Heat. [Music] Hey, heat. Hey, heat.
[Music] Good evening. It is Thursday, October 2nd, 2025 at 6 p.m. We are at the District Service Center in Cottage
Grove, Minnesota. We would like to acknowledge that the land on which we gather is the land of the Midawakatan Dakota people. Mawakatin means dwellers of the spirit lake. First item on the agenda is 1.0 roll call. Dana Louise Hines here. Ryan Clark. Hello.
Sharon Vanlair here. Eric Chesmer here. Melinda Do here. Simeon Pnak here. Andrew Chestine here. Matilda Samuel here. Katie Schwarz here. 2.0 Pledge of Allegiance. Please stand 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. Goodness. 3.0 is approval of our agenda. Can I get a motion to approve?
So move. Moved by Sharon, seconded by Melinda. Uh, any comments? All those in favor? Any opposed? Motion passes. 4.0 is our student board representative
reports. And this will be introduced by Superintendent Julie Nelson. Thank you. Uh, we are excited to welcome and apologize, uh, Ryan. Uh, they're taking over your space here. Um, but our kids are a pretty big deal. Uh, we are excited to welcome two of our three
student board reps in person and of course TA who got captured right at the moment, eyes not closed and ready to to share. Um, and they're going to be introducing themselves this evening. Uh, just to set the stage, several years ago, we had student board representatives that attended our
business meetings. And I think for some of our students, it got really long and probably kind of boring because there was a lot of information with not always a lot of discussion. Um during that time students gave updates about their schools and what was happening. We heard a lot about the football games and the
proms and the activities in the theater etc. As we bring back the representatives we wanted to be thoughtful about how best they might be able to interject and share their experiences related to the different agenda items. The decision was made to have the students attend workshop meetings where the conversations are
less formal allowing for the opportunity for student voice. So like this evening it's literacy. I happen to uh ask Andrew and Matilda about you know what do you think about the MCAs? So somewhere tied into all of this we also want to make sure that student voice may be part of
um the presentation. So um presenters if you would have a a question for the students please feel free and or board members or I might just interject a question and ask them to put their voice in the space. Um, tonight I have asked each of our students to introduce themselves and share a bit about who they are, why they were interested in
being part of this leadership opportunity and there was a lot of excitement. We had 31 students apply from across the school district. Um, so tonight I'm going to have Andrew open us up from Eastridge High School. Hello.
My bad. Green is good. It's flashing. Broke it. Andrew broke the first microphone. Andrew, I'm going to give you mine, but be gentle. Hello. Okay, perfect.
Hi everyone. I'm Andrew Chastine. I am the representative from Easter High School. Um, a little bit about me. I am originally from Alabama where then I moved to South Dakota and then here. Um, for fifth grade I went to Middleton. I went to late middle school and then I have gone to Easter High School for
freshman, sophomore, and junior year. Um, but going into why more I want this role, I want to advocate for students who feel more like um, excuse me, they can't speak up for themselves. I would also like to push for an environment where everyone feels included and also
push uh and use the opportunity to network with other representatives including tea and Matilda from the other schools to build those relationships not just in East High School but within the Sawashko district. Thank you. Hello, my name is Matilda and I'm from
Woodbury High School. I'm a senior currently. The reason why I wanted to be a board representative is kind of for the similar reasons of wanting to be a voice for other people and wanting to be someone that others can go to for, you know, issues that they may have with the school and everything and feeling like
they don't have a voice or feeling like they don't even know who to go to or what they can do to change it. And I wanted to be the person that can really speak up for them and make change when it feels like you can't make any. And the some activities that I'm involved in, I'm in Black Student Union at my school. on the board for Black Student
Union and UNICEF at my school. I'm secretary for both. And I'm a key club, student council, student ambassadors, and other activities. And Andrew didn't share that he's part of our band program and football program. And if you hadn't noticed, he did have ACL surgery. So, he does have a
brace underneath there. So, we welcome him in this evening. Um, now we're going to hear from TA from Park High School. So, she just did a little video. She is actually off playing soccer tonight. Of course, the her first meeting was a soccer game. One, my name is TA Alvaringa. I'm in
11th grade and I will be this year student representative for Park High School. Um, I play soccer and basketball and that's the reason I couldn't be at today's meeting. I a back in the control room. We are going to try to get this volume just a little
bit louder. I'm involved in various clubs such as Wonder if Tao would like the paused look. Right now, we can go ahead and play it again from the beginning, please. You want me to run in there?
I would go back in the control room, but I'm going to allow Dana to go back in the control room. Sean, this is what happens when you're gone. Yeah, he could. Hi everyone, my name is TA Alvaringa. I'm in 11th grade and I will be this
year's student representative for Park High School. Um I play soccer and basketball and that's the reason I couldn't be at today's meeting. I have a soccer game in Forest Lake. So thank you for understanding. Um at Park High School I'm involved in various clubs
such as student council national honor society key club DECA and our Wolfpack Best Buddies program that is new this year which I'm really excited for. Um, and at Park, I just really love how easy it is to get involved. All these clubs
are very accessible to me and I've just felt so welcome wherever I go and I've been able to meet so many awesome students and teachers and so I'm just really looking forward to this opportunity and to hopefully provide some insight on behalf of the student body at Park. So, thank you
for being patient with that. Um, and again, uh, we welcome our board reps. Um, we're going to pause it there and you will have an opportunity to interject any questions you may have as we go through. So, thank you. Thank you. Okay, we'll move on to 5.0 and that is our workshop items. We do
have three this evening and 5.1 is literacy and that will be introduced by Kelly Jansen, assistant super. Good evening and thank you. Um, I am honored here to represent and introduce our teaching and learning team. Mark Mackamoy, our secondary teaching and learning director. Um, and Jolene Mast
is new to our team. She is our elementary teaching and learning director. Comes to us from Pineh Hill Elementary as the principal and this is her first board meeting. So, we wanted to formally introduce her. And then Leah Bulos, who is a teaching and learning supervisor and also serves as our very
important district literacy lead and has taken the role um in our district literacy efforts as it relates especially to the read act. So, we are here tonight to do our annual report on literacy, our board report. Tonight we plan to review the readac professional
development and how that legislation has come to light life in our classrooms. We'll talk a little bit about literacy curriculum, literacy data, and our next steps. And then we'll finish with a video um from our students and staff out in our schools. So with that, I will
turn it over to the team. All right. Thank you so much. Um Oh, there we go. Two more. One more. down. There we go. All right. Looks good. I'll
start with this slide. All right. Um, good evening board members and community members. Um, we're going to start with a quick introduction um, and a reminder about what the ReadAct actually is. And the Reed Act is legislation that was it stands for reading to ensure academic development. and it was signed into law
by Governor Tim Walls in May of 2023. And this previous the previous legislation before this was called Read Well by Third Grade. Um and so this replaced that. So whereas Read Well by Third Grade really focused on K3 um early literacy skills, the Read Act um
spans all age levels for kids. this in my 25 years in education has been the most um comprehensive legislation that I've seen and the quickest moving in in education. So, it's been, you know, just over two years and it's moved very very quickly. The goal of the ReadAct is to have every
child reading at or above grade level every year beginning in kindergarten and supporting our multilingual learners and students receiving special services um special education services in achieving their individualized reading goals. some of the things that are required by the read act. Um the first one is that
we have to have an identification process with universal screening. Um and so for that we have fastbridge. Um we use MAP which is measures of academic progress and CAP read basics will be a new one that you'll hear about tonight. Um the second part is evidence-based
curriculum and instruction um intervention and um we're using UFly which um is University of Florida Literacy Institute um in Bridge to Read right now with some supplemental resources. Um the third one is training and structured literacy and this has been the biggest one and I'd say probably one that's the most complete
that we have done so far. Um and we'll talk a little bit more about this but some of the things that you've you'll see for structured literacy training is that we've had teachers complete carry all ola ALS and letters. And then finally the la the last one. Every district is required to either contract or employ a district literacy lead. That
is me. So I want to check check. So co schools have um several policies and procedures in place to support this work. Um namely the schoolboard policy that you're probably familiar with is policy 626 literacy and the read act. Um procedures that we have in place to support implementation for the
identification process. Um, we have a procedure written for that. Um, and we also have multi-tered systems of support handbooks for all of the levels. For evidence-based curriculum and intervention, we have our CIRC process or our standards and instruction review cycle that is embedded with this and
it's it's ongoing work as you'll hear tonight. Um, and again, the multi-tered systems of support handbook also supports this. And then the training and structured literacy, there's a procedure for that. And it's also been a really strong partnership with HR um to support that work and and track the um the
training that's been done. All right. So, one of the things I'm most proud of as the district literacy lead and we meet monthly across the state um is the work that's done here in So, I do not know of any other districts that have tackled the read Act um in the way that we have in our district. Um uh
the department of education just in the last week or so has identified the phase 2 teachers for the training um and they have identified reading teachers and English teachers um for the secondary level. Um and we have superseded that and these are some of the reasons why that we chose the path that we did in
our training. Um so the first one is that we really wanted to create a deeper understanding of all the foundational literacy skills um and how complex the science of reading is regardless of which level our teachers were teaching at. It's a very complex thing. We wanted all teachers to have that that depth of knowledge. Um the second thing is that
regardless of our role, we all have an impact on a child's literacy development. Um I think that it's it's foolish to believe that really only after fifth grade that an English teacher or a reading teacher has an impact on a child's literacy journey. Um and so this is one of the reasons that we really expanded that beyond what the
