good evening the wias Public Schools Board of Education regular meeting for March 10th Monday March 10 2025 will please come to order will the clerk please call the
role also at 7 pm did yes sorry Paris Bend oh absent Sheila prior present Sarah Johansson
here Heidi ker here Valentina SS here Dan janesta here Milan soney pres Chase Anderson here thank you we have a quorum please rise to recite the Pledge
of Allegiance I to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God all right if you wish to speak during
the audience opportunity to address the board please fill out a form place in plac in the back of the room there and hand it over to our District Administrative Assistant Amy guys sitting to my right all right I'm going to uh just remin
on the past 5 years since Co started so it was not long ago 5 years back in March 2020 that the covid-19 pandemic had a significant and far-reaching impact on public schools across the globe we remember school closures and
remote learning we remember learning loss and academic impact we remember the effect on mental health and Social Development we remember teacher burnout and Staffing shortages we remember changes in education policies and interest structure we remember changes
in increased family involvement but as a society we have worked hard to combat this tragedy forced upon us we have worked together to accommodate modify improvise and navigate through the
hurdles together we have been resilient to forces beyond our control wieta in particular has come a long way since March 2020 today we we are once again talking of increased enrollment and decreased
class size uh decreased cost cutting we are working hard on manageable class sizes most importantly our students are as close as it can get to preco days when it comes to learning thank you for to the families
the staff the teachers the community and the students for standing United against the scourge that was covid thank you to my board colleagues for working hard and diligently in their commitment to one of our most precious
Commodities the students of our district okay moving on to the agenda the first item on our agenda is the approval of the agenda and the consent agenda items consent agenda items are considered routine in nature and will be enacted by one motion
there will be no separate discussion of these items unless a board member or a citizen so requests in which event the item will be removed as a consent agenda item and addressed the consent agenda items are listed in the
materials the recommended action is to approve the agenda and the consent agenda items is there a motion I so moveed I second moved and seconded will the clerk please call the role Harris bende is absent Sheila prior
yes Heidi Ker yes Valentina SS yes Dan janesta yes Sarah Johansson yes Milan soney yes thank you we have an agenda all right the next item on our agenda is reports from
organizations organizations yes uh or organization I guess student student council and I would like to invite Marcus Westman student council president from WIA High School to please come forward welcome Marcus thank you so much everyone for having me
today I really appreciate it I hope you're all doing well I'm Marcus Westman and I'm the senior class president at wetta high school and I'm filling in today for pton mule who is our vice president who couldn't be here today I have some updates from our everactive high school student body for you last
month student council our organization organized our annual staff Appreciation Week many students got involved in writing personalized messages to display on teachers doors throughout the school and we would like to once again thank our amazing staff for creating such a welcoming environment for our learning
students at the high school also enjoyed an extended President Day weekend a couple weeks back due to a snow day on the 18th thank you Dr Anderson they are also very much looking forward to an e-learning day this Friday and spring break in just a few short weeks here our younger high schoolers
are also getting plenty of attention this April with freshman attending the respect retreat tomorrow while sophomores and juniors are taking the ACT and next week eighth graders from around the district will descend on the high school for peace days where they will begin their transition to the high school so it's very exciting time in
other news the Trojan Tribune is back at wisett high school a group of students is working to revive the old school newspaper and the first issue was published last week it contains some excellent articles if you'd like to check it out our speech team has been finding incredible success at its most
recent competitions including the regional qualifier competition which was held on Saturday and they are sending many of their members to a national competition in the coming weeks here in addition uh our our Deca and BPA clubs both participated in back-to-back state tournaments this past week so lots of
kids away from the high school but they're all back now don't worry um and wisett participants did amazing at both of these competitions uh at Deca San gur Prasad M Patel ASI sinna and Rahul banti all placed in the top five in each event
they competed in and wetta DEA is super excited to be sending 53 members to Internationals at BPA they are sending 72 of their members to Nationals which is taking place in Orlando which they are also very excited about finally the ninth and 10th grade Musical music man
wrapped up last weekend to a phenomenal run we also have a lot of sports news happening today was the very first day of spring Sports and a lot of our students are very excited to be beginning those um boys basketball will play Hopkins in the section final tomorrow night at Hopkins High School
and the girls basketball team unfortunately lost to Hopkins in the section Championship last Friday Boys Hockey as well unfortunately lost the udina Hornets in their section Championship as well a few weeks back um but Sophie hackinson ending on a high
note uh of the soccer basketball and track and field teams won the 2025 Athena award in the past week here so that those are all the updates I have for you but thank you all for having me today and I appreciate the opportunity to be here thank you marus uh you you were very modest in not not stating that
you won the big award so you we will Applause we'll hold the Applause for when you are felicitated so thank you that's later Mr don't worry yes thank you thank you so much comments questions colleagues yes I do I'm so excited about
the Trojan Tribune so is it online is it in print like how does a person read it yes so at the moment the Trojan Tribune is only online but they're working on a print edition coming up soon um and is some phenomenal articles which feature um a lot of content from around the
district and the school especially on some policies that are new for this year at WISE out of high school which is very exciting to get the student opinion there um but they're also focusing on a lot of different issues around the world um one of the Articles was on the Grammys I believe so lots of content covered so is it like on the website or
like Trojan or am I asking you a hard question we can find out later but no I I think I got there through their Instagram um but I don't know exactly how to get there can do that I'll bring a QR code next time for you um I just wanted to say thanks for
coming uh we missed pton but you did an excellent job too don't worry thank you um and I can't think of a better weather for the first day of spring Sports hopefully it stays so nice not too hot not too cold but thanks again for coming
in of course it's we beautiful out if there are no more questions and comments thank you Marcus we will hopefully see you next month you are patent so thank you again thank you all right next item on the agenda is recognitions and director prior will
join Dr Anderson this time at the podium this evening good evening everybody my name is Chase I'm the superintendent for the school district and it's always my honor to convene the recognitions portion of the school board meeting our first recognition uh this evening you just
heard from is Marcus Westman and I would like to invite him to come forward so he can be here to uh stand in front of you when I say all these nice things about him he is the uh recipient of the John Lewis youth leadership award that's
worth a round of applause right out of the seet and to help us all understand better what this means I'd like to share the following script and then give Marcus an opportunity to share few comments if you'd like or you all comment it out after giving the
update I'll share the following a huge congratulations to our very own senior class president Marcus Westman for winning the John Lewis youth leadership award this past week Marcus was given this award by the National Association of secretaries of State as a recognition
of Marcus's achievements and aspirations in social justice and Leadership Marcus discovered his interest in representational government on the student council this year marks Marcus's twoyear as class president of the largest student council in Minnesota
with 225 members during that time as student body president he developed or shephered over 30 events and oversaw more than $122,000 in charity fundraising and distribution Beyond wetta Marcus saw the need not only for more voter registration and
pre-registration in high schools Marcus consulted with experts in elections Outreach and nonprofit management and formulated a business plan Marcus founded the youth voter project in 2023 a nonpartisan Youth and student Le
organization focused on youth voter pre-registration and voter education in Minnesota he recruited board members and 34 student ambassadors across Minnesota he found a fiscal sponsor secured a $5,000 Grant and under his leadership
the youth voter project added over 1,000 registrations and pre-registrations through student-led registration drives at 28 Minnesota high schools in the first year alone that count is now over 2,400 and Marcus has created a solid foundation for that work to continue
