throughout the um um throughout the conversation or throughout our presentation through the form. Um that online form or the form is available. It's pinned at the chat. Um and that is the only thing that um is is able to be put into the chat is that pinned. So um
we have turned off chat. You're welcome to put any and all feedback there. Um Tammy is going to be looking at it live time um and will be um theming it to bring forward for questions and we will review every piece of feedback that is put into that form um as we uh move uh
uh on to the um next steps of our process um following tonight's meeting. So that will be the format um and so we are going to dive in um and then uh please uh put any feedback in that form. So why are we making changes? Um it is
not it is not something that um any of us uh want to do. Um people will say that it's one of the hardest things that a district can go through. Um and so uh we do not undertake this lightly. Um we know that change uh doesn't always feel good. Um it can be disruptive to
families, to staff, to the community. Uh and so this is only something that we are undertaking um because it is an absolute necessity. um if you've uh we'll take a look later at a visual that shows you um where the the growth is in St. Cloud, but most of you I think can
imagine as you think about uh the 250 square miles that this district covers um where that growth is and it is in the central uh St. Cloud. Um and yet we serve uh communities uh far uh when we have schools in those communities far apart. Um and so we've seen a a cluster
um of enrollment where the growth is in St. cloud and um it was really important that we address that because we were seeing overcrowding and um Nikki will be going through that later. Um we've also had addition of immersion and newcomer programs um that add uh uh different
enrollments uh and and impact utilization of facilities at specific schools and we've expanded early learning programs. We know that is one of um the very best ways to get our students or help our students be um kindergarten ready and be on grade level consistently. Um and so we want to make
sure that we uh continue that um the offerings and access to that early learning. So our core commitments um first our student experiences come first. Um we'll think about all all of our stakeholders, but we want to make sure that students have um an excellent academic
experience. Um and uh you know our pillars are safety, belonging, collaboration, and academic excellence. And so wanting to make sure that students are able to experience all of those um that we maintain our community schools um to the extent that we are able to knowing that we have to um
extend outward um beyond the the core um of St. Cloud. Um so to the extent we can you'll see that in our in the proposal that we share with you tonight. Um we need to make uh efficient use of our resources um knowing that we money is limited um and so all of our commitments
um center around not increasing cost and again um maximizing family and staff stability uh whenever possible. So the goals um of this change process is um as hard it is as it is um to not
think only about the now right about the students and the families who are in front of us or the staff who are right here right now um we have to look at this with a a long view. Um we do have 10-year projections that we will show you for each of the schools um and the decisions that we've made and uh along
with that 10-year view uh that we um need to have balanced facility use so that we are not overcrowding another school 5 years out into the future. And again that uh focus on increased efficiency, making sure that we're not um significantly uh um increasing
transportation routes and route times. Um though that will be uh for some students if they lived uh close and uh closer to their old um previous school there may be a slight increase in transportation uh time we won't um but we are working to um make sure that we
minimize that and then um decreasing the fiscal expenditures. So the boundary redesign process to date um we've had auded a small group of administrators union leaders um that team met four times um
to uh develop a solution um or several solutions. It's a ongoing process. Um we brought that to any families and staff uh who asked to be part of the input team. Um we brought that to those folks um who then gave us some feedback. um
that design team then reviewed and we made some changes. Um throughout the process others have given from that point even until tonight people have reached out based on the the you know the communication that um I had put out to all of our stakeholders saying hey here are some of the big things that
we're we're thinking about proposing. Um people gave us feedback on that. Um and we've made changes uh based on that feedback already which you'll hear about. Um and then we are putting all of the information that we have up on the website. So this presentation is up there. Um and we will continue to do so.
Um and then uh we will we've uh scheduled individual site meetings um and those will be held in the next coming weeks. Though those are really to review the proposed changes and there may be slight tweaks that are made um to a specific um neighborhood line that we
just missed, right? Because we don't certainly don't claim to um be experts in in every neighborhood boundary. Um, so there may be slight tweaks, but really those are are to answer questions based on um what we'll bring to the board who will then do um a discussion
the first meeting in December and a vote um the uh last meeting in December. Um and now I turn it over to Nikki who will take us through the rest of the u presentation. >> Yep. So getting started with just some of the data included in our tenure
projections. This lists out some of the data that you're going to see in the map tool that we utilize to create this current concept. Um, and really was a way for us to manipulate a number of things. Uh, future developments. We were able to look at future apartment projections or single family
neighborhood projections. We were able to look at current students on the map to see where our current students live um in our certain areas to help us to look thoughtfully um at our current boundaries and what could be to utilize the facilities and meet our goals and
objectives as superintendent Putinham had went through. Um some of this uh we wanted to just talk before we get into the map details of timing, transportation, and placement. Uh these boundaries will go into effect for next school year. And so as we look into that
December decision by our school board, we will be looking to set up our staffing meetings to be responsive to these current boundaries that if approved go into effect next school year. Um students will receive transportation for their school assignments, their new school assignments and immersion sites for the
north side and southside as we have this school year. Um if a student is reassigned and a family wishes for them to remain in their original school, there will be our in district process which if granted does not include transportation but is the similar same
process that we go through now with policy 599 with our IBTA. Um and then in district transfers will be paused until summer 20 2026 and we will be getting those dates and timelines out to you if that is a process that you wish to go
through. uh but we do need to get our students enrolled in these current communities and in these new boundaries to know where space a availability will be to approve those indists. Uh next we're going to kind of take a look at some district-wide maps um a
couple different different models here and then we will take an individual glimpse into some key considerations for each elementary site. And so a few things to point out on this concept map is just the colors. You're going to notice the area shaded in blue is a
feeder into South and Tech High School. And so it's showing some of that that secondary pathway. The yellow area kind of in Central St. Cloud is our pathway that feeds into North Junior High and then into Apollo. And then that red area is Kennedy Community School, which is a
K8 building and then would feed Secondary High School into Apollo. Um, so that gives you just kind of a glimpse and overview of our model concept boundary lines. Um, also I wanted to note on here we have eight elementary sites. In our current boundary lines,
you'll see that we have two elementary schools that are split to have some students go to the north side, some students go to the south side for their secondary pathway. That is Discovery and Lincoln. And in this new current concept model, we do no longer have that. So all
students in an elementary school will go to a single pathway for secondary keeping those student relationships together and part of those community schools and pathways. The next map here shows a visual of some of those dots. So you can see a number
of black dots on your screen and each one of those dots represents student or students that are at a particular stop within our community. And so as Superintendent Putnham had mentioned early, you can see that cluster of dots in that yellow section in central St.
