I will call this meeting to order at 6:31. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Good evening, fellow school members, district staff, and community. As always, a reminder to all of us, the mission of St. Francis area schools is to equip all students with the knowledge
and skills to empower them to achieve their dreams and full potential while becoming responsible citizens in a dynamic world. Uh before we get started, I have a statement to read. Uh we are currently involved in active litigation and as a result will not be providing comments on
the status of our policies or any potential next steps at this time. The only update I can share is that our attorneys have been in communication with the attorneys representing the plaintiffs and settlement communication has occurred. We appreciate your understanding as we allow the legal
process to take its course. Our first item for tonight's agenda is adoption of agenda. Are there any questions prior to a motion being made on the agenda before you? All right, see none. Is there called a motion for the April 28th, 2025
meeting agenda? Anderson, thank you. Is there a second? Mr. Working. Thank you. Any discussion? No discussion. All in favor of the motion signify by saying I and raising your hand.
I motion passes seven to zero. Thank you. Uh, agenda item three is the Saint Award. The Saint Award was established to publicly recognize St. Francis area school staff, students, and community members at a schoolboard meeting to
highlight the positive and impactful work happening within the district. This month's Saint Award is presented to two St. Francis High School community volunteers. The Saint Award was established to publicly recognize um we already talked that doubled up. There we
go. So Saints Manufacturing is a program at St. Francis High School that offers students hands-on learning in the metal class. Since 2018, Saints Manufacturing has partnered with the Minnesota Department of Transportation to produce parts for snow plows. This contract has
not only benefited Mindot, but also provided juniors and senior students with applicable, real life, and hands-on experience, and some of them are taking with them after graduation. Instrumental in that partnership was former MIDOT transportation material
supervisor Brian McDonald. Brian helped create the first agreement and he said that the partnership was important to him because it was gratifying to watch young people learning skills they can use for their life back. Brian retired from MDOT on March 19th of this year and
less than one month later he started as a volunteer in Saints Manufacturing on April 16th. He said he wanted to volunteer because he is invested in seeing the program and the kids succeed. Second is Eric Trost. He is an
in industrial tech teacher um or Eric Tro's industrial tech teacher at St. Frances Saints manufacturing. He said Brian's dedication to the partnership changed the entire manufacturing pathway at St. Francis High School. We would also like to recognize John
Tro, a volunteer at the high school for more than a dozen years. Even before Saints Manufacturing was established, he is he was at the high school almost every day helping to teach students important trade skills. John was a welding and machine high school teacher prior to
volunteering at St. Francis High School. His son Eric said he uses his many years of life experience, industrial experiences, military experiences, and 32 years of teaching experience to communicate to all students who are willing to listen. On behalf of the
school board, please join us in thanking both Ryan and John for sharing their time and talents with the students of our district. [Music] You'll be uh Chris is taking a picture here. Sounds good.
Wonderful. All right. And Brian, uh, I just recently met um, just a few weeks ago and he brought like 10 or 15 people from Mindot to learn about our program here in St. Francis. How long did you work in Midot again? Almost 18 years. 18
years. And I'm still volunteering here. So that's remarkable. Appreciate it. [Applause] like your boots, Brian. Thanks for coming. All right, next agenda item is agenda item four, consideration of visitors. We
have nine individuals requesting to speak tonight. Uh that will bring us to two minutes per speaker. I ask each speaker that once your time is reached uh that you make your final statement quickly to be respectful of everyone else's time. No board action will be taken
during consideration of visitors. the superintendent or myself may respond if needed. Our first one tonight is Tyler Johnson. Okay. Uh hello again, Tyler. Uh homeowner, taxpayer, voter, member of the community. So what is there left to
say? Um every cogent argument uh for taking swift action to correct a bookb policy has been presented by now multiple times. Um, so I'm not here to do that. Um, but during this process, um, you heard me complain about, uh, how
I'm spending my time. Um, but since then, I have seen and heard and learned a lot. I watched a group of kids on the news uh, beg for the right to read a book. I um learned that our community's own
students, teachers, and parents have taken their time from full-time jobs, raising kids, full course load, and let's face it, no small amount of yard work out here um to organize and file suit to protect kids access to
educational materials. Sorry. All right. Um, so I am here today for you. I stand with you. Um, what you are doing matters. You are not
crazy. Um, and anyone with eyes, ears, and Olympic can tell that you're fighting. Um, one second. Sorry. Okay. You shouldn't have to fight at all, but you are not fighting at all.