the law was requiring. Um recognize and differentiate for our students who might be struggling in any area of reading. We know that all of our kids show up to us with different strengths in different areas of needs. And so our students that u might have reading difficulties, I feel like our teachers have a better understanding of what that looks like
now and what they could maybe do and how to intervene, how to support them in a classroom. Um while we're not expecting them to teach those foundational skills, they're just able to recognize that in a different way than they were in the past. And then finally, I think this um under Superintendent Neielson's guidance last year, it was really impossible for
us when MDE said, "Here's the redact." we started moving instantly. MDE took a while to get the guidance going to say like who should do this training? What does it look like? Um and we weren't waiting for that. And so when we really said who should go through this training, we felt it was impossible to say, well, this social studies teacher
is really important in this child's literacy journey, but this math teacher not as much. Um and so we really feel very strongly that no one staff member is less responsible for this critical work of our students. Um and it shows up differently in every area. Um it was a stretch for some of our secondary
teachers with um some of the foundational skills that they were learning early on in the courses. Um and and my words of advice for them every time was take what you need from this. I don't know exactly what you need if you're a chemistry teacher or a math teacher or an English teacher, but you know your students best and so this
training is going to give you a really comprehensive look at what literacy is. And um I'm asking you to take away what you need as a professional. And I really feel like our our teachers did that. All right. So, that's kind of our why and the reduct and how we got here. And so, we wanted to kind of catch you up
with what what has happened since last October since we saw you last. So, as I mentioned, we trained all of our teachers. Everything from um our birth through um 22 plus and our adult basic education teachers. So, more than 1,400 educators went through um a training
this last school year. Um, carry all was most of our elementary teachers and that was about 745 teachers. Ola was um a majority of our secondary teachers. Um, adolescent literacy solutions ALS was a smaller subset of our secondary teachers. And then we did have some
teachers prior to the readact who completed letters which was an also an approved training and that was 30 of them. So they um did not have to do any of the other trainings. They participated in all the synchronous work but not the asynchronous learning. So about 1400 teachers that have completed this structured literacy training. Um
one of the things that's really important to us is training is something that's required but what is this going to look like in the classroom. So these are some actual examples of what teachers have done in some transfer to practice activities and PLC's districtwide. So for elementary an example is in carry all they looked at u
module 3 that was about language and literacy and elonein boxes as a strategy. So, a Conan boxes are sound boxes where you would push up a a token or a chip into each box um sounding out the phone names or the sounds for the word bats. An example from high school science that
they shared. Um they really focused on vocabulary and vocabulary mapping was a strategy that they um said that they should that they would like to see present in all secondary science classrooms. um showing the different types of weathering, um the different connections from the words to examples, pictures, definitions, all the different
ways to really truly know what that vocabulary word would mean. And then finally, go back one more. Yep. Um another example from our NextStep Pathways and adult education group. Um they were looking at morphology and they thought it would be really great to
focus on um um the root of words. So for them, they were looking at the customer service context of words. using the roots serve to serve and man meaning hand and really getting the kids to understand how those roots would impact different words or help them to learn words that they would see um in the
workplace or in customer service. So we um we were really proud of the work that we did, but it wasn't just us that was so proud. I got to to brag non-stop to other district literacy leads about what was happening around um around the district. Um, but we had many outside trainers working with our staff
and these are just a few of the comments that we got from our outside trainers. Um, and I just would be remiss if I didn't share that other people also thought our teachers are doing great things. All right. And then education. Um, this is not required by the statute, but education isn't just of our teachers,
it's of our families as well. So last year we offered family academy nights. And so we had three of them. The first one in December focused on five pillars of literacy and what that would look like across all the grade levels. We had everything from early childhood through high school there. Um in January we
talked about morphology and the importance of the connection of reading and writing. And then we broke up into an elementary group and a secondary group and we walked them through walked them through some of the practices that they might see in um those settings in those classrooms. And then finally, we had a resource fair in the spring where
we had different vendors and community um resources to share out. Um as we mentioned with part of the Redact, universal screening is a required part of that. So there are two approved screeners that we could use. We use FastBridge. Um and this was new to us last year. So these are all of the
screeners that we started using last fall. Um and you can see the ones that we used in fall, winter, and spring um during the three required screening um windows. and we'll talk about the data coming up in just a few minutes. Good evening.
Good evening. Um, and thank you for the opportunity to speak to some of the data here this evening. So, we're going to chunk the data into two different categories. One is really satellite data, uh, which would be more of the standardized testing and then the classroom data that really informs
instructional moves. So we'll look at MCAs uh we'll look at the preac and then on the classroom level our universal screener fastbridge and then our earl okay we're going to start with MCA
reading data and uh this is the MCA 3 and this test uh was started in 2010 uh and in 2020 we did have new ELA standards and bench benchmarks. And now this coming school year in 2026,
we are actually going to have the MCA4 which actually will assess the standards that we have been implementing since 2020 when they when they change those. So we're really looking forward to seeing the new test uh from these
standards that we've been trying implementing and doing work around since 2020. We do want to point out though, this will be difficult for next year to compare because they will be two separate tests. So, this will be really
the last time we're looking at the MCA3. So, this graph is talking about grades three through five for reading proficiency. Uh, and you can see from the four years we are staying pretty consistent. Uh, this last 2425 we have
55.4% 4% meets or exceeds and then 21% partially meeting and then 23.6 that did not meet. Uh I do want to point out that that partially meets that is changing for the MCA4. They're going to call that
now intermediate. Um, and those are really students that are developing proficiency and they're working toward uh that goal but quite hasn't quite hit the complexity that's required for that particular grade level at that particular time and that they
take that test. And just a reminder, you know, that reading is really a continuum. Um, so that's what that is measuring. Thanks. And then we'll also look at we've bundled uh grades six through eight uh on our MCAs. I think I would
point out how excited we are as a former English and social studies teacher and and what Leah said and she mentioned that we really believe that all of us are reading teachers. Um the opportunity to to slow down and break down vocabulary and help students see and
increase their comprehension. We think there's really a great opportunity to move that partially meets with some intentionality uh into the meets expectations. Um, so then going on to our 10th grade, you'll see similar scores relatively
flat over the past four years, but again, we are very hopeful with the the staff development that we've had in the last year that we're going to be able to make gains in this area. Next, we'll Oh, you're go ahead. This one is looking at all of them
together. So, grades three through eight and the 10th grade uh over since 2021. And it also adds in the state uh proficiency level as well. So, you can see how uh the state has compared to
South Washington as well. Uh but we do recognize with all of those that we're really our eye is on South Washington kids and how they are performing on this test. And and that's well said, Joel. We have referenced these districts in the past
in world's best workforce uh now known as CACR. Uh so that is why we are referencing them on this slide. Um and our priority is our students. But uh for context uh you can see in the 2425 school year uh where we were in
comparison to those districts. Next we'll look at the preac data. Uh and this is really data that uh points to students and uh their ability to be on track towards the college uh readiness benchmark that is identified
as part of the ACT. Uh and uh then we'll move on to look at our ACT data. And there's a typo on this slide. It has been um rectified and is accurate online, but this should say ACT data reading. Uh and these this data
represents the number of percentage of students that meet the college readiness benchmark. Um and now sometimes people ask what is the college readiness benchmark? Um what does it indicate? And this really is an indicator of student success at a college entry uh humanities
social science class. Okay. So we kind of looked at some of those satellite data and now we're really going more to the more local level, the the data that we use to make instructional decisions for kids. Um, and one of those, and Leah
talked about it earlier, is the fast bridge assessment. And this was new to us last year. Uh, we will continue it uh for many years to come probably uh but for this year as well. And this is how our students did uh on last year. And we
do want to point out kindergarten uh that is it it it does appear that 42% in the fall and and then in the spring. But these are two different uh benchmarks that students are being asked to perform at. And then kindergarten act did also
add another test. Um so we're really proud of how kindergarten did on that uh fastbridge screener. Um and then uh amazing growth both in first, second, and third grade. So we're anxious to see this year with all the things that we
are implementing and uh improving on uh to see what our FastBridge data comes out with. And then the last one that we do use instructional uh decision making for is the independent reading level assessment. We call it the ERA. And this
goes with our ARC reading curriculum. And this is something that classroom teachers would be giving students. Uh there is a cold read, so a reading passage and then there are subtests uh for students to perform. And this is
actually for June 4th. Uh so when they ended the grade level and right when they end the grade level, it switches over. Uh so if I'm a third grader on June 4th, now I'm being measured as a fourth grader. So we are really looking
to see at what students are coming in and what how we can support them right away at the beginning of the year with the new set of criteria. All right. So a lot of work has been done, a lot of data has been shared um and the redact continues this year.
There's a lot of work that we have ahead of us this year as well. So um training continues this year. Um we will continue for policy 626 train all of our new to so co staff and at last check I it was about 70 to 80 teachers um in our structured literacy um many teachers it
was really exciting as they were hired this year would be talking to human resources saying hey I've already taken one of the trainings where can I submit my certificate so I've had a number of those um teachers already come from another district um that have completed a training um and we will that's Perfect.
