Right. Welcome and good evening. I would like to call the Monday, March 23rd, 2026 school board meeting to order. Dette, will you please call the role? >> Director Weber, >> here. >> Director W. Felton >> here. >> Director Claplin >> here. >> Director Cummings
>> Yep. >> Director T. Felton >> here. >> Chair human >> here. >> That's six present at 6:00. Thank you. All right. I'm going to ask all who are able to please stand for 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. >> All right. Well, at this time, I want to welcome everyone who's here tonight. It's nice to have lots of people here.
It means we're going to have an exciting meeting. and everyone watching on town square television and online. First up is approval of our meeting agenda and a minute and the minutes. I am looking for a motion to approve the regular board meeting agenda for this
evening as well as the minutes for February 23rd, 2026 work session, February 23rd, 2026's business meeting, and March 9th, 2026 work session. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you. Any discussion?
All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. >> I. >> Opposed. Carry 6. Thank you. All right. We move on to quality and action and reports. And I would like to invite our student school board reps up first.
>> Let's go here. >> Do you want the tall one? Sure. technology works. Nice. >> There we go. >> Yeah. >> Here's our cool slideshow. >> The one you see every time. >> All right. So, the first thing up is on
March 12th, the uh juniors took the ACTs, which fun fact is an outer an hour shorter than ours, which is basically not a test, but okay. Um, spring sports have started gearing up and especially softball's first game
is in exactly 14 days. You can also check out the countdown on our Instagram account, sphs.softball. Should definitely check it out. >> Um, spring break is coming up next week and it's a well-deserved break and juniors or seniors are going to France
and Costa Rica. Sprawlic dance wrapped up to end trimester 2 and un unfortunate congratulations to business as usual for winning again was very unfortunate. And another shout out to student council for putting on a great dance that was very
casual and had just a bunch of games for anyone to hang out and relax after stressful finals week. I'm not going to talk too much about this right now since we're going to bring it up a little bit later, but I want to give a shout out to my knowledgeable teammate sitting right here. Uh we competed at the Norlander regional meet and we were granted the
Leninius award which is pretty fun, but we're going to hear about that later. So we I'll but we'll bring it up then. >> And then just a final congratulations to seniors who are in their final trimester of high school and then that's it. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> Goes fast. >> All right. I would now like to invite uh Bill Balman, our high school equity and instruction coach to provide us with information about the biiteracy seal program. >> Good evening. As I said, I'm Bill
Balman. I'm the high school equity and instructional coach. Uh duties assigned other duties as assigned given to me a couple years ago included bilingual seals, which I had to learn a lot about real quickly. But what a great program it really is here that it's our students who come with so much of brilliant
knowledge already finally get credit for knowing more than one language which I do not have that ability myself. So over the past three years that I've done it if you kind of um advance here this way you'll see it's 11th and 12th graders uh basically take this type of test. Anyone can take the exam. You do not have to be
in a world language course. Whatever knowledge you bring with you you can go ahead and take this. There's um ones in probably about like 18 different languages that we have in this state that are qualify for this. Students take uh there's four parts of the exam. There's different exams depending on if
you're taking uh exams more like Spanish or French or if you're doing something like uh Mung. We have two students this year taking a M test that's going on. We've had Vietnamese. We've taken Somali before and obviously we don't offer those courses. Um, all of our her we've kind of had the new policy now of all of
our heritage students are being asked to go ahead and take either the IB exam or the stamp test that we have here for bilingual seals to show them that they have the skills and we want them to get the credit that they deserve for that. Um, moving on, like I said, you can kind of see the
numbers that we've had. We've been doing a better job of recruiting, getting more and more students each year, making it more uh not noticeable to them and also uh kind of having teachers have the expectation our students you can do this, you can succeed. We want to give you the credit that you deserve to see.
So this year like say uh we had uh 17 students taking the test this year. Uh last year every single student who took the test got a certification of some type. And with that in mind, we have a couple students here who took it last year who are going to go up and tell you a bit more about their experience.
>> Hi, my name is Rihanna. I'm currently a senior at the high school I took at my junior year. Um, I got the Minnesota Gold Bilingual Seal when I took it, so it gave me about 10 credits. Um, I was able to I'm able to use that for my
college when I go next year. So that way I don't have to take my Spanish. Um, that's a way that I benefited from it. And she's going to talk about some other ways cuz we were kind of on the same path of the way that we benefited. Hi, I'm Rosario. Um, me and Rihanna when
we started high school, we set a goal to graduate with both our associates degree from college and our high school diploma. and thanks to the bilingual seal, we were able to achieve that. So, we will be graduating with both degrees this spring, which is very exciting. Um,
we both received 10 credits from the bilingual seal, and so that really put a dent into the 60 credits that we needed for college. Um, the other way that the bilingual seal has really helped me is in college resumes. It's um it's more of a professional way for me to show that I
speak Spanish and that I can bring I can benefit the company by speaking Spanish instead of just writing on there like yes I speak Spanish. This is a professional seal that helps more and makes it more credible. And yeah, thank you. >> And it also goes on your diploma as well. So it gets like a big stamp. So
when you bring that into your workforce or even college when you submit that official um it looks really good and it's a great opportunity for students. >> They kind of explain if we go next slide kind of has some of those type of facts they covered better than the slide could have. I think one thing that's actually
kind of interesting too this year we now kind of figured out that students can actually get high school credit also for this. They've achieved what you could have done in many years of language classes here. though even if they haven't taken a world language class, they can go ahead and get that number of elective credits towards it. And that
might especially be very helpful to some of our CLC students. This year we have five CLC students taking the uh the test, too. So, doesn't matter what school you're at, what your academic schedule is, you can go ahead and you can get this credit and show the brilliance that you have in multiple
languages. >> Um, can I ask a question? >> Yeah. >> Let's say you take it as a junior. Are you able to take it again as a senior hoping you get a higher level proficiency? >> Absolutely. >> Okay. >> Yep. There's no place many times you want to and that that there's no cost to
the students at all for the exam. >> Bill, do you mind sharing what um a heritage student is? I'm not sure if everyone knows that term. >> Okay. Great. Yeah. Point of that. The heritage students is we have students here who grew up in families where that language is spoken in their home and they actually take classes here with they kind of hone some of that language
at all. So making sure that they have an understanding of quality of English that way too and their own heritage language learning about the culture too and everything to make sure they take uh stay closely attached to their heritage and their cultures and well in their own language. >> Thanks.
>> Are there any Yes. >> So to the two students so what do you I mean what are so now that you're graduating both your AA and your high school like what are your next steps like how will this benefit you going forward? Um, I think this benefited us going
forward just because it makes the four years a lot go a lot quicker. Instead of going four years, we're going into college as a junior in high in college instead of going as a freshman. So, >> and where are you going? Do you have a choice chosen yet? >> I'm going to uh University of Wisconsin
River Falls. >> Awesome. >> So, yeah, >> it'll also help her because she's uh minoring in Spanish. Um, but for I'm going to St. Thomas and I believe they have a language requirement and so this will either I'll be able to test out of
it but I don't think they'll make me test out of it because of the seal. So that'll be another benefit. >> Awesome. That's great. Any other questions or comments about this? Wow. You need to go back. >> Thank you so much for speaking on this
and thank you, Bill, for bringing students to us. >> Thank you. All right, moving along. I'd like to invite our activities director, Brady Krueger, up to uh begin our winter highlights. >> Yes. So, thank you again for inviting us to share some updates on our winter
activity season. Um, as always, I want to uh I appreciate the continued support from the school board, from Dr. Zambbrino, um, and then building principles, Mr. Oaki at the high school and Miss Borg at the middle school. Um, always want to continue to recognize our coaches and adviserss that do tremendous
work. Um, and their dedication to our students. Their work helps our students not only grow as leaders, but also helps them learn some valuable skills like teamwork, resilience, and just overall preparing them for success. So, without further ado, I'm going to bring up Mr. Holen from our theater department to talk about highlights from our one act
as well as I believe you're going to talk about McBth. Mc Beth. >> Yes. Okay, a couple uncharacteristically shy theater students here. Uh, all right. So, winter one act plays.
Um, we we uh performed six plays at our winter 1Ax festival. We had a competition play, Queens. Uh, our middle school oneact play, which was Game of Tiaras. And we had four student written and student directed skits. uh cheesy throwback, the boy who tried to fly puss
and boots and the presidency. Uh uh we had 12 student directors involved with the production and one student choreographer. Um and there were 60 students in the cast and crew of the show. Uh two of the plays that were written uh that we performed at the 1X were actually
written in our uh fall trimester of our play production class too. So there's a little overlap with that. Um, and both Wyatt and and um and Courtney were in the 1X. So, I'm just going to let them talk briefly about what they
did in the 1X. >> I'm not going to let Courtney talk about that, though. We'll talk about her in a second. Um, hi, my name is Wyatt and during the winter 1X, I played King Henry VIII in the competition play Queens. Um we practiced for we rehearsed
for about two monthsish and um it was a it was an amazing experience. I got to learn a lot about the character and a lot of the um societal happenings that were going on in the time of King Henry VIII um and
some of the bad horrible things that were going on there but how how people persevered through it throughout the uh play itself. So yeah. All right. Um, and then, uh, know we're talking about winter sports, but we
actually just finished up yesterday our, uh, our first of our spring shows. So, our spring high school show, we performed William Shakespeare's McBTH. Um, we had two full casts for that show. Uh, so all roles were double cast. Um,
which was a really neat experience. Got a lot a lot more students got to have a lot uh, bigger roles because of that. 28 actors in total. Uh we had 17 running crew members and 47 students in uh overall involved. Uh we also had a couple uh uh more leadership student
leadership and design opportunities for students in this show. Uh Courtney was our scenic artist which means she designed all of the u all the the paint that was on the set. She that was designed and mostly painted by also uh by Courtney. I'll let her talk about
that a little bit. Uh, we also had a student lighting designer, which is Koi Anderson. Uh, and student costumemers Caitlyn Carlson and Ethan Zechmeister. Uh, both of these folks were involved in that show, so I'm going to let both of them talk about their roles.
