Hello, >> welcome. >> I can't have long. >> It's 6 o'clock and I will call this meeting of the um August 12th meeting of the Columbia Heights Public School Board um to order. If you are able, please rise and join us in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. Michelle, if you could uh would you do roll call, please? >> I sure will. Um, Maderas >> here, >> Pway here, Palmer >> here, Granland >> here, >> B here, Smith >> here, >> Superintendent Stendic >> here. Wonderful. Thank you. All right. Columbia Heights Public Schools, creating worlds of opportunity for each and every learner. All belong, all succeed. Our core values are community, excellence, collaboration, integrity, respect, courage, and innovation. Uh agenda, approval, adjustments, and announcements. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda? >> So move. >> Thank you, Laura. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Second by Julie. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Abstained. Motion carries. Thank you. Announcements. August 19th at 5:30 will be our school board work session here in the community room. August 26th at 6 o'clock will be our regular school board meeting, community room. September 1st, our district is closed. September 2nd is the first day back to school. Uh September 9th at 6 PM is our regular school board meeting here again in the community room. Next, communication to the board. Is there any communication to the board at this time? There is not. All right. Well, we're just blowing through this. For those folks at home who are seeing this, um they may notice a different setup than our usual one. We're trying something new. So, if there's any feedback, please let us know. Uh, we're trying to make it a little bit easier for everybody to see and hear. Um, all right. Moving forward, we will go to the consent agenda. Our consent agenda includes the personnel report, treasury report, and minutes. Can I get a motion to accept the consent agenda? >> So, move >> by Laura. Thank you. Can I get a second? >> Second >> by Julie. All those in favor say I. >> I >> I opposed. Abstained. Motion carries. All right. Now we'll move into the acknowledgement of contributions. So Minnesota State statute 123B.02 permits school boards to receive for the benefit of the district bequests, 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 pupils thereof. Therefore, the school board of Columbia Heights Public Schools, Independent School District number 13, resolves to accept with appreciation the $2,985 in monetary contributions detailed in the background. Detailed background monetary Penny Lee donated $700. Dave Miley donated $250. Lorie Seaffort and Ronald Malcolm each donated $200. Trisha Wilmet, Nancy Wl, Jacqueline Miley, Timothy Miley, Diane Scully, and Rodney Miley each donated $100. Jodie Jackala, Carol Crawling, Cindy Eers, Pam Sigurson, Janet Azelen, if I said that wrong, I apologize. Michael Reyn Reynolds B. Winberg, Stephanie Sabel, and Charles Martin each donated $50. Elizabeth Thomas and Lorie and Bruce Watland each donated $30. Lorraine Olsbow and Karen Rudd each donated $25. And Bnee Miley donated $20 to the staff scholarship fund for Dean Miley Memorial. Art and Karen Rudd donated $145. James and Brenda Babau donated $100. Alan Maren Ogdy donated $50. Fred and Terry Edstrom and Pam Sigurson each donated $25. Betty Thomas donated $10 to the retired staff scholarship fund in memory of Ralph Ky. An anonymous donor donated $50 to the Columbia Heights School District in honor of Elroy Hon. The total fiscal year for 2425. monetary contributions to date uh is 1,900 192,381.13 cents. That was last year's. We will get this amended. >> No, that's from last year. >> Oh, it is. This is also from last year. Okay. Thank you for the clarification. So again, the total fiscal year 2024 through 2025 monetary contributions to date are $192,381.13. Can I get a motion to approve the contribution? >> So move. >> Thank you, Michelle. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Second from Jessica. Any discussion? I think just the perpetual Thank you very much to our community. We really appreciate it. and um it's wonderful to see all of the scholarship funds that um come in and that our students get to receive as they graduate. So, thank you to everyone. Okay, I'm sure everybody is tired of hearing me talk. Uh so, we'll move forward to reports from >> We need to adapt. >> Oh, we have to Yep. >> I took a whole class, didn't I? All right. No discussion. Uh discussions closed. Uh all those in favor Oh, no. We need a roll call vote because it's a resolution. Wow. We have not been on camera for a minute, y'all. >> Can I get a roll call vote for that, Michelle? >> No problem. Welcome back. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Um um Madaras I >> Pway I Palmer >> I >> Brandley >> I >> Smith is this for >> for the contributions. contributions accepting >> I accept contri. >> All right, the resolution carries. Thank you very much. All right. Move forward to reports from members of the board. Karina, would you like to start? Sure. Um, since our last meeting, I have um met with co-chair Palmer and attended negotiations. >> Thank you. >> Truly, I have received four months worth of financial treasures reports and have been actually looking at a little differently. Before I would be selecting samples from all of the all of the expenses. This time I'm doing some analytical review looking at comparisons and you know requesting additional data over payroll which was something that our external auditor had mentioned to us. So, I'm just kind of looking at some things a little differently. Um, and have submitted questions to administration so that hopefully in the next week or two I'll be able to review the answers and maybe some of the transactions. So, just to let you know. Sounds good. Thank you, Laura. Oh, I've actually I'm kind of going through this list here kind of busy it looks like. Um, so I believe since the last meeting, um, the last um, on camera meeting, we did have a joint meeting with the city council. I believe that was in there. >> Yep. >> Um, and I believe we were pretty much all in attendance for that. Um Um, also um, I I'm the alternate um, for the negotiations for the district. Um, so I was able to um I guess uh sit in and observe that and um uh interesting process and I appreciate the opportunity to be a part of it. Um let me see. I also attended the uh the 916 board meeting. Um so uh lots of stuff getting that uh getting that stuff ready for the new year. Um some changes and obviously in personnel we don't have like an assistant to superintendent at this time, you know, so on and so forth. Um but moving forward with with a lot of things. Um and um also and thank you members Smith for uh coffee this morning. I enjoyed our conversation. All the chair meeting regulars. That's it. >> Awesome. Thank you Michelle. >> Yeah. Um not quite as busy, but uh just wrapping up the end of the year. I attended the Jamberee Parade um which was lots of fun. Um as usual, I don't want to go too far into it because I think you all get it. Um, but it was fun. I also attended the joint city council meeting with the school board. Um, and uh, we had a special call meeting that I remember attending as well. And I also attended the schoolboard retreat that we had. >> I forgot about the retreat. >> Laura was there too. >> Thank you, Jessica. >> Yes. So, since our last regular board meeting, um, I like all of you attended our very meteorologically adventurous uh, school board retreat. uh and had some good information from that speaker. I was impressed that he was able to continue his presentation having lost all of his slides in the uh power outage, but it was exciting nonetheless. Um I also along with Chair Granland participated in a uh four-part uh parliamentary procedure training through the National Association of Parliamentarians. So that was a good opportunity to brush up on skills and hear from other folks serving on you know boards and in other organizations around the country um what you know some of their challenges are with parliamentary procedure and Robert's rules and um get their questions answered. Um and then I was also uh able to represent uh the the school board uh in attendance on the community education trip to the Guthrie this year. So that was really exciting going to see cabaret. Um it was a very full trip. Uh Emma in communications did an amazing job of uh recruiting as she does every year for that opportunity. So we had a very full bus there and back of lots of members of the community that that signed up for that. So that was really fun. Thanks. