##VIDEO ID:EvmTtuQrgEc## e e e e e e e e okay we're gonna start the recognition portion for tonight's meeting um we are really fortunate tonight to have our ptas and pto's represented um if everyone that is in our PTA school ptas and PTO could stand up and maybe just come up here by director theander can just check oh it's all the PT yes it's all just for background we invited um every school PTA PTO uh to to participate so that's from the high school the middle schools and the elementary schools and I think we have almost everyone represented almost every school but I'm not quite sure why don't we maybe just share your name and um your if you have a office in the PTA and then what school you from yeah I'm Shantel Luke I'm with Afton Lakeland and I'm the president Cy Colton uh Lake mopa president Sarah hilers I am with Lily Lake and I Am Co president Chris ly Lake and you guys got the same last names I'm also I'm Christ Overton I'm the president at Brookview and I also double dipping because I'm a counselor at Oakland great I'm Emily oig I'm over at Oakland Middle School and I am Mar great and I'm Alison hook I'm Lake vice president great thank you guys for making the time to come out on this really chilly night no school day um I actually did take the time and I didn't memorize it but I I wanted to read a little statement on behalf of the board so bear with me here um on behalf of the school board we would like to express our heartfelt appreciation for our parent teacher associations unwavering support and dedication to our students Educators principes and school Community everyone knows that our school ptas and pto's are the heart and soul of our school buildings it may not feel like it while you are serving on a PTA or PTO but it's more than just Book Fairs carnivals and fundraisers the work of our ptas and PTO is about building strong School communities and fostering meaningful Partnerships between School staff families and our students your commitment to fostering a positive and inclusive environment through countless hours of yes volunteering and fundraising and advocacy makes a significant difference in the lives of our children families and staff you are a vital part of our schools you're work strengthens the bond between our schools and families and we cannot thank you enough for the impact that you make each and every day we are also honored you could attend tonight's meeting as it gives the board and our staff the opportunity to personally recognize and celebrate your hard work your contributions are invaluable and we look forward to continuing our partnership to ensure every student reaches their full potential a heartfelt thank you for everything you guys do for our students and our families and we couldn't do what we do and our staff couldn't do what they do without your support so thank you very much so this is the part where we open it up to board directors who probably a lot of us have been on ptas or PTO or been volunteering alongside you or before you came into the picture so um do you guys have any questions or comments yes um I was on the afteron Leland PTA the Oakland PTA and at the time I don't know if you still do it now um where all the PTA chairs get together maybe quarterly with a representative from the district and even from the high school okay um great yeah is oh did you sorry you go ahead oh no go ahead you know okay I get to go first um I'm just curious if I could hear a little bit about from any one of you um what kind of challenges you guys are facing um as PTA members um and also successes as well but if there's anything that I don't know that facing yeah well at ly Lake um we're lucky enough to have a lot of parents who are very willing to contribute during different fundraisers that's offset by the fact that there's a lot of need that occurs at the same time so things like busting transportation from field trips and things like that as those cost go up um the demand on our parents to contribute through various that we collect funds goes up uh luckily we've got parents that are willing to do that but as students change as our student body changes that Dynamics more overall just you know just like you guys deal with increased costs and increased demands on what we do and always questions of what's a district responsibility what's a building responsibility what's a PTO responsibility I think it's easier to go to us first and so a lot of times we got to kick it up a little bit MH but uh thank you that's helpful one of the really great things that that's happening is we have really strong participation families come to our events like numbers are out of control really good our challenge is different than Lily Lake where we it's like the same five of us that are running the events every time right so it's usually the board that kind of takes it on and so finding more volunteers has been really challenging and so we've had a lot of intentional conversations with parents like we we're so glad you're here and we can't do this without help like this doesn't just magically occur right so um you know having those intentional conversations and trying to get Buy in from parents I think the challenge is I think they lot a lot of times feel like they're taking on like all the events or all of the things and so we're trying to break it down into more bite-sized volunteer opportunities for families to kind of get a feel for it without feeling like they have to commit every waking hour to volunteering so that balance is tricky um but I will say that Community Wise It's really strong in terms of supporting and being appreciative of the events and the things that we do yeah I would say after Lin's very similar we are really good at raising money and we have a lot of parents that just want to give us money don't want to give us our time yeah and so we are struggling with time we um we've had to make some tough decisions and now we are um contemplating even canceling our carnal this year because there's only five of us and five of us can't run a carnival every year um we actually sent that out and it's been amazing we've had some people step up so we'll see how it happens um we're hoping that we're trying to get new faces it's just amazing to me how many parents don't want to get involved and don't want to be in the schools um it's been very interesting to me so for anybody watching this meeting here um when you your kids are in elementary school you're sending them off to school and you're worried about what they're doing a great thing to do is to join the PTA or volunteer in the classroom and that just gives you a connection to the staff the teachers and you're just more a part of that environment and uh not that it's not what your kids are doing but you get to meet your kids' friends and they're their teachers so you get to see those people your kids are talking about when they come home afterwards for dinner so from the Middle School perspective I'm in Oakland um so we're different than uh Elementary School we don't do carnivals we had our first didn't you have a dance yes our whole advertising campaign is we don't do carniv um we were we new we had I believe it was active the PTA was active prior to covid and then it took a break and then in January so we just celebrated our birthday our first birthday uh we rebooted as a PTO and we had our first fundraiser in October which was incredibly successful we've never Miss Overton here can speak to huge yeah getting kids getting middle schoolers excited um getting parents involved um also is hard at middle school but then some of that is the kids don't want their parents involved sometimes the kids don't want their parents but they really do want their parents and ours has been really supporting staff during times of our staff has being asked to do a lot especially at the middle school level where teachers see 160 kids a day that's a lot of pencils that's a lot of tissues a lot of hand sanitizer um it's a lot so this year it's been great because we have money that we can spend on our teachers we can support our teachers we can buy snacks and also we can support our students we just had a dance which was great we are able to fund things like um our social worker has a grief group and we're able to buy art supplies for this group so they could do a project for for the holidays um you know do things like May Madness where the students have an interesting like little fun activity in the afternoon it's been so great to be able to give our kids time to play this fall we funded three permanent basketball hoops in the GaGa ball pit which was huge it was absolutely incredible that outport support from our community because our kids in middle school they still need yeah they need to play they need to get that energy out so it's been so great to be able to thank our teachers and support our kids and support our community it's been huge yes it's been it's great um and I do think it's important to note that a lot of times it's parents but it's also teachers who again just put in a lot of work all day and stay and still contribute with alongside the parents at night so thank you to our teachers who really prioritize that as well yes don't forget uh there are I think some PTA members online who couldn't make it tonight so we would just want to thank them hopefully they're watching at home they I heard some had had the flu so maybe they're in bed already but um this is a good representation but certainly not every PTA PTO we have in our district and um good point um well I should we have Liaisons I don't know if you guys know that I know that I've kind of connected with some of you in that role but we the School Board gets assigned a school or maybe two schools and so you have ail buil-in volunteer that you can hit up putting the school board on the line here um but that would be something that we would probably all I speak for all of us that if we had the bandwidth we would love to be um help with the volunteer shortage that you face and I know we've done some of that at carnivals and things of that nature so um so keep that in mind don't hesitate to reach out and we do have a um calendar of events that we take place so if you ever think of it just as a a side note you could send an email to um the school board and our admin assistant like loves to put little PTA events on our school calendar so that Schoolboard members if they have time can stop by an event and just connect with the communities and the PTA and pto's and really kind of personally thank you in the moment so thank you great well thank you so much for braving the cold weather and again thank you for everything okay for coming um now we're going to move on to public comment we have one speaker tonight before that speaker comes up I'll read the um public comment expectations the school board encourages Community input while comments and questions are welcome law prohibits the board from discussing concerns about individual employees or students in a public meeting the board will not deliberate discuss or engage in conversations with speakers however the board may ask Administration to review the concerns presented speakers must present their testimony in a respectful manner vulgarity character attacks malice or specific complaints identifying staff or students by name or implication will not be permitted we will stop the proceedings immediately if employee or student privacy issues are raised and direct the speaker to forward comments regarding individual employees or students to our superintendent with that our we have one speaker tonight and that is Mike McCarthy come know and you know you know that uh Katie has a time card and that time will start when you start welcome insults name calling bullying have no place in our school rooms or in our playgrounds no child should be harassed and bullied until they do or say what the bully demands I think we can all agree on this so one of the adults in our school engage in name calling and bowling it should be all the more alarming yet this board and your employees regularly and casually call your neighbors transphobes homophobes privileged white supremists racist deniers haters and more these are not compliments these are slurs why do you call people with other World Views faiths names like this to insult to marginalize to shut us up to force us and our children to abandon our beliefs and to submit to yours in short to bully us when displayed casually in public school employee Behavior like at last month's school board meeting such school bullying Behavior informs us that it will be even worse when hidden behind School doors and directed to children you have power over your behavior shows that when enforcing the so-called identity harm protocols what you will really do is Bully children