Uh, I'm going to call the April 28th, 2026 regular board meeting to order um at 6:30 exactly. Awesome. And before we get started, we'll do the land acknowledgement. Susie, have you had the pleasure of doing the land
acknowledgement yet? I can pass it down to you, too. We are gathered on the land of the mighty We are gathered on the land of the Dakota and Ojibwe peoples. I ask you to join me in acknowledging the Dakota and Ojibwe community, their elders both past and present, as well as future
generations. St. Louis Park Schools also acknowledges that it was founded upon exclusions and erasures of many indigenous peoples, including those on whose land this school district is located. This acknowledgement demonstrates a commitment to dismantling the ongoing legacies of colonial power
and the district's desire to support the ongoing work of local indigenous communities to thrive in our schools. Thank you. Um and so on the agenda tonight, we have some public comment, superintendent's report, discussion items, some consent agenda, and some
labor agreements. So, uh can I get a motion to approve the agenda? I think that was Colin and then Sarah seconded it. All in favor, say I. All opposed, say no. Okay, passes 6-0.
Okay, so now we have several people here for public comment. Um I'm going to read our description of public comment so that everybody kind of understands um our policy and how we operate. So, to support open communication, the St.
Louis Park district school district provides an opportunity for the public to address the school board during the business meeting. If you wish to speak, please complete the public comment sign-up form on our website before the meeting begins. Anyone indicating a desire to speak during public comment
will be acknowledged by the board chair and allotted 3 minutes to present their topic. During this time, the board and administration will listen to comments. Please note that disrespectful comments and those of personal nature directed at an individual either by name or inference will not be permitted. So,
what we'll do is I have um the list of the people who signed up for public comment and I will call you forward and then um Director Williams will um give you a 2-minute warning, I think how it works. A 2-minute warning, a 1-minute warning,
and a 30-second warning. Um and then on the form, you should have indicated whether or not you wanted to have a follow-up with either um me or one of our administration. So, that's sort of the the way that it goes. Sound
good? Everybody good? All right, I'm a teacher, so I like to have acknowledgement that this is um great. So, I have um is it Barack Steinley? Did I get that kind of correct? >> Steinley, Jeff. Steinley, okay. Am I here? Yep, you are right there. Thank
you. >> This is my first time here. I think the microphone is automatically on, so you might just want to be aware of leaning forward. Does this work? All right. Good evening and thank you for your time. My name is Derek Steinley and I'm
a parent here at St. Louis Park School District. My wife and I have a third grader and a fifth grader at Park Spanish Immersion. As our children continue to progress through the district, we are trying to better understand how technology is being used to support their educational
experience and what to expect in the years ahead. First, I want to start by sharing our appreciation for the work of the district, the teachers, and staff. We know how much care goes into supporting our kids. As parents, the impact of technology has
become more real for us as our kids get older. In our home, we've had moments where our child is using a device at school. We are not always clear what time what what that time on the computer is being used for, what the expectations are for each of the students
as far as responsible use and how parents can say can support safe and constructive use of the tools provided by the school. We've also seen the impact of teachers' approach to technology use can create different experiences from class to class.
The lack of consistency makes it harder for us as parents to guide and support our kids in a clear way. From what we've been hearing and seeing so far, there hasn't been there doesn't seem to be a consistent guidance across the board. Each teacher approaches technology in different ways. At the
same time, there is a growing concern both from the emerging research and data and from first-hand parent and student experience. That's led us and many other parents in the district and many of them here today
to start asking some basic questions. How is technology being used to date day-to-day? How are the decisions being made on what is being used? How can parents better understand and support what's happening? Well, we're we're we're not here to push to remove technology from classroom, but
a desire for more clarity, consistency, and thoughtful use. Specifically, we're trying we're asking the district consider increasing transparency around classroom technology use, making the research behind policies visible and understandable,
creating more consistent ways for parents to be part of the conversation. How and and how and where can we choose what is right for us as a family? It is early in the process. We are listening, gathering information. I
we've done a a survey kind of impromptu survey a couple weeks ago and got about 100 responses, which I will share. And we're we're still trying to gather the approach thoughtfully. Our goal is to work collaboratively to support both strong learning and student well-being.
And uh thank you for being for continuing supporting this conversation. Thank you very much. Um and I have Richard, is it Stolker? Stolker, yeah. Yes, thank you. So, this is also my first time here, so
apologies for being unfamiliar with a lot of you. Uh it's nice to meet you. Uh my name is Richard Stolker. I'm a resident of St. Louis Park, uh 2837 Pennsylvania Avenue. Um thank you for the opportunity to speak. Uh my topic is going to be the uh
referendum that's upcoming on August 11th. Um I'm here as someone who cares deeply about the community and the long-term sustainability of our schools. I also come from a financial background and while I may be applying some private sector frameworks to public finance, uh
I welcome clarification where those may differ. Um so, I've reviewed the public materials and financial statements on the website for St. Louis Park School Board and um also the bond filings and everything like that. I have a few observations and requests, um all rooted
in a desire for transparency and thoughtful decision-making. Um so, my first point is regarding communication. Um the referendum is presented in monthly terms frequently, um approximately $18.92 per month for a medium value home in the city.
Um I believe that while that framing is helpful for accessibility, uh it can make it harder for residents to fully understand the long-term cost of the referendum. I believe the community would benefit from seeing the total projected impact over the life of the levy, so families can make informed
decisions with full context. Second, I noticed uh the debt capacity of the district. So, based on the district's filings, there appears to be a meaningful remaining bonding capacity under the statutory limit set by the state of Minnesota of 15%.
I understand that maintaining financial flexibility is important, but I would appreciate insight into how the district determines the appropriate level of capacity to preserve and how this referendum fits into a broader context. Third, on financial position. The district has reported a positive
change in net position and maintains a fund balance above its minimum policy, and that's encouraging. At the same time, it raises a question for me about how these resources are intended to be used. I would appreciate insight into how the district determines
Sorry. Could a portion be used to help phase in costs or ease the immediate impact on taxpayers while still maintaining financial stability? Fourth, on scenario planning. There have been many public statements indicating that staff reductions may be considered if the referendum does not pass.
Given how important educators educators and staff are to this community, I think it would be helpful for residents to better understand how those scenarios are developed and what specific trade-offs are being considered. And I'm going to just skip to my requests here. I don't believe I have
enough time for the fifth point. Um so, I request just a detailed breakdown of how funds would be allocated over time. Second, clear outcomes and justification for both additional security-related spending in addition to the previous referendums and an explanation on the
boiler discrepancy. And I'm going to submit, if it's okay, some exhibits um showing this information. Um third, a continued focus on transparent, balanced communication that helps residents make informed decisions. Um at the end of the day, we all want the same thing: strong schools,
responsible stewardship and a community we can be proud to pass on. And I believe open, transparent dialogue is how we get there together. Thank you for your time and for the work that you do. Thank you, Richard. Um and last, we have Jillian Is it Mezera? Mezera.
>> [laughter] >> Fan club. Okay. Good evening, members of the board and Superintendent Hines. My name is Jillian Mezera, and I am here tonight as a parent and a taxpayer, and also a teacher in a neighboring district. I am here because I believe we all share the
same goal, providing an environment where our children don't just survive the school day, but truly thrive. To get there though, I think there are several things that um we need to investigate further within the district. Um we've moved into an era where
classroom technology is no longer a supplement. It is the infrastructure of learning. We are asking for increased transparency, including public accounting regarding the specific apps and platforms that are used in each grade level, along with the amount of daily screen time that is being used and
expected, along with the data privacy protocols in place, and any sort of um protection for students as far as Chromebooks and what they're allowed to access and how they're accessing those things. We are also asking for a meaningful
voice in these decisions. Technology should be a tool we choose together based on pedagogical merit, not a default setting that parents are merely informed of after. Um we are now several years removed from the peak of the pandemic, and the
educational landscape changed forever in 2020. Our class size ratios need a serious post-COVID audit. In many cases, we are still using outdated class size ratios that do not account for the increased social, emotional, and academic needs of
students in a post-COVID environment. The social and emotional needs of our students have changed significantly since 2020. A ratio that worked prior to this is often insufficient today for a teacher to provide the individualized attention
necessary to bridge learning gaps. We also I also would like to discuss um the lack of intervention staff within the district. Um in the wake of the pandemic, many schools saw a reduction
post-COVID funding of academic interventions and specialists, and classroom teachers are doing great work, but they cannot be expected to provide intensive, specialized support to every student who is falling behind while simultaneously managing a full
classroom. So, I ask that we look at um how to return intervention staff within St. Louis Park. Finally, um one thing I just wanted to add also um was the loss of FIED last
year um with the daily FIED. Um and I would be really curious, again, as a teacher in a neighboring district, if there's any research and data to support increasing student behaviors with the loss of the daily physical education and movement time, as often uh
YouTube movement video can't replace 30 minutes physical education. Thank you so much for your work. Thank you, Jillian. Um Just going to Did So, did they indicate whether they wanted a
follow-up online? Cuz I can't see it. Okay. So, they You can see it? Awesome. All right. So, we will have someone follow up with you at the end of this. Um thank you so much, and I think that's it for public comment. All right. Um so, the first item on the
agenda is our Superintendent's Report. Thank you, Chair Mancini, and I will just >> [clears throat] >> pause for a second in this transition. It is helpful if you stay. Cuz you do learn some things. So, at this time, I am going to yield my
time to Peter Hobart and Principal Munson as they discuss what the student learning that is happening at Peter Hobart. Do I have to click myself, Dr. Hines? I believe so. Fantastic. Um thank you, Dr. Hines, Chair Mancini,
and the board. I'm Eric Munson. I'm the principal of Peter Hobart. Um and I'm joined by Assistant Principal Clark. And I'm Aman, one of our wonderful parents. Um to talk about Bring It Home. Um is a program at Peter Hobart Elementary um that really uh
brings families together. And um so, who Peter Hobart and Bring It Home team are Bring It Home is a program that provides space and connection for the voices multilingual families um and multicultural families through building trusting relationships promote cultural
understanding and appreciation. Um it also seeks to strengthen the between home and school. Um and it's with their input we make sure that Peter Hobart is a safe place for child and they can succeed. And every family is seen as
All right. So, this is just a picture that we've taken recently from some of our staff who are part of the Bring It Home team from this school year. Um we're missing Principal Munson, unfortunately. He was out that morning. But otherwise um it shows kind of a
representation of our staff is really diverse and represents a lot of our school population and multicultural families as well. Um and obviously, the staff has changed over time. Um but we're really proud of this team. They do
a lot of hard work. Um and so, this program started in 2013. So, it is not new. Um but it's just been revamped over time. And so, we meet bi-monthly, and over time we do a lot of
different things. We help families and talk about um what are your goals for your students? We do a lot of relationship building. Um and we want to hear what do they want to do? Um What do they want to learn about? And so, we talk a lot about school, what's going
on, what's coming up. Um it's very similar to some things we do at PTO meetings. But what we have noticed is um a lot of these families don't come to our PTO meetings. So, this is another space for them where they feel welcome
and safe. And um what you'll see in the upcoming pictures, too, is that it is a lot of our families who speak other languages. And so, we have um interpreters there and that they feel safe and that can help us translate for
them on the spot. And we're trying to merge things together a little bit more so that they can have similar experiences. Um and Iman behind us is going to be the PTO president next year. So, we're really excited to try and work on this
merging a little bit more as well as providing this space. Um So, yeah. This is just a picture from one of our Bring It Home meetings. Uh can see, a really wonderful representation of um one of our family groups at our cultural groups at Peter
Hobart. And then I'm actually we wanted to have a parent perspective. So, um Aman's going to talk from her perspective about just the power of Bring It Home. And then unfortunately, Luzara couldn't join us, but I have a couple of quotes that I want to read from some words she sent us. So,
Hi, everyone. Um So, Bring It Home is exactly what it's called, home. You know, as an immigrant from Tanzania I moved here in 2024, and it was the hardest thing because I left a whole
community who supported me. And Peter Hobart um led by Principal Munson and uh Ms. Kelly um Clark they gave us that. Ms. Kelly, sorry. I'm nervous. >> [laughter] >> You're doing great. Yeah, they gave us
just that. You know, when you leave uh your a place where you call home and you come into a new community, the hardest thing to do is navigate. And when you get channels and platforms that see you, hear you, and feel the way you
feel, and you feel not different from other people, you just feel the same, despite the fact that you speak a different language. Like some people speak Spanish, I speak Swahili. Habari. Uh and we are all connected by the fact that we have to call Minnesota home. So,
Bring It Home gave us that, and we're very grateful. And our kids, 54 kids get extra tutoring, so they're not left behind. We thank Peter Hobart for that. So, we are urging other schools, if they don't have
a platform where people like us, we're not aliens, though we're called that, >> [laughter] >> um feel heard and seen. And inclusion, I can't stress enough. Inclusion is not just telling me I get a seat at the at the chair.