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Um many of the things that I've attended um has have already been touched on. Uh the joint city council meeting was fantastic. Um along with our special called session, uh we were going to try out this new this new format of seating uh at our at our meeting as it was supposed to be streamed, but as was noted, there was a storm and we lost power. Um I have attended four teacher negotiation sessions. I've had several phone calls with um with members of the community. I've met with Superintendent Stenvik to discuss um her goals, mid-year goals. Um I also had the opportunity to welcome our Jack Kent Cook Scholar, Ella Anderson Nora, home from her trip to DC um with her cohort. So I look forward to hearing more from her as that um continues to go. We're really proud of her for that. And as was noted and maybe continues to still be a surprise, I also attended that class on Robert's rules through the National Association of Parliamentarians and I will hope as this meeting goes on and as the school year goes on, I will continue to just get better at this. So, moving on uh to the superintendent report. Superintendent. >> Thank you, Chair Granlin. Well, welcome back everyone. It's great to see everybody. Um over the summer, we had an incredible summer encore program. As you may recall, we had to put a pause on it the previous year and so it came back more robust than ever with over 600 students uh attending. Uh yeah, I mean that's double what what is typical for us. Um also this week athletics and activities are back. So students are on campus practicing. I've seen volleyball, football, tennis, soccer, tennis, soccer, and there's cross country as well. And I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but that's what I've seen so far. and it's been amazing just to feel the the return to school again. Um the board knows but I just to reiterate I really am thrilled to be um an appointee for the legislative committee for compensatory revenue. So obviously I'll be going to bat for our community and for kids across our state um to make sure kids and families um to make sure they get what they need. Our first meeting is September 3rd, so the first week of school it Zoom. So um last week we had our first round of that new um training on teacher evaluation and de teacher development and evaluation. Um there's a lot to learn. There's 25 indicators that we need to learn including you know in addition to the five dimension but the this approach really does provide a lot more frequent feedback and support for teachers. Um, so I'm hopeful that, um, we'll learn it and work our way through to full implementation throughout the first school year. Um, we do have multiple PD sessions throughout the year to support teachers on how to do it as well. Um, August is a really busy month, so this week we have a two full days of admin retreat. Then next week we welcome our new staff and then the week after that is our full-blown welcome back week for all staff. So really looking forward to that. And then as Chair Granland mentioned, the first day of school is September 2nd. So we will see everyone there. Kids, I'm excited. So that's my report. Wonderful. Thank you. Um we only have one public agenda item tonight. Um so with that, Director Henkkins and Chief Markham um will come and talk to us about the youth outreach officer agreement. I know here. >> Uh, thank you, Chair Grahamlin, members of the board, and uh, Superintendent Steenbeck. Get this pulled up here. I'm gonna minimize that first so we don't focus on that. Um this evening um we have um our youth uh youth outreach officer agreement and um and then we have Chief Markham that's going to share some some data. Um the youth outre outreach officer agreement is uh um something that we've been working on collaboratively uh with the city with the police department with uh city council um the school board and a group from the district including superintendent myself um and uh principles and assistant uh superintendent NMU. So, there's been a lot of time and effort put into this um looking at um statute changes um looking at both the uh the city's uh policy and uh and how that fits with the statute and um the statute changes. So, um we feel good about where we're at with that agreement and um and I wanted to uh the board's request was to have some data as well um in this conversation. So, I think it'd be best just to turn it over to Chief Markham and kind of go through the data at this point. And um and pull that up, >> Director Henkins. And um I think you mentioned to me earlier that this data will be in the board packet this Friday. >> Yes. >> All right. Good evening. So, it's my understanding, has the school board seen the data? >> Have not seen the data. All right. >> No. The hopes was that it would be presented, >> okay, >> with you >> and then we'll give it to >> at the last meeting. At the last meeting, >> it felt like it was a little confusing um just to see it without any context. >> So, we've got both 2024 data to compare to 2025 data, the school years actually. So, it' be the 2024 24 25 school year and then uh we've got the 22 to 23 school year as well. Um you can see on this first slide it basically breaks down calls um that uh youth outreach officer Arion Austin responded to um because we know that we went from one SRO down or from two to one. So these are the calls that he handled uh by himself this last school year. Um the most notable thing on here is the very bottom one. There were no use of force incidents by the youth outreach officer last school year. I don't remember a school year where we had no use of force used at all. So I think when we're going through this I'll just take questions instead of just reading it to you. Yes. >> Yep. >> Julie, go ahead. Um I noticed obviously there's twice as many or half of our incidents are from the middle school. Um so are the other half from the high school? Do you know the breakdown there? >> Yeah, so it's 28 incidents at the high school and 17 that occurred at Columbia Academy. >> Jessica, >> thank you. Um, so that third bullet on use of force incidents, you mentioned that this is the first year that you can remember that we haven't had use of force incident. Did I hear that correctly? So, do you have data for previous school years on use of force incidents? >> We do. I don't know if that's on here, I'd have to go through. There's actually quite a bit. We can probably, if you're ready to move on, there's quite a few slides. Um, we'll get to that. I'll look through the packet to see if it's in here. >> Alternatively, if it's not available immediately, if we could have that information included on the packet so we have it um in advance of the >> Yep, we have it. It's actually in here. >> Okay. >> It's the last page of this presentation. >> Uh, Chief Markham, is this the same presentation that you gave to the city council and mayor? >> I gave this to them. I sent this to uh the mayor and council member James as they participated in this contract negotiations with the district. >> Wonderful. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> And the next there are going to be breakdowns of what occurred at Columbia Academy this last school year. And I think it's important to point out on here when you see something that says like an offender. That's sort of how our data is pulled. So for instance, I think when we get to we get to the high school, we're going to see also an 11year-old that's listed as an offender. And that specific one was an 11-year-old was with an older student trying to break into concession stand at the high school. So they're listed as an offender. They weren't charged. That's just the age of it and that's how it comes up in our statistics. >> I have a question. >> Y Michelle, go ahead. >> Sorry. So um are we saying like I mean like one person can commit more than one offense, right? So like 19 total, but there's only nine. >> So when when you look at this, >> those are the offenses or the calls, >> and then it's just kind of the breakdown of the ages and the total of people involved in all these. >> Oh, gotcha. >> And then can you tell us what is juvenile activity? >> That would be a call that we just received and respond to involving kids. Um, it could be look a disturbance involving juveniles, things like that. So, it's not a crime. That's just a general code, a noncriminal code. >> Thank you for that, >> Julie. >> Um, so there's one dangerous weapons possessed on school property. Um, anything weird like a gun or knives or do you know what that is? >> It would have been something that met that statute. I don't think it was a gun. I don't recall any any gun cases in the district last year. So, that could have been a knife. Um, could have been something else that they weren't supposed to possess at school. and a pie chart breaking down those different uh offenses. There's a lot of colors in here, so that can definitely look confusing. >> So, go ahead, Jessica. >> Just this is Colombia Academy specifically. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And this is going to be for uh 2022 to 2023. So, this is the previous school year. So what I did or have our analysts when I I looked at this data um >> years >> I wanted to start comparing years past >> and so this is this is kind of what they're getting when they pull this up >> and Chief Markham um does this data include after school act um like activity that's on after school offenses that may happen after school or on weekends >> um >> but just maybe >> I'm not 100% % certain, but I think it was all the calls to those two schools >> for the school year. >> So, did >> Yep. So, like the instance I just told you about where some an older child brought into an 11year-old to try to break into the concession stand. I do believe that that was after hours. >> Got it. >> The school was closed in the evening. So, I I do believe it's all the calls to those schools during the school year. >> Okay. And I will definitely um please provide some feedback to super superintendent uh if we want if there's certain ways you want to look at this. So as I'm going along, I'm adjusting it and requiring new information for our analysts to break it down. If there's different ways that that would help you do that as well, we can look at that in the future. Um because I even went back to our analyst today and had another conversation before coming up here as I try to work through this, try to understand why there was an 11-year-old listed as an offender and how our information is pulled from our county records management system and things like that. Go back one page. >> Which one yet? 23 24 previous bottom page. >> Yeah. So, there was a disorderly conduct uh call and just a regular juvenile activity call and those are the ages. So, in the grand scheme of thing, it's very minor stuff. >> Mhm. >> And the next page is that in a pie chart. And so now this is the data from this previous school year. Got it. Okay. >> So the listed offenses that we just saw and this is a breakdown into a pie chart for that. And this in does this include include offenses um where you know an adult maybe an adult was there and they were called or is this just for um students or people under 18? >> Yeah, we're just we're just looking at juveniles. So all of those call the offenses that are listed are only those that were involving somebody who was under 18. >> Yes. >> Got it. Okay. Thank you. >> And all the specific offenses listed. >> Got it. Thank you. Julie, you had a question >> off of that. Um so there are 30 total offenses but only 18 offenders. So multiple I'm just going to assume there's multiple offenses per >> Yep. >> child. >> And that's that's how our police reports work. You can have multiple items listed on each one and then it would pull the same out of there. So theoretically you could have one call that would be a liquor consumption a cops which is a community outreach program. It would go to our social workers. These are codes that we use that automatically get sent to the social workers to look at. Um it could be juvenile activity because a juvenile was involved and it could be a social services referral from whatever came of it as well. So, >> um Laura and then Jessica. >> Yeah, I I was wondering are these all our students or are they are they potentially um outside? >> That I don't know. Okay. >> They juveniles that were on school property. >> Yeah. I'm thinking like maybe at um you know at a game or something like that. >> It could very well be a juvenile that doesn't go to the school district as we've had that before. >> Okay. >> They've come into the building outside of >> when it's secure. >> Okay. Thank you. That is a definitely a possibility. >> Jessica, >> I'm curious what the cops program is on the second line. >> That's that's a we put that in there and then it goes so they'll write a report if it needs followup. Say our social workers, it needs to be assigned to our social workers for follow-up. That's the code that gets in there. Then it gets routed through a report processing way. So that would go to our investigations unit. who's ever assigning investigations would print that report out and give it to the social workers to follow up on. >> Okay. So, >> it's just internal coding. >> Sure. So, when the list when this this list is titled offenses, it's really a list of offenses and then sort of like >> secondary referral or other things that are listed as offenses just like when it's an offender like an 11year-old. That's how it's listed in the in when we pull data. but 11year-old was never charged just like you know it's not an offense for community outreach program it's just the way that our report processing works >> so I'm wondering what I'm wondering is like if there is an incident someone calls because of some sort of suspicious activity um and it ends up that there's no offense but maybe there's a referral somewhere does the Does that child then end