Um and so we will and so we're waiting on some guidance from MDE to come out hopefully this week or so, but um that training for new to district staff will start in the next couple of weeks. Um the really big um lift for us this year is training our PAR professionals. So um
our regional literacy networks in um in partnership with the department of education have come up with a a training um for um two-hour modules for pair professionals. And so we have about 15 trained trainers in our district that are delivering this. And so we had our
first training on um this past Monday on the 29th. And we have about 450 program pair professionals. Um our human resources department um had to interpret the law. And so we determined that it would be all of our program pair professionals. So those 450 um and we had about 89% attendance um from our
pair professionals which I think is beyond outstanding. I was not sure what the threshold of success was going to look like. Um, but we only had about 50 teacher or pair professionals that were not at the training. And then in addition to that, our supervisory paras that were invited that day but not required by statute to be there. We had
about half of those pair professionals attend too. So we had over 450 people in attendance that day. It was really a great day. Um, and we'll conclude this training on November 4th um for the second part of those modules. So, I told the paras I got to humbly I get to humbly brag about them now, too,
because I do not know another district that has trained that many paras. Um, for our universal screening, um, elementary, we'll continue with our K3 screeners with Fastbridge. Um, we're also adding some diagnostic assessments this year. Um, just because a child um, scores is flagged on the letter sounds
test does not automatically mean that they need an intervention. That is a one minute time test. This the child could maybe just have needed more time to recall it. And so, we're adding diagnostics. So we can really dig deeper to see is this an issue for the kid or do we um need to just um does the child just need a little bit more time. Um for
secondary um we did get some guidance last spring um from the department of education um to add the universal screener for fourth grades fourth through 12th grade and there is one option only and so that is capy readad basics and because of the timing of when it came out we have to um deliver that
to any students who we have foundational reading concerns about by February 15th this year. um moving forward after this year, we will be doing that for any students um that are below grade level with foundational skills um in the fall. Um evidence-based curriculum
interventions. This is the area we're probably still working on the most. Um for elementary um for foundational skills, we have American Reading Company as our core comprehensive resource, as you know, and we're in year four of that. And it's typical in a in a curriculum cycle to kind of pause and say, "What's working? What's not working? Where are the where are the
gaps?" Um, and with what we know about our students and where they're at, the data and what it's telling us and with the guidance that the Department of Education has given us too, um, we have decided to look a little bit deeper at foundational skills resources. And so for kindergarten um, through 2 grade, we'll be using UFly, as we mentioned
earlier, um, as a foundational skills resource really for that phonics and funological awareness piece. Um, and then grades three through five, we're um, looking for a morphology resource. That work is just getting started with our um, reading specialists right now. Um and for both of those we hope to um
have we will be having training this spring and implement it next fall. Um then the final thing that we're doing for elementary is we have K5 implementation this year of priority benchmarks in literacy. So we've identified five priority benchmarks across um the year for every grade level um that we're really focusing in on that
um focus on those key um skills for students. For secondary, um we will be revisiting our learning um from the training last year and and figuring out what does transfer to practice look like. Um so we'll be revisiting that on the November 4th professional development day. Um and then we're also waiting for guidance from the Department
of Education expected out any day now um on evidence-based literacy interventions for grades 4 through 12. Um and so my hope is to begin um a CIRC standards and instruction review cycle in January with that MDE guidance and their recommendations. So that is what we'll
be doing for secondary. All right. So as you can see on this presentation, there has been a lot of work that has been done and a lot of learning. But with the learning, we always want to see how is it getting to
students. Um so we wanted some professionals in the field to talk about what we are seeing as far as the transfer to practice just from the training this last year. But the changes that are happening even this year are even greater. So um we're just going to
let them speak for themselves a little bit from our different schools brought us to together in some sense to kind of let us know like what do we where are we with foundational skills? So I think our primary teachers um ourselves and administrators like wondering did are we doing enough and do
we have enough in our tier one? So it really I think we've incorporated a lot of different resources that we were exposed to to really try and get that explicit instruction like we started UFly. We started switching groups around um according to what their needs are. So we
were personalizing the instruction this but they loved coming up with words that they thought had these prefixes and then trying to figure out the definitions and even making words that weren't words by putting the and then kind of it was almost a funny they they haven't done it. they it's new and exciting to them
right now because I just think it's something we haven't really focused on. Another thing we're going to do more of this year is more practice with literacy. So, finding articles and um having students choosing articles and pulling stuff from that and talking
about the um words that they see that they recognize that they might need help with versus just having, you know, like a maybe a short article about a specific science thing. We're going to do more um articles where they're pulling the information out themselves. So,
um the application is that we use a lot of like word walls and with our literacy with like learning notes and rhythms and such and making those connections within music. Um as a resource teacher just breaking things down and the biggest part that I
took away was vocabulary instruction. Um so we switch every single year of what we teach and what groups we're with. Um, so what we're trying to do is have materials that can be passed down from sixth, seventh, and eighth grade as we switch case managers. Um, so we are asking teachers to tell us their top
three vocab words in their each of their units so that we're able to pre-teach, retach, and display them in our rooms. Um, there was a lot of appreciation to our elementary friends who teach kids really to read. and then um a good push
in so what does it mean for high school if we're not actually teaching the foundational literacy skills but how can we help support um vocabulary acquisition just um being more intentional about why a student is read having um having more
prompts and giving them a reason for reading the article or they're reading so there's always like something that they need to be doing with it whether it's marking the text or circling key terms as District leaders were talking together about it, looking at data, and our PLC's were really focused too on how
we can do a better job to serve our kids. So, any questions for us? Does anyone have any questions? Yeah, I have a question. So, I'm noticing on all the different grade levels for the MCA from 2122 and then
the preceding years that they've gone down slightly where 2122 was the highest. And I remember when you first were telling us about when the when this came about um how sometimes things have to when there's a new reading program, things go down a little bit before they
go up. Is that what you would contribute this to then? Yeah, I think that's certainly part of it. Um, I think part of it too could be the foundational skills that we're going to be refocusing on. Um, I think specifically our elementary our primary teachers felt very empowered by the knowledge. Um, and they're like, I
didn't know this. I didn't learn this in my undergrad program. So, I'm hoping that that will be a contributing factor, too. Um, and it's it's tough because the screening, the fast bridge looks at really those foundational skills where the MCA looks at more of those complex application skills. So, I think it's a both and. I think we have to be really careful to make sure that we're kind of
meeting all the needs that the different tests might give us information on. Okay. Um so one of the questions I have a few questions I'm sure you guys are shocked. Um for the structured literacy programs the OLA and carry all what is
the difference between the programs or why certain teachers went through one program versus another? It's a great question. Um so there are three approved by the state. Letters being one of them that we did not use. Letters is about 150 hours of PD. Carry all and OLA were about 50 hours each. Um
and I think for um they all cover the same thing. They were all approved for phase one teachers. So they really were geared at those K12 special ed K12 English learners and then K3 teachers. So have a lot of it's a very robust understanding of the whole scope of
literacy. I think it was really kind of capacity that we thought like carry all would be a good f fit for elementary um and Ola would be a better fit. Um Ola had more asynchronous and less synchronous time. Um and so they then had more time synchronously to connect with peers and so we felt like that was a better match. And then the other one
that we we used ALS was not an MDE approved one. We knew those teachers were likely not going to be identified by MDE as requiring to take this. And that course was um by the same vendor as OLA, but it was specifically designed for secondary teachers. Um and so we could use that one because we knew it
wasn't going to be teachers who are required to take it. Um and so that's why we went with that one. Okay. Um and then one of the questions I had was you had you have in here I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. you have in here um that
you know roughly half the kids meet or exceed um standard and then about another call it quarter 20% quarter partially meet um and you had mentioned that um they're they're making progress
toward meeting but they haven't quite yet hit the benchmark. So, in any given year, if I'm a kid who partially meets, how likely am I to meet next year? I don't know if you know, I I don't even know if that's a solvable or an answerable question.
Yeah, it's a tough one because the standards are different at every grade level. So, you're kind they're kind of different tests, but of course, we're always looking at kids who are partially meets every year. Um, we first look at our core, like what are we doing for all of our kids because all of our kids really should be getting the instruction to meet. Um and so that really starts
with the core and then taking a look at is this something deeper? Do they need some sort of intervention support? So um go ahead. So I would just add to that MCA data should really not be used for instructional decision- making for individual students. MCA is more for us
to look uh as schoolwide or districtwide especially um on how we are doing as a system. uh we would want to lean into some of the more local data pieces for making instructional decisions for students.
Okay. So like the MCAs will say like at Simey's elementary school there is a lack of like phmic awareness and so you know that at this elementary school we need to push more phmic awareness overall and not specifically to Louise
or Eric or Melinda or whatever. Yes. So, we would not then put you in an intervention based on your MCA results. We may say, "Huh, all right, we need to look more at this and then pull in all the other data pieces." Um, our MCA data
comes out, well, we get kind of preliminary in the spring. Uh, we don't see it until the fall. It's it's almost kind of a little late like you've already started planning for the fall before the MCA data is even So, we're going to lean into some of the other data points. um to really give us
targeted information that we Okay. Um and so when we see like these partially meet standards, like are we seeing sort of consistent themes across grades or across schools or is it kind of just a hodgepodge and every year is
sort of a new grabag of concerns we want to address. Yes. So, and Leah's probably I mean you can correct me on this, but what I look at the MCAs, it does not uh kind of drill down very nicely into uh maybe as MAP would do or or a different type of
test. It is really just a very broad look and uh what Leah was talking to us too about is it is only measuring a very small portion of the literacy benchmarks for that grade level. So, I I I don't want to quote you on the number, but
yeah, there's um for the 2010 standards that this test is based off of, um I think there's like around 40 to 45 standards for each grade level. Um and this only and there's so we have like language strands that aren't addressed, writing, um listening, speaking, viewing, and media literacy. It only
looks at reading and it only assesses seven of the 10 benchmarks as well, too. So, it's it's a pretty small subset of of the overall standards. So children could meet these standards at large, right? But then but not meet what they are specifically on. It really
just looks at key ideas and details and craft and structure are really the only things that it looks like looks at for the students on the MCAs are really the two strands. Um so it doesn't do anything isolated for vocabulary or or any of those foundational skills phonics awareness. That's not part of anything on the third grade MCA.
Okay. And then is that expected to change is with the new MCAs or you just it will um it'll be very similar. It's the changes in in the English language arts standards are are somewhat small for the MCA4 and for the new standards. Um, and so then lastly with FastBridge,
can you like I'm a toddler. Explain it like I'm a toddler. What specifically does FastBridge measure? Because when I look at the numbers, right, to go from like 40% in kindergarten to like 90% in third grade seems like a
tremendous improvement. And so what is it that I am looking at to kind of level set how kids are making this kind of It's a great question. So yes, because it does look very different. So these are the required subtests. So there was the the pretty colorful one that had chart on there for what we do in each
grade level for each season. So in kindergarten and first grade, you'll see the most tests. So like in kindergarten, for example, we're looking at letter names, letter sounds. So they get one minute. It's a time test. How many can they name? And we're looking for automaticity. So they have to do it within three seconds. Um and then we are
doing word segmenting too. Then in uh winter and spring we add word um nonsense words. So can they decode made up words with phonics. So that's what we're looking at. Then in first grade it's it's so it's totally and then the benchmark is very low. We just tested our kindergarteners. Now none of our kindergarters are high risk. Good news
because they can't be because there is no there is no threshold for high risk because we're like they're just getting here. They haven't learned anything yet. Um and so that's why then by the time we get to spring there are there is a high-risisk category because there's so many more there's an additional test and there's so many things in second grade we look at some similar subtests um word
segmenting nonsense words and then we add what's called the CBMR um and that's basically a timed reading they get one minute and they do three different passages so three one minute timed readings and we're looking at how accurately can they read and what is their words correct per minute. So really how quickly and how accurately.
