I'm going to call to order the Columbia Heights Public Schools Independent School District uh 13 um uh school board meeting for October 28th, 2025. Um for our first item here, if we could um all rise for the uh pledge of allegiance if available. 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. >> Thank you. Uh Pway, can you um call uh the roll call, please? >> Absolutely. Uh HL here. Pway here. Uh Palmer >> here. >> Madas >> here. Granland Anoir RDE Superintendent Stimbe >> here. Thank you. Uh next up is our mission statement. Um and uh we are creating worlds of opportunity for each and every learner learner. All belong, all succeed. And our core values are community, excellence, collaboration, integrity, respect, courage and innovation. Uh, and we are delighted this evening to actually have a Highlander highlight. Um, so I would like to welcome uh Christian up uh to uh give us uh a um an update um from the Heights Herald uh the Heights News Network and the Minnesota State Journalism Awards for 2025. >> Welcome. >> Thank you. >> Can you give us >> I'm sorry. You can >> Yeah, go right ahead. Introduce yourself. >> Uh hello. My name is Christian Pñena and I am the sports editor for the Heights Herald. I've been in the business for two years and I'm at currently a sophomore. Um, so basically, uh, at the Minnesota State Journalism Awards, people are recognized for their, you know, dedication and, you know, how they actually presents news in a way that not only brings out the truth but also, uh, pushes student voices out there. And you know, we are glad to say that uh the Highlander News Network has gotten all state gold in the 2025 uh Minnesota State Journalism Award conferences and also the Teen Voice podcast uh which is part of the Heights Herald has gotten all state gold. But there is also the Heights Herald website itself getting all state bronze. The newspaper editorial cartoon got second place and photojournalism illustration got first place in this a in this award ceremony. >> Wow. Congratulations. That is just amazing. I'm so proud of all the hard work. >> I every year um the the dedication and the professionalism from uh from our our our news associations over at the high school and it's it's it's tr truly it's truly inspiring. So I I'm sorry I I didn't mean to just dump but I'm always so excited. Would you would you like to say >> I just have a question. How many schools participated? Do you know? I'm pretty sure there's a lot of schools, but I'd say somewhere around I think it's all the schools in the Minneapolis or or Minnesota area. Not not Minnesota, but like in the district area that actually does this. And it's actually really cool cuz you see a lot of faces. So, I know St. Paul Summit was one of them. Uh we had I don't think Fidley showed up, but [laughter] >> well, maybe they didn't have a award. I think that's what it is. Uh but yeah, so a lot of schools come I'd say somewhere around 10 to to 12, but I'm not sure. >> Well, congratulations. This is amazing. >> Anybody else have any Okay, just >> thanks for being here to share the great work of yourself and all of your fellow students and congratulations. >> Of course. Yeah. Um, and I maybe I'll just help you with uh promotion for your next issue because it's my understanding that you're working on layout now for your next issue. >> Uh, yeah. So, we had layout yesterday and layouts again tomorrow. So, >> great. >> We are currently working on it. I'm just trying to get pictures for sports right now for sports wrap-up, but we all have to pull apart. So, >> awesome. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Well, thank you very much. Um, now we would actually love to get a picture and show off some of these awards and stuff. So, we're going to meet over here by the flag and all the board members can also join. We get to hold one, which is very exciting. >> All the awards. >> Yes, we do. Yeah. I'll take you up here. So efficient. >> There we go. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you. And you're definitely welcome to stay for the entire board meeting, but if you walk out, we don't mind at all. Or we're Yeah. So, just letting you know. Okay. Um, next up is the agenda approval, adjustments, and announcements. Um, can I get a motion to approve the agenda? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Julie. And second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Jessica. All right. Uh, any discussion? Think there is any discussion for this, but will proceed to vote. All in favor, please say I. I. I. >> Opposed. abstain. Okay, motion carries. Uh, next up is our announcements. Um, October 31st, there will be no school this year. Uh, November 10th also, there will be no school. Uh, the 11th um at 4:45 will be a subcommittee on policy and the superintendent conference room. Also on the 11th at 5:00 p.m. there'll be a sub subcommittee on community engagement here in the community room. On November 11th at 6 PM will be a regular schoolboard meeting here in the community room. And on November 18th at 5:30 there'll be a schoolboard work session here in the community room. Okay. Next up is communication to the board. Citizens and employee representatives um can uh come here and speak to the school board. Um at at this time any citizen uh may or employee may have briefly addressed the school board. The board will listen to the brief remarks, ask clarifying questions, and if desired, request that the administration followup. The board will not take action at this meeting on requests presented at this time, and time will be limited to three minutes. And now, we do have one uh individual that would like to speak to the board. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Um, so, uh, we just, um, had, um, an employee, um, union, uh, up, uh, representative to give us an update on, um, I guess, uh, some concerns, uh, regarding, uh, class sizes, um, uh, special ed or excuse me, uh, English learners, um, and, uh, several other different, uh, concerns, and we appreciate the update. Thank you. Okay. Uh, next up is the consent agenda which includes the personnel report, the treasures report from August of 2025. Um, minutes from uh, October 14th and uh, 21st. Can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Michelle. And second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Jessica. All right. Uh, any discussion, question? Okay. Um, all those in favor say I. I. >> I. Opposed? Abstain. Okay. Motion carries. Okay. Next up is discussion, reports, and information items. Uh so at this point, um uh members of the board um will report on board activities since the last um board meeting. Um so Michelle, would you like to start? >> Absolutely. Um just a couple short things. I attended last uh week's work session and I attended a trick or treat this past weekend and got to enjoy a lot of our our kiddos um enjoying candy and games at our table um with some high highland uh teachers which was a lot of fun and it wasn't that cold this year so it it was a lot of more fun than it usually is but that's all I have. Thanks. >> Thank you. Okay, Julie. >> Yeah. Um I attended the work session last week and the alumni dinner. >> Which was a lot of fun. Um the silent the the auction for pies and desserts was off the charts and so totally fun. Um enjoyed meeting some of our alum and just seeing the support for our schools is amazing. So, just wanted to mention that and and uh just say I'm really appreciate our alumni. >> Okay. And next, our birthday girl. Sorry. Oh, excuse Jessica. Happy [laughter] birthday, by the way. >> Thank you very much. Uh but in addition to it being my birthday, I've been involved in some other things around the district. Um I like all of you attended the schoolboard work session. Um, I was also able to attend uh just with my family the city spooktacular at Kiac Park. And I mentioned that because I heard uh at the city council meeting that they estimate that there were 850 people >> Wow. >> that came to that event. And so that was really great to see so many people um out in our community just right across from from our schools here. Um I also was able to attend Truck Treat and help out at the table. I want to thank ECF for donating the games. They were very popular. The fishing game, especially the magnetic fishing game, the kids couldn't get enough of it. My own toddler was there like camped out for most of the event trying to hook. She left. [laughter] >> Um, and then it's also conference season across the district and so there's been a lot of activity at our schools around conferences and at Columbia Academy. Um, in addition to conferences, they um had the book fair adjacent to that. And so I had the opportunity to volunteer at the book fair uh three different days and be able to talk to kiddos about like what kind of books they were into and what they like to read and talk to families at conferences about uh what sorts of uh reading they were doing together as a family. So that was really fun. Um we also held a bake sale at Columbia Academy to support uh growing the PTO there. So I helped out with that. Um I was also able to attend the alumni foundation dinner which was as previously mentioned a great event. Um and then I was also notified that I was um elected uh the alternate to delegate assembly in December for MSBA. Um and then I also attended the city council meeting uh yesterday evening uh in my role as the board liaison and gave them some updates about the district and all of the activities and um things we have going on. So that's my report. