rather winter. This regular meeting of the Independent School District 535 School Board is called to order at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 7th, 2026 in room 137 of the Edison building. Present at this meeting are
school board members. Superintendent Kent Pquel, a non- voting exeicio member. Uh, clerk Whitehorn, will you please call the role? Director Director Barlo >> here. >> Director Cook >> here. >> Treasurer Mclofflin
>> here. >> Chair Nathan >> here. >> Clerk Whitehorn. Myself. I am here. >> Vice Chair Workman >> here. >> Director Marvin. >> I don't even here.
The board acknowledges this site and all RPS sites are situated on the ancestral land of the Dakota people and we honor the Dakota nations and the sacred land of all indigenous peoples. At this time, we offer the opportunity to say the pledge of allegiance
to the flag of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Our next item on the agenda are the Rochester Public Schools mission,
vision, and values. Board members, uh, I would like to draw your attention to the connection between tonight's agenda and our RPS mission, vision, and values and welcome your comments during our discussions at the meeting. Our long range technology plan connects to our value of providing exceptional
opportunities to succeed. We offer an extraordinary level of opportunities, classes, and experiences. Our standard of excellence ensures more than one path to success. This is highlighted in the technology plan belief statements that state technology supports engagement by providing choices to process
information, demonstrate mastery, and communicate learning in multiple ways and personalized learning that is not bound by time, location, pace, or path. Both the long range technology plan and the long-term facilities maintenance plan connect to the value of ensuring
excellence through evidence guided by research and data. We enrich student learning and well-being through intentional decisions supported by proven practices. The recommendations and proposed action steps related to both agenda items are guided by analysis of data and best practices.
Our next item is the approval of the agenda. Are there any changes to the agenda? >> Move approval. Second. >> It has been moved by Director Workman and seconded by Director Marvin. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. The
agenda has been approved. The agenda and documents for this meeting are available at rochesterschools.org/asssembly. Our next item is comments to the board. The school board welcomes communication from our stakeholders via email, phone call, and hear it comments to the board. The purpose of comments to the board is
to give community members an opportunity to provide input directly to school board members about issues that fall within our authority. The board and superintendent do not respond directly to the speaker's comments during the meeting, but may follow up with the speaker if requested and appropriate.
Persons who want to make comments to the board must fill out the online form by 5:00 p.m. on the Monday before the meeting. The form is available on the RPS website and on our assembly main page. Comments to the board are governed by policy 206 and procedure 206A. And by
participating in the public comment period, each speaker agrees to abide by the policy and procedure. Speakers, when your name is called, please come to this table. If you have written materials for the board, you can provide them to our clerk Whitehorn, and she will distribute them to board
members. Choose a microphone to speak into and be seated. Please direct your remarks to the school board. You will have three minutes to speak, and the timer will be displayed right in front of me. Please begin your remarks by stating your name. Our first speaker is Elena Nihawk.
Our next item on the agenda is information and outreach board member updates. Does any board member have updates from their committee since the last meeting or any information to to share? >> Director Martin. >> Uh just one thing quickly. Um, as we all
know on the board, one of the most fun things we get to do is interact with the community and especially with kids at community events. And few of us were lucky enough to be able to be at our Edison building parking lot um before the 4th of July to help kids decorate
their bikes for the family bike ride. Um, the good news was that board members weren't expected to actually ride the route. U the better news was we were there with wonderful families with great kids uh with some really imaginative ideas about how their bike should be
decorated and the board members there also got to decorate the mayor's bike um which I'm sure she appreciated but it was a fun fun day >> and it was really great for um our Edison building parking lot to be in such a central location because not only
was it used for the America 250 bike parade but it was also used as staging for the uh Rochester Fest parade and it's I think we forget sometimes that we're in the middle of everything and we're really glad that other uh of our civic organizations are able to use it
and and I hope that they do this bike parade every year. I know it was in honor of um the 250th birthday of America, but I hope it's something that continues. We got a lot of good feedback from people. Any other events or activities to share?
All right, let's move on to our next information item, which is information about the 2026 schoolboard election. An election will be held on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2026. At that election, four members will be elected to the school board for terms of four years
each. Candidate filing for schoolboard elected offices will open Tuesday, July 14th, and close on Tuesday, July 28th. Affidavit of candidacy may be filed in person at city hall or electronically by mail or by mail or delivery service. The
filing fee is $2 and the final date to withdraw from candidacy is Thursday, July 30th by 5:00 p.m. Full information is available in this agenda item on assembly on the school district website and on the city of Rochester elections website.
Our next agenda items are our consent agenda items 5.1 through 5.5. Would any board member like any item removed for separate consideration? >> Move approval. >> Second. >> It has been moved by Director Workman and seconded by Director Marvin. All
those uh all those in favor say I. >> I opposed. The consent agenda has been approved. >> Please do. >> Uh thank you, Madam Chair and board members. uh with uh your most recent approval, I would like to invite Brandon
McGrath as our uh new executive director of learning environments to uh move up to uh his official place as part of the cabinet in Rochester public schools and want to welcome him to the team and thank him for his willingness to lead in this critical role. We take take nothing for granted, Madam
Chair. I didn't know how that was going to come out. Couldn't Good job, Brandon. >> Welcome, Brandon. >> Our next item is our focus topic, the long range technology plan. This is an update from the superintendent, and this item will not require board action.
Superintendent, pick up. >> Thank you, Chair Nathan, and board members. I'd like to invite Mike Johnson, our director of technology, to come up. Um Mike has been um our fearless leader on uh all things tech for quite a while, but um board members,
this is the first long-range technology plan that he and everyone else that I have talked with recall being developed um in Rochester public schools. That stands in contrast to the long-term facilities maintenance plan that you will review and approve as you have every other year, the long-term budget
projections that we regularly do, the 10-year curriculum cycle and update planning that you saw this spring. Um, we know the world is infused with technology and so the uh same level of long range thinking I think is critical for this uh aspect of our work. So, I
want to thank Mike and the team for um in the midst of doing their day jobs putting together this plan. It has been uh great to work with him on it uh over the course of the year since we during the months of developing this plan did not have a chief operating officer which I'm pleased to say we now do in Jackie
Peterson who's working with Mike and all of our leaders of our operations departments. But I learned a tremendous amount in working with Mike in putting this together and was continually impressed by his leadership and the work of the staff. Um I think the dead of summer board members is a good time for
us to look at issues like this where we know that the long range implication of things like the quality of the technology support we provide provide to schools uh directly impacts the academic agenda that is the usual focus of this board's discussions. Um and so I look
forward to uh not only the conversation here but keeping the board updated on the progress of this plan in the years ahead. So with that, I will turn it over to Mike and um ask you to uh walk the board through the conclusions of really a full year of planning and work. >> Thank you so much for that and uh good
evening members of the board. Um thanks for this opportunity for uh me to present this long-range technology plan to you guys. Um so the the longrange technology plan is our our strategic plan for the next um three to five years. This is this plan is uh something
that we that we uh naturally do for our technology pieces. Uh but here we're writing this down and and including uh I think a couple of essential pieces along with the day-to-day work uh and planning that we do. Um these these uh most of these plans are
funded through our lease levy process uh certificates of participation and uh ultimately it's in support of our student success. I want to make sure staff are are um provided for and uh that we're thinking about um safety and security while we're doing this. I think
uh one thing that we learned from our our 2023 um endeavor is that um security is never uh an afterthought. It's always um needs to be at the forefront of what we're doing. We also want to make sure that we are
doing our part. um core RPS values and making sure that student success is at the forefront of that as well and um the decisions we're making are evidence-based and uh we are investing in our community. some of these belief statements. This
this was created by a group of stakeholders that uh were um technators. They were uh coaches um instructional coaches, the technology department in conjunction with um sites and um input from from staff. Um
again, a classroom without walls, learning without barriers and empowered to transform the world. Um and the mission here is to leverage these things, you know, so we can prepare our students for the future. Um belief statements.
Um we want to support engagement, personalized learning, world experiences, critical thinking and problem solving. I think that's essential. And uh we want to uh foster curious and ethical contributors and citizens.
We believe staff should uh expand their knowledge, model proper usage. Be collaborative and use information to enhance instruction where applicable. Um this is one I think is really important. Technology is the means by which the students learn, not the
learning goal itself. It's a tool. Um and we should uh remember that. So this whole plan is structured around some foundational goals and there are four foundational goals to this plan. Um one is technology infrastructure.
Secondarily it's IT service management. Um the third one is a standard classroom package and the fourth one is technology supports for learning. So when we think about what these things are uh it is the it's the foundational framework. Um it's the digital backbone.