after he graduates and goes on to college at this time I'm going to turn it over to Marcus and give him an opportunity to share a few Thoughts with you congratulations well done appreciate well thank you everyone for having me today and thank you Dr Anderson for those very kind words um I
didn't write anything down um because I'm just so grateful for you all and I kind of wanted this to come from the heart but uh your support from the board here over the past few years has been absolutely instrumental to my success um and all of you have played an incredible role in in everything that I have done
and just my life in high school over the past few years um you all have been great uh you've been good friends honestly um and huge supporters of me over the past few years and I I truly truly appreciate everything you've done nothing that I I did in the youth photo project or in wisett high school student
council would have been POS wouldn't would have been possible without your support so I thank you all thank you congratulations again Marcus well done next I would like to invite Christine Bradberry to please come forward
[Applause] you might be wondering why would I invite Christine Bradberry forward I'm going to tell you she is our employee of the month from Northwoods elementary school and she has a nice cheering Squad here with her tonight I'd like to share the following script that was uh
submitted on her behalf Northwoods Elementary School is honored to name Christine Bradberry as the wi Isetta public school's March Employee of the Month Chris has worked at several buildings in the district over the years as both a PA professional and attendance secretary however she found her forever
home when she joined the staff at Northwoods as the office par professional when the school opened in 2019 Chris is the heartbeat of the Northwoods office she makes strong connections with students staff and parents Chris always has a smile on her
face and is willing to lend a helping hand she's not afraid to insert her non-nonsense approach and sense of humor into the day-to-day operations at Northwoods her strong dedication and compassion shines through every day Chris is always willing to take on a challenge her commitment to making the
Northwoods parking lot a safe and efficient experience for our community as legendary maybe she'll tell us more about that comments I didn't know that that's a new new thing for me you will often see Chris directing the car line assisting students on snowy days and
connecting with bus drivers to ensure that each student arrives and departs school safely thank you Christine Bradbery for being an invaluable part of our team you inspire us every day [Applause] congratulations Marcus you're a tough
act to follow I I don't know um thank you Dr Anderson School Board uh I'm very humbled by this I am lucky to have been in Northwood since the first day that we started opening up our doors last week we had all of our fifth graders lying up to have their class picture taken and it
dawned on me and I said to Da this is they've gone K to five this is our first group that went the whole distance through Northwoods where kindergarten teachers where did the time go um since I'm the person at the front door I get the honor of greeting and meeting all
the families and kids that come through our school I love that part of my job building relationships with our community when Jenny hired me I believe one of the questions was how am I going to trans trans do a transformation from working in a classroom to being in the
office my answer I think was it's all about the kids being on my job I get to see all the kids every day I have to shout out to everybody in the Northwoods Community all the teachers parents custodians are the best getting to work
with all just about all of them on a daily bases makes my job fun thank them for everything that they do finally my office family da she is our admin Pro I tell you all the time I couldn't
be you you are amazing and I learn from you every day what you do with diversity and equality for all is amazing da is fluent in Arabic I don't know if any of you know that when we have a family come in I
push my chair back and I'm just like you we have da and I just I it's it's it's beautiful thank you I learn from you every day Jennifer fuzzy what don't you do your kindness and carrying ways to
everybody a second to n thanks for always checking with me Anna how are you you good and always being there to listen you're a blessing thank you Amy brine's not here she's her social worker
extraordinaire her compassion and care for all the north Weds kids is so genuine and constant she's a gift thank you Amy Margo Bloomer she's new with us this year she's our counselor it's a new new position she has fit in like a glove
I love how she is with the kids and they adore her thanks Margo for joining our team Catalina Sierra she's our nurse she we call her Mary Poppins she's like kids just gravitate to her she is like a magnet in sickness and in health
Catalina is one of the most popular people in our office the kids love her and rightly so Catalina is fluent in Spanish so like da her language skills are so valuable again I sit in awe of her diversity and her way with our
families thank you Catalina lastly Jenny ber what can I say you're my friend you're my boss you're my calming influence you're my comfort zone when I
need to take a time out you know me better than I do thank you for being being able to read me like a book what a community you have built at Northwoods literally from the ground up running into you in the hallway at Greenwood during your building process
for Northwoods with my fortune thank you for taking me on and extending my working career I have put off retirement many years because of what you have created at North foots thank you because of you I love my job again thank you for this humbling recognition thank you
[Applause] and our uh final recognition for this evening is to read the names of two individuals who have indicated their intent to retire and those two individual are Molly hilderbrand par professional Kimberly Lane who's worked with us for 10 years and Jill Snider par
professional at Plymouth Creek who has worked there for 19 years I'm not spotting either one of these two folks here but uh I'm sure they're watching on YouTube and we'll take the opportunity to give them a round of applause at this [Applause]
time that concludes our recognitions for the evening and I thank you uh for being here for that tonight thanks so much okay congratulations to the honores again and thank you Dr Anderson and director
prior okay we now have the highlight of our regular meetings the school Scot Spotlight presentation tonight we are joined by Northwoods Elementary I don't see director Dana Miller here here to
introduce you so Dr Anderson will do that okay thank you thank you Dr soney uh Dana Miller was unable to be here this evening so in herstead I will uh introduce the Northwood team so whoever is part of the
uh presentation feel free to work your way up to the presentation area pull up some more chairs if you want just be sure you put them back where you found them just
kidding I'll just share a little note here uh before I turn it over to Jenny and her crew this month we're shining the spotlight on Northwoods Elementary we're creating a culture of belonging to positively impact the student experience and academic Excellence has been one of the areas of focus this year
specifically Northwood staff selected the student experience site goal of 100% of students at Northwoods Elementary School will respond always or almost always on the student engagement survey item in school adults help me feel good about who I am tonight the Northwoods
team is excited to share their progress as they continue fostering a supportive and enriching learning environment Jenny I'll turn it over to you and your team thanks for being here tonight thank you Dr Anderson I think we're all a little teary right now when Chris left um
Northwoods today she said I'm just gon to say thank you when Dr Anderson um reads my speech so if we're a little for clamp forgive us please I'm super lucky to be here with an awesome team of women tonight um Jennifer fuzzy is our dean of
students and I have three members of our amazing kindergarten team of teachers here um Courtney where not Courtney sorry Jenna quick Payton Hiller and Madison Cox and the reason I wanted to
have kindergarten the kindergarten team be here with us tonight is to really talk about creating that sense of belonging and building community at Northwoods it's one of our foundational pieces at our school we often talk about meeting our belonging needs we often
talk about building a strong community and it's our belief that doing the groundwork even before our parents start their kindergarten Journey with their children makes a huge impact um on how people perceive our school I think if you come and visit our school you would
comment on the feeling you get when you come in um it's a very welcoming place it's a high energy place there's a lot of smiles um sure we have difficult days occasionally but I think when it's over we all really care about each other and
we all love the kids that walk through the door every day and I think that really shows so today we are going to talk about the events that we and the district has have created to help our most our newest families come through
the door and feel like they belong I'm a big believer in then when people walk into a space and feel like you've been waiting for me I belong here it's a wonderful feeling and I wish everybody had that feeling in every school in the country that they walked in where they
felt like this is my spot so we're just going to talk today about Jennifer's going to go over a little bit about the Minnesota Department of Education formula and what they're looking for in this journey for our kindergarten students along with some of our data and then our wonderful team is going to talk
