director ol said has so Elementary
right increase class sizes middle school cap right and that was done so that so that one was all done right everything was capped together and then Elementary School sped peras High School sped Paras right all those were grouped together under one reduction is it that how you plan on laying everything out or is everything going to be itemized right so that if I think because as director Actis speaking right
we didn't really have a consensus right which is which is fine um we can talk about all that but if we can ultimately go line by line right it might be a better option and maybe that's something you and director white can work out you know um sure director Johnson I think I'm tracking what you're saying now so yeah you'll have um itemized um categories as you see there listed out for for you all to have
discussion you know um as a board and and again if you all feel like um there's something within that package that you know you similar to tonight like the consent agenda it was a package well there's something you want to pull out to have more discussion if you want to pull something out of that to have deeper discussion on that great and if there's additional information that we need to get you on that that we might not have included for you in terms of the context on that we could we could you know follow back up with that I guess
for us um and and you know what we will strategize to do is there are if there are Staffing related aspects I think we will prioritize that as some bigger discussion so that we can move forward with some of our building Staffing protocols and then talk about other aspects that might not have as direct correlation to the Staffing process so that we can continue if if we are in
a point where we need to continue and kind of bifurcate the process we have one aspect that can go forward similar to what we did in December while we work through some of these other aspects so I think we could kind of Chunk it that way if that would be more helpful yeah appreciate that thank you yeah and I just have one more question will the high school enrollment be completed by then so we have an idea of what that what you know the FTE savings is for should be yeah I know it's coming it's approaching but I was curious if by the
24th we'll have that are we is it in first part of March that it's officially the registration process will be complete but the actual breakdown of Staffing in terms of FTE in each department won't be done until early March okay that sounds good thank you there's no other questions we will move on to the 2025 legislative platform Dr Thomas thank you chair white um so several of
you have uh weighed in a little bit on the platform and I think we have the uh intent from our last discussion um I think some general feedback is can we condense it even further um and then I think there was uh several points uh made around the uh graph that currently exists in there of striking that streamlining streamlining then the narratives around the the funding formula aspect um and then cleaning up some of
the other bullet language below to reduce that and I've got a couple of suggestions from several of you so um the content itself um even with the changes of some of the bullets doesn't change the Integrity of the the platform um and several of you had some really good um discussions uh or ideas of of what could be done but it wouldn't fundamentally change the platform in and of itself there would be maybe just some stuff that we would just pull off and that could be some subordinated you
know talking notes if necessary um additionally we will be getting you a Word document um if you recall last time we had that big huge spreadsheet that had all the mandates that were in here well we've had we've been running our own sub spreadsheets on that today we converted that into a more userfriendly word document so we'll be giving you that of actual cost of some of the bigger um impact statutes that came under or unfunded so you'll have that
as an accompan document so that when you're in conversations with folks you would be able to say and and what does this mean for us it means this so you'll have that as well we'll be pushing that out to you all tomorrow so um my ask was going to be um you know given what you see here in the the last 5% tweaks that we would need to make um with the graphic as well as condensing a couple those bullets my ask chair white is that if if it's
the will of the board that would support that we can make those final few edits and if that's something that the board would be okay doing we could discuss that tonight um and then I'll take notes on here clean it up and then you all would approve it um pending those final edits um that we could discuss here tonight real quickly because they weren't substantive okay so having heard that are any comments or questions or want to make shes I just have a question about the
um establish thank you I agree with many of the comments that that you said um so thank you the the question I have surrounding the establish a K12 assessment review task force I know we talked a little bit about this um last time it had something about the acts in here um I'm just wondering if we can be a little bit more specific of what we are asking of this it says we support the creation of K12 assessment review task force to evaluate current testing requirements and recommend improvements well what kind of improvements
that better support student learning and achievement and are we looking for to better support understanding student outcomes um one thing that I've learned is that Minnesota standards do not align with the national standards the national assessment of Education um standards and so you know to be more specific here could we say something like we support the creation of assessment review task force to align our standards with the national standards or to um I just feel like there's something missing here it's very vague and
I think there's a leaves a lot of room for interpretation with the Min Department education yep so thank you for that uh director ainson so that evening uh we are talking about um aside from the ACT component um being like the the thing for the high school um we were talking about the disconnect um to your point just now of Assessments current Minnesota assessments and current Minnesota standards let alone any national standards but so this is really talking about developing an assessment
protocol that actually um assesses the actual standards that we're expected to teach so that's the Crux of this whole thing um so I think the whole notion of aligning assessments to standards as well as having a better High School um more Universal assessment um such as the act or act or sat um those were the Salient features of that so we could I think to your point assessments align to