This is what everything utilizes. This is this is the foundation and the framework that everything's built on. Without this um the rest of it wouldn't work. IT service management um this is how we're doing it management. This is the
processes which we use are um uh the methodology which we um try to standardize on and and make sure that things are safe and secure. um and help us prepare for for what's next.
Standard classroom package. These are the tools and equipment that are directly used by staff and students primarily technology supports for learning. This is the the how and when and how we're we're delivering instruction and for what
purpose and when we're doing it. So we'll uh get into some details about each of those. Uh first some metrics. Um we have over 120 virtual servers in our environment. That's down from over 250 in our last cycle. Um we are leveraging um cloud
services where that's applicable. Um we also know that we need things on premises to do much of our functions security um provisioning much a bunch of other things. Um but that cost has gone up fourfold in the
last few years through lensure and uh we need to be aware of that. Uh wireless coverage uh we are about 90% coverage in classroom areas. This is uh where students do their most of their work. There are some areas that we could uh
look at for uh better coverage and those are common spaces that you know some things are done. The classroom areas are covered but we we really want to focus on how we can provide other areas for learning. Um and we've identified a few of those. Uh we also have uh 12 Gbit
internet connection that's uh failover and redundant. Um, another thing I want to call out on this slide is uh we do use 2A radio for site communications and we uh know that there's some gaps there and uh things we need to cover.
Currently we have over 1500 wireless access points. So that's that's a lot. Um it all takes lensure. Uh that's part of our plan here. Um so what are we looking at? Um as stated uh the cost for the software
to do our virtualization that's our servers in a um shared environment for redundancy purposes that's that cost has gone up skyrocket um that's industrywide that's not just with us that's that's been happening I
think uh the writing's on the wall for VMware which is what we use that they they don't want anybody but Fortune 500 companies so our job here is to figure out how we can provide the same level of service or better at a reduced cost. That's one of our goals. Um, and our
target outcome is to hit that reduce cost, maintain uptime, and also think about security. Our wireless networks, we know we're going to need those going forward. Um, that's more things are being wireless, uh, the more we rely on it, but we do need to think about
emerging network technologies, wireless technologies. We also need to think about uptime and cost of that. So cost is a concern always is uh reducing cost is one of those items uh on the uh targeted outcome. Uh two-way radio
security right now sites use uh analog radios for communications uh for a number of things. We do want to move that to all digital encrypted and the ability to um cooperate with uh local first responders
on channels. So, and that be secure so people can't, you know, inadvertently hear things and keep that locked down. We also want to be able to maintain that uh sustain sustainability
and a centralized um provisioning. Um goal number two, IT service management. Uh these are some base metrics. We typically receive about 100 plus new service ticket requests a day. Uh during
our back to school time, that can be 250 to 300 tickets a day. We service over 200 endpoints. That's every student's devices as well as labs and staff devices. Uh but our service
level agreement, our response time to close tickets for the majority of that is under five days. I think staffing is always a concern here. Uh right now we have basically one on-site tech person for
three sites. So we need to be really thoughtful and and deliberate about how we're providing services and iterate on that so we can do more with what we have. Um currently we are already leverage IT
service management practices uh industry standards for for that. We started that with our share wall and we moved into a product called Avanti which has more ability to um really follow that framework. Um again with our cyber incident uh we have a managed detection and response
team partner through Arctic Wolf. Uh we can't be here every day all day 24 hours and they can. So we do get those alerts in the middle of the night and we respond to those. Luckily we've we've been really good and uh but we still receive uh threats
daily. They're they they do come in. We do see them. They are being stopped. Um and again network segmentation we want to further lock down our security as best we can and to that end um again doing more for less with the
amount of uh IT staff we have IT staff is hard to to m good IT staff is hard to keep on board we'd like to do that um but we we would like to get better at it um the ITIL framework is an industry standard again It's a it's a set
framework um for IT management and it's a constant iterative cycle based upon feedback. So the goal here is to um lower response time um and lower the number of high priority in incidences. Uh to do that,
we need to uh work with our staff, our IT staff. Um get them on board, get some training there so we're all on the same page and moving in the same direction. Um for endpoint detection and response, that's uh basically antivirus, but a lot
more than that. Um we want to increase detection accuracy, but we also know that it's it's expensive. So to lower cost would be really great there. Uh so we're exploring options with that. Um, but we do need to maintain our security. So, we
don't want to skimp on it, but we do want to make sure that we're doing the best we can. Um, next one on this list is rolebased access controls. And throughout the time I've been here, um, access to not just the network, but
other things has been mostly based upon past practices. The job requires this based upon what it is. Um but if we really want to think about micro segmentation thinking about our network as a secure network um lock it down as it should be but also provide the
necessary resources. We should really be doing this on a role based access control. So your job role should define the base level access you get. Um best practices is the least privilege. So uh we don't want to um take away things from people but we want want to baseline
everything. Um, and what we learned from our incident is um that our systems were pretty secure. It it's it's it would be good to um lock down access to certain things for certain people based upon their their need to have that access. So that's one
of our initiatives here. Um I wanted to illustrate this piece. This is ITIL 4. This is showing that this is a constant feedback loop where what we do um we evaluate that was it successful um
are we getting the most we can out of it if not take the feedback iterate on it make it better. All right standard classroom packages couple thoughts here. um students over 10,000 iPads
uh over 11,000 Chromebooks across the district. At each site there is uh at each iPad site uh K through five. We also have a a cart of Chromebooks and at uh secondary where we have Chromebooks issued to one to each student. Uh we
also have carts of iPads. There are also project lead the way labs. There are um secondary labs. Uh there is staff devices and we have uh audio enhancement uh sound reinforcement in over 500 over classrooms currently.
So currently all of our staff are assigned a laptop for instructional use. Um we have docs connected to front of the classroom displays. We have sound reinforcement in in in classroom so students wherever they are sitting in the classroom they can hear. Um we use Google enter enterprise for education as
our learning management system to deliver curriculum and we use parent engagement through talking point Seesaw and our student information system. So what are our goals here? Uh one of them is the standardizing on the the the classroom package. Um we want
consistency in what students see. We also want to be able to budget correctly and sustain what we have. Um we want lower support costs in both the number of tickets and um breakage. And to do that, we'd like to
to keep on going down the road of standardizing new line interactive displays and docking stations for the teaching staff and sound reinforcement. Um, we've gotten really good feedback about uh students being able to hear better when
we have those classrooms. Student device costs uh recovery uh repair and recovery costs. We know this is an issue. Uh we would like to figure out how we can better serve our students and our families.
A lot of uh the majority of the the repair fees we see are at the middle school level. So, um, you know, does that is that an insurance? Um, is that district covered? Do we can we charge a tech fee? Um, a lot of that I think we would like to have voices in the room to
help us uh figure out what the best solution is is there. Reduce the overall breakage cost and the cost to families and our cost of course and uh to make this standard across the district so parents can know and understand every
day, you know, without question. This is the process. This is the procedure, this is the expectation. Um, and with this a student device usage framework, uh, I think this is going to take a lot of stakeholders here, a lot of voices in the room. What, when, and where, and how much should devices be
used? I think that's, uh, you know, something that we're all aware of and, uh, I think we need to figure that out and say, okay, what is the appropriate amount at each level? Um, so we're correctly using the devices
that are that are here tech supports for learning. So this is kind of the the how we're using it and the supports that go along with that.
Um, oops, back one slide. Currently, we have instructional coaches at some sites that provide some curriculum and uh teaching help. Not all sites. Some there's there's some that are shared among sites. We have some PD sessions for um targeted things, but not
districtwide. Um we do have a website with tech FAQs and tips and uh classroom things resources that you can try. Um we have a staff that provides student information help uh on request.
Um we have a data analyst that does provide dashboards and and analytics to um district leadership and to to sites uh for decision-m. And we have a a district review team that helps vet all of our software that we use across the
district to ensure for from the technical side that it meets compliance, safety and security and from the curricular side that it meets um curricular needs. So that's a a stakeholder committee that is um office of academics technology um
spad and some site leadership. So I it's it's critical that we have voices from multiple places and not just technology here. Um this one's the the bigger one. Uh we'd like to provide first and foremost a foundational
support. You know, this is the how do you log onto a computer? How do you turn it on? How do you use a a new line display? Um how do you ask for tech help? Uh these are foundational supports that we want to help provide.