Inclusion is telling me this whole room is for me. And that's what Bring It Home gives us. A room where we can be heard, a room where we can share our challenges and differences, and then we can find solutions together. So, I thank Peter Hobart, and we urge the school just
district and the board, if other schools do not have this program, it is very important because we um feel one, and we feel heard, and our kids are not left behind. Thank you. Yeah, and just to add on to that again, uh Lazara wanted to be here, but
unfortunately could not be here. Um two kind of statements that she had put in kind of a longer context was, um I believe Bring It Home creates a true sense of community, reminding us that we are not alone. We find support in one another, and together we grow stronger as parents by sharing our
stories, thoughts, and experiences. Um and then from spaces like Bring It Home also allow us to learn from one another, feel safe and supported, share resources, and build a strong bridge between home and school. So, again, just the power um that our
families speak to about Bring It Home, and then I also want to have a chance to uh it can bring all the students here. So, uh we made a video that kind of showcases them. What I like about Bring It Home tutoring is that I can play with my friends and
do some math problems. Bring It Home tutoring helped me with my What I like is in Miss Aim's class was we always read a book about the legend of La Cucaracha, and I like it.
And my favorite part was when La Cucaracha ate the cucaracha. What I like about tutoring is that on Tuesday I play with somebody but he plays games with Santiago, Silvia,
and Lucian. And I won 200 scores, I think. And on Thursday I like it. I like I like to set the words up in letters.
Like on the O W E W and E A A Y, and then A Y then I I the first one being done. Hi, my name is Benny, and the thing that
I like from Bring It Home is that they get to help you with like mostly everything you do. In class and they just like have it like tutoring and stuff like that. And helps you with homework. I mean I miss Lucy, and when do we have
my friends play? And snack. And see baby sitting. Um and sleeping meals is robot and donuts.
All and and cat videos. And What I like about tutoring is being with my friends, and also reading more. Yeah, Bring It Home.
Yeah, and that is our presentation about Bring It Home at Peter Hobart. Do you have questions for us? Does anybody have any questions? Okay. Thank you so much for um coming to share this with us and for doing this work. Um and thank you to our parent for being
here to share your perspective. So important and the young people um adorable. And um I The question I have is how do folks get connected? So, is it like um a you know, anybody it's open to anybody, or it's a referral process, or how do you sort of get folks connected? Yeah,
it's primarily by word of mouth. Um we do a lot of individual invitations. Um we start with our multilingual families and the list that we have of multilingual families, uh we actually had the Bring It Home fam uh Bring It Home group uh that you saw with our
staff, uh they spent a whole day just contacting families. So, I we released them for a day to literally call every family on our multilingual list to make sure that they knew about the opportunity, um and then they were invited. But as you know, most of the time kind
of those personal invitations um or when they come with a with another family is when we uh get the most impact. Hm? Yeah, you can add on, of course, of course. Uh and um on the first Bring It Home of every year of the school year, uh we
have um days where we we will meet, and then you can tell another parent that we're going to be meeting maybe on the last Bring It Home will be in next month, in May. So, then we all gather, and um the next one, you all guys are welcome. We'll make home food from our
countries, and then we're going to share a meal. So, yeah, welcome. Um thank you for that, and certainly would love to know when that's happening. Thank you. Colin? A comment that I know that uh I don't know if it was officially part of this Bring It Home, but it's a
number of years ago that I sat in in uh with Carmen, and she does something with some of the parents in terms of how to negotiate a report card. And I it seemed very similar to some of this stuff too for immigrant families to particularly to see something, and there's a lot of things on there, and also there's some
cultural differences in terms of what a report card looks like between a different country and here. So, I just really appreciate it. Seems in that if it's not part of that program, in the same spirit. So, thank you. Thank you so much for coming, and you anytime you bring kids in and bring
parents, I'm going to cry. So, thank you for coming, and uh what a really uplifting program. Thanks again. And we'll look forward to that invitation. Absolutely. Glad you Um all right. So, now we are moving on to our discussion items.
Um we have a special returning guest. Um Ann Casey was uh served on our school board for eight years, two terms, and is our appointed uh 286 or two excuse me, 287 um board representative, and so she's
coming to update the board on some of the changes that are happening um within Intermediate School District 287, which will impact um us, which will impact our um our operations, too. So, Director Casey, thanks so much. Welcome
back. >> Thank you, Chairman Seedy, Superintendent Dr. Hines, members of the board and cabinet. Thank you for being here. Um it's really wonderful to be back. I don't think I've ever been on this side of the podium. It's very exciting. And we are really doing this Intermediate District um update for the first time.
So, whatever feedback you have on this presentation, um give to Superintendent Hines or Chairman Seedy, and we can kind of we can do it again um when people feel like they want to get more information. Um Like
uh St. Louis Park, we are mission-driven organization. Um the mission of Intermediate District 287 is to be the premier provider of innovative specialized services to ensure that each member district can meet the unique learning needs of its students. Um I just want to say that I
think it's important that the the member districts are really the the the entities being served. Our students are obviously we're serving our students every day, but it's really um meant to be a cooperative between the intermediate and the member districts.
And we read this mission at the beginning of every board meeting. Um just a little history. Intermediate District 287 started as a way to leverage economies of scale with career and technical education. I didn't actually I just learned this like this year. In 1965, there are four
intermediate school districts within the state of Minnesota. Almost all of the metro districts are in an intermediate except for the big ones that are big enough to do their own. So, I don't know Hennepin, Minnetonka, St. Paul. Um there are 12 member districts in um in District 287. Here's the map, you can
kind of see it's the entire west metro basically from Osseo all the way around to Richfield. Um And so, we have a board consisting of a member from every uh every member district. So, we have a 12-person board. Uh we have four
education centers or schools that we um um, have we run ourselves. So, North uh, and Bremer, West, and South. Um, they're in four different places in our sort of geography. Um, although the North and Anne Bremer are pretty close to each other. They serve different
populations. So, we have a couple that have K through 12. And then we have a couple that are mostly high school and then transition age students. And, um, three, but I'm going to talk about this in a second. Right now, three of these, um, sites have an alternative learning center. So, you might think of that you
might know that as an alternative high school, but we call them ALCs. Um, so what is the difference between like the special education that we have here? Because we have we do a lot of special education here. I see you, Dr. Robinson. And what happens in 287? So, there's
four different settings. These are like federal, um, designations for different kinds of services. So, setting one is the least, like, least restrictive environment that students are mostly in a general education setting and they might be in a special educated special ed setting less than 21% of their school
day. And then so it's more and more and then a federal setting four, which is what we have in 287, is a separate school that is only for students in special education. So, they're in a special education environment 100% of the time. That does not mean they're not getting general education services. They definitely are, um,
because all of our special education students are also general education students. But they're in a different site. Um, so I just want to, um, talk about our ALCs a little bit because this is not this is not the federal setting four.
This is now like the alternative high school that I was talking about. So, right now we have, um, three of them at our own sites and then Gateway, which is a program that we host at, um, Hennepin Technical College. Um, the
referrals to our federal setting for special ed are growing. And you can see that some of our ALCs have been kind of mostly steady. And then the second one on the graph, NICA, has been has kind of fallen off. And there's a reason for that or actually there's a few reasons for it.
One is that that site used to host, um, a daycare for students so that students that could bring their kids to school. Um, but the actually the teen pregnancy rate has dropped so much that that became, um, less needed. And so that program was discontinued several years ago. There's also not a bus line to that
school. And alternative high school students don't get transportation provided by, um, special by districts like special education students do. So, all of our special education students get transportation, but ALC students don't. So, it's been hard to get people there and it attendance
has suffered because of that. Um, and then, I mean, contrast that with Walt, the this is that that's at our West Education Center, which has been growing. Um, so there's going to be a service change. This is kind of one of the things that
Virginia was alluding to. For the 26-27 school year, the alternative learning program at NICA at North is going to be eliminated. And the students in that program, um, there's 37 right now. So, those 37 students will be either um,
invited to join our other ALCs in 287 or to go to home district ALCs. And the the the ones that have the most students there all have their own home home ALCs. And before before any of this was official or even really proposed,
our superintendent talked to the superintendents of those member districts and said, "Hey, like, do you have capacity for 10 to 10 to 13 students?" And they all said, "Yes, we totally understand why why this is a necessary thing. We want you we want to
make space for those federal setting four students in in at North because we are really in, um, seeing an increase in numbers in our federal setting four, which is really like the heart of what we do." And they said, "We're we're not only are we going to, you know, make capacity for
those students, but we will work together. So, if there's a more appropriate placement, like if a a Robbinsdale student would be more better served in Osseo, we will do that." So, we made sure that all of those students would be continue to be served, um, in an appropriate place. So, we're just trying to, I mean,
obviously there's always a downside to an eliminating a program, but we've been trying to mitigate harm, um, as much as possible. Okay. Um, in addition to setting four special ed and ALC programs, we have a number I kind of call it like an unwieldy
octopus. We have a number of other types of programming and these are kind of as needed or requested by the member districts. So, we have Northern Star Online, which provides, um, online high school courses, supplemental courses to over 50 member and non-member districts. So, all 12 of us plus a whole
bunch more. Um, with over 1,000 ADMs this year. Uh, care and treatment provide services in 10 sites, which are including residential or day treatment centers, hospitals, and correctional settings that are within our member districts.