standards is the key aspect there so are you basically referring that like you'd like to see them rewrite the MCAS so that they're better aligned with standards is that what you're saying here or correct it's interesting I watched a Schoolboard meeting from Rochester and their presenter said it costs a million dollars every time they rewrite the MCA you said a billion was it a billion oh was a billion it's a lot of money a billion okay so like is that realistic Ian yeah I think I think we need to I I would say this ainson there's a lot of things that
you're going to hear on legislative platforms that are likely never going to see the light of day um we also see this in the whole legislative process there's bills that are introduced that will likely never see the light of day but you're you're stating your value set of what needs to happen so I will tell you it's a challenge for me as a superintendent to um receive standards of instruction that we have to hold our staff accountable to and train to and then we have an assessment system that's legs
behind the standards we had this discussion with you all I think about science um I think when Ben was here as well so our staff are beyond frustrated with that because when they're busting tail in the classroom and doing great work and the assessment then that gets highlighted in printed you know everywhere is lagging it's not reflecting then the rigorous standard that the state has just adopted and
passed let alone NC standards so that disconnect is something that's very real um will it change in our career lifetimes I don't know but I think we need to keep pushing that conversation because you can't have that level of misalignment and think things are going to be smooth for our students and I think that's the challenge that you know we're trying to make sure that they're aware of um so that they can continue working and they can't do the whole
billion or whatever it might be great then let's figure out what chunk can you tackle you know you know as I say how do you eat an elephant one bite at a time so let's figure out what kind of bite we want to offer up um that they can begin to take um that would matter to us that's that's I think our big key here so I appreciate the explanation I'm just wondering if like the wording on that just needs to be buttoned up a little bit um maybe we support the task force to um align um M
to align standards to MC stand to MCA testing to better reflect student outcomes I would say no I think the the purpose of the of the the wording and I first of all I think a lot of the wording here is too broad for me also particularly the new mandates and unfunded mandates but um here's the thing is that um they may choose to abolish MCAS
they may choose to eliminate third grade or 11th grade like we talked about that would be one way to also save money and replace it with the acts Etc but I think that the whole purpose of this is to bring the various groups from around the state together to come up with what really is the most effective way and their experience and all the various districts experience to evaluate um where our students are and um and whenever you say you're going to align to one standard or the other
you're you're aligning to a volatile um variable in general um and one of the things that a lot of the states do um is they try to compete on that level they'll say our standards are higher than our neighboring standards you know our we're better than Wisconsin or something like that um so um I think that uh aligning to the national standards also um has some cons to to it um so I think what we're trying to
do here is introduce it we're this will not happen in a banum year um but we're introducing the concept and we're getting it started and so therefore it's not brand new when they do put it together and it's not something that will happen overnight and it's not something that that we want to happen overnight because we want a lot of public discourse on this so so if I could just recapture that um and I think we have it here we support the creation of a K12 assessment review
task force to evaluate current testing requirements I'm sorry and align to local and National standards that best support student learning achievement and outcomes so I think that captures I'm not in favor of the Align to local and National standards um because I don't want to add in a variable that we're asking them actually to fix there are local standards you know I mean so we're contradicting our and also we're limiting uh it to I I'd rather
leave that open um and have and have the group get together and say is this what we want um well um I I I I I hear you and I would just the I understand um the aligning because standards change we know that that that can change I understand that I don't think if we're if we're if
you look at more common core type of standards that have greater staying power and research based and we yes they will change you know iteratively over time um the test itself could have inherent flexibility to accommodate for that um but I the the group that I'm a part of I know Dr Edwards and teams are a part of many suits are a part of is challenging the lack of alignment to
standards right now um and and I'm telling you it's we we are set up to fail as as school districts because that discrepancy I believe would be greater than managing for changing standards than lack of of alignment to standards period well that's the problem that I have with that is the fact of which standard because our national standard by the way is not the Common Core Common Core is kind of like the where it
wanted to go correct um and our national standards are far behind other countries way far behind so I I think what I'd like to do is is figure out if they want to put more effort into creating a Minnesota state standard or if they even want to use the term standard I mean that that would be worked in the work group but I think for us from where we're at now today standards are driving K12 education in
Minnesota and like that's the here and now and our our our our whole academic side of the house is aligned to State Standards that's where that's where we're going I I get that and what I've been fighting at the national level is that Minnesota ranks 50 out of all 50 states in many many areas so what I'd like to do is have the concept of that standard MH challenged um in this assessment process if we start to limit
ourselves there um I I think we are going to um basically create a goal that's also Elusive and probably not where we want what I don't want to do is is put an anchor on anything before we actually take off if that makes a difference so I don't like the word standards because of the variation in them the volatility and also where it sits and I feel very passionate about that because I see where we sit with