Um we want to beyond that we know there's fur the a further need for somebody that really help um from the curricular side help that software to provide um input um to really be focused
on that deeper learning for the classroom um targeted here in 42. uh we know we use a lot of different tools to um to get data and to give that to people. So somebody that really can be on point
to answer specific questions and to provide data when necessary for those dashboards. This is one that we've already started on which is the SIS project. We know this is going to be a multi-year project. Um this began at the start of
our um cycle. uh with the modernization of the SIS system, it's going to be a long process, not just with the the migration this year onto starting that on the 2728 school year, but beyond with support and
training and um enhancements and things we want to leverage with this modern system. I know that's there's going to be changes there. Um identifying best practices and and leveraging the tool and what's in it um to do so. uh student data accuracy. Uh we know that
there has been a need to ensure that data is accurate and that we are correctly providing information when necessary to make decisions. So somebody that's really on point and to create operating procedures for data entry. So the data we put in is the data
that we get out. I know this one is something that's also been on everyone's mind is artificial intelligence guidelines. um not just in the classroom if or when it should be used but also with our operational staff. There's tools out
there that we leverage uh your spell check is is AI but that also goes to aic AI that will you know simulate a person and have a discussion with you. So what is appropriate? What are the guidelines? um how do we ensure that our information
isn't ingested into learning models uh and then out there in the world to provide those guidelines and uh um to have something written down and and have understanding about what the expectations are there. Um and this is something that I'd like to stand up is uh stakeholder feedback.
I think we need feedback across each level and with many voices in the room um many avenues for that. Uh one of this is to devel develop a stakeholder group um that would reach out and get feedback based upon what
we're doing and how we're doing it. Uh which will help us in our cycles to do what we do better. Um this is kind of just to highlight that there is more than just tech and there's just more than just the classroom.
um what we're trying to get at is that that dot right in the middle that's not just the classroom knowledge or the content knowledge or the technical knowledge but where all those things meet and I this plan here is to try to get closer to that right in the middle
of that. So where the infrastructure, the tools, the content, knowledge, the teaching and the the u instruction hits all of that. So timelines, there's a lot of stuff in here.
>> Just a little bit. >> Just a little bit. Um, as I mentioned before, we we base all of this on our lease levy cycle, uh, which is, um, a mechanism that we are one of, uh, a few districts in Minnesota that are allowed to do. Um, it's also tied in with our
overall, um, long-term plans and our our, uh, debt of, uh, property. Um this is uh again what MDA allows us to do. Uh so long as it's tied directly to our um achievement and
integration plan. So everything we do is based upon that timeline. Uh our most current timeline is 25 26 and 27. So we are right kind of right in the middle of it. This this timeline kind of shows that that while we're thinking about these and they're
going to be long-term plans, it some of it has started already um due to the funding mechanism, due to the plans that we have had internally. Um but we know that it's going to extend beyond. Um so this is this is goals for timeline one and some of this is in motion like
with the um virtualization process uh as well as the um the EDR uh evaluation. So we're looking to reduce cost there um this coming fiscal year.
Um so part this is uh improvements for the IT department and to increase our security posture. Um again underway with the EDR um we are already uh discussing in my department uh principles of IT
ITIL 4 which is the again the framework for IT management. um really focusing on what a service is and how to provide a service of value for an outcome guiding principles. Um so once we get further down that road with with actual
training uh we'll stand that up and uh iterate on it. A big also a big piece of this is uh some two-way radio upgrades. Uh that's the auditing is already underway on that. Uh and uh this is going to extend out quite a number of years. We have
about 2,000 radios across the district. So, um going to take some time goal three priorities. I think a lot of this is stakeholder groups that need to be formed and gathered together. We also need to uh understand that there's competing
priorities and and we know that and competing things all these timelines may shift. Uh, I hope to have something together for both the AI strategy and device fees prior to that at the start of the 2728
school year would be my target goal. U, sooner the better. Uh, but again, we know that we we have to stand up our SIS system in this next coming year. That's going to be a large task as well as uh clean up some stuff with uh our ERP transition and our day-to-day. And
again, staffing is is is tight. We're doing as much as we can with the staff we have right now. Goal four, again, more stakeholder input. I think voices in the room here would be essential.
Um, and this again, competing priorities might take precedence, but uh we we'd like to keep this ball rolling. We know there's a lot of stuff here. The SIS is already underway. uh that's going to continue through um and we're aware of that.
Um here's a kind of a a better picture. I know that other one was kind of large and overwhelming, but uh this is kind of where we're at. Uh we also know that there might be a need for adjustment. Uh technology changes fast. We realize that as well. Uh so um if there's a changes
to this plan, we'd like to inform you of it, of course, keep you praised of uh our progress and uh where we are at in the timeline. So all of that does take funding. Um as I stated before, we we use certificates of participation through lease levy and we are afforded to do
this uh based upon state statute. Um this is something we do every three years along with our facilities and our overall uh debt. Uh it's a rolling uh fund amount. This is our portion of it for lease levy as it applies to
technology. And again this needs to be applied to our achievement integration plan. So student student facing um these are the budget amounts over the years. U we try to keep it uh very flat. So the tax impact is
essentially the same throughout the years. Um interesting to note that uh between the last two cycles the amount raised has been less than inflation. So we also have deferred a large amount of
classroom student tech uh to the next cycle knowing just to keep this the flat for the tax base. um that does uh come with some challenges. Uh but that's something that we really wanted to make sure that we're doing our part to u keep that as neutral
or as level as possible. Um that's pretty much all I have. Uh so questions uh from from the board. Dr. Barlo, >> first of all, Mike, wonderful job and um it is, as you said, the first time that
uh we as a district and of course as a board have had opportunity to uh appreciate um uh through the lens of planning our technology needs. So, thank you very much for having done so. Just an
observation uh goal one infrastructure Um, my prior professional career, I served with the Anchorage Fire Department and part of that was as
communications chief, overseeing our 911 operations and all the associated communications. saw was uh my ears kind of perked up when I heard you refer to the transition from analog to digital and and certainly that uh digital trunk
radio system which is already a part of local uh public services will be of great value and I'm glad to see that uh uh the district is wanting to uh tap into that resource and um reduce the
overall cost to local taxpayers. So, thank you for your insight regarding that. And then just one question. Um, I'm sure there's a I think I know the reason for it, but under goal three, uh, in terms of the numbers of iPads and
Chromebooks, I thought, well, our students, you know, th those numbers are greater than our students. Uh, I I think I know why that is, but could you perhaps for those who may have similarly wondered, could you perhaps explain why that is?
>> Absolutely. Uh so um each site if uh at the elementary level they're they're iPads. Um they also have a cart of Chromebooks um for for one as well as at the secondary uh they use Chromebooks and they have carts of iPads. So that
that's also a greater number. We also have iPads used around the district with staff. So our ESPs that serve those sites have iPads as well as operational. Um that's the number of active iPads that we we are used or uh that we're um
supporting. >> Thank you, >> Director Cook. >> Oh, yes. Thank you. Um and uh um yeah, this was great. I I love the Gant charts. Really, I love it all. This is uh this is really good stuff. Um I did
have a few questions and and maybe it's stemming from well, I don't I mean, when I was uh when I was in school, the technology department was the computer lab, right? And you'd play number munchers and Oregon Trail and um become proficient in
the ways of technology presumably. But, uh now every organization has an IT department. Every organization is a technology um uh organization. And and so I there were a couple of things in
the uh the first goal about the technology infrastructure that just from my world sort of stood out to me and I I was wondering if you could elaborate on the 95% uptime um target and just sort of explain to me or or provide some
context for why that's a like a I'm just I'm used to seeing 99.9 in almost everything. So I I just wondering if you could elaborate on that and explain. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. >> So um 99.9 uptime is a goal. Absolutely.
Um just from the perspective of the number of staff that we have to service the number of things that we have to do. Um I don't think that's completely achievable. Um to do that we would have to have much more staff on hand. Um I I
do think that um 95 is achievable so that uh we're not having outages uh during critical times. Um we've gotten much much better over the years. Um downtime is kind of rare these these days. Will it ever be 99.9? I would like
to think so, but I'd also like to be realistic about the resources we have at hand. >> Okay. Um yeah. No, that that is helpful. So part of the constraint is just the capacity of the in-house team to manage those virtualized servers. Okay.
