all right well welcome um I'd like to call to order the meeting Schoolboard meeting uh on January 14th 2025 um if you able please stand up and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge algian to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with libery and justice for all all right thank you so much um Michelle would you please do roll yes P here Smith here madis here pway here Palmer here granin here superintendent stmi here thank you so much y um our mission statement creating worlds of opportunity for each and every learner all belong all succeed core values are Community Excellence collaboration Integrity respect courage and Innovation all right moving forward can I get a motion to approve the agenda so moved Julie second by second Jessica all those in favor say I I I I opposed abstained motion carries all right so announcements on January 20th there's no school on January 21st at 5:30 p.m. we have a work session here in the community room January 27th and 28 there is no school uh and also on the 28th we have a school board meeting here at 6 PM in the community room moving on to communication from the board or to the board I'm sorry uh at this time any citizen or employee May briefly address the school board the board will listen to the brief remarks ask clarifying questions and if desired request the administration follow up the board will not take action at this meeting on requests presented at this time time will be limited to three minutes per speaker are there any um is there anybody of that has uh blue card yep turned in a blue card to speak not at this time all right moving forward to the consent agenda the consent agenda includes the Personnel report policy first reading of um 425 staff development mentoring 507 corporal punishment 509 enrollment of non-resident students 513 student promotion retention program 602 organization of school calendar and school day 603 curricul ulum development 604 instructional sorry instructional curriculum 607 organization of grade levels 609 religion and religious and cultural observances 615 testing accommodation and modifications 619 staff development and 624 online learning options uh if members of the community have uh any questions or concerns they can can find these on our website and we will approve them at a later date I'd like to make a motion to move the consent agenda forward thank you uh do I have a second on that motion can we let me restate yes so can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda I think we missed the wait did I mess something up the minutes the minutes sorry the minutes um the minutes are from previous board meeting from previous board meeting on the 10th of December and the organizational meeting on the 7th of January um are also included in the consent agenda can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved thank you Jessica second second thank you Michelle thank you laures as well um all those in favor say I I I opposed abstained motion carries okay acknowledgement of contributions here we go let me take a drink for this get my bearings here guys um folks okay so acknowledgement of contributions resolution Minnesota statute 12 3.02 permits school boards to receive for the benefit of the district requests donations or gifts for any proper purpose and apply the same to the purpose designated on that behalf the board may act as Trustee of any trust created for the benefit of the district and for the benefit of peoples thereof therefore the school board of Columbia Heights Public Schools Independent School District number 13 resolves to accept with appreciation the 1,200 $77.50 monetary contributions detailed in the background monetary Life Touch Shutterfly LLC donated a commission of $478 45 to North Park boxtop donated $958 to North Park Kristen stunkle donated $50 to chps 2425 Early Childhood programs Karine Linderman donated $50 to chps 2425 early Early Childhood programs Zack Garmin donated $100 to North Park School for Innovation Sarah Robinson donated $30 to Columbia Heights Public Schools North Beast Pet Care LLC donated $75 to Columbia Heights Public Schools Bob Bessinger donated to $100 to Columbia Heights Public Schools Wind Jammers Corporation donated $250 to support chhs girls basketball Chipotle donated $144 in 5 cents to Columbia Heights ECF for the Early Childhood Program in kind donations Mary Mouse donated coats valued at $300 to the district Center to keep people warm Faith United Methodist St Anthony donated scarves and books valued at $50 to Valley View for students and Pat taken donated art supplies valued at $3,000 to valy view for classroom use the total fiscal year 2024 2025 monetary contributions to date $ 5675309 and um coats at this time are necessary so thank you very much for for all of that yeah thank you Julie anybody else I think you said it Julie all right all those in favor say I'm sorry it's a resolution I need a roll call vote thank you you do Michelle will you please do roll call uh who I Smith I mad I Petway I Palmer I grany I all right resolution carries okay so now we're moving into discussion reports and informational items reports from members of the board let's start with Laura um my report is very short here um since the organizational meeting I attended the uh chair meeting uh prior to this as well as the sub committe uh sub committee on community engagement wonderful pretty much it thank you Michelle yeah um also very short um I attended our organizational meeting last week I also um attended via Zoom the amsd annual legislative preview um which was great great information um the subcommittee from Community engagement meeting before this one as well and that's it wonderful thank you Jessica thank you like all of you I attended the organization meeting last week um I also attended uh the Highland PTO meeting uh last week where they were working on planning their um Family involvement events for the spring um I also attended the um uh ECFE parent advisory council meeting uh last week and learned a little bit about um a big event they have coming up on February 26 they'll be holding a winter carnival here from 4 to 6 for families it sounds like it's going to be lots of fun lots of games lots of information lots of activities um and uh the parent advisory council is also organizing a clothing and toy pass along here in the community center or the family center um and uh they're collecting donations um still this week through Thursday of uh any new orur gently used clothing or toys so you can bring those in um anyone in the community can can donate to that as well so that was fun that I had the opportunity to hear what they were working on um and then I also um had uh some conversation with director Smith and chair grenland um and then I attended the policy meeting subcommittee meeting uh prior to this meeting as well thank you thank you all right Karina um so this is where we talk about what we've done things we've been involved in so do you want to go sure still getting my bearings a little bit um but I have a number of trainings in the leadership conference that's later this week um so other than that nothing else to report awesome thank you Julie um I also attended last week's organizational meeting and I just want to say thank you to all of you for having faith in me to be the treasurer I enjoy that role um and then um I attended the subcommittee on policy just before this meeting wonderful thank you um so I'm going to include a few things that happened in December since this is our first meeting that we've had had sense um I attended a