of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. All right, we have about almost a full room. Welcome everyone. Right, we'll go ahead and move to agenda approval. Are there any changes to the agenda? No changes to the agenda. Can I get a motion? So moved. Second. So moved by Schmidt, second by Hennon to approve the agenda as presented. All in favor, please say I. I. I. Those opposed. Motion passes. Please check uh some future events. Uh please check the district website for a complete list of monthly events. Friday, April 18, 2025, no school for students. Staff prep uh staff professional workday. Tuesday, May 13, 2025, regular school board meeting at 7 PM with communications to the board and administration at 6:45. Moving on to consent agenda. Can I get a motion? So moved by Forsber, second by Mlullen to approve the following items of the consent agenda. Minutes of the March 4th, 2025 regular meeting and the March 25th, 2025 work session. bills paid for February 2025 in the f in the following amount of 5,162,674 and personnel items. All in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed. Motion passes. Moving on to discussion, reports, and information items. Uh, communications to communications and connections. Complete a technical upgrade of the website to include new functionality and enhance the user experience overall. District operational plan project update upgrade SOP schools website. Miss Erica Title. Hello. Good evening. Um, happy to be here tonight to give you a brief update on our um, district operational plan project this year around upgrading all of the websites associated with Spring Lake Park Schools. Um, my piece of trivia tonight is that um I' I've asked groups as we've been going through, how many websites do you think we have? Well, we have 13 websites and they're all going to be upgraded um here in the month of um April. Um so, this project um I want to before I give you a little update, just want to bring you along a little bit on why this ended up on the district operational plan for this year. Um, the current website was launched in the fall of 2018, which is a lot of years in technology land. Um, and while the site continues to get pretty good marks for um, usability and design and content, we really want to upgrade that technical experience um, and just improve the experience for all of our users. Um, so you can see that we focused on a couple of areas with the project uh, across platforms, so mobile as well as all the websites on desktop. We want to enhance all of that. Um we organization of content, streamlining of content, um uh optimizing for um search, which we know has been a pain point. Um and also just creating that platform for communications and marketing going forward. So we have followed our 3D design process um throughout all of our work. Um the discover phase, which is um the last time we spoke to the board at a regular meeting was in October. um we were right in the middle of our um discovery work. Um so we did look in to our own um websites. We did a feedback survey um with staff and families last spring, way back last spring on the current experience. Then we did a really deep dive over the summer into our own data around search traffic time spent just so we could have a really intentional approach um in our planning. Um and then we did um with our final site who is our partner in this work um we did an audit of the current site and they helped us identify some opportunities and gaps. Then we did a look out at best practice and again Final Site hooked us up with some experts. We looked at a lot of different trends um and really kind of focused in on our priorities. And then we looked around. We looked at more than 150 websites um locally, nationally, internationally. We identified things that we wanted to um include in our own designs that were inspiring to us. Um and we also saw a lot of really not very good websites um in the process. Um so it really helped us identify our must haves and the things we wanted to avoid. Um and then we also looked at districts doing similar work to us um just to see if we could get some inspiration around that. So our top takeaways were we were lucky to be working from a position of strength. Um, we knew we wanted to maximize that technology experience. Um, we knew we had opportunities to clean up some noise in the navigation and content. Um, and we really wanted to address search. So, for design, we I'm going to give you an update in three areas. First of all, the site maps, right? That's how the site is organized. Um we did create a comprehensive site map for our current site and we could see then how it had grown and maybe gotten a little out of control. Um and then we created site maps for all 13 um areas. Um and then we tested sort of the primary district site using a card sort exercise. So we had staff, families, we had some students participate um to help us make sure that we were organizing the content in ways that were most logical to users. That was really informative. Um then we worked on visual design. Um so really the look and feel of the site. Um we documented those musthaves in discovery and then we pulled those in. So we wanted to make sure we didn't forget those things that we had um found really useful. Um and then we worked through a design process and we worked with um a website designer um on three different prototypes and from there we um landed um with the new uh upgrade. Um and then we also updated the style guide. So um colors, fonts, things like that. And then finally content. So what the site communicates. We used a data driven approach for this. Looking at what pages were never visited or were just buried so far you didn't even know they were there. Um we touched every single page multiple times at this point. And uh we removed many and streamlined content in a a lot of different areas. And we did that working in partnership with um content owners in the organization and departments. So we're in the steps to delivery. We're almost there to the finish line. It's been a long process. Um so between October and April, um a lot of the things I just talked about, we finalized those things. And just in the last few weeks, um we've um still been applying style to the new pages. We've collected a lot of different visual assets. I'm going to give