>> Um and then uh if I could, Madam Chair, I have one other question. So the I I was sort of uh taking notes as you were going and making some call outs for areas where the board I thought could likely support this work. It seemed like there were some obvious uh uh policy
implications um in 4.6 around the AI policy. I imagine that would be a district policy and uh perhaps some student device or usage guidelines in goal 3.3 um related to screen time. And I I
so I I sort of took those notes and I I'll do some thinking um along with um colleagues on the policy committee as those developments come along. But um I appreciated the thoughtfulness of your presentation about the screen time because I I think we're in the midst of
a a significant pendulum swing. I think you know Los Angeles is a prominent recent example where they've taken the pendulum pretty far back the other direction from where it had swung this way in the COVID era to onetoone devices. everything's got to be enabled
for online because we might, you know, we weren't in the schools for a significant period of time. Whereas the kind of draconian approach that they've taken in response to have hard limits on the number of minutes per day um by grade level and things like that I you
know focusing the goal on the the learning objective and the experience of the students I think is a a really thoughtful and sensible way to be proceeding. So, um, thank you for building that in at the outset here of this, uh, of this plan. Um, and that's all I have for now, but thanks,
>> director. Yeah, I'm glad you brought up the screen time thing, and I I'm wondering, do we have any and perhaps the superintendent would be able to address this question more easily? Do we have any idea of what the average screen time per student is during the school
day? Because one of the things that I remember very keenly that you like to say was students spend 15% of their time in school and 80% of time their time outside of school. So it seems to me that we could cut the amount of time
by a you know 90% but we can't control the out of time of school or out of time use of of different devices. And I'm wondering if I don't know if there's any conversation that we can have to support parents on how to help kids manage their
screen time. >> Um that is uh very thoughtful and uh the answer to that is uh yes, we have been thinking about that. Um and um there are tools that we can employ for for parents to help with that. um if they're if students are taking their devices home.
>> But in terms of their own personal devices, we don't have any >> obviously don't have any control over that which is >> that's yes that that is going to be a concern as well >> and and more than likely they're using their personal devices that they have at their disposal than the school issued one
>> for most of the time. >> Superintendent. Um thank you Chen Nathan and I want to thank all the all all three of you for uh starting us out um I think with these really fundamental questions. There are certain areas in which I really want our work to always be very cutting edge and that including
in the domain of technology that Mike leads cyber security network infrastructure. We want to be as advanced as a school district of our size can be. There's some areas where I actually think it's good to lag a bit. I think when you mention Los Angeles it's very telling. Uh one of the books that
some staff in our schools are reading right now is the digital delusion. How classroom technology harms our kids learning and how to help them thrive again. Um, this is a throw the baby out with the bathwater strategy. It is a wholesale all screen time is bad. Um, to
me, uh, that's as nonsensical as where we were with the all screen time is is good or necessary. Um, a screen time limit that is simply driven by minutes as opposed to I think director Crook, what you were saying is where is the learning positively enabled or not is
really where we need to go. So we will start this fall with a survey of our teachers to ask about screen time during school. Um we have some tech means that we can actually use to look at student device use as well. The the quintessential question though is what are they doing on the Chromebook at a
given moment. Um and we do hear from some parents about concerns about are they doing the math app or are they you know clicking over to watch um screens and there are some things we can do to constrain them. every time we constrain it's a burden on our networks and our staff to do those things. So as you see
in this plan we are moving into this space. I would say the same sort of I'm okay uh not being a lagard but not jumping fast as it comes to AI as well that we are still learning about the uh the applications that are additive for
learning that are AIdriven and the ones that actually may be creating a culture of of intellectual surrender and even cheating. And so these are areas in which uh we uh are going to be integrating the the the very detailed
plan that you see here. And I think uh to director Cook's point, there will absolutely be board policy decisions. Um AI potentially screen time or screen use. The other big one is device use. Um you know, this is an issue. We don't right now have an incentive necessarily
for all families to worry about those middle school kids and the condition of those Chromebooks. Um, and so a tech fee uh is something that is one option for looking at that. It also understandably uh might have families saying, "Wait, I don't pay a textbook fee. I pay my
taxes." And so we'll be bringing some of those things to you um uh in the year ahead. And I appreciate the um the the the the board's I think um desire to look hard at these issues but
not I think overreact at a moment where we're still very much figuring out uh the impact of some of these applications on the student experience. >> Director McFlood. >> Um I also am very glad to see this plan.
I think it's something that we've been needing for a while and I think that's helpful. Um, I appreciate particularly including the slide and the concept of including our val the district values into your work that I was surprised by
that honestly but I think it's really demonstrating collaboration and consistency across the district which I think is positive and also um you mentioned a couple times um seeking input from other voices and stakeholder input. I think that's wise and helpful
to get this perspective. Um, do you get I I guess I have two questions. One is, um, do you get input from students about that and hear their voice? And two, um, I'm curious about one of the last things you said about, um, in the funding realm, deferring some of the student
devices. Can you talk about the potential impacts that might have in the classroom potentially and how you monitor that to make sure that it doesn't have um more of a negative impact than we would hope? >> Sure. Um first uh to your question about student input, that's something we'd
like to have an avenue for. We don't really have a good avenue. We kind of hear that through other means. Um but we do hear that and we do take that in account, but we'd like to have a formal way to for to have that input to have that voice. Um to your point uh or to your question about um deferring some of
those student device replacements, what that means is we just we're we're moving on one more year instead of our standard replacement cycle. That's another year that we'll have to take the best of the best and kick that can down the road. >> Thank you,
>> Dr. Marvin. >> Thank you again both for this presentation and for the 48 page attachment. Um, a neighbor stopped by and he had read all 48 pages and he said, "Does this mean now that kids are going to be taught by robots?" I assured
him it did. Um, and I went and reread all 48 pages plus this thing again. I was very impressed, especially the third time through that you're very clear at the beginning that this is about tech deployment and tech support. You talk
about deeper learning. You talk about critical thinking. You talk about problem solving and it's it's very clear to me that this plan is about not only making our management more efficient and effective, taking
attendance uh student records, that type of thing, but also providing teachers um with not only the tools but the training for the tools that they can use to help differentiate curriculum.
help those kids who need something different. But it will not replace, and I just want to say this louder, um the value of kids interacting with other kids, students and teachers, that kind
of human interaction that this will support, not replace that. That kind of education is going to come from empathetic individuals teach trained staff who will
be supported by you. Um, and they I think are going to be some of our best teachers also about how how to help kids recognize what's real and what's fake. That chat GPT
may not be the answer to them wanting to know all the answers. And um so I think our teachers really have their work cut out for them, but I think more now than ever before. Uh the value is more now than ever before. And I thank you for the work that you and your staff are
doing to support that. >> Thank you very much for recognizing that, >> Director White. And I feel like my questions are a little lower level um because they're not this deep. Um, but I I guess my as I'm as I'm looking through
as as being a parent that's gone through many changes, as being a '8s baby and every year we learn something new, you know, like I tell people, I started school with like learning on a typewriter and ended with a little DOSs machine. Like every year what we learned the year before was obsolete, right? So
I'm a little bit more adoptable to change. Um, so my first concern with technology is always making sure that we are conveying this in a way that's understandable for people who are not technologically uh, you know, it's not their thing
because we still have a lot of parents, caregivers, you know, grandparents that are caring for kids that um, don't like to be spoken over if that makes sense. So, um, there's always that concern for me as we, uh, are doing new things that
are not the norm for education that we are finding a way to make sure that parents can still be engaged. I know it seems like a real simple thing like, oh, we'll put this out, but, you know, we still have parents that are paper and pencil, you know, individuals, and we
don't want to exclude parents from being able to be active in their kids learning, right? Um because even with technology, I can speak personally to myself and some of my family members, they even if it's on the computer, they still write it all down, right? So, we
don't want to lose that. Um so, I'd be interested in seeing how we we balance that. Um I know we're talking about technology and to director Cook's point, you know, uh I I don't think one is, you know, the screen time thing. Have we made considerations and again these are
just Stephanie's thoughts of you know is there any middle ground of having you know standard books and technology right does it have to be all one or the other or are there ways that we can still integrate some of what I guess they would say old school teaching is with
some of this modern technology um and that's just the thought I got from that but as far as my questions um my first thought was is there any way for you to give us that mount for for the middle school repair fees because I know that was that was highlighted like
what does that look like costwise? Um how much is that costing us? Does it look like there was an issue? Um and I know you mentioned is that covered by insurance or whatnot, but what what does that really look like there? Um also as we are exploring