robotics meet which was really fantastic at CA um I really do hope that they continue to host that there um and also uh right before uh Christmas I was able to join with staff and community members to help get some toys out to families at Valley View and it was a really wonderful way to start winter break to be there um I know superintendent stenvik was there there as well um it was a really fantastic time uh so I was very blessed to be able to join that um I also attended the chair meeting last uh week prior to our organizational meeting and then our organizational meeting I had phone calls with several members of the board uh and superintendent stenvik prior to this meeting today I had the chair meeting and the policy subcommittee meeting uh moving on we'll hear from superintendent stck thank you chair granin I received two um Communications from msba that I that the board I will share with the board um the first one is a certificate recognizing member H for completing um their leadership workshops all four phases so congratulations four for your certificate thank you and here's your letter thank you uh the second piece of correspondence from msba is uh the director's award for 20242 is being presented to Michelle pway because Michelle Pat Our member pway has completed a hundred or more hours of attendance at msba sponsored meetings and activities within four years wow congratulations congratulations is your Cate oh and the letter surprise thank I didn't know I was working that hard ah thank you and then for my report first of all um happy New Year I hope everyone had a wonderful winter break we did receive um substantial positive feedback on the two weeks off in December so um I know the calendar committee is noting that and taking that into consideration for a future um the data warehouse that we currently use is called Viewpoint and Viewpoint is actually sunsetting um therefore our research and assessment coordinator daa fabec scheduled informational demonstrations of three other options um that we are exploring um I have to say I was impressed with the capabilities of each of the three um so basically a new what a new data warehouse will do it will support teachers and accessing progress data um helping with communication to families and translated communication about things like attendance and progress data um and it also will provide an overall snapshot um for our new strategic plan which is very very exciting at the district level at the it provides information at the building level and at the classroom level so no nothing has been selected at this time but there's a quite large committee who's reviewing um the different options and so we're excited to move forward with that um let's see lastly director Henkin and I met with our transportation routing company um so of course we have a transportation company a bus company and then we have a routing company uh organ gation and all three of us have to communicate regularly um there were some discussion on the needs to improve communication to both families and schools um particularly when school bus routes are changed um so we had a really good conversation and I think came to some agreements about how things need to run um and just seeking increased communication on that and that that's all I have for this evening thank you wonderful thank you all right moving on to voluntary free kindergarten program update with director stunkle um uh super assistant superintendent nambo and early childhood coordinator [Music] waren chair grin so stanic and members of the board uh I am here tonight with my two colleagues director stano and Karissa kurin to give you some updates on our voluntary PR kindergarten program our mission in Colombia Heights Public Schools creating worlds of opportunity for each and every Learners all belong and all succeed three of our core values will be represented in our presentation tonight the first one being Community since we're serving all precare for children from the district and outside the district and then collaboration as you can see takes collaboration to make things work in a school district and then Integrity we believe in the work that we do and being transparent in all ways so you are probably familiar with the voluntary pre kindergarten program that we refer to as VPK uh though there will be changes regarding qual qualifying students because of MD changes that have happened uh there will not be any programmatic changes to the 2025 26 in terms of what we do to meet the needs of students in pre4 and so students will continue to receive the same high quality programming from our licensed teachers uh in the elementary schools and I'll pass it on to director sto I mean Karissa thank you um we just wanted to give a little context in his history to our our our prek 4S and our VPK programming so um you can see prior to 2016 and 17 prek was still offered but it was a fee based program with some scholarship options and then um we've during that time ran halfday programs as we've progressed um those continued and then we were able to add a full day uh pilot program once we received the VPK funding for the 201617 year so you can see kind of our trajectory and history um in the presentation um so that went from a fee based program to free for all of our students in our prek 4S classes in 2017 and 18 we added the full day at Highland it originally the pilot was at Valley View to start then we added it at Highland the following school year added it to North Park School for Innovation and then this school school year we added a second full day option at valy view um so what is being required Now by mde is some qualifications for the students and families that qualify for the voluntary prek funding so those are listed on this list and that will um be in effect for the 2025 2026 school year prior to uh well all of the years that we've had VPK until next year we didn't have students did not have to qualify they could enroll in the VPK program the state gave us so much funding for so many slots because when we first applied and still now our district has such a high free and reduced lunch level and because of that they said basically any other children would be grandfathered in basically you know that you have such a high poverty level that all of the children for these slots could could take those slots but now mde because of the state legislator's determination has said no now each child in those slots have to qualify so I just wanted to be really clear about the shift that happened the final qualification is is defined as at risk by the school district so the School District then has the leeway to determine other qualifications for people that want to enroll in our VPK program so what our recommendation is as Administration is um that I want to give a little bit of research um for our recommendation and our recommendation is that any student whose primary residents would be located within the Columbia Heights School District boundaries would be therefore uh qualify as at risk the reason being research including by the Pew charitable trusts shows that it is not only the socioeconomic status of individuals but the socioeconomic level of neighborhoods that can have an impact on residents so neighborhood poverty is associated with atrisk uh qualifications and because we have a higher poverty level within Colombia Heights and especially within Hilltop we consider that therefore neighborhood poverty in you know in the in the area so even if an individual family isn't in high poverty because they live in the community that has a higher