Thank you. Thank you. Next is Izzy Bongard. Hi. Um I'm Izzy Bongard. I'm a sophomore at St. Francis High School. Um I'm here again because I think that it's important for students to be standing up for what we care about. Uh the new book policy affects us as students. We care
and I want to make sure you understand that. I know that there are tough topics in many band books, but despite that, there are incredible books. And not just despite either, these tough topics help kids understand the world better and understand themselves better, too. Life
can have struggles, and it's awesome when kids can know that they're not the only ones struggling. This is especially important for teenagers. Going through puberty, activities, daily life, and thinking about what's next for us after high school can be really hard. But we can always seek refuge in books. But now
those books are being taken off the shelves. Not everyone has access to these books outside of school. So this is really heartbreaking for me. Throughout this last weekend, my friends and I have been in the process of performances for Susl the musical at St. Francis High School. And I've been
thinking about how so many things in that play connect to the situation. This is a play that is based on books by Dr. Seuss, a famous children's book author. These books explore creativity, imagination, and identity. There's a song in the musical called Oh, the things you can think that talks about
how incredible being imaginative can be, which makes me think about the book policy. The policy removes books from our schools that enhances imagination. Even some of Dr. Seuss's books have been banned at other schools, and I can only hope that that won't happen here as
well. The play also talks about fears and how to respond to them. In the song having a hunch, the character Jojo is scared and he doesn't know what to do and his imagination is running wild. And I see that happening in this situation as well. Many of these books have scary topics. And those who are for this
policy may have been worried for their kids or friends, but hiding problems won't make them go away. This is still there is still going to be death, fear of corruption, and pain. Even if you try to hide the books, I hope we can all be like Jojo. moved past his fears and work
to make his world a safer and better place. I just want to express how strongly I feel on this on a personal note. I've been raised to always be curious and always keep reading and hearing that as a young kid I've taken that to heart. I love to read and when I
hear that books are being banned, I've become become curious as to why. I've read quite a few books on the band list and they were beautiful, well-written books with moving topics and I just hope you can do what you can to make those books available to more students. Thank you.
Thank you. Next is Nikki Cruz D. I have those songs from the music still. Um, so Nikki Cruz, parent um of two in the school district. Um, there isn't a lot left to say that hasn't
already been said and I'm so proud of this community. I felt like I was alone when I came to the first school board meeting here. Um, and I'm glad I quickly learned that I wasn't in fact alone. Um, I would like to take the opportunity
tonight to invite everyone in this room, everyone watching the meeting at home, everyone to come to this author event. Um, Dave Edges is um a well-known and
respected author. He wrote um a book called The Circle that is that has been banned in other school districts and he found out about book ban happening in Rapid City, South
Dakota and he showed up and did a similar meeting for their community and ended up bringing the community together uh in a big way. I think very made very important changes as a community to make
people more united, kinder to each other. Um there's a lot of ground we need to cover as a community. We need to come together to support each other no matter who we worship, no matter who we love, no matter no matter what. Thank you.
Thank you. Next is Brian Vonger. All right. Thank you. Um, yeah, my name is Brian Bombgart. Um, and I would like to also address address the school book policy. Um, although I'm well aware that you will not be able to directly comment on it. Our community has come out in
numbers and addressed numerous issues regarding and opposing the book removals. What stands out to me though is that this is an issue of respect. Respect for our schools, respect for our students, respect for our parents and community. And it's the latter I'd like
to address. Removing or banning books from our district schools shows disrespect for the parents in the community. Now, I want to be clear that I am not accusing the members of this school board or the school board that put the policy in place of disrespecting our community in
any sort of intentional manner. But what a policy like this does is that it takes away the power of the parents to make legitimate choices. It takes away the power from the community and the students from being able to make choices
about the books and the reading and the writing that they're engaged with. Instead, it pulls it out and makes it secretive and it takes those voices that are presented through the books and from our students community members and
silences them. Um I would like to readress at a later date and hear more of the potential policies or changes that would um take place in say in place of the current
policy as it can no longer exist in the manner that it is. Um and I hope that uh new policy following state law following our understanding of our communities does really go into place. Thank you.
Thank you. Next will be Chris B. Hello. Thank you for hearing from us tonight in the past several sessions. I'm here to talk about the booking policy. We still not had any updates, understandably so. Here I want to share why books matter and representation
through them from my point of view. I've lived what felt like a very long challenging life. I have lived on my own since I was 14 years of age. My life experience could fill the pages of a book that y'all would probably want to ban because of adult content. I have
seen things that no child or person should have to see and experience. In those dark times, my only lifeline was through books. Seeing people like me represented made me feel and that I wasn't alone and to have that
understanding of the world. Books kept me alive. Books provided me hope. Books provided me with a view of something that I was not able to access in my own life. And if I were a student in this school district, I don't know if I would
still be here because some of those books that save me are ones that people are wanting to or have actually banned. Here's the reality of this. Most books that come under review are from a singular or from a very small group of people. Usually those views are rooted
in political, religious, and sometimes just ignorant viewpoints. I am gay. I'm super gay. I've been gay my whole life. I have been surrounded by heterosexuality. It's made me no more straight or any less gay. And your kids
reading a queer themed book, it's not going to make them more queer. Your kids reading a trans themed book is not going to make them any more trans. Your kid reading a book that has an adult theme, you should be grateful for that. They are experiencing that, understanding that, and learning from that through a
book and not from firsthand real life experience cuz those things suck. Trust me. So do yourself a favor, save a kid's life and adopt a sensible, inclusive book review policy. Thank you.