you a sneak peek in a minute. Um, we've developed a new content strategy for all of our homepages. Um, and we're in the final stages of putting all those pieces together. Um, we've had a robust quality assurance process working with final site as well as our own teams and reviewing every pages um, and making sure links are going to work and things like that. This week um, is exciting because we're doing our pre-launch communication. Um, so we're letting staff and families know that this is coming. So there's no turning back. we're going to do it um in April. Um and then we've we've hosted some preview sessions especially with those folks who edit content on the websites um just so that they have a chance to see it before it goes live and um get everyone a little excited. So our launch day is April 17th, so a week from Thursday. Um we don't have students on the f that Friday, so it's a long weekend for us. So that gives us an opportunity to address anything that might come up during the launch. Um, I do want to highlight a few things related to that transition. Um, we expect it will go pretty fast, but we also know it could take some time. It all depends. So, um, just patience that day. Um, knowing that content may be not accessible for a little bit as we're changing all the the DNS and all the back end. Um, so some things could be frustrating. Um, and part of this is we are moving all of our um, school sites to subdomains. So that means all the URLs are going to break. So if you have anything bookmarked, um you'll you'll know that you'll want to update those. Um the content is should still be there. Um but you'll want to update any bookmarks you have. Um and know that that will be a problem. Um and then also just search is going to take a little bit of time to catch up with us. Um we'll we'll submit our site maps to Google. We'll get those robots crawling out there um so that um we're findable as quickly as possible. But we anticipate that those are some experiences people might have. And then post launch, we're going to work on um optimizing on the back end for search engines so we get more findable. Um we'll fix any broken links and missing content. We don't anticipate a lot of that. We've really done a a lot of testing. Um but know that we'll we'll be looking at that. And then we did save some content areas for post launch and that includes our staff internet. Um, so we'll be addressing that in the weeks and months to come. So what you'll see in experience, I'm not going to give you a live demo tonight, but I just want to highlight a handful of things that I think will be enhancements to the experience and are things that we heard about. Um, so few screenshots. Um, so we've really streamlined the na menu and navigation. Um, you know, people have struggled with the flyyou menus that we have today. We've really cleaned that up. So it should be easy to navigate and um the whole design is very clean. The second thing I want to highlight is um every page will have a find it fast button in the top right. Um that's your the search um and it'll have a traditional search bar but as well you'll see those icons and um pulling out those four those are our top pages that everyone goes to and we know that. So, we're trying to make that really easy to find um on any page you are on whatever site you're on. And then popular pages, again, those are things we control because we can see on the back end where people are going and what they're searching for. So, we'll keep an eye on that and we'll update those popular pages. So, I really want people to know that this will be a tool for them going forward. And then I just want to highlight um the visuals of the site. Um there's just beautiful photography. Um and it's none of this is stock imagery. It's all from our schools, our experience. We have the most photogenic staff and students. So um we're celebrating that and making sure that um all of our sites are personalized to that school's experience or that program's experience. And then finally, because it was a big topic in the spring survey, um we did get a lot of feedback and some pain points and friction with our athletics and activities site that it's hard to navigate. I don't know where to go. I get confused between middle school and high school. Um so we're going to try to ease some of that and we've worked really hard um to try to make that experience a little clearer for people. Um, so I just want to highlight that that is coming with the launch on the 17th. And I will say I shout out to Will Wackman who took that beautiful photograph of Panther Stadium. So there's more to come. That's just a little preview. So stay tuned. And on April 17th, if you have a chance, you'll be able to click through and take a look at everything. Um, and of course, if you see something a miss, um, the easiest and most memorable way to let us know is communications district16.org. Um, we will be addressing everything as soon as possible. Um, and we're really excited. And then I just want to end with a shout out to Jessica Johnson who is expertly project managed all of us and getting this done. um she is has just become a platform guru for us and has done just made sure all of the tees are crossed and eyes are dotted. And then McKenzie um Finley who takes all of our photographs and does graphic design social media for the district. She um uh it's really fun to see the photography bring our experience to life. And I'll take any questions. Questions? Sure. Yeah. Not really a question, more of a comment. I, as a parent, am so excited about this because it's going to be a lot easier. I mean, I'm on the tail end of this whole thing, but still, I am really excited and it's beautiful. What we got to preview was amazing. So, good job. Thanks. Um, yes, we got to preview it. It's beautiful. Thank you for all of your work. I wanted to say I think my favorite thing as well is that the pictures are all specific to the schools. I think that makes it's just really unique and that makes me super happy. My my one question is for anybody who might be watching you mentioned emailing you if you see anything or have any um comments but not everybody jotss down emails. I did notice in your popular pages there was a contact us. Absolutely. So if people were to click that they can send an email or there's a form that pops up or how what happens then? It's all those things. Um on the contact us uh page there's a button where you can just submit your question or comment right there. Okay. Otherwise, you can reach us directly through that as well. Awesome. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you for all your work. Sam, did you Oh, okay. I saw your mic on, so I just Oh, okay. I I think it looks amazing. Um I was I was part of the board when we did the last update to the website. So, it's kind of cool to see it go through this evolution. Two questions. um content authors, is anything changing for them for adding for the new website? Um a few things are changing, but um we're staying with the same provider. So the back end really looks very similar. It's just the design enhancements we've made. So um we've um yesterday and Thursday we have preview sessions with all the content authors. Um but we are planning on doing a mini refresher training for them. Um and then we also have a website review process for all those fols. so that we prompt them to review p their pages they own every six months or whatever time frame makes sense for that content. Um so we we we will establish that after the launch as well because we don't want anything to get old or stale. So and last question um is it mobile adaptable? It is. Yes. Okay. Yep. Awesome. That was um for every website we did um a desktop design as well as mobile. Oh okay. Yep. Great. Yeah. That would be my one concern. Yeah, it's a little different. And I would actually say that the design is pretty mobile first strategy because we know most people are accessing the sites on mobile. So staff and friends, if you're testing it out, use both. Yes, absolutely. We're prepared for that. Well, again, you're you're you and your team, phenomenal job on this for what we saw. Again, what um Melody shared. Yeah, it it looks amazing. I'm really excited to to see it roll out. We're excited too. And um send us some good vibes on the 17th. Absolutely. Thanks, Erica. Moving to engaged, enthusiastic learners align work of adults to continuously improve personalized instruction and responsiveness to meet our students unique and varied needs. Uh summer programming overview. Dr. Hope Run. Good evening everyone. As you know, summers in Spring Lake Park schools are always happening and this coming summer is no exception. So, tonight we just want to provide a bit of a sneak peek as to what will be happening this summer. And while I am the one presenting the information tonight, I want to be sure to give a shout out to Colleen Peterson, our executive director of community education and extended day programs, as well as our entire community education team for leading the design and implementation of what you are about to see. So, we will get started with uh summer counts, which is our K kindergarten through grade 8 summer school program. This is a four-week program that starts on July 7th. Students are invited to attend summer counts if they have not yet met their academic goals during the nine-month school year. So, we want to continue the benefit of them continuing their learning and giving additional time over the summer to fill any gaps they may have in their learning. All in a way that helps them explore their current and future sparks. Invitations for summer counts will be going out this week. So, families uh who are watching or who may watch this later can watch for those invitations and start the registration process. Last year we had about 450 of our kindergarten through grade 8 students participate. This summer we have two host sites for summer counts and that is Park Terrace and Westwood. We wanted to be sure we chose sites that were not impacted by any summer facilities projects happening. And we also wanted to align our summer counts programming with our free summer meals programming sites. And more on summer meals coming up in just a little bit. Um, again, our K8 summer counts program begins the week of July 7th, runs for four weeks, Mondays through Thursdays. Okay. We also have summer programming for our high school students, which is focused on continuing their learning specific to any of the academic competencies andor credits they have not yet met. Last summer, again, just for reference, we had about 300 students participate in this. At the high school, it starts, this programming starts right away, um, the week of June 7th. So, as soon as the school year closes, the learning keeps going the very next week. Um, we are expecting this to be at the high school and depending a little bit on the air handling project. Did I get that right, Amy? Thank you. At the high school, which is also happening this summer, we might end up moving this to Westwood after the July 4th break, but that remains to be seen at this point. And our high school students and families will hear more about this programming coming up in May. All right, moving on to child care. Uh, registration for our summer child care programming opened on March 1st and we are actually nearing enrollment capacity for both our learning ventures child care or our school age child care and discovery days for some of our younger students. Uh, our Spring Lake Park Schools communityed youth programs and services are all about igniting sparks with our students. And this summer, our learning ventures students and staff will have a chance to explore and ignite new sparks. You can see the themes for learning uh the learning ventures programming this summer on the screen from exploring nature to imaginative storytelling to STEM adventures, arts discovery, and more. In addition to these themes, throughout the summer, uh, students will also be able to challenge their minds and bodies to grow stronger with academic enrichment, outdoor games, uh, on occasion swimming at the high school pool, even though we're housed at Westwood this year, and walking trips and field trips to learn more about the opportunities in the broader Minneapolis and St. Paul area. While our Discovery Days programming will remain at the district service center, I guess I gave a spoiler alert. Our learning ventures programming will be happening in Westwood this summer. This gives this the students and staff in learning ventures new school spaces to explore, new parks within walking distance, which is