poverty level that would qualify them as at risk so I I can do a deep dive into this but we did do research the Met Council uh has researched from 2019 to 202 3 that Columbia Heights has a 29.2% of residents living 185% or below the poverty line and Hilltop has 60.5% of residents living at that 185% below the poverty line so for a family of four an income of 31,200 or less would be living at that line and you might say 185% why 185% so uh uh assistant superintendent in nway and I did a little research and 185% is very often used at the federal level and at the state level for determining poverty for programs such as Wick Head Start jobs programs health programs so the Met Council uses 185% that's where that came from sorry we geeked out on that a little bit so for so there therefore all of those qualifiers that we were looking at before all of those would qualify if none if they don't have a single one of those yet they live in our district they would qualify for a free VPK spot they would not need to pay to do our prek4 program if they lived out of our district and didn't have a single one of those qualifiers then they could not sit in one of our VPK slots we cannot pay pay for that so therefore then those families we would revert back to that fee base that we had prior to getting VPK and um director Henkin and uh executive or I keep wanting to say executive director assistant superintendent nmway and many others uh on the team looked at what would then therefore be an appropriate fee we looked at well we've got this model of the fee base for prek 3 and so we worked with that and also looked at neighboring districts and our recommendation for those again very few people that would be non-qualifying would be at $345 a month for a five day a week halfday program we would only allow non-qualifying people to enroll in the AM or the PM not the full day because the full day we have always had as a restriction that it could only only people that live within the school district or the School boundary so in the Highland boundary they enroll in the F day at Highland in the Valley View boundary they enroll in the full day at Valley View so they would not be able to enroll in full day but they could enroll in half day and pay a fee and then for students that are served by special education there's special education funding that covers that so this is a governance uh issue because of the fee uh so we are recommending that for prek4 for non-qualifying students there would be a $345 per month fee and uh and that would start with next year based on the restrictions that mde has put that we cannot use VPK funding for non-qualifying students and we will be coming back in two weeks uh as an action item for that fee amount thank you wonderful thank you uh any discussion jul I have a question um so when you were talking about the 185% of the poverty what is the poverty rate dollar you know I was like 31,000 was that would be the 31,200 is for a family of four as an example I just gave that as an example I didn't I haven't written down what all of the PO you know for because it depends on the family size also so I just as a standard was you know where the 185 came in and how that worked um sure and then the 345 a month you said you sat with director Hankins and just kind of worked out that that number what is included in coming up with that dollar amount sure so we looked at what is the two day a week amount for three prek 3 plus the three-day amount for prek 3 and so that you know gave us a you know a number and then we also looked at how much are our neighboring districts how much does Richfield charge you know some of our the the districts that we compare ourselves to and and that is how that amount was determined and at the next the next item on your agenda I'm coming with a request to increase the fees for some of our programs including prek-3 so we don't look at costs in determining how much we are going to charge we look at what everybody else is doing to determine what we charge so with programs like our prek 3 for example the parent fees are not the only funding stream we use and we have to be very conscious of the costs that if they they could decide to go to a neighboring District if our prices were much higher so we look at what can the market bear and what are our other funding streams so it's different than like mini Adventures where we take the whole cost of the program we divide it by how many students there are and and then that figures out the fee with programs these educational programs we have multiple funding streams that we're using that help us to offset a little bit the cost thank you superintendent St great question we this did come up in discussion and when um director stunkle ran the numbers for how many many students would not qualify it's a handful so the fee could never cover the cost um so the majority of the cost is VPK free slots okay so so I think that's where it was like well we need to look at Alternatives rather than you know cost yeah will this cost cover so it will help but at this time it's it's just a handful of students okay thank you thanks uh Karina go ahead thanks um I'm curious if with the fee implementation if there will still be opportunities for scholarships for families that can't meet the need but still don't qualify the scholarships that we have are are the qualifiers right so the free and reduced lunch form so we don't have scholarship we don't have in-house scholarships we have access to scholarships such as Pathways but if you qualify for Pathways you would qualify for VPK okay does that make sense yeah great question thank you oh Michelle just before I just wanted it might be helpful to go back to that slide where we list all the qualifiers just so we have can sit with that for a moment because these are all ores right so right and we we did wonder if we should read the whole list to you but I mean if you make one of these so if you qualify for educational benefits or if you are an English language learner or if you're American Indian or you know many people might have multiple right but you only need to have one to qualify to enroll in the program for free thank you I'm just curious as to um what half day and full day looks like as far as time yeah um so the full day they yeah shall I go back oh is it thank you okay so the half day is two and a half hours in the morning or two and a half hours in the afternoon sorry yeah we're not changing the schedule and then the full full day they arrive at the start of the school day they leave at the end of the school day great thank you um I have a oh Jessica go ahead um thank you very much for the presentation I just wanted to say that I really appreciate you walking us through this and for the very thoughtful approach to thinking about how we maintain access to prek4 for all of our families um when I initially heard about the changes I was concerned about what might happen in terms of the impact on enrollment we have such a long track record now 10 years of having a voluntary prek paid for um for families so just knowing how essential this program is to our district to students and their families um in terms of Readiness for school in terms of um their logi tunal academic success um so I'm just I'm very heartened um to see that we have a proposal that would allow us to maintain all of that programming um the expanded programming that we've been able to establish as well as um making it financially accessible to all of our families so I just wanted to um to thank you for that thank you and I'd like to say I really wish