Cloud is where we have a large number of our population of students. And so in order to maximize our facilities and really get some efficiencies across our system, we had to look to push students west and push students southeast in
order to provide those experiences and space opportunities that were part of our goals and commitments. And so this just gives really a visual representation of where some of those student numbers are on our map. Next up, we'll kind of go through each individual school. We'll talk about some
of those key considerations and then we'll also talk about enrollment projections and where they lie. the current data and the map that we used within our tools was 2425 um attendance data and that was because a lot of our team and input sessions were being done before October 1st and
so we had to use that October 1st enrollment data from 2425. So in our clear view picture you're going to see they had enrollment of 404 students. In our new model projection we know that there are space opportunities for growth at Clear View. We know that we currently
have some low class section counts which creates some stress on staffing um and being fiscally responsible with our staffing process. And so this new model bringing them back up to 526 gets us back in alignment with better using that facilities model. The next graph is
actually going to be clear view as well. And so you are going to see a past history trend line of enrollment as well as that projection. So that black line in the middle is going to show you that you're from 24 25 into the model concept of 2526.
You're also going to notice on this map that you see a blue line. That blue line is future development gains. That's that tool when we turn on the future development of what may come within our communities and where plans are within the city for apartment complexes or for
neighborhoods of single family housing. So you'll see two lines both that birth rate and survival cohort line in green and that future development projection. Um so here we see that increase but we also see that historical line for clear
view that when we look at 2010 really to 2020 we were up in the mid 500s. Um, so we know that when we utilize this facility, we have some space opportunities available and this model gives us some good stability looking forward in the next 10 years of keeping
some consistent enrollment out at Clear View. Uh, next up we get to look at Discovery Elementary. Discovery uh 2425 enrollment was at 593. The new model will put them at 781.
Some of the key considerations for this large growth um is taking a look at not only our projection model that you'll see in a minute when we flip the side, but also when we looked and analyzed our current boundaries, there was a declining trend in enrollment at discovery within our current boundary
model. And so we knew we had to get some stability around enrollment to support that facility. And so the the other piece to be aware of um when we look at that community-based preschool reorganization is Discovery currently is
host to six preschool classrooms. Uh two of which are Discovery students, three of which are Oakill students because there's some space challenges there and they were unable to house their prek in their community school location this year. and then one of which is a head
start program and a community uh program that we're able to run out of discovery because of the space opportunities that exist there. Um you will see on the projection map um that discovery facility has been underutilized for a
number of years and so we are excited to be able to rightsize this school community and to really give some stability in their enrollment and their numbers. You can see even with that projected gain of increasing the enrollment with this new boundary concept, there is still declining
enrollment within that part of our community. And so we had to really thoughtfully look at how do we get some enrollment numbers back accessing that beautiful discovery facility. Uh next up we get to take a look at Kennedy you see and in 2425 we were at
616 in the new model projection we are at 798. So really took a large view at how do we increase the capacity of that Kennedy community um and get them back where they had been um for a number of years which you'll see in that historical trend. So we knew we had some
space growth opportunities. We knew it was important to maintain that E8 model that is at Kennedy and we know that there it is also a hot spot around that St. Joe area for some future projected developments. And so we wanted to make
sure that we left space for that f future growth projection as well. And so in their past trend you'll see that that historical line where they were up in the 900s and then hovered around 850 for a few years um and then have seen kind
of declining enrollment which when we looked at early projections in our m map maps of our current model um this was also noted right that that decline continued to go. So, we needed to make adjustments to be able to utilize that facility. And so, you'll see that
increase and then you'll see a pretty stable line um with some of that blue line of projected growth. It is relatively stable. If some of that projected growth does not happen, you can see slight decline, but an enrollment number um that better
utilizes that facility overall. Next up is Lincoln. Uh Lincoln 2425 enrollment was at 330. The new model is around 404. We know that Lincoln and Tilah, two schools, one community went through a redesign a number of years
ago. Um where they had uh kindergarten or preschool through third grade at Tahaki and then or second grade at Talahi and then third grade through fifth grade at Lincoln. Uh what we noticed with that model is it it created uh some opportunities to really look at
developmental designs differently and and do some creative scheduling and programming for students, but it also came with some constraints and challenges for our community. A few that have been noted are um fewer student transitions in an E5 model. So currently
we ran out of space at Talahi to service all of our preschool students and so we have two preschool classrooms at Lincoln. Um, so if I am a a student who is attending preschool at Lincoln, I go to Lincoln for preschool. I then go to Talah for kindergarten and I go back to