>> Hi. Um, I'm a senior and, um, as Holson just said, I was the scenic artist. A lot of the art that I did on the set was like historical references kind of at the time. So like it was like in like
times of crisis. I don't know. I don't know how to explain it. Um but that was like my thought process. I also did sound for it and um just the whole experience of being in McBTH. I feel like I learned a lot about Shakespeare
and a lot of history that I didn't think I would learn. A lot of art history. Um, and I think that was really um, beneficial to me. >> And then u, for McBTH, I was one of the actors. I played Mc Beth. And throughout
the entire process, just learning a drive that I never would have thought uh, would take it would take so much effort to learn anything for this role. so many lines blocking character relationships. Um just understanding Shakespeare
itself. Uh it it taught me an insane amount of drive and dedication and gave me a newfound appreciation for the art form and I I really have loved this experience and being able to do this play specifically. Yeah, Shakespeare's um I mean obviously
very difficult stuff and these kids really rose to the occasion on it and I I think they casting crew all alike did a fantastic job on the show. Really proud of the work they did. Um looking looking ahead, we have auditions for the spring middle school
play uh coming up tomorrow and Wednesday. Uh performances of those are on May 15th, 16th, and 17th. And the show is called This Murder Was Staged. So, it's a uh a very funny uh murder play. Um
I have a couple student assistant directors for that show, Natalie Clay and Norah Helt, who both both of whom were in the one act and McBTH. Uh actually Natalie Clay was the other McBth. Norah Hashalt played McDuff. Uh and I also have a student set designer, Jordan Danich, for the middle school
show. Um he was one of the weirds uh in McBTH and uh he was also in Queens. And then coming up this summer we have our junior players and our community shows. Uh the junior players are going to be doing a pirate show and uh the community show will be some cowboy show called
Oklahoma. So looking forward to that as well. So does anybody have any questions? >> Well, I guess I got to ask Courtney since we started it before. Do you have college plans? What's coming up next? >> Um
um next I'm going to Ember Hills to get a business degree. I think I'm going to do some art classes on the side, but then I'm hoping to um learn, I guess, how to like own a
business as a female. And um I'm hoping to become a tattoo artist and own a tattoo business. >> Cool. >> Cool. All right, >> Wyatt, are you a senior? >> Yes. >> What are you doing next? I'm sorry I missed that. I was like, I caught it
there and I was like >> Yeah. Uh, I'm planning on going to Vurbo in Wisconsin and um majoring in musical theater. Um, and possibly minoring in some kind of stage design. >> That's amazing.
>> Well, thank you so much. >> Yes. Congratulations. Great job. All right. >> Thank you all. >> Thank you. Uh, thank you, Mr. Holston. He does a fantastic job with our theater department. Next, I'm going to bring up Miss Jill Kilka with our show choir.
>> We're also in show choir. >> Hi, I'm Jill Kabila. Um, I this is my second year directing the show choir. Um, we had a fantastic year. Um, it was so fun. We started off our competitive season in Holman, Wisconsin uh where we won best crew
won. Um then we went to uh Sparta, Wisconsin, which we won our second best crew award and Wyatt here won second place in the solo competition. Um this placement was super special. Uh firstly because it was second place out of 40ome
um soloists. So, a huge honor uh to begin with, but um secondly, um as he said, he's planning on majoring in musical theater and um the judge was actually a top Broadway vocal coach. Um so, it's a huge honor. Um she has
millions of YouTube followers and um she's just like she's a top dog. So, that was super fun and it was a surprise. Um we actually performed the solo again for her and for the crowd of like 2,000 students um with no warning and no warm-up. So that was uh that was
a highlight. Um so that was our second competition of the year. Um so we won that was our second best crew that we won. Then we went to uh North St. Paul and um we placed uh fifth runner up. It was actually our first time ever making finals in Minnesota. So that was a huge
honor. And we won our third best crew award there. Um and Wyatt got first place in the solo competition there. and we got another chance to perform um for the whole crowd which was really fun. Then we ended our season in Vermillion,
South Dakota. We did an overnight trip um and then we got fifth place in the open class. Um so it was a fun learning opportunity. Um just some other highlights of the season. We grew our enrollment in the program. Last year we had 33 students involved and this year we had 49. Um so huge growth in the
program. Um one of the other huge highlights was um new band equipment. So, um, thank you district for helping us purchase new band equipment. Um, it allowed us to, um, really streamline what we do, um, in terms of the band and bring in more musicians as well as
really increase the musicianship. Um, so thank you for that. Couple other uh, highlights. Uh, the Sweethearts dinner, we created a new event. So, typically the Sweethearts dinner um is on Saturday night. Um, and we wanted to increase kind of what we do. Um, so on Friday
night we did what's called a cabaret where um we took away the dinner aspect but still had all um 18 of our soloists and the whole show choir perform a set. Um, and that was a huge success. And then um the the thing that's going to be sad
about this season is we have 16 graduating seniors. Um, so these are two of our our lovely lovely graduating seniors. Um, it was fun having Courtney be uh transition from crew to singer dancer this year. So, her
leadership in the past in the crew helped them really um get to those three best crew awards. Um, but I think she had fun as a singer dancer, too. >> Yeah. >> Cool. Any questions? >> Yeah, best crew. I guess I don't really
understand how show choir works. Can you talk more about that? >> Yeah. So um we have kind of three divisions of um the show choir. We have um the students who are singer dancers um and they learn and perform all of the singing and dancing. We have the band um
so they provide all of the instrumental um backing. We don't perform with any tracks or anything. We it's all student instrumentalists. Um and we actually competed this year with almost entirely student um instrumentalists. Most of our competitors have at least one adult or
some of them have multiple adults in their band, but we um we try and really focus on having it uh student-based. And then the crew um is they help us uh with all of our backstage transitions. Our theme this year was circus. So, we had a lot of props and um we had a lot of just
technical elements to the show um as well as some riser extensions and stuff. So they help us load up the trailer um when we when we go unload the trailer and and really help us streamline things backstage. So yeah, >> that's incredible. >> Yeah.
>> Uh any questions or comments? >> Yeah, I'm I'm real familiar with that program because my niece had had been in that program. Of course, it's been several years ago, but I remember going around several different communities, seeing the show, and even being at the
high school for many a couple of your presentations. So, that's a wonderful, wonderful program. >> Thank you. >> Very nice. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Well, congratulations. I won't force you to tell us again what your future plans are. Um, but it all comes together now.
Makes more sense, right? Thank you so much and uh look forward to hearing about next year. >> Yeah, it's a nice program. Really good to see. >> Uh thank you again to Miss Kilka. She again does an incredible job with that program. She has grown that program tremendously um over the years that she
has been here. All right, next I'm going to bring up Mr. Conrad Anderson. He's going to talk about both our debate and knowledgeable programs. Uh good evening everyone. Um I'm gonna start with debate. I I coach two pretty powerful on you. >> Okay.
Uh pretty powerful academic teams right now. And so we uh we debate from the mid August until December. And we debate two topics a year. Topic one goes three we do three Saturdays in October. Uh topic two is three Saturdays in November. And
then we have a state tournament that is in the first week in December. Uh do you guys want to tell them what you debated this year? Do you want to talk about topic one? >> Sure. >> Yeah. >> Um so our first topic this year was uh the United States should substantially reduce its military commitment to South
Korea. So the affirmative argued for it that we should reduce our commitment and the negative um would argue against it and that we shouldn't. So North Korea played a big part in that. And then of course the other countries surrounding the area and what is best for the United States military versus if we need to help support our allies more and all of
that was huge parts in the debate. >> Talk about sports gambling. >> Okay. >> Sports gambling was not the favorite topic this year. Um but sports gambling talked about specifically legislation in Minnesota talking about if Minnesota
should legalize it. So we used a lot of case studies from other states where uh sports gambling was legalized. We looked at the pros and cons about the potential um the risk management of if uh legalizing gambling would enable us to
better help restrict these um gambling applications or help better fund um programs to get these gamblers the help that they need if they are problem gambling. But then we also looked at the cons of potentially introducing the issue of problem gambling in in and of itself by allowing motans to have direct
access to um especially mobile sports betting um and also looking at the cons of how that would take away um revenue from other aspects of the state and funnel it into the sports gambling industry. Yeah. So that was our first topic of the season.
