start. This regular meeting of Independent School District 535 School Board is called to order at 5:32 p.m. on Tuesday, June 17th, 2025 in room 137 of the Edison building. 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. Present at this meeting are school board members, Superintendent Kent Pel, a non- voting exeicio member and assistant school board clerk, Miss Anne Kramer. Miss Kramer, will you
please call the role? Director Barlo here. Treasure Cook. Director Mclofflin here. Clerk Marvin here. Chair Nathan here. Director White here. Here. At this time, we offer the opportunity to say the pledge of
allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Item 2.1 is approval of the agenda. Are there any changes to the agenda? Move approval. Second. It has been moved and seconded to approve the agenda. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? The agenda has been approved. The agenda and documents for this meeting are available online at
rochesterchools.orgsembly. Item three is comments to the board. It is important for the school board to hear from our stakeholders regarding issues that impact our students, staff, families, and schools. We welcome communication via email, phone call at our community engagement, listening sessions, and hear during comments to
the board. The purpose of comments to the board is to give community members an opportunity to provide input directly to the school board about issues that fall within our authority. Persons who want to make comments to the board must fill out the online form by 5:00 p. p.m. on the Monday before the school board meeting and the form is available on the
RPS website and on the assembly main page. A reminder that policy 206 and procedure 206A set the time, place, and manner procedures and restrictions on comments to the board. By participating in the public comment period, each speaker agrees to abide by this public
comment procedure. Speakers, when your name is called, please come to the table. If you have any written materials, you can provide it to our assistant school board clerk and she'll provide them to board members. Choose a microphone to speak into and be seated. 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. Speaker one tonight is Joanne Barkmeer. Our next item is information and outreach, our spring sports report. Superintendent Powell. Thank you, Chair Nathan. As board members are aware,
we're trying something this year a bit different. Um, we are having our activities directors come at the end of every season and give the board and the community an update on how things went for their various teams. I see at least two of our three activity dire activities directors here. Um and so
want to invite uh David Perkins and Dan Christopher up and then um I assume that maybe Brian's going to be coming and you're covering the John. All right. Very good. Well, thank you. Welcome. And I know we have a PowerPoint and eager to
hear um how our athletes did. Good evening, school board and community members. Thanks for having us today. Uh we're excited here to um highlight the wonderful things that our student athletes have accomplished this past spring.
Centuries High School's up first. Um our boys tennis team had a great season. uh end ended up second place in the section and had several kids make the allconerence team. Um a very strong finish for them with the tennis season
going 18 and three um was very impressive for that group. A girls lacrosse team um had a historic season um 11-2 and overall 10-0 in the conference. um a historic win over
Lakeville North. First time they beat Lakeville in 10 years. Um we had our senior leave Liv Morrisy broke the all-time goal record um with a finished hery lacrosse career with 170 goals. So um
great job by them. And Jess Doll is the woman pictured in the middle of the kids um heelkicking. She's their the varsity coach. Our golf team also was outstanding. Had a
great season. Um he ended up having three kids qualify for state and one golfer short of having the team qualify. Uh Boston Collins, Riker Hansen, and Brennan Workworth were all up at state. And when saw them, um they were playing
at Bunker Hills is where the state golf tournament was held. Uh had strong starts on on day one. um kind of fell slowed down a little bit on on day two, but overall great season for our boys golf.
Baseball also historic season. Uh made their first section final since 2000 2011. Uh Aiden Yokum's a senior, was won the Big Nine offensive player of the year. Uh made it to the section final uh
and ran into the juggernaut called Farmington. Um, that's a baseball school up there. Um, but the kids got hot at the right time and had a great end, a great run for their their postseason. Boys track. Um, our track program is very very strong every year. Uh, so this
is the expectation for for Century Track. Uh, Luke Schuler qualified for state in the 100 meters. Our 4x4 team, Miles Tesh, Daniel Pankritz, Keegan Toma, Wyatt Lundstöm also qualified. Uh the young gentleman pictured there, Josh
Kaifor is his name. Uh at the section finals at the section track meet, Josh broke the all-time state record in the 110 meter hurdles or the 1458 in the 110 hurdles. Um and he is also a
nominee for the great Gatorade track and field athlete of the year. Um, and he's got a full ride scholarship to NDSU for track and track is his second second love. He's a soccer player in his heart. Um,
but just a a natural phenom on the track. Girls track, uh, did very well. Um, went to the Big Nine. Um, sections, really not high expectations for them. Um they were hoping to the
coach was hoping that they'd kind of land middle of the pack. Um they ended up pulling together um peing at the right time and won uh the big nine section meet. Had several kids qualify. Um the 4x2 and the 4x4 set section
records. Uh the 4x2 team had the number one time in the state this year. Uh Sophia come uh Neil Ferguson and Mary Amison all qualify for state in their respective categories.
I think Sophia finished third I believe in 800 at state and our 4x4 team finished third in at state. This is their picture of them at the big nine sections.
Rochester Raiders. Um they actually were the state runner up for adaptive softball. Um ran against up against our arch nemesis Dakota. Um and played them very well through the first half of the game. Um but just Dakota is a very strong program as as we
are and they guess got the best of us again this spring. Then winter, in the winter time, our adaptive floor team actually won third place for the Rochester Raiders um for this year's um state adaptive floor
hockey tournament. All right. Um Mr. Irky's on vacation. I don't know why he had me obviously do the rocket report. He wanted me to wear red tonight, but I I wasn't going to do that. Uh, boys and girls track and field. Uh,
12 state qualifiers, five school records. Uh, second most state qualifiers in school history. Uh, they had 13 in 1976. Uh, girls track, the 4x2 took third place. Uh, Lauren Smith, Kyoka Cooper,
Estelle, Niguel Mambbe, uh, Main Pen Pettingill. Uh the 3200 Abby Tree uh took first and at state uh took ninth place. Uh 1600 Abby Tree took first and Aaliyah
Randstrom uh took second. And this is all in the section meet. Uh girls track and field again uh triple jump. Norah Miller uh took first which was a school record uh 37 and and three. Uh Purity Andre took third in the triple
jump. uh long jump. Nora Miller took second in the section and then placed uh fourth at the state tournament. Uh that was a school record uh for her as well. Boys track and field uh they were third
place in the section. Uh the 110 uh meter hurdles. Um Savvy Vaoth uh which was a 14.98 uh school record. Uh Chris Garcia Lara in the 100 meters took fifth. Uh the 4 by
200 with Matthew Crowitz, Eli Leoo, uh Ben Reer, Chris Garcia Lara uh took third which tied their school record. And the 1600 Jaden Anderson uh took third. Uh 4x1 Matthew Crowitz and Chris Garcia
Lara. uh Ben Reer, Eli Leoo took third in the school or that was a school record um as well. So, a lot of lot of accomplishments in school records uh for the Rockets. Uh boys high jump, Anande
Amat uh took third, Donovan Reed in the discus took fourth. Uh boys triple jump, Eli Leooh took first, and Deirius Wells took second. Uh, boys triple jump. Eli Leoo took
first and Dearius Wells took second. Uh, 1600, Abby Tree first, Aaliyah Randstrom second, triple jump, Nora Miller took first, school record. And, um, Kyle Riot was the sections assistant coach of the year. So, a good
uh, showing with their their track programs for the Rockets. uh on Mayo High School, uh state golf, uh our girls state golf, Flora Bolster, uh fifth in the section. Um I went up for a day. It was it was it was a lot of
fun uh watching girls and the boys um up at Bunker Hills. Uh she ended up at 36th um at state and shot a 165. Our boys golf um Tim Ston and Isaac an u both went Tim got third in the section.
um ended up 73rd in this at state and Isaac an uh ended up first in the section and he clawed his way back to seventh at the state tournament. Um when uh Mr. Priy our principal and my myself were up there uh he his first round
wasn't as great so maybe we were a jinx on him but uh the second day he really turned it on and I end up shooting a 145. Uh one accomplishment with the the golf uh Sentry took three, we took two. Uh so all the individuals out of the
section were from Rochester. Good. Uh state girls track. Uh Josie Van Brunt in the 100 meters uh went. Uh she's a seventh grader. Uh so really impressive uh young lady. Uh Brooklyn Sherwood uh
long jump uh went as well. Our boys uh state track uh Casey Kramer in the discus. Calder Sheen in the pole vault. uh Owen Prada, William Leisure, Ben Wheeland, Aiden Lindon in the 4x8.
