- I now call this meeting of School Board Independent School District 624 to order. Will the clerk please call the roll? - Streiff Oji? - Here. - Arcand? - Here. - Beloyed? - Here. - Daniels, here. Ellison? - Here. - Skaar? - Here. - Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. - [All] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. (whispering indistinctly) - Okay. - We have before us an agenda.
Can I get a motion to approve it? - So moved. - Ellison, a second? - Second. - Second. - Second by Ms. Beloyed. Is there any discussion? Yes, Mr. Skaar. - I'd like to make a motion to add something to the agenda. - Okay, what would it be? - I'd like to make a motion to add to the agenda a discussion on future classroom consolidations and the board process to review such consolidations. - Okay, so we have a motion to review future classroom consolidations.
- And what's the process that the board uses to review and approve those. - We heard the motion. Do I have a second? Do I have a second? Do I have a second? I'm sorry, the motion failed. All right, any further discussion? Hearing none. - Scott? - Yes. - Yeah. To add something to a school board agenda- - We have two options. - Right. - You can either send it to me, and I'll see if I can get it in, see where it fits, or you can also bring it up at this time and ask to add it. With a second, discussion in it by a majority vote,
we can add something. - Okay. When an agenda item is added the night of, I don't know that I'd be prepared to have a conversation about it because I haven't reviewed whatever we're talking about. So if something is brought up to be added, which I think has happened before, should that request be future? - No, you can actually bring it for that meeting. By Robert's Rules, I can bring it now. - Thanks. - Okay. Chair? - Yes. - Can I make one quick? - Yep. - I have requested, on 10 occasions via email to the chair,
to ask for items to be on the agenda. All 10 have been denied. - Okay. Any further discussion? This will be a voice vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. - Aye. - Opposed, same sign. The motion passes, we have an agenda. We also have before us a consent agenda. This contains a variety of business items that come to us monthly, including donations. And we are always truly grateful for the support we get from our community every month for our students and staff. So I wanna thank you. Can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda?
- So moved. - By Beloyed. A second? - Second. - Second by Streiff Oji. Now, time for discussion. Mr. Skaar? - I'd like to move that the invoice register be moved to the regular agenda. - Okay, normally, what we'll do is we'll move that out. - Sure. - Okay. So what I'm gonna have in front of us is we have a motion to move- - Actually, I don't need to make a motion. - No, but we have it, it can be done. So I'm gonna move the invoice portion of the consent agenda. And so now what we have in front of us is we have,
I'm looking for approval of the consent agenda less the invoices. - So moved. - Okay. Any other discussion? - Need a second for that. - Oh. Okay, can I get a second? - Second. - Second, okay, now. So we have the consent agenda without the invoice section. Any further discussion? Okay, this will be a voice vote. I'll ask the court to call a roll. Okay now yeah. I'll ask the court to call a roll. It'll be- - Streiff Oji? - Aye. - Arcand? - Aye.
- Beloyed? - No. - Daniels? - Aye. - Ellison? - Aye. - Skaar? - Aye. - So that is 5-1, that passes. Now, we're gonna bring up the invoices. Can I get a motion? We'll start with a motion to approve the invoice section of the consent agenda. Can I get a motion to approve it? And then we'll go to discussion. - So moved. - So moved. Can I get a second? Ellison moved, is there a second? - To approve the invoices? - Invoices. Okay, by Streiff Oji.
Now, we're gonna bring that open for discussion. Mr. Skaar, I believe you wanna move it, so I'll let you open. - Thank you. Thank you, I just have a couple of quick questions. On page 17, there's a $70,000 invoice for Chrysler of Forest Lake for fleet. Is that an individual vehicle that we purchased? - Yes. - Okay. Do we normally lease vehicles? Do we have a leasing arrangement with a leasing company? We purchased some out, right? - We lease vehicles, yeah. - Okay, that was for one? - [Andi] Yes. - That'd be a nice pickup, if it was a pickup.