[Applause] Thank you. Next is Richard. Good evening, schoolboard members and general audience. I'm outnumbered here again, but not quite as bad as the last two times I've been here. I'm here to
reclaim the rainbow. The rainbow holds a spiritual significance. It has been cooperative so parents hope to create an environment where children can grow understanding the rainbow as a testament to God's love and design rather than a marker of identity politics. This
movement has gained traction in Williams communities and events with campaigns dedicated to educating children about the biblical significance of the rainbow while advocating for its protection from secular reinterpretation. Parents are concerned
over sexualization and indoctrination of children. In recent years, a growing number of parents across the United States have raised their voices against what they perceive as an indoctrination of children through gay pride initiatives in schools and public
spaces. Parents protesting gay pride indoctrination in schools often cite the inclusion of LGBT themed books and curricula as a primary concern. The Supreme Court's recent inclination to
support these parents, as seen in a 2025 hearing, reflects a broader recognition of their religious freedoms with justices questioning whether school boards might be showing hostility towards religious beliefs by refusing opt out options. Beyond schools, parents
are also concerned about the public pride events that they feel encroached on spaces meant for children. Events featuring grad performance or explicit delayed displays of sexuality often held in p public parks or near playgrounds is
seen as inappropriate for young children. Parents argue that these events while framed as celebrations of diversity can confuse or sexualize children who are not yet equipped to process such concepts. This perspective aligns with the views
of many male mental health professionals who caution against exposing young young children to adult adultoriented themes, noting that it can lead to premature sexualization or confusion.
The process by parents of hints, rape, gay pride, indoctrination are not about denying the existence of LGBTQ individuals or the right of self expression, but about safe safeguarding the innocence of children and the rights of parents to guide their moral and
religious upbringing. The movement to proclaim God the rainbow and the legal efforts in cases like Mingles Pride versus a city enables highlights broader cultural struggle over the role of sexuality in public life but particularly in spaces
meant for children. As these deate debates continue, the hope is for a balanced approach, one that respects the right of all parties while prioritizing the well-being and developmental needs of
the youngest members of society. Are we to be a shining hill city on the hill or resurrection of Sodom and Gomorrah? Nobody clap for me. Please take a copy and pass it around. Thank you, Richard. Next is Barb Anderson. Well, after that, I want to
bring a thank you for teacher appreciation week next week. We have some fantastic teachers in our district who have brought forth the learning. We've seen it when the students have expressed themselves so well, so confidently when they have spoken so
eloquently. These are these are students have grown up in these current years with as much freedom to read as they wanted to and they are wonderful students. So, um, a thank you, a public thank you to all these teachers that
work tirelessly, a difficult job, but they do fantastic. And also an extremely wonderful shout out to Susicle. Um, some of the board members I know were there and saw what a fantastic job these students do and how important the
message is of including everyone, hope to everyone, and love to everyone no matter how different they were. And that's what the Dr. Seuss books show these like Gertude with the tail. She wished she was someone else. No, she
ended up couldn't be herself if her tail grew. So she had to come back and find herself and this is what we want for I think that we have in common that we want for our students. Um so a shout out
to all the teachers and those of you who support them as a board who support the teachers. Thank you. [Laughter] [Applause] Thank you. Next is John Anderson. Good evening. I'm John Anderson, ISD15
resident and parent of two terrific St. Francis High School graduates who um had their school serve them extremely well when they were in school. Um, my own short summary about the book ban is that what may have begun with good
intentions of a very few limited the rights, learning, and freedom to read of many. But I brought you something new tonight and it's from uh about author David Brooks who was in Minnesota last week to speak about how to know a
person. You can Google faith and life David Brooks and you'll find what he had to say. One key thing he said that there's one skill that rises above all the other social skills and that's the ability to make people feel seen, heard, respected and
understood. Every family, church, company or society is based on that skill. So, how good are you at that skill? How good am I at that skill, too, by the way? I can tell you with great confidence, you're not as good as you think you are. There's a guy at the
University of Texas who studies this and the average person understand what's going on in another person's mind when they're talking to them about 22% of the time. Some people are pretty good. They're 55% of the time. A lot of people
are 0% of the time, but they think they're 100%. Anyway, he shared a lot about how we work through situations of rupture and repair and how we see and accompany each
other makes a difference and how we come through or not. Brooks closed with words of a great author who I knew had had some of his books banned, James Baldwin. Brooks quoted Baldwin, "When you walk
down the street, every person you meet, that could be you." You could be that person, that man, that woman. You could be that monster, that saint. And you've got to decide for yourself who you want to be.