really fun and just new opportunities overall. Uh summer child care programming will end uh the week of August 18th with what they are having a celebration showcase and a carnival. So, I will be excited to check that out and see what our kids did in Learning Ventures this summer. Okay. In addition to summer school and summer child care, we also have about 50 enrichment programs that we're offering throughout the summer. Our athletic camps and clinics are made possible through a great partnership with our head coaches and high school sports teams, and these are wildly popular. Last summer, we had about a thousand students participate in our athletic camps and clinics. The camps expose our youth to a wide variety of activities and sports and provide a chance for our kids to work, our younger kids to work side by side with older students and our high school coaching teams. It is completely a win-win. It gives our younger students exposure to the many sports and activities we offer in Spring Lake Park. And it also helps our high school athletes get some essential conditioning and practice in concurrently, right, as they're working with the younger kids. And beyond that, I think it's really cool because it provides a way for our high school students to even explore future careers that may involve working with younger kids. This will give them a chance to see if that's something they might be interested in. On top of our summer athletic camps and clinics, we also offer enrichment and spark classes and camps. These are a great option for families who don't need full-time child care, but are looking for some unique opportunities and some peer interactions for their kids over the summer. These offerings span all sorts of interest areas, including providing opportunities for some of our younger students to explore actually some of our career and college pathways programming in a low-key way all the way down to kinder. Okay. So, in the just as examples in the area of technology, engineering, and design, our kindergarten through grade four students can be a junior zoo builder. They can explore um some engineering concepts and skills as they're learning about the animals that way. Our fourth through eighth graders can build their own robot using 3D printing, explore woodworking, or explore video game coding. Okay. When we think about our health and human services pathway, we have this summer emergency outfitter classes that align really well with that. Students ages 7 through 10 can um take a class uh that prepares them for staying safe both at and away from home. And students ages 10 to 13 can learn the essentials of caring for young children in a babysitting 101 class, which taps some of our early OEC opportunities and our early teachered opportunities. Um, in the area of business and entrepreneurship, the kids in the babysitting 101 class also get a little taste of managing a babysitting business. So, that's part of that class as well. Students in grades two through six can enroll in a Shark Tank junior camp. So, our high schools high schoolers better watch out so the elementary Shark Tank projects don't, you know, show them up maybe at the end of the summer. It'll be exciting to see that. I could also go on and on about the opportunities in the arts. For example, Rock and Roll Band Camp, which I might join. Flip Art with Young Rembrands. There's just more and more, but for the sake of time, I should probably not go through the entire listing with you. Gives you a taste. Okay, I mentioned this earlier. We have a free summer meal program. It's happened for multiple years, and it allows us to pro provide free summer meals for students ages 1 through 18. This includes both breakfast and lunch. Uh Westwood Intermediate and Middle, you'll see there will have meals available starting the week after school is out going all the way through August 21st. Park Terrace will be an additional site for free meals for the majority of the month of July. Well, I don't have the exact times of breakfast and lunch quite yet. If it's 8 to 9 or 8:30 to 9, whatever that might be, make sure you watch our website and school newsletters as we get closer to the end of the school year for additional information and details about our summer meals program. As you may have noticed before I move on, Westwood will be busy this summer with K8 summer count summer school, extended school year programming, learning ventures, child care, and enrichment and spark camps. What I love about that is that it gives our K4 students some experience and familiarity with Westwood as they someday move there for grades five through eight. So, I'm excited about that. Okay. Finally, we will host Kinder Camp again toward the end of the summer, August 19th, 20th, and 21st at each of our K4 elementary schools. Kinder Camp is a free immersive kindergarten experience for all of our students who will start kindergarten in the fall of 2025. Kinder Camp is held in the morning on those th on those three days. And students have a chance to get familiar with their school, their classrooms, their staff, and get a jump start on learning some of those career and life skills that set them up for a great start to their SLP experience. Registration is open. Want to make sure everyone knows that it's open for kinder camp. And um I get the benefit of hearing from parents quite a bit and we consistently have our kindergarten parents tell us how incredibly helpful kinder camp was. Not only for their child, which it certainly is, but especially if they're sending their oldest, it's also extraordinarily helpful for them because it gives them a little bit of a dry run in sending their child to school for just those shorter periods of time before we kick off the school year. So, I wanted to make sure our families knew that that's from the mouths of other parents of kindergarten students that they would highly recommend it. And that's it. It wraps up our sneak peek at summer programming. Again, kudos to Colleen and her team for spearheading the design of all this and for moving into leading implementation. Any questions or comments? Any questions from the board? Mine's a comment. Um, all of those classes sound amazing. I know my kids would have definitely wanted to join the um how to build a zoo class, but I just want to express my gratitude