from families that hold World Views and values that don't align with the wol progressive identity politics when a second grader Johnny dares to say in the playground that boys don't turn into girls and that girls don't turn into boys according to the protocols that you enthusiastically embraced last month second grader Johnny will be viciously bullied at your hands there will be an official investigation he will be publicly denounced the school board repeatedly promised last month publicly denounced the school record will Mark him as a hater as a political dissident the school will seek to reprogram his beliefs through sustained re-education by his counselors he'll be told to change his beliefs or be ridiculed punished and shunned by his fellow School classmates and people in school in his daily life second grader Johnny will be bullied into submission by trusted adults in this room and those you employ parents if your family Embraces traditional or conservative values Stillwater School's First and highest priority appears to be to instill in your children a progressive political identity worldview not reading not academics not math but the reshaping of your child's thoughts before they can reason and decide what is true for themselves and this is the very definition of indoctrination and the slurs and ridicule and bullying Behavior so casually and comfortably used by this school board and by your employees show these are to just tools for identity politic indoctrination and I hope you take this to heart because a lot of us do not appreciate the name calling thank you that concludes public comment I now call this meeting to order Joan roll call uh director G here director Haw here direct Kellenberg here Dr laow here Dr cander here chair Sherman here you have a COR great let's stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I'm sorry director Parker here sorry so sorry I pledge alce to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands Nation indivisible withy and justice for all our next agenda item is the approval of tonight's agenda I will make a motion to approve tonight's agenda can I get a second second director thelander with the second all those in favor raise your hand and say I I I agenda passes unanimously we on to the student report you're solo evening welcome am has another ski race tonight so wishing have the best of luck um but well we're going to start off with semester 2 has kind of begun um tomorrow students will have their first real day of the second semester and we'll be adjusting to their new schedules throughout this week and Beyond um this still will choire at the high school sang with the fifth grade choirs and the Middle School chamber choirs last Monday the 13th at an elementary festival at Stillwater Middle School and it was a good way for the young children and their parents to see kind of what choir is like for the older students um student council hosted their annual Snowball Dance last Friday the 17th at the Union Depot in Downtown Stillwater it was a fun night of dancing games royalty and some pictures and this year's Da Vinci Fest is on Saturday January 25th at sta Area High School an annual free community event hosted by the partnership Plan D Vinci Fest celebrates art science and film creativity of Youth in the St Cay River Valley 9 o'clock 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 is the science and art fair and then 12:30 to 4 it is openland to the public the high school's Pony possibility night is next Monday the 27th so parents and in parents of um incoming n9th grade students are invited to explore all the academic opportunities available at the high school um students are encouraged encouraged to come and learn about the ninth grade registration process check out the many course options available to meet available to them and meet our talented staff that's all that I have for you tonight thank you great um any questions at all or okay uh we'll move on to our superintendent so the legislature has kind of begun um you know I believe that the Democrats are still not showing up um but uh we have business that needs to get taken care of and as part of that business uh the governor late last week presented his budget and I'm going to share a couple things with you tonight I think I set out an update to the board earlier had a couple questions for clarification so I thought I'd share it with the the whole group tonight um so two really unique things that are in Governor walls' budget that I have not seen probably since I've been a superintendent first one is um he wants to eliminate funding for qm okay so basically what does that mean for the district that means that uh our teachers um um are supported by qm in a couple different ways all the instructional coaches in the district that we have are funded through qm um teachers have plc's or collaborative action teams that meet weekly um they have leads that are facilitators that are funded um there's also U performance pay a small amount of performance pay for staff members um that is funded through qm there's a St for teachers that is funded through qm um so qm has been around since I think 2006 when Governor pente introduced it it was much more of a performance pay type of uh um um situation when he when he initially proposed the program it's kind of evolved into more of a professional um um development type organization so that's on the potential chopping block um coming from Governor Walsh as he looks at different ways to reduce the budget um so just for your information locally the state picks up about twoth thirds of the cost of Q comp the district levies our local taxpayers for the other third and so if Q comp were to go away that Levy component would also likely go away so this is pretty early in the ball game but it's kind of surprising to see it to be honest with you so I don't know where that's going to land the other one which uh is again a head scratcher I haven't seen before and I actually had to get clarity on this this weekend it's my understanding that um they're going to be reducing our special ed reimbursement aid for transportation from 100 to I think 95 maybe 90% so the district will receive less money for that but the real head scratcher for me is um the district will no longer in his proposal receive state aid for Trans transporting nonpublic students so that means the students in town who we currently transport to number of the schools in the community um we would not receive aid for them and we'd also um the mandate to transport them would be um eliminated um so I can share with you that we take a significant loss as a school district every year for the number of students we transport the aid that we receive from the state does not make up for it um so anyhow I don't know where that one's going to land at all um again it's a reduction in funding um but I think a lot of folks are going to say well wait a minute where's our transportation going to come from um so that remains to be seen as well uh but those both those things that I just mentioned Q comp and the transportation piece neither of them are in our platform however one of the things that we are going to talk about um when we meet with the legisl lative at the legislative breakfast in a in a week from Friday is um we're going to talk about the impact on Transportation what that means for the district and we'll give him some specifics on Q comp since this is within his budget um so those are um really my updates that uh I have from a legislative angle um today great um both our student report and our superintendent kind of stole my thunder I had Da Vinci Fest and I had some of what you had shared already on the legislative breakfast um so just as a reminder that legislative breakfast is Friday January 31st at 7:30 in the morning so hoping that you can attend um and should be a really productive uh conversation so anyway um the other thing I wanted to do was just kind of recognize everyone for their um attendance at msba training conference I think it was time well spent and I know our new newer board members completed a boatload of training um um in Phase One and phase two so thank you for doing that and um just wanted to make sure that you guys all got my email on the new liaison assignments if you have any questions or concerns on that always feel free to reach out and um that should do it for me today so thank you all right um next we'll move on to the consent agenda which is up on the screen items a through f can I get a motion to approve tonight's consent agenda great director Hawker with the motion and director lower with the second all those in favor of approving items a through F raise your hand and say I I I opposed motion passes unanimously under strategic Direction C utilize systems and align resources in an efficient manner to support learning we are going we have an action item a resolution directing D District administration to make budget reductions um I will turn it over to superintendent Funk maybe to just explain a little bit about it before we vote so every year since I've been a superintendent we pass a resolution similar to this we asked the board to pass resolution similar to this because we don't know what the legislature is going to do all right so um um we have to be able to prepare ourselves as a school district for potential options so basically what this is doing is it's authorizing us if we we we've done I had a meeting at noon today where we're looking at potential revenues versus next year versus potential expenditures um and we're guessing on that Revenue right now because we don't have a firm number from the legislature so basically what this is it provides us the opportunity to come forward to you and say okay in a month's time here's our first attempt at looking at balance in the budget um for the upcoming school year and as we do that we may have to look at some potential reductions that take place typically those T those would not take place till March or April in my career as far as like if we had to reduce Staffing in some some manner um so this is basically um as I stated a procedural that says okay we're going to do this and then we do it and then if people were to contest something yep the board authorized this back in January I think we did this in February last year um so um that's what this is about great um I'm gonna go ahead and make a motion to approve this resolution can I get a second second Dr thelander with a second any questions for superintendent Funk before we roll call vote um I guess I just would like to say that we are you know you're in just this is now year three of your contract um and I have to say I appreciate this process it's not a form that we have filled out in the past but I have appreciated the budget priority conversations that we have we all know that we're Below on our fund balance and so when we allocate a budget it is the board is um trusting in the delegation of authority to the superintendent to manage to that budget because there's not a lot of room in one 1.1% to go down um so we appreciate this and that your staff is on top of finding efficiencies and making recommendations um and we look forward to those budget priority conversations that kind of come later in the spring so um so again just thank you for that explanation um any other comments or questions quick clarification um so in this res solution we are looking at giving you the authority to balance the budget more than work towards a fund balance is that correct or would that be part of the package as well minimum is balance the budget okay potential you know you're so there's two pieces to this there's this resolution all right and then there's your fund balance policy which is we will strive for a 5% okay so this resolution is one piece got it okay we want to make sure we're we're not expending more than we're spending but the other piece of it is okay in our mind someplace yeah this is something we need to strive for okay I appreciate that y thanks any other questions okay um I just notice just now was right my my line of site probably the date needs to be updated yep 25 thank you catch great so we did in 24 of last year so that's exactly okay so with that date update um Joan roll call director gers yes director Hawker yes director kenberg yes director lower yes director Parker yes director thander yes chair Sherman yes resolution passes great resolution passes unanimously thank you for that explanation superintendent funk um our next action item is Lake Elmo bids and hello Mark hope you got good news for us good evening we do actually um so tonight we have um actually Four action items here so the first one um is Lake EML bids so at the last board meeting we pulled out the earthwork um work scope specifically