Lincoln for fourth and fifth grade. So this E5 model at both Lincoln and Talah would provide an opportunity for fewer student transitions in their elementary years. Um, we've also heard from some families of the want to have siblings together. So, if I have two students
that are a couple years apart and they are in second grade and fourth grade, they're now at two different elementary schools, which created some constraints for our families when we looked at things like after school transportation, making sure your little got home with your big. And so, there was some interest from p parts of our community
of keeping siblings at the same elementary sites. And then it was able and an opportunity with an E5 model. There's some better facilities capacity balance. when we look at what happened just three years ago um is we have
relatively large class size ranges when we split them apart into that developmental design. So right now at Talahi and Lincoln we have around 150 to 175 in any given grade level. And so we
saw a few years ago that uh the increasing student enrollment made it difficult for Lincoln to house third grade which then shifted third grade back to tilahis. But now that 160 studentsish um has put them at a capacity level
where they can't maintain that preschool programming. So again we're trying to just balance those models and see how we can most effectively do that for that student and family experience. Um, this will give us the opportunity for that community-based preschool reorganization with preschool happening at both sites
and the opportunity to stay through fifth grade. Lincoln also got the adjustment for their secondary site feeder. Uh, so they are no longer split into Lincoln northside, Lincoln Southside. They are all Lincoln North Side and will attend middle school at
North Junior High and high school at Apollo. And then it also gives um Lincoln area just from proximity and location within our community. There was minimal community development opportunities that could happen based on
the layout and the landscape of that boundary. And so that was just something to note. Um then we get into the projection map for Lincoln. You're going to see in 22 23 that large decline. That was when third grade made the transition over to Talahi. You can see this
projection line does put them up um similar enrollment numbers where they have been before, but we'll also look slightly different now shifting back to a PK5 model as our target class size ranges also adjust um with some of those classrooms. Um you can see that decline
of the line for both that future growth being a little bit landlocked within a part of our community and then also seeing that birth and survival rate with a slight decline keeping them similar to the enrollment that they are currently.
Next up is Madison. Madison is also home to our Chinese immersion program. The 2425 enrollment was around 706. Um and our new projection model you'll see a significant decrease around 545. A few of the reasons for that is we've
really tried to be intentional in looking at boundary lines of how do we create opportunities to continue and maintain but also grow our immersion programming and and providing those opportunities for more students to have that experience. Um Madison when you we
looked at a facilities landscape also some of their core facilities and square footage is not the same as other elementary sites have accessible an example of that would be their media center um just the square footage and size and access for students and also
their cafeteria and so really taking a thoughtful look at that student experience and how we create some equity across our systems. Um Madison being centrally located, we also track our IND district transfer numbers and requests as we watch that data and are thoughtful
about student placements. And Madison is our highest in district transfer request site. A lot of that as I watch those come across my desk have to do with daycare locations, um parents having jobs in close proximity and being able to do that drop off and want to do that
drop off. Um so it is also something with that lower projection that we're looking at that opportunity to honor um that indistrict transfer process which in the past has had some high numbers at Madison. Um here is Madison's projected
historical and projected enrollment. You will see that they have uh sustained a very high number and take a significant drop. Um you'll also see that there's some opportunity for growth there as we look to cultivate more students enrollment into our immersion program.
Um and so this is an area that we will monitor and watch to make sure that we are also maximizing the use of this facility. Uh next up we have Oakill. Oakill is is one of our current challenges as I noted
before. Um, we have three Oakhill classrooms right now being served at Discovery for preschool because there is not classroom space for them to stay a part of their Oakhill community for that early learning experience. The 2425 enrollment data is at 861.
And you'll see in the new model projection they take a significant decrease into 665. One of the challenges with Oakill that we ran into in some of this planning and organization was their future projected development is the area that also takes
the biggest increase. And so in many of these models we I I believe our map concept is 54 A1 which means five versions four different times with an A concept and a one on the end because there was refinement. So, we've been through many models. Um, and in every
single one of those model projections, they still projected to have a pretty sharp increase over this next 10 years. And so, we really needed to be thoughtful with what we could decline them in the next current year and how we could sustain enough space to stick to
that community goal of being able to start preschool in my elementary and stay through fifth grade. Um, so that is that one. Next up, you'll see that past and future projection model where you see them at a very high trend line, a little bit of variation within the past
10 years, and then we take that sharp decrease, and then you'll see that slow growth trend line, which is on on pace and and aligns with what that future development projection is when we look at those map concepts.