up listed here as an offender or like says total offenders 18. Was every every one of those students or juveniles were associated with an actual offense? >> No. >> No. >> So this is we're going to go into a deep dive. So um it's the way our reports are written, >> right? So we operate on a records management management system that's run by uh the joint law enforcement council in an NOA county and so there's a standardization across the board on how every agency writes reports. So when I write a report um say I came to the school for a trespass. Okay, I came to the school for a trespass. It was during school hours. um this person that was here doesn't go to school here. They're not enrolled in school anywhere. We would learn all this as we got came here and responded to the call. So for that specific one, it would be the initial it would be listed as an offense even though it technically isn't an offense. And you have to fill in the report and name every one of these things that apply for that incident. So it would be a trespass. Um, it would be a social services referral to child protection because a student wasn't enrolled in any school. Um, it would probably be a cops entry in there because we would refer it to our own in-house social workers to follow up. Um, so there could be multiple things in there. It could be a transport. Maybe we transported that person to a shelter or we transported it uh to CPS or wherever. So there just could be lots of layers in there. So there's not always an underlying offense. >> Not necessarily. No. >> And that's how you end up with like the 11year-old. >> Yep. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. >> Is it more of an enforcement action taken, but does it mean that there was a law broken? >> Thank you. >> Y >> Michelle. >> Yeah. Um yeah, I was just taking it as incidences and people involved in them like >> that is actually probably a closer way to to look at it. >> Yeah. This way does make it a little Yes. Semantics. Um I suppose but um so my question is I know we're we are looking into like the incidents right so that's why we're looking at this is there other information involving like outcomes like um I feel like that would be more telling like too to know like what not outcomes like following the whole thing through but just like did something come about from that trespassing like were they actually like was it true trespassing or was it just like you know I don't know what else it could be but >> yeah if it If it was a trespassing notice, that means that they were given a notice not to return to the property >> for one year, correct? >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, that's a serious one. Like, that's an offense, like a real one. >> That's not an offense. It's just it it would be an offense if they came back and violated it, then they can be charged with the misdemeanor trespassing. >> Okay. >> So, it's actually more civil in nature. >> Oh, gotcha. >> When they don't want to prosecute and they just want a warning to not return. Yeah. >> Okay. And then we would need to document that in a police report >> uh as evidence that they were told not to return. >> I think um this is really helpful to have these discussions. I think that was well well met on your part to make sure that we um you were here to answer any questions that we had. Um I think feedback that I'm sort of picking up in general from some of these questions is that um it may be better for uh for the school board and for the general public if we understood these things differently as in like offenses or and also maybe points of contact because otherwise as you said it looks like we have arrested an 11year-old for something. Um but that's future um future feedback I think for >> Yeah. And it's just a matter of how much staff time I want to put into breaking down every single report that we take. >> Oh, for sure. >> Um I can guarantee you we're busy. Um so this is the best way that we can just pull data from our records management system and present it to you. >> For sure. And I think the optics though is that when the community sees this as um we see it and full disclosure um council member James did send this to me um the day that she received it as well because I was also on the um subcommittee with with the rest of the folks with the district. Um and these are a lot of the questions that I had too. I was waiting to ask them when you were going to be here. >> Sure. But it it doesn't like the optics of it doesn't look great because it looks like we've arrested an 11-year-old and I think further on there's younger students um maybe that are sort of listed in some of those numbers. So uh I think the other thing is information is great but also what sort of message does that information are people getting the correct and appropriate message from that. So that's I don't want people to think that we have a lot of, you know, juvenile offenders that are coming in doing all of these things when it's not necessarily they're not offenders. >> But like the the example I gave you was that there was still an 11year-old that will still hear on property not doing what they're supposed to do. Um we didn't charge it. We don't try to put kids in the criminal justice system. We work very hard not doing that. >> Um but yeah, things do happen even with younger kids even though they might not be chargeable. uh we look for different ways of getting them help. That's why we have the social workers and child protection and we hand it off to the school district that they can handle the issue. >> Um but yeah, I I understand what you're saying. >> Thanks, Michelle. >> Yeah. Um I just um need clarity. So these are incidences that involved our student um our youth outreach officer or are these other this is just that? These are may or may not involve the youth outreach officer. I'm giving you an understanding of what's taking place on the school property there. >> Gota I'm like, well, were the police called or was it just that person? >> Okay, >> good question. Thank you. >> I think we'll skip the pie charts. They're >> can't read them anyway. >> So much for this new format. >> We'll keep improving. Yeah. >> All right. So, now we're moving to high school. You want to start with 22 23 high school? >> So this one is um 2223 so a multiple years ago just so I think we could probably go through this one maybe a little quicker um just so we can get to the data that is most recent although this is very good for historic like to look at historical trends. I think it's the next one up. >> Yeah. Any questions on this one? >> I mean, the obvious one is there's a 5-year-old listed. >> Where do you see the 5-year-old? >> At the very top under age, >> the offenders, >> you might not be right. >> 22, 23. >> Okay. Yeah. Like I said, the offender, it's not a offense like you would think it is. It's not I went over this with the analyst today. That's the only way that we can pull that data out of the way our system is right now. >> It could have been like a 16-year-old kid with their 5-year-old brother or sister or something. >> It could have been various different things on here. >> I know there are times where um we we have parents haven't don't haven't picked up and we're not able to get a hold of the parents and as a last resort sometimes an officer will drive a child home. >> I don't know if that would be a 5-year-old, but Usually with the 5-year-old, we can get a hold of the >> If you go down on this list, there's a medical. So, we were called to the high school for a medical