Uh the 4x two and the 4x1 as well went Sebastian Bari, Joseph Boguslowski, Justin Mate, and Isaiah Beal in the 4x2. Sebastian Bari, Joseph Boguslowski, Isaiah Beal, and Logan Rathky in the in the 4x1.
Uh state boys tennis, uh was up at that as well. Um we ended up coming in fourth place with that uh in the uh round um against Adina. Uh we we gave it our all um and ended up uh losing one of the
doubles ones that we we expected to to hopefully win and didn't quite get it done. Uh doubles Noah Wnooki, Caleb Kennel, uh David Tang, and John Triscard represented us up there up there.
Uh lastly, boys volleyball. I just wanted to report with you guys because we uh just um this was our inaugural season. Uh it was a it was a good year to to start things off. They went 15 and eight and were the section runner up. Um
ended up losing to East View uh up there in the finals to go to state, but uh it was a a good season for the first year. Thank you. Thank you board members. Any questions, comments other than Oh, director Martyr quick comment. Thank you so much for this. And it's amazing the
number of young people Rochester has that are really amazing athletes and the opportunity that so many kids have to be on teams and academic teams, uh, sports teams because whether they're in your pres presentation or not, the that
importance of belonging to that community and being excited when any of them uh are successful. I just think that's such an important part of the high school experience. So, thanks for your leadership. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Item 4.2 is the recognition of Amelia Cordell and Tucker Ketone. Superintendent P. Thank you. You can tell that you see Will Ruff from the second, our executive director of equity and family engagement coming up and two colleagues who I will let Will uh make
some remarks about who we are indebted to and going to miss very very much and wanted to have a chance to recognize. So Will, turn it over to you. Yeah, thank you. Um the document that I'm about to read is also in assembly, so people can find it there. But thank you, Chair
Nathan and Super uh Superintendent Pel for letting me read these words aloud. Rochester public schools acknowledges and honors the dedicated service of two key staff members from the American Indian Education Program who will be departing at the end of this school year. Amelia Cordell, American Indian
Education Coordinator, has submitted her resignation after three years of committed service to RPS. During her tenure, Amelia has continuously gone above and beyond while playing a pivotal role in strengthening cultural connections, supporting native students and families, and expanding
district-wide understanding of American Indian history and indigenous ways of being. Her deep commitment to cultural responsiveness, student advocacy, and community engagement has enriched the entire district. Her leadership has been instrumental in building relationships
with tribal communities and ensuring that indigenous perspectives are reflected in our educational practices. Through her leadership, we've seen increased support for native students, meaningful educational programming, and stronger connections with indigenous families and community partners.
Amelia's work continues to shape a more inclusive and respectful learning environment for all. Additionally, Tucker Queton will also leave RPS at the end of the month after a long and impactful career. Tucker originally
retired in 2021 and then decided he didn't have enough of us yet, so he came back. But for 33 years, Tucker has served in a number of influential roles within the RPS community, including as a teacher, president of the teacher union, known as
the Rochester Education Association, and most recently the American Indian Education Liaison. His deep roots in the community, passion for student success, and unwavering advocacy for equity have made a lasting difference in the lives of students, families, and colleagues
alike. Whether offering mentorship, guidance, or simply a listening ear, Tucker has built trusting relationships that have made our schools feel more welcoming and affirming. His efforts have helped strengthen the bridge between school and community.
Together, Amelia and Tucker have helped ensure that the indigenous students of RPS feel seen, heard, and supported. Their work is not only deeply appreciated, it is essential. Their departure marks a significant transition
for the district's American Indian education program. The district is grateful for their service and will work to ensure that the momentum they help build continues to grow in support of native students and families in RPS. So, please join me in recognizing and thanking Ameilia and
Tucker for their outstanding service to Rochester public schools. [Applause]
Board members, superintendent, director Barlo. Oh, superintendent. Well, I think we I we have to put you on the hot seat and give you a chance to just share whatever might be uh uh on your minds at this moment of transition. And I'm sure board members and I want to say a few words of thanks, but um any observations
at this moment of transition for you both, which coincidentally is happening at the same time. So, This is hard for me because when I came to the district in the fall of 1992, I didn't think I would be here this
long. My wife and I had moved a lot and we loved traveling and experiencing new places, but um when we settled here and our six kids um started school in the district and just it just felt like home and and we didn't want to leave. Um, but
now we're act, my wife and I are actually planning to move out of Rochester and so that's a big step for us. Um, but onto a new adventure. Uh, so I leave with a heart full of great
memories, uh, wonderful friends and colleagues, um, accomplishments that I've seen through the years in the district moving forward, especially with Indian education. Um, it's always been a labor of love for me, but also one of
struggle. Seems like, um, there are always challenges and setbacks along the way. But um as I look back, I see so much progress and I want to thank this board uh for your commitment to the program
and not just um on the page but also showing up to meetings and events and um we can really feel your support and so we thank you for that. Um, I don't think I could leave without knowing that the program
is in a good place. Very supportive. It's in great hands with Will and with Guthrie uh returning to the coordinator position. Um, so I will be in touch, just not physically here, but I look forward to hearing great
things ahead in the future. kind of going off of what Tucker said, um I've only been here for three years, not 33. That's how old I am. But, um it's been a great three years. Um being a Dakota person and coming back to Rochester,
um there was just something that felt right in my soul just being back on the land. Like, it's hard to describe that. So, Rochester has definitely held a great like place in my heart and always will. Um but I am going back home to the reservation. I'm going to be the director of our safe home program. So,
kind of doing the same thing, but I'm going to be making sure that um 36 kiddos have a safe place um after they've been kind of put out in the world. So, that's going to be my new role, but going to be working closely with Gatric Stone and Will and going to have me on speed dial when they need me
because we do have a lot of great things in motion at right now. Um, kind of like Tucker said, I was nervous leaving in this point because we do have so many things in motion, but I know that Will and Tucker and the support from you guys will definitely make sure that the
program, the elder and residents, um, just all of our little indigenous kids don't get pushed under the radar. So, and I feel confident now and I can leave knowing that they won't. So, thank you, Dr. Barlo.
So as I um assess impact um I want to share from the perspective of um being a parent uh who Tucker many years ago, my youngest daughter was a student of yours at uh J. John Adams and she remembers
you and and uh you had you saw her. Okay. I I emphasize that and that sometimes we only see certain groups, students, individuals, but uh the thing
that uh I recall her mentioning uh was that she knew that you saw her and as a parent that means a lot to me. So, thank you. And also my youngest daughter has had the occasion even though you've only been here three years uh to uh interact
with you and and sim similarly you know just the fact that you uh value others and uh are able to um um authentically
be yourself and to uh willingly share um not just customs culture but opportunities and I have been uh affected and impacted and so I just want to say thank you. So thank you.
Well I um I have always appreciated Amelia how your caring for our indigenous students is clear in everything that you do. But what I've appreciated from your leadership,
your new fresh leadership, if you will, and Tucker, all of the experience that you've had, the history that you've brought, and what you've seen that has worked and not worked in the past, together, I think not only have you done such a good job of taking care of our indigenous students, but you have
welcomed everyone else into um your customs, your culture, your learning. Um, one of the most impactful things Tucker I think you presented was on the indigenous ways of learning and that really has stuck with me as to how many
of those um, ways of learning is so important and teaching for us to integrate in what we do because they make so much sense. Um, but just how you've broadened not just um the knowledge of of indigenous culture but experiences that all of our
students have been able to have. And I'm glad that you think it's in good hands. We hope that we uh that we do you proud um because it is something that not just the indig not just for the indigenous students but benefits all of our students. So thank you for what you've done and brought to the district.
Superintendent. Um it it will be in part in tribute to you that we will maintain this work. Um it's work that has been a privilege to understand better in the four years that I've been here.