Um, and so that's kind of goes into that composite for sec for first grade. Second and third grade, we're just looking at that CBMR, so those three timed readings. And then for any kids that are flagged on that, we give them the nonsense word test to make sure that there aren't any phonics issues. So for second and third grade, we're really
looking at those timed readings, whereas kindergarten and first have many more subtests. Okay. And so with the um when I'm looking at this like so am I interpreting this correctly that so in the spring 53% of first graders
meet the benchmark so then they go to second grade 53 meet the benchmark 47 don't and so but then of the 407% that don't like 40% of them or well sorry not 40% whatever the math is right do the
they make enough improvement over the course of the here on those second grade benchmarks and the the implication is that they've also made the improvements on the first grade benchmarks that they were missing earlier. Yes, I mean we don't have to go back and give the the previous year's subtests
with the whole battery of test is open. Um schools can choose to give more of these assessments. There's a lot of other tools within FastBridge, too, but yeah, it is each grade level is kind of assessing different things that we're looking at. So, but yeah, we um we really track the kids within that cohort from fall to winter to spring. And this
is part of the local literacy plan. So really the whole chart that this came from is in our local literacy plan that we submit to the state. All that data. Did I answer that? Um but the only comparison set we have across school districts is the MCAs. There's no other like like we can look at we can look at fastbridge
across schools too. We can break it down by school, by classroom. Um absolutely. In fact, I bet was sitting with some schools today doing that work. Okay. It's really exciting. Um my second question, it's not actually a second question, but um so for high school, I
guess Mark, this would be you with the pre, what is the gap between the preacess and the ACT readiness? Because that looks like quite a decline. Yes. M two years ago, there was a significant
decline there. and in doing some thinking about that and what the research would say is it's it's a it's a lower stakes test um the the rigor of the questions tend to be quite different between the preac and the ACT and by no
means does this mean you know is this excusem but um the rigor of um the type of thinking on the questions as well uh it's more comprehensionbased uh one could say in the preac whereas the synthesis and the inferencing
and that higher level thinking is much more challenging on the ACT. There are a number of variables um the preac and it's great to have students here at the at the table to hear as well but it's also it's also an opt you're ready aren't you? Um it's an
optin whereas we test all of our 11th graders at the ACT. So there's so many variables that uh that contribute. I would say the the data two years ago was an anomaly of that 17%. I noticed the same things%
difference. Um but the other three years of the four seem to be a little bit more similar. Okay. And we'd probably not probably do I believe mirror the discrepancy between preac and ACT in a lot of districts. Did we notice it? Oh, go ahead. Sorry.
You should go ahead. Let's cut. So, God, hold it down here. Down here. Perfect. Thank you. Um, so for the preac, I took it as well last year and
um, I will be honest, my math teacher from that year helped us study for that and helped us prepare for that. But no matter what, it's still a hard test. I mean, and like you said, it's a low stakes test. It's it doesn't really seem
as important, even though it is to see where we are for students who need to take the ACT, which that where I come in is um from when I took it, there were kids in that classroom with me sped through it within five minutes.
kids, especially 10th grade, freshman, middle school. And I will say in middle school, I didn't really my sixth grade or eighth grade year, the MCAs I didn't really think were important. So, I didn't really do my best on them. And once I learned in high school that they
were basically research based off what y'all look at, that's when I started trying. But um our teachers back in middle school would have to kind of force us to try. There are kids that can fly through it in five minutes. There are kids that actually
try, which are the ones who exceed. Most of the kids that don't try, just click one question, go to the next, click one question, go to the next. I did that my eighth grade year. Um hey, I'm being honest. But um
the same thing happened with the preac. Not what I did. I tried on that and I still struggled. But I think the reason why we're seeing such a decline, would you say it's a bit of a decline in the MCA and the preac or is it kind of stable? Would you say pretty
fairly stable? Fairly stable. Yeah. Um, in my opinion, I just feel like we need to push teachers should try or teachers to and students to try and try their best on these tests because these state
standardized tests are important to see where we're at as schools, where we're at as teachers, and where we're at as students. Not just, oh, click this and you're done. That's really all I have to say. Thank you. Good. Thank you. Thank you, Andrew. Does anybody else
have any questions? I do have a question. Um Leah, you you had mentioned that try to categorize this right, but you mentioned that some of the seven out of the 10 or there's only seven maybe out of 10 benchmarks that the MCA recognizes
or utilizes assessment. Um, that being said, I guess there's other assessments that are used to maybe paint a better picture, but that being said, is the MCA the predominant, I guess, assessment tool that's used to indicate the proficiency level at each
grade level? By and large, I would say no. Um, I think our schools definitely use that and like Jolene said, it's really great for especially for a teaching and learning department to take a look at our curriculum, what we're doing, how what supports do our teachers need. Um but actually in the
MCA like test specul test specs if you will um it recommends that all the other ones are tested with classroom assessments. So those might be um we could use things like the MAP test for that or classroom designed assessments. This year we're working on common summitive assessments um across the district for our priority benchmarks in
all grade levels. And so that would be one thing we would look at like for this benchmark here's the common assessment that we're giving for all sixth graders in sixth grade English. What is what is the data telling us? Can they do this or can they not? and to build those we're using the the guidance from MDE where they say here's what proficient looks
like for that. So that's the guidance that we're using for that. So yes so MCA is important for us to look at for a systems level but it's not the most important thing for us to look at with kids. I'd say we have other tools for that. We'll use the map test, we'll use the CAP read basics and then other local assessments in the classroom.
So it seems like a very complex system. Is there a way to give a a a I guess a simple assessment on look we have these are our kids in this grade in this school district based on what we have
all those assessments this many are proficient at reading at this level is there a way to do that yeah um at that particular time I mean so we have a new tool this year called educ that's our would you call it a data warehouse yeah edg climber and so what we can do with edged climber is we can build data walls so we can take the MCA
data, we can take map data, we can take um common sumitives, we can take attendance in there and we can build a data wall. So I can take a look at a school or a grade level or a classroom or a student and that will give me a picture of what that student or what that classroom is able to do. So that's a tool that we use
because um I was joking with another literacy colleague today like sometimes that reading is a little bit more complex. We don't find that they're often like oh they're great at all the things in reading like it might be a writing thing, it might be a reading thing. So that's what we probably would do is use a tool like edge of clamor to really build a picture around that kiddo and when we are looking at our our kids
who are referred for special services or interventions. We look at all those pieces of data. So I don't have an exact number that could tell you this kid is good and this kid is is not proficient at reading. Would you guys have anything to add to that? I mean it's I guess I speak from an
elementary level. It's it's always a changing thing for students in in literacy. I mean especially in elementary um they are growing at such a fast pace. So we need to respond very quickly to students
when they indicate on any of these assessments that they are falling below where we would want them at that particular time. So we can intervene and help them right away. Um so that's something that we're working on. I know at all levels, but especially at the
elementary level in K12 to ensure that kids when they're coming in and we see an assessment that may be below what we would want it to be that they get the help that they need. Um, but as far as MCAs, I mean, you can look at that and say this is one one way of looking at
literacy and how students are doing in reading as a district. That is one of the measures and it is the measure that the state is going to use for South Washington. So, and I would just add at the secondary level, I was just in a classroom today at Park High School, and technology is really revolutionizing the data that we
can get in real time on our students in terms of locally assessing like during the class period and then actually utilizing AI to quickly have a synthesis of how the students are performing and then provide specific
feedback from the teacher to the students in real time in the classroom. And that was just an experience today. Again, highlighting the importance of local assessments to understand instructional moves more than necessarily um data that sometimes we
call um like autopsy data. It's after the fact. Yeah. I guess my best example would be um I was at some elementary schools today meeting with reading specialists and we looked at the we we screen all kids. So we make sure we don't miss anybody. Everybody gets the screener. From there, anybody that's flagged, we want to dig a little bit deeper. So then
we give a diagnostic and from there we take a look at what is it and so reading specialists were showing me here's kind of what we determined there's areas of needs like before we would have just said like oh all these kids that are flagged they go into an intervention now we're saying oh these kids really need word segmenting these kids need more letter sound correspondence um and they
said we're using more data than ever before and there's there's always that concern of overesting kids and I I have to say that um our staff is really embracing this because they feel like we know what kids need sooner and we can intervene sooner um and then they were even sharing ing on their spreadsheets, too. Um, this kid has been an
intervention since kindergarten or this kid is a new one to pop up on our radar. So, there's so many factors to overlay um with those kiddos. But I think we do have the the right tools to do it and so we just need to make sure that we're enacting all this these things with our kids. I think I'd go back to the original goal
of the read too that every child is reading at grade level and even MDE has cautioned in using MCA data to determine that. So we've determined different measures whether it's the MAP or the fastbridge and intervening throughout the year and in the spring they do this
but even MDE has said MCA isn't reading at grade level it's it's performance on these standards and which reading is much more than just the standards on there. So it is confusing and it is it is our accountability test and we know that and we know that there are other
measures that we're using for grade level reading. So it's it's complicated as is reading. So if I this may seem like a dumb question, but I'm going to ask it. So if I present to you a student
and I are you able to tell is is somebody able to tell me yes, this child is reading at grade level. Yes. And and yet that child might be partially proficient on the MCA, you know, but they're reading at grade
level. And according to all of the foundations of literacy, like they have met all of these at grade level, but the day that they took the MCA reading test, they're partially profess proficient. And that's a confusing message for families, I would guess. Okay. But if you could tell me that one
particular child is reading at grade level, then you can give me a percentage for the entire district per grade using Fastbridgeidge, using MAP, whatever the measures that we're going to use. Absolutely. That is that is that being done I guess for each particular child.
Absolutely. Yeah, that's what our MTSS process is. That's what it looks like. We screen we do a diagnostics. We intervene um and we are always focusing on the core instruction before we intervene. Every child K8 is taking that screener in the fall. This fall.