about some of the um activities that we provide for our P parents and students coming to Northwoods and all of our schools um this upcoming school year so this first um slide is highlighted from the Minnesota Department of Education and we started
this off with our parents on kite that we'll talk about as well and what we're really looking for is how we're not telling our amilies this is what our kids need to know but we're welcoming and we're ready to help them feel like they belong and they're part of our
community so we like this equation that the department of Ed put forward because it's taking our families it's taking um the programs that you all and our um District put together and who we are in our Northwoods community and what is
expected from the state and the state standards and our systems to create successful Learners so this guides us along with our district strategic road map and our Equity commitments and then our Northwoods mission that Jenny and
Chris have alluded to in that whole concept of sense of belonging and we talk about how we're a community where we're um community of Learners where we're really looking for everyone to belong and to grow and then that leads to the next slide which is what Dr
Anderson shared in our intro the student experience goal and and we're really looking for 100% of our students to really feel that sense of belonging and specifically with student engagement is in school adults help me feel good about
who I am so when we did this we um assessed students in these questions in January of each year and um the results showed that 95% of our students do feel good about who they are when they come
to Northwoods and when they show up um so we use this along with our literacy goal along with our um other engagement questions but primarily this one to lead what we do on our building leadership team that leads to our PLC that leads to
our professional learning experiences and um it's all embedded in who we are and what we are again for our students and then this leads to what Jenny referenced um when we started breaking
down the activities that we do with our parents from January until September it became very clear to me um how many departments in the district really make these events take place we're definitely
the face of Northwoods but there are so many groups of people working behind the scenes so that our parents and our children have a seamless experience when they come through our doors and so when we review each of these events and kind of the purpose and the what we're
looking for the impact we also wanted to recognize I know that the event in January worked because of the work that Amy and her team did in the communications department and I know that it worked because of what happened from the Welcome Center um just
individually having someone greet all of our parents at that event made a huge difference providing a place for people to register for kindergarten at that event was a was a difference but sometimes I think those people that are doing all those operational things day by day we don't we don't recognize that
they are what's holding us together and so we just wanted to recognize them and the support they provide us every day behind the scenes I can call my Call any one of 12 of these people and I know they would help me in a minute or point me in the right direction to help my
team feel supported but I think sometimes that gets lost a little bit in the mix so I just wanted to make sure they were acknowledged as well and now we're going to start with our first event right that starts in January the one we've already finished the get ready for K
event yeah so Jenny's alluded to a lot of what we have done but this January event the get ready for K night which is the next slide it um is our first opportunity to connect with families at Northwoods and it also coincides with
the enrollment being open and so it's a nice segue into helping and supporting families getting to know who we are as a community the goal is really to promote the enrollment to Define kindergarten and what it's about and then start
building those connections and faces to the space and the place that we live in at Northwoods and um our goal really is to increase that sense of belonging or to build that sense of belonging from the beginning and really welcome
everyone so that's the first opportunity in January I am Madison Cox like Jenny said and I am talking about the hike through Northwoods which is our event coming up in May and it is one that we take a lot of pride in in kindergarten um it is
really the first point that the kindergarten kiddos get to come and meet us and they get to be welcomed into the building families get to come in we get to ease some of those nerves parents can ask questions and as you see on the SL that's our map so they go through a
Northwoods hike and they see lots of people along the way a few things I want to point out on the map the apple is the wisata cafes parents get an opportunity to chat with our culinary staff ask if they're concerned about any allergies or
food menu items those types of things students also get the opportunity to practice taking a tray by scanning their card and getting a lunch another stop that I want to highlight on our map is our nurse's office so as Chris said Miss
Catalina is one of the most loved in the office staff and on their hike they get a Band-Aid and they get a paw print on their map as well and then continuing on the map they get to enter a kindergarten classroom this is where they get to meet two to three of our kindergarten
teachers and parents can ask questions what does it look like in a day of life of a kindergartener we get to answer those questions calm you know they're they Littles and they're sending them for the first time and that brings a lot of feelings and so we get to help ease
those nerves while the kids get to explore classro if find different things around the room color a coloring page those types of things and on the way out we encourage them to go to the playground we really want them to build peer-to-peer connections that are maybe
outside of their neighborhood and this is a great opportunity for them to make some more connections we have lots of Partners throughout the district that help support us in this event and we couldn't make it as successful as it is
without them it's one that we truly enjoy my favorite event um bus ridership night this is the night and many of you I know we're at bus ridership and I tried to explain to them how great bus ridership night is but I don't know um
what I love about this night is it really provides a very positive opportunity for students to ride the bus and to have parents feel good about their children getting on the bus I do not know if you have visited the Northwoods parking lot um at 7:30 in the
morning Monday through Friday but it's a very busy and we've done a lot of groundwork trying to get our families to ride the bus um just because it's safer actually and it helps all of our kids get to school on time so we can actually start doing what we need to do it has
gotten better weather is not our friend sometimes when it snows everyone feels the need to drive um but we're getting there but I think that evening um provides a great Community opportunity for families to see all the ptas and PTO
in the district all of you um it's the first time they officially meet Dr Anderson when he gives a speech or a welcome in the cafe or in the auditorium and I think that all the different departments there are it's super obvious to see everyone coming together and that
we are a community of wetta and I just think it's a wonderful event I love it and I think it makes a big difference for our kids this is an event that our families ask about a lot so um I'm looking forward to it in August it's in my calendar already I
know um I'm pton I'm gonna talk about the next event that we have which is jump start so this was last year was our first year doing jumpstart it's a partnership between Community Ed us and then families so this event is split into two days the families get to choose
a morning or an afternoon um and it's really just the condensed day of a kindergartener so um in order to join jump start you have to be registered for kindergarten and then um families will drop off their kids at the front doors and then we welcome them into our space there's typically between two and three
staff that get to join um this jump start experience or all of us who is Ever available to do this it's like the end of August this year so that's super exciting um um and then jump start looks like just a shorten day so we start with morning Circle so we learn each other's names really get that sense of belonging
and who we are as a community and then we go into read aloud another time to connect with our peers so what's the book about just connecting and turning and talking all of those things that we do every day um and then we go into snack which is another Community thing
that we all do together every single day and we go to the playground We join the gym so a lot of these things are we're just getting kids acclimated in our space so that it makes it feel like home and I'm noticing a sense of belonging and I feel like this is for the kids and I feel like that's what we want um our
kids to feel that and so this opportunity is really for the kids and so we love that my name is Jenna quick as pictured um and I am more than excited to talk with you all about hopes and dreams conferences this has been a recent shift
in our school calendar in the last couple years and we in the kindergarten world have appreciated this so much to be able to have dedicated time with each family building those connections with your own classroom teacher your own children that will be in that class um
has been so valuable to us so we've appreciated that shift in the calendar and time allotment for it but essentially what this looks like is we send a welcoming email to the children and the families of our own classroom near the end of August and we invite them to um obviously be a part of the