Um, the traditions of our native citizens are both steeped in pain and violence and extraordinary accomplishment and joy. And you both have embodied that
dual reality that you don't ever in any conversation I've had with either of you minimize the extraordinary legacy of discrimination. And one could even say genocide that our native peoples have
withstood. But you but you're not mired in that pain uh in terms of serving our kids. And that's an extraordinary uh accomplishment as somebody uh who is from the outside looking in that you you you embody the hard realities that many
of our indigenous students still face today, but you do it with such optimism and hope. And I think that's really what true hope is. It's not sort of naive nicities. It's recognizing the hard realities that many of our students are
uh surrounded by and and growing up with, but but having incredible high expectations for them and belief in their resilience. So, I thank you for that for embodying that that duality and everything you've done and we will continue to strive to bring that to the
work that we'll go on and please do stay in touch. One more round of applause, please. [Applause]
Item 4.3, board member updates. Does any board member have updates from their committees or anything else since the last meeting to share or previews of events? Director Whitehorn. Um, I guess we just have the two upcoming events that I'm
aware of, which is the Junth Jubilee Breakfast. That'll be this Thursday at the Empire Event Center. So, it's a really good community event. We do have some youth that will be represented at that event as well. Um, so if you can come out, that's 9:30 and I believe you
can just Google that, there's a link. And then also um if you haven't signed up or you're still interested um in helping participating or volunteering for the back to school block party and parade which is going to be Saturday, August the 16th. Um please reach out. Um
there they have several ways of reaching out. I believe that we have a Facebook page. Um you can also reach out to me directly. I can get in touch I can get you in touch with the organizer that you would need um to get in touch with if you're interested. So please spread the word. We really would like to see some
more of our um youth groups and teams out this summer. It's a really amazing thing. Anything else? Board members, I think our committees are pretty much done for the school year except for our policy committee. So,
our next agenda items are our consent agenda. But before I ask for a motion to approve, the superintendent is going to present some information about the central a office reorganization and slides on this year's retirees. Yes. Well, I'll be I'm going to do that in
reverse order, Madam Chair, if uh the PowerPoint works. And of course, Tucker just left, so he's going to miss his name being uh up here. We just want to briefly acknowledge the fact that we have some extraordinary uh colleagues who are retiring from service in Rochester public schools in some cases
after a few years. and and other cases like Tucker after decades. Each of them is receiving a pin that um has a very nice uh Rochester Public Schools apple on it. It's they're getting it framed so they can have it this way or they can take it out and we'll pull the pin out. Um I want to thank Carl Bachan and his
team for putting that together. We're sending those out now along with a letter thanking them for their um service. And then we want to make sure that even though they are noted in the consent agenda, we also briefly uh recognize them. I know all of you will see many uh familiar names that are
there. We have got uh some of our intrepid clerical staff who really do keep the district running in a very clear way. Uh including as you can notice one colleague Nancy who uh retired after 57 years uh in the job. We
have our education support professionals uh who also provide indispensable support for our students in more ways than any of us could count. Uh who have been working in very different settings all across the district is real. Just the list of settings that you see there on the screen is a testament to how
varied the work our ESPs do uh with our students. Um and even uh more continuing on that uh that next screen. We of course uh depend on our maintenance staff to keep our buildings and our grounds in great shape, which
they do. Um that is often a job that goes um unseen when it's happening at the moment, but boy do you notice it when it doesn't happen. Um and so we are so fortunate um in those folks. We have uh two colleagues who've been in our mental and physical health professional
uh unit uh who are retiring um after six years and nine years respectively. And we have folks that are in what we call our operations professional unit. Uh folks who work in the central office that you can see there. Some I'm sure familiar names to board members as those
folks have been around uh the Edison building and um out in our our schools. We have one principal retirement um and Brenda Witchman who is retiring after 33 years most recently from Sunset Terrace, but board members certainly know her well from the great work that she did.
here's executive director of curriculum and instruction. Uh two colleagues from our nutrition services department uh who are moving on. Um and then of course our teachers, the heart of our school district. We can see uh folks from the uh you know Rochester Academy for
Independent Living with our young adult students um all the way down to our early childhood students um who uh provide the critical support that our kids uh need to succeed. Um it's interesting to note there are not one but two former presidents of REA that
are in Dan Coleman and uh Tucker moving on um and then some other colleagues. So Madam Chair, we just wanted to acknowledge that um going forward and thank them all for their service which they will be getting this handy um token of our appreciation and I think we all
owe them a round of applause as well. [Applause] The next item is uh cons is is also a positive one but uh considerably less festive. It's briefly uh highlighting
for board members the uh uh reorganization of our central office that you are approving parts of tonight in the consent agenda. Um there are some aspects of that reorganization that did not require board approval and so those are not listed there. There's a long memo that is available in our simply
website that outlines the um specifics of this reorganization. The reason that I made the decision and I'm asking you to approve these at this time is to get us ready for the next wave of our work. I am very privileged and honored to know that I'll be around for at least the next uh three years unless I really
screw up. Um and so the desire was to be sure that we are structured for our next strategic plan for our new school improvement planning process. So the reorganization that we've put in place is all about alignment. It's about making sure that the departments in our central office are organized around a
limited number of real really critical functions and that we also fill some gaps that have existed in staff responsibility for some very important processes that frankly have not really been anyone's job. Um and if nobody wakes up every morning and thinks about something important, there's a strong chance it's not going to get done or get
done adequately. And so in this reorganization, our uh school district central office will be structured around six uh offices as we uh currently refer to them. One will be of course the office of academic services which will be where our core support for teaching
and learning will continue to be housed. Uh the next will be our office of administration which is the unified uh source of support and leadership for our uh operational functions from facilities to nutrition services and beyond. We have a renamed office of school
leadership and student engagement that continues to provide uh supervision and support for our school principles in our schools but also houses work on well-being and behavior that um is related to but distinct from our academic agenda. Then we'll continue to have our office of community education
and partnerships um that supervises not just community education but the critical work of communications and related fields. Our office of equity and family engagement. You'll note highlighting the critical role of family engagement um in not just work of that um office but of our department. And
then our intrepid human resources staff that um helps uh make all of those functions work. Um, as is outlined in the memo, there are a few significant changes that are worth noting. Um, perhaps none more important than the creation of a single uh leadership position for special education in our
district. We have had when I got to Rochester four directors of special education, but but an executive director at that time. And as I recommended and the board approved, we moved to a chief academic officer structure to bridge the gap between general education and special education. students with
disabilities are general education students first and they receive special education services to supplement those needs. I continue to believe that that's the right structure for our district. But it was also clear that in a district where one in five students now has an individualized education plan um and and
and higher percentages in our early childhood years, we need to really be sure that we are providing a very coherent and seamless uh series of supports from early childhood through young adulthood for our students with disabilities. So there's will be a single leadership position and the addition of an assistant director
position and so the expansion of our leadership support for our special education services is a key part. We're also creating uh the position a director of student well-being and shifting that from the office of academic services to the office of school leadership and student engagement. The logic being that
we'll have a unified structure there to support both well-being, mental health, social work, chemical health, and behavior, positive behavior to be sure all of our schools are safe and orderly schools. A director of school counseling and post-secondary readiness is being
renamed um as a director of academic supports and it will be moving to the office of academic services to provide comprehensive support for the academic agenda. um school counselors playing a critical role in that work, but also career and technical education, advanced
learning, and multi-tered systems of support under the work of a single director. We're also creating, as I mentioned a moment ago, a director of positive behavioral supports that will lead a comprehensive new strategy and a team funded by a a dedicated funding source that we're repurposing that will
be about supporting our schools in uh both uh supporting uh positive behavior with all students and dealing with the disruptions that do happen in all schools in a restorative and positive and effective way to be sure our schools are safe and orderly places where kids
can that uh director will also be providing leadership for our comprehensive attendance strategy and our new 9th grade uh really reinvention of the nth grade experience but in particular keeping those kids on track through that critical transition from middle school
to high school. Um we are shifting the school improvement process to the director of leadership development. Um supporting principles in leading school improvement is a really critical function. The design of that skip 2.0 no process has been ablely handled in our
research and innovation shop and now it's uh it's all about implementation. Um we are adding a valuable uh teacher and special assignment position to our multilangu multilingual learning department to reflect the really significant needs we have in serving the