given that we're really talking about a handful of students that would have to pay a fee I really wish that we didn't have to even do that because the concern is anytime you say anything about a fee that's that has the potential to turn people off but we legally cannot put a child into a VPK slot we cannot receive that money if they don't qualify so that's the bind that we're in thank you and I fail to mention too I think you know primarily um I think all of us at this table agree that um you know Student Success is our primary goal um but prek4 does also serve as sort of an on-ramp to our schools um to a lot of families it's their first introduction to what are elements schools are like in our district what type of resources support are available um the care that our our teachers and our staff show for our students and the family um uh involvement that we offer at our schools and so for that reason um I I I also think that it's important um to meet those needs as well and we should have introduced terissa Orin our early childhood coordinator who was prior to this a prek-4 teacher and an ECF teacher and an ecse teacher and all of all of the things that she now supervises and it's so wonderful that she is in this role because she also oversees ecse and the prek4 program in addition to the prk3 ETC ecse is fully integrated into it so thank you thank you yeah I piloted I piloted the full day at Valley View so this is a program very close to my heart so wonderful um I just have a just a couple of things um so in the qualification requirement uh you say has experienced homelessness in the past 24 months not to get really wonky uh policy wonky on you all but um homelessness can be defined uh a number of different ways depending on who's doing the defining uh what what uh What description are you are we using for this suggestion yes so the minister Department of Education as the minini vento Act of 2001 and those are the qualification that we use to assess who h less and when so that we can support and provide them the help necessary to access School immediately without delays wonderful thank you um and then my other question is I know you talked about um anybody who's within the school district um is automatically qualified but in some of the description you did mention specifically Columbia Heights and Hilltop Southern Fridley is also in our school district um so I'm assuming that even if you were in southern Fridley because you are part of our school district you are considered qualified absolutely it was just that the Met Council didn't have the poverty level for that portion of Fridley that is part of our school district so I was just using those as examples but thank you for that clarification anybody that lives within the Columbia Heights Public School District would qualify wonderful thank you so much K I was just wondering if the recommendation for this language um of living in the district as being defined as the at risk if that's the sole language or could there be other case-by casee situations that the district could deem at risk that isn't just living in the district yes there are other um situation that will be on a Case by case basis okay and would that be part of the language that could be a part of this that we're approving otherwise it looks as if it's justce is that right yes so we named discretion of the district administrator so that there are multiple other options uh otherwise if we list them then we'll be limiting ourselves to you know using whatever people's situations are that may allow them to qualify for okay thank you thank you Jessica uh I think that's a good um point that you raised director Smith and I'm wondering if maybe we should think about um if if the board does approve um that that fee rate um thinking about how we might include in our communication to families in the form because I think they'll have to designate right if they're qualifying or if they meet one of those qu criteria or not yes we would uh so that last paragraph is really what what we are recommending that it would be that the primary residence is located within the Columbia Heights boundaries uh and then also that District administration retains the discretion to review other requests for qualifying VPK and mde has indicated that that is a pro allowable that the school district can still have the discretion but the the district just has to review the requests sure so that could be shared with families as part of the application process or something so if there were families that would want to have their situation reviewed correct an example that mde gave is that like in a community if you knew that a factory was going to be closing um in the next couple of months and that that was going to have an impact on the uh employment of a family for example that would be an example thank you perhaps one final detail that of importance is that uh all the prek for students in our district receive transportation to and from school all right thank you so much so we will come you'll come back at our next official board meeting on the 28th and ask for uh it'll be an action item We'll be asking for approval all right thank you so much thank you thank you next up we have director stunkle uh who's going to be talking to us about Community Education fees for 2025 2026 chair grantlin members of the board superintendent stenvik I typically come to you with the fees for Adventure Club and mini adventures and after uh well over 10 years of not increasing our fees for ECFE or pre3 it was in meeting with director Henkin we and the super and superintendent stenvik we recognized that it was well past time to look at increasing the fees for many of our community aded programs so our mission creating worlds of opportunity for each and every learner all belong all succeed here also the core values you'll hear Community collaboration and integrity so with manyi adventures with all of these fees that I'm presenting today my recommendation is for an increase of approximately 5% that was the percentage amount that we did last the last couple of years for adventure Club in manyi Adventures a reminder for the returning members and new information for the new member Adventure Club and Many Adventures are our child care programs within the school district and they must be self-supporting we cannot use District funds to help cover the cost of those programs therefore the cost the the fees that we charge must be reflective of the cost of the program so uh you'll see that uh what the fees currently are for example for a family whose student is going five days a week this year the fee is $323 a week and for Many Adventures this is a 6:30 a.m. to a 6: p.m program it would go up from 323 to 339 per week um you see the four days 3 Days To one day a week many of our families do five days a week but not all and we really try to arrange it such that you know the you feather in the the two- day a week and the three-day a week so that we can try really try to get to that 20 students in the classroom at any given time and that's with two staff people so we are uh DHS certified and many of these expectations are based on that um but also we do have uh other scholarship that families use CCAP Pathways one Pathways two so the majority of our families are not paying out of pocket this full amount they do have scholarships uh or funding from CCAP that they're drawing from so again our costs go up at least 5% depending on you know depending on the cost right Staffing goes up Health Care goes up etc etc and we are so thankful that we are actually well we're