>> Um so we had 18 18 students that debated this year. It's one of our largest teams we've had in a while. Um, we go to seven reg, like I said, seven seven uh tournaments throughout the year. Uh, there are 320 students throughout the state that do our type of debate. It's
called CLA Minnesota Classic Debate. Um, and um, and one captains this year were Sydney and Monty, uh, one of our captains. Um and uh only eight students every year out of those 320 get all
state honors based on the regular season performance and Alden Sydney were two of those eight students. Uh this year uh they um they debated 24 regular season debate rounds. They amassed a season
record of 20 wins and four losses. Uh they were honorable mention at every single tournament this year. third place finish at Stillwater, a first place finish at one of our virtual tournaments this year. Um, and they were 11 and one on that Korea topic. Uh, almost
unbeatable on it. Uh, they are South St. Paul's first, uh, all state debaters since 2016. Um, I know things didn't go as well at the state tournament that we had hoped. Um, I'll blame that on coaching. Um but um uh but they're only
a Olive Breeze is a sophomore, Sydney Williams is a junior and they're angry. Um and so so they're going to be back next year and have a great year. I want to thank um also Mr. Cummings. He came to our South St. Paul debate tournament that we host here every year in November
and I directed him to go watch all of Sydney and so I don't know if you want. >> Yeah. Yeah. Uh well uh Madame Chair uh I was uh I didn't quite know what to expect. Um and uh you know walked in and
there were a bunch of students and some of them were um talking to the walls and um so it was sort of a little disorienting but I got in the room and boy Olive and Sydney you guys were fantastic. um the depth in which you brought to
this issue and um your ability to both talk on um both sides of the issue and and uh it was it was really a sight to see. I was um so incredibly proud um that you were uh representing our community. Um you guys did a fantastic
job and I just can't wait to see what you guys do next year. I know you're going to be um fantastic. Um, and I would also, uh, you know, now is not the time, but I'd love to hear what you guys think about sports gambling, uh, now that you've done a bunch of
research, and I mean that. So, um, thank you guys. You guys are >> Thank you. If you get a chance, come and see them next year at our South St. Paul tournament. We're, um, I, this is my 40th year of coaching some sort of debate in Minnesota and North Dakota. Um, and I I haven't seen a team like
this in a while. So, I'm I'm really proud of them and they're they're pretty impressive. So, and Monty's provided, you know, Monty, she provides such great leadership as well throughout this. So, uh, so that's our debate team. So, thank you all. But, actually, I'm going to leave Sydney up here because I know she
needs to get going, but, uh, she wants to talk about our speech program, too. So, >> all right. I actually just came from our speeches parent night. Uh we have a small team this year, but it is run by Seal McDonald. She's a wonderful coach.
Um in speech there's 12 to 13 categories depending if you're grouping some. Some some are a little bit smaller. I'm in a category called pros, but in all categories, um in speech, you really make a lot of good connections. Being able to speak in a room without judgment
and express yourself. The category that I'm in is pros. It's a very dramatic uh in the state category, it's under dramatic interpretation. So, in my category specifically, being able to speak and express yourself in a way that a lot of times you don't find the
opportunity to outside of extracurricular activities is a really special moment that you build with everyone in the room, including the judges and the coaches and the teammates. There's really just this close bond, this really, really good group of speech kids. And that goes for
debate as well. Um but a lot of the topics um including informative Olive my partner is actually in informative in speech uh she participated last year and she was brilliant um of um other aspects
like um great speeches or uh original oratory are um categories where you can implement your own twist on things such as classical stories or um previous speeches given by presidents or
congressmen or Senate members. A lot of it is really just using um using really good public speaking skills and being able to articulate yourself well. And I think that speech does a really great job of honing those skills, especially as a high school student.
>> That's what speech. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Kim. >> Yes. >> Can I um I was delighted to join you for the debate um uh tournament in South St. Paul, I'm wondering if if there are
similar type of speech tournaments that we host in South St. Paul or if there's one near us. >> Um, actually, South St. Paulo um is hosting the Hilky sectional tournament um this week. I forget if it's I Yes, Tuesday. Yes, thank you. Uh I unfortunately will not be there because
I am going on the school Costa Rica trip, but the Hilky tournament is um it's the qualifier for going to state. um or state qualifiers. Um but yeah, that's the big one that South St. Paul
hosts. We also host one of the junior meets, which is a little earlier in the year. Um but for the junior and high school meets, we don't host one. However, there are um a lot of these meets happening every weekend. So, yes, you can definitely find some if you're looking for them.
>> Is that tomorrow or is that a week from tomorrow? >> Uh 31st. >> The 31st. All right. Thank you. I'm gonna stay up. Thank you. I'm gonna stay up here and talk about our knowledge bowl team. So, if I could have them come on up. Um,
so this year we had 10 students comp compete in our knowledge bowl uh team. Uh we have five of them up up here right now. Uh knowledge bowlers work as a team uh and they complete a written round. We go to three meet three regular season meets uh and they have to complete a
written round and from that written round they get ranked and they get put in rooms either room A, room B, room C. Um and there's three teams in a room and uh a reader reads questions and the students have to buzz in as soon as they
know the answer. Um and uh it's uh and they have to buzz in as soon as they know the answer. Um I'm always amazed at how much the these students know how much knowledge they accumulate uh just throughout the activity that we do and even throughout the year. Uh they have
to know everything from current events, history, English literature, science, math, geography, uh you name it. Uh they have to be on top of it. Um coming up our last year was our first ever appearance at the state tournament. I wasn't sure quite sure what to expect
with this team, but they really did exceed my uh my expectations. Uh they're uh these five students were the are the second team in our program history to place in the top five at every regular season meet. Uh they're only our second
team in our program history to com uh to get an automatic bid to the region tournament. Only 12 teams out of 100 over 102 this year uh get get to do that. Uh and they they finished ninth out of 102 teams in during the regular
season. Uh but I think what's even more impressive is at the end of the year this team received what's uh Monty alluded to it earlier the lineus award. It's an award given to only one team and like I said there's 102 this year in their metro region. Um and they received
that at the region tournament this year and I just want to read we get a letter and a nice plaque uh that the students received and this is I'll just read a couple sentences from the letter that we got. It said um dear Sal St. Paul, your energy and enthusiasm and competitive spirit have truly brought each meat to
life and we we're grateful for the positivity and passion you bring to knowledge bowl. This award is about uh more than just good sports personenship. It's about leadership, respect, and the understanding that knowledge bowl extends beyond a single meet or season. It's about the lessons, confidence,
teamwork, and integrity that will serve you for a lifetime. You exemplify all of this and more. So that's that's what they got this year. And so, uh, pretty impressive. Um, so, um, as, uh, let's see. And I'll just say they're the first
team at South St. Paul to ever receive that award. And so, uh, it's really, really impressive and it speaks to their leadership and character. So, so that's our knowledgeable team. >> Well, I am going to ask the seniors if they want to share with us what's next.
>> Y, Monty. Okay. Okay. Well, they're all they're all seniors, so >> all right. >> Yeah. >> I know I've already mentioned this to a couple of you before, but I am planning to study medicine at the U of M in Rochester next year, so that's going to be exciting. >> Um, >> yeah. >> Wonderful. >> Let's hear it, Reese.
>> My name is Ree. Um, I'm going to be going to UMD to study computer science. >> That's great. >> Uh, my name's Ethan. I'm going to be going to Hamlin to, uh, major in either chemistry or forensic science. >> God. Uh, my name's Torren. Uh, I'm not
fully sure what's going to happen these next years, but I'm gonna try and do more quiz bowl, just more trivia. >> U, my name is Raphael Torres. I'm going to be going to DCTC and majoring in heavy equipment construction technology. >> That's awesome. >> Oh, good.
>> Thank you so much for coming. >> Yeah. Can I I can I just say very just very briefly that um you know it's it's um it's quite an honor to be named the smartest person in a room, but it's but it's even more of an honor to come back
to the community and say that you were um recognized for good sportsmanship and for having a positive attitude and for u making our community a little better. And so we're just incredibly proud of you guys and um so great work. >> I am too.
Thank you. >> Yes. >> Thank you, Mr. Anderson. Again, just want to stress the importance of why we have these programs. It's for, you know, opportunities for students like this to experience things that are sometimes outside of the classroom and building some of those really important life
skills. All right, next up, I'm going to bring up Mr. Zack Palmquist to talk about our boys hockey season. Hello all. Thanks for having us tonight. Um, like Brady said, Zach Palmquist, thirdyear coach for the South St. Paul boys hockey team. Um, and I guess I'll
start off. We started off, we finished the year at 114 and one. We had a great year compared to to years in the past. I think it's our first double digit win season in the past like six, seven years. So, that was a great accomplishment for our boys. Um, I think if you were a fan all year and came to
most of our games, um, we could have had a lot more than that as well. Um, we had seven one-goal losses throughout the year as well. Um, so it just kind of shows how competitive we were. Um, in every single game that we played, um, we were led by our senior captains, Brody
Nurka, Jackson Schultz, and Cole Stever. Um, they were great leaders for us all all season long. They're going to be truly missed. Uh we do return a lot of uh of um students from our junior class. So we hope to have even a stronger team next year and hope we can turn those 11
wins into 17, 18, 19, 20. No, who knows uh where it could go, but um one other thing that I'd like to mention, we had two uh allconerence players this year. Um uh Roman Knight and Jackson Horning. Um,
and then we had four honorable mentions. Ryan Kudo, Jace Herb, Cole Stever, and Jackson Schultz. So, um, big kudos to those guys for having great years. Um, and last thing I'll say is, you know, being being a thirdyear coach, um, being able to represent and being from South
St. Paul, playing on this team many, many years ago, it's fun coming back, um, each and every single year, getting to know these kids, and, um, just feel blessed to be in this position. So, anybody have any questions? Congratulations. >> Thank you so much.