um uh the the the internet, the Wi-Fi, the connectivity um just for transparency would be nice at some point as we're exploring that again just for the community and those that are not you know some of these terms I'm going to be honest I was in here and I I had to
Google so many things because I'm not super techn technologically savvy some of these uploads I was like I don't even know what they're talking about but I think it's slow it might be fast I'm calling my kids I didn't know um well if you don't if you're not familiar with that world you don't know if that's a
good number or you know or a bad number. So um but I think as you know and I don't know if there's a way and I don't want to say dumb it down but so that you know the everyday person can understand what the impact is of you know the 95% and why that is good or bad or what have
you. So those are just the things that came to mind. And then um also someone uh mentioned something else uh with the cost. Oh, I just lost it. It wasn't the cost of the middle
schoolers. It was the cost. It'll come to me. But but if we could just have that Oh, the cost per You said that we deferred it. So I was just wondering what does that actual cost look like? because um someone asked what the impact of that was because I know we can defer it but if that number is a is
so large how will that look over time and how will that begin to impact the number which is why I think it would be nice to at least see like what that number that we are spreading out looks like right because there's a potential of a snowball effect of that number continues to be big you know we're not
going to continually be able to keep it at this nice even rate which would be my concern if that number is jumping considerably every year. We won't be able to continue make to make it look pretty. So, I would like to kind of know what the actual number is so that we can
see what we're deferring to and then what the cost of these repairs of these um iPads and things is in the middle school especially is that was um noted. What does that look like? I think that's all >> that. >> Um so to answer your first question
about the the cost, uh we annually see about 75,000 a year in repairs and a half to twothirds of that is at the middle school level. Um we are not unique here at RPS. Um I meet with uh other districts um in Minnesota and
Wisconsin. This is pretty common. Um and and it's been a challenge everywhere um due to a number of factors. I know that some sites are exploring moving back to cartbased models. Um we've discussed with a couple sites here at RPS if
that's you know maybe that'll help not only with the breakage but with some other things that they want to they want to tackle. Um but those are generally the numbers we've seen in the past few years. Um to your second question the deferred amount is about 1.2 million um
over three years. Um, and that was before the skyrocket in price with RAM and with um with uh storage. Uh, we used to see Chromebooks at $219, they're 420 now. So, what that does mean is that
across the district over the years in our placement cycles that we are going to have to extend that instead of that four-year replacement cycle, it goes to a five-year replacement cycle and that's how we spread out the cost. >> Sorry, just a followup question. Yep. So, where does that funding where does
that repair where is that repair money coming from right now? Um, some of it included in >> currently um it's written into the 524 policy about breakage fees. Um, just like if a student were to damage a textbook or some other um it's they ask the families, we have an itemized sheet
of what they broke and for that replacement, like if it's a screen, it's $20 or if it's a keyboard um for that replacement cost. um if it's not recouped there it uh historically has come out of sight funds and if not there it's general fund
>> one last and just because I've broken a few cell phones that price goes up you know as the device gets newer so how are we um adapting for that right because >> what is $20 to fix on a 5year device old device is now $250 on a brand new device
so how how are we >> avoiding that's not our that's technology >> cost Um, luckily, uh, the new Chromebooks use the exact same screen as the old Chromebooks. So, we harvest a lot of th those parts. Um, that lowers
the cost. Um, we've seen some lowering of, uh, screens on iPads, so that's also a good thing. Um, but to your point, that could go up at any time >> and it's in house. >> It could change. Yes, we we do repair in-house. Well, I um like my colleagues was very
excited to see this plan because as I think director Marvin um was making the point, we're not just discovering technology today and this is not our first uh technology plan. Um you and your team have been doing technology.
We've been doing technology in our classroom. Um I I I think it's fair to say that it was co that brought us to the point where we had onetoone devices for all of our students. That was really the point at which we were able to accomplish that and we've been
maintaining it since then. Um I was very encouraged to see the conversation um so uh thoughtfully planned out about the screen time and the screen usage. Um I asked some questions ahead of time and got some feedback from some of our uh
curriculum and um instruction staff that really shows that also we are not just thinking about screen time for the first time. Now we already have limits on screen time by law for our uh prek through kindergarten and they're very thoughtfully implementing those. Um, one
of the, uh, answers that I got talks about, um, with our kindergarten, um, there's really only 10 minutes of online practice in this our new wit and wisdom curriculum. Everything else is not in front of a screen. It's it's it's teacher instruction and that many
teachers right now are and decide not to use devices and and have that flexibility to to not use devices. So just because we have a technology plan, just to amplify what director Marvin said, we're not suddenly changing how we are teaching to some new model that is
entirely automated or entirely involve screens. What I think this plan reflects is the thoughtful way in multiple areas we're going to find out where our students are in screen time and make some decisions about that and AI, but
also to provide that infrastructure because um if you're if you're a staff member in RPS, you get emails from our tech department that tell us when there are in instances with the system and we know that that can be very disruptive at
one building or another. And I I think I feel like we're learning lessons from that as reflected in this tech plan to give us a foundation so that we aren't chasing after the problems, but instead providing a foundation so that things run smoothly no matter how we choose to
use the technology, whether it's a a projector and a smartboard or whether it's an iPad or whether we choose not to use technology at all and they just access a lesson online. So I that's what I really appreciate about this plan. I also really appreciate the involvement
of the stakeholders. Um it's good to see um in multiple places that we're going to in involve them in the planning but also in the followup. And um one of the other things I noticed is that in every goal there is an action step
related to continuous improvement. >> Um and it was a a question that I I put in the questions. don't expect an answer now, but I I would hope that that would be a great place for the board to get updates on how it's working because you've built your continuous improvement
and your examination of how it's going. And um again, that's something we've never really had before were these milestones to go back and see, you know, how is what we've planned working out. Um I think it's a thing we're working in uh to a lot of our work, but it's really
evident here um in this plan. Um the one question I did have about the budget is the lease levy um is only one of the areas that are mentioned in each of the goals about uh
where the um where it's funded. So there's also the general fund and the technology fund and the safety and security funds and -ate. So, is there a a total cost for our technology plan that is in those other sources that
isn't in the lease levy? >> Yes. >> Yes, we have a total cost of but the majority of everything that's in here is encompassed in the lease levy cost. Um, aside from uh staffing, which is one, and a couple portions uh with um
the radios, the radio update, that's safety and security funds or general funds. But everything else is already budgeted for in this plan from least levy. >> But we would be pleased, madam chair, to to provide you with the
>> total cost from all sources. Absolutely. That would be of interest. >> Sure. >> This is the lion share, but yeah, there are some other costs though. Okay. >> And the staffing piece is not a small thing. I mean, I think Director Cook's comments about uh the the corporate world and the level of performance you
might expect in a Fortune 500 company. Um Mike's points when I got here, by far the staff that had the highest turnover was the tech department. And this board approved putting them on a different pay scale, which helped because they could all walk across the street to Mayo
Clinic and have different opportunities. Um it also of course is about as it is for every employee in Rochester public schools job satisfaction of having a meaningful opportunity to contribute to kids and and things like that. Um we have um greatly stabilized that uh
revolving door that we had um four or five years ago. But it's a constant concern because these are talented folks who have a lot of options. And I know when board members joined me in making a trip out to Mike's department to thank them for the uh heroic work they did
with the cyber security attack. Um I remember uh the image of throwing pizzas under the doors as these guys were sitting there uh for 18 20our days um to beat back that attack. And you know
those folks are still with us and we're grateful uh grateful to them. uh that that the quality of the staff and that is a significant general fund expense that we need to continue. We we're efficient but it's definitely one of those areas where we are constantly needing a benchmark against what a
network technician could make in another business >> that that um thank thank you for that comment superintendent. I I I wonder uh Mike if you could um or if I could just invite you to characterize the the
differences between being in the tech department in a public school district or in in our public school district versus being in the IT department in some other corporate setting like when you're considering implementing ITIL 4 or when you're uh you know talking with
people on your staff about the opportunities they have here versus elsewhere like How do you characterize the differences? Um >> um I think here just because of the nature of what we do and the staff we have and resources we have. Um even though you're a network engineer, you're
not just a network engineer. Um you're also a server admin. You're also helping provision an iPad or set up a classroom. Um you're not just one thing. You you have multiple roles. I think a lot of people like that, but we also have
people that have gone onto other avenues saying that, you know, I'm going to get paid 30% more and do 40% less work for the exact same thing. So, um they don't have the the flexibility and I think the job satisfaction that here um I came
from um a company, a public company, and um there are advantages here. you know, sure we could make more elsewhere, but again, I think the biggest difference is I feel that we're we're we're doing good work. We're doing work for a purpose,
not to sell somebody something. Um, so to answer your question, um, many hats and um, just a different an actual goal, an actual purpose. >> Thank you. >> Good answer. Yeah.