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. I I guess that's me now. Um I uh attended the work study session last week. Um the board meeting just prior to this. And excuse me, the the super the chair meeting just prior to this. >> I think that's pretty much it for me. And superintendent Stenbeck, you have a report for us as well. >> Thank you, Vice Chair Palmer. Um just very briefly because a lot of the events have already been mentioned. Um for the last two days, all of the administrators in the district have spent um in this room tr being trained on the new teacher development and evaluation system called 5D plus. Um this month we dug into the dimensions. There's you know it's 5D plus so it's five plus one. Anyway, we dug into the dimensions of purpose and assessment for student learning. Um, and what's really what I've found really impressive about the new tool is that it requires administrators to take a strengthsbased approach when observing and giving that feedback. Um, and I know it is, you know, anytime we're changing a system, it's a heavy lift and changes can be challenging, but I do really appreciate the thoughtfulness that went into the last two days of training. Um, lots of good discussions and learning. That's my report. Thank you. All right. So, now we are here next up with our um uh and information about our community survey and um that should be u uh director Henkkins and Don Lifto from uh Morris Leatherman or Morris Leatherman also. Is that a a company or >> Morris Leman [laughter] company? Yeah. >> Okay. >> Okay. Thank you, Vice Chair Palmer, members of the board, and Superintendent Stembeck. Give me a second to pull this up. Okay. Um, so this evening, um, uh, we have Don Lifto here with me. Um, we're going to talk about the community survey and the results, um, that just recently went out. And just want to give all the time to Don so he can go through the survey and talk about the results. So, just kind of turn it over to him >> right here. >> Well, thank you, Brian. It's great to be back here. I think this is my seventh survey I've done in Columbia Heights over the last 15 years or so. So, it's it's good to be back again. Um, I'm going to be running through a PowerPoint that will give you a a summary of the survey that was just completed and um hopefully uh it'll be clear and helpful, but please let me know if you want me to elaborate on something or respond to a question. Uh this particular survey uh had a random sample of 350 registered voters living within the boundaries of the school district. Uh the interviews were completed between October 2 and October 11. Um note that the federal shutdown started October 1. Uh so it was in in the middle of of that. Um there were 38 questions. The average time on the phone was 11 minutes. Uh we try to keep the time on the phone under 15 if if we're able to. And the margin of error is plus or minus 5.2%. Um now as I go through the slides and you see percentages uh if you see that 50% of the people thought the sky was blue uh if you add 5.2 to that and subtract 5.2 that is your margin of error. So roughly if you rounded it off uh 45 to 55 and what that means is that um the there's a 95% chance that the opinion of all registered voters are within that range. the interviews. Uh we're done with with demographic targets. And what that means is before we started uh the phone interviews, we looked to see how many women there were as compared to men, how many people lived in this ward versus that ward, how many were 18 to 24 versus over 65. And those demographic targets were were put in as controls. The reason that's done is we interviewed 350 people, but the demographic makeup of those 350 are basically a mirror image of all registered voters as it relates to those targets. In this particular survey, uh all of the targets were within 3% of actual. So if 55% of the registered voters were were women, then about 55% of the uh phone interviews were with women. Uh and the same with the other demographic targets, which you can see at the top of this particular slide. We did uh track cell phone use and home ownership, but they were not controls for the sample that were interviewed. The purpose of the survey was to focus on a potential increase in the district's operating levy and and the impact that that would have or not have on school programs and the related tax uh impacts associated with a potential increase. So early in the survey uh people heard the statement that you see on the screen right now. It's giving a little bit of historical information about uh your last operating levy uh and um how that uh revenue from that operating levy contributes to the uh overall $76 million budget uh for the district. And people are told that in order to fund needed programs and provide students with their significant needs, avoid budget cuts, that the district might ask for an increase in that operating levy in 2026. So it ends with the statement, based on what you know now, would you favor or oppose such a proposal? And here's what it looked like uh coming right out of the uh chute with these potential in this uh increase in the operating levy. Uh 71% uh support is higher than what we normally see uh at this point in a survey. Uh so that's a very solid uh place to begin. And you can see the opposition at at 20% and the no opinion at at nine. Participants were given statements about two potential decreases in funding that the uh school district might be facing based upon uh legislative uh actions in the next session. First one was compensatory revenue. Uh as you can see that provides about $9 million a year to the district. Talks about how that money is used. Uh new legisl legislation could result in Columbia Heights losing approximately 4 million of that revenue. And based on what you know now, would you support or oppose a tax increase to make up for that reduction? And you can see this is almost [laughter] identical to the initial slide with with 21% opposing, 70% supporting. The second one that was talked about in the survey was uh Minnesota Legislative Task Force related to special education. And in this case, uh Columbia Heights could lose up to 2.4 million per year in special education funding. Again, similar to the previous question, people were asked if you based on what you know now, uh would you support or oppose a tax increase to make up for this reduction >> here? You can see it bumped up uh a little bit stronger. So, uh introducing special education into the mix uh resulted in a more positive uh response. the opposition dropped about 3% and the no opinion also dropped a little bit. So both of those potential losses in revenue uh resonated well with the people we interviewed. Participants were asked to react to a series of statements uh about a potential increase in the operating levy. Uh and these were done in random order uh to minimize the possibility that if something was first on the list or last or in the middle that had that had an effect on how people responded for each of these statements. Please tell me whether the information would make you much more likely, somewhat more likely, somewhat less likely, or much less likely to uh support uh an increase in the operating levy. And here are the seven areas that were tested in this section. Remember that these were done in random order. Um, and the actual questions in most cases are longer than what you see on on the slide. As you look at the numbers, uh, starting at the top, the 88% is adding together those people who said, uh, that would make me much more likely and somewhat more likely. So, it's the two positive responses. the uh 7% that you see next to the 86 is adding together uh the percentage of people who said knowing that would make me somewhat less likely or much less likely. Uh so that those are the negative responses and then over on the right you're seeing uh the no difference. Uh all of these uh did very well. So as the survey was uh designed uh the administration uh identified areas uh that were meaningful to people uh and even the uh the one at the bottom you got 74% responding positively. Uh so this is uh certainly very positive. After going through all of those individually, uh we came back and said, "Now that you've gotten a little more information about the potential to raise property taxes to increase the annual operating levy funding, uh would you favor or oppose?" So remember now this is after they've heard the uh additional information and the favorable uh jumped up to 79.3. uh the bottom of this slide where it says that difference is statistically significant uh if something is statistically significant it means uh that the the difference uh is real and not uh just um based on the numbers that might go up or down depending on how people react. So, um it's a significant u improvement and it's significant for your planning purposes. This next section of the survey um is kind of peeling the onion back and looking at uh how different demographic groups responded. And you see the the eight demographic groups that we're talking about here. Uh remember in my opening remarks I told you that the uh demographic makeup of the sample was a mirror image of the demographic makeup of all registered voters. And the chart is showing the level of support uh after people heard those seven uh additional pieces of information. So the first one is parent status. Um the the parent, you know, kind of jumps off the page at 96.9. We always have strong support from parents. Uh we don't normally have uh support at that percentage. So that's a very good response. uh alumni parent are people who told us I don't have any kids in the Columbia Heights schools now but I used to have kids and then the non-parent are people who told us I've never had a child in the school district. So while the parent response uh is kind of jumps off the page, note that the other two are uh very solid. Also on the left you're seeing support uh based on gender. Um we typically see uh female support um anywhere from 5 to 10% higher than male support. In this particular case, they essentially are identical, which is good. On the right, you're seeing support based on uh how old I am. Uh generally speaking, uh we get the strongest support from the youngest uh demographic groups. And so yours goes down left to right just like it pretty much always does. Um but again uh even if you look at the 65 plus uh that's a very positive response. On the left you're seeing support based on where I live geographically. Note that they are very very similar. Um more commonly we will see results where there might be anywhere from five to 15% difference from one geographic area to another. So in your case it's h quite flat and in this case flat is good. And then on the right you're seeing support based on past voting history. past voting history. We look at the registered voter file and look at the last 10 uh elections where people had a chance to vote. Uh now that might be for dog catcher, it might be for city council, it might be for a referendum. Uh uh any reason to vote, the last 10 chances you had to vote. Less active or new are people who are uh in their records voted zero to two out of uh the last uh nine. Uh in the middle it's three to five times out of the last nine. And over on the right uh six or more out of the last nine. Uh we pay attention to this uh particularly uh as it relates to the potential timing of an election. Um very active voters uh always disproportionately are uh in the ballot box. Uh they vote, you know, six or more times out of nine. People who are new or less active voters at zero to two, they don't get in the ballot box as much unless there's something of high interest that's drawing them to the ballot box, like a presidential election, for example. All of yours are in the strong category, even though there are some small differences. On the left here, you're looking at uh support based on household income. Uh the most common uh finding that we see in surveys is uh somewhat higher support um based on uh somewhat higher levels of income. uh that's not the results that you're seeing uh in this particular survey where that uh the strong the strong support came from the uh low to mid income as well as uh the 75 to 100,000 income. Uh so uh again uh not a typical response but relatively flat. And then on the right you're seeing support based on educational attainment. Uh so um I went to graduated from high school. I