On page 18, there's College Board for $39,114. What was it? Do you remember, recall what that was for? - [Andi] No, I would have to look. I don't know. - Okay. Maybe just shoot me an email on that. - Would that be AP testing? - Yeah, that's AP. - On page 19, I was curious on this one. This was Johnson & Galloway Architects. One was $13,480. Another one was $18,899.12. We use Wold Architects primarily,
so I was wondering what this was related to. - [Andi] Yeah, again, I don't know. I would have to look. If you'd asked prior, I would have been able to look. - No, I get that. And then on page 23, CM Construction Company, Inc., $33,600. Do you recall what that was? - [Andi] Again, no. I don't know off the top of my head. - That's a pretty big check. - Correct. - Yeah. - [Andi] My assumption is that they are one of the contractors doing the construction here at Sunrise,
but I don't know off the top of my head. So if you were to give me a heads-up, I would be prepared to answer that at the meeting, but I don't know off the top of my head. - I think if you gave me the invoice register on Wednesday instead of Friday afternoon, I probably would be able to. - And if you would've given me the question 10 minutes before the meeting, I could look it up. - On page 24, Flynn Midwest, $120,307, building acquisition. - [Andi] Again, I don't know. - So on that one, for building acquisition, I mean, we had a discussion.
The board had a discussion on building acquisition costs. So I just wonder what that is and if the board is supposed to carve those out to approve those separately. - So just because it says "building acquisition," it's also slash construction. So that's the technical definition by the Minnesota Department of Education. So it doesn't necessarily mean that, well, it doesn't mean, in this case, that we're purchasing a building.
In this case, it means it's some type of construction that, by MDE definition, the most appropriate coding. - Okay, but we don't- - Is that. - Okay, but we don't know that. - So it's some type of site work, I would think. I don't know, I would have to look. - So the next one is Frassati Catholic Academy for $18,419. I was just curious, buying textbooks through Catholic- - Correct, so there's a special state statute where we are the go-between for textbooks. There's textbooks, guidance counseling, and health services.
So that's a statute thing. - Okay, understood, thank you. On page 25, Michael Basic, Inc., again, building acquisition/construction, $23,454 and then $46,800. Do you recall what that was for? - I mean, some type of contract, some type of construction work. No, I don't know the specifics. - Okay. But it wouldn't have had anything to do with the sale? I know that we're buying property,
or selling property, I'm sorry, selling property. So it has nothing to do with that. - [Andi] No. - Let me see. I think there was one more that was related to that. If it was building acquisition, we can skip that. Just hang on. Appreciate your patience here. Let's see if I had any other ones. Whoops. Yeah, there was another one, Multiple Concepts, which was another building acquisition. That was it. - Okay. - Any other questions or discussion? Okay, hearing none, this will be a roll call vote. I'll ask the clerk to call the roll.
- [Daniels] My other document here. Streiff-Oji? - Aye. - Arcand? - Aye. - Daniels, aye. Ellison? - Aye. - Skaar? - Aye. - And Beloyed? - Aye. - Okay, motion carries. All right, it's now time for our public forum portion of the meeting. Public forum allows up to three minutes per speaker. We have one request submitted to speak. Mr. Arcand, Daniel Arcand, with one minute remaining, an orange card will be held up to let you know. With 30 seconds, a yellow card will be held up, and at the end of three minutes, the gavel will be tapped.
The board is accountable to make sure that those questions are addressed on behalf of the community member. - I hear what you're saying and I will- - So is that a no? - No, I think I'm not sure what you want. But I would be very clear. - Point of clarification. - Yeah. - In order for us to do that in particular, we would need to adjust policies. - Of course. - At some point in time, if anybody on the board would like to do that, then do that at the correct time.
- Okay, thank you. I'll follow up. - I would argue that that doesn't require a policy change. - All right. I'll look into it and see. - It's just the right, if it's the right thing to do- - I would argue that it does take a policy change. - If it's the right thing to do, we should just do it. If it's the right thing to do, we should just do it. - Advise yourself of the policies and then you'll know. - So everything's closed, so. - Oh. - I will, yeah, I will. Well, yes, we're gonna move on. We're gonna move to informational item C1, student recognition. Dr. K. - All right, thank you, Chair Arcand, members of the board.