10% of our students whose first language is not English. in particular, the newcomers to the country who uh speak relatively little English, but who I'm pleased to say make dramatic progress as we use some of the new strategies we're putting in place. As the board is very
well aware, we are also next fall launching a comprehensive strategy to address the declining birth rate and uh promote increased or at least reduced decreases in enrollment. The first uh aspect of that will be adding uh the comprehensive leadership of our enrollment strategy to the director of
early learning. The logic there besides the fact that the individual in that job Erica Schumacher is a very capable leader that the place where we get students uh most effectively is in kindergarten and that's the moment once we have them we're very pleased to continue to serve them in many cases for
the ne the rest of educational careers but we want to make sure that we are reaching out to families of young children very effectively. Our director of communications will also have a role in that enrollment strategy. Um, and in order to facilitate a really customer service focused uh enrollment process,
we'll assume responsibility for our registration and records department to be sure that it is very very easy and seamless to enroll your student in Rochester public schools. We'll also be moving our interpreters to the communications department as part of a comprehensive language access plan that
I look forward to briefing the school board on in the future. Um, an example of those kinds of things that I mentioned a moment ago that are not uh previously were not part of anybody's job are supporting the policy work of the board and the legislative agenda work of the board. And so we'll be
adding to our director of innovation the support for both of those processes. Um, I think we have some good recent examples of the fact that Rochester can be a leader in the state on legislative agenda issues, but the board needs more
staff leadership uh for that process. Similarly, we have a board chair and a policy committee chair who does frankly all the heavy lifting for that process now and we now need to step up our staff support. So, we aren't quite as reliant on the chair's t time for that. Um but
uh I'm enthused about the um work that Denise Moody will be doing in that capacity. And then finally, there will be two uh positions where we've made some uh reductions to enable the creation of director level positions for nutrition services and facilities reflective of the critical importance of
those uh areas. This reorganization is costneutral. There are cuts that pay for the ads. It is not a budget cutting strategy. budget reductions that are needed to help uh address the financial issues that we'll be talking about later in this meeting will be made through the
budget process. So, this reorganization is about alignment and not about um budget cutting. Um but I do want the board and others to know that this is a costneutral uh reorganization in the big picture for the school district. So, madam chair, that is a brief overview of
that. There's much more detail in the memo that is there and the board actions that we're asking you to approve are included in the consent agenda that you will take action on now. Given that we have a consent agenda item
5.1 through 519, would any board member like any item removed from the consent agenda for separate consideration? Hearing none. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Second. It has been moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda. All those
in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? The consent agenda has been approved. Thank you. Our next item is 6.1 prep for action approval of long-term budget strategy. This is a prep for action item and we are scheduled to take action on this
item at the July 15th meeting. Superintendent Pow. Thank you, Chair Nathan. I can see where uh John Carlson, our chief administrative officer coming up, and Andy Crogstead, our director of finance, and I'm happy going to happily going to give them the clicker. Um the term long-term financial strategy, and
I'm the one who chose that, the last noun there, strategy. Um may need just a bit of clarification. Um what we're presenting to you now is our best assessment of the investments and reductions that will be needed over the
next five years to keep the district's budget in balance. When we say strategy, it doesn't actually outline how we will make those reductions, but I am asking you uh in your next meeting to approve those targets as our marching orders for
financial planning going forward. We are fortunate as uh one of the commenters earlier tonight in comments to the board uh emphasized not to be making reductions this year thanks to the passage of the referendum and the fact that we have developed a budget proposal
for you that has held the line and includes no increases in the aggregate in staff. But we have not this year undertaken the challenging work that will be needed to address uh projected enrollment declines and very tight funding from the state and likely the federal government. And so we are
presenting to you uh tonight the analysis that has led us to the conclusions of the level of reductions that will be required in the years ahead. Uh as John and Andy will outline, it includes an aggressive robust is probably a better word than
aggressive use of our fund balance. We are not uh banking money. uh you'll see I'm recommending we take it right down to the board target of 8% over the course of this time as a way to mitigate the challenging aspects of declining enrollment that many many school districts across our state face. So
tonight is a prep for action. Uh we're not of course asking you to vote this first time you're hearing it, but we are hoping that you will take action on the resolution in your next meeting so that we can begin the challenging task of planning a budget for you uh that you
would approve next June that includes the needed reductions to maintain a balanced budget. So John and Andy, take it away. All right. Thank you, Superintendent Pel and Chair Nathan. As superintendent just said, I kind of look at this as the starting point for the 26-27
school year budget. This will be uh when we get through this a a direction for us on how to proceed in planning. I want to talk about the assumptions that went into uh the forecast that we're going to pre present to you. First off, we are dealing with just the general fund. That is our main operating
fund. that is where we are talking about uh our other funds are very well managed and uh we align expenses and revenues all the time in those funds. Um this long-term budget strategy work started right after we finished preparing the
presentation for you that we gave you on June 3rd. And so because there's a little bit of lead work here and we have software to manipulate and and vendors to work with, we did not fully roll in yet the results of the June 17th uh proposal that you're going to be talking
about later in your meeting, but I can tell you there's no material differences in here that's going to change the structure of the budget uh proposal. So, um just keep that in mind as we go forward. Our budgets are driven primarily and
heavily by our enrollment. And as we've talked about many many times, this is no surprise. We are entering into a phase of expected enrollment decline. Um the class of 2026, our upcoming seniors, is our largest class. It has been since 2013 when they entered as
kindergarteners. And that is going to start the process of locking down our numbers here over time. Our local revenue assumptions, we have assumed that the 2015 and now the new 2024 operating referendum will increase at approximately 2.43%
annually. That number um both of those are tied to inflation. um that number of that determines the inflation is set by the Department of Education. They look at a a table and that's what they uh award to us annually. So, we'll find that out um as we go year by year, but we're
planning for 2.43. I should also strongly note, this was a question I got from a board member before the meeting, our operating referendums are driven by pupil count. So, as the numbers go down, we do we do not have a fixed 19.4 million going into the future. We have
inflation built on the per pupil amount, but we if we have declining enrollment, uh those numbers could stagnate or actually decline over the next five years. We did hold fees, admissions, and interest incomes flat as we uh went forward. Those numbers have been very
consistent year to year to year. Uh we can always talk about raising uh targets on those, but for now, we've assumed them to be the same. In our state revenue, there's a lot of moving parts right now. Thankfully, our legislature uh came back in special session and got the work done for the
next couple years ahead. Um we are obviously in our budget proposal that you're getting uh to vote on tonight. We've assumed the 2.74% increase that is baked into the uh state law. Now, from there, we know it's going to be bounded still within a range of 2
to 3%. So, we split the difference and we took 2.5% in our assumptions going forward. One thing we are tracking very closely and um since I have oversight of transportation, I put our director of transportation on notice that we need to be looking at all things that we can to
decrease transportation costs where we can uh look for any efficiencies we can find in our routing. Um but yet maintaining the services that we need to provide. Uh but we know that our special education transportation costs are going to be decreased 5% this school year and
another 5% off of that the following school year. We are contending with that. Now, we worked with um as we're putting the budget together for that you're going to vote on later. We had assumed that was coming because there was a lot of talk about that. So, that was already uh worked into the budget proposal that you've got. So, that isn't
a new uh change that we needed to work in at the last minute. The bigger thing coming that's looming is then the uh is that one, two, three, and four years out is uh overall decrease in special ed funding. If the state keeps on the path they're on, um they're going to need to
decrease special ed funding to all public school districts in Minnesota by $125 million a year in the aggregate. So we've uh assumed a percentage of that is going to be our share of that budget cut. And um so we've included that into the forecast as well that there will be
less revenue in the 2728 and 2829 school year. On the federal uh revenue, we obviously we've talked about the schoolbased mental health grant. We're taking that out of the budget as of December 31st, 2025. We have held our other funding constant. And the reason being on that
is we are is we're trying to discern what's going to happen at the federal level level. We know that 75% or roughly three4s of our funding is tied to title one and and special education. Everything we're seeing says that that's going to be the two priorities of the
federal budget for at least the education uh department going forward. And so we're assuming that that's going to be constant. We think there is some risk in our title 2, three, four, five, seven, eight. I might have made up five and there might not be a title five. Uh
but we do think there is risk in those although that is one quarter of our federal funding now. So we do think there could be some risk in that in our assumptions there. So we put that all together. Um in the budget for next year, we're assuming actually just a little bit higher than
that now. A little over 306 million I think is what you're being presented with. But I just want you to look at the bottom line there. With all these assumptions we've baked in, you do not see go revenues going up like you would assume when we're talking about inflation built into a revenue formulas.