emergency. Um, the 5-year-old could have been part of that or it could have been or the medical could have been part of an assault that took place, too. So, move to 23 24. Let's see. We, you know, this last school year we're dropping it in incidents. We didn't drop a whole lot, but we still dropped >> a couple. >> Here's 24 25. >> Thank you. So, we'll keep working on trying to improve viewing these stats. >> Well, I appreciate as well as the rest of the board that you um come and present these this information to us so that we are able to um to ask any clarifying questions and also answer to the community about any concerns they may have from it. We're working on a new records management system for the entire county and um I think these are one of the things that would be nice to be able to pull data that would be less confusing out of it. >> I appreciate >> what do you think about these bar graphs? I don't it's the same information just in a bar graph. >> Yeah. >> So I don't know that it's going to be >> they were getting creative. >> Yeah. >> It's the same as this list just in thrown it in a bar graph. So >> Oh, wonderful. Thank you. >> I don't think it's any more helpful than the pie chart. >> Jessica, did you have a question? Oh, I was just going to add on to your comment and say that I do I I think this is really vital information for the board and for the community and I really appreciate the information. I think um we're seeing this for the first time and we're new to the information and to the format and so I think it'll take some time for us to you know familiarize ourselves with that and think about um the questions and the information and the categorization that will be um the most helpful in advancing the goals of the district moving forward too. So, I think that's something we can maybe think about as a school board um because I I speaking for myself as a board member um would like to continue to receive this information on an annual basis and so um maybe just having some discussion in the future as a board about um what information is most important. I don't want Chief Markhamm to have to um you know pull together something separate for us necessarily, but we could certainly take take the data points and plug it into something some format, some category, some reporting that's going to be um I guess just facilitate the type of discussion at the school board that we really want to have when we're thinking about um the impact of um the youth outreach officer um specifically in our buildings. but also um police incidents in our buildings more generally. So, I just wanted to to add that. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Is there anything else at the end that you wanted? >> Yeah, I think let's go to the last one. >> Oops. You can see on here the use of force at Columbia Heights schools. So you can see there's 2022 22 to 23 23 to 24 and then nothing from last year. So the incidents were very low to begin with. Um then we we got to zero which is a significant thing. And then if you go down below that the type of force used was just open hands which is really the lowest level use of force that an officer can use. And then you can see that on this one here, uh, force was used during a fight three times and then, um, a trespass and then a disorderly conduct. >> So, and the ages involved are 12 to 18 years old. >> I think that's probably one of the most important things when you evaluate the youth outreach officer position. That's really important to look at. >> Yeah. Um it's fantastic to see the numbers going down. Like that is really wonderful. Um and anecdotally hearing from students and staff, they also um have told me I've heard that um just in general there's been a lot less um incidents and concerns. Uh do what do you think has contributed to um this the number falling? >> I think there's less incidents in the schools overall. Um I know we're kind of showing this data for the first time. I don't know what everybody's instant reaction is, but I can tell you from my personal opinion, this is pretty good. This is pretty good data. Um there's always going to be disputes between students and you're going to have fights from time to time. Can be a fight or it can be a disorderly conduct. Um you know, if we get asked to come in and help, we'll help. Um we'll work with the district on, you know, do we need to do charges? And sometimes it's up to if someone was hit, it's up to the student and the parent to decide if they want to pursue charges or not. Um there's sometimes that no charges are pursued. And sometimes we do pursue charges and that's up to the victim and the victim's family, >> but these numbers are really low. >> Yeah. Uh, superintendent. Um, you can go after Karina. Go ahead, Karina. Um, I was just wondering for the use of force data, given that the other data was for this the youth outreach officer and other officers responding, is this specific to the youth outreach officer or all officers responding to this? >> I believe this is for the school year. All all officers. >> Got it. Thank you. >> And I talked to officer Arian Austin. We talked about use of force and he told me specifically he hadn't used any this past school year. Um, so then the statistics that we pulled, the data that we pulled from the reports showed that that was accurate. >> Superintendent, >> I just want to make sure to clarify that we just like we've always done is that we run kind of parallel investigations. So the school administration in terms of discipline, they do their work which is separate from police work. The police, you know, can certainly subpoena a video um or whatnot. um and and we collaborate that way and we cooperate with that but we we very much like the police doesn't they police department does not dictate discipline um and vice versa. So it's we always run these kind of parallel um if there is if there is a major incident um but there are you know minor things that the school administration deals with that the police would never be involved in. >> Like I said our goal is always to keep kids out of the criminal justice system. That's always our goal. Um, we can't always do that, but uh, there's lots of times when we're able to just let the school district administration resolve an issue instead of us doing it through the legal system. >> And like I said, um, whatever suggestions you have, send them to Zena and we can talk about it and then keep improving on these and how we present those in the future. So, it was good feedback tonight because that will allow me to go back and keep looking at this. So, >> Michelle, >> I was just going to ask who's involved in uh creating the new system like would you have would you be able to give feedback, you know, for for things like that for whatever the new system would be? >> I think so. It's in the the early stages. So, the joint law enforcement council in Oka County adopted it. We are switching do what's called a Tyler systems um records management. Um so it's a whole new system. >> Um we're going to see >> there's a working groups throughout the county working on it and input and there's a working group with our department that >> that's awesome. >> Yep. >> Thanks. >> So that's what I'm hoping for along with some other things. >> Laura, >> yeah, I I appreciate having u a new look at all of this data. Some of it I'm I'm kind of looking at it and I'm going well I mean is is this uh some of this information actionable on our part. Is it just that's what went on the report? Is it just a report point? Um I mean