regards to other states when I go to the national standards uh area and where they're arguing currently about the ntion what we consider national standards and also the common core group that's based out of Denver um so it it is concerning to me and I'd like to leave that open however on the new mandates and fully fund existing requirements if we don't go in with the top three and all of us say at least the top three that we want to get rid
of we're leaving it up to legislators to cherry pick which ones of those even if we do prioritize it you walk into a legislator's office with the list of 70 things MH that's that's we're probably going to get none and that's what concerns me so I would like to I have three that I can suggest um when we get get up there um so I I I got three that I'll I'll share in a second sorry Tre I don't mean to be Charles yes so
um to to the review task force the goal of that is just to establish a task force is that correct a task force that will look at State assessments just opposed to standards and maybe standards versus local National that distinction is the issue but yes we have every state will have standards includ there but there's no current task force there there is no said current task force so that what we're looking to have and they would have this conversation right that director
France and I were just having as a team to kind of Flesh it all out so our number one goal is just to get them to agree to establish a task force right to start this conversation perfect I agree with everything that's on here already okay so I'm happy with it and then let's fight the other battle right of the national and the local and all the other things let's get them to agree to actually doing a task force so what you have on there is a okay so I have a question though would that be
something that they would change in law is creating a task force I mean or is that just something that they're up they would they would they would well they would create a statute to direct mde to have so they would have a statute they would change La be written in the law that you're saying that they would just like they create a task force to do whatever curriculum review or whatever they give directive to mde yeah I'm not I'm not sure I'm supportive of that to be honest with you I mean I I like the idea of us aligning our standards to National standards because I I hear your point director France but unfortunately Minnesota
does rank um in the bottom Court tile of where our standards um how do you say align with national standards and there's other states Tennessee being um one that I think of as I've looked at this national standards and how we rank in that Tennessee aligns very closely with national standards and where like our kids are you know we have a fourth grade reading level U Minnesota's to be considered proficient we're at 55% proficiency and if you compare it
to the National level they're at 32% proficiency so our standards are not aligning meaning like our kids are not hitting you understand what I'm saying me my passion goes behind that because if we're saying our kids are proficient at 55% proficiency that they're and nationally they're only hitting 32% proficiency there's huge uh um disalignment or whatever with that and so that's kind of where I thought this was going um I didn't understand it
was really like creating a task force I well I think it's I think it's twofold director ainson um what you just read kind of speaks to the issue of the disconnection of Assessments in general no matter what state you're in right and standards and right now our reading standards for example our current state assessment MCA doesn't accurately assess the foundational
skills for reading it it it assesses the conceptual of reading understand but not the science skills of reading so when we talk about proficient or not proficient we're not even having the right conversation because we are not looking at the right data set and so when I said mde it would be not just mde in a vacuum I'm sure there'd be other electeds mde practicing soups teachers Etc this task force would be a
big Statewide task force to Encompass this Con type of conversation so I understand I might have Miss spoke about just sold the MD no I understand and the other thing is is that at the national not all states report so that's a not all districts report so going to the point of where we want to be and um what our goals are are and and just getting the task for to get those those uh tasks done I think is where I would like to
focus if we throw too much in this agree the statute which it I was hoping they could just direct it through a funding thing but you're right they probably have to do an amendment to an existing bill um we're going to throw too much in that um we got to get these we got to get the task force in there we have that has to be the first step and and let the process work out to to their to their goal so that's the only thing and and
again we throw too much in there we won't get anything all right what if it read um review task force to evaluate the misalignment of current testing requirements that would kind of address just vaguely whether it's state or national fine but you're drawing a conclusion we're hoping the task force comes to that's that's the thing that I would um well I think we are stating that there is misalignment that's what we're trying to establish that's why we're asking for
this because there is a misalignment but there's a misalignment as used to State ju opposed between all everything else that's going on right again I I feel very strongly about this that let's focus on getting that task force um let's get that Milestone out of the way um and given what's going on with the Department of Education that sets the standards we don't know where going to be by the time the task gets I hear you so if we if we if we take
that element out um to director Francis point with the evolution of Standards right now that could likely be a byproduct if we're talking about we want to be able to assess the learning of our students recognize their achievement and point to outcomes that's that's what we're looking for that's the latter part I think of what you said at director ainson so if we just for
right now suspend the standards conversation to let the task force jump into that it would be about supporting the creation of this task force to evaluate current testing requirements that better support student learning achievement and outcomes and just leave standards out while that evolves through the task force okay got it and if I may um just in speaking with Senator Pratt and uh representative bakeberg