Those are all flat or declining. And that's because of um changes in student counts primarily going on there. There are some other changes in like our uh long-term facility maintenance revenues um because of projects and timing of things like that, but just take away
from this slide that our total revenues are not going to go up from where they are now. However, we're going to work into the expenditure assumptions next and we're talking about um what uh we've included in there. So on salaries and wages,
we've assumed um on average that we are going to be able to offer 2% per year cost of living adjustments and that for those contracts that have step movement or where you you know move up another rung on the ladder, um you also can do that movement and that will average out
to about a 4% on average salary increase as we move forward. We know there's a new paid family leave payroll tax coming on January 1st that's going to be44%. There's no new funding to offset that. However, we know that the TRA increase
from 8.75% to 9.81%. There is some state funding to help offset that increase. So, that is worked into our assumption on the revenue side. Health insurance that is a big line item for us and we are are assuming that that
will continue uh to be above uh normal inflation. Medical inflation and trend has been 7 plus%. So we're assuming conservatively 8% per year increases in health insurance costs going forward. We assume very minor increases in the other
types of insuranceances because those are actually running very well and very stable in our purchase services. So these are school bus services, utilities, uh repairs to buildings. Those top those three things that I just mentioned account for about 2third of all things
services that we purchase. So about 67% are school buses, utilities, and u repairs to our buildings. So we're assuming that those are going up 3% per year on average. Supplies and materials. Again, we're assuming 3% increases in in
cost to those. lot of numbers on here, but maybe if we just drop down to the bottom line, remember that our revenue is 305 306 million for the FY26 budget and it was going to stay very flat andor go down,
but our costs are not if we keep the exact same staff we have. We've made no adjustments here yet for taking out um any any positions due to declining enrollment. We just wanted to show the gross total of what would happen if we kept the staff exactly the same as it is proposed for next school year. You're
going to go to 320 million, 330 million, 345 million. And again, remember, we're keeping our revenues right around 300 as projected. This works into a situation where we uh clearly have revenues or uh revenues
that aren't sufficient to meet the projected expenditures. So, while we are showing a positive uh $300 and some thousand uh surplus for this year ahead, after that, it projects into a $16 million deficit and a $29 million
deficit if we ignore it and do nothing. If we ignore that and do nothing, the year ahead we'd be 41 million. Those numbers would uh just keep getting bigger. We obviously have a track record and why we're asking you to be aware of this and actually to prove a resolution
to move forward with a different set of assumptions is because we're not going to let that happen. That would be uh financial mismanagement and irresponsible of us to let that uh go unchecked. So as part of our recommendation uh and
what the superintendent is ultimately recommending to you are two things. One to draw down the unassigned fund balance. Unassigned meaning there is no uh assignment to it. It's it's there and it's available. for any general fund purpose is to uh use about $3 million of
that per year as we go forward over the next few years until we bring that into alignment and it equals exactly 8% uh of our budgeted expenditures in the future. Additionally, the other half of that is then reduce spending or uh use
additional funding whether that be from grants or from state aids or federal aids that become available in the future. uh using the framework of a balanced budget model that we put a lot of time and effort into and adjust those formulas and adjust um the things as we go. But I also think we're also going to
have to have conversations outside of that with um you know what's what are the um tweaks and adjustments that we need to make uh to the balance budget model going forward. Again, way too many numbers. I need to find a better way of trying to display
this. But what we're really trying to say is on our expenditure line, what we've what we've shown is if we take the $13 million of reductions in the first year, so for the FY27 school year budget, we would be at $316 million of expenditures
because we've we've taken the first year of cuts. However, we're still at a $13 million deficit because of all these costs inflating. And so, we'd be making another $13 million or so of cuts. And that's just going to keep continuing on. Um because again, we haven't made any
real um adjustments here to our staffing. We've again tried to show everything exactly the same going forward to kind of just show the magnitude of if we don't deal with if we don't adjust if we don't um align the staff to the uh student counts, uh it
will get out of hand really fast. This is our recommendation. We just wanted to very quickly show uh the fund balance requirements. So board policy is unassigned fund balance should be at 8%. So that means it's going to be settle in
around $24 million is what is required. And so we're going to we're recommending you draw that down to 41 million 37 34 30 26. Eventually you step in and you're your match there at 24 million a few years out.
I think that's the end of the prepared comments we had on the long-term budget strategy. Director Cook. Uh well, yeah, thank you for the overview. So, I um reviewing this and kind of the the core takeaways on the
recommendations there. my mind immediately went to what the board did about a month ago where we um approved the um the or accepted I guess the issuances of the certificates of participation and
the um facilities bonds um and in the materials that uh that we reviewed one of the things that was noted was how important it was that we were able to pay just under 4% on the maintenance bonds and just over 3% on the certificates of partic participation was
how well-managed this district is financially and in particular the unassigned fund balance was a material component of that assessment that resulted in the district having a double A rating. Um, and I guess I just wanted to think through the implications here
if we're going to spend down the unassigned fund balance and and sort of plan for that. How does that I'd like to game that out a little bit. How does that affect our ability to um access those types of resources for
technology and for facilities needs that we are expecting to be doing on a recurring basis the next several years? Could you maybe just speak to that a little bit? Yeah, thank you for that question, Director Cook. I think what the rating agencies will want to see is
one, we acknowledge the the possibility of having large deficits and two that you've actually passed a resolution to deal with the uh projected deficits, that you're actively managing it, that you're not going to let it fall below board policy. And if they see that
happening, I don't suspect they're going to make a uh credit downgrade uh unless there's maybe some other things going on. Now, um I can't speak directly on behalf of S&P and how they're going to manage that, but with the things they make clear to me when we talk with them,
it's really about having a plan and actively manage the plan and then they're checking up on that and asking us questions to confirm that you're dealing um with the facts and figures and you're you're making good decisions to move forward. Director McLaclin, um first I want to
thank you for the other attachment to the um assembly. this is really helpful. Um, just having a one-pager that talks about not only the enrollment, which I don't think has ever really been incorporated into this before, but we need to know that. But the projections and the unassigned fund balance, I think
I don't remember seeing that before, but mainly the forecast assumptions at the bottom. Having that all in one piece is really helpful for me preparing for the meeting and preparing for this decision, but I'm thinking it will also be helpful for the community to have all of this in one place to refer to and to consider
when um people are looking at this important decision for the district. Um the question I have for you though is that I know we've um likely talked about this before and I can sort of assume the answer, but I want to hear it from you anyway. um the issue of the health insurance increasing by 8% each year. Is
there anything we can do to control that different than what we've already done? Thank you for that question, Director Mclofflin. Yes. Um our employees actually have a group, a committee. It's called the employee insurance benefit review committee. Meets at least twice a
year, sometimes three or four times. We talk about strategies um along those lines. Um what are things that we can do? Is it better education to our employees? of better products, better services that will help um with um making for a healthier set of employees
and therefore hopefully uh making for less costs. They also talk about things that we have in our control. Some of those levers you can pull such as raising deductibles, raising out of pocket maxes. Those are things we usually put on the it's not our favorite tool to use, but those are also ways
that we can help mitigate instead of uh just passing on straight 8% increases every year. Could you could you also just briefly mention, John, uh the work you've done toward that end with Mstead County Medical Center and then the work that we're considering with HY. Yeah, thanks uh for
bringing that up. So, a couple new things that are uh going on. One is the direct contract relationship with Mstead County or Homemstead Medical Center and really trying to um not we're not penalizing our employees if they choose other options, but we're all we're
offering incentive with better um deductible, better out-ofpocket maximum if they choose the Mstead Medical Center option. So again, they have choice and they have agency to decide what they want to do, but they can save money out of pocket and ultimately it will save