>> Thanks for having us. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Zach. Uh, next I'm going to bring up our girls hockey coach, uh, Dave Palmquist. All right. This is this is one of my favorite parts of the year is coming back to this uh event every spring and
talk about our our hockey season and to let everyone see the kind of kids we have um here at South St. Paul. And first of all, I want to say um I'm always amazed um and I want to congratulate all the coaches and advisers and all these student athletes in here. Um it's amazing uh what kind of
kids we have at South St. Paul. just listening to the debate stuff and that where you guys are going to school and and what you're going to do, it makes me so proud to have taught and live in this community. Um because I don't think we realize uh what a what a great place we have here and it's represented in this
room to a great extent. Um this season, as you know, we've had I know Wendy, you know, you've been around for a long time and uh Tim and some of you others have followed our girls hockey program been proud uh supporters of our program and we love our South St. girls hockey
program. Um, a big part of the reason why is because of kids like this up here. Our um, season on the ice didn't go uh, as as the standards that we usually have set in the past, but it's still something that a season that we were super proud of. Our student
athletes, our girls represented our community every single game with class, a commitment to each other, which was really special as a coach, um, and how hard they worked for one another. And a big tribute to that or a big reason was that um
it was because of these three leaders uh Libby, Sydney, and Addie, who really set the tone for our program. Um they led with character, u work ethic, and a team first mindset, and they are out an outstanding example of what South St.
Paul is is all about. Uh and they really um every single day made me so proud as a coach. I'm going to have them just introduce themselves like the others have done a little bit about what they're doing next year. U we do have one junior, but she can she can express what she's going to do on the ice next
year for us. Um and then I'll just close it out here. So, uh without further ado, >> hi. Um, my name is Addie and I plan to attend Bethl University where I'll also be continuing on my hockey career and I
plan to get a degree in business innovation and entrepreneurship and I'm also looking to get a minor in some kind of health and fitness. So, yeah, can't wait. >> Um, I'm Liberty, so I'm a junior right now and I'll be a senior next year, but I am hoping to major in biochemistry and
be on a prea track. My name is Sydney. I'm going to University of Wisconsin Lacrosse to study diagnostic medicalography. Wow. >> Okay. So, I mean, as I tell my own kids, I mean, these kids are way smarter than
I ever was. I mean, what they I had to ask them what that even was. I think what that even uh what she's even going to plan on doing here, but they're great represented as our school. Um they all are, you know, in our school and our community. We need these kids to play and do so much. And every one of these
kids in here are asked and to do so much and the hours that they spend. We're we should be so proud. As a coach, as uh someone in South St. Paul, I just am amazed at what these kids do on a daily basis. Um I will I will close by saying
this. Um we got the two seniors and we've got the junior. And I like what kind of what Conrad said. He said, um I think they're angry. Who did he say that? But I said I think s would you how would you describe? Are you angry about the I know one person that's even more
angry than her. Um that guy her father >> hungry >> that we're going to get back to the state tournament uh next year cuz that's that's what we do and that's what we love to do. Um but what really was a a lesson for me this year is that it's
again it's so beyond the wins and losses. why we coach. We coach because of these kids and that's their that's our why. They represent they're so amazing all these kids and we thank you from uh the bottom of our heart as a coach um schoolboard member u
Dr. Zambbrino for all of your support because South St. Paul is an amazing place. So thank you and uh if do you have any questions for the girls about anything? >> I'm just excited like you have such big futures and this is awesome. >> Good job. Thank you very much.
>> Thank you, Dave. >> All right. Thanks, Dave. All right. Next, I'm going to bring up our girls basketball coach, Mr. Harry Janice. Good evening. Um, I'm Harry Jennis. This is my, uh, first year as a head coach. I've coached I've been a head coach before. Um, but
in South St. Paul, my first year. The last couple of years, um, I have been an assistant. So, um, this year, uh, we were led by, um, our captains, Elawasa, a junior, and Libby Meyer, a junior, and
Katie Bachan, a sophomore. And it was rather unique because over the last couple of years, we've actually uh graduated about 17 girls. Um, eight last year and the year before, nine. So, um, we had a group of of girls this year
that, um, were playing varsity basketball for the first time. And the unique thing is that I have coached, um, the girls this year over the last couple of years, uh, being on JV. And so, we coming in the season, we had one girl that had significant varsity experience.
Uh, but what made this season very unique is that we learned together, we grew together, and we showed improvements together. And so, um, looking at as far as, um, you know, what's to come over the next couple of years is very exciting. Um, the girls,
in fact, have said they can't wait to get back into the gym, um, because of the fact that, um, you know, we just we worked really well together. Uh, the environment was a very positive one and, uh, was very encouraging. In fact, after a game at one of our conference
opponents, a parent came out of the stands and and walked right toward me, and I was just like, "Uh-oh, I don't know what this is going to be about." And complimented us on how uh the girls, not only on the bench, but also on the floor, encouraged one another, and and
just the the success that we were having there. um you know, we did have some wins throughout the season, but it was something where it was um really um at least from a coaching standpoint, great to represent these young ladies and and how they they're behaving. So, um we
will be graduating one senior this year, Aviana uh McGoodwin, uh El Marz. Um and she has been just a benefit to us, um as as a senior, uh a leader as well. And um we're going to miss her. um she was one
in our in our postgame where she said that you're not gonna get me to cry and I started talking about her in the locker room and she started crying. So, uh but that it it it was a it was in a in a good way because it just showed how much that we cared for each other and just um the overall u you know success
that we had um during the season. Um I will say that we did get one all conference and two honorable mention. I won't disclose the names because tomorrow night we're having our banquet so I'm keeping that as a surprise. So, Um, if you wish to know, you can, uh, reach out to me later and I'll let you
know that. So, uh, but overall, uh, looking forward to, uh, what the future brings, uh, for South St. Paul girls basketball and, um, you know, we look forward to what next year looks like. So, any questions that you've got? >> Thank you so much for coming and yeah,
I'm looking forward to next year. >> All right. Appreciate it. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. All right, next up I'm going to bring up Raz Wilson with our dance program. >> Hi, I'm Roz. I'm the head coach for the dance team at Sal St. Paul. Um I'm
joined by three members of our leadership team, senior Rosie, Juniors Tia, and Natalia. Um the past season we had 26 members. Uh, so we saw great improvement across our P squad teams, junior varsity and varsity. Uh, this year we had one all-state dancer, Rosie,
selected by the MEDT committee. Um, our team qualified for the MED uh, team award, which was 3.75 GPA. Um, we had four seniors receive the MED um, senior academic award, which was a GPA of, I believe, 3.85 or higher. Um, this year
we were able to bring back our junior Packer team. Uh so that was a group of 10 fourth through sixth graders that were coached by um the coaching staff as well as the team every Monday um where they performed at our home invite. And then um aside from some of those
accomplishments, we focused on community service. Um we were able to have a food drive that donated to Soldier 6 and we um visited the residents over at the sanctuary of West St. Paul. >> Um our varsity teams finished second in the conference. Um, so kick and jazz.
And then at sections, our kick team finished third and our jazz team finished first, which was um, made program history and we punched two tickets to state. Um, but yeah, so we had a really fun season. Um, every year we have a motto. This year was grit. So
something to tie our um, goals into. Um, and the team really really embodied that. So just on behalf of the team and the coaches, thanks for recognizing us. Any questions? Um, would you guys be willing to share a a highlight from the season that you'd
like us to know about? >> And step up to the microphone so it gets on camera nice and >> um, Ros talked about state already, but I would say we have a pretty youngest team right now and it was a lot of their
first times making it to state. And so it was really fun to just see like them being able to get that experience because it is a big deal and it's just something that you don't get to do like every day. And they had a lot of fun. We showed a lot of grit on the floor and
I'm just glad that we got that experience. >> Thank you. Was great. Um, hello, my name is Tia and um, a highlight from the season is definitely relating to what Natalia said, just having like a very close-knit group. I
feel like especially this year we were able to like come together and connect, especially at our bring the heat invite um, where a whole bunch of teams came. It was very inclusive and it was very fun for the girls to get to experience it for the first time. So yeah,
>> my highlight um was sections because the whole season we were really working hard and really trying to find like that motivation and trying to keep it keep the motivation I guess. And so at sections it was really like showing our our improvement and showing that we're
still very good and very strong and especially with the young team I'm just very excited on what they're going to do in years to come. Great. >> Thank you. I was going to say we already heard your future plans, so I won't make you do it again.
>> Well, thank you so much. And I love how much you all expressed leadership. Loving seeing your like younger teammates like come through this. It's really >> It's just making me tear up, honestly. >> Thank you for being here. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Roz. All right. Next, I'm going
to bring up uh Miss Kaya Tajes with our gymnastics program. My goodness, I'm too short. Okay. Uh hi, I'm Ka. Uh Brady said I coach gymnastics. Um thanks for giving us an opportunity to speak tonight. Um we have
a little team, a really close-knit team. This year we had a lot of seventh graders, a lot of little kids that were really excited to learn. Um, one of which I asked during the first week of practice, you know, did you find out about the team from the flyers that went out? She goes, "No, I've been waiting
for this my whole life. This this student um eventually went on to win our our rookie of the year." So, she worked really hard. if that gives you kind of a a window into the motivation of these these young kids. They're really they're excited to be
there and they're excited to learn new things. Um we had um one of our younger uh team members who had never had any experience at all um in gymnastics. She learned how to do a beam routine. She learned how to do floor and you know she showed a lot of dedication and learning
these really difficult skills um that she hadn't really had a chance to build up like many other gymnasts on other teams. Um and she learned so much in just a span of a couple months. Um this team worked super hard to uh get stronger and to improve their routines.