had some college but didn't graduate. Uh bachelor's degree and graduate. Usually we see relatively higher levels of support from higher levels of uh educational attainment. And here you're looking at support uh based on uh renter versus home owner. Um 90% of the time we see uh somewhat higher support from renters because they don't quite connect the the dots between, you know, referendum and higher taxes because they don't pay property taxes as a homeowner would. After going through uh that part of the survey, we got to the point where we tested uh three potential tax increases uh if the district decides to uh request an increase in the operating levy. Uh those were prov provided to people both in terms of monthly amounts and uh annual amounts. And they also were done in random order. Uh so some people heard the uh third one first and some people heard the second one first. Uh and uh they were done in random order also to avoid uh having people uh sense that you were taking them up the ladder or down the ladder and and having that affect how they responded. In your particular case, we tested 156, 216, and $276 on an average priced home of approximately 275,000. Note that those are $60 apart from from low to high. Uh, but they were, as I mentioned, presented in random order. Uh, and if uh someone heard the highest one first and they said yes, they didn't they didn't hear the the lowest one and the middle one because there was no need to um and people were told both the monthly and the annual amount. And this is what that looked like. So at $156, you divide that by 12 and you could see what was tested in the survey. um the 216 and the 276. Now, as you might imagine, um I've done more than 500 school surveys over the years. That line always goes in that direction. [laughter] Um in terms of >> the trend on that one, >> no, >> I would have liked to have seen that. Um but so the question is not does it go in that direction but how much and how fast and do you have some areas that you're you know above water uh and in your particular case uh you do this slide is taking the previous slide back to this one and [clears throat] saying let's look at what people said who were very active voters. So, they're in the the blue uh and the the ones that are kind of in the middle are are in the in the red and the ones that aren't as active uh in that third color. Uh generally speaking, as you look at this, the the biggest difference uh in all three tax impacts was about 7%. >> [cough] >> uh we we normally would probably would see a little larger differences. Uh so it's relatively flat. The those lines aren't quite on top of each other, but they're pretty close to being on top of each other. The in this particular slide, the the lines on the graph are the 350 people we talked to. The circle graph upper right is the actual breakdown of all registered voters uh in Columbia Heights. The next section of the survey uh read some statements about uh funding challenges uh facing the district. And again, people heard the statement and then were asked if knowing that made them much more likely, somewhat more likely, somewhat less likely or much less likely to be supportive. Four statements you can see here. Uh the first one is talking about uh your current tax impact and how you compare to uh other districts uh in the area. Second one is talking about that state education funding has not kept up with um inflation over time. Uh third one is talking about that your current operating levy is roughly $400 per student less than uh the metro average. And the last one uh mentions that the district's low operating levy results in less revenue available per student to meet classroom needs. And here's how folks responded to those four statements. You're still seeing those numbers in the 70s as you've seen uh many of the other slides. Remember that that 77 is adding uh the blue and the orange together and the 14 is is the the percentage of people responding negatively. Uh and over on the right is no difference. Uh over the years we oftentimes have used uh a vital daappa question that they they do in their annual survey also every year. Uh you're the teacher for the day. Give your your school district a grade ABC D or F. And here's how folks responded to that. Uh 70% giving the district a grade of A or B. Um, now I didn't mention this before, but this is a good slide to mention it. Um, the percentage of interviews that were done with parents was 15.7%. So, um, non-parents, uh, roughly 84%. So of that the 350 people we interviewed uh about 84% of them were non-parents. So that puts this in some context to with a very positive response. We compare your results on this to a prior survey done by FA Delta Kappa. Uh in this case, a survey in 2022. So what you're seeing here is in blue is the survey that we just did. Uh in the orange, it's the two 2022 survey and uh the phalicappa survey, which is a national survey asking exactly the same question. uh in the green uh and and so as you can see the percentage that are giving A's uh improved uh quite a bit uh since last time [cough] and overall the the ratio of uh positive responses to negative is very very good. after they gave the grade uh A, B, C, D or F, they were asked what was the basis or what was the reason for that grade. And um here's the results of that. Now, interestingly, uh the financial management uh is in the blue, the leadership and management is in the orange, uh the academics is in the green. Uh so you can see that uh the three reasons that were offered by people uh all are things that are within uh your control and that you're be being given credit for. Uh so this was a positive response to that that question. Participants were also asked to give letter grades to the district's financial management and its and buildings and grounds. Uh so this is the financial management. Again, the ratio of uh the most positive grades to the to the most negative is very good. Um, no school district that I've worked with, uh, over time, with the exception of one, uh, ever had these grades higher than the overall grades. So, the fact that they, uh, drop off a little bit compared to the slide I just did with you is absolutely normal. And this is the uh management of facilities and grounds which also was very positive and a very good ratio of of high high to low. Participants were also asked to react to uh three statements and you can uh see these as I'm I'm talking. Um, our schools are a critical part of our community and I would support a property tax increase to keep them strong. I am proud of the Columbia Heights public schools, would recommend them to others and I trust the school district to do what's best for kids and again we were testing to see what percentage of people agreed with those three statements. uh and these are very very strong uh responses uh to all three. In terms of community perceptions, uh the district was measured at at 89% uh trust uh compared to 74% uh in a 2022 survey. Uh the pride was at 86% which is 24% higher and support for a tax increase to keep school strong uh was at 84% five points higher uh than in 2022. Participants were also asked to react to a statement uh and you've done this multiple times over the years. I would never vote for a tax increase, no matter what the amount or how the money would be used. And what we're looking for here as we look at the results is what percentage of people agreed with that. And remember the statement was I would never vote for any tax increase for any reason in any amount. Uh in your particular case, you've got 16% agreeing with that. uh you might have noticed some of the uh responses of the negative responses tended to be in the 17 to 20 range in a lot of other slides. Uh so that's this kind of core group again that is is not as supportive but 16% is a a good response. Most of our clients uh end up between 15 and 20% agreeing with that statement. So you're on the low end of the normal range. Uh tax climate was better than uh previous surveys. Again, the blue is the most recent survey. Uh and you see the 2023 and 2022 surveys um in in orange and uh green. The last section of the survey uh focused on communications in terms of where people got information about the district. Uh and uh initially they uh chose between uh printed materials, word of mouth and electronic sources. So as it relates to that general response, you can see u electronic media at 48 and printed sources at 26, word of mouth at 24%. For those who said print was how they got their information, uh the community newspaper and the district mailings were the two uh areas that were u focused on uh as their source of information. Again, [clears throat] if you add those up, you're what uh 80% roughly uh of people relying on the district for their information, which is what you want. uh word of mouth for those who said I get my information word of mouth uh friends and family and teachers and staff in combination were almost all of uh the specific responses for how people got their information. And for those who sent electronic sources, the district website and the district social media and the district email newsletter. Again, notice I said district district. So, all three of them uh were coming from the district, which is a a good thing. >> [cough] >> participants were asked a follow-up question about what source of uh they preferred for future information about the district. Uh and the interviewers were offered eight options and as you can see the uh top three were materials mailed to my home, the district website and emails. Uh so again uh all three are the source is the school district uh and uh it's a very positive response terms of uh a summary of key findings for a potential increase in the operating levy. Uh initially the support level was at 70.9%. After people got those seven pieces of information, it uh bumped up to 79. And you can see how that compared to two earlier surveys. Information about the proposal increased support by 8.4% which was statistically significant. Um positive impacts uh ranged from 74 to 88%. Uh negatives ranged from 7 to 18% of that 350. The greatest positive impacts uh were seen from safety and security uh improvements in special education services and relatively smaller positive impacts from STEM career and technical education and mental health support. Now it says relatively smaller there because those were still uh you know mostly at 70% or higher which is uh strong. Demographically uh your most likely yes voter based on this survey uh is under 35 years old and households making uh under 25,000 per year and parents and lowest support from non-parents, voters over 55, and households making more than 150 annually. At the time of the data collection, overall support levels rise above that margin of error at approximately $200 uh per year. um in terms of uh the weighted turnout and that when we talk about weighted turnout, we're talking about uh is this a very active voter, an average voter or a less active uh