and then now here we're back for the other um 38 so um the Thursday before winter break December 19th we opened up the 39 work scopes for the new um Lake Elmo Elementary School um based on those work Scopes we have um a total project of 49,5 195,50 15930 for all those um work Scopes combined these bids um like I talked about last time we pulled out that one individually does fit in line with where we are budgetarily for all of our bond projects and Lake Elmo as well as keeping us in um time frame for opening up the fall of 2026 so I know I touched on this before last time but also open up if there's any questions or comments you have about the rest of the bid package here today okay um I am going to go ahead really quick make a motion to approve this bid package can I get a second director kelzenberg now we'll open up the floor for comments and questions for Mark Mark can you explain for our new board members so we we talk about best value talk about the process so that there are way what that entails when we're talking best value um as opposed to you know your other alternative Y and so we we talked about a little last time because the earth work one was a best value scope that we did so there's kind of like nine critical path um work Scopes that are really critical to make sure from a timing standpoint that they get done um their work in done in time so we can keep the budget or the the project on budget and and on time so typically what happens is in a normal bids if we just take the the bidder um our construction manager will have a conversation with each of the um low biders to talk about here's the the specs that are Bid out to make sure from a material standpoint from a Time standpoint that they have everything covered within the bids when we look at Best Value we take those conversations deeper um to really understand the the timeline we go through um the scope in terms of what that is whether some of them are eight months some of them are two months to make sure they understand that they have the um horsepower to people to actually do that so here's the scope given do you have the people that are actually available at that time to do it do you understand all the products because some of the things um there's questions about product a can replace that with product B and we go through those things of what's acceptable what's not and sometimes they say well we want to do product a instead of B and then that eliminates a a work scope um off some of the the product choices that they choose um we'll also ask questions um about their um issues that they have with the project upfront so we understand that they you know they come in to to say you know they want to have a change order because of this or that so we get all those conversations up front it's it's a process that is a lot more intense and a lot more detailed so from a district standpoint and from a contractor standpoint we're all in the same page moving forward on day one of some of those things that are very critical to keep our um projects moving forward so you spend hours meeting with each of these correct and so what we do at each of those nine work Scopes we interview the top three or the three lowest biders from each of them um and then the scoring rubric So based on their um bid obviously what how much they bid on it does have weight to it so it's 100 points total the the price is 50% of that and then the interview is the other 50% or the other 50 points and it's based on experience um projects they've done in the past similarly to whether it's schools or like siiz projects in terms of square footage or tonnage um when you're looking at steel or um price volume to make sure they're very similar um we also will look at their um recommendations that they have from previous Pro uh projects and and calling previous contractors about the work and quality that they have with their project um it's also um they'll bring their team there of who's the superintendent of the project who's the project Foreman who's the main office contact all the the people from each of those um companies will come with their team and we'll have specific questions about their individual roles and how their individual roles interplay with um our process to make sure we're we're all aligned and then um for understandability we also ask them about value engineering because they don't um know where they are when they come into the interviews and pricing so what are some options that they see um that maybe could a from a schedule standpoint and then B from a um budget standpoint could enhance the budget and enhance the schedule so based on those conversations we've had we've actually tweaked our schedule based on some of the contractor recommendations um and then if you treat one one contractor it kind of has a snowball Fleck to other one so we're able to in those conversations um change some of things to kind of move up some of the work Scopes that we have there so it's a very detailed process that um I think the companies enjoy because they get a chance to really sit down and and sell themselves but we also like it because we get to really ask specific questions um with constructability and understanding of their role within the project and how it fits with our needs great so at the end end of the day we get a much better product out of it by following this process rather than just okay we're going to take the low bid right thank you for that explanation it's very helpful any other comments or questions quick follow for Mar yeah um how long have you been doing this this is a very intensive process has it just been for the um for the bond project or is this a practice we've been so we're doing it just for the new schools because of the scope of them the time the tight time frame to build them where we're in um we're not doing it for the remodel projects but just for the new builds that we're doing this process and it's it's quite a few meetings that we have individ the contractors but it's worth the time yeah sounds like it thank you for doing that great um we have a motion and a second um are there any other questions before we vote okay all those in favor of approving the Lake Elmo Elementary construction package raise your hand and say I I opposed motion passes unanimously Mark get comfortable you're here for a few more so our next item is uh an ltfm a long-term facility maintenance project I believe for the athletic track Rehabilitation and again just um I appreciate what Mike is doing here on just a little bit of background for our new board members on what ltfm is and it doesn't hurt for our community to hear about it too so the next three are all related to the high school and so just you understand instead of lumping them together it's based some is from auditing purposes when they come and ask about specific projects it's how they're bid out so they're bid out separately so when we award this contracts we we award them separately so you're if you're wondering why they're doing all three high schools separately it's just for our housekeeping P purposes on the back end to make sure that we're awarding it how we um bid out and and go through our advertising process so that's why they're separate so the first one here is a long-term facility maintenance project with the high school um with pony stadium with the track resurfacing so it's replacing the track surface as well as the binus or the concrete underneath there's cracking um and just wear and tear from 20 years old of the track so this is just a full replacement of our track surface at the high school so our long-term facility maintenance um is dollars that we can Levy towards the um from mde that we can Levy to basically um replace like for like within our schools so you'll see some classroom projects where we'll have case workk and flooring and ceilings and some of those things here there's um track resurfacing as well as well as the next one is a press box of things that are aging that need replacement um whether it's in a cycle or things that just um frankly have failed in the past um that just need to be replaced so we're on our last leg of the track um here we're going to get through one more spring season um the track season ends there's a meet the the June 9th through the 12th so we'll be looking at starting construction here on this on June 16th at Monday um right after the track season ends So within this um track replacement there were eight bids that received and again we broke it down into two different work Scopes just based on the work um the first one is the site work and the paving basically the the surface the concrete surface underneath and the second um work scope was the track surface itself so the first one um the low bid was bous roadways out of mota Heights for 146,50 and then the second work scope which is the the track replacement itself is from Upper Midwest athletic construction from Andover for $ 22,45 and so this is from our ltfm funding for a total of um $375,500 as well as the track um coaches in terms of markings on the track is if you look at the track you'll see there's different exchange zones and start Finish Lines and those sorts of things triple jump lines long J all those sorts of things so we actually went through every line to make sure what's there that they still need and and meets the Minnesota high school League standards as well if there's any changes or modifications that they want from there so it's going to look very similar to what we have now Pony red it will be black track like we have now we actually talked we actually talked about it um The Fading it comes in terms of over the time it it turns more pink than we would like so we stuck with the with the traditional black track um oh and will'll be the same quality track so at the convention we were just at last week uh I realized there is actually is different qualities of track will we just have this kind of same for same yep it'll be the same same level of track we had before correct okay great any other questions and um I guess I just want to again thank tax cares because ultimately the long-term facility maintenance is something that the board um decides to go to taxpayers for we are grandfathered in in this program and I would argue that our buildings are as pristine as they are not only due to the hard work of our staff um but also to the generosity of our taxpayers who really I mean our buildings it's there's a reason why we have a couple hundred year old buildings and we take good care of them so it's money well spent so just want to point that out so thank you Mark for all that background uh there is a motion in a second I haven't really seen any other questions so with that all those in favor raise your hand and say I I I opposed motion passes unanimously and now we're moving on to another ltfm project and it's the high school Press Box replacement yep so um same thing we talked about before it's long-term facility and maintenance this is actually literally placing like for like so our Press Box um is over 20 years old and just needs to be replaced um where it is so the foundation sits on top of the bleachers so the foundation will stay the same it's literally just taking the current Press Box off and replacing it almost literally like for like because it has to fit the same dimensions that the current Press Box is on because of the foundation that it sits at so um there may be a little difference in terms of how many seats um and where some stairs are but other than that it's going to look very similar to the current Press Box we had so um we received three bids on January 7th um broken into two work scope one is the Press Box itself so it's literally just the the Press Box is is pre-made somewhere else and they bring it on site and and set it up and the second one is the electrical because the sound system is tied in through the Press Box so it's rewiring the electrical for um Pony stadium so those two work scopes for the first one there was one bid that was received um for the Press Box itself from seating and Athletic Facility um for $309,800 the lowest bidder is BNB electric of Hudson Wisconsin for $254,800 so again this is long-term facility maintenance replacing currently what we have um to a a newer Press Box and sound system great um you want make do you want make I'll make a motion go ahead you can make the motion is there a second I'll make this okay S no we will go with Sarah we'll make the second um and now questions um will there be an Improvement to the sound system yes so that is currently so when the the Press Box was first put up in you know early 2000s mid 2000s the sound came out of the Press Box when the new scoreboard came in early 2010ish 12 whatever it is they switched the sound from the Press Box to the