That was reflected in our scores. We started around uh 104 and then we ended the season um at sections with a 111.9. So that was a huge improvement for us. Um we were led by Courtney um one of our
seniors and captains and our other captain Sophie. Um C uh Courtney over the last few years she's been like a huge staple um for our team. Um she worked really really hard and she
was again one of those kids that kind of came in having a a long break off and she worked so hard to get to the varsity lineup and was now kind of our our leader um for our varsity lineup this year and last year. Um she earned uh all
conference all around this year which is a huge achievement. It means that she did well not just in one event, two or three, it was all four. So vault, bars, floor and beam all all four events, everything all together. Um it means it's true excellence um in our
conference. So and I'll let her talk a little bit about what her experience was this year. >> Hi. Um, I mean, you already know me, but um, this I truly love the team at Saul
St. Paul. Like, they're so welcoming and I've been I mean, I've been on this team for 4 years now. I've done gymnastics when I was little. And the environment was completely different when I went to school gymnastics. It was so much more
open and I felt so much more like I had so much more time to do my own stuff and work really hard in the gym. I dealt with like pressure still, but it wasn't too much and it I just had a really good overall experience doing gymnastics at
this school. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you so much. That's all we have. I just think it's incredible that people with minimal experience are still able to participate at the high school level and that you guys have that
cohesiveness to bring them up and to be a team. I I think that's amazing. I I think um there's a lot of exclusiveness in that sport and so I I feel like my personal philosophy is that everybody should be welcomed in no matter what their skill level is and as long as they have a good attitude and they want to
try hard they're welcome on our team. >> Good. >> Thank you. >> Thank you Kai. I also just want to acknowledge Courtney um was our AAA uh one of our AAA award winners and that's a Minnesota State High School League award that recognizes excellence in
athletics, the arts, and academics. So, she's a standout student. She didn't know I was going to do this, but I just wanted to mention it as she was up here for show choir, theater, gymnastics, and all the other wonderful things she does. So, she's a standout student here at South St. Paul. Uh congrats, Courtney.
Um, last but certainly not least, Mr. Nihart with our wrestling program. Bring it home. >> All right. Uh, well, uh, thank you for inviting us here tonight. Uh, school board members, uh, Dr. Zimbrino.
Uh it is always uh great to come in and just get to share a little bit about the successes of our our student athletes. Uh and this year was another fun year for us. Uh we had um a couple of our captains here join us. Uh we we kind of
put an open invite out to any of our our crew. It would have been great to have had any or all of uh the folks that were responsible for a lot of the great things that that happened this year. We have uh Ivon Delgado Villanoeva and Vivian Diaz, captain of the girls team,
captain of the boys team. Um again, we're very fortunate to have really uh a ton of support from a lot of great families uh in the community that uh have made up our booster club and our our South St. Paul wrestling club. We we've just been really fortunate. I
should give a shout out to Vivian's mom because she's back there. She was a longtime treasurer for our wrestling club and she finally uh threw in the towel this year, but she put in about probably upwards of 15 years. Vivy has three older brothers that all wrestled with us. So, thank you to those families
and thanks to uh uh our administrators and teachers and office staff and the the maintenance staff uh for supporting our program this year. Uh boys and girls teams each had a really great uh winter. Uh some highlights from the the year. Our girls team had 23 participants.
uh who were led by our team captains Alli Bon, Leela Reed, Sam Frazzle, and Vivian Diaz. Uh their team won uh championships at three tournaments that they were at. Uh earned a whole lot of medals throughout the season. Uh team ended up finishing second in our
conference uh with Sam Frazzle finishing uh without conference honors. Vivian here and Leela Reed, Adamari Rao Nunes, Lai Breto and Jocelyn Romero Chavez all earned
honorable mention all conference. Uh at the individual section tournament we had uh nine medals out of the 13 weight classes which was a a improvement from last year and the three years prior that we've had a girls wrestling team. So it's the most medals we've ever had. We got to host that tournament here at our
school. Uh, and it went really smoothly. Again, thanks to a lot of those same parents and families. Leela Reed was uh a section champ for us. She competed at the state tournament along with Vivian Diaz. Several of these girls that I'm mentioning are over at the gym right now
at flag football practice, which I left to to come over here, but uh they uh they had a great season uh with the state tournament. Uh we had uh for the first time our girls team get recognized for academic all state silver which is
um a 3.49 team GPA for our our top 10 GPA. Our boys team had 51 participants this year and they were led by our team captains uh Ivonne uh Oliver Munro, Tomaso Chaki and Mari Wallow and Ty
Burchtol. Um, their team had a great season as well, winning 16 duels and winning several tournaments. Uh, their team, uh, the, uh, Enrique Reyes earned all conference for us. Tomas Oaki and Ty Burchtold each earned honorable mention.
uh in the postseason uh at the individual section tournament, we had 13 of 13 individuals earn a medal at the the tournament, which was only a second time we've been able to do that uh in my 24 years, I think. Uh five individuals
qualified for the state tournament. They were Lucas Lissering, Tomaso Chaki, Ty Burchtold, Enrique Reyes, and and Wyatt Henderson. Uh eight individuals earned academic all section. Um, I'm going to keep rattling off their names because
their parents might be watching and it's cool to hear your your kids' names there. Uh, so academic all section, Lucas Lissering, Tomaso Chaki, Ty Burchtold, Enrique Reyes, and and Wyatt Henderson all earned academic all section. Uh, we had eight indiv uh,
nope. We had um I think I got them all there. Yep. Uh, team ended up winning the section tournament, which was our uh, kind of our highlight of our boy season. It was a cool opportunity to go back to the now Grand Casino Arena. Um, it's only the
fourth time we've been able to do that again in 24 years. We had a whole lot of second place trophies, but it was cool to get back and compete there. Uh, state tournament team was recognized uh for academic all-state gold honors. That's a 3.57
team GPA. So, u just a ton of fun with this group. Again, um a lot of lot of great great accomplishments. Um, both teams had a lot to be proud of. Uh, these two, like I said, were leaders. I don't know if they were prepared to say anything here. I've never had any of our
guests get up and and share anything. But, uh, ultimately, we're excited about our group coming back. We lose a ton of seniors. Um, these are two of them. I think we have in the gym right now 16 senior banners hanging up that we get to take down here this week and hang up at
our end of season banquet. got we've got a lot of good people coming back that we're excited to work with next year. So, yeah, thanks for having us here. You guys want to share any uh highlights? >> Um, >> you can pass. Maybe they might make you do it. I don't know.
>> She's going to pass. Okay. All right. >> Do you want to share what your plans are for next year? >> Uh, sure, please. So, I I'm Vivian. I plan on enlisting in the Navy and becoming a therapist and helping people through whatever they may have seen or
done or whatever and just help people. >> Wow. >> Oh, interesting. >> I just want to share this. I don't think I gave Vivian enough props. She's kind of one of our most decorated female wrestlers now. She was a two-time state participant. Uh she was a all state uh in her first trip to the state
tournament. and we're going to definitely miss. We have >> uh I'm not fully 100% committed, but I'm planning on going to the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus to major in political science and then later down the line go to law school and do
something in the courtroom. >> Amazing. >> Very cool. >> And Ivon also just giving him some props. Thank you you two for coming in. But uh he was a guy that uh sacrificed a lot for our team at the end of the year just with um commitment, weight
management, uh taking a lot of tough opponents uh for the team uh just to keep our our lineup filled and to keep our team competitive and did a good job going to bat for the team. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Thank you so much.
>> Okay, that's it for us tonight. Thank you again for the opportunity to come back and present about our wonderful winter activities that we have at South St. Paul High. >> Thank you so much. >> Sure. Human, do you mind? Can we also thank Brady Kger for all the nights and times and things that he does for
everybody. >> All right, we had all that excitement and now we get to shift to reports. >> Feels so antilimatic. It is exciting but like all the student thinking about the future it's a it's a hard act to follow.
>> Okay, first report is uh stakeholder comments to the board highlights. As a reminder to the community, there are two ways to make comment to the board. You may either submit an online form or appear before the board in person. If you would like to speak in person, the
board has set time aside on the second Monday of each month at our six at 6:30 during our regular uh extended work session meetings. No one came to speak uh during our stakeholder comments to the board session on March 9th and we
didn't receive any online comments either. Our next public listening session should be at 6:30 >> on April 13th. Okay, I will now uh hand things over to Vice Chair Claflin to discuss this evening's work session.
>> Thank you. Uh at the work session right before our meeting, we reviewed some of the topics that we're going to discuss later in our business meeting. Um mostly uh of interest to the community is going to be some community listening
sessions and information sessions about the upcoming bond issue. And we're also excited to celebrate employee appreciation week uh May 4th through May 8th. >> All right, >> we got things done fast tonight >> and now I'll hand it over to Dr.