to all of the the students, the older students and staff who show up and make all of that possible because I know that's a hu huge undertaking for everybody. I'm sure many in this room are part of it. So, just wonderful opportunities for kids in our district and I'm really grateful. Other comments? I have a question. So, for the summer lunch program and Hope I don't know if you know the answer to this, so no pressure. No problem. Um I know that's a lifeline for a lot of families, but I'm curious. Do we have um a set of like volume that we expect in any given year or how many meals or Here she comes. Amy's got sorry, excuse me. I don't have an exact count. What we have typically found though is it is really our kind of discovery days and learning ventures kids that eat within the community schools. We there's usually a handful of families that show up each day. So, thank you. Amy, don't go don't go too far. One more question. Is busing provided for the summer programs? Yes, it is. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Other questions or comments? I'll just say wow and thank you. That's a lot. Yeah, I I'd second what Marilyn says. I'm I'm just every year I'm blown away by the number of programs and opportunities we offer students and to know that we served a thousand students um last year just I mean that's that's fantastic that we have that amount of interest in the community and what a great way to get the community involved too. So, um, echoing what Amy said, kudos. Thank you to those involved. Uh, some of you are here in the room. Um, because it is a lot. It's a big effort, uh, big undertaking, but we see the benefits of it when the students go through SLP and and we see them advancing through the different grades. We see how these programs have helped them. So, thank you. Yeah. So moving to effective operations, improve our effective management of human, financial, and physical resources monthly financial report for February 2025. Miss Amy Schultz. All right. Before we dive into that, I'll just give the board a quick update. Westwood is going to be a lot busier than even what hope indicated through all of our summer programming. Um, in addition to having almost every classroom getting new furniture in the building, it's also getting solar panels on the roof as well as some potential outside kind of facilities work as well. So, it's going to be a very busy building this summer. So, any opportunity to build a program around that for the K through 12 for the solar solar panel installation standpoint? I don't know that we want a lot of kids as well. So, well, you know, I thought I'd throw that out there as an opportunity. As a part of the solar program though there is an education component that will be taught in our schools along with that. So um all right so with that we will do our monthly financial report and as mentioned this is for February of 2025. Our first report is our cash basis beginning and ending cash as well as the cash receipts and dispersements for the month by fund. So as you can see we're really seeing right around that 63 million for this month. On the receipt side, it's a little over seven million of the aid that's shown was state aids. Um, another few hundred thousand in federal programs that relates to meals. Um, and then in addition to that, a lot of what's remaining is really February is a big month for our registrations for high school sports. So about another 66,000 for that, another 100,000 for interest. So that makes up a lot of the revenue that we saw throughout February. On the dispersement side, this is really just a typical month. No really large payments went out for anything that's not just a normal part of our operating budget. Our second report shows our receipts for the month of February as well as year to date, our budget for the current year, and then our year-to- date as a percentage of that budget and then compared to the previous two years at the same time. Um, so as you can see, it's when you look at the bottom line for the general fund, it's relatively close to where we've been the past few years. Um, it's probably a little, you know, it's kind of right in between the two. Really, it gets really hard compared these last few years with COVID in the timing of all the federal relief grants that came in to really do a super close year to year. Um, at this point, we did expect it to come in pretty close for the general fund just based on February is when we did our budget revisions last year. So now we've kind of cut up with revisions at this time. So that does make sense that we're right in line. And we've mentioned in the past between food service and community ed, those have been a little funky in the past couple of years. And the reason they were higher in those years was some of those federal grants that came in where they upfronted the money and then it was spent as we went. So with that, our debt funds are kind of right in line. On the expense side, this is that same report. Um, again, you can see that we're maybe a little bit behind in our spending in the general fund in total and that was completely expected. So, we've mentioned this at several of our meetings. You know, we really look at that compensation piece and then with that we're kind of in line. All of those other categories are really up to departments and how they have allocated their resources as well as what is spent yearto date within those. Um, and we knew that within our capital projects and our supplies that those would be a little bit different right now based on the $7 million we have coming up in just the furniture project alone. So, those are things that, you know, when we looked at our cash report earlier and we show we have $48 million in cash, we already know that we're going to have eight million alone um in just summer payout checks coming up. We know that we have seven million in furniture, another million or two in um facilities projects. So, as we watch that cash balance come back down over the summer, that is common. But that furniture project is really what's driving us looking like we're um behind on expenses at this point in the year. And so, that will catch up by the end of the school year. So, that is our report for the month of February if there are any questions. Any questions? All right. Thank you. Thank