So, we have 10 of those. 200 students. Um, we have career technical and like I said, we have, um, students at Hennepin Tech. And that's a really fun place to visit cuz you get to see the outdoor motorsports and the cooking and everything. Um, so we have 125 students who take courses
there. And then we have itinerant services, which include speech and language, assistive technology, all kinds of other very specialized services. And those services happen both in our 287 sites, but this is a connection to our home districts because
many of those services are provided in districts. So, we're not just serving our own 287 students, we're serving all of the students in the member districts. So, just to give an example of the scale, you can kind of see, um, uh, current. So, there's 14 139 students
being served. That's unduplicated. Some of them some kids are definitely receiving more than one type of service. Um, but everything from audiology, um, ASL interpreters, physical health disabilities, physical therapy, uh, speech and language, and, um,
I think the the largest number of buildings is over 100 buildings are served by audiologists. So, that's all of the member districts, you know, probably schools in schools for sure in all of the member districts. Um, there was a question from a board member about like, "What are what are the ideal
ratios for these kinds of services?" And it's a little bit of a complicated question because there's travel involved. There's a lot of third-party billing involved. So, that it's not exactly like, "Oh, when we think about an ideal number of services for a counselor in a traditional high school, right?" It's there's a certain
number that is the ideal. But we did a, um, uh, uh, work what's the word? Work like a workflow, um, study on these, um, the adults that are doing all of this and found that they were like within the, um, proper ratios per
student considering all those other kind of variables that happen. Um, okay. Anyone have questions on that stuff cuz I'm going to go into something different. Okay. All right. Intermediates are funded really differently. You can click on this link if you want. I'm not going to go through
all of it. Um, but they're not funded the same way as traditional districts. This is the one way that we're really very different. Um, we have membership fees. So, every member district pays membership fees and then access fees. So, for each student that comes, there's a certain number of dollars that come with that student. So,
it might be special education dollars or it might be that we're paying for services like, um, like the, uh, online coursework. So, we would pay the dist the home district would pay for that service. Um, that special education funding is basically a pass-through that comes to the home
districts and then goes to the intermediate. And then we also have levy funding that comes through the member districts. And this is one connection that you have most of you have seen all but two of you have seen before because every year every home district has to pass the long-term facilities maintenance, um,
proposal from 287 as well as the home district one. So, you'll see that in June. It'll be, um, you'll see the ratios of, um, what each district member district is, um, what percentage of the levy they kind of make up because they're not all the same. It's it's based on the number
of ADM in the district and then also their usage of 287 programming. Yeah. Sure, the number of students in the in the home district. Sure. Just the size of the home district and the amount of use they are making of 287. Average daily membership. And so the
state funding formula is a complicated formula. And so ADM plays a big important role in what that funding looks like. Yep. Thank you. Yeah. And so, um, in terms of what kinds of things those those levies cover, it's very much like
what we see in our home districts. Like, last summer we did LED lighting at one site and, um, some renovations to the outside of a building that needed, um, some foundation work. There was a part of the architecture of this building cuz it wasn't built to be a school that were
climbable. So, they had to eliminate those um, climbable spaces. Um, this summer we're going to be seeing some, um, parking lot resurfacing and that kind of thing. So, they it's very much in line with the kinds of things that we do in our home districts, just
maintaining buildings. Um, so again, you'll see that in June. Um, there's some other state funding, I, um, items. There's fee for services and then federal and state grant funding. And that is another way in which we're kind
of different. We really rely on grant funding for a lot of different things. I think you all heard me talk about, um, the apprenticeship program. So, we have a a state grant for it's from the Department of Labor and Industry to kind of grow your own for special education
teachers to build that pipeline. Um, and that's a collaboration of all four intermediates. But, it's a grant, so we have to make sure that we can continue to do that program um as long as, you know, beyond the life of that grant, hopefully.
Any questions on the funding? Okay. Um This is our current strategic plan graphic. It's like it's a lovely graphic, so I wanted to put it up there. Um, this is the end of our second school year in this current strategic plan.
Um, we've already heard draft goals for 26-27. Um, I think behind these focus areas is a belief that students have the right to academic achievement, period. And that academic achievement can't
happen without a commitment to equity inclusion and promoting social and emotional learning. Obviously, in in a federal setting for setting, um, the measurements and the strategies might look very different from a traditional school district, but
I think those are going to that's like this concept is not going to be surprising to you, right? Like this is very much in line with the mission of of St. Louis Park. Um, each of these focus areas has This is I love this part because there's it's broken up every year we have student
goals and staff goals and then family goals in each of these three areas. Um, and the goals aren't like things that the families need to do. It is things that we will do, too, provide access for families, but measurable outcomes. Um,
so I just wanted to kind of show that off. Um because I think it's a really uh powerful statement of where we're at right now as a as an intermediate district. Is that fast enough, Virginia? >> [laughter] >> I wanted I did want to make sure there
was time for questions, so um And like I said, I this is the first time doing this, so feedback, um, questions, whatever. I will um if there's questions that I can answer now, I'd love to. And if there's questions that need to go to Superintendent Doudt, I can do that, too. We're just
and I do want to open it up for questions. We're just also trying to be conscious of making sure we're getting within the 2-hour minute 2-hour board meeting so that our staff can get home. But, this is a good time to ask questions cuz Anne is here. And there
are some changes so that we've been getting in board updates. So, we want to give everybody the opportunity. Sure. Should be brief. Um I think the I I asked that it be shared with the
board sort of like what's the other stuff, transition plus, how does this all fit in? So, hopefully you've taken a look at that and seen some greater context there. Um, another thing is I saw in you said compensatory funding. I know that we're not as directly affected by some of the compensatory funding things and you'll
hear a lot of us talk about you'll hear a lot of the advocacy groups talking about it, but it seems like it's an important resource or just something to keep in mind. >> Yeah, for sure. That that's something to to focus on. The other thing that I'll do is say that um Superintendent Doudt is on the
advocacy committee with me and it's been a great pleasure just to get to hear and she's on the um commission of brown um The Blue Ribbon Commission on special education funding. special education funding. If people we've talked about it, the the $250 million in savings you're supposed to find, so she's been really active part
in that. And then the final thing I'm going to put a plug in um 287 like our ourselves has something called they have a board briefs email and you can sign up to get that and good way to stay in touch with what's happening board level. So, just a few more things there, but really great to see you.
>> Yeah. Fun to be here. Does anybody else have any questions? Great. And I would just encourage, um, if you have if any members of the public have questions about this and to understand cuz as I think we say almost
every single meeting, school finance and school funding is really complex and where the money is coming and where it's going. And so, if you have questions, please reach out um because this is an important service. Yeah, and as the appointed board member, I'm still you know, a member of the
public that that is accountable to that. So, my email address is on the Intermediate District 287 website. I'm the chair right now, so um you can find me there. All right. Thank you so much, Casey. >> Um, okay. So, the next thing that we
have as I put on my really large reading glasses >> [laughter] >> is a community education overview with the early learning program and we're going to um welcome Director Howard and friends up to the
board. Okay, good evening, Chair Mancini, Superintendent Dr. Hines, members of the board. Uh, this is our final presentation of the year. Um, as you all know, most of you, we've come to introduce or reintroduce our community education programs. The earlier start of
the year we introduced or reintroduce um adult programs, youth programs. Now it's our chance to introduce our early learning programs and I'm going to pass it over to our early learning program leaders. Hi, I'm Katie Sherber. I am the early learning program supervisor here at Central on the other side of the
building. Um, tonight we will talk about um four of our programs and just give a quick overview about the fun and all the learning we have at Central. So, we will start with um early childhood family
education and then go to screenings, our half-day programming and then Kids Place Preschool. So, um early childhood family education or ECFE as you commonly hear it is um many of our families have their first
exposure into our district and district programming with our early childhood family education classes. So, it is a time for families to come in with their infants, young children, um bond with their child, have time with a
parent educator, a family educator, ask about development questions, about parenting. And then another important part is having that time with other families and making those connections with other families in our community. Um, and you get to see those families
kind of build those relationships at early childhood and as they continue on into our programming and then further as they continue on in our district. So, they do singing, play time, um reading stories together all within that bonding
and connection with the families. And then next we have screening. Um, early childhood screening is a developmental um screening process that all children will complete. It is a part of kindergarten
enrollment paperwork. So, we work really hard at getting our families in the community screened so they have that part completed as they start the enrollment process for kindergarten. Um, they'll meet with a screener, talk
about development, do hearing and vision, height and weight, some fine motor skills. And then at the end of the screening, they can talk with the family if there's any concerns. And our screener then can
um guide them toward any um programming or resources that they are seeking. And then it's also a good way for them to segue into our additional programming that we offer at Central. Good evening, board. Do that. There we go. Good evening,
board, uh Superintendent Hines, Chair Mancini. Thank you. Tatjana Bell, Children, Youth, and Family Services manager for early childhood and our before and after school school-age care programs as well. As Katie was saying, Central, located just at the other end of this building um at door three, does
house multiple programs. I will be talking about our early learning half-day program and in collaboration with our early childhood special ed, which works with our student services department. And you may have already heard that more from our student services department, so I will speak briefly um about our before or excuse
me, our half-day morning and half-day afternoon classes. Classes range from two to five-day options. You can come two days, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, um multiple options for you there. Our classrooms are integrated and inclusive,
so 14 out of 15 or excuse me, 14 out of 18 of our classes are in an inclusive classroom, so we have both early childhood or excuse me, early learning and early childhood special ed teachers within that space as well as paras um to support those students. They're all
highly cla- or excuse me, highly qualified teachers and paras in those spaces and also working with our families offering multiple uh funding pathways, whether that's tuition assistance pathways scholarships based from the state or um
school readiness funding as well. Another program that we do have in Central is our Kids Place Preschool. Again, but for ages 33 months to 5 years old. Difference with this program, it is a full-day 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. program. So, again, inclusive classrooms
and integrated classrooms ranging from 33 months to 5 years, some two or excuse me, 33 months [clears throat] to 4 years old and then a 4 or 5 year before preschool or excuse me, year before kindergarten classrooms um as well. Again, with ongoing enrollment and
tuition assistance available through C-CAP from the state and also pathway one funding. The families that we do serve, the early childhood family education that Katie spoke about previously does have 380 family, excuse me, students ranging from
our infants all the way through their parents for our parent education courses that we do have in partnership with those uh infant child parent interaction classes as well. Our early learning half-day preschool, so the AM or PM half-day program does
have 283 roughly students enrolled for this current year, again inclusive with our early childhood special ed. And our Kids Place full-day program having 137 currently enrolled students. We do have enrichment opportunities for those students. For Mini Me Sports, they are kind of
getting a entry-level learning of what sports are, whether it's soccer or football or track. The kids are constantly moving and loving it. It's amazing. It's a workout for sure to try to keep up with them. So, it's entertaining, but also they're learning a lot of different
rules and social skills, as well. Our Let's Dance with Amy Schadis, they do have two twice a year, excuse me, we have a recital. So, if you have not checked it out, please check it out this year. It's going to be amazing. Um the winter one was held here in the cafeteria. The kids were able to
showcase their dances that they had and it was amazing. Okay, so what is next is a typical day of our preschool um programming includes a balance of teacher-led activities and child-led activities. Whether the students are exploring different areas
during choice time and play time, a teacher-led large group time where we'll talk about a our curriculum areas that are embedded during our group time, as well as during our small group more guided instruction. And then we incorporate art, music,
dramatic play, and science within our day, too, with our half-day preschool. It's a very busy 2 and 1/2 hour um of academics and play. And there's um gross motor time, whether it's in the
gym or outside, or we have multiple motor areas to to get their large motors going. And then another component that children always like is snack, where you'll find a lot of the kids are engaging in those social emotional skills, too, during that informal
learning time. And then within our formal curriculum, we use Bridges Math, the pre-K version for both our 3-year-old classrooms and 4-year-old classrooms, um just to kind of have them continue on in the Bridges curriculum that is used
in elementary schools. Our Second Step social emotional curriculum is teaching kids explicit social emotional skills, um how to take turns, how to, you know, use a strong respective voice, um learning social skills through songs
and puppets and kind of role-playing different social emotional scenarios for them to hands-on learn. Our big day for pre-K um has overarching themes. It has a monthly theme that um are hands-on themes. Right now we're in
a nature theme that the kids are really into growing grass head seeds and um learning about different ways and different things that grow. Um Learning Without Tears is our fine motor hand writing curriculum, where
they're learn how to properly hold a pen, pencil, um things that we think are what everybody should know, but you need to implicitly, do you know, teach these you know, little young ones how to hold a pencil correctly and form letters the
right way. And then finally, we do have science kits that we have created on our own through some grant funding to have some hands-on science experiences within the classrooms. And then within all of our curriculum,
too, we talk about the students' identity and finding ways to explore similar similarities and differences between us all, um finding ways to talk about our own identity and find our own identity within ourselves, within our
new classroom community and within the community around ourselves. And then within assessments, we just started Teaching Strategies GOLD as a data collection assessment, focusing on literacy and social
emotional and seeing where students are developmentally and making sure that we are seeing a progression through all their developmental skills. Um Bridges also has three assessment tools that they see
at the beginning of the year, do a midway checkpoint and finish at the end of the school year. And then within our curriculum and lesson plans, we are looking at the early childhood indicators of progress. I get to talk about all the fun stuff, so it's great.