since our study session um kind of discussing things were that we all talked about together at the study session um I asked specifically to both of them um you know tell me more about our platform and and what weight it carries because our platform that was you know presented at the study session is in line with msba and amsd correct
and and both of them shared specifically that that truly is the platform that that they use so we can spend a lot of time wordsmithing and and talking about all of this but it's really important that Prior Lake Savage area schools has its story like the um it's it's something that both of them shared and I kind of uh touched on on it at the study session and it it might
come across um you know not as weighty as what I think what they're trying to say is but like what's specific to our district right um and that's what they use when they're you know that's the testimony and that's the bullets that you'll be getting yeah so I just want to like I appreciate all the discussion and the platform our what we what we have printed out at the end you know it's it's in line with msba you
know amsd I don't think that is as um important as you know do we know our specific story and that that they have that to you know you would have that as well right and that's the bulleted version and with dollar figures around some of the mandates that we'll give give to you all okay if I may chair white just work up is that okay Absol so I will tell you this has been a
real big point of contention with mespa um our elementary principles Association um our very own uh Patrick he he testified about this too but um the non-exclusionary discipline repeal giving student or giving uh Administration the need to be able to address that as necessary um and we don't have principles looking to suspend kids but in a situation where that's our last option we don't want that
option withdrawn so that's what that speaks to okay are we good with that yep yes absolutely all right um the pause new band dates and fully fund existing requirements I think uh director France you talked about the top three um and if I may be so bold um maybe my team can correct me if I'm wrong um the revisions of react ESS and summer unemployment would be three
of um superintendent um chair white members of the board I would like to recommend that we potentially address the paid family medical leave as well um I think if we maybe want to talk about EST and Paid Family Medical together if you want to only address the three but Paid Family Medical poses a significant um risk to us both financially and operationally with um lack of resources I know that we um
director France you said top three Can you capture that on here right just by putting react yep and then and or right a no card right um Dash how much it's going to cost our district M right and that's it yeah right so we can put those if you either if you either want to put it on the no card right because obviously with some of the edits that you got right you'll have some space on
there I think that could be helpful if you want to play that out we can quantify you have it right there and those are the three biggest but again I think everybody agrees like less is more okay on here when those dollar amounts are the story of our 100% exactly what I was saying so so can I um can I just uh recommend like that leadin sentence um just start with the two bullets refrain from introducing additional
unfunded underfunded mandates that strain District resources and fully fund all existing state mandate programs to prevent further budget shortfalls and Ure compliance and then from there boom boom boom yeah that's perfect okay then I'm striking that intro sentence and then the two bullets will become the sentence and then we'll have the three bullets Rea pay family medical leave summer unemployment um up top striking the graphic and um um the
uh the paragraph there I mean we'd have the space it would just be one sentence now right so it won't be too little paragraph I just have a question is there any way we can write anything about that's specific to I think it's called like equalizing or um equity and the forming I know you know we get some funding for a district that has a lower Levy amount um yeah so our L yeah so is there any way we can talk about I don't know if there's a change in that or I'm thinking about you know what mentioned
before yeah we we'd have two director ainson we can address the base funding formula right and we can talk about increasing the L to keep Pace with inflation parallel yep that's so then that will be the two so we'll talk about the state's education formula not being changed since 1971 and then skip right down to the governor and legislator should increase a formula by 3% over current blah blah blah blah and then the second sentence will
be to increase the L by $250 per student to keep Pace with inflation and that's that sentence and that'll be it I think that's fine actually and I provided feedback the one thing I feel like we lost on this version was the bullet um reduce the cross subsidies in special education and English learner programs I would love to see that added back on to this to as a bullet if anyone agrees I think that's a specific increase education funding yeah in that section under the bullets if cross subsidies bullet and because
it's going to get busy I'm going to keep I'm going to keep those costs off we'll have that on that companion document but I'll have the costs of the redact paid family and summer unemployment listed and then the 3% and the 250 and then the other cross subsidies will be subordinated to a talking point okay okay so this might be a completely different conversation for a different place but the the
the ask for the increase over 26 and 27 it kicks the can down the road a couple of years if we can get it where do we address the fundamental change in the funding form that needs to take place that hasn't taken place I mean you you there's a statement here but what's that is this so we're asking for an additional 3% on top of what they've already added to the formula that is the structural change I'm talking about moving where do
we address that this hasn't really changed since 1971 and it was built for a growing student population and now we have a declining one and it it's the foundation for everything that we're able to do and it's crumbling where I know that's a way bigger ask and we may but where does that get addressed in all this because this we can just keep kicking the decan down the road but it's never really going to fix the problem is my concern um so why don't why don't we word