it still holds at about 200. Uh that's because that line graph, remember, where they're almost all on top of each other. So there wasn't any group that uh moved that number. Um you can see how that compared to surveys in 2023 and 2022. Undecided voters were very low. 16% said they would not uh support any tax increase for any reason in any amount. And you have the comparative percentages from two earlier surveys, responses to statements about budget gaps and funding averages. Uh again, you're in that 70% plus uh responding positively and the negative reactions still down in that 14 to 18% range. responses at the time the survey was done suggest that something around $200 uh per year for an average homeowner uh would be feasible. Uh that doesn't mean that later on you might not bump that down just slightly uh or let it grow a little bit. Uh and that depends on a lot of factors that um are going to develop uh over the next year uh in terms of the economy uh and uh economic conditions, campaign efforts uh all leading to that possible future referendum. And that is it. Thank you. Thank you. That's a lot of information to digest. I appreciate it. Does anybody have any questions, >> Jessica? >> Thank you very much for being here. Um I it is a lot of information. I am really glad that we got this ahead of time in board book so we could spend some time with the data and think about this >> as you're sort of like aligning your comments with what we see. So I do appreciate that. I know and I know we'll have more discussion about this. This is largely about support for a potential operating levy. Um but I was really struck by the questions around gauging uh pride in the district or pride in our schools and trust in the district. Um that high level of really positive support for those two statements is something I think that we really should reflect on and celebrate especially when we look at how um the responses to those statements have changed over time. I think that that's a real testament to what's being done in terms of um communication and outreach in the community. Our new strategic plan, thinking about how we continue to do more to build that trust and to um celebrate the pride that our community has. I mean, having that aside from the financial support, having that level of support and trust in our district is something to be really really excited about. So, I that was I just wanted to comment on that. Um, I did have a question though about I mean you you kind of talked about what you've seen in other districts and I'm wondering about the trajectory of um the grades that that folks give schools or around the trajectory of those questions around trust and pride if you've seen sort of that similar pattern in other districts that you've looked at recently. Um I don't I don't recall another survey that I've been involved with recently um that uh had um positive changes uh you know as large as some of the ones that were referenced in this summary. So that that is a little unusual. Um you obviously want to move it in that direction. Um but um the I talked a little bit about what it meant for something to be statistically significant. Um more commonly uh the changes that we see are um not statistically significant. So they're they're smaller. And when when they're closer, you know, if you had 70% last time and now you've got 74% this time, uh that 74% might be 69. >> Sure. >> Uh and the and the 70 might be 74. So you you have that uh swing with that margin of error. uh but you did have uh a number of uh data points that were u larger than that and pretty much all moving in a positive direction. Uh that doesn't guarantee that uh you know if we do a short tracking survey uh you know six or eight months from now that things might change in the other direction. But all you can do is um internalize and learn and work with the data that you have um at the time. >> Thank you. And then I do have one more question if that's okay. And it is a math question and I will preface this by saying that I went to law school in part so I never had to take another math class or a statistics course. So my question might not even make sense but I'm going to try. Um, so we talked about 79% of respondents with informed support. Um, and then there's the other part of the survey where we ask people for their general tax aversion. And so we had 16% of people who said that they would never vote for a tax increase. And so I'm trying to look at those two pieces together and think like 79% informed support for an operating levy. 16% who say I'll never vote for a tax increase. So that is 95%. That leaves 5% of people who potentially in some universe would vote for some tax increase but were not moved into support for the statements that we looked at. Is that a misread? >> Undeci they're undecided, unsure, don't know. Okay. >> Um any combination of those? >> And I guess what I'm wondering is it is it okay for me to look at those things together? Is that a misreading of the data? Would there be somebody who would say, "Oh, yeah. After hearing these statements, I'm supportive, but no, I would never vote for a tax increase." >> Potentially, the answer is yes to that. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah, >> that's all. Thank you. Um on slide 36 you talk about reason for the grade but the slides prior I didn't recognize whether it was reasons for the AB grade or reasons for the de the the DF grade >> all any grade whatever grade they would have given. >> Okay because that's a confusing >> never mind then because I don't see how that's relevant. I'm just looking at it going, I wanted to know why somebody gave us an A or somebody gave us an F, not combined. So that's kind of >> you you can dig into the data and get that information. It's not in the PowerPoint. >> Okay. All right. Uh any more questions? Okay. Um I think that this is this is absolutely amazing. I I love to especially the the increase in trust. We try very hard to be transparent and um and it looks like all those efforts are are are paying off because the more people feel comfortable and trusting in our in our schools, the easier it is for us to create a good environment for our students to to learn um and to um to thrive. Um, so I I have a lot of gratitude for our administration, all of our wonderful teaching staff and our community for investing in the school. So just give me a moment here to grant stand a little bit. I'm very proud of these. Thank you. >> So I don't have any questions. >> Vice Chair Gran, it's Gr Vice Chair Palmer. It's also a testament to our school board and the work you all do. >> Oh, we're just high level. We just we just make you look good. Um I'm really excited by the these numbers. I think it's really relevant that we've grown in a positive way and I just you know I think that's you know attributed to our leadership and you know the school leadership here and um it's exciting to see that there's more engagement. It seems like there's more people aware of us and what we're doing here, which I love. Um, I did notice that another slide that says, you know, 20 the people that make 25,000 or less, they don't even pay taxes. So, um, in essence, they're kind of like they they have an opinion about everybody else paying more than them. So, it's kind of a a kind of again a moot group that just I don't know how many people were in that group, but it seems like they don't even pay taxes. They just want the rest of us to. So, I would be concerned about, you know, that group of people in the survey. Um, just kind of thinking through it, you know, off the top of my head here. I might want to pull that group out and then see what that remainder looks like. Um, but I am excited that we're seeing positive um growth at the school and seeing people with positive attitudes towards our school. >> Well, if there are follow-up questions, run them through your superintendent and I'll be happy to respond. and thanks for the opportunity to work with you again and good luck with your ongoing planning. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Thank you for joining us. >> Good to see you again. I think I might have been through most seven, [laughter] too. So, >> all right. Uh next up we have um our strategic plan 2030 early childhood program and uh welcoming uh uh Kristen Stunkle, Sarah Godfrey, and uh Cararissa >> Warren. >> Warren. >> Okay. Our early childhood coordinator. Thank you. >> What you got for us? >> Vice Chair Palmer, members of the board, Superintendent Stenvvic. Um I'm here this evening with director Godfrey and coordinator Orin and myself to present um a continuation of the vision 2030 strategic plan presentations. This evening we'll be focusing on our early childhood programs. So of course our mission creating worlds of opportunity for each and every learner. All belong and all succeed. All of our core values you will hear represented this evening. Community, excellence, collaboration, integrity, respect, courage, and innovation. And all of these are aligned with the school board's equity statement. This evening's presentation isformational only. There are no governance questions. With that, I'll pass it on to the next. >> Thank you. So, this is our new strategic plan as director Stungle just stated with 29 indicators that we previewed recently. Um, and tonight we'll we will review some of those indicators as they relate to early childhood programming. So, early childhood includes a lot of different things in our district. We have a lot of very robust programming. Um, this includes screenings and evaluations, our ECF, so our family education programming, our preK3 programming, our preK4 programming, our sitebased programming, um, where both general education and special education students are served. Um, we have sitebased programming that's specific to special education. Uh, we have home visits, uh, for both students with and without IEPs. Um we also support curriculum instruction and assessment for all of these um wonderful students. And we have so much fun uh [laughter] with our littlest learner learners. So um here are some pictures of our students. Uh when I see this picture, I think of joy. Uh my personal favorite is seeing them out in the garden uh with their families and their teachers and playing with each other. Um it's just great. and we've seen this programming um grow and grow over the years that I've been in Columbia Heights. So, when we're looking at the vision 2030 strategic plan, um we have those categories of all belong, all succeed, and worlds of opportunities for all learners. And so, when we're looking at last year, we're kind of reflecting on some of the peaks of progress in all of those categories. Um this slide shows an example of families having access to learning opportunities that support their role as essential educational partners. So you'll notice um the opportunities that were provided throughout the year last year through classes, one-to-one visits or conferences. And those were completed