So finally, it seems that we can all work better on who we want to be, including any repairs in our lives, our community, and our world. We can choose not to delete seeing an author's lens of the world. We can see our way and know
people better by not many books. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you. Our last speaker is Mike Star. Well, good evening board, staff, and community members. Thank you for coming out tonight, everyone here,
anyone that's on the video at home. Uh I'm a former school board member here at St. Francis and uh I received some paperwork in the mail. I know we can't talk about it when I get behind the scenes or discussing the lawsuit, but I do know that in the month
of November, December last year, I made multiple multiple comments that if we do what we're doing with this book uh policy, we're going to get sued. I said that many times. I was question, well, who's suing who? And I said, "Texas,
Florida, they're being sued. And we, too, are going to get sued. This paperwork came to my mail last week. I'm being sued. There's a second lawsuit out there from ACLU. I'm sure that's going to come to me someday." I'm hoping here on the new board that we have, the
policy committee will get together and give a good policy and the new board will pull this thing together because why should this board, why should this community month after month after month have all these people come in here and
talk about the book policy? To me, it's a simple fix. Simple fix. One thing you want to remember here folks that we do not indoctrinate student in our school district as a self-teer for 12 years. I have never indoctrinated kids in any
subject matter unless they want to go to the machine shop where I indoctrinate safety of those kids in the for safety of the machines and the welding and the cutting there. They know not to be screwing around on them. So please look at it. Get this policy fixed. We tried
to fix ourselves in January of last year. I cancelled the meeting because I was informed by our attorney, don't have the meeting, Mike. So, I didn't have the meeting. But please fix this problem. My last comment here tonight, I'm invite everybody to come over to the uh uh pack
at the high school on May 16th at 7:00 in the morning. We have our military signing day which we now looking to call this now OCS our community salutes our new enlistes in the military. So please come over everybody when you would 7:00
in the morning at pack. We've been doing this for years and we're going to have a good program this year for all of our uh all of our students here who are listening into the military. So that's OCS May 16th 7 in the morning at the PAC the
high school. Thank you very much. Thank you. Uh thank you to all those that spoke tonight. We do appreciate the engagement from our community. Next agenda item is consent agenda. Uh we have six items in the meeting's consent agenda. It will be a
roll call vote. Are there any questions or requests to remove an item from the consent agender prior to the motion being made? West, I'd like to pull um the last one 4.6 is it? 5.6. 5.6 just
for discussion before we appro Yes. Yep. Just Okay. So 5.6 will be pulled. Uh, are there any other questions or requests
prior? All right. So, we will need a call to motion for items 5.1 to 5.5. Is there a call motion? Mr. Working. Thank you. Is there a second? Thank you, Mr. Humphrey. Any
discussion? Hearing no discussion. This a roll call vote. Um, again, signify by saying I. if you are in favor and then n if you're opposed. Mr. Wing hi. Mr. Humphrey. Mr. Sher. Hi, Miss Anderson. I
miss and I for myself. So that is a motion passes. Thank you. Uh we will now uh discuss um 5.6 approval of the prime vendor award of contract. Uh, are there
any questions prior to a motion? All right. Is there a motion uh to approve 5.6? M. Anderson. Thank you. Is there a second? Mr. Humphrey. Thank you. Any discussion? Yes. So, I'm looking at the
food list here and I'm I'm, you know, I'm okay with the vendor. What I would like to see based on what I'm seeing here, I see one um kiwi fresh on here. Um looks like the rest of it is probably
not fresh food. What I guess my point is I'd like to see more fresh foods available in our school lunches, you know. So, I would like to, you know, continue with this um vendor, but maybe take a look at some
more fresh options for our students. Okay. Any other discussion? John, I too have had this conversation with community members and uh putting it out there like what what's going wrong in our schools these days and everything's on the table. Someone had said uh that
uh eating high processed foods and there's studies that were shared with uh uh the superintendent and the board. I think um in that regard and I think that's uh in general just looking at I mean probably all three of these this doesn't specifically speak against
voting this one in but yes if we could please I I one of the things that people are really concerned about is and not like we can control what people eat at home putting our best foot forward here in the school healthy like single food options versus highly processed um
highly sugared uh offerings. Uh I know it's probably less expensive, but uh there are some great concerns and there are some direct ties to how how people act and react in uh communities um because of the food that they eat. So yes, if we could stress that to whoever
our vendors are and kind of move ourselves in that direction, I would definitely be in favor of that as well. Thank you, Mr. Shara. I mean there's more fresh stuff on the second
page and I want fresh and healthy as well but it just comes with price. Yeah. Somebody in the audience talk to it but the price will be charged. It just [Music]
feasible to do anyone else have discussion. Yeah, I I I'm not saying the person they're the ones that you guys have chosen is the wrong answer. I'm saying all three of these and basically life is put packaged
and put processed and blah blah blah blah blah. So, um I think what Annette is talking about and what the community members are talking about that are bringing this to our attention is not this one uh person over the other two or even any of all three of them just in general uh being aware of and looking to
move towards healthier options. Although I did talk to my son and he said there is healthy options at every um if you choose to take it because there are salad bars and there are foods and there are uh things like that. It's just uh you know I think some people in general
are concerned that um some of this stuff shouldn't be offered. Uh I mean it looks like there's no alternative because all three of them had this and this definitely is the lesser of three. So I'm not trying to make that point. What I'm trying to say is like it's something to be considered uh you know eating
single source food and health and stuff like this. Any other discussion Mr. I get uh I spend a lot of time volunteering at the elementary schools and uh a lot of the feedback that I get from some of my teacher
friends is uh the struggles after lunch and some of it's tied to this exact topic inside our kids and again I agree with what we're approving here today but if we can stay focused on that that will be awesome. Obviously, it has to be