Next up is Tilah. Talahi 25 uh 2425 enrollment was at 712. In the new model, you see them also taking a pretty sharp decrease to 597. Um, again, they mirror that model from Lincoln going back to a PK5 model to support fewer transitions
for students to get those siblings at the same elementary site and to better balance our facilities between Tali and Lincoln. Um, we will be able to bring all the Talahi preschoolers back to Talahis, both hosting preschool at Talah
and Lincoln. And then it will also help to alleviate some current space constraints and programming constraints that are happening at the Talahi campus. Here is their historical trend data as well as their future projection. You can see they've had some volatility and some
of that was due to that exchange of third grade and that developmentally designed model um that they went through about 10 years ago. And you can see that trend line and future projection does have a slight decrease and some opportunities. Um, one of the models in response to some of the feedback that we
are continuing to refine um, these boundaries in this process to try and get it as best as we can is to have an opportunity to take a look at an area that is south of Minnesota Boulevard and east of County Road 8. Um, that was
currently redesigned as a boundary last school year to be included in Clear View to potentially shift that back to Tahaki. um we did have some feedback of uh just location being accessible um within the same neighborhood of the school and so we are looking at ways to
honor that and that might be a reality with this current model concept offering some possibilities to do that and lastly we have Westwood Westwood 2425 enrollment was 533 in your our new
model you'll see a sharp decrease to 436 and this was really intentional as we looked at trying to create some stability and continuity of our immersion programs and and getting a large uh wish to to keep that program centralized for our north side Spanish
immersion program at Westwood. In some of our early concepts, we did have to consider uh moving that to a a different elementary site uh just due to space limitations, but looked at all possibilities and model concepts to see if we could make it happen. and we think
that we may be able to keep it at Westwood for current in future programming. Um we know that there are current constraints which is why you see kind of that model projection looking at some boundary lines to again shift students west out of that central St.
Cloud area. Um and we also are very aware that with this model, you're going to see on the next projection map that it does gain relatively quickly and have a sharp increase in enrollment. And some of that is due to our current Spanish immersion programming being kindergarten
through 2 grade. And we anticipate and have it added two sections each school year. So next school year we'll be looking to add up to third grade programming um which will increase us by around 40 45 students um each year
thereafter until we get to fifth grade and and a K5 program. Um, so we know that there will be some enrollment coming with that immersion programming, which means we may need to take the step to limit or pause in district transfers to this site to have that immersion
programming balance um and and continue that there. Next up, you'll see that historical and projection enrollment data for Westwood. You'll see a little bit of high enrollment. So Westwood has been in that mid600 range in the past. Um, and then you'll see kind of a
sloping decline and then you'll see that sharp increase after we do the intentional drop with this new concept model, which is the growing of that immersion program. You'll also notice that in this area there's not a lot of projected development. And so you'll see that steady decline, which gets us right
to a pretty sweet spot of where we're at for that facilities management. Uh we're going to transition just a little bit and talk about our two middle levels because as we make these elementary redesigns, we know it's going to have impact on our middle level
programming as well. Um one thing I wanted to note is we do have a a bit of a bubble for the next five years of some large class cohorts. So all buildings are going to feel some space constraints. This is not a magic waving
of a magic wand where we have space everywhere. Um, we do have students who enroll or or birth rates that are different in different class cohorts. And we do anticipate and see in our data that the next five years are large classes that are coming up. And so we we
see here a dip at south. Currently there are around uh 850 students. Um, and then we see a gradual increase which you're going to see a similar trend line happening at North as well. Um so here in our current model we're planning uh
in this concept to have a slight decrease and then a gradual increase over the next five years and then you see some stability within that trend line. Our north facilities um have a little bit more square footage. So there's more opportunity on that north
side to have some balance facilities use. And so you will see that same gradual increase of enrollment at our north side school. Um, and this was really thoughtful in our planning to try and and balance those two schools and
their capacities to support that gradual increase that we will see over the next handful of years. So some key considerations there as you see that change in the enrollment with that model concept is the awareness of the space constraints at South and also at Tech
High School and the understanding of larger facilities at North Middle School as well as some space opportunities at Apollo High School. We know that that enrollment is growing for both sites and so we will be thoughtful and responsive to staffing and and supports as we look
at the programming models at those two sites. but it also provides us some better balance as we thoughtfully transition our fifth graders to sixth grade and support those middle level learners. Uh next up here on the slide you're going to see some scheduling of some
individual sites. We want to offer some virtual space for our community to get together and talk as Superintendent Putnham said about the proposed models and changes and how we can help to navigate these changes within our school communities and broader community. And so we encourage you to join us and would
love to get your questions and input and see how we can best support you. There's also an interactive map that will be coming soon that we're partnering with the the state department to get where you can insert your address and it will let you know exactly which school boundary you'll be at. So trying to
create some use usability within some tools to create some good understanding and awareness of this boundary shift. um the website there is information for our boundary redesign process as well as some data and we will continue to answer questions and and to link tools as they
become available. So if you go to our 742 website um middle blue bar you'll see a community tab and then right under involvement you'll see our elementary boundary process redesign information. Um, and now I get to turn it over to
Tammy De um, who is going to collect all of your questions and hopefully create some answers and for some space for us to respond to your curiosities. >> Thank you, Nikki. I um just want to thank everyone here tonight and also
everyone who sent questions, concerns, and responses in on the Google form. We had over 100 responses uh before coming on to to the Google Meet tonight and I think we've got another 13 and I'm I'm