community but then also make an appointment with us at hopes and dreams for our conferences and that's the time for the parent and the child to come to the school to their classroom meet their teacher and go through the experience of of course dropping off supplies looking at Logistics but also having that
conference one-on-one to discuss their hopes and dreams for their child we do send out a survey prior to the actual conference so that we can hold space for what's important for our families we want them to feel important and heard and respected and cared for in our space
but also we want them to be able to um have conversations that are meaningful to them in their conference so if they're more concerned about lunch we can talk about that but if they're more concerned about reading curriculum or social emotional skills we can talk about that too and ultimately we we just
want them to all feel very um at ease because as Madison said having these big feelings about the beginning of kindergarten that's very real and we welcome not only the child but the whole family into the community and we know sometimes kindergarten can be the hardest with the most um strings
attached the heart strings especially and so using this time to be intentional with what they find valuable to talk about as well as um anxiety reducing is also important for us too so this is a huge area that we can also really use because we can set our children up for
success in discussing and having those conversations about what parents maybe are concerned about or wondering about but then also helping to make sure we have supports in place for that child so that from day one they can feel supported by our student support team Equity inclusion as well as any of those
supports maybe that they already had in prek so that we can keep that bridge going as they start their journey into school so this happens the day before school starts and then the fun rolls right right way the next morning and like Jenna said too the
parents have given great feedback about having that one-on-one conference before October to really have that opportunity to present wanderings questions those types of things to us we have found it extremely extremely beneficial and we also get another
chance to talk with the child which is so important we make it very child focused as well but we want to make sure the parents are heard so we're back to our student experience school and you can hear that we are strong community of um teachers
Educators humans that are supporting our mainly our kids and our students and really getting to know who they are and their families um and this is evident in what we hear from our students in this engagement goal and we were able to ask um some questions to some of our K
friends to highlight what makes them feel good at school and so we're going to share that um with you in the next slide here [Music] hello my name is Greta coloring at my
friends makes me happy hi my name is Kabir what my what what makes me feel go to school is when I play basketball a free choice hi my name is Jordy what keeps me safe at school is doing epic on
iPad hi my name is Avery my teachers Mak me feel good at school hi my name is Kai what makes me happy at school is my teacher and my friends my name is
Maddie what makes me feel good at school is my friends hello my name is Nora and I like about to school is I play free chice with my friends hi my name is the heel my favorite
thing and my teacher Lisa what I like to do in school is playing with g no and gr hi my name is I'm is my friend at school hi my name is EMT and what makes me feel
good at school is playing with my friends hi my name is good my teachers make me feel good at school hello my name is playing with Kai and when I he hi my name is spenc my friends make me good
school hi my name is Cooper what I like to do at school is play with my friend I'm Coen hi my name is ravy what makes me good at school is it's fun hi my name's col I want I like playing
basketball at free choice with my friend Lucy and what I like about school is because I feel safe hi my name is j what makes me feel good at school is my friends my name is me good at
kindergarten is my friends hi my name is and what makes me feel good is my friend hello my name is aora I like doing art at school with my friends so that is our presentation
we're happy to answer any questions that you might have and I'd also like to extend a welcome to all of you to attend any of the upcoming events that you'd be interested in in seeing in person I think that might be a nice way for you to see um what our kindergarten team's
been doing firsthand so feel free to reach out either to me or through Amy um and we will give you a a nice guest pass and walk you through all of the magic we'll be treated special right for
sure thank you for the presentation any questions comments colleagues yeah well thank you so much for being here um it really means a lot it's always great when we have a little window into your days so um you know we were fortunate as board members um to attend the bus ridership event and
you'll get to meet many of you um and it's just you know really such a great contribution to our community so have um this information you know really just I think guid a lot of our decision making grounds Us in the work and the importance of our you know number one audience which is our children so thank you so
much yeah so I just want to say a huge thank you I love seeing the the successful learner equation and I think what I loved about your presentation tonight is how you identified in each one of you're as you talked how you're meeting each one of
those things right how you connect the ready kids the ready families the ready schools and communities and so thank you for um getting each and one of our each and every of our children off to a great start it it pays off and we so appreciate you
okay yeah I have a you want to go yeah um I just wanted to say thank you first of all for coming I love these spotlights and I love I can't believe it's been a year like I feel like we were just here together um but the thing that stuck out to me is thank
you for talking to us about the hopes and dreams meeting because that was a shift and we had to make that decision and so it's good to hear how it's impacting you and how it has been a positive impact and how you would want to keep it so thank you for sharing that with us that makes a big difference
all right um so thank you again for the presentation I have a maybe I'll ask question first and then I I make my comment about something else so on the second or third slide which you went back to again that bar chart was 4% 22%
73 so what's what's the 22 and 73 what's the difference between those two sometimes right yeah so the the yellow is always and then the Orange is sometimes or yeah sometimes and then always and so there was 5% that was not
so it's like extremely satisfied satisfied and then you know the rest thank you for that um so you talk about belonging for the kids you know i' I've done the ride on the bus every year that I've been on the board to me personally
it makes me feel that I belong to the district I belong to the community I belong to the school kid CH children and as a board member I really appreciate that so thank you for doing that every year and I enjoy my time there a lot so thank you again for the presentation and
hopefully we'll see you again in in the next round whenever that comes okay all right thank you so much [Applause] yeah okay next is the audience opportunity to address the board I look
like there is one I'm sorry thank you so much uh Amy so I'm going to read the little thing that I'm supposed to read um this section of the agenda provides an opportunity for members of the community to address the school board speakers who wish to
provide input to the school board must complete the signup sheet and return it to our Administrative Assistant Amy sitting again to my right please note that you will need to complete a request form to be included
which I got already have one here uh when you are invited to the podium please identify the subject and or the agenda items to which your comments pertain priority will be given to students and families with students currently enrolled in the district the
school board practi is not to engage in a discussion or debate with the speaker but rather allow the speaker time to express their thoughts and please present your comments in a respectful and professional manner uh this evening each speaker will be invited up to the podium to speak for
three minutes uh we have only one request tonight and Amy will help us keep track I believe Sheila has the card that she will show and then when you see that the time is up please uh stop your comments if you have already shared your
thoughts with the school board please consider letting someone new address the board if a Community member shares a message similar to yours please consider shortening your message or presenting as a group all right um since we have only
one speaker tonight uh it's Sally debach did I say that right okay welcome Sally my name is Sally dedenbach I teach teach sixth grade language arts 7th grade social studies research and
seventh and eighth grade political science at East Middle School I'm here tonight because our Yetta middle schools no longer have teams and we desperately need them back well-intended administrators may tell you that our
middle schools still have teams but in reality they are teams in name only for example I am currently part of the gold team at EMS our team only meets two to three times per month for about 15
minutes to either have relay races or to give out team Awards our team award ceremonies are definitely not uh the same this year as they were in the past of the5 students on my gold team I only