financially um acceptable and feasible, but it's something to think about and talk about going forward. One good thing is that we have a a strong advocate in wellness policies and practices. Chloe is our nutrition
services director and this is near and dear to her heart as well. Um, and uh, you know, it's a it's a big task and it's not just the food service. It's other foods that may be given as rewards or sold in vending machines or
concession stands and those kinds of things. But ever since I've been here, Miss Colby has been a really strong advocate. So, uh perhaps, and I'm just throwing this out there, you know, um Wendy, Brandon, and I could certainly
chat, you know, about uh possible next steps uh that we could consider. Um it's um it's a daunting task when you look at costs and, you know, 4,000 kids to feed breakfast and lunch and those kinds of things, but we can at least come up with
a summary of of the things that have changed and, you know, we could look at in the future. I just want to say I appreciate that. Um I've I've brought this up every year and and try to initiate some sort of um meaning, you know, change, you know,
baby steps. So, if we could at least start making those baby steps forward and just coming up with little ideas as we go. Um I have saving lunches and I know watermelon is a big thing that the kids love. Um I I was just looking at the one page of this list, you know, and
it said kiwi and then everything else was um processed or coded food. So if we could just do the baby steps, that would that be would be tremendous. Yeah. And that's something we we can't do in this school. If I could make a few
comments. Um so what you're looking at there is the prime vendor bid. That's not our only source of purchasing food. So that would be the source that we buy the most food from. We do not purchase the majority of our fresh produce from
that source. We have an entire different source that we use to get our fresh produce. So we are currently in contract with Department of Defense and we receive fresh fruit. We have a fresh fruit and vegetable contract with um DoD. So we're purchasing the majority of
our command dollars that way to receive the fresh fruit and vegetables. So the items that you're seeing on the prime vendor are the items that we cannot get through DoD because DoD only purchases American produce. So it has to be grown
in America because it's the same that they use for military. So it has to be sourced locally and you know in the United States. So the kiwi, the cucumbers, pineapple, bananas, those things show up on our prime vendor
because I cannot source them through our fresh produce vendor. We also have a a milk vendor, you know, for all of our dairy. And then we have commodity processed foods where we take the raw
ground beef, the raw chicken and turkey, fresh um veggies. we have them made into other things and that's all USDA contract that we're producing. So, thank you for that clarification as
far as the the sources of the vendors. That's something I didn't know and uh um I think like Mr. working. I I eat periodically at East Battle School, so I see what happens there and and I know how many times they introduce new
vegetables or fruits to the mix and of course sometimes it's popular, sometimes it's not yet, but um it's yeah, I think like Miss West was saying, if we can share some of the work that is being done and you know, we're always willing
to do more, but I think that would be the first step is to share what we're doing the next steps like you suggested and I think we'd be proud to do that. Uh there are a couple of things that we can do in terms of advocacy. Uh we want to make sure that the Department of Defense
is still able to work with us to provide fresh fruits and vegetables. Uh that's really important. I think we can uh advocate for reinstating the uh farm-toschool funding. Um, I know Minnesota lost, it
was $18 million recently because of some cuts at the federal level. We we're not participating in that. Um, but those kinds of things are are really important for kids to to kind of uh participate in. I know, Miss West, you're a big proponent of farming schools because we
talked about that a year or two before years. And uh so anyway, those are two things that we can do to advocate uh for not just fresh food here, but you know, throughout the country, Mr. I just want to say, um thank you. By
the way, I realize this is a daunting task. It's a daunting task for parents trying to manage this for families. And I have friends and families in other districts, neighboring districts. won't namely names, but they wish that they
had the same lunches and options that we have here at St. Francis compared to some of their options that they have available. So again, gratitude, but it's just super important to me to focus on what we're putting inside our kids' bodies. Very important what they're
consuming. Yeah. And then I'd also like to say to the parents out there, this is ultimately your choice of what your what you teach your kid to to uh select. I like uh the options that my son is giving. I often get pictures like a like
he's all at, you know, mommy or something showing her some sushi place. He's like, "Here's my lunch today." And it's pretty it's pretty rad that they're proud of it and he's thinking it's delicious. And then those choices um are seemingly healthy. So it does come down to the uh family,
the kid and uh that relationship and what they've instilled in the person. I think a lot of people are concerned that you know some other people might not be making right decision and they're the ping pong balls after uh the lunches. But um still I think the more that this
gathers momentum uh the more people that that's more normal to choose the right food uh like the better off will be just on that that one victory amongst many sorry one thing to add to it and I'm sure this is being looked at but seeing
a lot of the reduced fat and reduced calorie a lot of times that comes with higher sugar and salt. levels. Is that being looked at when the choices are made? Yeah. Okay. Okay. Just want to make sure. Fortunately, that's been a fallacy at times that when it's
reduced fat, it's healthier, but in reality, it's the sodium and sugar that increases. Thank you. Okay. Uh the motion on the floor is to approve u or 5.6 approval of prime
vendor award of contract. Um we do not need a roll call for this one. So all uh in favor signify by saying I and raise your hand. Motion passes 70. All right. As we move
intoformational items and reports, again a reminder to hold your questions till the end of the um update or report. Uh we do not have a high school student here tonight. So no questions on that. Uh next is insurance rates for 2025
2026. The insurance advisory committee has worked on insurance rates uh and health insurance plans while we'll remain with the decrease in premiums. Brandon will talk about the dental fees as well. And if you have any specific questions, Brandon is here ready to