This past fall. This past fall. Um, every child K8 in ninth grade is when we're gonna the high school is the new the new nuance this year. That was added with the 412. Um, but every child took that screener this fall. We actually have a meeting in a
couple weeks to look at now in middle school in particular because elementary this is old hat. They've been doing it. But in middle school, we're going to sit down. We're going to triangulate that data then. So, we're going to look at where they were on the screener. We're going to look at what services are they receiving and is there any other things
we need to consider like rapid guessing or things that might come out on that test. And then we're going to develop this list of kids who are not reading at grade level. And then we're going to you know send notes home to parents and we're going to provide interventions. Um, and we're gonna that's where that
read capt basics comes in is that next steps that gives us that diagnostic then of what is it that Mark is not reading at grade level on and then that's what we can intervene on. So that is the new step that the read act has given us for
middle school and high school kids. We've been doing it at elementary though. I think the question for for the public or you anybody to say like is my child reading at grade level like what what are you asking? Like that's what I always want to know first. Like we look at the MCA data and we can look at third grade and say it's about 50%. But then we look at the the fastbridge screening
data and we're sitting at 92%. So that tells us that our kids can decode accurately. So if you're wanting kids to be able to read with their eyeballs and decode the words quickly and accurately, we're almost 100%. But when it comes to some of the more complex and nuance skills, um, and then that's just so based on like what text is in front of
them. Like I'm reading up par about pen about penguins and I don't know anything about penguins. I'm going to disengage from this or I don't want to read this or this passage is too long. Um that's where the MCA data gives us a little bit more of a holistic picture with those higher level skills. But again, it's one snapshot in time. So that's why we
presented both of those things for third grade because I think that shows the biggest discrepancy of reading at grade level. Like what does it really mean? Decoding or does it mean all the skills comprehensively? Yeah. And I don't and I I I appreciate um you guys talking about this because I'm not and I'm not trying to um you
know make this more simple than it is because it's it's complex. I understand it. It's abstract ideas and whatnot. Um but I think that if we have a have a particular I don't know if you want to say problem but obstacle or or something that we're
trying to overcome here um we have to understand clearly where we are and where we want to get to. Now the state has indicated that we want every child to be reading at grade level as you indicated. What does that mean? And nobody can answer that. Frankly,
nobody can answer that, which in my opinion is a problem. Um, and I'm not saying I'm the guy to to solve it. I'm just saying it's a problem. So, I guess based on the entire discussion, are you able is anybody able to give me
an idea like realistically? Look, I I think realistically not every child is going to be reading at grade level. Okay. Realistically, how many what percentage of kids can we actually get that are reading at grade level? I mean, what are we trying to get to here?
Yeah, I would have to get back with the exact numbers, but when I am hearing your question, I think I would go straight to our fall assessments that we just finished up in elementary to say fast bridge. This is the number, and I
don't have that graph sitting in front of me, but this is the number of right now in elementary per grade level of students that on the FastBridge test is proficient or not. And so that would give you a good number and I can get it
to Mrs. Nielsson uh about it of this is the amount of students that we are now looking at closely to say do we have other data to support that kind of what we've talked about but we right now know at a K5 level which student right now in
the fall has either shown up on that screener as uh at risk at all um on that screener. So we could get that data for you for the fall. Yeah. And I mean I I think it's it's less important and I would take it, but it's less
important for me to know, it's more important for you all to know because you are the ones that have the very difficult task of dealing with this. So um as long as you have that information and know where you want to get to Yeah. with it.
Yeah. I'd say most of our elementary schools that I've met within the last week or so already have interventions up and running. So, they've already looked at that data. They've dissected it. They've looked at it upside down and sideways given the diagnostics. Um, and middle school is just finishing up with that in the next week or so. Um, and
then high school will be working on um coming up in the next couple of weeks, months maybe. When we started the screening process with the steering team this last fall, we took last year's data because to your point, everyone's looking at our MCA saying there's no way we can intervene with 50% of our kids. like 50% of our
kids are not not reading at grade level. Not to use a double negative, but so we were like, what are we going to use to determine if they're reading at grade level? Well, let's use our MAP scores. So, we took our MAP scores and then we triangulated that data with are they receiving EL services? Are they special
ed services where they're reading at grade level might be a different level because of the services that they need? And then again, those other factors that might come into play. It was around 10 to 11% of kids per grade level that would need an intervention of not
reading at grade level. So to to try to get down to like I think what you're asking it was around 10 to 11%. I would say we would love that number to be less than 5%. Of kids that are not reading at grade level. So I think that's what you're asking. And when
that is exactly right. Yeah. Because when you see this it's it's not an intervention problem if it's 50% of your kids. it's a core problem, but when we actually used the data about reading at grade level, it was around 10 to 11%. Okay. And then last question,
um my concern is or not my concern, but I guess something that I could foresee happening is in the uh effort to try and as maybe as you said bring that number from 10% to 5% or whatever, right? Um that standards get laxed. Is there
some sort of a is there I mean I understand maybe Minnesota Department of Education, but is there some sort of a body or some set of individuals that are ensuring that these standards are upheld so that we're not dropping standards or, you know, whatever just to say, "Oh,
yep. We got another 2% in there. We're good." Right. Like teaching to the test. That's not our goal. Right. So, right. Yeah. And and I think that's what Leah was saying with our we've determined these seven standards are we are going to teach and retach and teach and retach until kids understand this. And that's
what the new data warehouse system of educ is going to give us because now we're going to be able to see by standard where teachers and kids, you know, are and are these the right standards that are aligned to this test and that test. And so it's it's not teaching to the test, but it's teaching
the right things and it's continually teaching the right things that will eventually show on these accountability tests. My colleague Ben Lucino would love your question, Eric, because um when we talk about intervention, we always think about we're talking about the kids that are struggling, but we can't forget about the kids who can already do it. And so when we give the FastBridge
screener, if I am a teacher in a kindergarten classroom and 92% of my kids met the benchmark, I need to adjust my pacing when I'm talking about letter sounds and letter ID because that's going my core instruction needs to change and I need to make sure that I'm meeting the needs of those kids. I'm not going to just do what I planned on doing
over the summer. Um, I need to response to respond to the kids in front of me. So you're absolutely right. We do need to make sure that we are looking at both ends of the spectrum and that's really what the MTSS process does. We have this data. What do we know about our kids? Well, we have all of our kids here, some are here, and some are here. Um, what what are our actions to take as teachers? So, 100% we need to make sure
that we're um and that's the biggest thing with the MCAs, too, that we're seeing is that we do need to make sure that we're having the rigor, that we're putting complex text in front of kids. We talked with the Paris last week about complex academic language, like not baby talking things like the the rigor needs to be there for all of our kids. We
can't make um we can't have preconceived notions about what our kids can't can and cannot do, like, oh, we're not going to do this question today. It's too hard for the kids. We need to have that rigor for all of our kids. Yeah. And it's not I mean it's not something that we can rely on somebody at the state level to to manage. It's something really that every teacher in
this school district who's instructing children how to read needs to take it upon themselves to to adhere to it adhere to that standard year after year. And if there's a teacher in this district that's been here, I don't know, 25, 30 years or whatever, they should have an idea or even frankly 10 years,
whatever, they should have an idea as to, you know, yes, this next group of kids or this next year of kids that I've had compared to the last year and the year after that, they're, you know, they're reading better or more proficiently. Um, so and I mean you all
you know that obviously I'm not I don't mean to sound like I'm telling you something you don't know but um I guess that's it. Louise, Ryan, Sharon, do any of you have any questions? My question
Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. 5.2 is board governance plan yearly review and that will be presented by myself. Um so all of you will have the three-year
board governance work plan um in front of you. we are going over what we have um the 2425. So does anybody have anything that they would like to cover? Do we feel that these have been
um done? Does anybody have any questions on any of these? We didn't add anything in for this year, correct? There's nothing new. No, everything is what we did last year. Yes. When we originally did the
three-year Katie, I would maybe just point out for the board, um Dana and I had the chance to go back through and so we made um some marks. I'm trying to see the copies out there. Um just to talk about when we uh did different things. So um all of you are very aware of district policies.
We do them monthly. Our student handbook was approved in July of 2025. So, we have a lot of dates in that 2425 column. As Dana and I walked through that and captured dates, um there were some underneath um self-governance. Um it's kind of like the school improvement
plan. Sometimes you don't get to things, you might move them forward, sometimes you might revise them. Um but the three things in there where it said none um annual board self-evaluation and then um board professional de development two times annually. We were
really in a good pattern. Um I think when we we got new board members on we did board training two times a year. Um I don't know that that happened this past year and then um board listening sessions were on and I know that the board had a conversation and decided
maybe there was not a need right now for that. So just to point out that I think those were the three um as well as oh retreats which also was the professional development but just retreats. Yeah. So I would say I know that we did decide not to do the board listening
sessions. Um and then I know we had some discussions around the annual board self-evaluation and I think the reason we didn't is because we were not getting board members to complete it. um we were getting roughly 50% if that that we're
actually completing the self-evaluations. Um so again that is something that we definitely can if we want to bring that back. Um that it can be done. Um I do
think we do need to it will be after you know the first of the year. um we will have at least one new board member since Eric um did not run. So we will have at least one new board member. So I do believe that that
should be something that should be done next year. Um and then maybe we keep on that um schedule unless there is something that um board members want to do annually. Um
and then and we could tie those in with some of the retreats with the executive cabinet so that we're not having to um do four times a year. We can do it so that we are meeting up. I know we used to do sometimes Saturdays where it was like a
4-hour session on a Saturday to get it so that it all can be in there. Um but again, this is something that we go over. So any thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated. Cheers Schwarz for clarity. You are
suggesting for next year's goals or um task that to add um to make sure that the board self-evaluation um is added to that. Is that correct? If if that is something that the board wants to do, I would suggest doing it the years that we do have possibly new
board members. So, every other year along with at least one professional, not the election year, the following year. Thank you. Yes, I know we did board self- evaluations with my 916 board and
I saw some things that were helpful with it, but overall I didn't really see anything that really helped the board relations. And as far as the um the training and I think that doing the governance, doing this part with our retreat would definitely be preferable.
So the only thing that gives me like or that I think about with the with the self self-evaluation is when did we go to the national school board meeting? Couple years ago. Two or three years ago. Yeah. So um I
attended a session with these researchers from Texas&M who do who evaluate board impact on student outcomes. And one of the things that they had mentioned was that one of the things that boards do that positively impact student outcomes is board
self-evaluation and board um I mean well the board governance plan for sure but then but having a having a robust self-evaluation process and it turns I'm not exactly sure how like they didn't go into their research in depth or whatever but um I remember taking
that away as one of the key points that we should think about. Now, I don't know. I mean, they're in Texas. There's like there's got to be what, like 8 billion school districts in Texas, you know? I don't know what exactly they do that we don't do already or if we're already doing some things that are
part of the self-evaluation cycle, but um you know, as we talk about student outcomes having it seems like we should maybe consider things that we know statistically positively impact student outcomes. I guess I'd like a little more
information on how because I know I'm gonna have to go find my notes. I have attended some of those. Um, and a lot of them are sales. Oh, no. They're they were actual professors like they were not they were not like hire my consulting firm kind of people. Okay. Cuz I do know I do
are those and then they're going to tell you that oh yeah, our firm has found that this does this. Hire our firm to do this. Yeah. Um because I know I I feel that it could possibly be helpful if you get everyone
to take it. Um but again, it's also what do we do with that information? Because we've taken them and then we've just let them sit just never done anything with the information. We sit in a close session, we say this is what it was, but then it
doesn't it doesn't go anywhere. So, I would like maybe some more information as to how it helps um student outcomes before we try to add it as an every Yeah, let me go see if I can find my notes from then they um I mean also I
think the other thing that is a factor in there is just also how comprehensively board members engage with this self-evaluation, right? Like if we're like Andrew's example of like I'm just going to hit C for every answer and be out of here in five minutes, that might that might have a different impact, right?