Tonight, we proudly recognize the outstanding achievements of students from our softball, trap and skeet, and boys and girls lacrosse teams. Congratulations to all of you on your state and national-level recognitions. As a token of their accomplishments, students have received a certificate, a Bear pin, and a congratulatory letter. Our heartfelt thanks also go out to the dedicated staff and supportive families who made these successes possible. Please join us now in watching a video showcasing their achievements. Go Bears. (bright orchestral music)
(bright music continues) (bright orchestral music) All right, well, thank you. That was amazing. And I know that I heard they really rocked it at the Nationals. They did an awesome job for the skeet. - All right, we're gonna go on to informational item C2, Superintendent Report. Dr. K. - All right, thank you. The district recently mailed its annual Bears Update postcard to all local residents. Sent at the conclusion of each school year, this publication highlights recent graduations, our staff retirement celebration,
and information on free activity passes for area seniors. It also provides the latest updates on our ongoing district-wide construction projects. A huge thank you to everyone who joined us in late June for our third annual Spirit Night at Marketfest. 4th Street was packed with nearly 20 student and district booths, and we even teamed up with the fire department for an awesome aerial Orange Out photo. If you missed it, don't worry. You can still find us at the district booth on 3rd Street every Thursday through July. Stop by to say hi and grab a Bear Paw tattoo. The White Bear Lake Area Schools Summer Community Theater
invites you to its upcoming production of "Grease." Performances will run at 7:00 PM from July 23rd through July 25th, or the final 2:00 PM matinee on July 26th. All shows will take place at the High School Performing Arts Center. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit the district website. We are continuing to hire for the upcoming school year. The district has openings for substitute teachers, bus drivers, paraeducators, and staff for our Extended Day and Nutrition Services programs. These positions offer competitive wages, flexible hours,
and meaningful opportunities to support our local students. To view current openings, please visit the district website and click on the Employment tab. And finally, a quick reminder for families: enrollment for the upcoming school year is officially open. Please register your child today so we can welcome them into the White Bear family and set them up for a fantastic year ahead. You can find all the details under the Enroll tab on our website. - Is that it, thank you. All right, we're gonna move right along. We're gonna go to discussion item D1, the first reading of the school board policies 210 and 509.
These policies are listed in our packet and will be brought back on August 10th or a subsequent meeting for approval. Any questions, please refer to the policy number and the page number you're looking at in the packet. Okay, hearing none, these will come back in August, and I just wanna say thank you to the policy committee for all the work and time they put in to update these policies. We're gonna go to operational item now E1, action on resolution to renew membership with the Minnesota State High School League for 2026-27.
Dr. K. - All right. Thank you, Chair Arcand. So each year, all school districts in Minnesota, including White Bear Lake, are required to approve the resolution to renew our membership in the Minnesota State High School League. Each school board member has reviewed the "Why We Play" training video and required membership materials provided by the league, which defines the purpose and value of education-based activity and athletic programs and defines each member school's responsibilities as required by the Minnesota State High School League.
So the recommended action is to approve the resolution renewing membership in the Minnesota State High School League for 2026-27. - [Arcand] Hearing that, can I get a motion to approve? - So moved. - By Ellison, second? - Second. - Second by Thompson. - Daniels. - Yeah, I mean, Daniels, sorry. - Actually. - It's been a long day. All right, any further discussion? Okay, hearing none, this will be a voice vote. All in favor say aye. - Aye. - Aye. Approved. And those opposed, same sign? Okay, 2026-27 has been approved.