answer them. Good. Good evening, Chair Brewer, members of the board, Superintendent Anderson. The district is finalizing the insurance plans that'll be effective July 1st, 2025. The insurance advisory committee has met throughout this last year, and
the following is the result of that work. Starting with the health insurance, the health insurance plan is the public employees insurance program, more um better known as PE. Um, we try to avoid acronyms, but that's actually
how they're really known. The renewal rates for the PE plan for next year will be an overall decrease of about 2.6 to 3.56%. So, a decrease is pretty rare in this day and age. And so, we're um
thankful for that. Other bids that we got were just not as competitive. And so the recommendation is to continue with PEEP for the health insurance. Moving on from health insurance, the dental insurance there will be an increase this
year of um 6.97 to 7.5%. This plan is self-insured and it's running very well. However, we have seen good usage and there is inflation right
now um in the dental world and so that has increased some costs that we are seeing in the claims that we're paying. With this increase, we believe that this plan will keep running well and being properly funded. And so we monitor that
throughout the year where our reserves are and um make sure that we're not um depleting those too much and only applying rate increases when necessary. For life insurance and the
long-term disability, the district will continue with guardian as the carrier. Um the school districts in year will be in year two of a three-year rate guarantee. So, both of those rates will not be increasing next year. And um the
basic life insurance is paid by the district for employees, but long-term disability and any supplemental life is paid by the employees. We are getting ready for open enrollment, which is scheduled May 1st through May 15th. I want to make sure
that I thank the insurance advisory committee for all the work that they did. They meet almost once a month and um do a really good job of keeping our programs uh working well. So I want to thank them and stand for any questions
that you may have. Mr. Sher, so I know we're selfinsured for dental. We have in the past for health insurance. Is that still being looked at or that just off the table? Yeah, it has been a few years since we've been selfinsured with health
insurance. We when we went off the bid this year, we looked at all the fully insured PEEP um and self-insured options and the the options that the other the bids that we got were just not
competitive with PEEP. Everything was an increase um and pretty substantial increase and PEEP with decreasing rates um was hard to beat. So on the price is that but how about are people content with the programs
that they're offered o overall I think um the employees are are um pleased with with their there are issues that come up. It's it's a program that requires
following proper steps to get the best benefits. Um going to the best tiered clinics and then making sure you're getting referrals and all of that. And when that's not done, it is frustrating for our employees and we have had employees that are in difficult
situations because of that. But overall, um, we have representatives from every group on the insurance advisory committee and, you know, we have not heard of those voices that they're not happy. Any other questions for
the decrease? What's what's the reason for that? as there's more people enrolled or do you know from when Pete gives us a bid it just tells us what it is we we get very little information in regards to um what
how the program is running and everything to be able to determine that is would be difficult with the information that we get there services that were cut from it along that line yeah I I can share that in the past they
had three plans that they offered and they did eliminate the middle plan. So there may be some shifting as they would, you know, try to predict how people would move that maybe the the cost overall went down because of that
change. Um, but we did not get information saying that exactly, but that could be a reason for the decrease. Thank you, Mr. N. This next agenda item is 6.3. Our first reading for policy
413, 512, 516, and 705 or 704, sorry. Um, this is our first reading. Any proposed uh changes or discussion will be seen at the next or given to the policy committee uh to be seen before our next meeting. Are there any
questions or comments on any of those policies for the first reading? All right, seeing none. Thank you. All right, moving on to action item for tonight. We only have one. Again, during action items, I ask
that administrative report. It's right here. We're going to take care of the administrative report. That's our action item, right? All right. Mr. Anderson, are you ready for your administrative report? I am. I get out of it. Yeah, I know. I was kind of super quiet. You know me well,
Mr. Brook. Um, there are four items that I included there in addition to the discipline data. Uh, first, there was a request earlier for open enrollment in and out information. So, a summary is included. Uh, as with other items, if you ever have any questions, please
reach out and we can provide some further analysis. uh we can also generate this program or this report whenever we want and then perhaps after every trimester or yearly uh so you know as far as rhythm for
sharing that just you know let me know or we can talk about it uh St. Francis Learning Center uh shared a report as far as some of the work that they're doing this year. The uh one um area that I'll really highlight is some of their
outdoor experiences and largely because of a grant from the Department of Natural Resources. They were able to purchase equipment and um so the report shows some of the field trips that they're doing uh in conjunction with that. So,
I'm really excited about where this could end up. Uh, Ben Craig is an alternative education kind of guy. And, uh, there's a gentleman named Phil Beret who is a PE teacher at the learning center who's a
strong advocate for getting kids outside and for, um, exercise in any way possible. So, it's a really good tandem there. And there are others there who are also supportive as well. So uh if you do have any questions about uh the learning center then Craig is available
for questions or just a conversation. Uh technology information uh was also included and um you know one of the reports showed kind of some personnel and consulting uh things that are happening in the
school district. that tried to explain kind of the the plan u you know in terms of how many people we have and the consulting we're using in conjunction with that. Um there's also a technology department assessment summary that was
completed actually last summer. So it's we've added some things to that in terms of describing uh what we want to be doing. Uh it's an ambitious project uh because we really fell behind with funding technology over the past 10
years or 15 years and that's uh largely because of budget cuts. You know, we had to do it and uh the staff here at that time uh did whatever they could to to get the system working or staying to work while not spending very much money.