Zambrino. Give us some highlights in the district. >> All right. Well, I don't know how I can top what we just saw here. Um I know I repeat myself a lot. One of the things I say often is we have the best kids and if tonight didn't prove that, I don't know what else you can do to do that. But also want to uh again thank our
coaches and advisers for that extra time that they put in. I just think about the late nights, the trips and all the organizing and things, the hours and hours and hours. So, um really fun to see that. Um and we are really we're rolling here. We're trimester 3 now at
the high school and so we are uh flying through the year. The spring is going to fly on by, but we're excited to to do some great things yet this year. Uh, one of those we're hoping to do is, uh, well, we are going to have an election. We we're hoping to be able to do some great things with our buildings. Uh, so
just as a reminder, we did send out information. We'll continue to share information the best we can. It's also everything on our website, but we have a special election on May 12th. Um, there is one polling location because this is the only election in town. So, that'll be happening um, at the museum right
across from city hall. And so absentee ballots are going to be able to start pouring in here in the next week. So it's pretty exciting to see. Uh but really two main things going on. So uh there's two questions on the ballot. The first one is a building bond. And so um
as we all know, our buildings are aging. So shout out to our buildings and grounds crew. They keep them uh looking amazing. Like I'm in our elementary buildings and I like dare you to find a crayon mark on anything. It's incredible how um well our staff does, but I think sometimes that gives us the the false
sense of security that our buildings aren't aging and they are. Uh many of them are uh old and lots of parts and components within those buildings are beyond their um their age of appropriate uh lifespan. And so I'm hoping we can get some resources to go into our
buildings and do some really critical infrastructure needs, but also address some of the things that I know people are um kind of interested in or or maybe frankly tired of like a broken apart tennis court. I think we all are excited about the the prospects of redoing that tennis court and resetting that or um
getting our our stadium to be more accessible so people can get down into Edinger Field and really enjoy all the events which are sports but more. We have a lot of city events and things that happen there. Uh the second uh question on the ballot is to renew our operate or I'm sorry our um capital
projects levy. So that one is set to expire in 2029. Um but we're bringing that one forward now so that we can hopefully just um take care of the building needs and the capital projects which is safety, security, technology. So really making
sure our staff, students are safe, that they have the tools they need, the curriculum, and then that way we don't have to come right back out to the community. Been having a lot of really good um questions and conversations. We've had folks reaching out to the district office and we applaud that and welcome that. Um I'm personally making
some phone calls and others as well just to make sure people have good information. Really, that's what's most important. Um because there's a lot of noise out there in just the world we live in and so we want to make sure people are well informed. Uh so again, stay tuned. Our website has tons of information. Um if we get this passed,
we're excited to engage with our community to say how exactly do we want to use all these dollars? And so a lot of things there's critical needs we have to address, but there is some room for us to come together and engage as a community and and figure out how we want to do some great things for our staff and students.
Uh as we uh move through spring, want to remind everyone it is um season to enroll students. So, um, you can certainly do that anytime, but we're looking at next year. Um, so we're open for enrollment, all students in grades preK through 12. Uh, you can pop by
Central Square and and enroll in person, but you can certainly get all the information you need on our website at ssps.org uh/enroll. Um, we've got some visits and things coming up. We want to make sure people are again well informed. So, uh, we have
kindergarten visits going on at Caposia on April 14th and at Lincoln on the 15th. Middle schools hosting, uh, one last tour, um, for this spring on April 8th at 5. Uh, however, talking to all of our principles, they're excited to always show off their schools. They're
amazing. Doesn't matter where you end up. If you end up in South St. Paul Public Schools, you made a good choice. Uh, but if those times don't work, I would encourage you to reach out uh, directly to the school and we'll find a time to get you in there so you can see what's going on. Uh we also really work hard to make sure
we set kids up for success. And so as we u plan for the summer, I want to make sure people hold the date. Uh kindergarten camp or as we like to call it, K camp is going to be this year, end of July, the 27th through 30th. But you can go on and enroll for that now. Really great opportunity to kind of have
a mini kindergarten experience. Uh get the kids to come in and and get comfortable with school and and that transition that they're making. Of course, a lot of our kids are already in our pre-K program, so they're certainly welcome and uh they'll transition well, but we want to make sure all kids feel comfortable and confident as they make
that transition. And I'm just going to say I would pit my kindergarten teachers, our kindergarten teachers against anybody's. Uh maybe I'll use Don, I'll channel my inner Don Niheart here. Like I don't think school districts have a weight class, but if we do, we'd probably be in that smaller weight class, but we uh we are small but
mighty and we would win that weight class. I'll tell you what. Uh, so, uh, shout out to our kindergarten teachers while I'm at it. Um, we also know that that transition from elementary to middle school can be a scary one. It's actually not scary. For the record, I was a middle school principal for eight
years. My mom was a middle school principal and I'm married to one. So, I've got a passion for middle school. I honestly think it's a little scarier for mom and dad or whoever's the elder in the family. Uh, the kids are super excited. I'll give a shout out to our middle school team doing lots of fun
things to get the kids into the building so they can, you know, experience the building, see some of the cool things they've gotten. They'll get to hear the the band play, the choir play, and things like that. Um, actually excited to see our band numbers are really growing. So, uh, I know we're talking
about a bond right now, but a few years ago, we did go out on an operating referendum, and just want to share that that, uh, investment the community's made in our district is really paying off. Um, we brought it here before. Math scores are up, reading scores are up, opportunities for kids are up. Um, but
we're getting a lot of kids getting that chance to try music in fifth grade and then now as they come over to the middle school, really choosing to come into the music programs. Uh, but again, you can go online and enroll for that. They'll get the chance to experience the cafeteria, get to the um practice switching classrooms, which is really a
lot of fun for kids when they've been in one classroom, um their whole career. So, uh hop on our website to learn more or reach out to the middle school. This is a really fun thing. Every year we do the silver silver apple award and so right now nominations are open for
the Roxanne Bliss Silver Apple Award. So, what's really powerful about these is it's for any staff member, not just a teacher. Um, and students can nominate a staff member who's made a big impact on them. So, of course, our teachers are often selected, but want to make sure families or anyone who's watching. It
can be anybody. It could be one of these coaches or advisers or anyone who's working with our kids uh doing great things. Uh, if you want to shout them out, please uh do that. You can go on and learn more again at our website. One of our uh things we work hard to do
is empower. We have um engage, educate, empower is our mission. And as we empower kids, uh Jake Canals is one of the best I would say. He works with our talent development program at both Lincoln and Caposia and just finds incredible ways to draw out kids talent
and and and abilities. And one of those is through the young authors. So kids from Caposia and Lincoln in grades uh four and five were invited to participate in young authors conference at Bethl University. um they got to spend the day learning uh from real
professional authors, learning from them, writing with them, a variety of topics and breakout sessions. So again, really empowering them to take some control in that. Uh and then an open mic for them to showcase their work. So every time and I know we have some personal stories right here at this
table. Every year I just hear how like it was so amazing, so wonderful. So shout out to Mr. Canals for doing that. Uh, as we educate kids, we know a lot of kids are hands-on learners and and learn best through experiences, experiential learning. So, shout out to our um CLC
students and staff. Uh, they do a cool thing called Xterm. So, between terms, as we just transition terms, uh, they do a way for kids to catch up on some credits, but do it in some unique and meaningful ways. So, real world global situations that the kids take on. uh in this case they got to represent
countries around the world and discussing things like climate change, treaties, world hunger, the World Cup and then ended up with an Olympics to celebrate the teamwork and have some fun with that. Um we've heard how profound our kids are as thinkers and and doers and so exciting to see what they're
doing there with our CLC kids. Um empowering our students through performances. A shout out we saw a little bit about or heard a little bit about our gymnastics program. This is one of the fastest growing programs I think uh wrestling and we're going to hear a little bit about flag football. There's some really upand cominging
things and so gymnastics we continue to see more and more youth getting involved. Uh so congratulations to our competition teams um through community ed. They uh comp uh competed, excuse me, in the Midwest Amateur Gymnastics Association Regional Championship. That
is a mouthful. Um the team won supernovas made it to division four, placed sixth and earned sportsmanship award. Back to what director Cummings was talking about. Our kids impress uh beyond just what they're able to do in in a competition in terms of that skill.
They they show much more in terms of character. SSP team 2 Eclipse made it to division 10 and placed third and also earned a sportsmanship award. So great to see that our kids continue to impress. Uh, and tryyous for next year's competition teams take place on August 1st, which will be here probably before
we know it. Other dates to track, as we heard it earlier from our students, we got spring break next week as uh, one of our student reps said, a well-earned spring break. They've been working hard, grinding hard on senior year. Uh, but lots of cool, impressive plans with our student reps and all the students we
heard from today. Uh, Caposia PTA 6:00 on April 7th. Lincoln 7:00 on the 13th. Uh we have a spring into kindergarten events at uh six o'clock on the 14th at Caposia, 15th at Lincoln. Mentioned the middle school tour again. And if these
dates don't work, I I'd encourage you to just reach right out to the school. Um secondary conferences are April 22nd and on the 31st we heard that speech sections tournament. So tons and tons of great stuff going on for a small but
mighty district. We sure get it done in a lot of different ways and love that our kids have so many different opportunities. Again, thank you to our parents and coaches, advisers, volunteers, our buildings, and gr everybody who chips in to make that happen. Super fun. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Dr. Zambrino.
>> Okay. Next, I am looking for a motion to approve the consent items on tonight's agenda, which include the financial claims and bills payable and staffing as presented. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Thank you. Second. >> Excellent. Any discussion?
>> All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. >> Opposed. Uh, carry 60. Thank you. Moving on to agenda item five, policy. This evening, we have no policies under review, but the policy committee is scheduled to
meet next on April 23rd. And just a reminder to everyone, all of our district policies are on our website. They are located under the about us tab under school board under SSPPS policies. Moving on to business items. We have
seven business items this evening. So first up I am looking for a motion for the South St. Paul School Board to approve the girls flag football emerging status form. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Thank you. >> Second. >> All right. And I'm going to invite Brady
Kger back up. All right. Well, uh, girls flag football has been growing rapidly, uh, in the state of Minnesota. A huge piece of that was the Minnesota Vikings that provided a lot of upfront funding to schools. Um, and essentially what we're asking, uh, the school board to do is that, um,
we're we're kind of looking for that next step, that next transition, whether it be a Minnesota State High School League sponsored activity or a uh, cooperating partner activity like some of our other um, teams are. And so we're asking the min uh South St. Paul School Board to support that emerging status.