I saw in there found property now is somebody's finding property. It's it listed as an offender on the one side. So some of this stuff is very difficult for us to determine what is this is this is use. this is this is something I want to see and and it's nice to see that historically it's been fairly low too with how many students that we have here. >> Um you know so I I really do look forward to seeing if if there if there is a way that we can maybe get uh maybe some more information on on what each one of those points could actually be, you know, so that we can look at it and say, well, I mean it could be an actual offense. could be, you know, somebody walked across the school property and somebody called, you know, and >> Yep. And so, yeah, >> and they had a reason to be here maybe, you know, even, but it was still listed as a trespass. >> The found like the found property could be someone found a cell phone. >> Yeah. >> That was dropped and we would take a report as a found property. >> Yeah. But it's listed as an offense, >> right? And that is just like, you're right. is confusing and I I knew this would come up because we had spoken about it and that's one of the reasons that I wanted to talk about it >> is >> now if you were looking at adults it would show arrested then it would be very clear that the person was arrested >> um and you would be able to see between a complainant or victim and arrested >> so when I asked my analyst to look at that I wanted to look at the age of some of these offenses um because one of the things that we've historically tked talked about here is the age in charging children and putting them in the criminal justice system and that's what I was trying to get from this. >> Um this is the best I could do at this time. >> I understand. >> So, but I do understand the confusion. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, um yeah, but it does look like um that um that everybody is doing very good job of um of understanding our youth and making sure that we're um behaving in an age appropriate manner and not throwing them into the justice system immediately, understanding that they have uh that they have impulses and that they can learn from them. >> So, I appreciate that. And there if there was anything to come from this where we needed either the city council's assistance or the school board's assistance, uh we would definitely bring that forward. >> Thank you, >> Julie. What is when we talk about type of force used, >> Julie? >> I think a force and I'm like, okay, that's a hard word. And then it says open hands. Could you explain that? What that is? >> It could be like a push. just a just >> it could be a push or if you could tell somebody you could tell somebody that they're under arrest and they say no and then you grab their hands and you pull them behind their back forcefully and handcuff them. That would be it. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Um Laura and I have been on the I'm going to out us. we've been on the board the longest and I will say that um it's really refreshing to get all of this data um presented and so in a way that we could discuss it to and also um have it be shared with the community. Um so I just want to say uh thank you so much for for giving us all of this information. It's really helpful. >> Yeah, you're welcome. I mean we're are committed to transparency. We'll give you as much as as we possibly can. So, >> it's appreciated. >> Um, I would only add that we do meet quarterly to talk about these. Um, this isn't, um, Superintendent Yamboy, myself, um, Chief Markham, um, and, uh, and others. Um, so along the way through the school year, we're having these discussions. So, um, and staying on top of what's happening. Yeah, >> Laur from what I could see from uh the various I guess you could say um incidences, I don't even want to call them offenses, there doesn't seem to be anything that stands out or is trending as far as I mean it's all just kind of a little bit of >> Yeah, I think we're trending downwards. I think we're having less issues and less calls. Well, I mean, or when we're not like getting a lot of calls about drugs or or you know, I mean, it's not like there's there's there's one one set that's that's moving up. It's all a little bit of this and a little bit of that and fewer in in fewer um youth that's involved in them, you know. So, it's multiple things and >> Yes. Yeah. If there was anything specific that I thought was trending or we needed to address, we would we would have discussed it tonight or it would have been brought up sooner to you. Thank you. I I assume that I just was just making sure. >> Can I ask one last question? >> Yeah, but make sure that you pull your microphone over so everybody can hear you. >> Chief Markham, would you say that the reason we're trending down is that our staff are better at deescalating issues? Is that something that we do as a staff? >> Um, I can't speak to the school district staff. Um, I can tell you from the police side, yes, we are uh much better trained on on deescalation, on identification of mental health, substance abuse, all those things. Way more than when I started 27 years ago. >> Thank you. >> We're light years ahead. >> Thank you, >> Superintendent Stefik. So, just like the um police department has added social workers on their force, we've also greatly increased our social workers and our school psychologists and our staff um like our admin team is trained in um in deescalation and um we do a lot with you know like restorative practices um and um I think too just the principles really strive to create a climate in and they're in a culture in their schools that's a safe culture. Um and and the the teachers strive to make connections and and develop those relationships with students and that goes such a long way. You know, when you when a child feels like someone really understands them or knows them, they're a lot less likely to to act up. And then also just all the things that we offer, whether it's activities or athletics or clubs or whatnot, being involved in things also helps. So, it's there isn't one thing, right? There's there's a multitude of of things that we're working on. So, >> okay. Thank you. >> We have a great group of kids. The best. >> I mean, no notes. Yes. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. So, I think this is probably the perfect segue into the contract. >> Yeah. >> More slides >> or do you have more slides? >> No, that is it. >> That is the end of the slides. Um so um I think like I said at the beginning uh the agreement um we had um a working group that worked through that. We had some leg legislative changes. Sorry, microphones. Just a change in the room is really um and uh and so we had u um both the police department or the city's legal council, our legal council review that agreement and and go through that and really representing um what's in statute. Um I mean that's really what our focus was and and um and working through what are the goals of of the youth outreach officer and and its roles in the school. So, um it felt like, you know, very collaborative, um uh group, um working through the process. Um we had the legal aspect of it. Um and again, the the board and and the city council was involved along the way. So, um it got us to the point where where um I mean, we're we had to really clean up an old agreement that was um added to six different times and six different, you know, ways. and uh um there was repeats and so uh the flow of and uh the agreement now really includes