Smith chair white that um opening statement of the education funding formula um not being touched since 1971 to reflect present day yeah something like that um birth rate trends Etc well can I I have a suggestion go ahead and and I talked to you yeah we did we did talk about this um no it doesn't reflect but that's just one of the many Legacy items that's in that 1971 extremely
large and formula that we keep adding on to without subtracting from it seems like you know it's kind of like the tax code they add an adjustment to reflect something at a certain point in time they leave all the stuff in there so you end up with a formula that's larger than this room um you know if we're going to do a t if we're pushing for a task force for assessment wouldn't it make sense to push for a task force of actual Finance directors
uh to do that because I don't see leg the the legislature having not only the in-depth knowledge but also the um tenacity uh to actually sit down and rewrite a formula that large and if I've learned anything in my multi-decade career in corporate boards and corporate leadership as you never walk in with a blank sheet of paper and said just fix
it you know you you have to give them the formula and have them argue it so we'll we'll talk about the similar to down below we'll establish a task force to address the basic education formula in the state of Minnesota which has remained unchanged since 1971 full stop second um bullet will then be this uh sentence about stabilizing school budget with that 3% current over you know 2016 27 director Mason's point about or I'm sorry director A's point I can't
which one L yeah yep l no no l director ainson director Mason cross subsidies um SPL um and that will be it okay I will word Smith that um so chair white Jess do you have anything you look like you might sorry I have a wrench um um did we well question first did we say we're going
to take out this graph yes okay I like the graph it's on two other platforms by the way you're right um I I like the idea of having something visual so I really like the 1971 stat right which I know we're keeping but the maybe that becomes kind of like a like a some kind of graph to replace this one maybe not as big right to take up a lot of real estate on the page but something like that to
really make a point like 1971 people something to consider don't have to agree um I I just that that's that's the one thing that I think I like the most on this piece of paper is 1971 the funding formula and to director Francis point you know we've got state legislators that don't understand School Finance um and I think that is a big stat
that I'd like to see featured I guess even even more prominently um and then as an aside and I I want to be very careful not to get too off topic um but I more or less for the record and I can write it down I would like to have a broader conversation on the discipline policy because we haven't talked about that much um the non-exclusionary yeah law um the the discipline law correct the non-exclusionary discipline policy for K through3 students I
would like to have more of a conversation around that not now um and I know that uh principal Glenn testified about that at the state and I got to say you know I'm I'm still on the fence about that I don't know how I feel about it but he brought up a lot of really good points and I think I would just really like for a study session to talk more about that because we really haven't and it's on our platform and I'm okay with that um I would say hold that thought yes and remind me on the
24th absolutely will right thank you so much all right great work and I I like the footer too where it encompasses what all is included in our district okay that was a nice ad I meant to say that so are we okay with Dr Thomas fixing it up and we can approve it as we think it's going to look dor Herman chair white members of the board just to make sure we have Clarity on the costing um we can provide like for unemployment for example we can
provide what the actual costs were to us but that's only 30% of the eligible folks that could have applied for unemployment um so would you like us to include the dollar amount for what the actual cost was or what a potential risk is because those are two different numbers our potential risk is 1.2 million every summer if everyone that we feel would be eligible applied um but we only had 30% apply so I don't think 1.2 million but that's the that's the ultimate risk so I just want to make sure that we're clear on what numbers
you're hoping to get printed on the document then we can include both those numbers in the the additional one but we'll use potential risk on the platform one pager Y and then we'll give you the range um on your cheat sheet that's helpful thank you are there any legal risk to putting numbers on this no just to be sure we're we're coding these are potential risk we're not saying this
will happen but this is what our legislature needs to understand words on paper equal dollar signs in the field and um and I'm not trying to shock and awe but this is very real this is yeah it's going to run it's going the wells going to run dry in 26 and we're going to be on the hook for $1.2 million you know uh on various aspects or if
you know we can't get our fundations reburst to then free up that fund one to do something else with we're now stuck with that you know if we change our calendar um we're on the hook with PD so they need to understand the implications and we're we're advocating for our needs but we're also advocating for the collective because the more people that are sharing numbers with them that that's real so I think it's important um that we'll capture that and then you'll you'll have the
range for your own copy but the the potential impact is something that I think we should lead I would agree that we would lead with that and are we saying that there's not room to have what our actual actual was and then the potential both of them on there is there if there's if that would create it to be too busy I would take your direction on that but I think um for me like when I hear um
percentages or um you know statistics many times when people are talking statistics I think you anyone can pull a statistic anyone can say whatever they want and to me I don't put a ton of weight in it because there's not proof behind I mean people can make statistics about anything it's just that's my my feeling towards
potential risk it doesn't um it doesn't have the um weight of our re our current reality attached to it if that makes sense so having both to me I think um enhances maybe The credibility of the the amounts instead of just stating the does that make sense yeah I I actually would disagree I think both amounts are going to be confusing and also because it was the first year that this was