have 29 of them as students of those 29 16 of them only see me once a day for 20 minutes during a ADV visor they are not in any of my other classes I've worked at other middle schools in the metro area districts and
I can tell you with confidence that having true teams was what used to set our wetta middle schools apart from the rest but under our new Middle School schedule we are no longer operating as a middle school we are using a junior high
model teaming provides so many benefits for middle school students such as consistent expectations stronger student teacher Rel relationships improve social emotional development early intervention supports and so much more without teams School staff are still struggling to
curb behaviors that could have easily been dealt with back in October it is currently difficult to impossible to get all of the students teachers on the same page about expectations interventions consequences communication with parents these are things that we frequently and
easily did back when we had teaming without teams it is much more difficult for teachers to build relationships with their students and for students to feel connected to both their teachers and each other um we no longer have the fun and engaging team activities and events that we used to provide to students
constantly students are not able to bond over those shared group team experiences middle schoolers in our student uh middle school students in our district are feeling lost especially the sixth graders that I see coming in new to the school and both students and
teachers are feeling in incredibly isolated it often feels like there's nobody to support us when we need help teams used to be that support last school year with this new Middle School schedule was proposed we were told that every effort would be
made to keep teams since students parents and teachers all agreed that they were so important when the schedule was finalized at the end of the summer we were told that there was just no way to make true teams work within this new schedule if this new schedule truly is
incompatible with teaming maybe the answer is to abandon the schedule instead of abandoning the teams thank you moving on to the administrative reports and recommendation the first item is the policy approvals and if you notice in the
agenda uh there is a slight modification there are 12 policies under 8A that are that will be up for approval tonight because they are policies that have been modified there is one policy that is a new policy that's the cell
phone policy that is our first reading tonight but Dr Anderson will explain a little more if you could Dr Anderson and then we'll we go from there yeah Mr chair and members of the board we've uh as you're aware we have policy committee that reviews policies
they meet generally on a monthly basis and we have review cycle that uh different policies are looked at on a a regular review process uh the policies that are included uh in that first grouping uh that you referenced include
the following policy 611 Child Care Program 617 School volunteers 632 extracurricular non-school sponsored independent provider and school sponsored community Community Education clubs teams activities better known as the longest named policy of any that we
have in the book maybe 804 emergency school closings 901 Communications and public relations program 902 Community engagement policy 905 Community involvement in decisionmaking 912 public complaints 916 relations with political
organizations 917 relations with local government authorities 919 community educ ation and 920 use of school district facilities and Equipment uh all of these policies have been reviewed with the appropriate uh Personnel that
oversees these areas presenting at the uh policy committee uh with an opportunity for committee members to offer input and uh suggested edits and updates according to maybe things that have changed in statutory requirements
or new programming or things that have been uh modified in one form or another so the recommended action is to approve the policies that I just listed as presented in the attachments and they are all included in your board packet board
materials all right thank you Dr Anderson so board colleagues again the recommended action is to approve the board policies as presented do I have a motion to approve so moved and we wave the second reading and with the request to wave the second reading of all all of those that
Dr Anderson okay read up all right is there a second a second moved and seconded is there a discussion second sorry is there a discussion okay hearing none this is a
voice vote all in favor say i i oppos n the motion passes okay so the next one is the one policy that's listed and that's the cell phone policy this is the first reading and I would I would ask Anderson to explain sure thank you uh also in your
board materials tonight is a brand new policy um the one that's in our board packet is very reflective of what was developed by msba uh there was a statutory requirement that was put in effect I can't remember if it was last year or the year before I think just last year when there was a lot of policy
review it was a non-f funding year and one of the required policies for public school districts was to ensure that there's a uh s would gener generally is kind of called a cell phone policy um this particular policy is titled personal electronic communication
devices and it uh again reflects closely the work of msba we are a member of the Minnesota school boards Association they do a great job of uh updating policies according to statutory changes and creating new policies based on uh new
laws that might have been implemented so um this is uh presented tonight it's been reviewed by our um policy committee and uh brought before you tonight for uh first viewing first review and uh I know
with this particular policy there's an interest in taking another look at it so it's really presented tonight for um first reading There's No Agenda sheet no action required um but just an opportunity for Schoolboard members to take another look at that I would like
to just say that our buildings uh have really developed I think some really good protocols for cell phones and student utilization of electronic devices I think those types of things are always under review and up for uh annual consideration for any changes uh
putting my former School principal hat on I remember on an annual basis spending a lot of time on updating handbooks and trying to think in terms of okay what did uh we work with last year or try to manage that would have been helpful to have following language
included so I know principal work with their teams to um try to keep these updated and we also strive to the best degree possible finding continuity and consistency there are a few uh building variations uh dependent upon uh the leadership in the buildings and what
they feel works best uh in their buildings and um um we continue to work together as teams and do our best to um be an alignment so that there is a good consistency across the district so with
that I don't have anything else to say about the policy for tonight but I would imagine we'll bring this back in April um there was uh kind of a Target date of having this in place and approved by March 15th but having checked with msba
and getting some uh additional input um they felt comfortable and just knowing that we were working toward uh the finalization of what will end up being our policy again I would like to say I think we have really good protocols in place within the buildings um this
policy will be sort of the umbrella to the regulations or the protocols thank you thank you thank you Dr Anderson so Dr Anderson said uh this is the first reading um I would you know welcome
comments suggestions discussion but not in so much detail that we spend the next hour here but if you have suggestions comments please disc say those now and then uh Valentina director HS as the policy
committee chair will take it to the next committee meeting discuss that again and uh bring that back as um for the second reading uh in April so if you have any suggestions comments questions please go
ahead then well I mean really just to you know say thank you I think it's um you know good that we're um you know getting this squared away it was a requirement put to us um by the legislature to have a policy on cell phones and I think it's good that we kind of made a a separation elementary
middle and high school so um I'm grateful that that distinction was put in um and uh yeah I appreciate the work on this policy anyone else Sheila yeah just uh to clarify that we have a lot of you know we have a lot of rules
in place at each of the schools this is a policy that we're adding but it's it's not because we don't have something in place already we don't have a policy in place but we do have again in the handbook that the schools all have you know again at different levels there are
already rules in place regarding cell phone use I have a question for clarification so will we have an opportunity to discuss during work session or is this the only opportunity right now as as far as I know just at the at the committee
meeting at the next April committee meeting that's some feel yeah I would just say that could be determined yet I mean the agenda for the work session hasn't been finalized so that is an interest of the board to have conversation with full group together we
can certainly do that I I don't know when the next policy meeting is do you know Valentina ADV B so it' be after the next work session right one of the things we could do possibly is instead of the work session
is if there are not too many questions not a lot of discussion maybe we could just know say those now right okay if I can sa one if it is right now my major concern was after reading anxious generation and uh listening I think that
I forward to some members um uh was a uh discussion about how cell phones and technology affected our students I feel very uncomfortable that we left it up to buildings I'm talking about middle school because Middle School like