almost at capacity for our um our staffing for for a brief moment in time we were fully staffed and then we had a little change U but we uh we're still working on all all of that but uh for Adventure Club again also about a 5% uh so uh daily $22.50 this year goes up to $24 um a day this is after school uh for a school release day when those are grading days um holidays that the district isn't closed like Dr Martin Luther King day on Monday we'll have Adventure Club that would go up to $53 a day and again so there are uh CCAP can be used for Adventure Club CCAP and Pathways can be used for Many Adventures ECFE I mean I've Carissa and I started here in 20 2006 the vast majority of our families uh pay on the low end and some of them aren't able to pay even the lowest amount um and that's for ECFE and that's for prek-3 and that has that is why I've hesitated increasing the fees because when you have the majority paying the lowest amount and struggling at that why however all of these program ECFE and pre3 the state says no one turned away for inability to pay so we say to families this is the lowest amount but if you can't do that what can you do and we work with the families so uh here it's sliding fee scale depending on the Family's income they they let us know where that is we work with them but you can see an increase from $24 to $25 for a full year class that's for the whole year so uh and depending on their income it it adjusts up that's ECFE Early Childhood family education and then for an infant class that's a partial year so it's it's less because it only goes for a couple of months the short session also just a couple of months so you know we adjust the fee based on how long it lasts for and then prek 3 um that's you can see for the the lowest the people who have an income of 0 to 11,000 um it's $22 uh and that's that's per month um and and that would go from 22 to 23 so here again 5% increase we haven't increased the fees for pre3 in 15 years um so we're suggesting a 5% increase and it's approximate 5% if you know if you're pulling out your calculators you'll see that I did some rounding so the governance is that in two weeks I will come back requesting that you approve so that we can start to kind of course correct with our fund our our ECFE funds our prek-3 which is School Readiness and fees um and then that we can be sturdy with Adventure Club and Many Adventures all right thank you thank you any questions I just I just have a comment um thank you very much for keeping for being very thoughtful and and and how we're looking at these fees and trying to keep them reasonable but also keeping in mind that things are continuing to inflate a little bit and that we do need to keep somewhat of a pace so we don't end up at a later date having to have a huge jump um so thank you very much thank you Julie um so with ECFE is since I don't have kids at that age um how how many classes is this per week or is this per month because if they PID $24 for the whole year how many classes are they getting or how does that um sorry that I didn't give that level of detail ECFE is typically one day a week for two hours this year we have one class that's a Spanish ECFE class that's two days a week uh and but next year I think we're going to go back to just being one day because it is a little tricky for people uh and that enables us to reach out to more people but it's a 2-hour class um one one day a week and it's for is it like 20 20 weeks 24 weeks approximately so it's I mean it starts at the beginning of the year not the very first week because our ECFE staff help with Early Childhood screening in the schools but starts the second week and goes all the way through the school year so it's a lot of programming and it's for parents and children uh the children birth to 5 years of age with their parents we have a license parent educator um who then meets with the parents and a licensed Early Childhood teacher that works with the children and it's the best program ever and Minnesota is the only state that has it and every single School District in the state of Minnesota has ECFE and we celebrated 50 years of it this past year W it's amazing awesome it's the best Jessica just had a question about General budget impact because I understand and you you had mentioned that you know any increases to the fees for mini Adventures or Adventure Club that has a direct impact on the community education budget and its ability to self- sustain um I'm a little bit fuzzier on how changes to the ECFE and prek fees impact the community ed budget just generally Community Ed is the umbrella under which are these other programs so ECFE has its own budget with its own fund balance but it's under the umbrella of community ed School Readiness funds which can only be used for three and four year olds has its own fund balance and and budget I can draw from General Community Ed to support School Readiness I can draw from General Community Ed to support ECFE I can't use ECFE money to support Adventure Club I can't use ECFE money to support Adult Enrichment so does that make sense so like dare I say buckets there are buckets in community ed too recepticles recepticles baskets so but does that help so so there all of those are under General Community ad just like the general fund can be used for multiple things the general Community ad can be used so um yeah that Mak and then Adventure Club and mini Adventures are under that General Community Ed fund sure but I can't use funds that the state gives to support that program I can use any profits that those programs provide for General Community Ed does that and many school districts actually that's a very much an income generator their child care programs are not for us because we keep our we really just cover the cost but for many school districts that is the cash cow for the community ad programs so even though prek 3 and ECFE have additional funding streams the in increasing the fees will contribute positively to the solvency or self sustainability of the overall Community Ed program right correct yes because it's braiding funding thank you yeah you see you know Community ad is fee based and other funding streams thank you anybody else have questions all right thank you so much we look forward to seeing you in two weeks thank you all right next we have uh director Lindsay Bennett to talk about the pay Equity report welcome thank you okay chair granin members of the board superintendent stenvik um tonight I'll present some information on the pay Equity report um some of you have seen this report before and others haven't so stop me if you have questions um our mission creating worlds of opportunity for each and every learner all belong I'll succeed um core values again aligned with the Columbia height School Board Equity statement but looking at collaboration as working together for the common goal so the governance question um this will be brought forward at the next board meeting as part of the consent agenda so what's the purpose of the pay Equity report we report salary information on employees to assure that the institution is not discriminating against female employees in their compensation practices we have to file a report by January 31st 2025 and we're automatically out of compliance um background um we submit a report every three years the last report was filed in January of 2022 um and every public sector employer in the state of Minnesota needs to file a report on the three-year cycle so what does the test actually have it has four parts the first one is the completeness and accuracy