But now the equipment is coming due for replacement and we got to find a different way. So we have a lot of things going on um in terms of purchasing and changing. I guess we'll talk about that more if there are some questions. Uh technology team is also
working on a budget. Uh Chris Linquist has been leading that effort in conjunction with others in the department and he's he takes things on I will tell you that. And so he's analyzing how things we how we've coded
things in the past in technology. Uh the different projects we're doing. We're trying to streamline coding so we can better predict uh changes in the future. Uh and uh you know we're looking at sharing that documentation tonight. Uh
but when I looked at it and I've been in school finance for 30 years, it would it would have been incredibly difficult or probably impossible for me to understand what that report showed. So we're going to work on better way of presenting that information. But if you have questions
about the budget or about our plans, you Chris Linquist would be a great first contact. Uh and then um military signing day uh as was mentioned earlier is Friday, May 16th. at 7 o'clock in the performance art center. And I will also
give a shout out for Susicle, the musical. Uh that was fantastic. And the singing that's present in our um in our uh high school program is second to none. And I noticed that with a series
of choir concerts maybe about a month ago, and I forgot to mention it, but every single one I went to followed by the the musical, I'm just amazed. So, um, I'm really proud of of those departments. Any questions or comments from
Mr. Mr. How do you get the information on the exit interviews? With with the uh why you left or why you came? Oh, that's in the actual forms that they fill out. Uh, there's an actual question
about reason for living or leaving. Sorry. Um, and sometimes, uh, parents are very forthright and explain in detail. Sometimes they leave it blank. Uh, periodically they'll just make something up. But that's how we
categorize that. Okay, great. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay, Mr. Shar, are we good to move to the next? Thank you. All right. Next uh item on the agenda is our action item for tonight. again with action items. Uh if you have time to to speak, I want to
make sure everyone has time first and then if you get a second time to summarize your comments or any rebuttal that you have for that. Our one item for tonight is the approval of policies 519, 613, 620, 701, and 721. They're all in
your board packet. The first reading these policies was at our April 14th regular meeting and then uh there was no proposed changes. Um, at that time all of the changes are listed in the supporting document. Vanessa sent that out. It was on April 14th as well. Are
there any questions um prior to a motion being made? Do we know when the last time was that this grouping was um updated? Do we know? Each policy has the date of the last
update. Yeah, I was trying to read that. Um, so I was just curious if these were just recent updates or if these are in our cycle. Are these in the threeear cycle that we're doing for updating all of them? Mr. N.
Um, for the 500 and 700 series, they're based on recent legislative changes or they just came out from MSP with new updates. And then the 613 and the 620, those uh have been a little bit longer
since there updates and um most of it was because of the uh legislative changes recently. But with those two policies, we vary a lot um given the nature of what policy school districts
vary a lot from the policy or have a lot of um ability to vary from it and so it take longer to to add one thing as well. Um, I know over the last year, maybe two years, we've really spent a lot of time
updating our policies and changing the numbering system. Mr. Nelson and Miss Tol have done that work and so we're, I think, reaching the end. I think there's one policy that we're still looking at updating, but everything else is caught
up. After the legislative session is done, you know, our attorneys will review potential changes and make recommendations to us and so you'll see a lot of these. Any other questions prior to the motion? Mry, I like the economics ad. Um, and
that's been touted recently. I just wrote an article that said if a student takes an economics class in their high school education, it's a realized income increase of 100,000 grand over the uh lifespan of their employment. And so I
think that's a beautiful uh addition that we're following that has been enacted. All right. All right. Is there a call to motion for approval of policies 519, 613, 620, 701, and 721 as recommended by the policy committee and admin?
Anderson. Thank you. Is there a second? Mr. Shro. Thank you. Any discussion on that motion? Seeing none, s all in favor signify by raising your hand and saying I. I. Motion prevails 70. Thank you.
Next agenda item is eight upcoming meetings and preliminary topics. Are there any questions about any upcoming meetings or topics? All right, we will be uh adding a work session to the end of uh um May 12th's meeting. This topic will be
superintendent goal setting for 2526 school year. Most of you provided input for that. We'll have that ready to go for a work session on that. And then uh at everyone I'll give you guys a list of our upcoming work session topics uh that you have requested. Uh we've got
superintendent goal setting uh student assessment data and district improvement policy 506 student discipline substitute teachers uh district strategic plan, career readiness program, technology plan, and I did hear you guys on nutrition program as well. We've got
that added. Uh no specific order right now. We're going to work through what that looks like as we go. Mr. Shrock, so the last meeting we had work session after school board handbook. What's the timeline for that? We putting something together that's
going to be put out or correct. Yeah. So, I'm making the changes to it. Um, and then once those changes are done, I'll send that back out to the board. Uh, once you all review it, um, you know, our discussion is that we will just implement it. Uh, there's no need for a approval of it. It's a living
document. And it's just a procedure that we we'll follow. Uh and then we will put that in a board packet of course that it's it's now in place. So just working through the changes. So then the public correct? Yep.