trying to monitor those live as we go and I'm watching time. So, first of all, let me just say how we're going to field the questions tonight. Um, because we had so many come in, we
wanted to categorize them. So, they have been chunked together according to theme and common considerations. So, you might not hear your exact question um answered tonight, but we we have them um grouped
together. so that your the general questions should be answered. Um we also I I am going to time allowing going to um do those live questions as they have not been answered. So So if if during
the presentation or one of the ones that came in um live has already been answered, I I won't bring those up, but I'll try and hit those specific ones. Uh Lori and Nikki, you're together, so I'm gonna give the questions out and then
I'll let you two decide who answers. Okay. All right. We're going to start with um the theme of the boundary assignments themselves. uh a lot of uh concerns just about seeking specific information, some of
which you won't have tonight, but but a lot of questions about those attendance zones and knowing once the boundary is assigned, how will I know where my school is? How will that be communicated
to me? And also when some concern for example about kindergarten enrollment will will I know in time to get my kindergartenner to the right school enrolled to the right school. >> Absolutely. Um so uh Superintendent
Putnham has been very thoughtful about the timeline of this process to make sure that our school board is presented with a proposal so that they can make that decision prior to any staffing or enrollment taking place. And so as elementary leaders right now we are starting the planning for those
enrollment nights and and creating those space and opportunities which will be happening in January. And so this decision will come out um in mid December and we will be able to get that communication and information out to our families. Um the other piece that will be super helpful is that tool that I
talked about that we're partnering with the state department. We will get that out on our website and on our social media outlets and in school newsletters. Um, and if there is ever a family that is not certain, you can always call or email us and we are happy to help you through that process. So, we will have a
very thorough plan for communication once this decision is made um and be there to support families through the next steps. >> Great. Thank you. Y can I would just add, you know, it's it's super hard for to to get enough detail, right? because
people, you know, to to be able to have a big map and push in as close as as a as a house um really does take that that interactive tool either that we have which then has all of our students data in it um or it takes that map. So, I
know, you know, I know that that can feel frustrating. Um, but we will certainly communicate as soon as that map is up. Um, and, uh, we have done the best we can to maintain existing boundaries. Um,
knowing, you know, even knowing that we have to make the shifts, we made no unnecessary boundaries. Um, now is there always, you know, a hundred ways to, you know, slice the the pie? Yes. Um right when when we shift one thing then we have to shift
another. Um and so you know we we have been as as taking that into account and knowing that one of our key commitments was stability. We have done the best we can to maintain. So most the the high majority of our families are not going
to see a shift. Um so we you know we just want to assure people that we've been very deliberate about that. Um you know and I think one one piece of uh that that thing something we'll think we can think about is is actually you know how how will we communicate right and um
specifically could we communicate specifically with those families ahead of time. Yes we can um and that would be something that we will um take a look at the timing of of how to do that um in a in a way that meets families needs. >> Great. Thank you.
Um a followup on uh the boundary assignments. There were several questions that um expressed concerns about the boundary shifts actually uh causing overcrowding
in a different place and also a concern a coordinating concern about class sizes. Can you address that? Yeah, I can talk a little bit about the facilities use. And so throughout these models, we've been very intentionally to
try to not overcrowd both for uh the current enrollment but also for that projected future enrollment. And so obviously this is not a process that we want to go through each year or every couple years or every decade. Um so we had to really be thoughtful about that legacy decision not only best impacting
our current realities but also our future realities. And so we really tried to be thoughtful in the balance of that with creating some stability for our schools which does like I said lend to the next five years being tight in some locations which we are going to need to
be responsive with. Um but you will see that that tight feeling across many of our sites. Um and you would have seen if we stay within our current boundaries on realistic classroom enrollments that would not have been conducive to
learning and for our students. Um, so we really tried to do a thoughtful job of balancing facilities use both now and for the future. And in those current uh targeted class size ranges that we staff off of, um, you're looking at at kindergarten being that 18 to 21, that
first and second grade, 24 to 28, um, and so on as we go up to fourth and fifth grade being 26 to 29. Those are staying our projections and targets as we step into staffing. Um, and so anytime that we look at um, class size
targets and I monitor enrollment weekly um, for every class size section in our elementary sites just to make sure that we're supporting our learners to our best intentions um, and and we're always responsive to those class size targets. And so our next layer of this mapping is
to identify within this boundary model um what grade levels and ages of students exist and then how do we thoughtfully make that part of our staffing process to create the correct number of sections to support those learners. And so, um, it is a process
that we are actively going through, Tammy, as we are are reviewing this data and and planning ahead into next year as how we're going to staff our elementary sites. >> And I I would add that, um, we also, you know, with our internal team, um, we
have looked at how do these shifts impact special education enrollment, how does it impact ML, multilingual learner enrollment, um, how does it impact free and reduced lunch, right? just to make sure that we're not creating any additional burdens on any specific school community and so uh we have been
very intentional um about that also. >> Okay, great. Um a follow a follow-up question under capacity and class size is going to the middle schools and Nikki you you talked about the bubble. Um
could you expand a little bit on how the boundary changes might affect the discrepancy between enrollment at North and South? Yeah. Um you really see numbers that um at South that we see a slight decline
for this next year and then you see in the following uh two three years pretty much the same um enrollment that they're at today. And so due to that grow growth and space limitation and capacity at south, we also needed to expand opportunities at our north side which we
know that there's some facility space for. And so you see that gradual increase at both middle level locations and we have strategically created some opportunities for growth at North where that space exists.