Um and be less useful. Anyone else have any thoughts or just on the board self-evaluation that that would be well done would be a way to determine what PD the board should work with.
Correct. Okay. No other discussion. We can um move on if I can find my agenda. So we can move on. So the only thing we're adding for the 2526 school year then is the um board
self-evaluations. Is that in agreement? The board self and then the other one is on there correct the professional development. Wasn't that PD two times annually? Okay. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. We will move on to our last workshop item and that is open
enrollment parameters and that will be presented by Kelly. All right, good evening again. Just waiting for the presentation to come up. Um I think Superintendent Nielsson's talked about we we start school, we get kids here, and then we
talk about next year. So here I am. Uh we are here to introduce the open enrollment parameters for 2627 school year. Um you'll see our timeline why this is necessary in the fall. As a reminder, open enrollment provides
non-resident families an opportunity to attend Sawashko schools. And this is a Minnesota statute that we it's called the open enrollment or the enrollment options program. And through a resolution in statute, we may limit the
number of kids that we accept for open enrollment. But we do want to participate in open enrollment instead of just closing totally. Those are like the two options. We participate, we can limit with the resolution or we just say we are not open to open enrollment ever.
And so with unknown things, we we have decided to do the third bullet. Whereas in the business meeting in October, we'll bring the resolution back to you that will have the data of the number of open enrolled students in each grade level along with some capacity
restrictions. So um if you participate in when the resolution is reached, we have to set a parameter in which the number of students we will at least accept. And the least number you can accept is 1%.
And so what this says is we will accept or sorry 1% or the number of students who open enroll outside of our district. So we are saying through this that we will accept at least 1% of a grade level or the number of students who have
enrolled outside of our district that live in our district whichever number is less. So we'll accept at least 1% of a grade level or if we've got more than 1% we'd stay at the 1%. And if we have less than 1% that's the number of kids we'd accept
through our resolution. And because our buildings vary so much in capacity we also in our resolution define capacity and say if a building has reached 90% as a elementary or 95% as a high school those buildings are also closed to open
enrollment. Um there are other factors that you can see there that we have listed studentto staff ratios um enrollment staffing size and physical attributes of the facility um recommendance from recommendations from
MDE MDH those had to do with COVID restrictions if that would ever come back again let's hope not um social distancing any other factor so basically if we wanted to try to define any of these in our resolution to limit open enrollment we could we really do stay to
the 1% or capacity in our grade levels. Um so basically open enrollment applications will be approved if space is available for the applicant under the enrollment cap standards. So all those things that we listed staffing etc. uh
the requested school is under 90% or 95% but as a reminder when someone enrolls into our district they are enrolling in the grade level. They are not enrolling in a school at that point. They request schools and but we are saying you can enroll in kindergarten and here are the
schools that are available to you in kindergarten. Um once we enroll a student we consider them ours so they stay on our pathway. So if a student is enrolled in Crest View and their pathway is Cottage Grove Middle and Park, even if they were at capacity, they are
considered ours once they're our student. So we wouldn't say at sixth grade, "Sorry, there's no room at Cottage Grove. We're going to send you over to Lake." Um, so just as an example, once they're enrolled, they're ours. Um, so basically these are the three reasons that we would say yes. To
give you an example, this year when we looked at open enrollment applications, we start with kindergarten because that is the grade that we would start with that 1% or the number of our kids that are out because that's the grade we are accepting open enrollment applications
for sure in the other grade levels. We look at how many open enrolls we have and if we have space in buildings. So, we're here today because the timeline is coming up. December 1st through January 15th is the application
window. Um, any applications received after January 15th, receive the next number on the wait list. And then by February, we like to let families know if they have been accepted for open enrollment gives them time to make that decision and then um we can make sure that we are counting them in our initial
staffing numbers. So, as I mentioned in the business meeting, I'll bring back the resolution that will have the details regarding how many students we have and the capacity numbers. As you if you recall last year, our resolution closed all of our middle schools and all of our high schools
except for Sawashka Online um to open enrollment because of the capacity. Right now, we're kind of crunching the numbers with some of the additions and where we're at and whether we'd want to close um open enrollment at a certain school or grade level. Um those would be
part of that resolution in o at the end of October. So, what questions do you have? Anyone have questions? I just have a quick question. When will we know like around how many students we may possibly be losing to the new math
and science? I know um Miss Neielson's working really closely with their executive director and just kind of what their enrollment timeline is and they're they're really being open around this is what we're trying to make sure we know our timeline. We also have our choice programs that so all of those timelines
are like January, February, I think they're hoping. Um but I I know you we Chris and I are meeting uh with Dr. Hinton next week and that's just going to start taking a look at their staffing timeline and some of the deadlines they're operating underneath along with
our staffing timeline. So we hope to if we need to make some slight adjustments. We just want to make sure that as we go into this new school year we're not overstaffing and then um students are uh you know enroll in MSA and so that will be a key part of the timeline.
One question I have is if a kid So if I'm a third grader or whatever and I get off the wait list and I go to and I'm I'm open enrolled into our schools, right? And I go to Crest View and then I get off the wait list and I go to MSA and then I decide this is not the right
environment for me and I want to come back. Do they come back as a new student or they do they come back with some sort of priority because they've already been one of our kids and they're a non-resident and they're a non-resident. They would have to reopen enroll. Reopen enroll. Yep. And so the school so the pathway
may be entirely different than what it was when they first started. There's no like there's no there's no Yeah, there's no like grandparenting into Okay, I do have one question.
Knowing our capacity issues, do we take the pathway into consideration when we allow students into an elementary school?
Yes. Yes, we have actually for four or five years. Yep. Um we have. And then do we choose? So if there's multiple pathways from a middle school to a high school, are they given
what that pathway will be when they start or when they go they're in eighth grade? Are they told at 8th grade this is where you'll go next year? So a good example is Oldman because it's like a 6040 school, right? Um what student information does is kind
of look where is that kid coming from. So if they're coming from Hastings, they would be probably boundary to Park. If they're coming from North St. Paul, they would probably be boundaried to Eastridge. So she does look where they're coming from. And I would say
probably maybe once or twice a student who's open enrolled, they are not told in sixth grade. It's but that's if they're a if they ask that would be the answer. Well, we look where you live and we look at which high school is closer. Um, and we probably get one or two a year that it's like, well, I was at
Ultman and I'm open enrolled and I was put at Eastridge, but I really want to go to park. And so we would say, okay, then that can be your pathway. So, we try to work with families. Um, and it's a few and far between that we do that, but we do look at where they live and what's convenient for them.
So if they would want say an IB program and one of their pathways would we would make those exceptions so that they can but obviously we wouldn't say none of your pathways are Woodberry but you want this program
they wouldn't likely get into Woodberry over a district student that would want I would say no unless they were unless we put them at Eastridge because we thought that's where they'd want to go and Eastridge has 120% capacity and Woodbury has 95% capacity and they wanted Woodbury. We say sure,
right? Yeah. No, I know that's always going to be like if you want to go to the school that doesn't have as much, we're going to do it, but we're not going to Yeah. move them over, right? If it's not the pathway that would be their original and and I was just going to add to that, too. We do all of our inner district
transfers well before we accept open enrolled students. So any students of ours that live in our district that want to switch schools, we do all of those first. And if there's spots left after that, then we would allow open enroll students into our district that don't
live in our district. Yes. Anyone else? Okay, we can move on to 6.0 information items. We do have two of those this evening. 6.1 is the financial update and that will be presented by Chris Blackburn,
director of business services. All right, I think the control room has us tonight. So, I don't know. Woohoo. Okay, so financial update. Um, I will also share that I too had a typo. Apparently, when you're working on preliminary levy, working on
audit, and trying to hire a position, you put October 4th, which is not tonight. However, that said, I'm very excited to be here. So this evening we're going to um speak about budget forecast. No, I noticed it today actually and I was like wait what looked
at my clock and watch and um I thought about putting it as a quiz to be honest. So um budget forecast model. So each year we like to just come to the board and talk about kind of what our process is for providing budget forecasts. We know that's an important part of our role. The purpose of why we do that um
is shown on the slide above and that is really that we need to estimate the fund balance um future fund balances to know kind of where we're at. We know that fund balance is largely our district's checkbook and so that's what we have as we look at contracts, as we look at just future priorities, as we look at needs across the district. Um we know that
that's monitored by Minnesota Department of Education. If we do end up at negative 2.5%, we know that's statutory operating debt. I know when I first started here we got very close um but managed to stay out. So we do also know that board policy is 16.6%
they're going faster even than I can talk. Um we also know that the reason and the purpose we do the forecast model is also because we need to estimate any needed adjustments. So it allows us just a tool um that we can work again just in those broad totals because again specifics are going to change. We also
know that it's based on assumptions. And what do we know about assumptions is that they certainly may change. So the fund balance that we present is always based on the best information we have today. And we absolutely know that that can change. Um it's a snapshot in time. So what I present now is might change by
next week. Um and again as we talk to math and science academy as we have just across the board maybe changes enrollment um or other maybe expenditures change, maybe revenues change, the state makes a change in our aid. We know that can impact. So tonight we're like I said going to talk about
we're still wrapping up last fiscal year. The auditors do come. Um not that Nikki and I are counting but I think it's days and they will be here for 2425 audit. So by the end of October we should have um pretty solid information about 2425.