test and that's simply we just submit the report by January 31st and we pass so that's always good the low bar um the next one is the statistical analysis test there's a salary range test and exceptional service pay test um so a little bit about each test one again as long as we submit the report by January 31st we pass that test so we've passed every year that test um test two it compares the salary data to determine if female classes are paid below male classes of comparable work so as part of this I submit all this information in a spreadsheet it gets put into a system and they look at um like a teacher classification is usually a female dominated class and then they look at um like AUST stodal class which is typically male dominated and there's a point value assigned to each position um test three is a salary range test and this is for how long it takes for person to get from the bottom of the salary schedule to the top of the salary schedule and it just looks to see if um again a good example is teacher female dominated classes at 17 years to Max where a custodial is 5 years to Max so they look at all the positions that have salary ranges and determine if um males are reaching the top faster than female classes and then test four is the exceptional service paid test and this looks at whether there's a larger percentage of male classes receiving longevity or performance pay than female classes and I bold receiving because it doesn't matter if they are eligible to receive maybe in two years they have to actually be receiving um performance or longevity so next steps um based on the initial pay Equity report um it looks like we're in compliance with all four of the tests um it gets submitted to the Minnesota management and budget system with the state of Minnesota um before January 31st 2025 and they do the final they look in the compare and sometimes they'll say well why was this position pointed different last time so we're submitting a report in compliance it's up to them to give us the final okay um so the governance question will be um to approve the pack report on January 28th all right thank you so much are there any questions Julie thank you director vennett um does all governments do this or is this just all school districts I believe it's all governments like all cities and states do you know or is it I mean what I says every public sector employer is supposed to do public sector thank you that was just unique to me thank you Michelle um I don't know I guess I'm curious if there would ever be a time where there just so happens to be less women receiving like you know performance pay just because of the timing or you know like it's coming but they're not receiving it yet and it just looks that way like I don't know um Vice chair Palmer remember this a few times um we haven't passed one of the areas and you can um submit a reconsideration so I know we've done couple times just saying we're a female dominated organization and years to Max they 17 and so they've accepted that um some years they try to work with you and see what they can do you might be able say Oh They'll be eligible in you know a year um it some parts that did help this year were um the education system contract went down to one step instead of three so that's helped with the numbers too what if it what if we didn't mean to you still got to submit the report yep got it yeah great question Jessica thank you I'm I think I'm misunderstanding exactly what we're going to be asked to approve next time but when we say approve the report what are what are we going to be asked to approve at the next meeting um you're being asked to approve what I'm going to submit to the Minnesota budget there's a compliance report I can um put in the January 28th packet okay so you see that um it doesn't say in compliance in each category but shows you what will be submitted but it it show the numbers the numbers that are being submitted so will'll be able to review that as a yeah I'll put in for the 2 okay perfect thank you I see superintendent steni is writing a note so I assume that it's going to be in our packets this week thank you it'll be uh soon board book on the 28th on the 28th yes thank you thank you any other questions all right thank you so much thanks thanks thank you all right now we will move into action items and director henkins is going to come and talk talk to us about the fiscal year 2024 audit welcome director Henkin thank you chair grin members of the board and superintendent stck um this evening um seeking acceptance of the uh 2024 um District audit uh this was presented in detail at the December 10th um school board meeting um by our um auditing firm mmkr Jim Ikon um was the presenter and gave detail of the results of that audit and highlights um attached in the board book this this week was the final Acer um so the annual comprehensive financial report um that information also is posted to the district website so um again this evening just seeking acceptance of that audit report all right thank you so much um are there any questions Julie I just have one question I noticed that we have the association of school business officials um certification within here it's as of 2023 when did we get the 24 or did we not have this assessment in um so we submit that um we have to submit the um by the end of December so by December 23rd or December 31st um we have to submit for that award um and the results um Range um we've received it in November of the following year almost 11 months later um we've received it in July I mean so it just depends um I I anticipate it'll be a little bit sooner um I would anticipate you know towards the end of the school year that June um time frame will probably receive that again for this year um but it takes a little bit of time we submit it and then um you know because it's a national award um so uh school districts from Across the Nation are submitting for that and um they're constantly looking for people to review those from school districts um and uh uh so it's it's a process it takes time and I just want to say congratulations on on doing this and I love that we're submitting this so that they we do have an ex external third party looking at our process and shows that we are fiscally handling our you know financial statements correctly so thank you yeah thank you any other comments or questions I have another question what um maybe this it's just a question do we get a separate Federal report as well or is it just this entire financial statements because it's like 200 pages yeah we we do get a um a separate single audit it's four or five pages um uh that I can share to the board as well I would like that thank you yep absolutely Jessica I just wanted to note that um director hul had some great questions this evening but the rest of us not asking questions is not necessarily a reflection of uh our our disinterest we had substant conversation about the audit uh at our last meeting and so if anyone in the community um is interested in that um more substantive conversation I would encourage people to go back and watch that that meeting thank you so much for that yes post it on our YouTube channel it is all right so um thank you for the presentation can I get a motion to accept the auditive the audited comprehensive financial report for f year 2024 as presented so moved by Julie second second by Michelle all those in favor say I I opposed abstained motion carries thank you so much all right back again to join uh director hakins is director Bennett for the discontinuation discontinuance of program