Um when it comes to family engagement, our parent advisory council puts on amazing events throughout the year, ranging from our vehicle fair, which this year was amazing because it actually ended up being about 85 that day. So, families were able to climb around through the fire trucks and learn
from some of our partners um from the city and Westwood Hills Nature Center and learn how to properly tie I cannot remember the name of the knot, but a very specific knot. And then they got to take home a small portion to be able to practice. So, we we love those different events. Um we also held a fall ball,
winter meltdown, and playground play dates. One coming up at the end of this uh school year in the spring on May 30th, I believe is the actual date. Um something new that we did this year was our CELC dance party with our very own
DJ. Um family students came throughout the day in their class and had a wonderful dance party for about an hour. They're still talking about it to this day, so we may have to reprise that at the end of the year. Um but trying new things, getting ideas from our parent advisory
council, from our families, what are they interested in, what are some new ways that we can continue to engage um and uplift and empower those families. We also, as I spoke briefly, were the part partnerships that we've had with Westwood Hills Nature Center, we do have our ECFE classes held there um during
the week, as well. And then working with our St. Louis Park High School, excuse me, National Honor Society members, they have come in and they provide child care during our parent advisory council meetings um monthly. So, it's been amazing to be able to work hand-in-hand with our high school
students. They love hanging out with the kids. The kids are able to see them, ask them questions, and engage with students um that are a little bit bigger than them, but not quite adults yet, so they're not as scary as adults coming into the space, but having a good time and and being able to read stories or
get on their level and play with them, as well. And then some fun pictures and just to say thank you. Any questions? A question, and it you don't have to tell me if you don't know the answer, but um are there any MLL ECFE classes or like um and like what are the different
languages of for some of the immigrant ECFE families that you have? In currently in development. In development. Okay, Thank you. You're welcome. And sorry, what are the groups that you're looking to Currently, we're looking to expand our Spanish classes, but open to other communities,
as well. Oh, I was going to add on Tuesday afternoons, we do have um Latino ECFE class that meets once a week, and um just a kind of time for them to collaborate. And we do have one of our
paras that um is multi-language, too, so. Any other questions? Those great question. Well, I just I always have to thank you. And once again, I got a little teary because my daughter has been in this system since ECFE.
So, we did ECFE, we did preschool, we did Kids Place. So, it's amazing to see all of these. And you know what? Y'all produce a pretty cool kid. So, good job. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Um thank you so much for coming. Thank you.
And next, do we have We have Sorry, I got to put these bad boys back on. Um and we have a update on our 2026 mid-year um budget assumptions for 2027. All right, Director Magnuson.
>> Yes, good evening. Um Chairman Seenie, Superintendent Hines, and members of the board. Tonight, I'm going to provide you just an update. There's no action. Tonight, um we'll we'll we'll ask you to take action on May 12th. Um we're going to do an update um for
our mid-year budget for fiscal year 2026 as we close out this year and um start talking about our assumptions for fiscal 2027. Just this visual shows you how far down the budget timeline we are. We're now into the approval parts of the budget.
We've spent a long time gathering data and looking at assumptions and preparing the budget. Um And so, this is just a closer up view of that. We're right in here um with the early approval. So, tonight is just giving you information to be prepared to
to begin to take action. There's, you know, mildly good news on the fiscal year 2026 budget. Um we're pretty stable compared to the original budget. We are going to ask the board to increase the revenue budget by
$768,000 and increase the expenditure budget by 293,900. And we'll talk a little bit about the details in that. But if you think about those two things together, that means fund balance is going up by $474,000.
Some of that's in a reserved category, some of it's in unreserved categories, but there we are anticipating an increase in fund balance over um what we had originally budgeted. Um on the revenue side, you can see some of the sources. When we closed the books
last year, we're starting to see an uptick in um delinquent and uncollectible taxes. And so we built in a contingency and it drove down the property tax revenue by 594,000 to reflect the activity that occurred
last year. So that's um what you see in property taxes. State aids, we're finally making the adjustments for the increase in um enrollment. We had the the the correct um funding formula built into the budget, but the increasing enrollment
now is built into this budget. We're holding on federal revenue for now, and there's some small other increases in revenue. So you can see it's this this increase in state aid of 768,000. Some of that is the general ed funding formula, and some of that is within um
basic skills revenue. So that includes compensatory and English learner revenue. Those two together have also increased just a bit for us. So that's included in that state aid number. On the expense side, we have one more um
contract uh to be approved by the board tonight. And um once we have done that, we'll have all the payrolls updated, but we're within 1% on salaries and benefits. That's our best projection for now. We wanted to make those updates so that
when we're comparing our year-end results, we have a closer projection for the board. We're pleased about that. Um those are pretty difficult um within that 50 to 60 million-dollar budget to predict what will happen in a year like this when there were so many contracts
to settle. Um within purchase services, we're increasing We're requesting an increase in the budget by $526,000. There's some some big variable areas in that category. Um one of them is where we pay
substitute teachers. We get them from Kelly Services. Um so it's a purchased service and not a staffing number. So we bumped up that budget just a little bit as we approach year end to make sure we have sufficient budget capacity. Transportation is another area. As we
approach year end, we really tightened down that transportation budget and we want to make sure we have sufficient budget capacity in that purchased service. And the last one is we're watching utilities pretty closely. Um whether the cooling season will start
sooner and harsher than we um than we had anticipated, we do not know, but we've built in sufficient budget capacity, we think. What you're seeing within supplies and equipment is a part of it is a reallocation. When we set up the technology budget and
the long-term facilities maintenance budget, which are all within the general fund, so it can get confusing in these categories. We set up the initial budget and put it all within a an equipment category, and then we reallocated as we um sort through is it going to be
software, which is in a supplies category? We could combine all of those and not show this level of detail, but we want to um make sure that the budget reflects all of the software purchases within technology. So a lot of things got moved up into that category. And on
the equipment side, we built in additional funding for the long-term facilities maintenance. There's quite a fund balance. Um you know, there is a fund balance in our long-term facilities maintenance, so we have room to continue to do projects similar to the ones that um
Director Casey was talking about earlier that are happening at 287, restriping and um keeping our parking lots up to to date, the regular deferred maintenance projects. So that reflects um that is why the equipment budget isn't
going down as much as the supplies budget is going up, if that makes sense. We shifted the categories, and then we added some um budget capacity for some uh projects that will happen in the buildings. I want to talk then just So that's
really where we're at for um the mid-year uh budget. Before I talk about the impact on fund balance, I just want to remind us of the Finance Advisory Committee recommendations for fiscal 27. We're going to try to start incorporating
language around that so we're used to it by the time um we we come to the fiscal 27 budget. Our normal recommendation has been to develop that expenditure budget that um ensures a unreserved fund balance of at least 8%. And earlier we
heard some conversations about what do we do with those funds as we try to drive up that fund balance and keep our reserves intact. And just as a reminder that those funds are intended to not be used. They're for unexpected
emergencies, and we are at a low level compared to our neighboring districts that we compare ourselves to. Um and that 8% represents about um two months' worth of salaries only. So in terms of what um recommendations are around fund
balances, this still is a low fund balance. And one of the ways um And then there's a long-term strategy to drive that fund balance up to more of a 6-month number, 12 to 16% more in line with some of our neighbors. And many of our neighbors are
even higher than that. So this isn't um outlandish to talk about a 12 to 16% fund balance. We aren't recommending making budget cuts, and I'm not here recommending that in order to grow a fund balance. And so when we talked about that in Finance Advisory
Committee, a way to consider how high do we want the fund balance to be in an environment of budget cutting? Is let's just balance the budget. Let's make sure that the revenue that that what we spend can line up with the revenue that comes in. So those two
things might be in conflict with each other, but it's a way to think about many things at once and what might be wise. So if we can't increase fund balance, are we at least ensuring that our revenues and expenses are in alignment? And that's an important other
factor in thinking about fund balance. Um and there is a link, I think in here for the 27 recommendations um the presentation that was given to the board. This is all a lot of numbers, but I wanted to try to explain this to you a
little bit um because one of the things we're recommending is can we just make our fund balance calculation the same as the Department of Education um calculation, which is what the number is that we compare ourselves to in other districts.
And it's not all that um it's complicated, but I think we can walk through this and I'm and I think the board is aware of this, but I just want to prepare you for this. Um last year's ending fund balance was $10,861,864.
That was the ending number for last year. Is that in our original budget? Is that in our mid-year budget? We We aren't changing last year's numbers. But if you break down last year's numbers, six just over $6 million or 8.8%
was um categorized as unassigned. We were continuing to hold 1 million just over $1 million in an assigned fund balance for severance. And it was a wise um
reserve um by a board many, many years ago, and we've been continuing to hang on to that. Um so that we have some money set aside as folks retire. The reality is though that we have to build that into our operating budget. We
pay people, and we also pay severance. So it's just a part of our operating budget like everything else. And the Department of Education doesn't care if we're setting it aside. So it's not included in their fund balance calculation, or it isn't They're saying that's an unreserved fund balance. So
it's not part of anything that we are saying at the state level you must reserve. So if you add these two together, um the 6 million 97 and the million 76, that's what we're saying now. We're at 7
million 173. And we're not trying to fool anyone. Our fund balance didn't magically become 10.3%, and it was 8.8. It's just we're now including that assignment for severance. So we can just put that behind us and
start working with a number that is comparable to other districts and matches what you're going to find if you go to the state website and ask what's the unreserved fund balance percent. So that's where we're at. The restricted balance, of course, doesn't change. That is what it is. And the restricted
balance includes money set aside in the tech levy, money set aside for long-term facilities maintenance. If we didn't spend all of our basic skills funds, so there's reserved funding that can only be spent for specific purposes that the state
requires us to spend in that way. So, that's what's in those categories. Um and for us, it's really we hold a fund balance for student activity accounts, um for long-term facility maintenance, and for operating capital, and for the tech levy. So, those four.
They're mostly like capital related things. Um so, now as we move into the 26 ending fund balance, so the net of the revenues and expenditures was about a in fund balance. So, there you see it. And here's how we're going to think
about that. Um originally, our budget um that the board adopted would have been 8.49% because we were still holding this bit of severance. Now, in this updated budget, we're going to release that. And so, severance
um is now a part of our regular unassigned fund balance. So, comparable to last year's ending 10.35% now becomes 9. um 81% as we move through the year. Um
so, that's that's where we're at on the unassigned fund balance. And you can see then what that means is we've got a little bit of the budget is a little bit out of balance. So, we're driving down our fund balance by a couple hundred dollars. So, that goes along with that value of
holding a balanced budget, and how big is enough? So, you know, is 9.81 enough as we move toward an effort to increase the budget? Um so, one way to look at that is is the budget balanced um between revenues and
expenses. Um we're more balanced than we were as we started the year. Yeah. Really quick. So, um the reason why Mhm. is so that when we go on so, the reason why you included the the severance
>> Yep. >> the assigned severance into the unassigned fund balance was so that when um if I go on to the state website, that's the number I'm going to see so that people are not confused. >> Right. >> Okay. So, it's just helping with the
transparency and Yes, and consistency. You know, it was a a wise decision by the board several years ago of a past board to assign for severance, but you could pick anything in the budget in a signed fund balance. You know, we could assign fund balance for future salary
settlements, but once you start doing that monkey business, it it messes everything up because the state doesn't doesn't recognize it that way. It's available to us to be spent, and it's not restricted funds. So, let's just be clear about it. I think is what we're
trying to do. Um so, then I just wanted to try again because I I'm not trying to do smoke and mirrors here. We aren't suddenly gone from 8% to 10%. So, I'm just trying to show it in another way. Our original calculation
um for last year end was 8.8%. Once we include severance, that balance is now 10.35% because we've included that severance fund balance. So, I'm just trying to show you what apples to apples would look like. Our original budget um
our unassigned fund balance was 8.49%, but once now we include if we just look at the original budget before we even had these conversations this year, we would have been at 9.38%. So, our fund balance was budgeted to go down
um in either calculation. Now, we've got more revenue coming in than our expenses um are increasing. So, under this revised budget, we would have been at 8.9% under the old calculation. So, our fund balance was going up anyway,
but now under the new calculation, we've gone from nine what was 9.38 to 9.81. So, it's good news that the fund balance is increasing um in dollar terms and in percentage terms.