So oop see I got to talk faster. So assumptions um I'll talk about this slide first then I'll go kind of work backwards. Budgeted enrollment just on this. This is a graphical presentation of that because one of the largest assumptions we have is enrollment. We
very much try to be conservative in that. We do use a historical capture methodology. So the red bars on this graph are actual actual numbers. The green is the current um last fiscal year 2425 that we still are wrapping up. Student information is working very
diligently to finalize those numbers. The blue is our budgeted enrollment. So I'll just point out that that is our budgeted projected at 19213. Um and then the gray from 26 27 school year all the way to 3031 is just estimated based on what we know. You
will notice that it declines some. Um we've kind of bounced around a little head pretty stable but it does we're anticipating it to decline. The reason for that particular 26 27 you'll notice a fairly uh on this side maybe not quite so sharp but a little sharper decline and that does reflect the estimated
impact um of our of other program expansion such as math and science academy. So we do know Woodberry Leadership Academy is expanding as well. So we may see um what we know is it's very uncertain right now. So I would also just caution to um on these that we know that things can change and we'll
continually be updating that and working behind the scenes administratively to ensure that we um can best um get ourselves positioned as we look forward. So years after 26 27 right now we're projecting about 100 student um loss each year. Some of that is because as
math and science kindergarten, we know that we may continue to lose kindergarten um to that program particularly. We also know that birth rates are continues to be on the decline. Post-secary enrollment options at the particular 11th and 12th grade that we see um some students make choices there with our online
programming. We you know sometimes see students come back to our system as well. We know that with athletics or other activities that we do see sometimes increases in those secondary grades. We are a very attractive school district. Um again the other enrollment options whether in or out we also know
some students drop and on the very positive note I don't always like to just be doom and gloom but we have continued growth in communities so even uh we're made aware of um the tank property so I know I've heard people talk about being sad about sweet corn maybe but we're excited to have some
housing development in that area as well um with always some uncertainty how many children that may be bring in and students into our system. So now we can move past this slide. That's the visual. And again, this goes to the birth rates. So Washington County births as a general rule, like our overall student
population, um we have 42% of Washington County resident population. Um but we usually capture a greater rate than that within our kindergarten classes. Again, this may be impacted with some of those choices um that parents and families may
make. But right now, this is slide. This is a little dated. Um, I know there was a quite a delay 2021. I do have the information on my desk, I realized, but I did move offices and so I could not put my finger on it tonight um or when I put this together. And so we do know
that um I would say that when Hazel Reinhardt had done the demographic study, it stayed pretty in line with that with the births for 2021 anyway because that is um out now anyway, the actual but again kindergarten numbers are still a little bit projected yet. Um
although now I could probably change that because we do have kindergarten numbers. Uh on the next slide then is the enrollment implications and so here you will note that for 25 26 um kindergarten enrollment even is slightly under where that capture rate. So we did
see um some decline right now in some of those numbers perhaps that cohort survival methodology. So again, we look back historically as to where those students have typically come from um in K and kind of make some assumptions there, that capture rate. Then we look at first
grade from this past year that they roll into second grade the next year. Second grade moves to third grade and we know roughly what that um when we look over the last number of years, historical averages, we apply those. We also know historical averages sometimes are incorrect. And so maybe there's a blip.
We know during the pandemic that definitely was a blip. So you see that negative 1.34% in 2020 um 21 on that slide and so we know that things can happen as well that impact those. So it's our again best information we have as of today and so right now we are
slightly anticipated to be over budget for 2526 although we'll very much continue to monitor that. Um the numbers in red on this slide do reflect I thought it just prudent to um as we put these estimates together. These are the areas in which we're um there's just
some specific targeted decreases in those grade levels based on what we currently know and anticipate. We know math and science academy roughly right now that Dr. Hinton very generously has shared with us about 67% of their students are south Washington County
school students. So we've applied that factor. Again, knowing historical may not hold true as we move forward. Maybe they would bear leadership families might go to that school instead. So it's really um I would say I've kind of want to have a really good crystal ball. Uh
but we can use as best as we know today. So excuse me on the next slide. Then the other significant so we talk about enrollment because it does impact that revenue. The reason is because of the basic formula is the large one and that
is for 2526 we know that $7,481 per pupil unit and they do use adjusted pupil units we know that secondary students are weighted at a greater level than elementary students. It did increase 2.74% in 2526 and that was reflected in our budget. Future years
are tied to inflation and again that was set by statute a couple of years ago. So the floor the minimum of 2% up to a maximum of 3%. they certainly could change that um legislatively as well. And so again, this past spring, we were kind of monitoring just to see if there was any either additional increase or
perhaps a change to that, but that did not occur. It is determined again by the state legislature and as these assumptions again in forecasting. So we use 2.5% in each of the next three years that we present this evening. And I'll remind um the board and the public that
our that basic formula makes up about 43 to 45% of our general fund budgeted revenues. So again, not quite half but just slightly under half of our dollars we get that revenue on on the other revenue assumptions. Then
for state special education is our other single biggest um state aid and we know that generally it increases with expenses. So as expenses go up since a reimbursement program generally that amount of aid we receive will also increase. I have it a asterisk here this
evening and that is because we do know that there's two particular impacts this past spring that they passed a reduction in special education transportation reimbursement. We used to historically had been um reimbursed at 100% for special transportation. That number was lowered to 95. We were able
to incorporate that into our 2526 budget. It's about a $750,000 loss in revenue anticipated. We also know that next year starting in 2627 that number will go down again by another 5% to 90%. So we would
anticipate another similar adjustment in revenue projected impact of the blue ribbon commission on special education for 27 and 28 as well as 2829 school year. And I'll say um I call it sometimes my chicken scratch math, but in looking at
what our percentage of the total special education costs across the state um and then what our aid kind of thereof is, it's about I'm projecting about a $3 million in each of those years decrease in our special education aid. So again,
a significant number. We also know our operating referendum increases with inflation and federal title and federal special education. So our federal programs we're assuming that they're going to remain flat as they have fluctuated significantly and again as
we've spoken here before that's less than 2% of our budget fees admissions and other um so interest for example we also assume flat typically interest is probably one that we take a little closer look at depending on what the environment is doing. Chris can I just ask a clarifying question so you had
mentioned this reduction in special education trans transportation is $750,000 per year starting this year. Um, and it will and then starting two years from now, it'll be $3 million roughly speaking for
special ed. So, three years from now, it'll be 3 million plus 750,000 is our gap from what we currently have or what we had last year and that we expect that gap to continue in perpetuity. Correct. And so, I think as we talk about some of that, I want to be careful too that
we're not u kind of duplicating those decreases as well in there. But yeah, we have it's just some significant challenges I think with the funding at the state that uh we will be continuing to face. So on the next slide um so that kind of takes care of the revenue side on the
expenditure assumptions and we know the single biggest um expenditure a school district makes we invest in our people. So salaries and benefits we know it's about 78% of our expenditures is tied in salaries and benefits. So whether that's my salary, our teacher salaries, our pair of professionals, we took head
speaker this evening, um superintendent Nielsen, um the rest of exe cabinet across the board, our custodians, our food services, all of those across at 78%. There are 11 bargaining units. Um so they're all negotiated contracts, nine of which are in general fund. Steps
in or longevity are built in. So steps are a natural increase from one year to the next and many contracts have that some do not but often we see that and there's some also have longevity that they maybe there's an additional amount for each year of service to the district in the teacher contract there's steps in
lanes so slightly different um I did realize I forgot to also include longevity in here now with the last contract settlement but lanes are educational advancement so if they receive their masters then there's a lane advancement as well and then that step is that natural increment for year of service
we go from uh up to step eight step r so we've lettered them now um equivalent about 18 percentage on salaries and wages this is often referred to as cost of living adjustment so as we're talking we know that you know I've gone to the grocery store and got my bill and had a little
bit of sticker shock we know that certainly our uh staff have experienced the very same and so in addition to the steps and lanes often when we're negotiating it's really up what addition additional percentage. We're going to get that step kind of automatically. What additional to really help offset
that cost of living. Generally, we um settle two-year agreements for almost all of our bargaining units. We also know that when we settle that, anytime salary goes up, payroll tax goes up as well. And so, we know that whether that's TRA, whether that's PRA, the FICA portion, um that we know that those will
also increase as an employer paid tax. The additional part this year that's a little unique is on January 1st we will have paid leave act. So there's a tax the paid leave tax in Minnesota that we are um required by state statute to pay at least half of. So right now we're
projecting that to be the 044% that's the statutory obligation for the employer and that we will cover that portion. Um and similarly then our employees will also experience a tax on their wages to that same equivalent. Um we're required to pay a minimum of 50%.
So that's going to be um another just additional tax and again we factored that into this year's budget but as we look forward as well that um you know this will be brand new for the state. So kind of that hesitancy of is there any changes future as well for that other expenditure assumptions. So we
know beyond salaries and benefits there still is a significant number you know 22% of other expenditures and I looked historically some years we've used a different average. As I looked the last few years, we've tracked about 5%. So I did adjust the model to reflect about 5%
average um across these other areas. So this includes professional services um if includes substitute teachers and paraprofessionals, contracted transportation, excuse me, utility and fuel costs, which we know are see Excel already has proposed a new um increase as well. We
know snow removal, which can vary significantly year-toear. We also know textbooks and we know their cost continues to increase and rise as well along with software subscriptions, supplies and materials. So just pens, paper and maybe construction paper and rugs for classrooms, all sorts of things
there, equipment um and devices as well for students and staff. So we look to the next slide, the miscellaneous expenditure assumptions. So we also know on the flip side that we do have some retirements and so as a district we uh do realize
I'll say savings um when we replace a super experienced maybe well educated staff um and the teachers or even just a long-term staff in any group um that we experience about 30,000 per staff retirement and so we typically see about 30 per year. What it would also share is
we know that our um overall employee population is getting more experienced and so um a wonderment of mine was would be do we see an uptick in that as well that may result um in some other savings additionally but we also know that staffing
fluctuations due to enrollment changes. So as we know that enrollment goes up or down we may need to add or that just natural um kind of result of that will result in some staffing changes as well. So again, they'll fluctuate based on those enrollment whether up or down. We
also know that we always incorporate any new buildings or leases. So for example, we brought the transition building on. We know that we'll have um costs such as electric and utilities for that as well. We also know if there's any new leases, we incorporate that. So when we have new
buses, for example. So the next slide is our projected based on all of these assumptions currently. This is the projected revenues and expenditures. Um and as you'll note 2425 is our based on our revised budget. 2526
is our reflects our original budget and the three following years 26 27 27 28 and 2829 reflect um just estimates based on the assumptions we just discussed. What you'll notice is that again um expenditures are now starting to outpace
revenues and we've been through um some different cycles where that has happened. Right? We know we made some very mindful investments in staff. We also know that the state has not kept up with inflation. So I know um we've talked about that base formula and in this year alone we would have had they kept up with inflation it would have
been a $30 million revenue increase for us in this year alone. So again we know that the state isn't so kind of that combo effect of some rising costs again to try to keep um up with inflation for our staff so they can continue to meet their needs and we know it just doesn't align then. So again, that's outpacing
um and kind of getting a little little upside down on that. If we go to the next slide, and I should also the budget forecast also reflects that declining enrollment. So again, a little maybe newer of a situation for us here in SoCo.