programs and positions resolution do I read the resolution first yes I do okay you know see it's not just it's not just you Karina it is also me trying to get my bearings at this part um so I'm not being a helpful parliamentarian either what was that I'm not being a helpful parliamentarian either yeah I mean what the heck to give you a where's my PO yeah all right so this is a resolution I shall read it resolution directing the administration to make recommendations for reductions in programs and positions and reasons therefore whereas the compensatory Aid funding stream is uncertain with the potential for Columbia Heights Public Schools to see a reduction of approximately $5 million and whereas the school district continues to have a special education cross subsidy defic cross subsidy of over 3.5 million requiring the school district's general fund to cover this obligation and whereas the school district continues to have an English learner cross subsidy of approximately $150,000 with funding uncertainties and requires the school district's general fund to cover this obligation and whereas the new voter approved operating Levy funding remains well below the Metro average and whereas the School District budget is based on an uncertain future enrollment and whereas the financial condition of the school district is dependent on federal state and local revenues and these have not been sufficient to cover the total cost of ownership for school district expenses and whereas Transportation costs are projected to increase and whereas the school district has an obligation to balance the budget on an annual basis and remain within the school board fund balance policy and whereas reductions in expenditures and school finances may include discontinuance of positions and discontinuance or curtailment of programs if necessary and whereas a determination must be made as to which faculty and staff contracts and programs may be terminated and not renewed in which licensed staffs may be placed on unrequested leave of absence without pay or fringe benefits in affecting discontinuance of positions and programs now therefore it be resolved that the school board of Independent School District number 13 Columbia Heights hereby directs the superintendent of schools and administration to consider the discontinuance of positions and or programs to effectuate economies in the school district and reduce expenditures make recommendations in the school board for the discontinuance of positions curtailment of positions discontinuance of programs curtailment of programs in order to balance the School District budget the motion for oh so can I get a motion to accept the resolution so moved Laura second second second by Michelle all right discussion do we have a discussion now yes Laura I'll just I'll just bring this up for for anybody who who's not familiar with this process we do this every single year um the reason being is is that um to be able to consider um what positions to fill for next year that we have to um give guidance to the superintendent to be able to look into this process um it's also very important that we start this this at this time of the year so that all of these Staffing decisions can be made prior to the end of the school year so if necessary if we do need to reduce or to be able to put put um uh staff on um unrequested leave of absence that they would have uh an opportunity to be able to seek perhaps other employment or we would have more opportunity to be able to find placement for them so we just want to get this done early this is something we do every single year and every single District in the entire state does this so thank you I don't know if if if uh anybody has any other questions Jessica uh thank you and thank you uh Vice chair Palmer I think that's really helpful context if you're not familiar with this um cycle and this process Um this can look very dire um and I think we do have some significant budget challenges that are outlined very clearly in this resolution um a lot of those are systemic issues that um continue to persist um and create real challenges for uh balancing our budget um every year and over the long term so um those are very real challenges um at the same time knowing that this this is um a difficult but essential part of our regular work um in the district I think it is always helpful to kind of go over um what the pieces of this are and what the timeline looks like so I'm wondering if if you would be able to just talk to us generally about what what that process entails yeah so I guess a general Outlook is um we start meeting with principals and directors um to look at efficiencies um we look at enrollment for the foll school year we put kidss up a grade level to see where we have um you might might be a switch of a grade level teacher to might be three at one section two at another um but as far as the board goes there's a few different resolutions that come forward for approval um if we have un request leave of absence that would be 10e staff that we don't have a position for which I've been doing this like 15 years I think we've only do it once or twice maybe and then we usually find a spot for them so typically we don't get into the ulas but if we do we have to do that's part of this process and for an un request leave of absence they have a right to a hearing too so they get proposed on placement have time to request a hearing and then there's a final placement um under superintendent STX leadership we have broken it into two different resolutions so one the first one that comes forward would be staff that are on a tier one license that expires a tier 2 license that expires and out a field that expires um I'm trying to think if there a long-term sub or cut for performance we try to do that first and give them the heads up um a lot of them we can hire back um but giving staff a chance if it is say performance related um that they know they should probably go out and start looking for another position and then the second resolution is staff that we cannot find a position for um but are not tenured um so we try to do that one second because we get retirements we get resignations we might be able to save somebody we might get a bunch of kids enrolled and we can save them that way too but really trying to do that two-step process and notifying staff as soon as possible if they do not have a position great go ahead um thank you for that and I know um much of this historically has impacted um positions but this resolution is also for reductions in program so it's um multitude of efficiencies that could be enacted um and so maybe this is a question for superintendent stanic but I know in the past we've talked about sort of what what are the general principles or guidance that um are provided um to our directors to staff as we're thinking about um what potential efficiencies or program discontinuation um could occur thank you um so we're we're after this board meeting we'll begin that process to really look at at the finances and the en enrollment projections and then um you know programmatical offerings that we currently have um this is always a very challenging process for everyone involved board members Administration obviously the staff families and students as well are impacted by this so um when when the day comes in spring when if if we do have to make um those difficult decisions to cut um positions and programs it's it's very challenging all the way around um uh for the last almost 10 years we've had to cut a million dollars on one year a half a million dollars on