both in our uh conferences were both for our general education students as well as our special ed students. Um, also our early childhood birth to two team, sometimes called early intervention, also does um weekly or or bi-weekly or as the student and family needs home visits. Um, so on average, it ends up being about weekly or every other week. When we're looking at um some of the data from our preK4's classrooms from last year, you'll see um this is the fall data from 2024 2025. Um one thing to note is our cognitive domain in this um TS Gold, which is our assessment tool. We don't gather all of the components of that domain. And so sometimes that data appears skewed. So just take that with a um a grain of salt. And um this is our fall data. And so the the dark uh kind of uh navy color is an emerging um score for our students. And then the green is accomplished. And then on the next slide, um you can see the spring data where we have moved now to many of our pre-K4 students um really achieving uh what TS Gold calls kindergarten readiness, but really what we see as growth from the fall to this spring for our prek4s classes. I will also note in PreK4s, we use um voluntary prek um guidelines as far as our curriculum and assessment tool. In addition to the data that we can see in a graph or from our assessment tools, our teachers and our um licensed staff meet regularly in their professional learning communities and that really helps our uh teaching staff be responsive to what the students are doing in the classroom, what the data is showing them and then be able to inform their instruction. So what I have really seen in the past couple years is the collaboration of early childhood general education and early childhood special education. Last year we w we were able to combine some of those PLC groups so that we can a lot of them share students and now we were sharing professional learning communities to really um assess and meet the needs of all of our learners. when we're looking at the creating worlds of opportunity for our students um we were looking at 3B and 3C. So when we're looking at 3B, Columbia Heights will provide and promote two-way communication. One thing to note in that area was that we did have a parental survey and it was unanimous that our parents really felt like the family center and early childhood programmings did a really great job of communicating. A lot of our teams use Seesaw. Um, we also have the benefit of often the parent is here either attending class with the child or doing drop off and pickup. And so there's a natural opportunity for us to have that two-way communication. Um, also families um are able to engage in a lot of different opportunities. We were able to um see our uh parent group become a PTO this past year. So that was really exciting as well. And we have included our all of our family center programmings in that community. And so parents really do have a way to engage um in a lot of different aspects and what goes on in our family center programming. As we look towards this year, this school year, um we're continuing to use our data to inform instruction. As I mentioned, uh, PreK3 and PreK4 use TS Gold, which is teaching strategies gold. Um, our special ed team uses, uh, tools like TS Gold or the help checklists to help inform, uh, progress and collect student data and we also use our early childhood screening. Um, in addition, we have a committee at the family center focused on student intervention and our multi-tered systems of support. We're really trying to align that with the rest of our uh district systems so that we can be responsive to student need uh right away. And then in our areas of curriculum, we have really taken a broader look at our scope and sequence all the way from birth up until entrance into kindergarten and are trying to um ensure educational equity by making sure we're using district approved curriculum and making sure that our staff have appropriate PD and time in their sorry I should say professional development uh in their uh not only in the district provided days but the building um and staff training opportunities and then as well within their PLC group. And these last two slides just show what our teams have come up with for school year 2526 as far as our goals. You'll notice in reading through each program specific goal that the focus is student growth. And we really wanted to be clear that we had some measurable outcomes and ways of getting from the beginning of the school year to midy year and then to the end. Um these are part of our overall building goals where that we discuss with the the rest of our district teams at uh teaching and learning leadership meetings and they also are embedded in all of our PLC work on a regular basis. So, I'll let you read through those. Sorry. I really appreciate too the fact that we um do collaborate within those PLC's and so um a lot of them overlap some of the things that we're working on as our students overlap in our programming and we um are able to collaborate throughout the year with different PLC groups where the need arises. >> Thank you. >> Wonderful. I have a question. Um, so when you go from TS Gold PreK for spring and then you go to the fall and you see that shift, it's exciting first of all. Um, how is that is that gold prek? Is that a program or something? How do you is it a test they take in the spring and then in the fall or vice versa? You know what I mean? >> Yes. Yeah, that's a great question. Uh, teaching strategies gold, otherwise known as TS Gold, is the assessment tool that we use alongside creative curriculum. It is one of the tools that is um approved for our voluntary prek um the money that we get to support our preK4 students and the the statewide program that is supporting our preK4 students. TS Gold is a essentially across all domains. Um it's a it's a checklist. It's an observational tool that uses child development and kind of a rubric based on each indicator. So it aligns with the Minnesota state standards for early childhood indicators of progress. >> So it's the data is gathered in a lot of ways. Um but each student I believe there's 38 uh objectives that our teachers will essentially help to collect data for each student. >> And they're collecting that three times. >> Yep. And there's three checkpoints each time each each year. So that's collected fall, winter, spring. >> So is there um a lot of subjectivity in the process or is there a lot of objectivity? Because you >> Well, there's a rubric, but essentially it is based on observational data. Okay. >> Um and the the observations can be during their large groups, during their small groups. they can be collected really at any any time of their instructional period. >> So, they're collecting evidence and um and then charting that and then um tracking that and discussing it as PLC's. So, you might say, "Oh, wow. It look Cararissa, your class is doing really well in this area and my class isn't doing as well. What are you doing?" so that they can really learn from each other the best practices so that as a whole program they're uh they are advancing and supporting our students >> and when you're and when you look at the TS Gold rubrics it goes all the way from birth all the way up to actually grade three so age eight um and there are ranges of you know of development so we have most of our preK4 students by the end of their prek4 year we're expecting them to be in what's called the blue color band. So, there are some, you know, indicators based on child development um and what we would expect students to learn throughout their year. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Very interesting. Does anybody else have any other questions? >> If I might just say how grateful, if I can speak for um Director Godfrey too, how grateful we are that we have Cararissa as our early childhood coordinator. the fact that she oversees both the ECSSE and the early childhood when she talks about the the collaboration between them. A lot of that is due to her leadership and also the fact that she has done all of the positions um within that she now supervises basically. Um it's she has the credibility with the teachers. The teachers know that she knows what it looks like on the ground. Um, but she also has uh her director's license as a special ed director uh and your principal license. And so she's the whole package. And I just really want to sing her praises. Thank you. >> Um because I know that that probably makes [laughter] you uncomfortable, but but a it's just been a gamecher. So I just really want uh the school board to understand when we talk about you in that last presentation, you heard about the power of leadership. This is also another example of the power of leadership and collaboration. When the teaching staff, the um the assistants, when everybody is acknowledged for the role that they play in the organization and you have the right people in the right positions where we value all of the people and we all work together collaboratively and so thank you for your leadership. >> Well, thank you. Thank you for giving me the opportunity. [laughter] >> Thank you. This is amazing. Jessica, >> thank you for being here. I didn't have a question. I just wanted to note that in addition to um you know assessment um and collaboration and leadership, I think there's a great deal of creativity um especially in terms of family engagement that's going on in all of our early childhood programs and um as a parent who's had great experiences in the early childhood program here, I'm just really excited to see that grow. Um I'd just offer to the other board members if you haven't looked at the programming that early childhood is offering um year-toear they're really trying some pretty innovative things. Um so in addition to a lot of the the separating non-separating age-based mixed age classes this year there's um uh drop-in sessions >> uh both in the mornings. There's an afternoon session um that I think starts at 4:30. Um, I was able to participate with my son in a nature-based course last year. I know they're doing the nature-based um, early childhood program again this fall, which is great to see. Um, and then just seeing again how that the parent group has really grown um, over the last couple of years and really come into their own. And I was able to attend the fundraiser um, that they had recently. And seeing just this whole family center packed with people was just, I don't know, very invigorating to see. So, I just wanted to note that as well. Thank you, Thank you. Thank you. Does anybody else have any? Okay. I I actually do have a question here. Um so the PLC's you you're doing the collaboration between just the early childhood and then the special education early childhood as well. Um and that's been just a couple of years now, right? >> Yeah. So um when I took the role as coordinator and we kind of combined and added um early childhood special ed to this role, our team was really asking for more