So you'll notice at the top, I'm going to go back one slide if you can. Thank you. Projected fund balance and this does note with adjustments. So I'll talk about that in a moment. um in 2425 again revised budget 2526 original or preliminary budget in those following
three years. So you'll notice that um that fund balance is projected to decrease um in each of those years. And so right now what I would also note is that adjustments that I put in here as I was looking and we always talk about how do we ensure that we are fiscally stable. And so as I looked at that
without any adjustments, it would have been that we would have been in statutory operating debt with a minus 6% by 28.29 if we unmitigated anything. So we did have to take a look and say what would we anticipate and what might we see. This slide here does reflect
adjustments of $10 million in each year 26 27 27 28 and 28 29. I would also share that's a significant amount. I would also share as you look around the metro and even watching the news lately, right? This is not a unique issue to
South Washington County, right? We've seen again as a state hasn't kept pace and as they're adjusting state special education aid and their you know dollars here and dollars there. We know that um you know again we have it's really challenging sometimes to just make that
right sized. We know we hear a lot from um about small class sizes and things like that and we know that comes at a cost as well and so we really try hard to say what can we do. I would note with adjustments we always look at if there's any revenue enhancements as well if what sort of adjustments we can make. Um and
that's we always continually look for efficiencies every year as well. So just a small one I know that we changed how we were buying copy paper and so we saved a anticipated to save about $35,000 just by that small change. So we always try to find those things that we
can make small changes as well. Um again with that I think Chris I'm just going to interject because I think that this slide is really important as we've talked about negotiations and paying our people. This one is
particularly important because we know that over time, how quickly that money goes. And as Chris shared, um without $10 million worth of adjustments this year to be implemented next year, we would be in statutory operating debt by 2829.
Um and so once we get done with the audit, that will be a next step prior to going into staffing. But we're going to have to have some serious conversations about what does that $10 million look like and where does that come from? Um, I think one thing that we've taken a lot of pride in in the last years is that we
really have grown our fund balance. We've been extremely lean. We've said no often, but we just simply can't keep pace with 2.7 going in and then wanting to make sure that we compensate all of our employees and that's part of what it takes to do business um when you're a
people industry. And so just I want to make sure that the board is clear and understands that it would mean $10 million worth of adjustments this year as we go into the 26 27th school year. Does anyone have any questions? So Chris, can I ask a couple questions?
Um so you were mentioning $10 million this year, right? And then each of the following two years also $10 million or the $10 million that we cut this year would have Nope. we would need to cut in total then this would reflect 30 million by the end of 2829
and by cutting $30 million by 2829 that gets us to a 10% fund balance correct and I'll share too like again a reminder as well this anticipates perhaps a loss of up to 600 students if that number is more or less right that's going to impact and so as we I think it just
highlights the importance of us to continue have conversations with Dr. you're hinting at math and science and to really as we're going into staffing to make sure that we know what that number is because if we overstaff, right, that'll be we know that we can't adjust until the following year again, too. And so wanting to be absolutely
mindful too and make sure that we're appropriately staffed, but to really be, you know, as best as we can to know what those numbers are looking like before we staff. Um because once we staff, we don't take staff back, right? That we know they're on contract and we absolutely want to um adhere to that.
And so, you know, we also know that we built that fund balance up to try to help mitigate. Um, I think it's just that matter of as we're growing that and those were taking those hits in those other areas. It is really challenging. And so, this would be then, Julie and
Chris, the same budget adjustment similar to the budget adjustment process we went through in 2021, January. Correct. Correct. And so we would have to do that this this year 2526.
We would have to do an additional 10 million have a sim similar budget adjustment process 26 27 and then a similar budget adjustment process 2728. And so there's a few ways we could do that. We certainly could have a larger process up front and again as we find
more numbers that can fine-tune that will absolutely um I think it's it's just prudent again I I told shared with Julie I said I did think about putting the slide like without any adjustments what that might look like but I will tell you this it is very challenging because there's a lot of unknowns and I
also don't want to over and just say oh we're going to be okay right because it's absolutely prudent on us to make sure that we have that fiscal accountability um and stability long term in our um mindful of our taxpayer dollars, right? And so it's trying to balance all of those realities, right?
While still valuing employees, while still making sure that our students have their needs met. Um but yes, so certainly we could take a look what that looks like. So, you know, we didn't want to have a process each year. Do we look at you know maybe 15 million each of the next two years? It allows us time to,
you know, if we do an adjustment now. It also allows us time to buy to know what really is that impact of MSA, right? because then we'll be a two. But we also want to we know the sooner that we make those adjustments, right? It's that um kind of compounded effect as we look forward, right? So if we say, well,
let's try to squeak by one more year, it really puts us in a worse situation the following. And of course, the board would always have the option to take a look at an additional operating levy. Um and I think we also want to be thoughtful about that, about going out to our
community to ask for more. Um, so it does mean, you know, it's difficult to operate within your means when you receive 2.7 and we know that the money going out when we're such a people-based business is more than 2.7 per year just to keep up with the annual cost of
living for an operating levy. what is our gap between what we are ask what we have asked our community for to date and what the state allows us to so currently the amount that we would uh maybe be able to capture um for lack of a better term would be about $225 and
per pupil right and so um it's not a it's doesn't solve this right $4 million right yeah um we also know that we potentially could increase the capital projects levy you know we chose to do $5 billion that's what we heard supportive for the
community, but we also know that that potentially, you know, right, we know the cost of all those devices and those softwares continues to increase um pretty significantly sometimes. And so, and not a lot of control. It's kind of like textbooks back in the day when we actually bought physical books, which we still do some, but we know that
sometimes there's not a lot of control over that. And so, when we get um hit with cycles, right, because the state will say, "Hey, here's a new cycle." And that we have to and we absolutely should. Um but it does come at a cost, right? And so there's perhaps some opportunity for some capital projects levy um pieces with that to kind of help
offset even our um you know as we've increased technologies and devices right to make sure that we can pay for those as well as maybe the staff who are supporting that. And so right now we certainly have a portion there would be an additional opportunity there. Um but again that's comes at a cost to our
taxpayers when we know they're being pressured too some the same pressures that we are as employees in our own lives. So, um, I think it's just a lot of good conversations that we'll continue to have to see how best we might do this.
Any other questions? Okay, thank you. On 26.2 and that is first reading of proposed policy changes and that will be presented by Julie Nielsen, superintendent. Good evening. in a routine and regular fashion bringing forward seven uh
policies in the 300 series along with one policy um 613. Our policy committee met last week and reviewed the policies. Uh the recommendations coming forth uh policy 301 school district administration. There are just some minor grammatical changes. And for the
next policies, policy 302 superintendent 303 superintendent selection 304 superintendent contract duties and evaluation 305 policy implementation and 306 administrator code of ethics. There are no suggested changes. policy 307 um
the committee uh determined that they would like to delete the policy as it is not an MSBA policy and in addition in policy 307 it is actually governed by Minnesota statute 13817 where it states the state of Minnesota the department of administration has
created a school district general records retention schedule. It is located on the Minnesota state archives website underneath the general record retention schedules. So there is already a Minnesota statute out there that we are governed governed in terms of records retention. And then finally,
policy 613, graduation requirements. There are um some legal updates that have been made. Um you'll see on page three, there is uh one addition with grade 8 algebra. Uh a couple of other uh cleanups on letter D. And then finally,
letter H, making sure that our ninth graders by the time they're in 11th or 12th grade, um, have a personal finance class. So those are the additions to that policy. 613. Any questions from the board?
Okay, seeing none. Thank you. Did anybody sign up? Okay. Okay. We will move on to 7.0 and that will be reports and comments. Uh, Superintendent Nielsen, thank you. Students, you hit a long board meeting. I'm just going to tell you, I feel like this has been long. You're probably like, "People are
getting up to go to the bathroom. When's my break time?" This is a long one. Thank you for hanging in there with us. Um, next week, just a note, we will be recognized recognizing our wonderful high school students in their fall awards program. Eastridge and Woodbury High School will have their awards on Monday the 6th.
Eastridge will be at 7:30 a.m. and Woodbury High School at 7 o'clock p.m. And then Park High School next Thursday the 9th at 9:30 a.m. Also a reminder to the board and the community that October 11th we'll be hosting our marching band showcase at Eastridge High School at 2
p.m. It is always a great event and a wonderful opportunity opportunity to see all three of our high schools come together. And finally, as we look forward yet another week, um we're almost to the end of the year, as Kelly said, like we start and we're going. Um October 15th, um we will have no school
for K8 students. That day is a day scheduled for high school students where 10th and 11th graders will be coming in and testing and 9th and 12th graders will be learning asynchronous that day. And then of course, um as our calendar says, it is our MEA break. No school on
the 16th and 17th of that week. Thank you. Okay, on to board members. Um, just a reminder, board members do send any reports for committees. They are on to Dana to be included in the minutes. Um,
but we do share any events, upcoming events um, that could be going on within those. Does anybody have any upcoming events? No, I know it's the beginning of the year. Not much yet. Um, we will move on to 8.0 and that is our future meeting
dates. October 23rd is a schoolboard business meeting here at the district service center at 6 pm. November 6th is a schoolboard workshop meeting here at the district service center at 6 p.m. Then we will move on to 9.0 and that is a closed session pursuant to Minnesota
13D.05 subdivision 3A for the superintendent evaluation. There will be no action following our return from close session. So can I get a motion to move this close session? Motion by Simmyi, second.
Yeah, I was fast. Sharon, seconded by Sharon. Any comments? All those in favor? Any opposed? Motion passes.