the district's side of the bill too. um if they choose Homestead Medical for certain cir uh services. We're also uh actively engaged in a request for proposal process for a new pharmacy benefit manager. Um there is a lot to understand and unpack and what that
looks like and what that means. Um but we are hopeful or excited that there's a possible partnership with HY uh who approached us with a subsidiary they developed to really uh lower cost the pharmacy space because that's that's an area where um the drug costs are growing
faster even than our doctor and hospital costs are growing. Director Workman, I have um two questions about the expenditure assumptions on paid family leave and pensions. So, this is the district's side of um what it's costing us. Could
you address a little bit about what the employee cost is um if it's 044% for for them as well or what their amount is? Thank you, Director Workman. Yes. On the paid family leave law, that is a 5050 payroll tax just like uh social security
and Medicare it was set up. Uh so we expect that our employees will pay 044% of their paychecks and the district will also pay 044% of their paychecks. On the TRA or on the pension side uh pensions work very similar that uh the
employee has to pay a percent and the district has to pay a percent. On the TRA uh currently employees have 7.5% I believe deducted from their paycheck. That's going up to 8% and that's timed at the same time as the district has to
pay 9.81%. Um so I was in looking at the um resolution that we'll be asked to approve um in addition to the 6.0 0 million transfer from the general fund balance um
and the um 3 point the 3 million um until we get to 8%. Um we're also um directing the superintendent to to give us a plan as you mentioned for how we're going to achieve this. Um, and it's I think it's too early to get into
specifics, but in the history of the district as I've seen them, we've we've come to these milestones where we've had years where we have to make significant budget cuts and um we have in various ways involved the community in those
conversations. So, I personally in and I can anticipate you're already thinking about that. Um would also like to hear how we're going to both communicate this to to the community because I can imagine that these numbers are quite
concerning to anybody who is seeing them for the first time. Um mainly to talk about priorities because I think that's really what this is this is going to be. We're going to be having a serious conversation about the priorities um of this community for
their educational system constrained by what we are directed to do to use our money um whether the resources come from the the state or or federal governments. So, I just wanted to put in that plug
for um that community engagement piece um because it w it will be something. I know it's always hard to people to wrap their head around this amount of money. Um speaking of constraints though, um
I see the uh plans at the state level for evaluating special education um reimbursement. Um, we can't predict what's going to happen. Um, but if is it possible we're
going to be asked or told to do less if they give us less money or are we also going to be potentially seeing a growth in our own cross subsidy because they determine both state and federal that they're not going to give us the same
amount of money but keep the criteria for service. And as you mentioned before, one in five students now have an IEP and we've been seeing that increase in recent past. So, and you probably don't have an answer, but that is a possibility that they could simply
reduce the amount of money we have and we would still have to provide the same level of service or it could be something else. Um, yeah, thank you, Chair Nathan. The way the state uh very recently signed legislation is written is there is an
unquestioned cut in forthcoming. There's the the task force has the possibility of recommending the ways to make that cut or there's an automatic cut and so that a significant cut is there. Your point about uh reducing mandated
services is very well taken. Um uh uh one would hope that they have a discussion that recognizes that reality that um if you do not uh if you make hundreds of millions of dollars, which is what we're talking about, uh in
reduction in state support for required services for students with disabilities, and you don't change any of the requirements, that is uh basically passing the problem on to the local level. Um, so I I I really hope our state leaders recognize that that is a
recipe for to use the term you just used, Chair Nathan, increasing what we call the cross subsidy, the dollars that we need to take uh that are intended for the general education of all students to meet the unfunded mandates uh for students with disabilities.
Um and I can also anticipate that there is a possibility that um in our enrollment um strategy that you've already given us the outline of and are going to begin robustly um going forward that those uh
declines um in enrollment projections year-to-year um we could change those numbers um ideally entirely, but um we could we could take a chunk out of um some of these deficits by um attracting
the students that exist. We can't do anything about birth rate, but the ones that the ones that are here. Um yeah, Madam Chair, we thought and talked quite a bit about including a deviation from the projection that Dr.
Reinhardt just did for our school district in this plan. And I decided ultimately that it was ill- advised to do that because the reality is we don't know uh what decisions families will make. Um and I believe we need to plan
for the reductions. We need to be uh very clear and honest with the community. I think your point about community engagement is certainly well taken. Director Cook's point about the our our bond rating and where we are. All of that needs to be we need cleareyed and sober thinking as we
navigate this which is as I think it's also important to keep saying not unique to Rochester public schools. There are small districts right around us that are facing this. There are much larger districts that are facing this. Um and so ultimately I did not include uh in
this uh recommendation and uh expected improvement. Um, I will say in the last enrollment projection that we um have used for budgeting purposes since 2022,
every year we've done a bit better than that projection. Um, and so there is some recent history it was a bit better. Um, and I certainly hope we can do more than a bit better. So yeah, it the the work that we'll be doing and that um
Erica and Mamsu will be leading is of fundamental importance to this projection. And um Mr. Carlson, you mentioned uh the split in the federal funding between how much of it is title one and special education and and the other titles. And
as of this date, we don't have any hard numbers um in any of the legislation federally that would tell us right now, you know, should this legislation pass as it exists today, we would have this kind of impact. It's still I've asked you this question before, so I'll let
you answer. Yeah, it's um what I'm reading is prioritizing at least the same going forward. And so we kind of know what our allocation is kind of um even that's not fully known from the federal to the state. There's been some delays there and so we're still um
trying to get that and that's one of the corrections we make in the budget item coming forward. But we do think that it should stay at least flat. So don't count on more. Hopefully flat if the way if the way they're u funding things now stays the
same and we get more special education students. do we get for money from the federal government? That is a question I need to dig into further because I don't know exactly how they uh determine that at the state level because they get it in a block grant for special education for
Minnesota, but then they have a formula that they have to divvy it up based on um probably federal child count numbers. So to some extent, yes, I do think our our kids on IEPs is what's driving that calculation. Dr. Cook. Um, there were so one of the
things in the in the draft resolution is to transfer $6 million from the unassigned general fund into a uh purpose specific fund for facilities and technology upgrades. And I I believe
that we are paying for facilities and technology needs sort of whether it's pay as you go or but I mean it's it's in our expenditure budget uh over six million this next year. So what is the logic for the specific special purpose
fund for like reserving that explicitly? Let me hit it in the uh in the 30,000 foot level and John can fill in. There are a number of upcoming facilities recommendations that we cannot cover with long-term facilities maintenance funding that I believe are
uh urgently important. Um I will give one example. I believe we can and must upgrade the physical facility that our Phoenix Academy is located in our setting for uh facility and I'm excited to bring um a measured but meaningful
recommendation. So th that is one purpose on the facility side. We can't fund it with LTFM. Uh on the tech side, um yes, we have um thanks to the good work John and Andy and Mike Johnson have done, we have begun to chip away at our inadequate funding for device
replacement, but we have not fully met that need. And that is a a continual urgent need to have the resources to um we had a lot of old computers and the ones that were bought with COVID dollars are nearing the end of their lives. And so that was the logic of those are two
examples for that those dollars. It actually frankly we we could use more than six million but I think it's a prudent investment to put aside the six. That's exactly right. So what what superintendent is saying is that there are some specific things like if you want to move a wall or improve a space
that isn't just basically making it like for like you can't use the long-term facility maintenance revenue bucket of funding. You need to use your general fund, your operating capital fund. they need to use referendum funds um and pay for those outside of long-term facility.
Now, when we go to uh Phoenix Academy and we deal with the roof and the siding and the painting and the flooring, those things that exist, and we're just, you know, basically bringing them up to 2025 uh uh materials, we can pay for that out of long-term facility maintenance
revenue. But what we're kind of hinting at is there's a couple improvements that need to be made there. they're going to change the the physical footprint or the layout just a little bit. And so for that piece of the project, we're going to need a little bit of money on the side that's not um from LTFM.