>> Uh, Madam Chair, our using technology, our director of finance, Andy Croxstead, is texting me that the all expenses in the technology cost center would be $7.7 million. So, you can see when we have the 6.8 million for the certificates of participation, it's about another million that's there. So, thank you for
that answer there. >> Um, and it is the cost of the educational software, is that included in this budget or is that in curriculum and instruction? >> Oh, that's a a recent >> change
out. So yes, there would be some academics for example. >> Anything else board members? >> Thanks for keeping it running. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Our next agenda item is prep for action,
which is approval of our long-term facilities maintenance plan. This will have uh board action at the July 21st meeting. Superintendent Pickup. >> Uh thank you, Chair Nathan and board members. Um speaking of, uh Mr. Crostead, he's coming up our director of finance with Mike Stock, our director of
facilities. Um, as board members know, every school district in the state needs to present its school board with an updated version of a long-term facilities maintenance plan. It's a a annual exercise for this board. And so, we're pleased to present one for you
now. Um, because it must be approved on a time-sensitive basis. Um, we are bringing you this plan before the upcoming two meetings at which this board will consider final uh recommendation from me and then your final action regarding a series of
proposed facilities changes. Um, that timing was um unavoidable as we needed some more time this summer for additional analysis and stakeholder input uh which uh Dr. Barlo in particular asked us to do which we've been doing. So, um, the proposal you're
going to see now includes those changes, but as I know Andy and Mike will make clear, should you as a board choose to not approve, uh, some of my final recommendation, we'll be able to adapt that in this plan if that is the case. But those recommendations are incorporated as appropriate in the
recommendation that you're going to get now. With that, thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. McKel. Uh, again, uh, glad to be here. With me tonight is Mike's doc, director of facilities. So, if there are specific facility questions, he's the man. I uh I worked
closely with that team. They did an incredible job pulling together the project list, getting the estimated costs. Obviously, we know the costs estimates are a little clearer the sooner in, meaning the next year, perhaps the next 18 months, but further
out than that, it gets a little more muddy. And and we'll get into that just a little bit. Um, as Dr. Dr. Muel mentioned uh this is uh required by statute and we do have to have a plan submitted to MDE by the end of July at the latest. And so uh once we're uh
through with this prep, it'll be on the agenda again in two weeks for action. Uh at which time then we would execute the appropriate paperwork uh for MDE. Just so you understand, those of you that I know many of you have been around for for quite some time, LTFM isn't simply
just a bucket of money. we can do anything related to facilities is very specified uses. Um for example, we can't build a new building. We can't build a new structure. It's really intended to be those projects that keep our existing assets in working condition,
presentable, and uh something that we can then uh continue to use into the future. That's the in that's the intention of LTFM. Um it's even as uh as limiting as moving a wall while we're doing uh work related to LTFM in a
building. Uh we're not supposed to move a wall even if it makes uh sense at that time. We would have to find another funding source. So um both statute MDE are very um very consistent with their application of statute.
This year, fiscal 27, um, we're spending, planning to spend, Mike's team is planning to spend almost $40 million in LTF funded projects. And let me go through how those are paid for. Pay as you go. These would be dollars that we
levy each and every year that we must spend within that fiscal year or they're returned to the taxpayers in a future uh adjustment cycle. Uh, these are in our general fund. So that would be fund1 dollars and generally they are for
smaller um uh costing projects and Mike can get into probably some of the things that you do but it may be painting floor coverings things of that nature that are more on a regular cycle but are not large in scope. Secondly we get a small
amount of money from state aid uh related to LTFM. We're one of just a handful of uh districts in the state, larger districts that are really able to build our LTFM plan as we see appropriate and and as long as it's politically palatable, we can issue
bonds and incur debt to finance our LTFM plan. For many other most other districts, they're really beholden to state aid and and formulas built into state aid uh to fund their LTFM plans. Um but through that state aid we do get
just a small portion of of funding. And then finally if you recall a few meetings ago you uh approved the sale of bonds and uh that is the obviously larger largest portion of our revenue source for our LTFM plan. And so these
three um buckets make up our spending our revenue essentially for uh the next year. What we're going to focus on more now tonight is beyond this fiscal year. So, it's fiscal year 28 and and after. And
you can see when we put our plan together, there are they're categorized by uh what we what's called a finance code and that's something that is part of the EUAR structure and many many things get lumped in mechanical systems. We shouldn't presume that we're replacing air conditioning everything
like that is many many things. So an IQ project, it may include some electrical work, it may include some lighting work. It gets lumped into mechanical systems. So you'll see where that number looks um quite large and it is because we have a very very large project under underway
right now and that is the Mayo High School IAQ project and Mike can speak a little bit more to that if you have questions specifically on that project. That is um going to be this summer and next as well. And that project actually is um at least from a cash flow
perspective moving more quickly I think than we had anticipated. We're spending a little bit more sooner than we had initially uh indicated and that's okay. What it might mean is we may need to come back and issue the next round of um bonds earlier than we did this year.
We're thinking perhaps March or April next year to secure enough um bond revenue to continue funding everything into the future, but that's in the plan. And so that's not um that's not new. Dr. Bequel touched on this, but it's
important that we remind you again that this plan and if you look at the detailed spreadsheet that's included in the agenda items, there are several lines in there. They're in a light blue shade. Those represent the projects that have been identified specifically um as
part of the facilities planning work that's underway right now. And those are portions of each of those projects that could be uh do qualify as LTFM projects. Obviously, not all of a particular project would qualify for LTFM funding.
So, Mike works with his partners to identify those portions of those larger projects that could be funded with LTFM. Those dollars are then worked into that plan uh and ultimately uh are available to us. If for some reason the scope of that work that is underway, which the
board will entertain in the next couple of um or in the next uh month, if if the scope of that changes or if perhaps the projects uh that plan is is not approved, those dollars can be repurposed. We do not lose the opportunity to spend those LTFM dollars.
We would bring projects that are further out. we would just move them forward and there's enough time in this cycle to do that planning and prep work to do that. We hopefully um will get to that point. Uh but just so you understand approving this plan approves the structure of the
projects that we anticipate those projects can come and flex and be in and out and Mike through Jackie and then through our our our chief operating officer and of course through Dr. Muel would talk about if there's a need to move some projects around because perhaps there's a more emergent need and
so those things would occur. We always will remain within that that expense um that approved expense level but the product can can can flex. So as you as you can see we're again we're looking at around $53 million in
fiscal year 28 and then that does drop off. We think the plan is fairly solid I would say through 29 and even into a little bit into 30. But then there are going to be more projects added into those you know 30 and beyond. And what
we'll do though is when we add those projects in we are following a funding model that takes into consideration the tax impact of issuing additional debt. So Ellers is our financial um management or financial planning uh organization.
They're working with us on this all the time. And so as uh debt falls off, additional debt can be added. Ultimately maintaining what we want to consider around a 14 to it's been as high as and I'll get to that in a minute, but we want to maintain a flat tax rate as it
relates to all of our debt issuance related to facilities. So this would include the cops that we would be issuing for the expansion. This would include building bonds from 20 uh 2019. This would include obviously our LTFM bonds. So all of our debt is going to
fall within that about 14 to 15% tax rate. That is the goal. And so now I would get to that tax rate. You can see in 2019 it was as high as almost 16%. It was about 15.92%.
uh that obviously is following the issuance of um those that large bond um and that that large series of bonds and taking on that additional debt for those new buildings. Since that time, it's dropped now and and this year it's about 13.99
or almost 14% tax rate. It dropped because some debt has fallen off. But more importantly, the tax base has increased incredibly uh over that time period to obviously have more net
tax capacity to uh assume the overall debt. And so it's just spread out across more taxing uh or or tax base and therefore that brings the overall rate down. So, when we say someone's paying, you know, 14%. It it it really depends on your, again, we get into the market
value of your home. Has your home increased in in in price or in market value. Has it perhaps it's gone down? Probably not. But there was one year, for example, where the uh net tax capacity increased by 8%. And when we do our estimates, we're really more in that
3 to three and a half% increase. And so we're being very conservative when we think about our debt issuance and how we fund this and that impact to the taxpayer, making sure that it's again staying flat and we're using really the growth in the market um the the net tax
capacity to assume that additional debt, therefore having limited impact to our homeowners and other taxpayers in terms of our agriculture and our commercial as well. So, that's a really quick um uh overview
of the LTFM plan. Uh again, uh anything related to the dollars and cents and the financing specifically, I'm happy to answer those questions. Mr. Stock, though, would have to answer questions specific to any particular project or timing of a project,
>> please. I I just want to I think uh uh Andy and thank you for that very concise uh over overview of a lot of complexity. Um we are um when we talk about the technology discussion that we just had uh with Mike Johnson, we are on the cusp
of I think a really exciting pivot in our approach to LTFM that is also being technologydriven. We are adopting software. I I always forget the the the tame aid box. um that is going to allow us to continually baseline the physical
condition of all of our facilities that will drive future versions of this plan as opposed to essentially what we've been doing like many districts for a long time of of a a sell by date, a repair date where we would have a presumed date and instead we will be
continually updating the actual observed condition of all of those HVAC systems and the facilities. And so I'm really excited about the implications of that on the facilities planning side. You know, Andy and his team have done great work on the finance side and this is
going to be an exciting pivot point for us that the technology I think is going to open some new opportunities. So if that's interesting to board members, we can keep you updated on that as well. But I just wanted to to highlight that it's really a pretty fundamental paradigm shift. >> Um well that's good because that was my
first question. Um I guess was it when did we last do that comprehensive review where we looked at all the status of all the facilities? >> Uh that was a great question. When we started this process to move into this new shift as Dr. Pel said I had to go
and do some digging and it was right around the 2016 time frame when we were really looking into what our needs were for the new schools. So there was a full comprehensive survey done at that time in 2016 2017. >> And by using a keto box, do we not need
to do that or will we >> It'll be ongoing. Okay. >> We'll be continually updating every time somebody touches um the facility. >> You know, unfortunately, this was really an aha moment because we took that data, we used it for what we needed to, and then we just put it on the shelf.