scoreboard so actually the sound right now comes from the scoreboard a single Source coming out um from there this if you look at the light poles at the high school there's actually speakers right there so we're actually going to have more speakers um that we can get better sound quality when we take the sound system move it back through the Press Box versus where it currently is through the scoreboard so it's gonna be more than just replacing the boom box that the sound comes from I so it I've asked Mark to do a sound study so the miles away are not contacting the district about hearing it in their front porch uh when we can't hear it on this side of the stadium so um so I think as part of the upgrade there will be a sound study and we will figure it out excellent yeah and it's more concentrated we also just have to make sure we hit all parts of the stadium itself so not just the bleachers to make sure you hit the end zone make sure it concessions so you know we've had um soccer games and things where um inclement weather comes you know and be able to wherever people are at to be able to reach them in terms from a volume to know where to go for for safety and shelter and those sorts of things so it's not just really concentrating on where people are sitting we have to make sure that people around that whole stadium area are able to hear the the sound appropriately thank you any other questions okay um see no more questions all those in favor of approving the replacement through ltfm on the Press Box at the high school raise your hand and say I I opposed motion passes unanimously then we have one more item for Mark here before he takes off um and this is back to our bond Pro one of our bond projects at the high school so I'll turn it over to you um actually this gets a little complicated because this is a dual so there's actually some Bond dollars as well as long-term facility maintenance so we're done being outside now we're coming inside the building and when we're inside we kind of couple for efficiencies um our projects together because they're using very similar work scop so um within this project with the addition and renovation so the first one um that the chair talked about was the main entry addition that we're adding to the to the main entry as part of our bond project so it's expanding that main entryway reception area offices there to increase our traffic flow and get better flow during the day with our students so that part of this project specific is be paay it out of the bond dollars the other parts here which I'll get to in a second are long-term facility maintenance or replacement items um that we have here so the main entry project is going to start um during spring break so um it's going to be longer than a summer remodel so we've had some conversations with the high school staff about okay how if it's going to be longer than a summer do we want to finish the year like start before the year's over so when next year starts we start clean or do we want to start over the summer and have this kind of meld into in the beginning of the school year and it's overwhelming to say it's easier to start the year done and fresh where right now kids know entrances they know routines they know where things are going that they can navigate some um little changes to the front office way and they' rather start the year with it completed and everybody coming in new especially the ninth grade new students um um kind of have everything wrapped up so we are starting it before the school year ends so that the beginning of the next year the front entryway project will be done so in addition to the front entryway um there is some um classroom Replacements in the special ed area um more specifically our CIP um excuse me not CIP the medically complex area um in our special ed classrooms as well as our media center the work room area for our media center needs some um replacement and then we're also replacing the um Clay Art Kiln and with the Kil replacement also there's some venting um things that need to take place just for where the Kiln is and and outside venting and then lastly there's kitchen floor in the pony market so the new area um that kitchen floor based on some of the um mdh Department of Health recommendations the floor needs to be replaced to a different um tile so those project projects are funded through the long-term facility maintenance like for like the addition is funded through the bond so we opened up 15 different work scopes with that um and the total of that project was 2,436 154 so I will open up to any questions or comments you have about that combined Bond ltfm bid package that we have great um is there a motion to approve this bid package so moved great director thelander second second great second for with Pete and now questions or comments on the high school yes just a good news uh comment on the Kil one of the things that when I initially came I had a tour of the high school Mark took me around and we our Kil has been shut down our main big Kil that we fire since I've been here um due to some cod issues and so we are um on track to get that replaced this summer which I think um pay huge dividends for our kids who do the the pottery and the art the artwork so the clay work so that's a it's a real positive for us great I didn't even know that thank you for sharing that yes with the addition at the entryway at the high school are we adding square footage to the building and is that pushing out into the circle at the front of the building or where um we're adding 8 100 square F feet you may not even notice so as you look at the main entryway if you look to the right um so right now it's kind of a curved it's just going to kind of round it off a little bit so there's going to be a little additional square footage to the right side as you look at the main entrance but it's going to still have that same feel before we're not moving into the courtyard or um by the flag pole anywh they're just moving out about 30 feet okay any other questions um I guess for my standpoint and one thing did forget to allude to in my chair report was and the board can testify to this but our wonderful students in the high school have a little project where they are often invited to write um I would imagine some local um elected official and so we get a lot of emails from our students and it's great to hear their voice and their perspective and oftentimes safety comes up and so the portion of this Bond project approved by taxpayers so thank you again taxpayers um was to really enhance the safety at a really tricky spot in the high school it's a lot of kids in a small space with a tiny office and um I it's nice to be able to share those upgrades with our students I think they appreciate that as well too so I'm sure you can testify to how crowded it gets in the mornings and afternoons there so y especially in the the main hallway in certain points it does so I think that extra space will be a little bit nice right um if I may you so um part of the bond there's five kind of major things so we've come to bidding with four of them now with the New Bayport Elementary the new Lake EMW Elementary the Oakland remodel the high school edition the one that's left is the security so some security strobes and as well as some other um security measures that we have we're going to bid those out next um probably next fallish so there'll be one more bid package coming through not this year but next year um for those other security upgrades so just you know timeline wise where that so we have a motion in a second are there any other questions or comments for Mark before we vote great all those in favor of approving raise your hand and say I I opposed motion passes unanimously thank you Mark you can leave now all right um so on to kind of more some more open-ended conversations that we have tonight the first is the cell phone policy feedback and before I turn it over to Karissa I just want to give a little bit of background for the community um but the legislature has um stated that we need to have a policy in place but I believe it's March 15th of this year and so we started kind of talking in the general form about this um several months ago and we actually in November had phone fre the phone free schools movement come in and speak to the board and really what we're looking for is um an open discussion on what the board really kind of wants and desires for um a policy related to all sorts of Technology use not just cell phones but it's often just called cell phone policy um so in November we had that meeting and now we surveyed the community and I I use the word survey kind of loosely it's just asking soliciting feedback um so that it can better inform um the board when we are making our decisions one of numerous factors that will influence us so with that background I'll turn it over to you Chrissa wonderful thank you thank you um board chair Sherman superintendent Funk and members of the board uh a couple of my slides I think you st my thunder but that's okay so the very first thing was just this idea of the legislation so we are required to put a policy in place as we're looking at it it's probably a policy that's already in place our technology acceptable use policy that would be revised to include something about the use of cell phones and as we're hearing very clearly from our staff it's not just cell phones it's all personal devices at the elementary level we're seeing more and more kids with the watches um we have students that have their earbuds in you probably experience that at home if you have teenagers they're always plugged in with those earbuds so that's another thing uh tablets gaming devices all of those other things are are being looked at as part of this as well we are having conversation about a phone-free policy and what that would look like our schools currently are doing a little bit of this if you again have kids in school you know at the middle school level they are asking kids to keep their phones in their lockers or in their backpacks out of sight from Bell to Bell that's already happening at the middle school level and at the high school level it's more of a during class time that they're asking for phones to be put away it's not a formal policy it's just kind of an expectation that the schools have and as you'll see later there's varying opinions on how well that is working but I think one thing that's come through very clearly from the results of the feedback we've gathered is it needs to be some sort of consistent policy that is enforced that's what people are really looking for when we had our speaker come back in November that Allison or chair Sherman just alluded to they really talked about the idea of a bell-to-bell phone free policy being in their mind the best practice and they provided a lot of evidence some research a lot of anecdotal stories from Across the Nation of school districts who have done that and these are some of the benefits that they're seeing certainly this board has been focused on student mental health that's been a a key driver for why we want to do a lot of things that we've been doing so I think that definitely shows up from other schools who have implemented something that it does improve mental health of students there's fewer distractions in the classroom kids are more focused and engaged um social interaction increases when kids don't have that device kind of distracting them they even say behavior issues are reduced um less cheating less uh organizing get togethers in the hallway for nefarious activities so all of those things are are proved with um a phone-free policy so our goal was to hear from our community before we started putting a policy in place and we did that through a couple of different um tools we did a student and staff survey and those were really like your your traditional survey where we asked some questions trying to gather some data on what's currently being um implemented in the schools what that looks like what are the challenges or struggles that we're having even just grabbing data on how many kids are bringing devices to school and then we did more of an in um an online thought exchange for our community and I'll talk about that a little bit it is very different than a survey and it truly is just to gather ideas and feedback and see what are the top concerns without people having to like Pick A B C or D on a survey but to be more organic and where those are coming from overall we had almost 4,000 people respond and I think that is one of the bigger engagements I've ever seen in this District at a student level we had um more than 63% response rate for our students and this was focused on secondary students so middle and high school students so 63% response rate I think is really