really in place we we didn't have a lot of people potentially as many as they could and we have to budget and plan for that maximum risk which would be if everyone that was eligible took advantage for it so that's our net cost if we start conflating that with well only 12 out of 24 people in this group took it but next year it could be all of them we're going to we're going to confuse the legislators and we're going
to get into a conversation that detracts from the goal of actually removing that risk alog together that would be my opinion on that that does that does make sense to me um yeah I appreciate that thank okay is there anything else regarding the legislative platform I'll entertain a motion then to approve the 2025 legislative platform
with condition with changes yes by Amy second by Charles any further discussion hearing none all in favor signify by saying I I opposed that carries 70 thank you thank you moving down to policy we have several policies uh presented for second final reading uh director Hermanson anything we should no before I entertain a motion chair white members of the board um we just made the edits that were discussed at the
work session there's no additional changes that were made besides those that were agreed upon at the work session with the will of the board all right well then uh I will entertain a motion to I I had I had I had sent in a uh a suggested change on the maximum walking distance that we add um that the state statute that you referenced there indicates 2 miles and we're doing 1.5 um just to make sure that we're clear in the policy that we are
less than our policy is less um and I did send that in writing I apologize about that for the board discussion um to caveat we are less than the state statute which is the two mile and you all were not comfortable going to the two mile um in the policy so the recommendation um that uh director France was offering was
um to State what the state policy is and where we are landing in terms of our practice in the policy itself so that it's clear that we are under the two the two mile that was her recommendation correct that is under okay can I ask is there a purpose or reasoning as to having that um um well first of all um it is unknown by in the statute itself it is kind of buried um
and it's couched in a lot of language but one of the reasons why the administration wanted to change it because we're still saying the maximum because the maximum is 2 miles um and that um there was you know we have chosen as a district to stay at the maximum of these uh levels and I do think it's important to call that out as people are reading this cuz every year when the bus schedules come out and
people find out where their kids are being picked up or dropped off they do do a search online they find this they're not looking through the detail of all the statutes and they need to understand how we're operating now in in their best interest especially given the placement of some of the busy roads and things like that so I do think it's a good thing to actually call it out um and um I think it'll only help us in the long run especially if there comes a time where we do want to change that
to two miles uh let's say if we rearrange um you know the the boundaries or something like that because of a school closing we may have to go revisit that and I think it's important that everyone remembers that we purposely went under um I I personally think we have the statute listed um I think it's confusing if you all of a sudden start adding in something else that's different we're going to ask well then is it 2 miles is it 1 and a half miles and I think there's a reason why we have it
stated as 1 and a half miles so I I don't um support adding that in um because like I said I think it creates confusion so I don't know um director bullan or director Herman have have you guys heard anything like that from the policy committee on adding that type of language in I would just you know before we before we we do it you know we have a policy committee you know we had I'm okay with if that's the will of the board to do it um at
the policy committee if if I am recalling correctly please please correct me if I'm wrong um director Herman but at the policy committee there was there was quite a bit of conversation regarding that you know going to what the statute says that we don't have to change our practice in District but going to what the statute said and at the study session it was was the will of the board to keep it at the lower um oh so what I ask really
doesn't apply so you know there there was lots of discussion at the policy Committee of why to allow our district uh greater flexibility and that we wouldn't have to pull the policy back to review um that wouldn't changing the policy would not change our our district practice um but it was the will of the board from the stud session to keep it
at the lower amount um I have no opinion regarding adding the language or not adding the the language I feel like policy is confusing enough so there's always going to be someone confused right and so I don't I have no preference either way um I always think less is more uh that will always be my answer and I don't know that I have a strong preference but just a question are we referencing where we differ from State Statute and other places I guess
just generally is that a good practice or um the so if you look at other districts they will fall they will fall back on um the transportation cost and stuff like that to the mileage and uh and they lean on this policy a lot and what I remember of what I was able to hear of that policy committee meeting because that's the day I came in late um um was uh basically there was a lot of confusion and people didn't know it was really 2 miles and we did make
a conscious decision to bring it down to 1.5 and and the in uing in uh conversation and um again um I I know that being in the position that I've been in before here that the transportation and this policy gets a lot of attention when those bus pickup schedules come out um and I do think it would be in our best interest point out that the statute says 2 miles and the but the board policy is 1.5 and
it doesn't subst change anything in here but it does help educate um the reader a little bit more as to the fact that we of our own volition made this choice would it be possible just to write the actual statute number on there so that I think we even talked about like hyperlinking I understand it's on the bottom but there's like 20 stat on the bottom so I'm not even myself not sure which statute that has that written in but I'm just wondering if we were
to have the statute there as a hyperlink or have it written there um then at least it's there as a reference so if there is a dispute because it sounds like there would only be a dispute if somebody was disputing the the situation with their student that they're that they would be going to look for the statute or would want to have an understanding of the statute oh I don't think it's a dispute issue I I think it's an education issue within the policy itself and because the PO the statute does um and I don't even know which one it is but I remember I