And this now will be an ongoing hands, boots on the ground. Um, if we replace something in a building, it goes into the system and it actually moves the needle a little further down the road for replacement. It'll also go into the annual um cost forecast as we do
preventative maintenance throughout a school year. So, >> Director Marvin, >> just quick question. first attachment um the district version um it lists particular sites and what work has been done or is planned to be
done on those and the cost but then there are a whole number of sites that just say districtwide like districtwide electrical what does that mean >> so what that encompasses is if something breaks during the school year or we have to be reactive we're able to fund that
out of LTFM but we don't know it's going to happen so what we're doing is we're putting it out there for a budget and setting something aside is more or less reactionary. But a lot of those as well will be planned work like if you notice some of the site finishes, carpeting, painting, some other things like that.
We have it on a constant rotation. So that also feeds into it, but it doesn't go granular to every building like sunset has $16,000 of painting. It isn't on there as an line item, but it falls under that districtwide. No. >> Thank you,
Director McLaclin. Um, Mr. Krastead, I had a question about one of the slides that I hadn't heard it described this way before. It's the um, looks like it's the third slide, the how LTFM is funded. >> Okay. >> Um, >> there it is.
>> You I if I understood what you said that were you saying that the way that we're funded is there's some districts funded like us but not very many and that most are funded in a different way. That's correct. Is that based on the size of our district or based on some other factor
>> on our size? >> Okay. How are the other districts funded then? And what implications does that have? Is is it is there value to us of doing it the way that we're funded versus how they manage it? >> Not at all. We have a much better uh fortunately, we have a much better um
statute that allows us to do the way we're doing. uh most of those um I don't know the formula off the top of my head, but I believe it's $380 per pupil um per pupil unit is used as the factor
to determine how much a a um district would get for uh LTFM. There's also part there's also calculations about age of buildings and things like that. I've not studied that language because it's not really relevant to us, but for the most part, those are going to be smaller
districts have similar needs, but they can qualify for additional dollars such as health and safety dollars. So, if they have a project come along that um you know, they they run into asbestous, they can qualify for additional dollars related to certain health and safety needs. Uh but in terms of their overall
availability of funds, it's very limiting. So, no, ours is a much much better way for us to maintain. It's also about quantity of space and square footage as well. You know, the larger this the the district obviously the more assets we have to maintain and therefore just volume alone requires us to have
additional funds to do that work. >> Did I understand the difference then is that we can issue bonds for things like that and that other districts would not be able to >> they would issue bonds as well but their funding comes entirely from state aid. >> Okay. So it's limited then >> it's very limited. Yes, that's right. The difference then for the a smaller
district like that compared to us is that they would then perhaps have to do a referendum to do some of the things that they want to do or do they just have to rely on state funding which could be >> they could do both. I mean again if they if they passed a referendum similar to like our building referendum they could
use that on new or they could use that on uh renovation or expansion of existing facilities as well. But in terms of the TR of the pure long-term facilities maintenance statute, um that's very limiting into what they could do. But they could find other sources to do more work beyond that.
>> So based on how it's structured for us, it's valuable to us to our taxpayers versus something that in a smaller district might have different taxpayer implications. Would that be a way to look at it? I think again I think that's probably one way to look at it because they would need to likely find some
ulterior or some other sources of funding likely through referendum to do some of that work or those buildings would just unfortunately go without some of the repairs necessary especially in smaller districts where their buildings are are likely aging.
>> Okay, thank you for clarifying that. >> Director White, >> uh so I just got a question about the Akita Aikita box. So when will that be beginning to be used and what's the impact of that? And I say that as small business owner and those things that you
know you you have a great plan and you get this AI software that finds stuff that you didn't think of. Um so how does that how does that impact us you know as a district? Um and is the cost of this software included out of this money or is this included out of technology?
And um I know that this is not set in stone and it can be moved around. I guess this is something that's always been done this 10 year, but with the way things move a little quicker now, I don't know if that it'll always be that way, right? Because inflation different things impact the ability to project
this far out. So I just want to know what what will be the implication of this software. And I I know it won't be instant, but you know, in a year or two of running data, they might it might come back with numbers that we did not predict. And I mean if it's really far
off or we're hoping it's not, but I mean how what does this do and is and are they aware of this software? Are there districts installing this that they know that this is something a change coming? >> That's a great question. um going into this especially what we did, we
interviewed five different companies that offered a similar scenario and we had Mike Johnson, we had a member of our um one of our schools, we had a kind of a panel go over the items that each of them offered. And once we landed on Aikita box, you know, I was really
excited to say, I want this now. I want this. How soon can we have it? And I and I knew this this spring, you know, as we were finishing this up, um I had the same thought in my mind. And then um I had to take a step back because I knew with 32 buildings, 3.2 million square
feet, we need to get it right from the start, you know, not just run into this and not have a plan. So, it it's interesting that you asked that because we just had a meeting today with a vendor that's going to help us go through the entire district, not only to inventory what's in our district because it's important to know that we have
eight air handlers at Edison, right? But not all eight of them are in the same condition. So, kind of in the past, the way we looked at if we did an indoor air quality, we would just replace everything in the building. And it seemed to make sense, but is that really the smartest way to do things? Can we
actually use our money wiser and and have a better outcome? That's what we're looking forward to this software to say. You know, you have eight pieces of equipment at your building. Four of them you have 10 work orders a month because they're just bad actors. That's going to feed into this system because our work
order system is the same Aikita box. So that's already kicked off July 1st. We've been strictly on Aita box for our work order and preventive maintenance system. And then like I said, today we just kicked off a meeting. We're going to start with one building. Um, our goal is to have that completed before the end
of summer so we can see what that looks like in the system and then we're going to have a pretty aggressive approach on how that fans out to the rest of the district. If I had to have a goal in mind, I would say by the time we're sitting here next year, we're already showing you slides. We're showing you how things landed the way they were. I
wouldn't say it's perfect because it's one year into it, but I think that's a pretty aggressive. And I'm sorry, I have a question just before I forget. Um, so this tenure, I know this is by the state. Is that is that a policy thing then that they do? Is that something that could be Okay,
>> it's actually in statute. Y >> I I would just add to um to Mike's point, we're we're spending in this plan about 800,000 this year and 150,000 next year to do that assessment work to get this right the first time. And that is
those are dollars well spent because if we can get this right as Mike said from the start uh we can fund that through the LTFM revenue source that's a good solid funding source but now we can establish a good uh baseline uh and there's also as part of this year's
operating budget uh through reduction of a a large contract service with some with another um with our energy management company. we were we brought that work inside and we also at the same time have someone dedicated to doing this work in Aikita box and some of this
other management. So there's really been a strategic focus on getting the numbers where they need to be and from the perspective of finance that's really exciting as opposed to just wondering is this something we should be doing now or not and it will give us a better uh indicator of of what is appropriate not
just based on what we think but what we really can definitively tell through data. And that that was my last followup question is where did we get the other data from since we didn't have a system? Is it just based off of warranties or just you know just what we assume you
know where did we get that data from or what were we doing prior to Aikita box to come up with that number >> and prior to prior to this I don't want to sound like I know everything about how we came to the conclusion but working with the group
it was based on expert opinion on age you know um like you just said warranty you know roofs are that same way too because they have a warranty period and when they start to expire and you start to have a number of leaks and things, you start moving it forward for replacement. What
this will do, it actually'll just put it in real time. What the expense would be just to move it one year down the road. That changes the whole needle. And I think Mike talked about that earlier with the technology plan. What's the risk of not doing something now, moving it to four years? And right now, we just
say, well, let's just move the the shell over here and makes way for this project. That's very critical. And we'll get to that next year. But we don't know if that truly would have doubled in cost just you know petroleum costs or other things. It'll all take that into play. It also uses a um inflation factor as
well as local means cost. So that I thought that was important for us too is um and what that does it takes the area that we live in and it calculates construction costs and it constantly updates that with AI to say that's what we're looking at for an estimated cost
for that works. That's critical. And and >> I'm sorry, one more thing. Just so and does that take in account insurance, right? Because some things are covered, right? There are certain coverages or is there not? Is you know what I mean? If certain things are damaged like through a hail storm, there's a different thing.