>> Great. That that I think that's really clarifying. Thank you. And one last question under this theme of of capacity. Um and and this one and and you addressed it again somewhat, but
this one asks about how do you see the uh the boundary reshaping affecting our in district transfer policy? And I I know again that's a little bit of future uh crystal ball,
but but can you expand on that one a little bit? >> Yeah, this was one that we we did talk about right as we looked through all uh possibilities of can we keep current boundaries and just relook at our indisters. Um and so it was a a part of our
planning process as we went through. Uh, one of the things that was really important to our core team was being able to be responsive to family requests. Um, being able to be responsive as as I watch those indistrict transfer requests through, many of them are for daycare. Um, which
creates barriers to access to education for a lot of our families. Um, and then that that choice that families have in in whatever reason, whether it be an immersion program, um, or a choice to be close to a grandparent that lives in a neighborhood of another school. um we wanted to be responsive to that choice
and so it was important to us to maintain that indistrict transfer process through that. Um as I noted we know we have a lot of indistrict transfers currently coming into Madison um that that lower enrollment number at uh Madison offer that opportunity to
accept those indistrict transfers. And so we will certainly watch that as we create that process for families to um fill out those applications if they choose to. And then we also know on the other side of that as we try and create that that continuity and stable Spanish diversion programming at Westwood, we
may need to look at a pause of an indistrict transfer request. And so it is a layer of our planning that we are are thoughtfully reviewing um and that we it was important to us to keep that that choice and accessibility for families to have that process.
>> Thank you. That's actually a great segue into the next theme. We had so many questions about immersion programming and how the boundary changes would affect immersion programming. So, first of all, just to be clear, um what we
heard tonight and and Lori mentioned this is due to feedback that we received. What we heard tonight is that all immersion programs are remaining at the school they are currently at. Is that correct? Madison,
Chinese, Spanish at Westwood, Spanish at Clear View. >> That is correct. Yep. And it was really off of uh that community input as you said um in taking a look at how we create that continuity and stability for those programs and to continue to put time and effort into growing those for
students. And so through this process of of feedback and communication and the many models that we have looked at, we tried to create those spaces for those opportunities that we saw as importance that came through that input process from our community.
>> All right. And a a follow-up question for immersion is transportation, right? So I want to go back to to something you said about looking at those numbers at Westwood. We may have to look at closing
in district transfers. Would that apply to immersion? >> It does not. So for north side uh Spanish for north side students, Spanish immersion is housed at Westwood. For our southside students, Spanish immersion is housed at Clear View. And anyone within
that north side boundary can attend Spanish immersion with transportation to Westwood. that anyone in the southside boundary can attend Clear View with transportation to that Spanish immersion program. So that is staying the same as our current practice. Um that in
district transfer policy 599 has always not provided transportation and will continue to read that way in our policy. >> Thank you. The next theme uh centers around equity and access questions. Uh
the first question in in this category asks if uh you think this process has done an adequate job of looking at uh the demographic segregation that may exist already in the district or be
unbalanced somewhere in the district. Do you feel like the process of of these potential boundary changes is addressing that? You know, I I think that that's a it's a good question and it's a it's a hard question. Um because we know that the
available housing in our community um is often segregated, right, in all cander, right? Um and so those that housing, right, that is available tends to be in the in the in St. Cloud, right? Um and
so and it's clustered in in specific areas of St. Cloud. Um and so we are not um you know we we certainly look to balance um across um the kinds of services that we provide regarding
special education and multilingual learners. Um but unless we are looking to do if people are talking about race or or ethnicity, right? Unless we're looking to do a a a full integration process um which was never the goal. You will see those were never the
commitments that we have made. um we cannot change the housing patterns in this community, right? We are committed to um providing excellent academic um opportunities for all of our kids and making sure that um we were very thoughtful um about even as we think
about the you know needing to push um to to the outskirts of St. Cloud um what does accessibility look like for transportation, right? We were very thoughtful about that. Um but um if if the questions are specific to uh racial
integration um then that is not something that this um that this re um boundary design uh process uh tackled. >> Thank you. Another question about uh in this category of of equity and
accessibility um is about special education needs. We know that our students with special needs um uh they receive services that may be specific to a school. Are we
addressing or are we thinking and this is going to feed into our next category too, but are are we thinking about special education being an exception and and certain students being able to stay because of their special needs? that
there were several questions around that issue. >> Um that has been part of our planning and so um we will be working very closely with our special education department. Um students with special needs will not be an exception. The boundary redesign is really about
community school locations. Uh but it will be a part of our staffing and program planning um that we will be going into here in January. >> Okay. Thank you. And as I said, that kind of rolls into the next theme. There
were several questions about quote unquote grandfathering or the transition process. There are families that are wondering and and you addressed this somewhat, Nikki, when you talked about siblings, but but there are families
wondering if if my child will be allowed to stay ergo the grandfathering um term or will they be required to move? How how does that transition look? Yeah, if
these uh this boundary proposal is passed and and a decision is made by our school board, it will be our new boundaries for our community school locations. And so there will not be um that grandfather grandfathering in that you're speaking of, Tammy. Um what we will continue to honor is that in
district transfer process for for families who may choose an alternative school that is not their homeschool community location. Um, and as I said, that will be coming in summer of 2026 of of how that process will roll out with this new boundary should it be voted to
pass. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh, another theme is uh some questions were were grouped or clustered around what about our community partnerships? What about partnerships um that that are kind of
tied to schools? Do you see that being affected by the boundaries or do you see that being a constant? >> Yeah. Um, that one for me, my my first thought is a constant, right? Our our school communities are immersed into our broader communities and we have many
partnerships across all eight elementaryaries that we are extremely grateful for. Um, and as Superintendent Putnham alluded to, we were very intentional um to not shift boundaries where we were able. And so we tried to keep those current boundary lines and those comm community communities as
tightly uh knit together as possible throughout this process. >> Nikki, I wonder um and and this is not going to be an exact science. Um if if this team thinks it's a good idea, I wonder if we pull up that big map and just kind of give people a sense of
which of of what spaces may have shifted. So is that doable, do you think? >> Um are you talking from the the first concept? Um, yes. >> Sure. >> You should be I'm going to stop trying to move slides. My bad.