Okay, that's all helpful. I think the part I'm missing is why do we need um a committed fund balance for this like re reserving it out of the general fund? That was partially my recommendation in
that if these funds are sitting here in a fund balance on the side. They're not figured into this 8% calculation and that we're we're really trying to manage that bucket of reserve uh to a specific target. So, we've already peeled these things out where we think we have some
needs, but everything in the unassigned is really then left towards balancing the budget over the next five fiscal years and maintaining that core reserve per board policy. Okay. Thanks. Anything else, board members? We'll have
another chance before we take a vote at the July. Oh, go ahead. Just a brief comment. Uh uh thank you for um presenting a um true assessment uh that
includes both revenue, expenditures. uh the look well if we were to do nothing and then if we were to do something I think that's very useful. So so thank you for having done so. Thank you. Thank you.
Our next prep for action item is our math curriculum purchase and again this is an item we'll take action on at the July 15th meeting. Superintendent Pel. Thank you. Thank you. I can see our chief academic officer, Mona Perkins, and Heather Clever, our director of
elementary education coming up. Um, board members um should be aware as you consider this request. This is a bridge strategy. We are, as Mona and Heather will describe um also planning for the kind of fundamental work on mathematics that we've been doing the last couple
years in literacy. Um and in the meantime, we have some curriculum needs that we need you to consider and hopefully approve. Right. Thank you for having us. Um I'm going to take you through kind of where we started and how we got to where we are
now. So um we currently have Everyday Math. Uh the curriculum was purchased in the spring of 2018 um for the 2018 to start in the 2018 2019 school year. It was a 7-year
contract. Um, and that seven-year contract ends in June, which is now. Um, and that included everything like the student consumables, the um, teacher like the all the teacher materials, the online resources for students and the
teachers. Um, so as we were looking at the contract ending, we also were looking at um the the standards and the fact that there's two years remaining with the 2007 standards and the the 2022
standards go into effect in two years. They need to be fully implemented in the 2728 um school year. So just briefly we wanted to share part of the planning that we've been doing. Um I don't think it's on.
No. Thank you. So briefly, we just wanted to share some of the planning that we're doing um to get ready for those 2022 standards. Um so first of all, we've convened a a math leadership or advisory team um that's
made up of uh teachers, many teachers, instructional coaches, and principles. um who are digging deep into the new standards um that just came out of rulemaking not long ago um and really studying our current state in mathematics in in elementary um and
looking looking ahead to um where we where we need to go. Um and we've done some studying on the the standards of mathematical practices that we need to be seeing in our classrooms for that rigorous um mathematical instruction. Um this team also uh as a part of the work
that they've been doing have been digging into uh curricula that are out there um and we're really looking at analyzing what's there um that would align well with our our new standards and where we want to be with mathematics. And so they recommended
three um curricula that we're going to explore um in pilots the next year. Uh we were excited that there were teachers um that were that were interested in in joining these pilots. So we have about 30 of them across the district um in various grade levels and across various
sites who will engage in um teaching uh either I Ready Bridges or Amplified Desmos for the next school year. We're going to do some really good thoughtful work about um seeing what they offer um looking at how they integrate deeper learning within the content and of course that high quality rigorous math
instruction as well. Um and our goal is that we'll continue to study that and we'll also be building up um some professional learning for all teachers. Uh so we're getting to know the standards and working on our math practices as well um through these two years. And then our ultimate goal would
be to select a a resource, a curriculum um to propose to you all in the spring of 2027 so that we could implement that following school year. So this is the first um the first time we'll be going through like the full curriculum cycle with our
the new plan that we had put in place that we presented to you guys not too long ago. So this is the first time we're going through it. So it's kind of exciting. So, what we're recommending in the meantime is to purchase to continue with everyday math to complete these next two years. Um, so it's just two additional
years with our current curriculum uh for everybody except the 30 classrooms that are piloting the new uh doing the pilots. The cost is for the two years is 489,000. So, the the request is to approve that
purchase. Director Rickman. Yeah. I have a question about your your math leadership team that's convening. Um does that include any secondary teachers or is this just for elementary and is there any kind of a gap that you expect between grade five and six or eight?
Such a great question. Um we actually have met um with the the K12 teachers as well. Our some of our representatives from elementary joined their initial meetings as well because they also have a team. And so we do intend to do that vertical uh study as well. Thanks for
that question, Director Marvin. Just for my own information, consumables and teacher support and online license licenses and so on is included with this. Are there textbooks that you get as well?
This is just a consumable. Yeah, physical from the initial order. There's like student reference books that are textbooks, but we haven't had to replace those. So, there's journal um two journals per year that every student would work through uh that we replace along with the digital access for
students and for teachers on the platform. Thank you. And then is the cost per year about what it's been so far? I mean, going forward, is it about the same as it's been in the past? It's more that's inflation. And I tried. You tried. They tried. I
was like, "Let me call. I tried and I'm a haggler. This is what this is what it costs." Thanks, Dr. Cook. Um, so with the I I just I noticed that everyday math wasn't one of the three that is being triled. So, is
the thinking that that there's four to choose from, the three that are child plus everyday math or as far as what to do after these two years or or not? And if is there a big cost difference between the different options? Was that
part of I would say that that's all. Sorry, I didn't ask your question. How were the how were the three that are being trial um selected? So we had developed a basically a rubric or a checklist that was based on um opportunities to engage in the
mathematical practices that I mentioned um also with deeper learning in mind. So with this curriculum cycle when we're talking about the integration of deeper learning that was a part of the process as well. We also have some of those implementation pieces for teachers um just their experience with the
curriculum as well. Um, one of the things we will be looking at because of course everyday math is not on that list, right? So, as we're continuing to review and build up our practices and professional learning opportunities, you know, we'll be looking at the impact within our everyday math as well. Um,
the feeling the feeling of the team was that it might be time to really study and refresh within new curricular options. And the ones that are out there, one of the things that really stood out is the mathematical discourse that they incorporate into the platforms. That was something that
people really noticed and when they looked at our new standards and the shifts that they are are um asking us to do, they really felt like after reviewing and hearing more about it and and studying the data that is out there, which isn't always so deep because some
of these curriculums are new, um they really thought that it would be good to to explore those three. So, um, whether or not it's completely off the table is still to be determined, but we really were excited about what these three would offer as far as alignment to our new standards. Did you guys looked at
everyday math, the newer version potential option? We did. They've done some updates. There's newer editions of that as well. Um, and and we we actually spent quite a bit of time asking about the new additions and how they had improved. um they had not been improved
on ed reports um but the new additions have. So these are all kind of a part of the the study. Um ed reports is only one source and we know that when we bring um the curriculum to the teachers they have you know they have an expert lens of how
we bring it to students and in the context of their classrooms that could really help us um to study and hopefully have a recommendation moving forward. Dr. Barl. Uh, just one brief question. Um, 30 classrooms
and how many total? This represents what percentage of our classrooms? I don't have that 10%. We'd have to do we have to do calculation. Yes. I don't know how many total classrooms
we have. it in an ideal world we would have had like we would have had more we would have had like an entire school um choose the pilot. The reason we opted to go this route and have teachers self- select was because we are also
implementing the new science curriculum and it's a lot elementary teachers are different than secondary and you have the same exact teacher implementing multiple um curriculum at the same time whereas secondary you you have an English teacher versus versus a a science teacher. So um so we wanted
people who were ready to really dig in. Um so that's why it it just happened to turn out to be 30 But it's not as big of a number as we really would have hoped. Would be about 900 students. Dr. Whitehorn. And if this was already answered, my apologies. But
the cost that you have approximated for the everyday math for two years. Does that include the is there a cost for the pilot program or is that going to be an additional? No, the cost for the the pilot that's small and it's separate from this. This is just for the everyday
math curriculum. And so this is for the two years. So you would take that amount for half what they paid year one and half what you paid the second year. And have we looked at the I know we said that that price has gone up but in looking at the programs and and all that