Um and essentially what that means is like with with this support when it does become a Minnesota State High School League sponsored activity or if it does, we would be committed to offering that that program. So this does help kind of keep the ball rolling uh and keep this
growing sport growing. Um we have uh I just talked with Mr. Nheart. He coaches our girls flake football program as I think we have over 40 girls um out. We had one of the larger flag football teams last year. Um and so it's just been a really popular activity out St.
Paul. Our kids really enjoy it. Um and we'd like to continue offering um this as an activity for our kids. >> Any uh questions or discussion on this topic? Okay. All those in favor, please say I. >> I.
>> I. Opposed. >> Motion carries 6. All right. Uh, next up, I'm looking for a motion for the South St. Paul School Board to approve the Packer Activity C Center's air handler replacement bid. >> Do I have a motion?
>> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you. And I'd like to invite Mark Fenton, our buildings and grounds director up. >> Thank you, school board, and uh Dr. Zambrino. Um, as I presented at the finance committee, uh, we, uh, received
seven bids for this project. Uh, we had, uh, one, uh, low bid. Uh, and I'm asking the board to approve that the project. >> Say the last time you were up, you had asked us not to, so this is good.
>> We only received one and it was not within budget parameters. >> Yes. Any questions or discussion regarding this? Are you familiar with that company that? Yep. Yep. >> So, you're confident with that? >> I'm confident with that. >> Okay. Good to know. Thank you.
>> All right. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. Opposed. >> Carry 60. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good luck. Thank you. >> All right. I am now looking for a motion for the South St. Paul School Board to approve the A&I plan. Do I have a
motion? >> So move. >> Second. >> All right. And Oh, you're both coming up. All right. Oh, okay. Then I invite Natalie Tartlet up to tell us what ANI is and tell us about this plan. >> Do you have a slide? >> Yep. Yep.
>> Okay. Um, so the achievement and integration funding is uh funding from the state of Minnesota um that we uh receive um based on our demographics and on a per student basis um that we need to submit a plan every three years for.
Um so if you um take a look here, this is sort of the purpose that the state of Minnesota has identified. Um the state of Minnesota has created this funding u to pursue racial and economic integration to increase student achievement uh to promote and create
equitable educational outcomes and to reduce academic disparities based on diverse uh racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds. So um we are able to receive the funding. We don't need it's not a an application per se. Um we just need to submit a plan um with three
specific goals. Um so uh there's three areas each year or every three years that we need to submit goals for. Uh the first one is uh an achievement goal. Um and ours is in reading. Um and uh the goal that we have identified is that
between the spring of 2026 and spring of 2029 that the percentage of black, indigenous, and students of color or black, indigenous, and people of color students in grades K8 will be on target for their grade level um will increase
by five percentage points as indicated by the lowrisk or uh MCA ready on track um for the spring fast bridge test. So that's basically the number of um students in K8 um that identify as black, indigenous or students of color
will increase um as readiness each spring. Um and we've identified three strategies to support that. Um our uh cultural liaison in our schools um to help promote family and school connections. uh professional development for our staff focused on the use of data
in particularly in PLC's and in our um MTSS process which is a multi-tered student support process and our equity and instructional coaches. So those strategies will support that first goal. Um the second goal is an integration
goal. This is a goal that um asks us to focus on how we um specifically are addressing gaps. And so there we've identified um that by the 2829 school year the gap between our BIPOC or black indigenous and people of color students
and white students that are enrolled in IB concurrent enrollment and CAPS courses will decrease from 15% to 12%. Um the statistics just for your frame of reference are there that currently um
38% of the enrollment um is in those courses are BIPAC students while 53% uh of the school is. So that's where that 15% gap comes from that we want to close. Um we've identified there again three strategies. Youth ambassadors is a
multidist strategy um that is a leadership development program um that we do with St. Paul public schools and West St. Paul public schools. Um student affinity groups uh at our high school and middle school again is a leadership development program um helping students
uh develop identity uh that will promote um academic achievement. Um and then some targeted strategic promotion and outreach to those courses specifically. And then finally the last goal area that is required is teacher equity. Um and
there our teacher equity goal is that South St. Paul uh students access to teachers that are using culturally responsive teaching strategies will increase uh between school year 26-27 meaning next year and the end of the plan in school year 2829. Um it's
written that way because we currently do not have any baseline data. So next year will be the day the year where we collect that baseline data. And there we have three uh strategies again. Um one is professional development around culturally responsive teaching. Uh the second one is our work
to retain staff members of color and then third our equity and instruction coaches again um that show up as a strategy. Um those are the goals and strategies that we are uh putting forward to the state uh with your approval. Do you have
any questions? >> When you were at our last work session, you gave some really great examples of what culturally responsive teaching looks like. It's one of the only strategies that I think is u maybe a little more unfamiliar for a lot of folks in the in the district. Could you
give us some of those examples? >> Um I think that's really um there's pieces of that puzzle. One is how we set up our classrooms. Making sure that we set up the classrooms to be really affirming to all students, welcoming to all students, and doing that in a really strategic way so that um students can
see themselves in the classroom before they come in. Um it's how we respond to conflicts. So making sure when there are conflicts in the classroom or when students get frustrated that we are doing so and responding in a way that affirms students and that um help takes
into account what they how they might culturally respond to a conflict um and help them through the conflicts or struggles in that way. And then uh the curriculum and that's sort of the one that we uh are more familiar with um what students have access to in terms of
the curriculum that students can see themselves in the curriculum. Um but those are some really quick simple examples but just making sure that we're um affirming students every day and taking into consideration the unique cultural identities that they bring to
us um as we support their development as students. Thanks for asking. >> Thank you. If there's no further discussion, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. Opposed. >> Carry 6. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I am now looking for a motion for the South St. Paul School Board to approve the joint powers agreement for childhood vaccinations between the county of Dakota and Special District 6.
>> Do I have a motion? >> I approve. Yes. Okay. So moved. Second. >> Okay. Second. Perfect. And now I invite our student services director Jennifer Danielson to talk about this annual process. >> Yeah. Long title for it, but yes, annual
process just an agreement between us and Dakota County that we will coordinate vaccination clinics throughout the year using the same clinic that we have used in previous years um including this most recent year and it's been a really successful um thing. So that outlined the joint joint powers of Greees
outlines what Dakota County will do, what we will do, and what Homeland Health will do. >> Um, this was presented to us at our work session before this meeting. So if there are any other questions or a conversation.
>> All right. >> Do you mind if I >> Yeah, >> I'll just give a shout out because Jennifer's not going to do it from where she is, but this is one of those just extra things we do. it's the right thing to do. But I just want to give a shout out and I appreciate the county as well for partnering with us on this. Uh kids
are denied school access if they aren't up to snuff on their um vaccinations. So just really nice to see that partnership and collaboration and I know I stopped by the um vaccinations earlier this year and lots of families benefited from that and said things like it was impossible
to get into a doctor and we know how hard that is. So just shout out to our team for taking that on. >> Yes. Yeah, it is truly a team effort with that. So, >> yeah, I think it's a it's a good wonderful program for our community to take advantage of and to to use it for
their children to protect them also. >> No further comment. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Opposed? 60. Thank you. >> All right. Next, I am looking for a motion for the South St. Paul School
Board to schedule a special community information session on Monday, April 13, 2026 at 700 p.m. in the stock exchange room at SSP Secondary at 700 Second
Street North in advance of the school district's special election scheduled for Tuesday, May 12th, 2026. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you. All right. and I will hand it over to Dr. Zambrino
to kind of cover the different pieces that we're talking about tonight. >> Yeah, thank you, Chair Hume. And that that's a lot of words there and that's because it's a legal requirement and as I shared earlier, we are eager to share information about our our bonding and uh make sure our community has all the
information you need to be well informed when you make that decision. But this does take care of a legal requirement that we make sure that um we make space available, but again, we would have been doing that anyway. So, it's a it's a win-win and that's that's what that'll be. So, if you're interested in asking more details, we'll have folks um from
the architects and construction management company, our buildings and grounds, our board, a lot of folks will be there so we can kind of wrap around and uh roll our sleeves up on this. >> So, this is a very businessy way to say you're all invited. Please come and join us and learn more about this project.