>> Gosh, you just want the >> the slide on the slide. >> Yeah, [Music] >> there we go. >> Perfect. Is that too much to ask? Is that too hard to ask? >> Um, no. I can I can certainly walk here through Katie, can you zoom in by
chance? Maybe. We're going to see if we can get our tools working and and certainly we will be ready with some visuals and some more detailed um map projections and and boundary areas for our individual meetings. And so if you are curious
about about some of those further detailed questions and seeing where those boundary lines may have shifted, we will make sure that we bring those to our next virtual um meeting opportunities with individual sites as well. Um so I'm going to start on the west end. I'm getting very good with directions and the layout of St. Cloud.
So that's one thing that has enhanced my understanding throughout this process. Um but if we look at the west end there by Kennedy um you are going to notice uh Westwood you are going to notice um Westwood that that straight line kind of going up
there near the northern uh portion is Cypress Road. And so I can tell you that that was kind of a main artery that created um a new boundary line there that did push some students west to Kennedy. Um, as we go down, you're going to see close to that word discovery in
purple there. Um, you're going to see an inlet there coming out of 15 that is around that Belclair neighborhood. Um, that also is now included in that boundary line of Kennedy. And then down to the south where you see Pleasant Lake
in the blue area right above there is another future development space um where some students were that is now also pushed into that Kennedy area. Um if we shift where the black discovery word is kind of in the middle of the map
um that that yellow road there is highway 15. And so you're going to see some of the development to the east side of 15 is now scooped into the Discovery neighborhood. Um then you see that
current boundary line there, a purple line by between Westwood and Discovery. That is a current boundary line. So that is right around Crossroad Center and that has been and stays um that Discovery Community School location.
Um going up, you'll kind of see that uh interesting inlet around Madison. And so this is an area um near that orange flag underneath that black Madison title um that was Discovery and stays Discovery.
What has changed with that boundary where that green circle is that Katie is so gratefully putting on the screen um is there's a neighborhood to the east of a current MA or a discovery boundary from Madison that is now also going to
go to Discovery. Again, that was a boundary that we had to look at with declining enrollment in both current projections and future um projections to make sure that we create some stability um for the discovery community as well.
Oakill um we had noted was an area that we had to um take a look at how do we reset and support future development. And so you can see that that very tip of the map there on Oakill um is Colonial
Gardens area that currently is and stays at Oakill. So again, wherever we could keep a boundary line, we did. Um, if you look at 94, uh, that freeway there in the middle of the screen, you're going to notice that purple Oakill title, um,
is is currently Oakill and stays Oakill, but we also expand, um, to the west, which that used to be your Discovery South. So, this is where Discovery School was split between a southside and a north side feeder for that secondary
programming. And you can see that we have tried to maintain um that neighborhood and that community as a southside feeder with their proximity to tech, but they are now included in the Oak Hill school boundary.
Um if we continue uh to go up uh to Madison area, one thing you're going to notice is in our current boundaries, we kind of had a little bit of what looked like a hook on the northern end of that school boundary. that is now included in
Madison. And again, some of that was intentional to create that space and access opportunity to create create uh that immersion program sustainability at Westwood. Um Lincoln did not have many
boundary refinements. Uh they are again pretty landlocked within their current location in our community. Um you will see that Lincoln south was our other elementary that was split southside north side. It is now all north side. So the one change is that Lincoln south
boundary will now be a feeder into North and Apollo. And then if you are familiar with the Lincoln neighborhoods um currently they're on 8th Street cuts across for that Lincoln boundary to Taki boundary. We brought that down to 9inth
Street and over Lincoln Avenue to Highway 10 um to to include a few more students at Lincoln to create that balance between Lincoln and Talaki to better meet our our facilities capacity. Um, so there was a slight refinement there around 9inth and Lan.