time to collaborate so that they we've we've coexisted in buildings. We've you know done a lot of work together already naturally and we wanted to kind of formalize that process and give our teachers time and and our related service providers. We do have uh speech therapists and occupational therapists and physical therapists that work with our students too. And the PLC felt like the best time to have those really meaningful conversations as many of them share students across programs. Um and so we could work on similar goals based on student need, classroom setup, um you know, just shared resources. And so last year they really found that that was beneficial. they learned a lot about each other's programming and then also the the positive impact that has on students and families when you can collaborate together. >> Well, I I I can I I think this is absolutely wonderful. Plus, um you know, I'm mostly on 916, the special education district, too. >> Um so, uh and and and I've been uh the the innovations that happen, you know, on just finding yet another way to to uh support uh students with with needs. Um, and every student has needs. Um, so being able to have maybe that best practices kind of, >> you know, cross-pollonization across across and plus, you know, we really want to be more inclusive. So, I'm really happy to see that we're starting very very young and we're and we're collaborating and I'd love, you know, I think that's wonderful. So, >> thank you for everything. >> Yes. >> Okay. Everything and all the hats you've worn over [laughter] the years. So I'm very proud to teach here to lead here and I um I'm very honored to to be with you today. So >> thank you. >> One more question. >> Yeah. >> I noticed that cognitive tends to be leg be the le in. >> Yeah. [clears throat] Could you explain just the terminology cognitive and what this the children are expected to kind of >> move through that because you can see although we've improved >> y >> it's a it's kind of lagging so >> but it might be for the four fouryear-old I don't know >> well so that is another that's a part of TS gold where I was mentioning earlier that section of our data collection um VPK the voluntary prek K requirements is what we follow which follows the early childhood indicators of progress. So TS gold has a more comprehensive um in that in that domain the cognitive domain. There are more opportunities to observe student growth. We don't collect all of those. So the statistical pieces that go into making a composite score don't fully reflect um exactly how students have grown. That being said, some of the pieces of the cognitive domain have a lot to do with problem solving. Um, being able to um hear directions and do something as a response. So, there's the it's it's problem solving and thinking skills. So, it it incorporates a lot of different things. In order to hear a direction and follow a direction, you also have to understand language. You have to be tuning in. So, there it's all of those developmental pieces are related. Cognitive focuses on the the thinking processes and the problem solving. >> That's perfect answer. Thank you. I was just kind of wondering why that one was kind of different. >> And the statistical part of it, we're still trying to figure out a good way to really represent um that growth in a chart that fits nicely onto a slide [laughter] >> because it's that that domain is Yeah. a little >> It's in English. >> And it's all in English. [laughter] >> It's all in English. >> Yeah. Uh, any other questions, comments? Okay. Well, wonderful. Thank you so much. >> Okay. Next up is uh our I better get my reading glasses here. Our first reading for um our uh policies. Um we have um see first reading for the policies. We have um uh policy for um 401, equal employment, 403, discipline, suspension and dismissal of school district employees. Uh 404 employee background checks. 406 public and private personal data. 408 subpoena of a schoolboard uh school district employee. 422 policies incorporated by reference. And 722 public data request. Um, so, uh, this is up for a first reading. Um, you can certainly get those on the look at those on our website. And if you have any questions or comments, um, please, uh, reach out to, um, I believe our, uh, board chair is the, uh, is the chair of our policy committee or the superintendent. >> Okay. Uh, next up will be our fall seasonal activities and athletics update. and uh Mr. Henderson, our activities director, is going to do a presentation. Thank you. >> All right, let me get my PowerPoint up here. Oh, this one. There we are. Right. Vice Chair Palmer, uh, Superintendent Senvic, and members of the board, thanks for having me. Uh, our mission in Columbia Heights, it's not in front of me this time, so it's a little bit a little bit off, so I might be looking at the computer. Um, but is creating worlds of opportunity for each and every learner. All belong, I'll succeed. Um, I've got two uh short presentations for you. one is informational um and one will require action um from the board uh and all will uh implement or at least touch on some of our our core values. Uh in the activities department we have uh continued our focus just on these four uh uh bullet points. Uh we highly value our community um creating a positive community, a positive culture. We want to be as competitive as possible in our competitive uh activities and then we want to support each other uh their well-being and their health. Um and you know we also talk about supporting our coaches because and our uh adviserss because they do so much for our kids. Um so that always comes up in our coaches meetings too. Uh before I highlight fall, I just wanted to highlight summer a little bit uh because we're pretty excited and with our summer programming, we do that with um uh community ed. So we partner with them and we just saw numbers kind of jump off the page and so not in everything but uh if you take a look at the data up here in our participation numbers it was pretty exciting to see we offered a handful of new things and we had some really high numbers in some uh areas too. So just excited to share that with you and uh excited that our kids and our um coaches and our activities uh adviserss were engaged throughout the summer too. Uh, as we get to fall, I I always like to share just our participation numbers, kind of how we're doing. Um, and we broke them down. Uh, you asked for that, I believe, a couple of times ago where we kind of break them down between CA and high school. I can't remember if we did that in the fall of last year or not, but I just put the total number for fall of 24 and fall of 23 just for you to give uh get a better idea of kind of where we're at and and relatively steady. We got some ups and downs in some activities and areas. Um, our musical is underway, but we don't have all of our uh sta uh crew etc that are working. So, we didn't uh report on some of those numbers. But take a just a quick moment to uh digest some of those participation numbers. All right. Then moving on, I'll just uh highlight a handful of things here this fall. Uh always, not always, but usually uh the the highlight of fall is homecoming week and uh this year was like uh kind of no other that I've been a part of. Um it was phenomenal. It was totally exhausting. Um [laughter] but it was really really fun. And during our homecoming weeks, we we try to highlight whatever activities might be in session during um during the the homecoming week. And you know, traditionally it's probably been uh football that's really really highlighted, but we try to highlight every single sport, every single activity that might be um happening at that time. And I think we do a good job of of doing that. And I would say our our student participation for those that were in activities uh or just coming to an activity uh was just really high this year. and the heights pride that I saw throughout um that entire week was uh exceptional and just higher than I've seen here before. And so that that's really exciting. It's a testament, I think, to our coaches. I think it's a testament to what we're doing at the high school. Um I think uh our principal has brought a a level of pride and just uh excitement to um and so uh and obviously to our community and to our kids. Um, and so that was really exciting. I would say the Highlander tour. I think I saw a handful of you on that. Uh, it was the best one I've been a part of. And I think I've been a part of nine now. Um, and well, probably more than that cuz I was at CA for many of those, too. So, working on 15, 16 of them. Um, at least a chunk of them. And there's a bus driver now, I think this might be his third year that he chooses this opportunity because he just says it's so neat, so unique, um, and loves to be a part of it and see it. And so you'll hopefully see, assuming my slideshow works, um, in a couple minutes, a couple pictures from there. So this was really exciting and we estimate um, at the high uh, homecoming football game um, that we had over 500 high school students there, which I haven't seen. um working on close to half of our student population from the high school and uh more uh families and people within those stands than I've seen. And so just taking advantage whether they were there to watch football or not like they were there as a community and it was really exciting. Um and I would say throughout our week we had we had some really high participation at all of our events. So that was fun. Um we continue to offer opportunities for our leaders to grow. Uh we've had a trimetro fall leadership conference. We next week we have another uh one for the winter for our conference. Um we are taking kids to the together in partnership from the Minnesota State High School League. Uh that will be a little bit later uh here before uh winter break. And then finally we'll host our own here with positive coaching alliance. I believe that one's on November 19th. So, a lot of more opportunities coming up just to uh learn and grow as leaders of all activities uh that we offer specifically here at the high school. Um just a couple people or one person that I want to shout out. We had Mjad Muhammad. He's a senior from our boys soccer team. Uh I believe he's gone all the way through heights with us too and he was selected to the second team all state for boys soccer. So exciting for him. um our own stadium right out uh right past the building here was highlighted in the Star Tribune as one of the top 10 stadiums in the state of Minnesota. So that was really exciting. I don't know if you follow our Instagram any post that pretty much said top 10. I was I was super excited about that because it's an amazing amazing view um and just a great atmosphere to see any sort of game that's out there. And then we've got uh newsies coming up um here in early December for our high school musical. So please come check that out. Um and then wrapping up uh the highlight here. Uh all of our CA