Central Middle School is treated as high school and uh East Middle and West Middle School uh they are treated more like I mean close to Elementary uh and I feel like if we are saying that we as a district are saying
that doesn't matter where a student in which student in which building is student located we need to have the same consistency I feel uh that one need to be I I mean I I'm not uh controlling it but the free free
buildings need to come to the same uh policy to the same expectations from the students so I I don't know if um other board members have any response to that but if not you know if if you do please say so right now and uh otherwise Dr
Anderson could could you clarify why we have done that why we have separated the policies for different schools I think for me to summarize that without the presence of the principles would be difficult because they are the ones that understand uh the Dynamics
within the buildings and what works and what doesn't and I think in general uh any of the protocols or regulations or guidelines in any building are they're under continuous review it isn't just an annual review and um I would prefer to
for and find a way to incorporate the principal's input so that they can speak directly for their buildings and what they put into place and rationale for what works uh between the buildings so would you suggest that they attend you know at least one or two of them attend
the next policy committee meeting so that can give input or have a work session where they can attend or just a written response what what's what's your suggestion um I don't know any of those would be on a list of options I suppose
but um I probably would connect with them and just indicate that the board has an interest in them sharing more insight and input on consistency uh between the buildings and to clarify and share rationale
for um do we know of any other districts I'm sorry do you know of any other districts that do what we are proposing um I haven't done that research on all districts and in regard to what they're doing okay I think there's always some variation and some
degree of difference between buildings in regard to a lot of the protocols but um I think continuity and consistency can be really a good thing for example now as we're moving some kids from building a to Building B to you know
have similarity is uh a helpful thing okay so Valentina are you okay with working on those proposals you know having the principles respond to your questions email as long as we have a discussion about it right right
absolutely or maybe you know it's up to you you can invite them at the policy committee meeting and then the most time consuming thing would be in my opinion would be to have have a work session have them in come in
and so it's your call okay I will check with uh Dr Anderson and make decis all right so anything else uh that anybody would like to add another possibility Dr Anderson would be to consult with the
msba individual that is the policy Guru um I could do that um I'm not sure what Insight they might have with a unique uh Middle School it' be hard for
that person to probably speak on behalf of that but okay um um it's possible yeah and then you know perhaps the the reason I'm I brought it up is because if Terry has experience from different schools different
districts that you know there District XYZ has done this they have they have separated the policies for each middle school and this is the reason if he knows what the reason is so the more more we can find out from other sources I think the better more educated we can
be yeah okay thank you okay so if we don't have any I had I had a handful of questions but Valentina you have them via email which is typically how I get my questions right so just yes thank you yes all right um
let's moving on to the next item on the agenda we have the financial reports presented by Executive Director of Finance and operations uh Scott Lage Scott will first present the combined financial report ending on Jan feary 30th
2025 Scott yeah uh oh they should have least sat down I was just gonna brag about my big crowd tonight but I'll hold my comments so I'm kidding um
board chair soney board members Dr Anderson um uh just here covering the normal monthly reports um so before I kind of touch on these uh just a reminder that we'll be touching on the FY um we lower this um
the FY 2425 revised budget as our next agenda item so um some of these numbers in here will uh be changed obviously next month depending that the board approves the revised budget so um as pointed out on there there's not too much up on there I know the writing's
really small but this is the first seven um months of the fiscal year uh nothing really too um tremendous to point out on that page if you want to go to the next page um this kind of looks at um just the overall we're trending kind of right on track where we thought um if not like
for example with the property taxes those will be adjusted if you remember Finance director David draskovich talking last month will have a $600,000 adjustment roughly in property taxes which will put that pretty much right at 100% um State AIDS are right on par for what we um expected Federal AIDS as you
know and I've explained many times these are extraordinarily variable especially with the co funding and then last year with um changing the system um from serves over to Megs so um we're pretty consistently doing draws those draws have been completed for the covid
pandemic and as finance manager Jen W mentioned last month that will hopefully be wrapping up I know she's not going to miss doing all of that reporting so grateful for those dollars but um it is a lot of tracking um other thing to point out miscellaneous local revenues uh D
Finance director David draskovich talked about that we've had some e-rate payments which has increased that percentage a little bit so you see a little Spike there those will be adjusted food service right on par with where we believe um Community um service also at 67% looking good and then Debt
Service um that one pretty much always better be right on otherwise you got bigger problems so all right flipping to the next page Amy um the two that I always point out that we pay really really close attention to are obviously the salaries and benefits
um from our revised budget presentation last Monday um we kind of focus on the fact that those are 70 plus per of our expenditures overall so we watch those as you can see our salaries are pretty much right on par um and then our benefits this will be adjusted as you
recall um from the presentation last Monday that is an area that we adjusted we expected there to be some fluctuation for um a few different reason including just not knowing where benefits will come in what people will choose um if people will be contributing to their
403bs a lot of different variables so um we've always told the board we conservatively budget when we do the preliminary uh budget back in June and kind of assume I don't want to call it worst case scenario but most costly scenario and then adjust from there so um other thing supplies of materials
Capital expenditures and then other expenditures those are things that either myself or David draskovich have talked talked about can vary significantly depending on the timing of payments um and when we get the billing for those Food Service fund um is right
on par with expenditures in comparison to Prior years so it's community service and Debt Service and then finally the last page um this just shows where we're sitting at cast just a reminder this is through the end of January so um roughly about
40 million uh just over 40 million in our PMA um and mlot trust accounts any questions from the board members oops thank you uh next Scott will present the revised update for the general fund for the fiscal year ending
on June 30th 2025 perfect thank you board chair soney board members again and Dr Anderson um last Monday March 3rd uh Finance director David draskovich Finance manager Jen wel and myself presented the FY 2425 revised budget to the school
board um at that meeting we covered the general fund and walked through our story since a pandemic as you recall from the presentation the district is Turing in a positive direction that can be cont that can be attributed to the Cost Containment of more than $1 million over the last three years plus and then
heavily aided by the recovery by the above average student enrollment um to put us in a really positive spot so with the LT TFM adjustment of $5.4 million it puts us at 2.3 million expenditures over revenues which we're asking the board to
approve tonight but noting and as explained during our presentation last Monday when taking out the adjustment for ltfm the district is projecting roughly 3.2 million Revenue over expenditures that probably tells the true story like I talked about the LT f
is more of just a cash flow adjustment um over years and so um as earlier stated I feel like we're we're recovering well um I've said it until I was blw in my fa in the face we are a pupil driven Revenue system so um we
were very wise when the pandemic hit and we um went into Cost Containment when we lost students and then did not continue to grow at the clip so um between that 11 million plus in cuts and the the enrollment that we're seeing right now um we're really trending in the right
direction so um obviously um I always put the Asters there there's lots of variables that can impact our projection or projection that includes student growth you know coming to fruition negotiations and employee settlements unforeseen Public Health emergencies and changes at the federal level with
funding so tonight we're asking the board to approve the fy2 2425 budget as presented in the board packet the recommended action is to approve the updated revised budget for the fiscal year ending on June 202
is there a motion I so move second moved and seconded is there a discussion I mean really just to say thank you Scott I appreciate um you know also our our Treasurer um Sarah Johansson for you know getting us together to really be well informed so we could you know cast this vote and all