you, Amy. Moving on to superintendent report. So, there's a lot of cool things happening happening across the district that it would be fun to uh share with you. So, here's pulled up. First off, we have some elementary uh kids who got to dig into the National School Breakfast Week with an assortment of food options. Um kind of start their day off strong. So, Park Terrace, kindergartens, kindergarteners, uh, kicked off with some barnyard artwork and old McDonald singing skills. Each one of these pictures, I'll pause for a moment so you get a chance to check them out. Okay. Center fourth graders are producing Centerview News short video uh, short video each day highlighting some fun topics at the school. So, the old trip season was the first thing they they hit on. So, they're doing a great job with that. It's kind of fun to see. Woodrest kindergarters are traveling across different Spanish-sp speakaking countries each week. And our North Point North Point third graders recently had a visit from a NASA outer space ambassador. This was a pretty fun experience. Lighthouse students made a visit up togo nature center learn about all things maple syrup. So had to make some maple syrup during the day. I'm not sure what he's doing with that tree. This is a lighthouse kid. So sure there's a purpose. So um students and so we have some Westwood staff here tonight. So they're well aware of their focus on kindness this year. So, there's a feature online um that people can check out to learn more about what they're doing to build community. And we had some Westwood seventh graders who pitched this was uh designed some of our teachers did over there. They pitched the next great American food to potential investors. So, there were parents and teachers who were the investors. It brought it was an interdisiplinary unit brought together math, science, social studies, and English. They brought that to life for um these future entrepreneurs. Um so, the winner the student engagement. So, it was like it was the kids were highly engaged through this and it was uh it really went well. So, I really appreciate the work that the staff did putting this together. Another group of uh Westwood intermediate students uh had the opportunity to represent uh Spring Lake Park Schools at the state honor choir. And once again, some Westwood uh middle school students who represented Spring Lake Park Schools at the University of Minnesota DUTH um honor band festival. So both choir and engineering essential students tested balsa wood bridges they made to see how much force the bridges could withstand. Our math team had a great year this year. I had to let you a message about this a couple weeks ago, but they ended up with an 11th place team finish out of 160 teams statewide. So when you see 11th, you have to put that into context. That's out of 160 teams. Most impressive, we had the individual all-around state champion in Sam Premer. So um that was pretty cool. So, I wasn't at it this year, but last year I went and it blows me away to watch these kids, especially the one part they put 10 students who scored the highest on the first in the morning test. They bring those 10 kids up and then they just put up questions on the board and they get like it starts out I think they get two minutes and then it gets shorter and shorter and you could give me all day and I couldn't answer any of those questions and it's amazing to watch these kids. was awesome. So, it's it's fun. Our Athena Award winner, Vanna Finnegan. Congrats to her. April 18th, no school for students. Just a reminder on that. Um, high school, Hello Dolly, will be uh April 25th through May 4th. Encourage people to get out there. They do an amazing job. Live on 65 welcomes Jim Witter. So, encourage people to get there. Wednesday, May 12th. And then I also just want to provide a brief update around what's happening in St. Paul with the legislature. So just brief um thing which there's still not a lot happening, but what we did get to the point is we do have a governor budget target, a senate budget target, and a house budget target, which um is at least progress. The governor proposes $240 million in education cuts in the 2627 bianium and 445 million in cuts in the 2829 bianium. The senate holds education funding flat in 2627 but they cut funding by 687 million in the 2829 bianium. The one that I like the best is the house target. They provide $40 million in directed funding towards the readact in the 26 27 benium and then holds funding flat in the 28 29 benium. The one thing that's not built into that they still do have last session they finally put in the inflationary increase in our um our uh what am I trying to find per pupil funding formula. So each um so we still have that's built in. So um so we do have that but so they are working on those targets. Um while the senate and house do not have cuts in the upcoming bienium the governor does and further as a result of some of the decisions made in the last legislative session including some unfunded mandates that were um having to manage now as well as some unintended implications or what I would say is um implications that were maybe ignored in St. Paul as we shared with them that these things will happen and will increase our costs. many districts including ours are are facing losses in revenue which aren't reflected in those budget targets. Um so we are planning for a loss significant loss in compensatory revenue um as a result of connected to the uh free lunch program. So obviously families don't have to fill out freedom loose lunch forms. We have fewer kids now. we're not hit as hard because um Amy Schultz and other staff did a great job of getting and continually encouraging families to fill out those forms. So that helped a lot, but it still has an impact. So as I shared in a recent message that went out to the community, I think it was just last week, neighboring districts and the majority of districts across the metro area are facing significant budget cuts and reductions in staff. Thankfully, we're not in that position. I have colleagues who just in the past couple of weeks are having very different conversations than we are tonight um with their school boards and community. So through enrollment growth and really some sound proactive planning, we've been able to avoid that and we're able to maintain effective programming into the near future. However, our enrollment um has flattened out because we simply have fewer kids, young kids in the community. This is something that we're seeing across the state. So um and with uncertain funding in the future from St. Paul, we we are really reaching a tipping point as I shared with the community where we need to keep a close eye on what is happening in St. Paul and also be sure that the decisions we make today are really position us for the future and looking at how we manage the resources we have and what additional resources we may need in the future. So just that really uplifting message that I get to share. I probably should have started with that and then shared the pictures of kids but thanks just brief brief update for what's happening in St. Now you get get some nice updates from our students. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Not yet. We will though. All right. Yeah. After the action item, I guess action items. Yeah. So moving to action items. Uh can I get a motion for staff appreciation week? So moved. Also moved by Vala, second by Henan to adopt the following resolution. Whereas the education of youth is essential to the future of our community, state, country, and world. And whereas educators fill many roles as listeners, explorers, role models, motivators, and mentors. And whereas the outstanding staff of Spring Lake Park Schools demonstrate their commitment daily and use their diverse talents to personalize learning and help each student develop and achieve their dreams in preparation for life beyond high school. And whereas educators continuously adapt to numerous external challenges while caring for each student and creating meaningful learning opportunities as they are manage as they also manage the realities of their own lives. And whereas educators continue to influence us long after our school days are only memories. Therefore, be it resolved the school board of Spring Lake Park Schools extend its thanks and appreciation to all staff for making this a world-class learning community of choice and hereby declares May 5th through the 9th of 2025 as staff appreciation week in Spring Lake Park schools. Any discussion? Great. Yeah, I I this is our staff here. Absolutely. Absolutely. This is one of my favorite uh one of many favorite events to attend. As my spouse would have said, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, and if I didn't mention it, thank you. Awesome. Other discussion? Uh, clerk, could you please call roll? Sure. Ms. Mlen? Yes. Mr. Bala? Yes. M. Schmidt? Yes. Miss Forber? Forsber? Yes. Miss Hennon, yes. Miss Kelly, yes. Mr. Easter, an absolute yes. On 70 vote, resolution passed. Thank you. Moving to acknowledgement of gifts. Can I get a motion? So moved by Schmidt, second by Forsber to approve the following resolution. Whereas schoolboard policy 706 establishes guidelines for the acceptance of gifts to the district and whereas Minnesota statute 465.03 03 states that a school board may accept a gift of real or personal property by the adoption of a resolution approved by twothirds of its members. Therefore, be it resolved that the school board of Spring Lake Park Schools accepts with appreciation the gifts as shown. Any discussion? Yes, absolut always always. Thank you. And as I periodically want to uh remind anybody that may be watching and staff here tonight, while we're very appreciative of these gifts, it's um this never reflects all of the gifts that come to the district, but the fact is the vast majority of those come indirectly to various booster organizations, PTO's, etc., rather than directly to the school district. So, Panther Foundation, others like that. So, people are wondering, man, that's not a ton on there. Well, there's a ton that comes, but indirectly to support programming. Thank you. Clerk, would you please call? Yes. Mr. Bala? Yes. Miss Skellyy? Yes. Mrs. Forsber? Yes. Miss McClen? Yes. Miss Schmidt? Yes. Miss Henman? Yes. And Mr. Easter? Yes. The resolution passes on a 70 vote. Thank you. Moving to board forum and reports. We'll start with our student representatives. How's it going? My finger. Yeah, it's good. Um, I'll just start with today. We had the ACT as juniors. Um, there was some technical difficulties to start with, but it eventually all got figured out and we were out of there before school would have ended. So, worth [Laughter] it. Um, as the superintendent mentioned, our math team hosted the state meet recently and did very, very well. and it's just such a good team. And I believe Sam is a junior, so he still has a whole another year. Um, and then also this past week, the new Panther mentors were announced and we had our kind of intro meeting during set and there was so much excitement about the program and it's kind of getting a revamp. So, it's really exciting to see that happening. And then for student council, our blood drive happened recently as well, and we had pretty good participation. Um, didn't quite get to the height that our previous blood drive did, but still a lot of blood given, and I think it was like 50 lives that we saved in the end through the blood donations. So, yeah. And the blood drive, it wasn't for a lack of trying. And a lot of people did end up getting turned away as they were there due to either vitals, caffeine intake, or just their height to weight ratio. So, we did have a lot of people try. It just didn't get to the point that we wanted it to be. It's definitely mine. So, spring sports have started. We have lacrosse, boys volleyball, track, softball, baseball, boys tennis, all starting. I was actually just at a boys tennis match where we won four to three against St. Anthony. Um, boys volleyball won yesterday against Park Center. Yeah. And so did the boys tennis team. So, we're we're starting off our spring sports on a good note. Um, so you can be sure to know that our parking lots are full from before school begins till way after of students just wanting to get participation in sports and activities. Um, as spring has started, AP test season is now in effect and that will start beginning of May. Um, I don't want to bring up the nervousness that comes with AP test, but just the opportunities that are available to students through taking AP classes and being able to