sports um for fall have ended. We've started into the winter. We still have do have girls swim and dive from uh the high school that has sections uh next week. But um yeah, it's been a quick crazy fall. Good. Um and we're already kicking off and into the uh winter, which is pretty exciting. So, um like I do, I like to Let's see if this works. I did pull it up beforehand, but I I think somebody got to the computer again. Um let's see if it's up. If it's not, we won't watch it, but I think you all have access to it. Um It kicked me out. >> I can give you all access to it. No, let's see. Oh, here we go. Let's see if it's got music to it. I don't know. >> Yes. >> All right. Well, we'll take just a quick minute to watch. >> There's that stadium. >> You'll see some more, too. That one was from I think North Park coming from the tour. That's Valley View. CA was so loud. [laughter] something so unique to Heights, too. So, it's pretty neat that we we do the fireworks. >> Awesome. [cough] >> That was um and that uh wraps up uh the fall activities update for you. >> Thank you. Anyone have any questions? >> Of course. that question. I just I always really appreciate this um presentation [clears throat] and seeing everything our students are involved in. I especially appreciate you sharing the numbers with us. And I just wanted to note that um I was kind of taken aback by the size of the cheer team when I went to the homecoming game. Uh they were great and so I wasn't surprised when I saw these numbers because just walking up I was like, "Whoa, look at our cheer team." So congratulations to them and all of our students. >> Yeah, they've been great. And uh we kind of did another round of joining tryyouts for winter now. And so there's even more than that. >> Awesome. [clears throat] >> I actually have a question here. Um I was looking at slide gosh I can't even tell. The one with uh yeah that one that right there. Um under 2023 it says math team TBD. Is that a typo there or? >> Yeah, maybe that is. >> Okay. Yeah, I was gonna say it's been a couple of years. We probably could have figured it out by now. [laughter] >> That's fair. Um, my assumption, I don't have the data right in front of me, but probably somewhere in that ballpark of uh 8 to 12ish something. >> I was going to say it usually stays pretty It's usually stay pretty slim. >> I see a member of the math team could calculate it >> perhaps. [laughter] >> I think actually this year um we have our first we're hosting the first math meet this year and we might be upwards of 16 17 now. So, >> oh that's wonderful. >> Exciting for that. Yeah. >> Y >> So that 13 number is wrong, too. >> Okay. Okay. Well, it's always >> Well, we keep adding, so >> it's definitely a growing programs. >> So, wonderful. Thank you. >> All right. Now, we're up for some business stuff on our action items. >> All right. >> So, our first action item is about the MHSL Foundation grant form A. >> Yeah. And I'll kind of give you an overview again. Thank you for having me. Um but uh the Minnesota State High School Foundation uh was created in 2007 and its purpose is to support youth participation in athletics and fine arts. Uh there's two grants, form A uh and form B. Uh it is my recommendation that we pass the both resolutions and that we apply for both grants. Uh we've done so in the uh in the past and I've uh presented similar things to you all. I think everyone in this room actually uh in past years. And so uh the two grants are the first is form A. It's just a general grant that's given every single year by the foundation to help support all Minnesota State High School League athletics and activities. Um and this can be used for several things. Uniforms, equipment, transportation. Uh form A is a little bit different. uh that grant is just spit split annually amongst all the schools that apply um that qualify for it. Um and so form B uh I'll just give you information and then we can maybe uh talk about the resolutions uh is also available to apply for. Uh this one is for more specific things uh specifically leadership initiatives and health and safety. You can use it in some ways in transportation although we have not. Um in the past this one's been capped at 5,000. Uh, and I was look looking over the documentation. I don't see anything in there right now that uh limits us to 5,000, but in the past it was capped at that. Uh, so for these form B things that you uh items that we would spend money on, uh, that would roughly be around $7,000 is what we've estimated. Uh, we've usually gone over in our ask of $5,000. And, um, they have in past years um, given us both grant grants. So, we've taken coaches to the women's coaching symposium that is at the University of Minnesota. We'd like to get one more AED um for one of our campuses, uh middle school or high school. We use this funding for impact concussion training um that our trainer does. And then we've had a partnership with the positive coaching alliance and that's been great. And that's with our student leaders that are coming up here uh in less than a month. And then we've also were looking at exploring some leadership opportunities at base camp right south of Minneapolis for some high ropes course and some um just leadership training and and just community building amongst our leaders too. So that's what we would use form A and form B for. Um that's a little bit of information about them. Again, I do recommend that we pass both resolutions and um apply for both grants. >> Thank you. I'm good. Okay. Um Oh, I Oh, I think we have to do a motion first. Yeah. Hold on a second. Uh yes, I was trying to go the Okay, that's right. We're on We're on to action items. Sorry. >> Okay. No, that's okay. [clears throat] I jumped it, too. I I I I just want to make sure that I'm do messing up at least a couple of times. So, when Mary comes back, she'll say, "I know you guys missed me." [laughter] >> The resolution. >> Okay. So, the first uh So, I have to read the resolution first. Correct. Yes. Okay. So, here is the resolution for form A. Uh resolution of governing board supporting form A application to Minnesota State High School League Foundation. Um whereas the Minnesota State High School League Foundation was formed to provide support for Minnesota's high school youth to participate in athletics and fine arts. Whereas the governing board of Columbia Heights public school recognize the value of student participation in extracurricular activities. And whereas the MHSL Foundation is offering grants and funding to assist schools in recognizing, promoting, and funding extracurricular participation by high school students in athletic and fine arts programs. Uh, therefore, be it resolved that the governing board of Columbia Heights Public Schools supports the school's application to the Minnesota State High School League Foundation for a form a grant to offset student activities fees. Uh, can I get a motion? >> Move it. >> Michelle. >> Michelle. Okay. Okay. And a second. >> Second. >> Okay. Yeah. I I didn't hear you. I'm I apologize. >> No, it might be me. It might be me. Okay. Okay. Now I believe we can uh we can have discussion Julie. >> Was that one just for form A? >> It's just for form A. That those are two separate. >> I do not have any questions. >> Okay. Okay. So if you don't have any qu questions, this is a resolution. Um so we will need a roll a call vote. >> Yeah. Uh Maderas >> I. >> Palmer >> I. >> Pway I. >> Okay. Motion has passed. Thank you. All right. Next up is we're just going to go right to form B. Um the next resolution here as well. Okay. So whereas the Minnesota State High School League Foundation was formed to support um provide support for Minnesota high school youth to participate in athletic and fine arts. Whereas the Governing Board of Columbia Heights Public School recognizes the value of student participation in extracurricular activities. And whereas the MHSL Foundation is offering grants and funding to assist schools to provide seminars, training opportunities or supports for specific school functions for students, faculty members, officials, and others who are involved in athletic and fine arts programs. Therefore, be it resolved that the governing board of Columbia Heights Public Schools supports the school's application to the Minnesota State High School League Foundation for a form B grant. Can I get a motion? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Julie, and a second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Jessica. All right. Any questions now? >> I have a question. So, um, for form B, we have specifics that we're asking for. Um, is there a priority on that list or is it in that priority? Is the list that you've got on the list there? Is that prioritized? >> I would say no, probably not. And I think uh if the limit is $5,000, um, we choose to do a lot of fundraising within our own department uh for specific things just like this. And so I would say the base camp leadership training and ropes course is at the bottom of the list. And I guess that is at the bottom of this one. Uh we haven't done that one before. And so that would be maybe if we didn't have funding for that, we might cut that out. And that's um yeah. >> Okay. And the AED, [clears throat] is that going to be for Columbia Academy? >> I know that that was a need that was brought up by uh both our trainer and our um district uh nurse. And so that uh when I brought them to this uh Columbia Academy is one of the spots that um would would benefit probably most. >> And I just want to mention to the board that when I attended the MSHSL conference um this was a topic they discussed was having more AEDs available um especially out on the field you know of [clears throat] portable. So, just wanted to mention that >> the outdoor ones are really expensive, >> of course. >> Thank you. >> Not necessarily one that we would get an outdoor one, but um just having more opportunity availability. >> Jess, >> thanks. I also had just a couple questions about this list. And I guess first just to follow up on uh Julie's question about AED. So, I I'm So, is there currently an ad available at Columbia Academy? This would be an additional device. >> Correct. Yeah. Um and I don't have my map in front of me, but I believe it's right inside the gym. There may be one more. Um we have quite a few more here available at the high school in the pool and the Highlander Center. Um right outside the office. Uh I think right outside door 16. Um which is, you know, a door that our coaches use often. Um and then our trainer has one uh that she carries. Um, so we do have quite a few more that are available up here. Um, an outdoor one at some point uh would be nice to have that, you know, if somebody didn't have access to inside our building would be able to access. >> And then my other question was also about [clears throat] funding for those things. So I want to make sure I understand. So, you're saying that um the things that we're already doing on that list