looked it up it's not a Bolden you know thing to to try and find and all that the statutes with regards to this have been added on over time so they're a little bit tedious to to go through it's just a suggestion um and I'm and it's for the purpose of educating uh the parents and particularly the parents who go online to read this policy and I do do think it's a it's a it makes us look good actually
too I'm just going to agree with director bullion less is less is more right policy is confusing enough so well then if I could it's on there entertain a motion to approve these policies as presented um then we can just vote and be done with it so um at this point if there's no further discussion um I will entertain a motion to approve um
policy 77 78 709 713 714 802 901 and 91.2 as presented so made by Charles second by Lisa any further discussion hearing none all in favor signify by saying I I I opposed motion carries 7-0 moving down to administrative
reports superintendent report Dr Thomas chair white members of the board um just a couple of quick things uh as we were talking about the legislative agenda um uh one of the things I will share with you that advocacy matters we are already seeing a new bill introduced called react reset react I'm sorry react reset set and uh they are going to
be modifying some of the uh timelines um around professional development as well as some of the conflicts of curriculum adoption and approval processes um so more to come on that but you know we'll see how it makes its way through session but clearly that was a big thing that many of us talked about and it's good to see that um coming into uh introduction um just a reminder for our community our annual staff window or our annual
survey stakeholder survey for staff students and families opens up February 24th and runs through March 14th so we'll be looking out for that and um this is our third year utilizing this um survey it's been very helpful for us and then lastly um we just launched our Laker Lighthouse um and this is our opportunity to start capturing promising practices throughout our district it's a great way to give shout outs to our
colleagues as well but um more so when we see some great practices happening being able to start warehousing some of that so we can share these practices so for example um the second half of the school year my intentional touch point with schools outside of my you know informal um checkpoints with visits Etc is to attend all of our builds and I'm telling you the what I'm Le learning um attending these built meetings is powerful and I'm hearing some themes emerge and uh there's
one particular practice ironically around standards uh that has been coming up at a couple of our builts um and the standards in the the language that's used within the assessment protocols is not aligned and so um our old way of teaching was on lower level um vocabulary for what we would expect our kids to accomplish whereas new standards are pushing for higher order thinking
and the language is fundamentally different within the rubric so um I just observed one of our coaches doing a lesson on this at a at a built which was just amazing to be able to capture that put that into the Laker Lighthouse and then people can go to that and start seeing that for themselves or if I'm a fourth grade teacher and I have this Stellar math lesson that occurs I upload it into the fourth grade Warehouse site and every fourth grade teacher now can go to that warehouse that Lighthouse sorry and uh
take a look under the fourth grade Tab and start looking at promising practices for fourth grade so it's not just what's happening in my building I can learn from my colleagues all across the district so there's a lot of excitement around that educators are humble folks so it's going to take some coaching to get them to start populating this and let us brag on them for a little bit but we do want to make sure that we're sh sharing that promising practice so that launched last week so um if you're out and about and uh and you see some things and it's not
just what happens in the classroom it could be an operational aspect of our district that you find to be very efficient um or something that you that you noticed you can put that into the lighthouse and uh or at least get that to me and I can upload I because I I just thought about that I don't know if it's open to everyone to upload so I'll to take a look at that but nonetheless you can capture some of those promising practices too so those are my updates chair white thank you Dr Thomas any administrative
reports um I'll just uh add to the conversation we had earlier tonight uh specific to high school math uh and just once again uh emphasize that we are going to be bringing back a qu K12 update uh to our district uh teaching and learning advisory in March and uh subsequently we'll bring it here to the March 10th board meeting as well uh once again we are in year two of our elementary implementation we're in year
one of our Middle School implementation as we discussed briefly tonight uh we are still uh investigating and looking at best ways to meet the standards at the high school level so uh that will be the focus of that presentation at the teaching and learning and then subsequently here at the board so look forward to uh providing those updates thank you Dr um Dr I have a question for you um last year at this time we at this board meeting particularly in February we reviewed fastbridge um scores um do you can
you give an update as far as when the board can um rece will be receiving an update on academics that's what I thought thank you Martha you walked in just at the right time uh that will be a Content that we'll bring to the study session uh on uh February 24th uh we just are the window just re recently closed we're still cleaning up some of the assessment and making sure everybody's had the assessments that they
need thank you thank you very much moving on to board reports anything thank you board share white and members of the board um I guess I'll end the meeting on a lighter note and just tell you guys what's happening in and around the high school um obviously a lot of our winter sports are wrapping up and a lot of our spring sports are starting so look out for any state or section um games and turn tournaments um right now we're planning um the culture Fair which I'm excited for our Laker leaders talent show and obviously we have the polar plunge this weekend so I