really high our staff survey also had a very high response rate uh 66% of teachers responded and 41% of our peras responded we also had some administrators other support staff it was really focused on people in the building level so not you know we have a thousand staff members but it was really those who have that direct contact with students and then our online thought exchange we had um 433 people who identified themselves as parents of students in our district and another 106 community members that participated so again really great results and participation so I'm going to start with the family and Community thought exchange and again the way this works is it's more of an open-ended question that we put out there people go online they read the question they put in their feedback and then they can respond and read they can read all the other comments that have been put there and they can star it so if they strongly agree with something somebody said they can give up to five stars or if they're yeah lukewarm maybe somewhere two or three stars and if they disagree they can give no stars or they can give one star so it's a way for things to kind of rise up um as far as a agement and and getting some consensus around things um so these are a couple of the top ones that came up I'll dig into that a little bit on the next Slide the critical things that they want us to consider emergency communication was the biggest one parents want to be able to get a hold of their students in an emergency um everything from something changes in their schedule and kids need to know that so and so's picking them up today or they have to go pick up their brother or sister or the worst case scenario of there's a lockdown in the building and I want to be able to connect with my kid and know they're okay that came up loud and clear as a number one concern there was also a lot of consensus around the idea we don't need kids to have phones during class time they should be engaged in listening to what's happening so overall I think parents were balancing that idea of safety versus the distraction the consistent enforcement we talked about um some of these same things you were concerned about mental health that social skill interaction um they want something that's really clear uh as far as a policy so that it makes sense and people understand it they want to know what other alternatives are there for technology if the kids don't have the phone then what do they have access to and I think in our district we have the benefit of already having Chromebooks for all of our kids so there are still ways for kids to get what they need uh with that technology and then they even talked about the idea of just let's teach our kids how to use this technology properly let's digital citizenship look like in our schools so all that said and done when you look at all the comments that came through there really is kind of this balance of safety versus that mental health distraction piece and the Common Ground between the the PE those opposing views I guess would be controlled access um how do we find that middle ground where kids have their phones available if needed but also have the distraction kind of out of the way when they're in class so I'm going to move on now to the student survey again this was 6 through 12 uh the percentage kind of breakdown here the first question we asked is how many of you bring something to school every day one of these devices and overwhelmingly cell phones are the favorite 89% of kids are self-reporting that they do bring a cell phone every day and that number really doesn't change a whole lot between middle and high school level it's obviously the highest at the high school um but even at the middle school levels it's like 70 or more percent of kids have a cell phone every day why are they using those devices or how are they using them 25% are saying it's educational um um 38 are saying they're using their cell phone for personal use or their devices for personal use during class and a lot of them are using it between classes and during lunch it's a little bit hard to see I know you have this in front of you this is a heat map so the things that are in the darker blue are kind of where more people are answering um this is about how teachers are managing devices in the classroom so the strongest Blues are in the Middle where they're asking kids to keep them out of sight during class um you'll see at the high school there's a little bit more variation um some are saying that backpacks there's designated areas in the classroom or they're actually being collected U by teachers at the start of class so that's just kind of giving you a little feel for how things are currently going and then kids had an open-ended to where they could just kind of say what's happening what I think is interesting about this is um inconsistent right like everybody's doing something a little bit different and so that gets back to that idea we need something that's really consistent across the board um teachers are making allowances for things like those earbuds or letting kids use their phone in case of an emergency or if they need to get a hold of somebody but overall just kind of inconsistent in how things are going right now how kids are using their phone number one communicate with family so there's a lot of texting going back and forth to Mom or Dad about um you know things that are going on and what they need to know for transportation or whatever that looks like uh communicating with friends listening to music there are we've heard this before there are kids who are using it for medical reasons they have an app that helps them monitor their blood sugar or there are some who are using it for kind of the translation or text to speech things for different accommodations that they need but those numbers obviously are much smaller than some of the ones at the top of the list we also asked kids just how much time do they spend on social media we've had conversation at this board table about the impact of social media on our mental health and so this was just a great way to to get that feedback and you'll see we do have a lot of time spent um kind of different by different levels and different schools um but overall kids are spending probably more more than two to four hours um on social media and the last question we asked our students is just how do they think cell phones and social media are affecting their mental health um you'll see most of them feel it's somewhat positive or very positive this is what the kids are thinking you'll see something later when we talk to the adults um but that's what that breakdown looks like much like our community there were some critical things they want us to consider I don't think any of these are different from that first list um kids did talk about that personal responsibility piece a little bit more like you know we we're responsible we can learn how to do this we should have access to our phones um but again the safety was the the number one thing that came up I think music and focus might be new for this group too they said that no one else did and just like I did with the community I also broke this down by um kind of where's that Common Ground so you do have students that say they think we should restrict phone use completely and then you have students who say nope let us use our phone so it was interesting that there are kids who do say that there are also kids who say nope we are perfectly fine we should have our phones anytime we want them but the middle ground was trying to balance that so that we can use our phone if we need to but put it away the rest of the time last but not least the school staff largely teachers responded U but we did hear from again some pera's support staff um I think I even had talked to a custodian who told me yeah I took that that survey and I gave my feedback because I see kids using phones for this and that so I think we got a good representative from our staff this heat map again similar to what we said from the students this is how teachers are reporting that they're managing the use of devices and again that idea of backpacks are out of sight seems to be the the strongest one go back a slide y so what do you see the difference there between Stillwater Middle and Oakland Middle I'm not entirely sure um there were a couple places where I saw some discrepancies between a few schools that I want to dig a little bit deeper into but I haven't yet the question came up of our teachers use or having kids use their personal devices and some are and the way they're using them you know there's examples of like a journalism class where kids might be using their phone to take photos or recordings of interviews um some math classes are using it for calculators sometimes there's a um slideshow that they're going through and there's a QR code for kids so there are times but overall teachers say that they're really not using the personal devices for instructional purposes because they have Chromebooks they have the other devices um but I just thought that was interesting to to bring that out of there is a time in place for it but overall we can use the tools that we already have this is just feedback from our staff about how often kids are using it between classes and during lunch um you'll see again this kind of mirrors the the practices that are currently there uh you see at the middle school level they're not supposed to have their phones but interestingly enough we're still seeing them using them during those times at the high school level of course very often because kids are allowed um to have their phones durin passing time and lunch from a teacher perspective uh overwhelmingly they are feeling like they um at the secondary level are having to police the use of phones quite a bit at the elementary level you'll see strong or strongly disagree or disagree they don't have that problem as much at the elementary level but as you get up into the secondary it becomes more and more of an issue similar to some of what we heard with the other group staff also feel like like there are um a lot of distractions for kids the mental health and safety concerns came up from them as well they recognize that parents want that communication they talk a lot about the implementation challenges that again as a staff member I'm having to tell kids to put that phone away again and again um or not just the phone the watch or the earbuds um they also talk about just needing to feel supported when they are trying to enforce that back to a policy again that they're going to be able to have some some teeth behind it when they tell kids to put a phone away um there was also a thought of age consideration as you saw some things are an issue at the high school level that aren't at the elementary so maybe we need to have a policy that looks at things differently based on the age um you have probably more staff that fell into that strict ban group where we should just take the phones away especially when you break it down by grade level um but you also have some who feel like they should be available to kids for emergency and also that idea of teaching kids responsible phone use came up but overall that common ground is a clear and consistent enforcement of a policy so a couple of things comparing across groups that I thought would be interesting for you to see uh probably not a big surprise but staff and students have very different thoughts on how phones are being used um our students will tell you that hey we're using it for good things we're looking up information we're staying organized we're interacting with our friends and you're staff would be more likely to tell you that kids are using them in ways that are disrupting learning they're playing games they're on social media or they're even using them to engage in cyber bullying or other harmful activities um so just interesting how different perspectives right this one looks at how staff and students feel their current practices are working um overall I think at the middle school level um pretty pretty close but at the high school level there's a there's a big difference and that came out again I broke that down and even started looking at the high school level of what um their open-ended responses are as far as what support they need and it came down to we need a consistent policy we need begs to lock up the phones or something to take the phones away I mean those are the sorts of things they were talking about at the high school level it became more of that policing piece as well as um they talked about the need for parent and student Buy in to the importance of having those phones put away and engaging in class rooms and kind of that culture shift they talked about as well and we