It's um it's complex. It's not difficult math. It's you know, we just have to have a new way of thinking about that now. And kind of discard some of the those old reserves. It will make things easier, I think. Um so, here's this is the one that has
the link. So, I want I highlighted the things that are having an impact on what we plan to bring forward in the fiscal 27 budget. We're working toward that fund balance percentage that will be above 8%. And then also the balanced budget. And we are
um so, the idea is that our fund balance will probably stay flat. We did not cut budgets so that fund balance would go up. So, you're not going to see us coming in with the big rising fund balance. We're trying to hold budgets within the revenue, and that will be
important. I just want to mention out loud to the board that revenues are going to grow from one year to the next because we have a new funding formula, and we are planning on an enrollment increase for next year. So, our revenues are going up.
Expenditures go up every year because we are mostly salary and benefits in our budget, and um we have salary settlements and steps and lanes that that staff move through. So, revenues going up, expenses are going up.
So, fund balance is just a ratio. It's how much money do I have in my savings account proportionate to how much I've spent. So, the numerator is the money in my savings account, the denominator is how much I've spent.
So, as that denominator grows, what happens? Fund balance percent is going to go down. The math will just drive that fund balance down even if revenues and expenses are are the same. So, you know, that's something that we'll have to continue to grapple with
as we try to drive fund balance up. If we want to be meaningful about that in the future, we're going to have to cut budgets to make fund balance grow. And I think that's something we can continue to talk about. I wouldn't be advising that right now. Um we're we're really stable, and we've
been growing that fund balance. So, you'll want to just keep that in mind. No matter what happens, your percent is going to go down even if you continue to unless revenue really explodes beyond um expenditures. The other item in here um our funding
formula is set. Um our student enrollment is set. We do in student fees have an assumption that the student parking fees um will go from $100 to $200 per year. So, I just wanted to remind the board we're probably not
going to make a big change in the budget because of that because frankly, it's not that much money. But what it does is keeps our fees in alignment with other school districts. So, that 5 years from now, the board doesn't have to go, "Gosh, we got to triple that dollar amount." The other
thing I think it may have the impact of um it it might have the impact of valuing those parking spots. Um valuing the the property um at the high school and
taking good care of those parking spaces and making sure that that folks are hold a value around um taking up a space that other students might not have access to. So, that's another way we've been thinking about it, but I just wanted to remind the board that that will move
forward if we move forward with that assumption. Um the we're looking at a district-wide fee structure so we can just wrangle the way we take in fees. Class sizes will remain the same. Um we have thought about new ways. There's some in the
teacher contract, and we had a lengthy discussion about class sizes. So, it aligns with what I what we heard from the community tonight um that we want to be really transparent about that. And I think you'll see some changes um coming from what the teachers valued and from what finance advisory committee is
talking about. And we'll hopefully we can use that platform to keep um that conversation really transparent. And we're always looking at what's driving our costs up and containing costs. So, our next steps will be on May 12th. We'll be here to approve these
assumptions for 27 that we talked about, um and to approve that mid-year budget. And then we'll change all of the line items um for the budget. And then in the two meetings in June, we'll be here um to have you approve the line items and details for 27
budget. Okay. That was very good. That was very extensive. Do we have any questions that are different from the questions that we already asked? Colin? Um
Executive Director Magnuson, um you had that you were talking something about correcting for like property tax issues and stuff and everything. And if I if I remember that right, like you're making some corrections now, and then there might be another correction at another point. Is that what happens?
>> the correction in anticipation of what we're starting to see with delinquent taxes and uncollectible taxes, and we're using last year to model out what might occur this year. I'm hoping that if there's a correction, it will it will be a positive number
that we've built in enough of a contingency to drive down our tax receipts that we might beat that number. I don't I'm I don't anticipate it will be worse than that. Yeah, okay. I thought there was something that you were saying before like we get some sort of allowance or we
get some sort of funding or something before. Am I missing something up and we can follow up later >> Yeah, I'm not recalling that but >> Okay, okay. But I knew that there was some sort of correction and maybe that's what I'm thinking of. >> Yeah, and sometimes there's you know, there's corrections for every line item of the tax levy as formulas change so
those continue to >> And then essentially means that some people like there's reasons people dispute their taxes. >> Lots of reasons. doesn't pay their taxes and we don't get that money right essentially and so then we have to make up make that up some other way so yeah, okay. All right, thank you.
Dr. Davis Um [clears throat] thank you very much for this and I apologize I didn't get this question in in advance but do you are we seeing any shift in the budget related to paid family leave and I um
savings as a result or is that all going towards ending up then we have to Right. >> where we see some of the increase in we purchase services for >> No, so paid family leave is a benefit it's like a payroll deduction benefit that the district pays half and the
employees pay half so we had built that to start on January 1st into the budget. So our because it's just a percentage of payroll tax like FICA. So we built that into the budget and we aren't really changing it. It's you know, the projection was fairly close. I
might be missing your question. >> No, that's okay. I guess I'm trying to figure out you know, I know it's a benefit that we pay into but when if a staff member's out on paid family leave during that time where we're not paying their salary right because it's being
paid out of this benefit pool whoever runs that I can't recall who it is. Yep. And so I'm wondering if there's been accounting for that. Right. I have one like sort of maybe too flip of an answer but we still have to pay
somebody to replace them. Well, that's what I was wondering is it showing up in the purchased services for like subs or things like that. >> possible. I can't say that I've drawn that conclusion but the one thing that's good news and you'll hear it a little bit in the insurance rates our short-term disability rates are going
down because our carriers are recognizing that period of short-term disability that that our carriers and district would have covered are now being cut partially covered by paid family leave. So there's maybe a little bit of savings in
short-term disability. I haven't drawn a straight line yet between so that might be something interesting to watch between costs of subs and paid family leave. Right and also you know, there may be staff for example district administrative staff or what have you I
I don't know who's on paid family leave where we're not bringing a sub a sub in to cover their work and so I just had a curiosity as that's starting to play out for the first year and I'm sorry I should have sent it in advance. Um and then then [clears throat] the other point the only thing I wanted to make a
point on um for folks is that you know, you talked a lot about the fund balance and you know, one of the things that we talk a lot about at this table is that we could do nothing different next year and our costs would rise exponentially
and the and the funding that we get from the state and the federal government um would not keep pace with that right and so you know, I think we have to keep that in mind as we are looking towards you know, proposing about our budget for 2027 um
you know, we're [clears throat] settling contracts we really strive to pay folks here what they deserve to be paid um and settle fair contracts um and provide good benefits and all of those things and the costs of doing that exceed the um extra funding and I
obviously you know that and everybody here knows that but I think as folks are watching this and sort of wondering you know, when we look at the 2027 budget to keep that Thank you. Thanks. All right. Um I'm still trying to
um get my head wrapped around the MDE uh definition change so I think I think I I understand it um but correct me if I'm wrong so um so previously we've held a a goal or
I think every time that I've been on the board of about 8% on reserve fund balance with the addition of the uh severance assignment on top of that that we don't count In that number at all. But when it when it shows up in the state I think usually we're somewhere
between 10 and 11% but now we're saying an 8% goal under the MDE definition so that is essentially drawing down further the the unreserved fund balance per per like if we if we looked at it historically compared to
our MDE definition last year. What we're doing is combining like a board assigned fund balance for severance with our unreserved balance so that it matches the MDE calculation. I'm just going to say it the way I think about it and see if we can
can if we're catching each other if I'm answering the question. So we've grown our unreserved fund balance by saying board we're not going to assign that anymore for arbitrary reasons. You know, that had a had a reason at one time. So we've grown our fund balance our
unreserved fund balance and now it's 10% versus 8.8% or whatever it was going to be. It doesn't mean we did anything. We didn't do anything to make that happen. We just took some money that had been set aside and it's
um and so our fund balance would have been 8.something percent had we kept reserving that. um So >> So I I guess my question is looking forward to next year I guess is it should we be looking at holding steady
to like the previously defined fund balance? >> No, so so it might be something I'm looking at my financial advisory committee folks that we want to think about is 8% still the right number? Right. >> Because you know, now it's a it's a whole new calculation. We didn't really
even talk about the impact of that but adding that balanced budget holds us you know, somewhat accountable. We're not going to come in with some wild number no matter what but I anticipate we should be able to stay above 10% now. Okay. You know, and that's that's not what's in the finance advisory
committee's calculations but that's I think that added balanced budget caveat. So essentially >> what you're saying. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was just trying to get at if we need to redefine what our goal is for for next year. >> we're not going to come in and drive that fund balance down and overspend because that balanced budget caveat
holds us as well. >> Got it. Because presumably we may have to pay out the severance to the people who are retiring. Right. So there is I mean that's potentially you want to keep that number up because we might have to. And that's
built into our budget anyway. So you know, we already anticipate severance that's part of what's in this mid-year update is we know now who's retiring and who's eligible not everybody's eligible for severance but Well, I just want to reiterate what
director Davis was saying that it's really important that as um as wonderful as increased enrollment is really to stay solvent and to continue to be able to pay our bills and to pay our wonderful
staff what they deserve is that we need to keep our school funding tied to the inflationary and so without that school districts um I lived through that. I lived through the Ventura and Pawlenty administrations
when they didn't have it tied and so it is quite um frustrating and I was cut as a teacher so um having that continued tied so please continue to pay attention to the legislative session and continue to reach out to our state legislators and
um emphasize how important that is. Um I do I don't want the answer to this question it's just more of a curiosity um we the federal so we still have not heard I forget what slide the Federal Reserve
hasn't changed because you haven't heard anything from them yet. Do we have any unexpected when we will expect to hear from them? Okay. Great. So again paying attention to the legislative session is really important. Okay. Thank
you very much. Does anybody have other questions? Thank you. Director Magnuson All right. Um moving along to uh policy the first reading of policy 707 transportation of public uh school
students and again presenter director Magnuson. So a lot of the front part of the policy changes are just updated language um um in calling students that children
with disabilities and naming the district as St. Louis Park Public Schools. The meat of this policy change is in the back way where we are defining our parameters around care and treatment transportation
um we have about 11 students um at any given time attending care and treatment and um it's about $4,800 per student to transport to care and treatment because um most of the time they're going in
several different directions at the same time so it's a driver and a vehicle and that can get costly and um it's the right thing to do and we are glad that we are able to provide that service for our families. And there's some additional out of
district mileage because we do not have any parameters in policy about where we will trans how far we will transport. So we worked with our transportation providers and this and you'll a lot of this is just um
common language that you'll see in other school districts. Um what we wanted to to limit it to mostly is that Hennepin County. It's number D2 on the last page. Keeping ourselves within Hennepin County
and we went with 15 miles instead of 10 miles because we aren't trying to make anybody's life difficult, any parents' lives difficult. We know we can drive that down to to 10 miles, but 15 seemed reasonable particularly in comparison to what we
are doing in some cases now. Of course, if the only um care available for a student that's covered by a family's insurance or that can get them the specific care they need is outside of Hennepin County or larger or longer away than 15 miles, we'll
we'll provide that transportation. But this helps us put some parameters on the choices. That's the biggest change. Does anyone have any questions? Um Director Davis. I just wanted to add for folks. I did look at what other district
policies look like in this context. Um and you know, to Patricia's point I'm sorry, Director Magnuson's point. Um a lot of them say within 10 miles. Um The law around this is really just has to be kind of like a reasonable
um so we have to decide what we consider to be reasonable. Um >> [clears throat] >> but I think overall and I don't know, you know, I know you all looked like really at the places that were transporting to and I don't know if there are some that are within 15, but
wouldn't be within 10. Um you know, so I don't I don't know how detailed you got on that look, but I just wanted to let folks know I did look at comparisons to other districts and this is very much in line, maybe slightly more generous with that 15-mile radius.