the next year a million a half a million and so on and so forth last year we um thanks to the community and supporting us through the operating Levy also thanks to our steady and increasing enrollment it was the first time since I've been in Columbia Heights that we didn't make cuts um which was incredible um in the event that um we're looking at an um cutting an entire program um which we have had to do during my tenure superintendent uh it was K2 Spanish for example um there have been a few we've had uh director Bennett and I hosted it was Zoom it was it was pandemic time so it was in the it was in the zoom World um we hosted Community conversations and and explained the process to community members or families um and then we talked to first and foremost before it went public we talked to the teachers that were were impacted um so you know I mean if we if we were looking at I think many of us have seen in other districts over the years cutting music or cutting PE at the elementary level I mean it's those are just incredibly challenging conversations um and those are if I don't foresee us being in that position um but if we were to ever get to something like that we would have to have robust parent and Community conversations um to weigh in to help us guide guide th those decisions thank you thank you uh Julie go ahead I just want to make a comment um in the resolution we say whereas the um voter approved operating Levy funding remains well below the Metro average um I don't want people to think that we don't appreciate what they've done in voting that Levy in um however it does still impact us in a sense that other communities right next door to us are are getting much more money um and so that and yet it's all based on enrollment numbers and so on so as as you know our community is less rich Let's just say than others we do have that challenge of making up the difference with state and local funding um and so that's why that is in there it isn't that we don't appreciate what everybody has been able to contribute to our schools yep great Point yes I I think that that's well said um any other discussion all right as it is a resolution we will do a roll call vote right thank you Mich I Smith I mes I pway I Palmer I granin I resolution passes thank you speaking of enrollment we have uh superintendent stvi is going to discuss building capacity thank you chair granin members of the board um uh we keep a close eye on our enrollment and um we've had many discussions at the board table this school year around um open enrollment there's one mechanism by which a district can close um to open enrollment and that is based on building capacity um and so we monitor enrollment and the board receives uh weekly enrollment U updates so um I have conversations with principles and principes have conversations with their staff and and and so on and so forth um so this evening I am here seeking um approval to close Highland Elementary third grade to open enrollment um and that would be for the remainder of the school year or until things change in terms of their enrollment which is what has happened at Valley View so the the board gave approval to close um Valley View grades kindergarten second grade third grade and fifth grade um and I've had Communications and conversations with with the school with Valley View and um they are seeking um to reopen to open enrollment given their overall overall enrollment so um a lot goes into the this you know the the analysis tracking the what's happening in the community enrollment Trends but then also those conversations so so anyway this evening I'm here seeking approval to close Highland Elementary grade three to open enrollment um I will note that um we we are very close to finalizing the process of adding a third grade uh teacher at North Park um so that was you know um that will help with having Highland closed so recommendation is is to um approve closing Highland Elementary grade three to open enrollment and reopening Valley View All grades so the current grades that are closed is kindergarten second grade third grade and fifth grade so reopening um and that would be for the remainder of the 2024 25 school year or until classroom um capacity changes all right so there's a motion to uh approve the closure at Highland and the reopening at Valley View can I get get a motion so moved Karina second Michelle any discussion Jessica just a point of order I think the suggested motion that we have in board book does not include reopening Val Val reopening valy view you are correct it does not sorry about that as stated as stated yeah thank you thank you for that parliamentarian appreciate it yeah I do also have a question um what was my question oh so as there have been a couple of times where the board's been asked to approve uh reopening open enrollment um after it had previously been closed and I would and I know that when we have families who want to enroll um in a Grade that's closed to open enrollment if we have another spot for them at another building we try try to encourage their enrollment there when we reopen um open enrollment after it's been closed during the year do we maintain a weit list or do we reach back out to families who had wanted to enroll and let them know that it's open so the district has the right to assign of assignment for open enrolled families um so it's I mean open enrolled families don't when it comes to our three elementary schools don't get the choice they can certainly have a request or have a preference um but they don't actually get the choice we have the right of assignment um their uh families can change their enrollment you know go through the process to change their enrollment I would have to check if um if Len in our placement center keeps a waiting list or or it makes note of that or not um it can be disruptive to students or to children to to change enrollment so um or at the secondary level too I don't know if we've we've done that I just just curious because we you know over the last year have there have been several times where occasions where we've closed it and then reopened it you know during the the Academic Year so right and that my example doesn't apply to secondary because of course we have only have one middle school and one high school um I I can certainly check to see if there's that list is kept in the placement center thank you thank you for that that's a great question and any other questions or discussion I think it is really important to note that um four years ago when I first started on the board we weren't closing like this was not a conversation that was ever happening um and we've had such a fantastic growth in our school Community um that now we are having this conversation fairly regularly so it is a great problem to have I think um so all right if there is no other discussion um let's move to voting on it all those in favor say I I I opposed abstained motion carries thank you thank you all right board topics does anybody have board topics Michelle yeah I just wanted to know I heard Karina mention it earlier too but was anyone else going to the msba leadership conference on Thursday and Friday I think it's just the two of you just us oh no I'm going to go too I can go on Thursday oh wonderful yeah I can go on Thursday it it took some doing but I managed to work it out that's awesome wonderful only verified last night wonderful all right a that's it I just wanted to know whose faces I yeah uh any other board topics any other others hey yay I did it all right uh if there's nothing else we will adjourn today at 7:16