All right. Any other questions or comments? >> Great. because we've been talking about this a lot. Uh all those in favor, please say I. >> I opposed. >> Carry 6. Okay. Next on the same topic
kind of. I am looking for a motion for the South St. Paul School Board to approve the resolution appointing election judges for the May 12th, 2026 school district special election. Do I have a motion? >> So moved
>> and a second. >> Second. Thank you. And I'll hand it back to Dr. Zimbrino if you want to touch on this or I can touch on this. >> I can kick it off and then you can add if you wanted to add anything. Essentially, another legal requirement um with the election um we do need
because it's our the only thing on the ballot. It's just us. We have to go through the all the steps to make sure we're running a legitimate and appropriate election. And part of that is approving the election judges. >> This is um something that's partnered with the city. So Diana in the city
office has her um seasoned election judges and so she's provided us a list of folks who have said they're available to work and uh we're very fortunate to be able to take advantage of their expertise in making sure that we have a fair and open election. Um I will
comment that my husband is on that list, but he's been election judge for years. This is not weird. And since you mentioned, I'll just use that as an opportunity to give a shout out to our partners at the city as well. Uh Dave Pompus was talking earlier about what a special community this is. And it's
really nice that it's not so hard to run an election here because of the great collaboration we have. And I I know that's not the case in many communities. So I just want to put that in the space. >> Um if there are no other comments, then I will ask Dette to read the role. >> Um Director W. Felton,
>> yes. >> Claflin, yes. Cummings, >> yes. >> Tfelton, >> yes. >> Weber, >> yes. >> And Hume, >> yes. >> All right, >> that six yay. >> Resolution carries. Thank you. And our
final business item. We have I'm looking for a motion for the US St. Paul School Board to approve the acceptance of gifts report. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. Thank you. And a second. >> Second. >> Excellent. And I invite our finance
director Rajat up here to share with us the donations that have been given. >> Thank you so much madam chair, man and vice chair, members of the board. I just want to take this opportunity to acknowledge um first and foremost we have such an awesome community here. Um the Lions
Club here has generously donated $600 for marathon t-shirts and $1,000 earmarks for school patrols. You know, it it takes a lot to to run a school district, as you know, uh but generous, kind donation from the Lions Club here
goes a long way for our kids. And with this, uh former acknowledgement and and thank you, uh I would advise the board to formally approve this for acceptance. >> Thank you. >> Yes. I'm sure this already happens, but
could we just make sure to send our um sincere appreciation to the Lions Club for this generous donation? >> Thanks. We work hard to send out thank you notes, but it's a good reminder >> actually to all of humanity, right? When someone's doing something nice, just take the time to say thank you, right?
>> Or if I send you a wedding gift, could you please send a thank you so I know you got it. next generation. >> It's very specific. >> Very specific, but there's actually no one specifically tied to it. >> You're not my mom.
>> All right. >> Somebody's dad, though, you know. >> Thank you, Rob. And again, thank you to the community for supporting our schools and our students. All those in favor of accepting this gift, please say I. >> I. >> I. Opposed. >> Carry 6. Thank you.
>> Thank you so much. >> All right. This concludes our business items. Our uh final agenda item, I ask our school board directors to share any updates on committees they serve on or highlight any recent educational activities or events that they've been
at. Um and I'm going to let director Felton start over here. >> Yes. >> Okay. The first thing I'll mention here is of course uh 10 days ago at Caposia Elementary was the read across South St. Paul, which I did, and I did uh first
graders again, and because it was right real close to St. Patrick's Day, and everybody was encouraged to wear green that day, which I certainly did. I I was dressed up a lot a lot of green clothes for that. And then the next ReadAcross
South St. Paul that I plan on attending is April 10th. It's always a Friday that we do that at 9:30 in the morning. And I kind of forewarned him of what I'm going to be looking like on that day. I'm going to be a flamingo.
I I kind of forewarned him about that already. And uh the other thing I just want to mention again, I just just attended last Friday night at at the high school. It was the high school play, The McBTH, as
Mr. uh Holen who was here earlier, you know, did discuss it and it's always they always do such a wonderful program. I always really really thank all the students up on the stage and also all of the volunteers that attend there also
and help him and his crew and the very many members that were called backstage crew. They did a wonderful job hauling things in and out. So I congratulate and thank them very much for for that play because I I attend
pretty much every single play. And then one other thing that was mentioned already by Dr. Zambbrino which I have mentioned in the past a little bit also the education foundation which is the s the silver apple nomination award that
students can nominate a district employee. This is the form that they would would have to fill out. They fill it out. It has to be done by October 1st and then you have to make sure you get it to the education foundation so that
they will determine who the winner of that is. And then uh the next thing also as you know that I serve on the senior center board of directors as has been mentioned that uh on March 12th it was our our lunchon the beef stew lunchon.
It was very good. It was excellent food. It was very very good. And the next lunchon at the senior center is Thursday, April 23rd. It is going to be a vegetable salad where you have the
opportunity to kind of make up your own salad, choosing your vegetable items, obviously lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, whatever, cheese, you know, your dressings, whatever you are comfortable making in your own salad,
you are available to do that. Like I said, Thursday, April 23rd at 11:30. And then me personally coming up April 7th through the senior center also there's a is a little ex
little trip here. It's called a music trip down to Redwing. So I I will be attending that with several of our other members of of the senior center. And also, as a reminder, the fashion show that is held, it's held twice a
year is coming up again on Wednesday, May 6th. It starts at 11:00. And there is, it's a $20 fee because we are having a another catered wonderful lunchon from the coupe, which has been very, very popular with with all of our
members. So, if you plan on attending the fashion show, it is important that you start up getting registered now because we do have a somewhat limitation of about 72 people is all that we can get
into our program area. So, if you're interested in being at the fashion show, it is a $20 fee. So, we highly encourage you to get registered as soon as possible. And then one thing that I I read on one
of the the senior high school things as you know we have talked about coming up now at when the students are off on their spring breaks that some of the students will be traveling. There is has been a a start of a little
discussion for next year 2027 a possible trip to Europe to Spain and Portugal. That's the next discussion that has been brought up at the high school. So that's just something to kind of keep in mind. As you know, I have
mentioned many times, 51 years ago, I I went to Spain with our Spanish group and it's it was it's always a phenomenal lifelong memory of things that you can do back then. And also any students that want to order
their yearbooks, it's important that you get it ordered now. They are $67 each, but please get them ordered now as soon as possible if if you do want one. It is a wonderful thing. And the last thing
that I want to share which is something also that has been mentioned in the past as you know we are members of the MSBA Minnesota School Board Awards Association. We get these magazines.
This is the the March and April brochure that they mailed out to us. And I want to do another congratulations to Kim As it has been mentioned, she was one of the winners of the MSBA
in the honor role, it is something that technically every school board member should be attending these sessions so that they can earn the award. She won the director's award. Of course, I did many years ago, too. it
award. It's awarded to members who have attained 100 or more points of attendance at MSBA training programs within their past four years of their terms. And and Kim's name was posted again
on in in this booklet. And so if by any chance all of our board members would win that award, our school district board department would receive an award district award of distinction.
So that's something that we should all concentrate on in the future. So thank you. >> Thank you, Director Felton. Mhm. >> Director Weber, >> um I so enjoyed um listening to the students earlier um point out that I
participate in our speech program um for all six years that I was in 7 through 12. So those are skills um and sets that carry with you all throughout life. And I too have talked to many a locker in my day. Um, so that would not phase me at
all if I walked into a building of young people speaking to lockers. Um, I am also super interested in the sports betting. Um, as an avid sports watcher myself, um, I would be fascinated to know what more information they gathered
um, in their in their research on there. Um, I also enjoyed McBTH as I'm sure many people um in the community did and um I'm looking forward to more consistent warm weather and not the up
and down that we've been having. And I'm sure our spring sports teams would also like to have more consistent uh weather, but at least it's not snowing. So, you know, you gotta gotta give props. >> Just jinx us.
>> I have not put my I have not put my boots away yet, though. So, like, we're safe until until that happens. >> Yeah, me too. >> Director Cummings. >> Um, I just wanted to note that it was uh really great to see um all of our winter
um activities come in. I you know um as as they talked about I was able to go and see our debate team um Olive and Sydney and and they just did a fantastic job and I'm just so excited to hear that they'll be coming back next year. Uh and the one act plays were really
exceptional. Um was also able to head out um and see our basketball team play this year. And um the one thing I noticed when I was there was, you know, just exceptional work by our students, but also um rooms that were filled with caring adults. And so whether you're a
coach or you're a parent or whether you're an adult that is um helping our students be successful, thank you. And um so that was uh really heartening to see. So >> thank you, Director Felton. Um yeah, just a reminder for everybody, all the
golfers out there, the South St. Paul Open Golf Tournament will be July 13th this year, which is the second Monday in July. And this year's honore is um longtime teacher and coach, Mr. Don Gang. So mark your calendars.
>> Thank you, Vice Chair Cleaflin. >> Thank you. um from the finance and facilities long-term planning uh committee. Uh we are still watching the state budget and waiting for information to come in about compensatory funding
and it's hard to watch um with much patience when we we have a really strong need for this funding. And I'd like to encourage folks to reach out to their legislators. If you live in South St. Paul. Your state rep is Representative
Rick Hansen and your senator is Senator Matt Klene. Also, any families who are open enrolling into South St. Paul staff, reach out to your legislators and let them know that this money really affects our budget. Uh we'd like to be
able to move forward knowing that our budget's in good shape. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Um, okay. So, a week ago we had a blizzard and we had a beautiful day on Saturday and I think all of us like try to erase that from our memories that we
experienced that. But I would like to thank our staff, our students, our family members and the community for pivoting. We had two e-learning days last week. Uh, one of them we kind of knew was coming. The second one we didn't. And I think that we came out of
it really doing well. And so I just really want to thank everyone that contributed to that. It's it's everyone uh for making sure that it was safe to be at home, safe for our kids to come back to school, and they had all the tools that they needed online. So I just
wanted to shout that out. And I know uh the Young Author's Conference was already mentioned, but I want to thank the South St. Paul Ed Foundation. and my youngest had the opportunity to attend this year. And he came home so pumped, so fired up about the opportunity about
learning to write, about meeting real authors, about the book that he got and the art that was signed by the real authors. It's an amazing an amazing gift that the Ed Foundation has given our students and I know they've done it for many years. Um, but it's those little
things. It's not just the scholarships, but it's the programming that they help throughout the year that I um I was really excited to share and talk about tonight. Um that's it. Okay. I will hereby entertain a motion to adjourn our
evening uh Monday, March 23rd, 2026 school board meeting. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you. Uh any discussion about this? All those in favor, please say I. I I opposed.
>> Motion carries. 6. The school board meeting is adjourned at 7:47 p.m.