We did um have a lot of good discussion at policy committee about this and I'm um making sure that students are still getting access to the care that they need, but then also taking into some consideration the cost that um transportation
is. So. No other questions? Okay, great. Thank you, Director Magnuson. Um next we have the consent agenda. I just Oh, one question. One I just got one point of clarification.
So are we clear to move that to a consent for the second reading? I'm comfortable with that. I am especially we had no questions. I think certainly if folks come up with, you know, certainly send a note if you have a question or concern and we'll take it off the consent agenda.
Thank you, Dr. Hines. That was um Okay, it is recommended that the school board approve the consent agenda with the following business and personnel items for the April 28th, 2026 school board meeting as presented. Can I have a
motion? Thank you, Patrick. Second? Thank you, Taylor. All in favor say I. I. All opposed say no. Motion carries 6-0. And now we have a couple other action items.
Um the first is the labor agreement with the principals of association. And Director of Labor Relations, Gail Rochelle, is going to present. No, we're not going to do that. We're going to do I'm sorry. I missed the resolution to establish district self-funded insurance
first. Sorry, Gail. I will be with you in just a second. Um so let us go backwards and we're calling Director Magnuson up again. This is what happens when I have to wear Director Baldwin's glasses. Oh, thank you for the water. Um
so it is recommended that the school board approve the resolution as presented establishing the self-funded rates for district group health and dental insurance for a 12-month period from July 1st, 2026 to July June 30th,
2027. Do I have a motion? Thank you, Colin. I'll second it. Um and now we have Director Magnuson is back. Yes, I'm here um with my friend um Director Executive Director Louie.
Um figuratively beside me. Um we are recommending um with consultation with our insurance committee an increase to our insurance rates within our self-funded plan of 10% on both plan A
and plan B for our medical insurance and 10% on plan A for our dental insurance and a zero increase um for plan B of in our dental insurance. Um
this is one of those moments where we can be very fortunate that we are self-funded and we can make a decision about how um much to increase our um our rates. We have about a three a little over a $3 million balance in our
self-funded medical and dental plans. That's about 31 and 1/2%. Um of our um expected claims. We're trying to target 45%. It's a similar conversation. We're trying to get that fund balance up to 45%. This isn't the year
to to to do that um in the environment that we're in economically right now and with some pretty um tight salary settlements for employees, um this 10% will be borne um partially by employees and a little bit
by employers based on what we settled contracts at. So this will hit our employees, this 10% increase. Um our numbers are showing about a 10 and 1/2% um increased costs. It flows between 10 and 1/2 to 13%.
Um so we landed at 10%. Um and we watch this every month as we sit with in the insurance committee. So um our plan is to expect a small decline in our um our fund balance reserve for
self-insurance, but knowing that um the reserve is there for that very reason. Um we're at 31 and 1/2% and I think I heard um that many districts are in a in a similar place, aren't quite to 45% either. So I think we're in in good
company. And you know, the reason that we're not going up on the on the plan B network is to or that we're driving up the costs on plan A and not plan B is to it's it's
just a better um it's a more efficient plan and we're trying to drive behavior on the dental insurance plan. There's some notes um and I don't know if you noticed that in the memo, but all of our other sort of ancillary
coverages, um nothing is really changing in our in our FSA, um our savings accounts, our dependent accounts, our life um disability and that's where our short-term disability rates are going down just a little bit. That'll be savings for the district and long-term
disability is no change. So. So we are recommending that change to our plan. Um Director Cox. Um I'm assuming I don't know I I don't watch this stuff very closely, but I know that like at the county it's been a
challenge for people to uh have a diversity in funder insurance companies that are doing this stuff out there. So um but I assume that we make efforts to do some of that stuff to kind of go out and check with other insurance >> us to market these plans and we did
market the plan and we're staying with UMR. Okay. And the the second thing was that um there just so that people are aware there isn't a group that's advocating for a more a different self-insurance plan here that would be would take it away from the
districts and that's essentially what I I'll I'll say about that right now, but just if you're watching some of the advocacy stuff, that's just something to maybe keep your eyes on and think about whether that, you know, how that might have an impact on our district. So. Any other questions? Okay.
Um all those in favor say I. I. All opposed say no. Hearing none, motion passes 6-0. Thank you, Director Magnuson. Gail, now I will read the motion and call you up. Um so it is recommended that the school board
approve the 2025-2026-2027 labor agreement with the principals association as presented. Do I have a motion? I'll move. Thank you, Colin. Second? I'll go to Sarah's.
Um okay. Now Director of Labor Relations Rochelle. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Um I'm here to present the principal and AP contract proposal. It's a two-year proposal.
Um we met five sessions and we had the proposal tentative agreement on March 22nd. The principals voted on April 14th and 15th, and they unanimously ratified
their contract on April 15th. So, human resources worked together with executive met Patricia Magnuson and director Nebo to help us with the financial piece of it, and we worked with district leadership to help with some of the
language changes. So, for the economic and non-economic package for year one, wages for year one and two wages will increase 2% across steps one through 10. And the career increments will increase
for years 11 through 30 by $500. And um year 31 by $1,000. That's for the career increments. For the PTO, days will increase from 25
to 30 days to kind of align with some of the other contracts. And for the health insurance benefit contributions, the district will increase in year one 2% and in year two by 6.5%.
That's for district contributions. And for the dental insurance contributions, we brought it in alignment with the other contracts. And for some new language and some modifying language on some of the articles, so for example,
um for outside service for hiring and considering where principals and APs fall within the contract, that's has been detailed a little more for professional development dollars. The language has changed so that
principals and APs can use the money differently instead of just going to conferences, they'll be able to buy maybe books or higher leadership coach or something like that. So, the dollars are a little more flexible now.
And for the travel allowance, now it's you'll see a proration in the contract language, and it's based more on assigned duty date duty year for 12 10 and 12 month or whether or what FTE that the AP is or principal is in.
So, that will determine how much travel allowance they'll receive. And then lastly for the Minnesota paid leave, that was entered into the contract as well just like all the other contracts. And that's it. Does Does anyone have any questions?
All right. Well, thank you for negotiating the contract. It looked like it went really fast. >> It did go really fast. >> [laughter] >> But CAPS had the best two days. So, that was amazing. Um okay, so no comments or questions. So, then all
those in favor say I. I. All opposed say no. Hearing none, motion carries 6-0. Thank you all. Um and now we are on our I hope yep, I got this right. The last um discussion or action item, it's the
policy development second reading of policy um 545, the Park Spanish Immersion. Um it is recommended that the school board approve policy 545 Spanish Immersion admission as presented. Do I have a motion?
Thank you, Colin. Second. Sarah. Oh, wait. Patrick Oh, that's okay. Sarah, um so and I think Sarah's going to present for us. Yes, and I will just say um there's two versions presented, so this is maybe a little bit we may have to redo this
motion here, but let's go ahead and talk through it first. So, um folks may recall [clears throat] that um this was previously discussed um and so today we
are on our second reading. Um we did bring this um through the policy committee and had some extensive conversations about this. The main difference between um I think they're called blue line and blue line two
um is the uh admission criteria priorities, which are found in section 4B. So, um and the main distinction between those two
um is that uh the blue line two version So, both give Let me just say it this way. Both give priorities to um enrollment for siblings of currently enrolled students, that's a current priority.
Um children of staff um St. Louis Park school staff um students who are native Spanish speakers, um and you'll recall hopefully that we added a definition for what is a native Spanish speaker to try and address some concerns there.
Um students who uh spent two years in our preschool here at St. Louis Park also that is new this in this go-round um and students who are residents of St. Louis Park.
What the blue line two version does that's different than the blue line is that for students who are native Spanish speakers and students who attend at least two years of our preschool, it says um that they also to get that priority, they also have to be residents of St.
Louis Park. And I just want to explain why we only did it on those two offered that for on those two. So, if you think about enrolled siblings, you know, we talked a lot about the value of keeping families together, right? Um
And so, if we have a student who um is already there and they have a younger sibling coming in, even if they're not a resident of the district, it really is in the best interest of the kids um and the family to all be working within one um building if at all
possible. Um >> [clears throat] >> same with So, with children of our staff at the at St. Louis Park Public Schools, um many of those teachers may live outside of the district, and we didn't want to put a residential restriction on that.
There was um some discussion or or some information brought to me after the last meeting that there may be interest in narrowing that um at some point to be children of staff who work
in that specific building. Um I think that needs more discussion before we sha- change that because that's not been the historical practice here. So, that's not reflected in either version here. So again, we really narrowed in on um
the priorities related to native Spanish speakers and those students who spend at least two years in our preschool as areas where we could prioritize residents of St. Louis Park. Um and the reason there's two versions of this is that we had a robust
discussion and felt like it needed to come back to the full board to make a decision about where to land on whether within those two categories, again, the native Spanish speaker and the two years in preschool, um priority should be open to anybody
who express interest whether you're a resident or not or just limited to those who are residents. And I do have an opinion on this, but I've been speaking a lot, so I just want to open it up for conversation, and I will share my perspective shortly.
Thank you, um Sarah. I know you've put a lot of work into this, and I appreciate it. And I don't know what happened at the policy committee meeting, but I appreciate that there was a robust discussion. Um I would say I really strongly think that we need to give priority to St. Louis Park residents. Um I think we're about to ask our or we
have we are asking our residents to increase their tax dollars for our schools, and I think it's um it's really we are we are here to serve the our community and our students in our community. And I think what Operation Metro Search told us is that we have
many many native Spanish speakers in our community, and if we want to prioritize those students, that's like I'm perfect I would love to like go help recruit those students to come to to our schools and to make sure they know about like applying to PSI, but I think it's incredibly important that we're
prioritizing St. Louis Park residents in this policy. That's that's the one I would support. So, that would be document two. Yes, blue line two. Can I just ask sort of a point of order? Is there Is there a deadline? Is it we're bringing this up now at this
meeting versus in a study session, but is that because we're trying to get this passed by a certain date so that they can >> Well, we had brought it up, and then we brought it back to the policy committee, and so we're bringing it back here because it is
we are prepared to we can we can vote on this at this point. We don't have to, although I think our colleagues in district administration would like us to get this resolved sooner than later because you know, yes, the certainly the enrollment for for the next school year
is already um we're past that point, but I think it's there are like systems and discussions and prioritizations and policy you know, procedures to reflect this policy that I presume folks might like to work
on over the summer. Um and so, just in the interest of getting this over the finish line. And And we don't have to take a final vote on it today if people don't want to, but I would like for us to to make some decisions on this. I also will just say
like you know, as folks are thinking about where they're sending their kids to school in the fall, like we are very much in that time for like as people start to think about not just next year, but like the year beyond, like you know, their their their kids are entering the last year of preschool if they do send
them to preschool and folks are doing that early childhood screening and sort of all the things. To that point, I think it sends a a really poor message if our board is not prioritizing our residents as people like as people are thinking about where they're going to send their kids to
school, I think our residents would prefer that they're they get priority in our school in all of our schools. Um I guess I have a couple of concerns. I I guess first I would say
in blue line two, it seems like the added language to what is it? Is it C and D? In the priority list. Um are duplicative with the priority that we list in is it E?