saw from the student perspective that they weren't overly concerned about their mental health and the use of um social media and the phones but I would say the adults in the community feel much differently so both our staff and our families have some pretty serious concerns about the impact that this is having on our students um pretty evenly across the board so in in summary um there are some common themes that I think as we're looking at a policy we want to consider that consistent enforcement piece making sure that tra our staff students and families are all trained and understand what that policy is being able to balance safety and learning so making sure that we do provide opportunities for kids to communicate and have that um connection with their families when needed for Urgent issues but also to keep those phones out of the way during class time uh the idea of keeping it tailored by the grade level so something that the elementary might look different at the high school really important to focus on the mental health and the social skills of our kids keeping people engaged in the conversations and doing some follow-up um work to see how effective the policy is and make changes if necessary and finally um just providing Alternatives so if we're not going to have cell phones then maybe going back to the old days when we had office phones that kids could be using or parents could be calling in with messages uh that kids do have school issu devices so are there ways we can use those devices too um for some of those those things so those were kind of the common themes that came out between all three groups that we gathered feedback from finally in closing just a reminder of our timeline so we've done some research you've had some conversations from um some outside people to give some different perspectives of what's Happening nationally we've done our community feedback we are working with the policy committee on a draft policy which will come back to you in February for your review ultimately a policy would need to be approved in March and and then we would be working throughout the spring and summer to determine the best way to implement that policy so that's when we will sit down with our staff and figure out what those procedures and processes will be to enforce the policy ultimately we would be implementing for next school year nothing for this year would change but it would be for next fall with that I'm going to turn it over to the board and let you have some discussion ask any questions you have about the feedback we gathered but then hopefully just get a little Direction on what you're thinking yeah are you just so I'm clear with the board are you looking for a decision today on okay so maybe feedback just some feedback and some questions so no decision today but I'm assuming in order to take it to the policy committee we would have to eventually here in the next meeting or two have a direction to take that I think the intent of this is to just hear from the board like what are your concerns or questions take that back to the policy committee as we're drafting a policy and then when the policy comes in as a draft that's when you can tell us if we're heading the right direction or not okay um so the policy committee moving forward just so the board knows is Sarah myself and Katie um so hopefully we can get a sense where the board's at maybe this meeting or next or however whatever that process is at just because I think really what the two decisions are going to be like how do you how are you feeling about everything that was presented today and it's like okay there's the Bell to Bell and then there's kind of like a when there's a right time and a right place kind of those are the two policies so um to facilitate the discussion just if if you want to be called on and recognized raise your hand and I'll call on you and then M you're all on your own Mason to represent the student voice but same thing just raise your hand and you're part of this conversation just like any other board member so yes Sarah I apologize I just sort of thought of this so I I didn't come to you with it earlier but um one question I had about the um the theme of consistent enforcement and whether you got any sense from the feedback about whether consistent meant kind of a single Approach districtwide at all levels I you say it looks like there's some openness to a tailored approach by level so I just was wondering if if there was yes I think the consistent enforcement was more about within a building so yes okay it came up and Mason probably can speak to this we've brought this up at a a different meeting too if you walk into the high school you're seeing different things happening in different classrooms um we heard students say that you know at the start of the Year everyone's pretty consistent but as the year goes on some teachers are more like yeah you can have your your earbuds in or you can have your phone out so it's more just making sure that it's across the board if we say the high school bell the Bell then we need to enforce that got it okay did jander thank you for the presentation good information um so we obviously have the benefit of um not being the first mover on this I mean other school districts are already taken the lead uh in different ways um we just had the msba leadership conference which a big theme was around cell phone policy I think all the breakout session time slots had a class on that so um one thing I think it's important is um if I if I think about what are some of the unintended consequences you know some of the main themes that I think about as a parent or uh would be like you know the safety stuff um or um access and different things like that but I think a lot of those can be minimized by the fact of how do we approach this um a question do we have landlines in all the classrooms still yes so we still have landlines so there's always accessib from that end if needed obviously they're in the the middle school or excuse me in the uh middle school high school offices um and I and I think one thing that um was brought up at one of the breakout sessions was like for example one of the resources available are those Yonder pouches and I know some concern is what happens in an emergency situation um I know one of the school district said well the teachers would have access to that device to unlock them if they need be uh but otherwise it's something where you know they're locked in for that whole time so I'm imagining that might be something worth considering of what does that look like of teachers have access or is it um looking at from a just a central office location um and then the other part was just around um um you know the communication to be able to reach students so I mean all of us grew up in a time without cell phones um but it's something where you I know one of the school district again kind of mentioned well you just train your students and remind them check your email you know so that way they maybe is I don't know know and it might be a question for Eric but I'm sure there's a way that we can monitor or have a restricted list of external email addresses that students can access and and maybe then they have grandparents or their family members that they can communicate with and that way if there are things that coming up they still have access to their Chromebook that they can respond to still in a controlled environment so again that's another thing that I had read that was kind of or heard it was a good best practice um the other thing and it kind of goes back to that digital citizenship is um love to see kind of what does that look like from education standpoint both from a family a parent standpoint um just continue to reinforce the importance around that so I guess more commentary um that I had found in some feedback that I'll I still need to share with the board so I have my notes from there that I will share great comment I know um both you and I believe Dr Hocker you also attended um and so feel free to share those comments here like you just did and more as we continue the conversation um anyone else with comments we'll go director Hawker l i was thinking about um the session that I attended as well um and one of the themes that I got from my session on cell phone policies was um the districts who um created one at the beginning of the year and have had several months of trying to enforce it um consistent enforcement was a theme across the board and the districts that seem to have the biggest challenge with consistent enforcement were the ones who allowed the kids to just keep it in their backpack um and allowed them to take get out at lunch um and a lot of those districts were moving towards just a bell tobell ban um because it was consuming so much staff time in figuring out okay now lunch is over you need to put it away um so that became a bit of a a stress point um and it seemed like the the districts who had the stronger like Bell thebell right from the beginning they're like yep we got a lot of push back at the beginning from students and staff and then people got used to it and now we're fine so that was kind of just some feedback that I had gathered from last week very timely sessions for you yeah I know they were director k um Andrew you touched on a little bit so I'm curious what other districts are doing except everybody's all doing this at the same time so you can't really see what's doing what's working over there but any information if we're doing anything really different than other districts then I'd want to know that um also the different categories of Staff I'd be real curious about principles because if teachers are having an issue with the kid and it escalates now the principales involved so I i' be real curious what they I've have talked to some of them but from a data point how do they what would they um say and then also so they have their Chromebooks and is there any communication ability uh via the Chromebooks or is that just kind of a closed system ER come on up Eric answer that so our uh part of that depends on the grade level so um like our student Google accounts um at the secondary level are definitely a lot more open where we can like communicate with email or Google Chat I know um Chris and I were even just working on like most of our learning tools like schooo um everything has kind of a chat feature built into it like an official uh communication tool so there are ways that we can use student Chromebooks to communicate back and forth that's the kind of the direction of the question and then part of that too communicate is their personal calendars you know I do it all on my phone but can the kids access or they get an assignment can they put it on their calendar on the Chromebook or do they have to yes they can okay yes yep just like a Google Calendar probably you all right do they have outside access to outside email can they can they email like parents could we give them uh you're going to put me on the spot here at what grade level we start that U conceptually at just something to look into even where I don't know if you know we could maybe allow every student to have a um their parents or something as their An approved contact or something like that I think Katie didn't you say that came up in one of your yes small groups to alleviate that safety fear and that I want to be able to reach out to my student yes Dr low um I thought the MSB was coming out I thought they maybe said like today with their model tomorrow tomorrow okay do we have any idea where they're GNA where they're falling I mean I haven't heard it was like that was my session yeah my session was but they didn't have it right but they didn't have it um right um they gave us kind of a broader overview of um it sounds like they're going to craft it in the way that you can do Bell thebell but also there'll be language in there for not Bell thebell um so I think it'll be kind of a big policy and we pick and choose some yeah some of the msba policies that they provide us they give you the big policy and then they'll say option a option b option C I'm imagining that's what you're going to get yep so we'll we'll have that policy hopefully it'll come out tomorrow um and then policy committee is meeting on Thursday of this week so we'll have to Quick read that and then get the feedback from this meeting as well so just just as a matter of commentary I mean I guess you know I I these phones are part of the these kids' lives I me and they're going to be going forward and I want them to be able to learn to be good digital citizens and so there's this part of me that thinks you know find some way to give them room to to you know let us be teachers for them that said I don't know how you do it it's like I I I just I