All right, we're gonna go to operational item E2. Action on resolution approving the 916 long-term facility maintenance plan. Ms. Johnson. - Good evening. Earlier this year, the Northeast Metro 916 School Board approved its 2027-28 long-term facility maintenance budget for its facilities. And then as a member, it is our responsibility to approve our proportionate share. So this year, that's 9.3% or $55,703. The packet includes a list of all the member districts
and the contribution that each is responsible for. This is determined by utilizing a blended rate based on the net tax capacity and the ratio of ADM utilization by the district. The LTFM allocation is consistent with last year's allocation. So the recommended action is to accept the resolution approving Northeast Metro 916 Intermediate School District's long-term facility maintenance program budget and authorizing the inclusion of a proportionate share of those projects in the district's application for fiscal year 2028
long-term facility maintenance revenue in the amount of $55,703 as presented. - Can I get a motion to accept the action? - So moved. - So moved by Daniels. Second? - Second. - Second by Ellison. Discussion? - I have a question. - Yes. - Can you remind us what 916 does for the district? Can someone? I know you probably can. - That's a big question. - Yes, I mean, there's a lot. So there are a lot of different things. They help with some of our special ed funding
or special ed programming. There's a lot of different special ed programming that we participate in. They help us with some of our ALC programming. They help with some professional development. They help with some career and tech programming. Am I missing any major one? That's probably like the main. - Thank you. - Yeah. - Ms. Beloyed. - Is there ever a time when any of the other metro districts don't pay their portion? - No, no, no. And actually, what would happen,
I guess I'm not exactly sure what would happen if you wouldn't, but by law, if this rolls into your property tax levy and if a school district doesn't approve your property tax levy, then by law, it just rolls back to the previous year property tax levy. And this is within like $3,000. Their LTFM, like entire allocation, $600,000-ish, is within $300,000 of their prior year, so it would really not make a large difference for them in total. - [Beloyed] Okay, thank you.
- Other discussion? (attendee sneezing) - Bless you. - Okay, this would be a roll call vote. Please, I'll ask the clerk to call the roll. - Streiff Oji. - Aye. - Arcand? - Aye. - Beloyed. - Aye. - Daniels, aye. Ellison? - Aye. - Skaar? - Aye. - Okay, motion passes, 6-0. We're gonna move on now to operational item E3, 10-year long-term facility maintenance plan. Ms. Johnson. - Okay. So this is our LTFM plan, and we have Kevin Fernandez,
our director of building operations. So each July, we bring forward the district's LTFM plan for school board approval. This is developed following a careful review of the district's facilities by Kevin Fernandez, our director of building operations, our building and grounds folks throughout site visits and discussions with head engineers, building principals, and contractors. The plan before you today includes projects planned for the 2027-2028 school year. Following board approval, we'll submit this plan to the Department of Education for approval.
And then once approved by MDE, the associated revenue is included in the district's annual property tax levy this fall. As you may recall from previous LTFM discussions, state statute provides for two sources of LTFM revenue, annual property tax revenue and then bond proceeds. The district's facility funding plan is structured around issuing LTFM bonds every other year. So we completed a bond sale earlier this year, so our next bond issuance is currently planned for 2028.
A detailed list of projects is included in your board packet for review. The total cost of projects planned for the '27-'28 school year is about $12.6 million. Also included in the packet is the resolution that's required by the Department of Education. So because we're planning for a year or two in advance, we recognize that facility needs change, project priorities change, and costs may change, and so the plan will remain responsive to those needs as we go forward. Kevin's here and happy to answer any questions that you may have.
But the recommended action is to approve the resolution to adopt the district's 10-year long-term facility maintenance plan as presented. - [Arcand] All right, we have a resolution. Can I get a motion? - So moved. - By Streiff Oji. Can I get a second? - Second. - Second by Beloyed. Any discussion? Yes, Mr. Skaar? - Did you put this schedule together yourself? Is this your schedule? Okay, so main driver for this is the age of facilities. Do you wanna explain what the key drivers are?
What drives the numbers? - Yeah, so we do a lot of stuff based on an assessment that was done some years ago that we've, like, coming up to the referendum and all the stuff we've been doing with that LTFM and non, we've established a priority list. We use it based on our knowledge of the buildings. We base it on things we're seeing, things we anticipate, staff interactions, ages of the buildings, roofs that range from, well, in fact, I've got it here, from 29 to 37 years yet.