what it needs to include and again follows um the recent statute changes over the last few years. >> And I'll just add that uh last time we were here uh discussing a contract, one of the things that we knew that was going to come out was the Minnesota statute postboard policy for school resource officers, which we do have that now. And so we get we use Lexiple as our as a policy um software and company and those policies are published and edited by attorneys that work for Lexiple. And so this um this new policy that came out on school resource officers, we call it that because that's what statute calls it. We know that we use a youth outreach officer in the city of Columbia Heights because they do more than just the basic uh school resource officer duties. So that is in there and it is active in our policies and I think that was kind of the most significant change on our end. >> Thank you for that. Um are there any questions? Uh Jessica first then Julie. Go ahead Jessica. Um so a question and a comment if I may. >> Um so first is my question. So um I did just have one question about the the the draft agreement as it stands prior to um because we will vote to approve this at our next meeting. Is that correct chair Garland? Okay. So on page four um number 11 so the clause on termination and modification um this is a year-long agreement um and so we'll be approving this as a board the next agreement on an annual basis. We do have a clause in here about cancelling the agreement upon 60 days notice to the other based on budgetary constraints and that's the only consideration for early modification or cancellation is budgetary constraints. Um, and I just want to be clear um for the for the community as well that the way that this um agreement is structured, the school district um does not have a a budgetary um there's no there's no cost to the district um in this agreement. And so I think that's um an important piece for people to understand. But my question is just around that clause on um termination for budgetary constraints. Um that it just it creates some confusion for me as to under what circumstances would the district um cancel the agreement upon 60 days notice. It seems like it would really be a one-way thing. It would be the city cancelling the agreement because I I I'm just trying to imagine like what budgetary constraint would the district have that would um push them to cancel the agreement early. I think there's a question in there somewhere. >> So, would you like to are you looking for us to maybe >> I I'm not looking to modify or amend it. I'm just making sure that before we approve it that I I I fully understand that because the way this is written it it's that either party can terminate with 60 days notice based on budgetary constraints, but to my understanding, the district wouldn't have any budgetary constraints that would impact this contract. So, it just feels a little elucory. So, I just want to make sure that I'm fully understanding the practical effect of that clause. >> We have no budget, right, >> line item designated to the contract. >> That's correct. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Yeah. And then my my overall comment um is is just I really appreciate um all of the thoughtful work that went into this um from everybody who was involved. Um Director Henkin talked through um all of the ways in which this the old agreement had been brought into something that is really representative of our current relationship with the city and with the police um in our schools. Um, and I just want to be really clear that this was very thoughtfully done and um, there's been a lot of discussion with everyone involved in putting it together, but also with the board as a whole and, uh, with the city council. Um, what we've ended up with here, I feel like, is representative of what we're doing. And although it's certainly in compliance with the postboard model policy and with statute, it is not a copy and paste from either of those sources, it really is representative of how we do things here in um our school district and and with the city of Columbia Heights. And so I'm I'm um I'm happy with how that turned out that it is representative of really what we're doing here um while it's still complying with all of the statutes that we need to comply with. So thank you for that. >> Thank you Julie. >> Yeah. Um duty hours is the only thing I had a question about. So if the YO is absent, they're supposed to contact their supervisor, which is in the police department. Is there a backup if that individual Okay. So there is a backup plan if that person can't be here for multiple days. >> Yes, we have Tabitha Wood is uh our backup to Officer Austin. >> Awesome. Superintendent. And just to clarify, Chief Markin, both Tabitha and Chief or and um >> Arion >> Arion I Officer Austin >> Officer I've known him since he was in high school. Okay. It's hard to call him that. >> Officer Austin. >> Chief Austin because that was their previous chief. >> True. True. >> Anyway, uh but Tabitha also went to the required training. So the >> back they both attended the school resource officer mandated training in June. And then um director Hennekins and I along with assistant superintendent Neboy also have the contact of the captain that is directly supervising this program and so we can also reach out to that person. >> Okay. >> So we've got multiple layers of backup actually. >> Yeah. >> I think the only other thing I would add is that we moved from a model of having a police officer that had a dedicated um a school resource officer that had a dedicated space in our middle school and our high school. And there was a lot of concern from the community and you know within the district itself about whether or not that was going to be safe, our schools were going to be safe um with those officers moved to the Highlander Center. And I think when I asked for the data historically to compare, I think that was why I wanted to see it was um data is king and we know um we know more when we can move from a place of data and not from emotional. And I think it's incredibly um it's uplifting to hear that this this is still working really well um and that our schools continue to be safer because of our um community policing model that you have and our the close ties that our school district has with our um with our city. So I think that this is a a really wonderful collaboration as member Maderas had alluded to. So >> yes, I I 100% agree. I think um we didn't we've talked about it in the last joint meeting, but all the mentoring programs and the different programs that we do, it's just not one or two officers having contact with students. It's the entire department uh building those relationships with all the kids in the community. It makes a huge difference. >> Yeah. Yeah. Um thank you. Uh with that, as was noted by member Maderas, um we will uh have this presented again for approval on the agreement on our next meeting on the 26th of August. So, >> thank you very much. >> All right. Thank you, >> Chief. >> All right. Next, get all my ducks in a row here. Can I get a motion? We are going to Can I get a motion to move into close session to discuss uh teacher negotiations? So move >> by Laura. Can I get a second? >> Second >> by Julie. Just as a note, um the live stream will not come back on for after our closed session. However, um interested folks will be able to still see uh the discussion when we come back. Uh that will still be on YouTube. It just will not be live streamed tonight. So >> we