don't know how you how you control and so it it feels like you know going Bell to Bell is the way to do it I I don't I don't know you know like I I have some issues around control of the phone during that time period if it's in the pouch you know I mean I that that's to me the best the best idea because then the the student has it in their possession it's in you know care custody and control it's their their thing to to have and then they get it when it's done because I don't like the idea of us saying okay I mean as it's happening now I mean I guess really in like the high school when they say okay put it you know put it in this basket or whatever but at least the kid can see it if it's the kid leaves it somewhere for the whole day that they don't know where it is I don't know that makes me a little uneasy so I'm trying to want make sure everyone speaks first yeah yeah go ahead um recently as I understand it we rolled out uh High School change policies for uh usage of Chromebook and other devices what learnings do we have from that or is that too new to learn anything from happy to speak to that so the uh the change of referencing is I think a focus on using our school issued devices uh we have an instructional tool called haara or haa uh that allows it's called like a lockdown browser so it allows teachers to like Focus students in on a test so you can't really click out of the tab and go elsewhere and kind of get lost in the weeds um we're only able to use that if it is a student or District issued device to that student and so there's been some communication come out at the high school level and I think at the middle school level as well that we're working on um just to encourage people like yes you need to use the device that we provide to you versus your own so uh we're I'm hearing some positive feedback just anecdotally from staff that this works well when they're using our own device that we have set up to do that um there really isn't a way when it's a personal device for us to manage that so I think that would be sorry I thought I was under the impression that it was only going was the only device that was going to be allowed and personal devices were not going to be allowed to be used personal PCS or Macs were not going to be allowed to be used in the class I think that's the direction the high school is moving yes I don't think they're there yet but I think that's the direction they're going yes would this policy specify are you looking do we want this policy to talk no okay than so I think again we're looking at the technology acceptable use policy so potentially not sure if it's in there but that's it's not just a cell phone policy it's about acceptable that's why I was kind of wondering just do do outside personal devices include laptops or the the way that our 524 is written now it's like a broad acceptable use policy so it's like if you're using our network no matter the device you abide by the same rules because a policy like this would be pretty hard if everyone's bringing in their own laptop and they have cameras maybe that are built in or different features and functionality that our Chromebooks maybe don't have yes director um so as we look at from a board standpoint obviously there might be some costs that we have to incur uh for example I know one of the districts who used the Yonder pouches mentioned there was some Grant options available through County and other resources I'm not sure if that's something that we can explore just to help soften whatever type of expense liability that we have to incur and I think that comes as we talked about in the spring the implementation of how we're going to actually roll this out and what that would look like so if the board were to say Bell to Bell and we'd like to have some sort of advice and that's when we would look into those sorts of options and what would be available for us yeah and I think from the board standpoint knowing how our fund Balan is we very sensitive to creating a policy that is going to require for implementation um a cost of either like locks or pouches or additional staff or any kind of technology so just I mean if we're creating something or if we have ideas that you see dollar signs let us know flag us um because I know that's something that the board is concerned about yes just to that point um either Katie or Andrew I'm just curious um if um there is any sense given for schools that were doing sort of the Bell to Bell and The Collection um were there administrative complexities um that were talked about in terms of that type of having to manage it from that perspective that could just that we should be aware of and thinking about whether this would create sort of a new administrative cost even aside from the financial piece that that was brought up in my session um but more in just a general sense of principles having at the beginning of the year really having to do that culture shift with their students and educating both their staff and their students um because one of one example was um students getting upset if a if a staff member pulled out their cell phone in the middle a class to to check something and that kind of um miscommunication of expectations so um kind of having to re-educate um people but at the same time they said that that period wasn't very long um and generally once people were like okay we're very clear expectation we don't have our cell phones off or on us at all during the day they don't come out and the the staff does not have to police it all the time then it becomes less of an administrative task because it's not a well now at lunch we have to fight it and bring the administrators in so it's like at the beginning of the day we have the expectation there was also a lot of talk of ways kids were getting around it and getting real creative um on how to get around yand pouches and how to get around whatever solution was put forward by the schools there there was a work around um but in that sense the administrators can focus on those individual workarounds um if it was a clear bell-to-bell situation it was less work overall that was the feedback I heard did you have anything to add to that b your I a lot of that what do or director hackard said um you know I think there was a significant investment in time on the administration of the schools um just to help walk parents along with the new process and making sure they understand and they're comfortable with it uh maybe early on there would be some regular petitions from students wanting to um kind of void that policy and bring cell phones back so that was a big thing uh but also then something direct hary you mentioned earlier on your commentary was just um around kind of the the policies and how to be strict and I think a reoccurring theme is the the stricter the policy uh the easier it was um to implement uh with Fidelity kind of that ongoing process because it's you know there's districts that maybe were more a little more loose and Progressive with uh you know here's you know slap on the wrist here's a phone back you know don't do it again versus some school districts say well if you didn't bring your your pouch in well now your phone's confiscated your parents have to come pick it up I mean they would learn pretty quick because the parents would be po they have to come in and deal with that so that was some things where they were really um intentional about having just a kind of a a no-nonsense policy of making sure that they understood and and they stood by that because otherwise then it creates some opportunities for the dam to break and you know once one teacher does it then it just makes it easier for that it has to be consistent across the board and I'll say just because at msba was kind of the talk just a couple things that um I'll add in there was just anecdotally the people that um had the bell bell they not they all noted a remarkable shift in school culture yes I mean that was unanimously people said oh my gosh our kids they're talking they're learning their social skills they're you know it's creating a culture um no one's walking around like this anymore and bumping into one another it's just a very intentional kind of culture and climate so I think that was good um one potential problem is I did hear one um board member that was saying what do you do if staff is lenient on your policy like people were struggling with that enforcement piece that it's not only just the students that are trying to get around the system but also still maybe some staff members that want to kind of be friends and you know just kind of struggle with those boundaries so um those were two things that I noticed in just talking to other board members but then that the Bell to Bell helped that immensely so yeah I apologize for all the commentary but it was it was fascinating all this I attended these sessions intentionally uh one of the other costs just I had meant forgot about um I know and again maybe it goes back to more of the longer term implementation what that looks like but something to be for us to be mindful of is I know one of the practices maybe you collect the phones in the central office they come back and get it one school district said we tried that the problem is is now you know what happens when now you know the the front of the phone is cracked who's liable now it's a$1 thousand phone does the school district pay it it creates some liability and some issues versus the student being responsible for holding that with them and now that's making sure that that you know something happens to it that's that's on them uh versus creating an extra liability for office staff and teachers and the other piece of advice is um and I'm glad that you're here Eric is to include your technology team in any policy development that you have because it's really you need to identify and kind of try to proactively address issues that are out that could be out there that are yeah so thank you for being here today I'll say a couple things just to continue on that that path um I saw a couple of emails come in from um community members are and and teachers that brought up that hey you know cell phones are addictive and they're contagious so if one teacher is lenient a student might have let's say it's not a bell-to-bell policy and the teacher is leading it a student might get out of a class and have 20 messages missed and like where the heck are you what what why aren't you replying and is adding a a peer pressure element in on top of it so that not only do you have an issue in the one class of the leniency but that leniency is is a contagion that goes to the other classes and so that was one aspect that was really brought up um on that and then um at risk of of causing some Strife with my own high school kids um I will say that every time that you get out of that there's a there's a Code switch cost from cell phone on cell phone time and when you I noticed on our vacations that first hour of no cell phone problematic after that huge engagement um and that code switch time every time that comes up there is a what I call code switch cost I don't know what the real name of it is but um I think that's something that's that's important for us to consider is that code switch cost and that's something I'm considering deeply on this and probably more concerned about that than I am about the implementation cost to be quite Frank yes and then sorry did you have a question okay um kind of going back to what Parker was just saying um the way I'm really thinking about this is much more from an educational values perspective of what kind of culture do we want to have in our schools and how can we as a board support a system system that encourages kids to uh be present they have cell phones every minute of the day all all of their lives at this point um because they were brought up with them so to give them an opportunity to have an actual break and as Parker so eloquently put it they are addictive we all experience it they are designed to be addictive and to hijack your thinking like that is a feature not a bug so to have an opportunity to allow students to put it away allow and expect students to put it away and take a break so that they can fully engage in their educational environment I feel like that is the value of that cannot be understated because it is not something our students have had the opportunity to experience up to this point so I am very much in favor of exploring this opportunity and starting strong and then if for some reason we realize this is not the best path for our District then we can pull back but really explore the opportunity to have kids fully disengage take a break from their phones it will be there at the end of the day and they can look at all their texts and all of their social