Um that says we prioritize St. Louis Park families and I think what the language now does is actually add some confusion rather than clarification. It might be leading us into somewhat of a proceduralizing micromanagement territory that I
I think it's best to avoid in policy. Um I guess the the questions I have pertain to I guess my concern. So PSI um as we all know is already somewhat of an anomaly in our district in that it's already the least diverse school. Um so I think we need to be careful with
policy that we don't further drive that um and instead encourage further diversity that looks like the rest of our district. Um so I guess I I just wanted to get a idea of like the intention and what it looks like in practice. Um so
if we had like a a non-resident family applying their student for PSI they're native Spanish speakers. Um they sent their child to SLP's preschool for two years. Um and then we have for the sake of uh my like for the
sake of argument my family uh applying my daughter for PSI. We're not native Spanish speakers and let's say I don't enroll my daughter in the SLP preschool. Under this hypothetical, we're saying that we would like to prioritize my family over the native Spanish speaker
family that enrolled two years in the uh preschool, but is not a current resident of St. Louis Park. That is the intent. Well, I I mean I think there's um in that specific scenario you're giving the example of your your reading of the
policy is accurate that as a resident family, you would be prioritized. I don't I don't I don't necessarily align that with like a broad intent behind the policy and so I think there's like I I would push back on that context a little bit. Um
I just want to briefly address your first point um about being duplicative of paragraph E. Um I thought so, too. Um when I you know, when we rewrote this policy several years ago, like I thought it was clear in the policy that we were
prioritizing residents um across all the different res all the different priority categories and that's not how it was um understood and being implemented. And so um I hear
you and also um I think that in practice, what was happening is not what I thought was going to happen and I the policy committee and the prior board that was going to happen. And so I did try to draft this as clearly as possible
and I'm certainly if people have drafting suggestions to make it clearer, that's fine. I I I think that the um I care deeply about um making sure that we're um prioritizing equity and
diversifying our um buildings and that and and we've heard lots of data. Like I'm we're familiar I'm very familiar with the demographic data related to PSI as it compares to the other schools. Um the intent um with this policy is to
continue to push the board's prioritization of diversi- diversification um and I think to Suzy's point like we have a really diverse community. Um one of the things that we did by
changing the policy a couple of years ago was to take it out of this like really heavy procedural thing. Um >> [clears throat] >> taking it out of the free and reduced lunch because that was a huge barrier. Even though you would think in practice it wouldn't be and that it would like
help with diversification, it actually had the opposite impact. It was just a huge barrier for folks. Just because of the application process. I'm sorry, I'm losing my voice a little bit here, but um so this is really informed both by the like not the prior po- policy that's
in place right now, but like the prior prior policy and what we changed away from that, how we moved away from that. I think if you look at the data and if you talk to Corey, the principal um Maslowski there, he would tell you it's been very effective this shift um
in in shifting demographics in the building. And And like we're looking for diversity in a lot of different ways, right? And we're trying to move towards biliteracy and be like really intentional about that. Um >> [clears throat] >> you know, for the reasons that Suzy shared, I'll just share my perspective
is um I'm supportive of the blue line two version because I think that there's more that we can do on a communication side and an outreach side and an engagement side to ensure that our native Spanish speaking families and our
and our resident families who are attending our preschools are supported to check that box, right? It's just a box now. It's a check box on the application which is let me tell you it was not the situation before. It was very intense
and involved a lot of other things and we've really improved that. So for the reason Suzy shared, like I really think we need to increase our capture rate in this district and I think this is a way to help do that. We have a lot of native Spanish speakers. We have a lot of residents who
send their kids to our preschool. Um we ask a lot of our community. We're asking even more of them now in terms of financial support. And I think prioritizing residents in those two categories um of priorities makes sense to me, but that's my perspective. Can I ask a quick
follow-up Yep. question? Um so I I just wanted to get back because I think this is kind of where it gets a little bit more messy is when we're talking about um how you know, prioritizing non-resident families or families outside of the the
district. So you know, if we have two families applying their student to PSI um or you know, several families, but several families are native Spanish speakers. They've sent their child to to SLP preschool for two years. They're invested in in the district. Um and then
we have uh a a family from outside the district who has none of those things. We're saying there's no priority given to either of those under the current wording. I mean I don't I don't think that it would be read that way um but you know, I as I mentioned to you when we
discussed this previously, I think like we could look at um paragraph F to say, you know, within this pool of students who are um non-residents who we're prioritizing that we that we expect that the that
they will also prioritize these other subcategories. I think that's possible. I I don't know that we need to do that because I think in practice, what we've been told is it tends to be children of staff who who fit that criteria and fill that requirement.
Like can I Sorry, I just wanted to That's okay. Well, thank you thank you for that answer. I I appreciate it. I just I just wanted to get my thoughts on the on the policy. So um I understand a lot of a lot of the points for it. I understand
um the importance of capture rate. Um I too would like to uh increase the capture rate in this district. Um however, I feel like in public education, there tends to be a focus on on metrics for for just metrics sake uh
rather than metrics towards like an output or a destination. So some of our metrics we discuss end up being goals themselves when I I don't think that should be how we talk about capture rate. Um I think it's an indicator and a benchmark we can use to
help us determine how competitive we are with neighboring districts, how desirable we are in our community. Um and I think ultimately the goal with focusing on capture rate is how can we ultimately increase enrollment in the district? Um and so
I I would like to see ways we can do that and I do think PSI is a really good example because I think what we're talking about is a school that already is at full enrollment. We are at capacity every year. We have a waiting list.
Um so, when we're talking about capture rate in this context, we're not necessarily talking about it in increasing enrollment. Um but like let's look at why there is a waiting list. Let's look at I do think there's a need and a want in our community for more uh um
you know, immersion opportunities. Um I just don't see how this fixes it. And I And like I said before, I think that the language ends up maybe being confusing in practice. And my main concern is that I think we end up uh
I like I'm all for recruiting more native Spanish speakers from our district, but that's not what this policy is talking about. And I fear that in practice we're going to end up with I guess less diverse demographics than than we're intending.
Why do you think the policy doesn't lead to more Spanish native speakers attending PSI but from our district? Like why I'm just confused. Oh, no. No, I'm just saying like I I I'm all for like increasing the recruitment and looking at ways we can better recruit, but I
that's I don't think that's what this this policy is essentially prioritizing. Like we're not addressing how we are recruiting those families in this policy. That's what I'm saying. Okay. Patrick? Well, I we have two we have a couple
conflicting uh directives here. In the interest of everyone's time, but we're also wanting to move this forward. So, I I I'm just uh I'm wondering how far to take this. I'm I'm not I don't
have a strong opinion about this. Um I worry about how it looks that we are making the high-stakes admission process to PSI a a much more important topic than maybe it really should be. Uh we have many fine
schools in this district. So, I I I guess and I and I believe for the previous discussion on this particular policy that in practice that this didn't make that big of a difference. But if it does, I I guess I I need some more time to think about how
I I I'm not I'm not I wasn't prepared for how big of a change this was. Um I I tend to agree that we, you know, this is a thing we just need to like resolve and move on from, which is part
of the reason we just brought it back to the board. And and also the reality is like most of the time we all agree on things, and that's just not always going to be true, and that's okay. It's okay for our community to hear us like debate this
and have this conversation. Um And from my perspective like we don't set policy about we don't create policy around like how we do our communications and how we do our communica- community engagement.
Um I think like what you're hearing and what our directors, executive directors who are sitting in this room are hearing from us is a like sort of regardless of where we land on this policy, a strong desire to um make sure that we are reaching our
native Spanish speaker community to, you know, check that box on the application process to be considered to consider joining PSI. Um >> [clears throat] >> so, um I don't know if others have other questions about it. I mean
or thoughts. So, I you know, some of the things that we do here are a little bit imperfect, always a little bit imperfect. And so, sometimes we pass policies and we have to change policies. And this is what I saw is like the iteration you were saying this was the intent was not well understood the first time, so we tried
to clarify it. This is getting us closer to that, but we may not get it 100% perfect. And I know I think um too bad uh Director Casey's no longer here. She had a she has a statement that she often says about that sometimes, you know, we have to go with 51% or something along
to that effect. So, that's that's where I'm sort of feeling like I think the intention here was to do it something to get this a little bit clearer to what some of our original thinking was. And I think what you've done in that I guess blue line two is probably um closest to that. So, thank you.
Um So, you know, I think that the when I went into this I had the two main concerns. Um the first concern that I have is that I don't when we join when Director Davis and I joined the board
um there was a concern expressed by the board that we were creating a racially isolated school within our district. And so, the priority of the board became to look at the policy and make sure that
we were not creating a racially isolated um And when I think of diversity and I and we're focusing on Spanish speakers, but I also want to just there's economic diversity within our district. And um
there was a gap in our economic diversity at PSI as well. And so, my concern about any policy is are we addressing um not only the racially isolated um potential, but then also the economic isolation.
And I um I don't know if this policy is getting to that. The second concern that I had is F is the students whose applications
are related to an improved integration and achievement plan. And um you know, we are neighbors to Minneapolis, which is a racially isolated district. And so, again, if we're thinking about the Supreme Court Minnesota Supreme Court case in the
1980s and the integration and how um we need to make sure that our neighbors are not racially isolated. So, those are my two concerns going into this. And um I understand and appreciate the idea that um we are a community school. We're asking
our community for more money. We want to make sure that we're serving our community. But I come at it from an educator At least my perspective is that I'm here to serve students. And I'm here to serve kids. And I'm here to make um education more
equitable through access and opportunities. And I want to make sure that um I am doing that for all students, not just prioritizing. And maybe that makes me a problem cuz I serve on um the school board, but I feel like I
serve students. I don't just um So, I guess those are my concerns. I I if we are getting it closer to um keeping mindful of creating a a racially isolated PSI or an
socially econom- or social economic isolation then um you know, I guess we just have to continue to look at this each year cuz that is another possibility. Just because we approved this policy doesn't mean that we don't review it yearly to make sure
that um we're doing the things that we want it to do. So, in general, um especially if it is going to help um if our staff needs to have some thinking on this to move it forward, I would just
assume bring it to a vote tonight. Um but if other people need more time to think on it, then they need more time to think on it. And I just want to address that quickly the two concerns you brought up. Um I think the reality is that um so, we
had and I totally agree with you. There's lots of types of diversity, right? And like um so, we had back when you and I joined the board, Virginia, the policy was basically a procedure. And it it had you had to um we set aside a certain number of
seats specifically for students and whose family qualified for free and reduced lunch. And we never filled them. Like ever. And so, what [clears throat] in practice was happening is we set aside I think it was like 15 seats. I I I see Patricia nodding. I
think it was like 15 seats. And in practice, those seats were held. And we held them until like the week before school started. And we didn't have applications to fill them. And we And then what would happen is our staff at the district would then like
start calling families on the wait list. Like like literally like three days before school would start and be like, "You have, you know, 48 hours to decide because now we have these 15 seats." And we would maybe I'm not kidding, we would fill like two of
the 15 or whatever that we set aside. And so, it wasn't accomplishing the goal. Um and law is very very clear. The constitutional law is very very clear. We cannot You cannot use race as a basis for admission. And so, we do not do
that. We're not trying to do that. Um but the free and reduced lunch effort did not work in practice. Um I wish it had, but it didn't. So, then we rewrote the policy. I rewrote the policy with these priority areas. And talking
with folks, we identified native Spanish speakers. We're really looking at the evidence in terms of biliteracy and really trying to um build on that in the schools. And it was and we had residents in there as a priority, but it wasn't being read
in conjunction. And so then in practice what happens is the the truth of the matter is the folks who are the people who are coming from outside of the district who are looking to check that box to go to PSI are families who send their kids to Spanish immersion
preschools who want their kid to go to Spanish immersion elementary school to continue that and we're not and when we're not really looking at that economically diverse group of folks, right? Like the people who send their kids to Spanish immersion school
daycare around this area know which districts and which schools in which districts offer Spanish immersion and what the timeline is and what the application process is to I I'm just telling you because I sent my kids to Spanish immersion school, so I this
is the community that I'm a part of and people know like, okay, well, Minnetonka is this and Edina now has this and Minneapolis has this and they knew what the PSI thing application was cuz we have a great reputation. And so when you want to talk about like
who's using that who are we talking about non-residents who are getting priority? It's families who are outside our district who are paying to send their kids to to Spanish immersion in private Spanish immersion elementary schools. And so truly like I can understand your concerns. I don't
want to say like Taylor Virginia, I don't hear your concerns. I hear your concerns. But when when I'm when when I was drafting this language, I'm truly trying to prioritize. We know we have for example, like there's a large native
Spanish speaking population of students who go to Aquila, right? Like we know that there's a big population of students who go there who don't necessarily check that box and it's not either it's not always they don't know about it. It's they don't necessarily know the biliteracy, right? So they
don't know that we have added English language instruction in kindergarten, right? And they're like, I want my kid to learn English. They already know Spanish, right? So there's a lot of communication needs around this. But I just want to be really clear like the intention and the thoughtfulness around this is very much about like every year
I check in with Corey like, how are we doing on our trying to diversify our student body and like if you walk it if you walk through the halls of that school and compared to like 5 years ago to where we are now, it does look different. And and it feels different
and and I will tell you the goal of this is to try and to continue that. And we might not know that in 1 year. Like for that for us to understand what was happening here, it took like 2 or 3 years. But I would say as long as I'm on this board, I am committed to continuing to try and do that. To your point
Taylor, like I've probably said 10 times at this board table, if we want to increase capture rate at the kindergarten level, we need to expand access to our immersion. Because that's my peer group, right? And I'm telling you people leave this district for immersion. So we need to think about how we can do that. But I just want to be
clear with you like I am with you, right? Like we need to not create isolated populations. Um the goal in doing this is to try and accomplish that. And I just want to add to that. I just want to add to that to Sarah's point about the diversity that exists now at
PSI because of some policy changes. Um during metro surge, I know they contacted over 100 families who were impacted and um the mutual aid, you know, like at least 15 families received mutual aid from the um funds that the PTO collected. So there is there is
diversity, it is growing and this is really intended to as Sarah said to to continue that um and aim for people who need it or you know, who we want to capture with that diversity. Well, one last thing. I'm going to trust the process here that we're going to move the right version of this and we
can vote on this and move this forward tonight. Uh but uh I just want to point out that in uh section five families who move, we've got a double strike issue in both uh both versions. We're striking both the district and St. Louis Park Public Schools. I think maybe
it was a find or replace thing. But we can resolve that. Uh That's yeah. Okay, yeah. Thank you for catching that Patrick. Always like another lawyer's eye on it. >> does it's not substantive uh and I know we have a lot of substantive discussion. I appreciated this. Um
and I think we're all trying to do the right thing here. So So we need to amend the description. So I I mean, I think we could just make an I would make a motion to move forward blue line two um for approval.