get those college credits for very cheap before going to before even leaving high school. And you can start taking them from as soon as you start freshman year. Um, for a student council update, we have started talking about our spring event, and I can't confirm any plans as of right now, but we h we have had a lot of ideas from a simple movie night to a full-on carnival with carnival rides out in our parking lot. We're going to try to tamper down a little bit from there because I don't know if we have the funding or space or security for that, but you can be sure to know it's going to be a fun event. And as it is the third try, school is coming to an end. Graduation is coming for seniors. So, it's getting to an exciting point. And SLP families and community members can check out what seniors are planning to do next year, whether it be college or taking a gap year or going straight into the workforce. We have an Instagram account for that. So, you can just check and see what our seniors are going to get up to next year after they leave. And yeah, so so much has happened in the past year and so much has yet to happen in these next two months. So we're excited. Awesome. Oh, man. It's always busy. I I I say this and I and I and I don't say it lightly, but it it's amazing. Every time I drive by the high school, there's always Oh, yeah. something going on. Yeah. So, that's just again sign of a strong community. They appreciate the facilities and and uh things we offer. So, yeah, that's great. All right, board update. Other board members. I I just have a quick one. I'm excited that there is girls flag football uh kicking off as a new club. And so part of the NFL's agenda to get like 50,000 girls engaged nationwide. And so we are apparently Minnesota is a little bit of a grassroots space. And so we are going to have a little flag football league this year. Yeah. Cool. And I was just add along with that, what's nice is that we did receive a grant. So the NFL is paying for all of the equipment that comes along with that. So yeah, it's very cool. Flags, footballs, footballs, there's there's a number of things. So wow, let's look at that. Great. We keep it real. Uh, I just want to say my daughter is a sophomore and she's going to be a Panther mentor and I just how excited she was about it. The culture I mean she's like so happy that she's a Panther mentor. So, I just think that that's I mean just kudos to the culture building to make it that way. Other updates? Thanks. How about this side? I do. I attended the lighthouse meeting online this last month. End of the month, I guess. Beginning. I don't know where I'm at even. But anyway, it was really great. One thing that they stressed too is that parents can join at any time to that and they're always looking for more parents within the Lighthouse School to join. So they um they're they're mentioning that. And then also that you can join online. So, it isn't like you have to show up. You can join the meetings online. So, if parents are listening, go ahead and join those meetings. The other thing is they just had a field trip to Topgolf on the 6th of April here and they have one coming up to the Capitol on the 16th. So, that's kind of some fun stuff coming up. And then also, I cannot remember if it's two or four. I have it written down at home, I think. But they're offering uh two or four scholarships from Lighthouse for their students that are graduating that were either a past, they have to apply to it, but a past um Lighthouse student coming up here as a senior here and or graduating, you know, either one are graduating this year current or past. So that's kind of cool. I think that they're sponsoring some scholarships from their fundraising that they've done as a school through their PTO. So very cool, Marilyn. Well, I attended the live on 65 and it was very well attended and it was a very good show uh Westwood PTO. Um besides routine business, one of the parents is involved with Art Adventures which is sponsored by the Min Minneapolis Institute of Arts and she gave a mini program which was very interesting to see. She's going to the various schools and uh really a neat program and there was some discussion about new playground equipment. Uh 916 lots of routine business of course um at 916 anything above 50,000 must be approved by the board. And so we approved insurance policies and just like my homeowners went up a whole lot, so has insurance for school districts. And I'm sure we pay out a lot on that. Um, one of the policies approved was for cyber insurance. Um and the other interesting thing was the representative from Fidley told us that they are going to dis continue their in-house alternative learning and join Metro Heights. So that has been primarily Columbia Heights and Spring Lake Park, but now we will have a third entity in for Thank you. Awesome. Thanks, Marilyn. Any others? Um, I just have one update, but uh just to tie mention or tie on to the women's uh girls fight football there. I have two nieces that play professional football, women's football, one for Houston and one for Atlanta. So, there is opportunities out there if women want to play professional football. Yeah, I've gone to a couple of their games. It's quite interesting. Yeah. So, um, real quick, uh, couple weeks ago, um, Melody and I attended the, uh, SOP Lion Scholarship Foundation. Uh, so everything is on track. Looks like we'll be offering, uh, 20 plus scholarships, uh, this year. So, always exciting. They're one of the larger uh, scholarship uh, donors. So, we're excited that we'll be able to offer more scholarships this year. And it was also exciting to hear that uh all the scholarships from last year were received were accepted and used. So that's great. Yeah. Also a reminder to watch the MSBA website and meetings as well as AMSD. Um there's going to be a break because the legislature is going on vacation after this Friday for two weeks. So, it's still a good time to contact legislators, but there's not going to be action at the capital. [Laughter] Okay. All right. Any any other updates? All right. Let's move to adjournment. Can I get a motion? Wow. So moved by Skellyy, second by Schmidt to adjourn the meeting at 7:55. All in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed? Motion passes. Meeting is adjourned. Thanks everyone.