You know, so we've been picking them off one by one. Boilers that are as old as 70 years old, 73 years old, and down. So we kinda prioritize. We kinda look at it as a big picture item: mechanical electrical plumbing the things that make your building, your facility operate. Then we break it from there to the cosmetic things. The things that when you come in and you see it, does it look nice? Is it pleasant? Windows, doors, floors, lighting, that sort of stuff. And then we also are cognizant of the health and safety issues.
Anything from indoor air quality, the feel of the room, the smells, you know, you kind of see and smell kind of thing. So it's based on age, it's based on where we've come, it's based on where we think we need to go with that assessment. - Can I ask another question? - Yes, sir. - Somebody else does. - Go ahead. - [Skaar] I mean, I'm good with somebody else going as well. How often do we do a facility assessment, and is it done like in phases building by building, or is it done,
how often do we do facility assessments? Who does it? And then how do we do it? - It's a constant. We've got, you know, the whole team originally came up with an assessment of our facilities. We have contractors that we're constantly working with. Teams that we're constantly, we've got our maintenance staff personnel that are constantly in the buildings. We're visiting them. I kind of approach it like if I'm a visitor and I walk into this building, what stands out to me first, right? But then, again, the look, the smell.
As far as assessing it, we look at that review that we did many years ago. We've been taking that off the list, updating it. It's just what we see. If a roof leaks, maybe you had a surprise that came up you didn't anticipate. We kinda reorganize and prioritize by what we're seeing. So I don't know if that answers that correctly. - No, that's good. When they do assessments, like my past experience, we did an assessment. We used an AI tool. So we took, you know, pictures, we had drones flying,
you know, looking at boiler plates or plates on equipment and so forth, and then it all went up into a cloud and AI magic came up with a, you know, a preliminary facility plan. Where is our facility assessment? Is that in like an AI-type cloud or a cloud? Who owns that? Where is it? Can we find it if you needed to? - We don't have anything like an AI cloud document that we operate on. It's the assessments of the values we've done
based on our experience and knowledge of the buildings. We have contractors, engineers that we consult with nonstop. Hallberg is a big one for us to go back and get assessments from those facilities. I can't stress enough how much we spend in time looking and reviewing it. The age, the mechanics of it. - So do we have one place, you know, like when you're finishing a project, trying to get as-built drawings is probably, the last 10% is the hardest thing, right? So where do we have that knowledge of the,
I mean, is there like a master file where, you know, if somebody came in and we all got hit by fish trucks, somebody could come in and recreate our facility plan? - [Kevin] They could, yes, we create it on multiple avenues. We've got the as-builts, like you referred to. We keep three copies of those. We have them on desks, and we have them in the operations department. Basically, we house everything within our department. - Okay, all right. - No questions. - Thank you. - And we could give that answer as needed.
- Got it, thank you. - Ms. Daniels? - You mentioned health and safety. Is it also for like building security? Like, facilities that help our buildings stay secure when the students are there or even after hours? - It is, that's correct. - Okay. - [Kevin] Yeah, constantly evaluating, assessing. - And I know there have been some big changes in all of our buildings and front offices in, you know, in the last 5 to 10 years. - Correct. - Making them more secure, so. - Yeah, the scenarios we run through and the way we kind of approach it is pretty intense.
- Yeah. - Ever changing, like you say. - [Daniels] Thank you. - Further questions? All right, well, this would be a roll call vote. I'll ask the clerk to please call the roll. - Streiff Oji. - Aye. - Arcand? - Aye. - Beloyed. - Aye. - Daniels, aye. Ellison? - Aye. - Skaar. - Aye. - Motion carries, 6-0, thank you. We're gonna go to operational item E4. Action on the designation of identified official with authority for the MDE external user access. Dr. K. - All right, thank you, Chair Arcand, members of the board.