And So it's um it is recommended that the school board approve blue line two policy or how about this? Approve policy 4 550 545
blue line two Park Spanish immersion admission as presented. Does that work? Yes. Okay. So I believe I need to have So you want to move to amend? Yeah. I need a second. Second. Okay. Are you getting this? Mhm. Okay, great.
Um so all in favor for the amendment, the first vote that we have to pass, right? I think we We have to pass those for our discussion, I think. Yep. But So but first we have to pass the amendment on the amendment. >> the amendment. Yes. Okay, so first let's
just pass the amendment. All those in favor of the amendment as worded with blue line two. All those in favor say I. I. All opposed say nay. Nay. Okay. So um five to one. Now discussion about the
amended version of it. Do we Do we need more discussion cuz we've had a lot. Great. So um I will read the description again. It is recommended that the school board approve policy 545 blue line
um two Park Spanish immersion admission as presented. All those in favor say I. I. All opposed say nay. Nay. Uh motion carries five one. Okay.
Um and now we are to board member updates and I'm going to start. Um first couple things. Um as promised in our new board norms, the chair will share what the study session
um discussion was and our study session on in the second week of April was a very long time ago. Um we had a great discussion about board um goals and we um had a budget update. We had some updates.
I've lost it. Um and uh we're moving towards our goals, which is really great. So hopefully by July 1st, we'll have board goals in place as far as governance um student So the four areas were student achievement, governance, legislative
um and policy and then communication. So uh I just again, if you don't know this as a board member, please check your the board um drive cuz that is where you will find our norms and that's our
communication protocols and soon to be our board goals. Um and so we're really I've been working with Jasmine closely to solidify some of our communication protocols. Um next uh as far as my board updates go,
um there's just two things. It's MCA again. So I am a classroom teacher first, board um chair second and I get the MCAs every year and I've done it for the last 27 years. And I just want to say two things
about the MCAs. Number one, students are more than a test score and we need to keep that in mind. We also need to keep in mind that the MCA is a snapshot, a mere small snapshot of what students know and can do and
personally, I find it pretty limited. Um I teach 12-year-olds and 13-year-olds. They put their head down halfway through the test and they go like this. Um and they are some of the most brilliant students I've ever taught, so um we need to shift our mindset away from
looking at MCA test scores as the the whole child cuz it's not and it's not the whole district. We need to look at all of the great programs that we have here. Um and the continuing emphasis on MCAs puts so much pressure on teachers um
and so much pressure on students and you know, really the joy of learning should really be what we should be focusing on when creating lifelong learners. Um the other updates that I have is um excited. This is an exciting weekend coming up for Dr. Hines and I. First, on
Friday, we're going to the Athena Awards um with um Director Uwald. Okay, I am experiencing some health concerns, so every once in a while I'm messing up people's names, so I apologize for that. Um on Friday and then Sunday is the
Teacher of the Year Minnesota State Teacher of the Year finalist banquet and um Mr. Davis is a finalist and um we will be going to that. Um and it's an exciting weekend and it's exciting banquet. If any the ticket
prices are fairly low. Um if anybody Excuse me, wants to go and be really inspired by the educators that are there cuz it's pretty amazing. So that is my board update. I can go quick from this since I forgot to turn off my microphone from the last
discussion. Um I'll keep it quick. Um I'm also going to be at the um Sunday celebration for Teacher of the Year. Um I was honored to write a letter of recommendation for Senior Davis for his um Teacher of the Year
nomination. And he is phenomenal and I'm excited to hear from all the other phenomenal educators. Um I also uh just wanted to share I made it to Aquila um for their carnival um this last weekend, which was really fun and
um I uh it was just really nice to be in community for that. So, um I don't do great in those spaces about like introducing myself to people. I'm very introverted, but I do try and make it to spaces and uh will try and say hi,
but you should always feel free to to stop me and say hello. Um it's hard to remember everything that happened in the last month. Uh but I think I I think in the last month there there was a AMSD Day at the Capitol um with uh
Director Cox and Director Baldwin and and boy, basically everybody in the cabinet uh and uh the the student board reps as well who knocked it out of the park. They were incredible. Uh just it seems like advocacy is natural
to them. So, uh really appreciate having them with us. Um uh mark your calendars. Uh it's a big week coming up. Uh May Oh boy, now I've lost the date already. Um
May 1st and 2nd, which is already this week. Um Peter Hobart is having their uh annual play, which is maybe one of my favorite things uh in the entire uh district that I've been to. Uh they always do a Disney play. I think this year is Alice in Wonderland. So,
Friday night and Saturday they have two shows. Very much looking forward to that. Um and then the Peter Hobart uh carnival is on Friday, May 8th at 5:00 p.m. So, very much looking forward to that as well. I I've got a bunch of things. Uh Taylor
already mentioned AMSD Day, so I'll skip that. But we had a listening session last Tuesday. Uh Directors Cox and Kaufman and I uh took some uh feedback from the community about I mean, I'll just give the topics briefly.
We talked Some people had things to say about PSI class sizes. Uh there was some questions sharing about the achievement integration program. Also uh just some general feedback about um
alternative out-of-the-box ideas and listening to community suggestions. Uh it was a constructive uh informative hour. Um I I Okay, so I've got a bunch. I I did a learning walk in Little School last week. So, I wanted to thank uh Principal
Kalinowski, Assistant Principal Wada. Uh they extended an invitation to everyone. Uh but I really enjoyed myself. I learned a lot. Uh Susan Lingren Imagination Fair. Uh okay, I could talk about volcanoes and stuff, but I'm getting long. Uh
Community Education Advisory Committee. Uh we joined the Family Services Board for a presentation from the uh Department of Education about the Minnesota Student Survey, which is really interesting. So much data. Uh best thing you can do is do a data request maybe. Uh they said
they'd be happy to accommodate individual requests, but there's some really good stuff there. So, uh thanks for Howard for including us all. Uh Pass. Um So, going towards the end I some of the
things get mentioned, but I just want to add on a little bit to the Athena Award. That That's uh Amelia Beach was our Athena Award winner. She's soccer, hockey, and flag football athlete and um I am a jealous that you guys get to go. I got to go to it last year, I think as chair and it's a pretty great
opportunity because they have these displays of all the different students and the students' achievements. And it's fun just to walk around and look at all those displays as well. It's much as to also see and be in the room with all of those um great athletes. Um
also the uh as athletic advisory committee um member here, just wanted to point out that um also on Saturday the um May 2nd, the athletic department's uh having an opportunity for all female student athletes in partnership with the
Tucker Center and it's focusing focused on advocating for and supporting female athletes. I know that um Director Ewald is really excited about this opportunity. It's a pretty unique opportunity. Um meaningful conversation, empowerment, and connection among female athletes. And it's a first installment
in what will become an annual discussion um highlighting experiences, challenges, and successes of female athletes. And been proud of some of the things I've also seen on social media that are uh flag football team has been pretty successful, I think, already. And so,
just continuing to support some great athletes there. Um mention of the AMSD Day at the Capitol. I think I also wanted to point out that all three of our legislators met with um board members and including our student board members and opportunities to connect with all the
legislators. And um you know, we keep talking about what's happening at the legislature. The truth is nobody knows. Um now, there's some real serious challenges this year and and the thoughts about where we're going to actually see something happening are diminishing. Um you know, in terms of
real things. Maybe some safety money, some other things. Um but it's not looking very likely because there's even challenges if you if for those um not watching closely that we have omnibus bills in Senate, but nothing equal in the House for example right now. So, who
knows where it's going to go, but I know that there are groups like AMSD, MASA, MSBA, a whole host of organizations that are still in there and also just saying let's move along the conversations. And one of the things that came out of my AMSD Legislative Committee was that I
realized and it's not like a big major realization, but when I was there at the Capitol, I was like, we are the experts in education. But sometimes we and we expect our legislators to know everything about education. They don't because they have to know about lots of things. So, the more that we're able to
tell our story, the more that we have people who can do that, the better we get refined around what our story is, what our message is, what our issues are, the better that it helps us advocate and get things changed. And if it's not this year, then maybe it's next year and we got to keep working on those things. So,
um I'll end with that. Um last week, remember two weeks ago? I don't know. I attended a meeting at PSI um with some families who were with uh Senator Milatzky and Dr. Hines and think some of their confusion was around the desired class sizes being 20 to 25 and
that that's actually not what we intended the Finance Advisory Committee. And so, I think there's a lot of confusion in the community about that messaging. So, maybe that's something we can revise. Um just for clarity's sake, I think because like the fourth grade classes have 28 or 29 students. And so,
that was that's creates a big source of confusion for people when the messaging is like, it's 20 to 25. That's our target. So, um that was something to think about and that was the big thing that came up at the listening session. Um And then if you guys want to see
Senior Davis in action along with Senior Weber, who was one of last year's finalists for Teacher of the Year, Monday you can attend the PSI Elders Wisdom Concert at um or presentation at the middle school. And um also this weekend after you go see the Peter
Hobart play, you can go see Descendants at the middle school. The Elder Wisdom is one of my favorite program. So, if you do have an opportunity to go see it, then I highly recommend it. I forgot to mention two things. Um Very quickly, just board members FYI for
you is I attended um the annual Bright Works um meeting and it was interesting and long. Um And we are going to reevaluate our membership with the cooperative. Um
and it's and I will spend some time explaining what the cooperative is at some other later date, but um we do so much of the same programming that they offer. So, it feels like it's um not the best use of our money to stay
a part of that cooperative. So, we're sort of reevaluating it, I think, is the best way of putting it. Um there was also a career pathway um advisory council meeting that I didn't and uh Mr. Miller left and I did not get a chance to go to that. But um Ms. Mueller said
that she would send me a brief um summary of what happened and I will have that at the next board meeting. So, with that um I'm going to go ahead and adjourn at 8:56.
Have a good night, everyone. It was under 9:00. It's all that matters.