Um, then when you go down from Tilah to Clear View, uh, you'll see that, uh, we have Minnesota Boulevard is really that squiggly line up Highway 10. Um, we have already added back with this current
model concept some of the students that were south of Minnesota Boulevard back into Tilaki's attendance area. And again, that was being responsive to some of the community input and trying to keep access and location to our community schools type. Um, and so there
may also be some opportunities there for the east side of County Road 8 to also have access to that Tilah boundary. And so that kind of talked us through a lot of the models and some of those slight adjustments that we made through this redesign process. And again, we will
ensure that we have some great visuals um and can go further into detail with you on that when we have those individual virtual me meetings. So, I'm conscious of time. Um we had a
couple of themes we didn't get to. Uh do you want to just kind of hit those quickly? >> Okay. Fabulous. >> Fabulous. Um, one of the themes, um, came in kind of all all together and
they were questions about the Tahi Lincoln reconfiguration back to preK5 and uh, uh, one of the questions said, you know, we we made that change several years ago for all very good reasons, and
it looks like that was a positive outcome for climate and culture. So what might this change look like now going back to that configuration? And then I'm just going to tag on the the second question also and that was one of
resources as we go back to PK5, right? The kindergarten resources look different than fifth grade. So so how is is that being addressed? >> Yeah, a really good question. I think as we looked at this decision, which
probably was around eight to 10 years ago now, right? It's been a while that we've been in that developmental design between our two schools, one community at Lincoln and Tilaki. Um, and that model does have some really great benefits and opportunities for students. And anytime that we are looking at
making change, we always center it around what's best for students. And while there was some great opportunities, it also created some barriers and some challenges for our students and for our families. And so in looking at this both from a facility
usage standpoint as well as how we support families and students with their elementary experience, we felt at this time as a team when we looked through that process that some of the challenges that were created with that developmental design um needed a shift
back to that PK5 model. Um, so I agree with those staff who who thought of that developmental design process that it does h create some good experiences and opportunities for students. But again, as we peeled back all the layers of the
that decision-making process, um, it was the input from the community and also from this team as we examined um the strengths and the challenges uh that lied with going back to a PK5 model. >> Thank you. um that that final cluster of
questions centered around communication and process and and several of the live questions that came in tonight fell into that category as well. So, um I know that some of this has been covered, but
maybe um a a a reiteration of process in terms of how was staff involved, how was community involved, how were families involved? And then um handinhand with that question is what what about this
data that we've been presented with? Um, and uh, you can do it, Lori, or I can do it at the end where that's going to be accessible for folks. And I think Katie can probably put the pin in the chat, that website page. Um, anyway, uh, we
are going to, um, it just just look at how that process worked and how people were involved. >> Yeah, thank you. That's a I'm really glad to go through that again. Um so we pulled together a group of about 10 uh district leaders uh school principles
and union leadership. So both SCPA which is our principal union and SCEA which is our teachers union. Um they were part of the initial conversations where we we reviewed um uh the the kinds of sensitive data right around um uh
demographics and including race, socioeconomic status, um special education status um and how um in shifting um boundaries uh which when we use the tool right that shifts it um it brings up actual student names and their information um which of course is not
something we can share with the general public, right? So, um, that small team was charged with making a couple of options, um, of of something they thought could work. And, like Nikki said, we're on five for a dash, whatever. So, you know, we've gone
through multiple iterations. Um, once that we got close to something we thought might be um, doable. Um, we had a we offered all staff and all families uh, to come to an input team meeting. Um, at first I said like I was thinking that we're going to have to limit it. We
did not because I did not have any way um that felt fair or appropriate to decide who gets to come and who doesn't. So all 114 people who said they wanted to come were invited to come. Um we had at Apollo um and we had a nice um
assortment of staff, families, um even just some community members um who um don't even have kids in our school and they don't teach in our schools but were interested. Um they went through the maps and they gave us some really good feedback. We made some adjustments um based on their feedback to specific
neighborhoods um because obviously I don't Nikki me Kate like we don't know that design team can't know all of the neighborhoods and so that was the value of bringing those folks together. Um we then put out okay here are the here are the key um big decisions we're
considering um and I communicated all of that to our our staff and our families. And then that's where we started to get some feedback around the Spanish immersion. Um we got some great feedback also around um the immersion at Madison and um Clear View like that they people liked us leaving those there. Um and so
then we were able to make changes um to the Spanish immersion at Westwood. Um and now tonight we're bringing um what we think is our best proposal. Um though as we have all said, right, we're we're still um hearing your input and getting your feedback. Um and we will take all
of that um to bring together um an even better proposal um potentially to uh those individual meetings at each school site um where we will have they will be virtual um because we know that for I don't we don't want to limit access um
because of childare or transportation. Um, and I should say that we also have community input meetings just like this in Somali and Spanish next week. Um, so that we're making sure that everybody has access to all of this same information. We'll take all of that feedback, bring it to the elementary
sites. Um, the virtual meetings will be interactive. Um, we'll answer, right? It'll be live communication. Um, and if there are any, um, small revisions or refinements, um, that would be the time to do those. Like, you know, the big things that we're not going to be talking about at that point is, you
know, that we've talked about before is should Kennedy stay a K8? Yes. Our yes, we recommend that it does, right? Should we go back to a a E5 configuration? Our recommendation is as that it should. Should should we keep our Spanish our emergence as they are? Right? So, those
are some of the big rocks that we um uh it would be hard for me to imagine that we're going to change those at this point. Um though, we certainly are are hearing your feedback now. Um and we'll we'll continue to take a look at that before we come to the elementary schools. Um and then all of that uh will
come to the school board um who will have a discussion and then a vote. Um so um that is our that is our input process. Um we've we have worked hard to make sure that people who want to take part um have um no barrier whether it's
language or transportation or childare um and that we are um putting the information um on the website as it is finalized and um um welcome any if if please again put your feedback into the the form um if you have other
suggestions or curiosities or wonders or hopes >> and I'll just add to the question about what about these maps and these data slides? How can I access them? They're already on the website. K, I think Katie was going to actually put into the chat
that >> wonderful. Thank you, Katie. So, I I want to make sure that everybody knows that. And also, this presentation is being recorded and it will be up on the website tomorrow. Anything else, Tammy? I know we're eight
we're already over time and I appreciate the folks who have stayed with us. So, anything else that you uh want us to address before we sign off and >> I think I think most of the questions the remaining questions that came in live we we addressed under themes. Some
questions I just a caveat some questions did not have anything to do with boundaries tonight. So, we're we're not fielding those tonight. But um as you said, we will review all of the the remaining questions and um and address
them at future meetings if if need be. >> Perfect. Well, we appreciate that very much and um thank you all for joining us tonight and we look forward to seeing you at individual meetings. If you still um have uh questions, concerns, thank you for providing your input. Um we will
review that and um your your time is very much appreciated. Have a good evening.