media whatever but for those eight hours they will have a full break to engage with their fellow students and hopefully we'll see the benefits that that that can grow from that environment I can add a little stud feel free you have the floor um thank you um so a and I discussed this with our student council and the main feedback that we heard was the want for Teacher consistency in using the phone pouches um students are nervous about the communication with family extracurriculars personal things and what Carissa had said um class related use such as the yearbook in the newspaper classes when they do interviews and pictures um QR codes in classes it's easy to just grab your phone it's right there snap a picture do whatever um what we also heard is that students have said that they think that they can handle it and they think that they can have the self-control um but at the end of day at the end of the day I do think that they're going to struggle with it I mean it's it's really hard when your cell phone's just right there it's right there for you to grab and use it and scroll on Tik Tok and social media and all of that things um so I mean a and I's personal opinion is that yes we need a policy and we need it to be gone but a lot of push back from students and they would like it to just be class to class um consistency with teachers using the phone pouches can I ask you do you have any sense and you're in the high school as you get down to Middle School do do you do you have any feel for is that different is that do you think it needs to be more you think there's a an impus to have stricter policy in the in the Middle School yes so well when I was in Middle School it was was yeah your phones are in your locker the entire day is it was kind of the Bell the Bell you didn't you didn't have them on you and then that change from high school getting to have it on you the entire day it was like whoa I have the free range I just use it whenever I'd like um and I don't know exactly what the Middle School's policy is right now if it's the the same where you don't get or you're not able to use it but I think that that was it was nice it was nice just to have it put away you don't have to worry about it and I think that the high school could benefit from that and so I think that the policies I think that they could be the same or could be similar or the entire District it have the same but I think the going from middle school to high school kind of that eighth grade to nth grade transition of who I can use my phone whenever and it just kind of sticks with you sophomore junior senior year and you're just like well I have free rang in my phone so I'm going to use it thank you any other questions interesting story so my youngest daughter spent a semester in Washington DC her first semester of her junior year so we dropped her off on Labor Day and they took her cell phone and they put it in a plastic bag and she did not have access to the cell phone until she was traveling home for Thanksgiving where they gave her her phone back to travel home and you know when you're talking about communicating and you hear our daughters in a you know City far away um um and anytime we talk to her it would be the phone in her room um in her in her dorm room and but having that conversation with her when she would come home at the break she's like I don't miss this at all um it was almost as if it was a it was a relief that okay I don't have to worry about this stuff um and so um I just think you know for parents out there okay worried about communication s and and um you know and an impact on the child um you know we were half the country away and uh we did it and we were able to you know work through it okay but she really you know you know she's back and you know whatever and she used her phone uses her phone now again but uh um I don't think she missed it at all after a while um so just kind of a shock um but in a good way I and I tend to always look at this this issue through the lens of our like what is the board's goal and what we end up spending a lot of time talking about is like achievement creating a school culture that's you know positive and um and accepting and so reducing the bullying which we know is it is there and the mental health issues that are self-reported and many surveys um and and just also making like helping our staff focus on what their task is so that because it is concerning that they're spending so much time on the management of individual cell phone behaviors so having some consistency I think for staff will just allow them to to focus so I I mean I'm a little bit concerned on like the C I think more of my concerns honestly come things that aren't in my control and that's on on staff and that's just like the the implementation the pro how the what you're going to do but I tend to I'm just kind of calling this out here I'm tending to lead lean towards a bell to Bell um myself and would like the policy committee to really explore what that would look like with staff um because we do have like a March 15th deadline and I do just have concerns about I've I've seen and I talk to different people at the msba conference who really said that the intention is great to teach that moderation but once you introduce it to them in a passing period you have five minutes and you just start you're igniting that addiction I mean there's nothing you can really do in five minutes and then you're back in class and your head is thinking about the phone and what you're missing um similar to what's been said here and even for lunch as well um and and so I think a part of it this for me is just also educating parents and I know we talked about this at the last meeting but um I did some independent research which can be scary I know um but there's a lot of evidence on scho school safety that in fact cell phones and other personal technology in fact make schools less safe and I think getting that data out to family members um is helpful in the way it can jam up systems spread false information um be a I mean it's just overwhelmingly um it can be a safety issue in the other direction so I think that knowing that that's a top concern for families I think that's something we need to consider as we partner with with folks on this questions yes oh just one last um kind of maybe point for the so thank you for the policy committee for the upcoming work that you're doing I am not jealous um but uh you know one thing to maybe think about as you kind of as we create that framework is are we looking at a phone free or we thinking about a wireless free that's a bigger difference I mean that means no apple watches no earbuds I mean that's I know some school districts they actually differentiated phone free versus Wireless free and so that's something to think about as well can I ask just a clarifying question on behalf of the policy committee before we go into this um so from what I'm hearing it looks like the board will be setting kind of that Bell tobell or taking a break with in the day allowing more flexibility with phones like that's kind of the overarching topic that we have to decide as a board and then the implementation the procedural part will be on staff to kind of work out those details the policy will not say how we are going to do this the policy will say this is if it's a bell to Bell or if it's a limited access that's what would the policy would be and then we'd have to do the work of what that looks like the how okay but we also have a deadline to get this policy by March 15th so we need to get cracking on this um but we probably will not have all the answers on how that will be rolled out we will not have all the answers before we have to approve this policy so okay sting that expectation policy first and then procedure follows so so just to summarize I think what I'm hearing is it it seems like there's some interest in exploring a bell to Bell um from the conversation you're having um that's that's what I think I'm hearing so that go ahead I would as stated previously they are going to give you more than likely a menu of options as a policy committee all right you can take a couple of those options and and bring both of them to the board for their consideration um you know I mean as far as finalizing the development of the policy so it's it is easier to have the actual document when we're talking Wireless versus you know just cell phones whatever that looks like so that's what I would encourage you to do is just take a look at what pieces we want in this as a committee here are some other options that the board needs to be aware of and then bring that back to the board um and then have a further discussion in February on this um so that's my recommendation to you and certainly no we're not making any decisions tonight and we're just trying to gather kind of where people are at I guess I would like to specifically ask is there anyone that is maybe having just a contrarian opinion and they're maybe not supportive of looking at a bell to Bell and how that might look okay I mean I'm just tring I'm looking at my phone so yeah um okay well and it's I mean I I think we all need time to continue to digest this feedback in here to continue to reach out to the community to ptas to staff I mean we're in a lot of different spaces and um but this is certainly a robust amount of information um so thank you very much for doing this work welcome there any other comments or questions for Chrissa at this point right thank you can you put a dome over the school so there's no Wireless signals or anything com one big pouch over this and please Eric do feel free I mean you need to be an integral part of these conversations because we don't know what we don't know from the technology side and that was loud and clear at the msba conferences partner with those those folks too so thank you very much appreciate that great thank you and you are sticking around I am um we are now going to move on to um our last item on the agenda I think um this is under the Strategic direction of develop strong Partnerships with the communities we serve and this is our legislative agenda and I know um Mike kind of got into a little bit of that earlier in his superintendent update but just for the benefit of our audience at home this we at our last meeting we talked about generally we looked at a presentation from Carissa kind of taking a bunch of information um and seeing where we had feedback and she has put it together in our little fact sheet here which is great and so we've all had a chance to kind of review this provide feedback um to Karissa and we're here today um for action on this before our legislative breakfast and before the session really gets kind of in high gear here so um is there a motion to approve or on the so move okay and L I saw you out the corner of my eye you're going to be a second and now discussion any right um I appreciate kind of the the new formatting like the the introduction with the thank you and the for the significant investment I feel like that's a really good opener um to kind of level set of we appreciate and recognize how much the legislature has moved the needle in funding but also not quite far enough um so I think that that's a good way to to kind of Kick this off and then it's very clear where our priorities lie um and I really appreciate all the work that went into finding those numbers P pinning it down how much we're actually going above and beyond the costs that were allocated to the district for these new mandates so um good job on the I I like all the adjustments that have been done so thank you for doing all that I'm really happy with where this is at and um thank you for being um so open to feedback and I'm really excited where we landed here um I think that the most important thing is from just a mission for for our board as we're talking to legislators is really to fully fund or repeal and it has to be a strong message because we you know we're not the only district with a low and depleting fund balance and if they don't start repealing or fully funing we could be in a really tricky position here so I think our message has to be one that is very serious and very direct so I appreciate that I feel like this does a very nice job of that and I'm looking forward to the legislative breakfast um so I'm fully on board great any other comments or questions okay um with that we have a motion in a second all those in favor of approving our 2025 legislative priorities raise your hand and say I hi opposed platform passes and I'm assuming this will be up on the website then it will be and you will have copies as you're out having your conversations with legislators you can take it with you perfect thank you very much thank you um and with that we are adjourned for