So the Minnesota Department of Education requires that school districts annually designate and identify official with authority, the acronym is IOwA, to comply with the Minnesota IT Services Enterprise Identity and Access Management Standard, which states that all user access rights to Minnesota state systems must be reviewed and re-certified at least annually. So the IOwA assigns job duties and authorizes external users' access to MDE secure systems for their local education agency. So the school board authorizes superintendent
to act as the IOwA and then Rachael Markuson, the executive assistant to the superintendent, to act as the IOwA to add and remove names only for White Bear Lake Area Schools for the coming year or for the current year. So the recommended action is to approve Wayne Kazmierczak's superintendent and Rachael Markuson as executive assistant to the superintendent to add and remove names only as White Bear Lake Area Schools identified officials with authority as required by the Minnesota Department of Education. - [Arcand] Okay, you've heard the recommendation. Can I get a motion? - So moved. - Ellison, a second? - Second.
- Second by Daniels. Any further discussion? Okay, I believe this will be a roll call vote. Will the clerk please call the roll? - Streiff Oji. - Aye. - Arcand? - Aye. - Beloyed? - Aye. - Daniels, aye. Ellison? - Aye. - Skaar. - Aye. - All right, motion carries. Next, we're gonna go to operational item E5, action on the resolution relating to the election of school board members and calling the school district general election. Dr. K. - All right, thank you again, Chair Arcand. So school board approval of the resolution relating to election of school board members
and calling the school district general election is required at least 84 days prior to the date of the general election on November 3rd, 2026. The resolution in your packet has been provided by our elections attorney Peter Martin of Kennedy & Graven. So the recommended action is to approve the resolution relating to election of school board members and calling the school district general election as presented. - All right, we've heard the recommended action. Can I get a motion? - [Ellison] So moved. - By Ellison. Second? - Second. - Second by Streiff Oji.
Any discussion? Okay. Hearing none, this will be a voice vote. All in favor say aye. - Aye. - Aye. Opposed, same sign. Motion passes. We're gonna go on now to item E6, action on school board policies 515 and 604. Can I get a motion to approve 515 and 604? - So moved. - By Beloyed. Second? - Second. - Second by Daniels. Discussion? Hearing none, this will be a voice vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. - Aye. - Opposed, same sign. Motion carries.
We are now down to the board forum. This is a time for board members to talk updates to the school board and the public on the committee work with which they have been engaged in their official capacity as board members and create awareness of upcoming district and partnership events. Is there any board member that would like to share about your committees? Summer event, yes? - Well, not committees, but I just wanna say I was at Market Fest for the orange-out, and I had never been able to go before and it was so fun.
And I really like that we give the student groups an opportunity to have attend. They were so excited to share it. I had never seen that before. So thank you for all the work that goes into, you know, Marisa especially, that goes into putting all of that together. And also, I appreciate the amount of summer activities that are available for our kids. Like my kid did band camp, and the high school students are helping the middle school students, and it's just really fun to keep them busy. So thank you. Appreciate all that work. - Thank you. Anybody else official duties with the committees?
Yes, Mr. Skaar? - This is a non-official duty. - Okay. - But I was at Market Fest last Thursday and went by our tent, and we were well-represented. And our group was, I saw Marisa there. It's Andi. Who else was there? And then somebody from Mauer's group that said he was doing a good job. I think she got paid to say that to him. But yeah, it was a really good showing. So it was good. And also, I just wanna say on the invoice stuff,
if Andi wanted to, I'm out of order, but I'm just gonna say if Andi wants to reach out to me on like a Monday, either mid-morning or in the afternoon, and go through those questions, I'd be happy to do that if you wanna set that up, if you wanna set that up and reach out to me because I usually have questions, and we could probably get them taken care of on a Monday mid-morning or afternoon if you wanna reach out to me. - All right, thank you. Anything else? All right, I'm gonna move us along.
We're gonna review the superintendent evaluation. This portion of the meeting may be closed to discuss the evaluation of the superintendent pursuant to Minnesota Statute 13D-05 Sub 3(a). Can I get a motion to go into closed session? - So moved. - Is that- - That was me. - Ellison, second? - Second. - Second. - Second by Beloyed. This will be a voice vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. - Aye. - Opposed, same sign. Okay, we're gonna go into closed session. So what will happen is we'll go to closed session. We'll do that, and then we'll come back out
and basically adjourn.