that and I'm hardened to see um the uh enrollment training in the right direction certainly to foreshadow melon mindes board on our um legislative uh conversations today with our um state representative state senators they were happy to hear the same things as well so thank you for all your hard work and
hard work of your team okay so I I have a question that you know I've been thinking about for every time that you present the budget and for approval and I always forget so this is something I I just need to
understand so you have some the budget with the ltfm included then you have the budget without the ltfm and that's the one that's kind of more important so why even have the one with the ltfm in there just cannot can you not just say this is
without ltfm and this is LT ltfm so why is that whole budget um because technically we have to recognize that because the ltfm shows up on our financial statements and it is a restricted funding so as much as we don't want to show it um we have to show
it but that's why subsequently I show The Following page and I described to the board that um what that true picture is so um a lot of that obviously like I said is out of our control we intend to do the projects that we Levy those dollars for um but as uh the state is
responsible with taxpayers they take those dollars back I don't know if I misspoke but I'm not saying that we don't show the ldfm at all I'm just wondering why it has to be shown in in a budget format instead of just one line item saying this is the ltfm so yeah we
can adjust yeah I think just bottom line has to kind of show that so okay thank you for that uh so again the recommendation is to approve the updated revised budget for the fiscal year ending on June 30th
2025 it has been moved and seconded uh so this is a rooll call vote Dan janra yes Sarah Johansson yes Paris bende is absent Sheila prior
yes Heidi ker yes Valentina SS yes Milan Sone yes the motion passes thank you and then finally Scott will recommend a resolution to approve the intent to assure General obligation Capital
facilities bonds series 2025 a Scott perfect thank you board chair sonone board members Dr Anderson again so um here tonight just to talk about the series 2025 General obligation cap Capital facilities bonds um the full information obviously is in the board
packet um but as part of the recently completed attendance area adjustment process the district remains committed to maintaining the feeder School System model so by doing this we're able to um essentially meet that model how we did
that was that West was able to take um an additional elementary school so um the district looked at how we could handle that principal Carlson was very open to Mak that happened the district um recognized that we had roughly 13,000 square feet of locker room space at West
Middle School that could be converted into um usable space to add classrooms to be able to facilitate um and handle the growth that's expected over the next several years so um what this is looking at tonight is just the intent to issue
these facility bonds um so this just basically is the start of the process I know we've talked about this at facility committee meetings finance committee meetings um and even a few discussions here um but this would be the first step in that as outlined on the calendar that um is up on the screen um but by doing
this tonight this just um allows us to um start or continue moving forward with the process you'll notice 5.5 million on there um but it's flexible and so we can adjust to what it actually is if you recall initially in the planning we were going to come a little bit earlier to
the board um but and you'll notice that we wouldn't get those proceeds until August we wouldn't issue them until July that is very thoughtful and on purpose with being responsible with the funds because we're waiting until we get those bids to come in so we can ask closer to what we actually need so those could be
adjusted out um following tonight's meeting um it would be posted in the paper a statement would be posted in the paper um and we would also send it to the department ad for approval so any questions on this I would I don't want to read it word for word I know it
was in the board packet but um wasn't sure if there's any questions or comments or anything else I could clarify okay oh oh thank you so I'm wondering if I should just read the recommendation move second and then there will be a discussion yeah okay all right so the
recommended action is to approve the resolution relating to the intent to issue $5.5 million of General obligation Capital facilities bonds series 2025a is there a motion I so move and ask that we wave the reading of the
resolution second moved and seconded now we can have a discussion if anybody has questions or comments I just have a clarifying question when you say we can adjust so we're today it would be for an approval of 5.5 million and as we get closer
we'll have bids in and then we can adjust down is down corre yeah it's to a maximum of 5.5 so yes we would adjust down thank you yeah I would like uh uh chair I would like U to move the motion be amended by
striking out the following words as uh districtwide because um yes I we discussed about East Middle School but when we and I wish that we read resolution the resolution is stating
that uh we are given Freedom uh for uh to do it in districtwide while uh the project is actually towards uh West Middle School and I'm making a motion to um uh uh to strike the words uh
districtwide okay before I ask for a second uh can you explain what Heidi I believe just mentioned about the $5.5 million set aside only for the West Middle School and if there is anything else left do is the board
assured that it will not be used for anything else without the board's approval yes that would be the case yeah this is pretty common language inside of these obviously like I said our intent is to use on the west middle school project um we've been very transparent about that with meeting the needs from
the attendance here adjustment process process so um I think it's even furthered by the fact that we're waiting until we're getting bids before we issue that so we know the amount that we'll be issuing so um but if that would need to be removed that can absolutely be
done um it just provides flexibility for the district okay but but then to be honest we already given flexibility in uh doing it right now before beaing beaing will start in June and now by given flexibility with rewarding uh
districtwide which uh leaves me very uncomfortable uh and to be honest if we are going to be using it at West Middle School then removing districtwide should not change anything money will come yeah if I could just ask a
clarification question Scott I'm curious could you remind us who who wrote this document yes that was um our um board attorney attorney Andre hkey from dorsy and Whitney LLP
okay and she's taken care of us before with these Bond issues so would it be safe to say that it's written and presented in a way that would be consistent with statutes and she would have used
her legal expertise to word this in a way that would be well supported and in alignment with State statutes I would assume that would absolutely be but again as I said I think the language in there is pretty common it provides flexibility but if the board felt it
needed to be removed we could remove it so it wouldn't have would any would modify the effect or impact of the document in any way that um I would want to clarify 100% she's told me it could be removed but as we've talked about during the process
during the finance and Facilities committee meetings um part of that project obviously is the locker room and that building so at West Middle School so a lot of us took a tour of if the music suites go downstairs as that was one of the plans um there would be some renovation in those rooms I don't know
when we'd do that but that's where the flexibility in the language was is that um if that project somehow bit out and came in under when the costs were finalized we'd maybe be able to start doing that because part of the thought process on this we're trying to be really respectful um and uh good
stewards of the taxpayers money by utilizing this vehicle because it's not impacting our local taxpayers and it's not impacting our budget um because it's already inside of the constraints of our Capital La dollars um I'm I maybe I'm reading too
much into this though is it likely or possible that when the West Middle School project is is undertaken the construction somehow affect something else that's outside the purview of the West Middle School
project and then we have to spend some money on that outside thing is that why the language is put such in a way I'm not certain okay yeah I'm not sure okay so I I am comfortable with the language
Valentina but if you still want to move that and if somebody seconds only then will the motion go up for a vote but there's an amendment on the table there there's an amendment on the table we just need to follow Robert's Rules if we could I'm sorry there's an
amendment on the table so but she has that nobody has seconded that yet right so needs to be given right right right but if if nobody seconds it then I'm just letting her know that it will not not go anywhere so you still you still want to move that
as an amendment okay okay we have we have oh you're not seconding I'm sorry I thought you said no there is yeah is there a second okay you have to do it three times oh is there a second is there a second hearing none
the the motion to amend fails we will go back to the original recommendation and that recommendation is to approve the resolution relating to the intent to issue $5.5 million of General obligation Capital facilities bonds series
2025a we have already moved this seconded and I have a comment yeah go ahead um I just want to say thank you to the team and thank you for our partners at aers um and thank you to the both the board facilities and the finance committee it's really important as we