need to vote to move to close >> session. Yep. So Oh, I should have had that during discussion. Really? That class paid off. Um all those in favor of moving to close session say I. >> I opposed. >> Abstain. Motion carries. Um all right. So we are returning to open session at 7:29. Our session was closed previously to discuss teacher contact contract negotiations. All right, with that board topics who has board topics >> really. All right, >> I'm looking forward to scaling the heights. So, >> I was gonna ask if there are any questions on that. >> Yeah. Um yeah, I guess just with all of the activities coming up with the start of the school year, um I've got the dates and the times of like scaling the heights and convocation, but just wondering if um you need to talk through kind of like what to expect and any of that stuff. Like I think we had an arrival time for convocation. Are we all sitting in a certain place in the >> all of that good stuff? I mean, I could answer that definitely, but I'm just gonna I'm gonna pass that on to Superintendent Stanvic because >> So, Scaling the Heights lunchon is next Tuesday. Um, so it's a it's different from previous years in that we used to do Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. This year we're doing Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. So, the teachers have optional time in their classroom if they want it. Um, which is nice. So, Tuesday at I think I said 11:15, it's um at Mercian Hall. So, lunch and then typically um director Tuck will put um like whatever school that you represent. That's where you you'll sit with those people and get to know them during lunch. And it's just, you know, it's just really nice. I will introduce you and you can stand up and wave. And um >> remember, we switched our building leazison appointments in August. >> Does every does anyone need that in the packet? >> Yeah, if you could put that in the packet that would be great. >> As long as it's on the table. starting the new one, >> the midyear switch. >> Oh yeah. >> Okay. Um and then uh convocation is going to be the following Wednesday. So that's welcome back week for all staff. Um we will meet in the PAC, the auditorium at the high school. And wear your Heights gear, your blue and gold, and if you need any, just let Stephanie know and we we'll we'll make that happen. Um and it's a really fun welcome back um celebration. And then there are there will be name your names will be on seats down close to the front. Um again you'll be introduced and there's you know the whole auditorium is full with staff. um we have a fun time and then right afterwards we'll go here in our front yard and have an all staff picnic and our um retired employees, police department and other community members serve the meal. >> Um so that's happening as well. So it's just really a fun way to kick off the year and it's been a long-standing tradition. I think it started in I want to say 2008 with Superintendent Kelly prior. >> Two questions, Laura. >> I I I have one question. Will the staff band be playing again? Because they were awesome. I would love to see that I got to see them. >> They have been a highlight. Um I'm in conversations with them. They were wonderful. >> Nothing finalized at this time, but it was it was it was really, really, really fun. >> Yeah, they're incredible. >> Yeah. >> Michelle, >> um just because I don't have it right in front of me, what are the times for convocation again? >> So, >> I know it's kind of spread out. I it changes a little bit each year because I I move at a little bit faster pace than just used to be two hours and I can get done in an hour. Um so if you would arrive at 9:45 we're going to start at 10:00. >> Got >> but you know we have music playing beforehand and there's mingling and you can get you know get to know people and see people and find your seat and know where get your bearings and >> Yeah. >> So 10 a.m. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Uh, Superintendent Civic, uh, is there anything about a, um, dunk tank at all? Have we >> had any moves on that? >> Don't know anything about that. >> Huh? >> Do you? >> You like surprises, too, though, Superintendent? >> No, I've just been pushing. I I would love to see that. >> We And we could do adaptions for folks that couldn't be in a dunk tank. >> Technically, convocation day is a professional development day. So, there's professional development in the morning and then after the picnic, there's actually professional development that happens. So, I don't know. All right. thorted this time. I see there's still time. Um, convocation is really great. Um, you know, the first few years that I was on the board, I wasn't able to attend um due to a number of things. Uh, but even doing it via Zoom is not the same as being in person and it is pretty wonderful and the teachers get really excited to see um us there as well. So, >> uh, I did like the one year that we did do it on Zoom is because I got to go down to Valley View and and do it with the the staff down there. So, that was kind of that was kind of fun. That was kind of fun. >> Yeah. >> You know, although it's great just bringing everybody in the whole district together, >> you know, some districts are way too big for that and some are they're probably already in the same building anyway, you know, so the really small ones. So, it's great that we we we can really put together that big old bash. >> Yeah. Special time. It is a special time and I didn't know all districts did that. So because it's been the entire time I've been on the board, >> you know, so it only started a few years before that. So >> we get to do the welcome back. Welcome back. >> Yeah, exactly. Um, I think the only other thing I would add is that this week, um, through the a partnership with the Columbia Heights Rec Department, there is a community play with, um, a lot of our students in it here at the PAC. And those tickets, um, there are two performances, one on Thursday and one on Friday. Uh, it should be really great. The kids have been practicing really hard. Um, one thing I didn't mention is that this year our school district also offered a um, a week-long intensive camp for our students to also focus on triple threat theater, dance, and singing. Um, >> technical theater. >> And they had technical, too. Yeah. And they're they're doing that. So, um, a lot of really good collaborations between the parks and recck department here in Columbia Heights and our school district. So, folks are looking for their drama fix uh that will be here at the PAC at 6:30 on Thursday and Friday. >> This this Thursday, Friday. >> Yeah. So, I'm really excited about that. >> So, that information like for tickets or dates and times would be on the parks and wreck website. >> It'll be on the parks and Nope. Nope. It is not on our website. It is but it is here right >> at our Yeah, exactly. Um, it is in our piece. >> I don't want to tell people go to the district site. >> Don't don't go to the >> There's no play there. Go to the park. >> Buy tickets here in person when you get here, but um otherwise. Yeah. So, it's really exciting way to end the summer. So, >> thanks. >> Yeah. Any other board topics? >> Any other others? Doesn't make sense. Anyway, all right. With that, uh, I will adjourn the meeting at 7:36. Oh, wait. I need a motion. Do don't I? No, I don't need a motion to close. >> Yes, I do. >> So moved. >> Thank you. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Uh, any discussion? >> No. >> Awesome. All right, we are adjourned. 7:30