hope to see you guys there this week right now we are student council is in our snowball week um we have our dance this Saturday and we just started with our free pancake breakfast this morning obviously we have a lot of exciting events for our student body but I'd like to invite all of you guys to our Winter Carnival this Thursday it's at 5:30 at the high school and it's a great um event for the kids it's a make a wish F Foundation fundraiser so it's for a great cause um and I'm happy to report that overall we've noticed like a tremendous difference in energy and spirit
in the school we really wanted to with this with all these events like build up like community and make sure everyone's like happy still in the winter and stuff so it's we're since we started promoting these events there's a lot more positivity especially compared to last year so I hope to provide a good report once this week is over um and then after this week we'll continue to focus on our year-long um school goals and start planing for spring events so yeah thank you thank very much any
other board reports starting to my right anyone uh yes um couple of things um just a plug for um Annie Jr at the middle school um this week Thursday Friday and Saturday um tickets are going fast so um really looking forward to those performances um and wish a lot of luck to our um our actors and our tech crew and all of the staff involved in that
as well um a quick Southwest Metro update um we've just started going through and reviewing a lot of our policies for uh that as well so we're starting much like we do here um started to do that um it's really interesting to see any comparisons um when it comes to policies it's just a really good education um and one of the biggest um uh pieces of news out of Southwest Metro is um we are moving forward with a um a strategic plan uh facilitator um grace badier young
um and we are going to learn more um from that consultancy at a all day Retreat um here in a couple of week uh ends um on Saturday on the 22nd um so there's more than just the Strategic plan going on at that Retreat um but that's going to be a major part of it so I'm looking forward to reporting back um teaching and learning committee and I'm very embarrassed to say that I forgot my notebook at home um so Mary I'm going to
have to call on you my friend um as the other tnl committee meeting um representative and Dr Edwards here um we talked through uh react professional development and we had a couple of guest teachers um speak at our committee last week um which was really great um really good update on how they're uh thinking through professional development um we also uh received a social studies review um update um and there's more to come on that um but it was really
great to start that conversation start that conversation um and then uh very quickly um it's been on my mind all day um if anybody watched Super Bowl last night and there was a wonderful commercial from the NFL um about I am somebody I don't know if you saw that um but it was all these kids just repeating repeating repeating repeating I am somebody and that's just kind of who I thought of when these Littles were in front of us earlier tonight and I meant to say this then
um but it it was just very very um like I said it's just been on my mind all day and that's just like who we sit up here for and repeating back that they are somebody and it was just it was very wonderfully done so if you haven't seen it YouTube it um it's a really great thing and it was just really great heading into this meeting tonight and heading into the week and it was just um a great at so it was obviously been on my mind today so um those are
my board reports thank you thank you anything Charles uh I don't have a lot the mshsl is in full swing for ninth grade coming full on so they are in draft for the two three and 400 series so other than that they should be they're RAR and we're ready to go once it you know hits the ground raddit other than that looking forward to my first policy meeting on Thursday and then um yeah that's all I have all right thank you um
I have nothing thank you Amy uh Charles and I attended a msba negotiations seminar uh last week the last two weeks actually um and uh even more respect for all that you do second yes thank you but it was very it was it was a great a great sum so thank you all right Mary um well first
just to reiterate what Jess said um we discussed the process uh and what's going to be coming in addition to the um professional development for the react uh for the upcoming review of the social studies curriculum so that will be starting with the next meeting um as far as um everything else goes um I'm on the scale executive committee now they asked me to join that so uh I went to
that on Friday morning and we discussed a lot of upcoming uh things that were going on and the theme and topics for discussion and so um I learned a lot about Anor robic breakdown of our waste uh materials as well as the landfill crisis that Scott County is going through and there will be more uh to come on that as they bring in the speakers and the um uh and discuss it with the entire scale committee coming up uh other than that uh scale had their legislative session
which of course is a little bit different than the educational piece um but they did have their legislative committee meeting uh on uh this morning actually and so um that agenda is taking shape and a lot of that has to do with um you know with a lot of the building codes um and land uh uh land alignment and a few other items so thank you anything Jessica um I
just wanted to add I attended the last Community coffee and conversations and I thought it was a really great discussion and informative from our neurodiverse Learners and just wanted to say thank you to the SEI Organization for that partnership and for attending all right thank you I had a chance to uh attend my first was virtual my first amsd meeting and a lot of interesting discussion I thought around the way St Cloud is implementing how they use Ai and they had an administrator there and a teacher and it was just I thought a
very interesting conversation um how they put guardy rails in place and all the things that you worry about when it comes to Ai and I found it to be very informative and Thursday I think it's Thursday one day this week I have the opportunity to go to Twin Oaks and help judge the history project contest which will be I'm looking forward to that so if there's nothing else I will now entertain a motion uh to close the meeting or to move into a closed session for the purpose of discussing superintendent midar feedback so I'll
entertain a motion so made by Jess second by Amy any discussion hearing none all in favor signify by saying I I I opposed that carries 7-0 let's take five minutes to let the room clear and back to it