have as we identified even in the changing um budget updates that we as a board provide the utmost flexibility for our administrators and for our resources so we can respond to the needs of our
students and um I know that by sending out the bids and and the work that we've done that there's a high level of confidence of due diligence of of seeking bids through the process um and as we move forward the anticipation of the principal team and the finance and the facilities team is really going to
set us up for operational excellence and help us to meet the needs of our students so thank you Scott to your team um thank you uh to the facilities committee for your work and helping us to get to this point I also want to make a quick comment Scot thank you for doing all
this work no doubt about that also you know we have been struggling with with class sizes and this hopefully will be good news for addressing that right obviously we'll have more classes you know more space for students to work in
and and basically just replacing something that has not been used for a long time so thank you thank you so much for that um I would like to just reinforce to the importance of this project and as we recall back when we were going through the attendance areas in order for us to have a full uh three
schools feeding into West Middle School this was a really important project so there has been a tremendous amount of work I know with uh uh aers and those that have worked with uh our team with Scott and uh others within the finance team to get us to this point and uh it's
important to maintain good timelines when you're making Remodeling and construction uh so that you can uh do all the due diligence on the front end and make sure that uh when school opens in the all of uh 26 that these classrooms will be available and ready
so thanks SC for your work on that I appreciate it okay so one more time the recommended action is to approve the resolution relating to the intent to issue oh sorry go thank you for reminding because I would like I wanted to say thank you to
being in I never done uh that to that degree and I wanted to say thank you to you too because I sent an email with a bunch of questions and you clarified you spend time and clarified and I want to clarify also my motion that I am not by
any means trying to be an obstructionist uh because yes I totally agree if there is a space uh and we can use that space for middle school students um uh I I mean I supported the
only thing why I I am um as was asking for Amendment it was um the uh the wording District One right I'm totally fine with uh money being spent at uh West Middle School and uh prioritizing
students and finding space for them the only thing what I asked is about districtwide that's all what and but one more time thank you very much because you had patience you explained to me a lot and I'm learning a lot I appreciate
it yeah you go ahead um I just wanted to say well first to Valentina I appreciate you asking questions like this I think it's definitely okay to you know question these things sometimes because you know if it's been like this way forever and we never really we just
assume it's fine then it's okay to question it um I think I'm just speaking for myself personally I wouldn't I I don't want to the reason I nobody I didn't personally second it was um I don't want to change the wording of something that has been written by the
lawyers and I do again I I know we've done our due diligence and I know that this money is going to be spent on West Middle School and you know this just allows for an unknown and I don't want to be I I don't
want to do something again that might have un unintended consequences later so just to thank you for thank you Sheila thank you Valentina for for that U and I as far as I'm concerned this is again just my opinion I I trust your word and
you know that's why I specifically asked you if anything will be spent on any other project and uh we have to we have to trust each other right so yeah Our intention is to only use the dollars at West Middle School thank you thank you Scott so if there are no other comments
questions I'm going to read the recommended action again is to approve the resolution relating to the intent to use $5.5 million of General obligation Capital facilities bonds Series 2025a this is a ro call
vote Valentina SS um in this case I'll take exstension okay Dan janra yes Sarah Johansson yes Harris bende is absent Sheila prior yes Heidi Kar yes Milan sahony yes the
motion passes thank you all right there are no human resources is reports tonight and next we will move to the other board action of which there are none either right the final item on the agenda is board reports this section of the agenda provides an opportunity for
board members to update school board members on school board related work or to make announcements of interest to the public we have two reports tonight one is by heidy uh director ker will talk
about were you judging at deca no I did that that was last month okay so whatever you you need to speak you're going to speak tonight no no okay was on the list okay all right never mind then we don't have Heidi's reports tonight um but we do have um report from director
gestra and myself on the attend on our attendance at the day of the C Day at the capital it's fresh from today so I'm going to start and then I'm going hand it over to Dan and then Dr Anderson also attended that so if you have any comments to make afterwards please feel
free so the Minnesota school boards Association also commonly known as msba which represents 330 school districts in Minnesota and on Whose board I have the honor of serving in collaboration with the Minnesota Association of school
administrators organizes an annual event called the day at the capital members of both organizations gather for networking and learning and to hear from some of Minnesota's education policy and finance decision makers in the afternoon attendees have
the opportunity to meet with legislators the event was held at the state capital today director gestra and I attended along with Dr Anderson the panel during the morning session consisted of Senator Mary kunesh who is the educ education
finance committee chair and Senator Jason Rik from the Senate and representative representative Mary Francis Clarity and and representative Ben Pig Berg from the house we learned about the various education bills in
committees right now and their views on the future of Education in the state so I'm going to hand it over to uh director gestra who will now share about you know information about our visits with the legislators Dan thank you Mr chair it really was a great joy to attend um and
meet and conference with legislators here from msba personnel and you know partake in these um really important listening sessions on legislation forthcoming upcoming um and the lot um you know the main issues um that we discussed with our legislators um were
unemployment insurance um earn sick and safe time and then a general conversation about um the impact of mandates on school boards uh and school districts um and then they were very curious too they wanted to hear from us and our district and what our needs were what our concerns were and so we talked
about our enrollment growth we talked about expansions in our district like what we just appr approved um and then our overall budget standing um and then just kind of whatever um you know General challenges we might see in the future or obstacles in our way so um you
know really just a a great day all around to talk to a lot of very influential people on our lives and the well-being of our students um who always come first so um with that I'll turn things over to you Mr chair thank you I just want to add should we just
mention the names would you like to mention the names who we who we we talk to absolutely yeah so um we went met with h kindo um you know geographically um you know clockwise so um we met with representative Kristen Robbins um we met
with um Jenny clor Patty AUM uh Ned Carroll um and Johnson Stewart um and then uh but I've already said Kristen Robins so we fortun me with um you know influential individuals next on our agenda for two weeks from now will be um
there for the amsd conference um and on our agenda for then um we'll be meeting with uh Senator Bonnie weslin um representative Andrew Meyers and then uh Mark freeberg yeah thank
you I was just mention to I don't really have anything to add about the day always a good opportunity to U strengthen relationships with our legislators and run into colleagues uh not only uh fellow superintendents for me but for our board members who are in
attendance to interact with board members that uh they've come to know or to meet some new ones as well and uh in addition to the list that Dan shared I also had a chance to meet with Senator Warren limmer this afternoon I think that might complete the list um we kind of divided up and went different
directions because they were scheduled back to back in different buildings sometimes so we had to uh divide and conquer so the speaker yeah not just back to back but I think the one we divided was at the exact same time
did you mention representative Banner Christine Banner oh that's right yeah we did catch her in the hallway that's right yeah all right yes thank you okay thank you so much and um I think what I've learned in the last two three years is how important experience is and Dr
Anderson 16 17 years speaks for itself and they listen they listen to him so thank you for your your participation and your advocacy okay so the next board work session is on Monday March 24th um this
concludes the Yetta Public Schools regular board meeting for Monday March 10th 2025 is there a motion to adjourn I move I second okay all in favor say I I I I oppose n the motion passes the WIA Public Schools Board of Education
regular meeting for Monday March 10th 2025 is adjourned