we've just discussed about budgeting um outside of the effectiveness of the programs are they similar in cost to where we're at? I haven't looked at the cost yet. I don't know if we've looked at them. I mean, I think we've looked
briefly at them, but we have not gone as deep to for me to actually give you a ballpark of that. That's something that we could get some information and share with you. You'd hate to love a program and then it's a million dollars, you know, more than we'll we'll bring a very robust recommendation when we get into
the selection. We'll have all that information and we'll make sure we schedule some opportunities for board members to learn about what we're learning about math instruction uh curriculum and outcomes in Rochester as part of that process. For sure. And I know this cycle is
driven by new standards that come from the state and we had a seven-year contract before. Now we're adding on two years. Are we anticipating that the new contract for the new curriculum would be again a sevenyear or nine-year? Do we
have any idea what position the state's going to put us in? That seems like this adding on the two years, we're losing the economies of scale that we could have had, right, if we were part of the big multi-year
contract. I I think we'll be okay because it's the new we're not starting the new we're not taking on the new resource until the new standards take effect. Right. But when you do the contract for the new standards, it I think it'll probably
depend on the cost of Yeah. It it'll depend on the curriculum because um companies are incentivizing what they all want is this to be like software. So then you get an upgrade and it just happens automatically and the money
keeps flowing to them. So it's it's increasingly they don't want you to think of seven years or 10 years. It's just we always have our math from amplify or from Mifflin or something and that it's a continuing uh you know you have to get off the bus to stop. You know that's what they're all aiming for
and it's not okay the field but it's you know increasingly these are all tech embedded and so that's going to happen more and more. Um, and so I think the duration of the contract, the state renews its standards on the 10-year time cycle. And so could you do a 10-year curriculum contract potentially, but we
would have to look at the um pros and cons of that because then you also are really locked in for a decade. So really important, exciting work to bring forward. And I it may in retrospect have been a little bit confusing or maybe a little bit uh
teasing to talk about the pilots and the new work, but I didn't want you to consider this vote without knowing that we're also laying the groundwork for much more fundamental change in our math strategy. So I know we're just we're sprinkling a bit of the information here
about the pilots and the future so that you know this is not uh everyday math in perpetuity uh with no change. Um, for sure there is a vision coming. Yeah. Um, no, I I I appreciate that and I I I I
just wanted to tack on here briefly because uh the the recommendation for the everyday math and recognizing that there's some coherency with the um the teachers that have been using this curriculum and and you know, we definitely want our students to be proficient in math. That's extremely
important. So, we want to continue that. But I uh because I've spent a lot of time learning everything I could about the science of reading and I'm just very um excited about the the efforts that our district has put into um professional
development and curriculum updates and uh um really embedding that into so many of our professional practices. Um but the the next wave of all this um from the science of learning community uh is like oh what about math? There's all this new stuff about actually there's a
specific way that brains like to learn math and we can do it more effectively and more efficiently. It's um stickier, more robust. Are these and and I know this is sort of tangential to what we're really talking about here, but are the is that part of
of what um is driving these um these pilots? I mean, aside from making sure that we are in alignment with the state standards, um, are we leaning into the the science of math? Is that sort of a a next wave of of our
work? Yeah, I think how you teach matters a lot. Um, and so, yes, it's the instructional strategies you're using with kids and that has to be part of this regardless of what um, curricular resource you choose. But the curricular
resources do lean into that. Do they lean into the instructional strategies? For sure. you know more about it because you dug into it more than I think that I would say um there's there's a lot of work to do in in math and studying that and there is research
out there that's science of science of math now that's coming out and there's varying positions out there too that we're unpacking about the best mathematical practices and that will all be a part of the work that we're doing as we study what is out there um and
also what our standards are standards are asking us to do. So, yes, we're aware of that research and others that may not um completely agree with all of the science of math as well and we'll be unpacking all of that through our studies. Awesome. Can't wait. Thanks.
All right. Thank you. See you next time. Thank you. Our next prep for action item are the policy committee recommendations from the May 29th meeting. Um, these are the recommendations uh from the policy committee as the second of two prep for action briefings and they will be on the
consent agenda on July 15th. Any questions or comments since the last meeting or that you thought of? Good. Hearing none, we move on to our action item. Approval of fiscal year 2025 2026
budget. The board reviewed this item under prep for action at the June 3rd meeting. I'll read the resolution and I'll ask for a motion and second and then we can open for discussion. Be it resolved that the school board of independent school district 535 does hereby approve and appropriate
$445,282,199 for the 20252026 original budget as follows. General fund $39,39,735. Food service fund $13,77400 13,77,471 Community Service Fund 16,463,447 Building Construction Fund $33,261,315
debt service fund 27,59,688 FSA plan and HA trust fund 3 million 221,000. Workers compensation fund $1,71,960. Dental trust fund $2,821,000. Health Trust Fund 37,695,783
and post-employment benefits trust fund $670,800. Is there a motion to approve? So move. Second. It has been moved and seconded. Any questions or discussions? Wrap-up comments, superintendent? No, we're prepared to answer any questions
that you might have. This is essentially a status quo budget. Though, I want to note that especially due to enrollment fluctuations in individual schools. It has not been without hard decisions. Um, I also want to thank uh John and Andy and the uh Denise Moody and the the team
in our finance office for the very heavy lifting they did in helping to conceptualize the school-based aspect of the balance budget model. Uh, which by approving this budget, you are approving uh for Rochester Public Schools. Next year, our focus will be on the central office components of that redesign. Um,
absent board member questions uh which I would be glad to have John and Andy join to answer. Uh that concludes our background. Hearing no other questions or comments. Sorry, I do have one last um it just jumped out on the page at me and I hadn't and maybe this is something I
should have noticed the last time we discussed this, but the building construction, the current revenue being 900,000 and the current year expenditures, the 33 million is a way to look at that that we saved a bunch of money and we're paying off our mortgage.
Is that a like a individual person's way to view what's going on? I know what page you're looking at. Oh, sorry. It's on page six. It's table six of the memo. Of the final memo. Yes.
Stand by. I should have started there. Sorry. I know what I was looking. Okay. So, table six, you're on building construction fund. Yep. And you Okay. Current year expenditures 33,261315. Correct. It's just such a different
number than the current year revenue. Gotcha. So we sold all the bonds in um at your May meeting and we got the money last Thursday. So all that money coming in as revenue. So it was about 30ome million dollar counts in the 2425 school
year budget as revenue. So next year the $900,000 is interest earnings as we hold on to that money we put in uh investments while we're waiting to spend it. Got it. So, it's something that we're holding on to for future years rather than Well, it's going to be mostly the projects that are happening
this summer at Kellogg, John Marshall, High School, those types of things. So, it sits and earns interest while we're actually waiting for the bills to pay. So, okay, that makes sense. Thank you. Anything else? Board members. Hearing none. All those in favor of the
resolution say I. I. Opposed. The resolution has been approved. Thank you, Miss Carlson. Uh, other business, ABCD updated. The current version of the ABCD is available in this agenda item for reference for our future schoolboard meeting agendas.
And being displayed are our upcoming um agenda items. The July 15th meeting will have a monitoring item on and we changed the title of it um behavior. Yes. No attendance. We're going to do
attendance in October and positive behavior uh data and initiatives. Yes. And that attendance data review will be moved to October as superintendent mentioned. Prep for action. Our long uh action item will be our long-term budget
strategy. It's all right. I'm off. No, it uh long-term budget strategy will be an action item. And then prep for action is the long-term facilities maintenance plan approval and facility utilization update. Um July 22nd we have a special
session which will be before our um study session and it will be the approval of the long-term facilities maintenance plan approval and facility utilization update. Then we'll move to a study session where we will do the schoolboard self-evaluation and goal
development and a close session for the superintendent evaluation of the leadership component for the 202425 year. Any agenda items board members would like to raise for consideration for future meeting agenda. So, those two upcoming meetings um both
start at 5:30 p.m. Um and a reminder that uh July 22nd session will have the special session with the uh meeting immediately following and hearing no other discussion. This meeting is adjourned at 7:13 p.m.
When will we get