Correct. All right. The next agenda item is school board member reports. Um Miss Anthony, you have anything? Thank you, Mr. Humphrey. Hi. Yeah. Um the missing student uh that is supposed to be from the uh student council uh
Jack um he's down in Florida right now um at the international ICDC convention for DECA. Um this is the second year in a row that our DECA has qualified. Um they were able to take four people down because of the work that he and Mra had done to give gold standard and today they competed. So, I haven't heard back
on that. But, um, so for one thing, that's I'm letting you know that's why he's not here. But secondly, I shared with him what I think Jill or someone came up with last meeting or about how maybe we should make that position more than just a student council meeting. Like we could hear from I whoever came
up with this idea was a great idea, but uh like hear from different athletics, maybe hear from people playing just different student, you know, all different levels, something like that just to kind of share the weight. Um, Jack seemed to think that was a really good idea. It's supposed to be shared amongst the uh uh student uh student
council, but uh um he ends up doing most of it. But uh I reminded him that next year as a senior when he's taking like band and four sessions of ceramics that he'll probably have more time, but um I don't know, it still would be a great great thing to feedback. Um I'd like to
thank all the teachers. I went to conferences on Monday. Uh thank you teachers for showing up. Although um from the department of the schools are failing me. Um I was at all five of my teachers conferences and including all including me in those five
there were two of those five classes that had one other parent signed up for um conferences. So clearly are not taking advantage of that. And I was reminded by each of those teachers that I don't ne I'm not necessarily the audience that needs to show up for conferences because I'm kind of just
there to grow my head with it. Um, so I I do know that the high school is coming up with a a better plan to uh deal with I talked to principal Donnie Thompson and a principal Austin about um that to say to not waste the teachers times like
we are but then at the same time not neglect the people people that are in need and then the people that need accolades you know both ends of the spectrum and you can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink. Um, and then my third thing, I also went to the play. I'm a huge Dr. Seuss fan. I
think the first book I ever read was Go Dog Go. And then when I graduated, my parents gave to me Old Places He'll Go. I ain't crying, you're crying. Um, but I'm I gave that to my daughter. I'm going to give it to my son. And uh uh the the set, the um the talents, the
singing, uh the story, Dr. Seuss. I'm a better person because I went to that play. um the story and having seen it here. And if you if you haven't taken in a play here, we were just having this conversation earlier. Uh you know, a couple years back they did Beauty and
the Beast. I go to a lot of plays. My family likes plays. We go to the Guthrie, we go to Larry Gards, we go to 100 different places for plays. I love plays. And that uh some of these plays we're seeing here are that caliber. Like you're paying seven bucks to get in or whatever it is and compared to like 200
bucks to get into the Guthrie. It's seriously a cheap date and it's marvelously fantastic. So, I highly suggest anyone who has time, if your kids aren't, it doesn't matter. Go. It's awesome. But I really want to commend Mo and all the talent there. Uh, absolutely
fantastic. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Anderson. Meeting Confer this week or last week. Um, it was a great meeting. There's three topics discussed. Um and there was really resolve for all three of them on path for that um was
agreeable with the teachers and with the district or at least I felt that way. Um meeting conferred doesn't plan to meet again until next fall but it looks like we'll probably move that meeting up because of the timing and also the calendar to get
the calendar for 26 27 done. Thank you. Um, I recently had the opportunity to go and visit um the Crossroads East uh school or organization, whatever you want to call it. Thank you, Deb, for
setting that up for me, by the way. Um, I just want to give a shout out to the staff. I met a lot of staff on both sides for our district as well as the staff with Nexus and a lot of the students. Um, I don't necessarily fully grasp and understand how the state
mandates the funding in that particular process, but the point to me bringing it up is the staff over there, uh, what they're doing for those students is absolutely amazing. And if you have an opportunity to go visit them and meet them people, it's
outstanding. So, shout out to them. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Sh. Yeah, I was meeting confer with Jill and she was great. I was also at Sus and I second
what Jake said. So that's all I got to report. I'm just going to comment. Um I I was uh supposed to attend the joint standing committee meeting tonight but it was full because of the weather. So I have nothing
too bad it didn't rain but you know we were concerned about possible uh my report the insurance advisory committee met on April 15th and Brandon gave a great uh summary of what happened there and we were presented with that
tonight. Uh and then I too had the privilege of attending the district's production of Susakola the musical. Um, I want to commend the outstanding talent displayed uh by our students and the strong support and involvement from our staff. Uh, the performance not only entertained but also conveyed a powerful
and enduring message about the importance of recognizing and valuing each individual within our community. Uh, it's a wonderful reminder of the strength we find in collaboration and the respect for one another. Um, to go off of what you said with the set and everything else, uh, that was not just
our community, that was our surrounding community. uh Cambridge Iani was part of that support and helping us uh have such a great uh event as well. So um highly recommend attending any of those plays in the near future. Uh excited for the
summer performance that's coming up. All right, we will now take a threeminute recess uh for the public uh to leave uh as our next agenda item will be in close session. It's a good place, too.