Does that does this long-term facilities take into consideration that some things will damage over time or anything to that effect or No. If there's an insurance claim, that would go against the cost necessary to get back into business. Um, that happened at the ALC a
few months ago. They burst uh sprinkler, >> I believe it was, right? >> Frozen sprinkler. >> Frozen sprinkler. Um, and it caused several hundred,000 worth of damage. We have a an insurance claim that we're submitting on that, but that's not that's not going to make the building
last longer. It's really just to fix what was broken, get back into business. So insurance is really because for the most part a building as it ages isn't that's not going to help help with I mean insurance isn't going to help cover the cost. >> I guess I was speaking more along the lines that with certain policies you have to keep certain things up to
certain in order for it to maintain coverage. So I was assuming maybe that was taken. >> So our underwriters look at our age of our building the condition of our building roofs or to your point yes it does play a part into our overall insurance rates um which I'm happy to say actually went down this year.
>> Okay. Um, speaking of age, I think I ask this question every year of what the average age of our buildings are. >> I don't have that on the top of my head. It's interesting. Um, before we came up here, I was thinking about that because we are proposed to sell two buildings,
two properties, and that will actually change our average median age. And the fact that we built four new schools less than five years ago didn't help in that because it really brings down that age. So, um, and I know Mighty Oaks is in that 60s time frame as well as Fidel is
around that 70s. So, that will change that age, but I I don't have the exact. >> And does that mostly impact things like insurance? >> It does. >> Okay. >> It obviously would impact the LTFM plan though obviously as well because we know the longer that building stays in service, we're going to maybe have to
recycle through some of the things. maybe that building's going to get three or four new roofs as opposed to just one or two, you know, depending on on how long we can make that last. So, absolutely, it does have an impact um you know, long term as well, it doesn't necessarily have an impact on how much
aid we receive, but at unlike other districts um that that would have a larger impact to them. And I I think this is always important to uh mention every time we talk about this, when we talk about our bonds, the chart that Ellers gives us that is in our uh
assembly document that does show that um uh consistent um tax impact on our community. I mean, when you look at the amount of money um on this slide that talks about the 10-year trend, how much we're spending per year, um the fact
that we our taxpayers can see this as an investment that we're consistently making in our infrastructure um that they can predict in terms of having what the impact is in their overall school taxes. um we're not um
surprising them. We're we're not giving them fluctuations from one year to another and it can be tied to um us wanting to make sure that we don't have our buildings go into repair. I think that the team has done such a great job in the time I've been on the board. Um
we talk about facilities a lot and I don't and I don't uh I don't think that's a problem because unless we have a place to teach our kids, we can't do all the other great things uh that we do. So, I appreciate this continued focus on um the tax impact, but also
making sure that we're doing what we need to do to keep our our our buildings maintained. So, Dr. Cook, >> um so I I am curious about the building we're sitting in right now. Um because
uh I I I remember Mike the the last inventory it was it was uh before I had joined the board but um during a time when I was coming to a lot of board meetings and there were a lot of attachments of pictures of dusty closets and um you know serial codes of
hundred-y old boilers and things like that. Um and uh and there there was a whenever that was 201819 or whatever that era that was the uh there was a roof project and a um indoor air quality
project that was mapped out and it's been deferred for a while and I I'm just I I I know we haven't made decisions on the future of this building and that's partly why some of those things were but is there anything to share on that or is there another time when information
about our thinking for this building in particular would make more sense superintendent or I'm not sure. >> Yeah, I can I I do not plan to recommend major investments in this building. I also don't plan to recommend moving it. Um the proposal that we're going to bring you um in a number of weeks I
believe acts on uh uh changes that are educationally driven and I would argue in the case of a place like Phoenix Academy morally driven. Um and the part of the price of that is likely further deferring uh the uh investments in this building. I will be sure that when we
bring you that uh facilities proposal, we include some information on that. Um we were actually working on this today. In fact, as we think about that presentation, essentially what are the consequences for funding the facilities uh proposals
that we've now had multiple meetings about for other projects including Edison that would thereby be deferred to subsequent years. And so that's in something that we're looking at bringing uh you. I appreciate the point because I
know if you kick the can down the road um there's a price uh to pay to that. So, this is something that I'll make sure we address when we come to you next uh meeting on the essentially the consequences of the LTFM components of the facilities proposal and what that
would entail and and it is an important discussion for us to have transparently. >> No, and I'll I'll look forward to that information and I I partly the reason I raise it is because the the current spreadsheet which I I congratulate the authors on condensing that to three pages. Previous iterations of this have
been eight pages plus. Um, but it it it's showing a significant parking lot project and really not much else for Edison over the next 10 years. And so I'm just, you know, maybe partly we're waiting for the the inventory or the the work orders to inform what are the high
priority things. You mentioned there's eight air handlers and, you know, but some idea, some educated, uh, estimate of what those real costs might be to keep this building in service, um, I think would be helpful. So, >> I think one thing that I'll add to is
what when we make a recommendation similar to like what we said about Edison for a a full indoor air quality, if we don't proceed with that project, the whole building doesn't fail. It isn't to a situation where it's structurally unsafe or unsound. What
that means is our ongoing maintenance, our recurring maintenance costs are just going to continue to climb until we possibly would get to a critical failure. So, we've been kind of in that holding pattern with Edison. Similar at Friedel, we made that decision a few years back to hold and
not do a full-blown indoor air quality. Is the building still usable? We're still using it, yes, but our annual maintenance costs have risen. So, >> okay, >> that definitely feeds into the factor and what we're hoping to look for is what the software will say. If you don't
do A, it could impact you C and D, maybe focus on B instead of pushing it all the way down to E. So, sounds like a stupid way to, you know, make an analogy of it, but that's what at the end of the day, we we don't have that at our
fingertips right now, and we've been long overdue for it. So, that's helpful. Thank you. And for the um facilities um proposal that we're going to be talking about at the July 21st meeting, there's uh costs
in this chart related to that proposal and but that's not the entirety of the costs that comes from LTFM. So >> LTFM can only as uh Andy and Mike have shared that can only uh cover a subset of the expenses that are part of that
larger proposal. and we will be outlining for you the rest of the um funding strategy which we are very much working on right now. >> Anything else board members? >> All right,
we'll be taking action on this at our next meeting. Thank you, gentlemen. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Our next two items, which I'll bundle together, um are policy committee recommendations from our June 18th and June 25th meetings. Um this is the first
of two prep for action briefings before the policies will be on the consent agenda. So, do board members have any questions about any of the policies from those two meetings? Are we going to do we want to defer reading the uh
attachment in the uh assembly as board members have it available to them with a summary of each of the policies? >> Let's defer the defer. Yes. >> Okay. >> So, any questions on any of those policies? You will have another chance in future
>> meetings. Um the next item is an action item. This is another policy. This is related to policy 2011, legal status of the school board. Uh policy 208 uh allows the board to approve changes to policy at a single board meeting if it's the result of legal action. And these
changes come from the changes in Minnesota law that repeal the previous alley system used for elections in RPS and replace it with the standard atlarge election format that is used throughout the state. So I'll read the resolution and we can have any discussion if necessary. Be it resolved that the
school board of independent school district 535 accept the recommendations of the policy committee as listed regarding policy 2011 legal status of the school board. >> So moved. >> Second. >> It has been moved by director Marvin and seconded by director Barlo. Board
members, are there any questions? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. The resolution has been approved. Thank you. Our other business, uh, the current version of the ABCD is available in the assembly agenda item for reference and upcoming
agenda items include on July 21st, we have a regular meeting at 5:30 where we will talk about these policy committee recommendations and uh, the school and program relocations and changes under prep for action and we'll act on the long-term facilities maintenance plan.
And then on August 4th at 5:30, please note the change in time. Um, the prep for action is the 2026-27 ABCD approval, which I know you're all excited about as much as I am. And the action item is the school and program relocations and changes and approval of the 2026 27
student handbook. Are there any items that board members would like to see added to a future agenda? Hearing none, our upcoming board meeting dates. July 21st is at 5:30 p.m. as a regular meeting. August 4th, as I mentioned, was originally scheduled for
4 o'clock, but we are moving it to 5:30m and it is a regular meeting. On August 11th, we are adding a study session from 4 to 6:00 p.m. so that the board can complete our schoolboard self-evaluation and begin our goal setting for next year. And on August 18th, we will have a
meeting, regular meeting that begins at 5:30 p.m. And hearing no other business, this meeting is adjourned at 7:21 p.m. Some of these functions that I don't know is put your hand