that we've been doing already cost more than the $5,000 we've been capped. So, we've been subsidizing the rest of those costs through the other activities funding >> through our own activities fundraising, >> right, within the district. So, not coming from district dollars, but from dollars that we fund raise at different events or >> so any funds we were to get from the grant over and above $5,000. I guess you could think about it as first going to fund the cost of those things that we've been doing. And then if you were able to expand, it would be looking at some of the leadership or I guess reallocate some of the money you have from fundraising to be able to do that. >> Yeah. To something else. Correct. Yes. >> Thank you. So, I just wanted to make sure that I fully understood. >> Yep. >> Thank you. Any >> just uh one quick comment. Thank you for um for filling out these applications for grants. It's a it's an additional task and duty on your plate and um and these are these are wonderful uh wonderful things to to have in the school especially the AED. I know that a lot of businesses are looking at having something like that available even, you know, under the school here. I would love it. Does an outdoor one cost more? >> Yeah, it does. >> Okay. I mean, how much more is it? >> Uh, I don't again I don't have those numbers right in front of me, but when you're looking at an indoor one is somewhere in the one to $2,000 range. One that would stand outside and be airtight is looking at $3 to $4,000. It'd be like carry them. >> Well, yeah. And then there is a carry one, too. And I don't I can't remember how much that one costs, though. >> Okay. Okay. I just want to make sure that, you know, if we're out on the football field, we have some devices available. >> Well, and our coaches also know all of those. So, like if they are in within our programming, uh they should know where those things are, whether the trainer is close or not. Um, and we provide them, you know, during our coaches trainings like a specific map of where those things are. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. So, if there aren't any further questions, um, this is a resolution. So, if I can get a >> You sure can. >> Uh, Pway I, um, >> I, >> Palmer, >> I [laughter] tricked me. I >> Okay, motion has passed. Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Thank you all. I appreciate your time. >> All right. So, the next thing up on our list is building capacity. So, this is the last official item on our list today. >> Have a good night. >> Thank you. >> And Superintendent. >> Thank you, Vice Chair Palmer. Uh this evening I'm here seeking approval from the board to uh reopen kindergarten and grade three at Highland Elementary to open enrollment. Um it would be for the remainder of the 2526 school year or until enrollment numbers increase to a level that reaches building capacity per usual. All right. Okay. So can I get a motion? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Michelle. And a second. >> Second. Thank you, Julie. All right, questions or comments? >> I guess I just have one question because I just it's about the language of the um the motion. Um because I noticed that when we closed open enrollment at these levels, we had similar language. Um and so there's the language about or until in this case, it's the enrollment members increase. If we close, it's the enrollments numbers decrease. Um, but I just want to be clear that even though that's the language, that doesn't automatically happen. That's brought to the board time. Okay. >> I Yeah, I think that um possibly technically the language could allow for but it doesn't it doesn't say designated or delegated, you know, power to the superintendent. So, it is something that we bring to the board each and every time. >> Okay. Thank you for that clarification. >> Thank you, Michelle. Did you have something? >> I mean, to piggyback off of that, is that something that we could do? I'm not saying I'm asking for it, but >> I could certainly inquire about that >> about like having you just be like, I call it. [laughter] >> The thing about um closing to open enrollment in particular and opening to open enrollment is there are pretty significant financial implications for the district. And so, you know, that's where I I >> bring it to the board because there's that governance oversight of the overall district budget. >> Um, so it's how we've done it in the past. Um, I I can certainly look into see >> it's what Terry Msb says, [laughter] >> but no, I actually I I actually agree with that. I think it it should be something that's a public conversation that not that you wouldn't bring it as information to us, but um I do like that there is that. But um I was just going to ask um are you noticing any trends or like um like we aren't losing mass amounts of students right in our >> compared to this time last year we're down about 90 students. Yes. Yep. We're not seeing those massive increases and we are we have seen a decline. >> Yeah. Do you is there a reason why or like a thing we can point to to say like most people are leaving because of this or >> not at this time. I think you know we do know that in our district we have about a 30% traditionally we have about a 30% mobility rate and so that's typical that we have um kids coming and going um in what's different is you know as students move out of the district and go elsewhere we aren't we're not seeing that influx in like we've like we have experienced over the last few years. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I mean, right? And like we're recognizing that the past couple years have been uh >> not very common um you know, in our district over the you know, historically. >> And so there has been like Yeah. more >> most Minnesota districts, school districts right now are are experiencing a decline. >> Gotcha. And so we're kind of going back to >> the norm and >> what's currently common, I would say. >> Yeah. I was kind of used to the other [laughter] >> the other news. Yeah, it seems like we usually tend to go a little against the rest of the area. Jessica, >> I just wanted to comment around that and say that I think that, you know, while we always want really strong enrollment and we're happy to see those numbers go up, from my perspective, it's also helpful to have some stability because we've had a lot of bouncing around of opening grade levels and closing grade levels. And so, I do think, you know, there is something to be said for getting to a place where we're right sizing and kind of know, you know, where things are at. But we always want to encourage enrollment in our district and having strong enrollment numbers is important. So >> yeah and um and in our district too um uh traditionally um open enrollment actually leads to more more families moving to I mean usually their children enroll here and then the families follow. So that actually happens quite a bit. I I remember a survey data a while back that was showing that we that it's always kind of this kind of migration through Columbia Heights. So anyway, all right. Um are there any other Okay. All right. So I believe we can just vote on this, right? Or no, is it a resolution? >> It's just a vote. It's just a vote. Okay. All right. So, um, all those in favor of, uh, closing or excuse me, reopening, sorry, kindergarten and grade three to open enrollment for the balance of the school year. Um, uh, over at Highland Elementary, um, say I >> I and opposed. I don't believe there'll be any abstensions this time. Actually, I think that would make us not a vote, not an accurate vote, but anyway. Okay. So motion has passed. Okay, we've made it through this or excuse me, I've made it through this board. [laughter] >> Did great. >> Okay. Do we have any board topics? >> I do have a question. Um I wanted to know if there were any updates on that um on the film literature class um in the in the movie. Yeah, >> not at this time. >> Okay. Not I don't have any updates. >> Yeah, I got you. Thanks. >> Okay. Any other others? >> No. >> Um I'm really looking forward to going to the um student rep uh conference tomorrow. Um it seems like it's going to be a great time. It's my first time going. I didn't go last year. Um and so I'm interested in learning like, you know, how we can best uh help our our student reps. Um so that should be fun. Oh, it is a lot of fun to watch them doing that collaboration amongst themselves, finding out what they have, you know, and then of course they're always changing their, you know, exchanging numbers and stuff and forming these little like, oh yeah, that's happening. >> And it'll be fun to watch. Um I I guess students who are more involved, right? Like people always look at teenagers or new generations, oh, they're always on their phones, they're always in this. I think that this will be nice because they're they're more proactive teens. they're more um into what's going on and they're they're curious and they want to know more. So, yeah, I look forward to it. It should be nice. >> Yeah. You know, I know earlier today when we we were looking at some of that data from the our survey and everything and I really did forget to I really should have said that probably our our our biggest support here in and out in the community is all of our students. our students are are what's really made that I I I believe that that's probably the major thing of bringing that trust back and the communication and and things like that. It's I think it's our our students that are that are really making all all of our hard work look really good, you know. So, I I I should have mentioned that at the time. I mentioned everybody except for the students and I feel bad about that. So, >> well, speaking of the the survey, I think what I loved about it is that on the communication side is that people know where to go now. They really do. It has increased the the communication hasn't necessarily probably increased, but we've increased where to go to find information because there's more and more people that were able to find what they needed from our website, from social media, and I know we've done that, but I think there was some significant emphasis on it. And um the community is obviously catching on. So, I'm even getting feeds in Facebook and stuff, which I follow the school, but um I'm actually really thrilled that more and more people are looking at us and having positive responses to that. And I think it's really important that we continue with that communication. >> We're going to continue having the great kids. So, >> right, >> you just got to keep keep uh keep highlighting it. All right. Any other others? [laughter] I just coined a new phrase. Now Mary's in trouble. All right. No. Okay. All right. So, um, can I get a motion to close our meeting? Why not? >> So, move. >> We do that sometimes over at 9:16. >> Yeah. >> And a second. Second. >> All right. All in favor? I. >> All right. I Okay. This meeting is closed. Thank you.