that I felt the need to point out. >> All right. >> All right. It is 6 o'clock. I'd like to call to order the February 17th, 2026 meeting of the Columbia Heights Public Schools. 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. >> All right. Thank you. Um, so a couple items of note as we move into the roll call. Uh number one uh are as noted uh as maybe you can see in the room we don't have our um secretary here. So I would like to appoint uh vice chair Michelle if you would be uh that if you would help us out in that. Can you please call ro? >> Absolutely. Um Palmer Maderas >> here. >> Pool here. Mueller >> here. Pway here. Granland >> here. >> Superintendent Stendic >> here. >> Wonderful. >> Oh, I am so sorry. I did forget your last name. >> Pña. >> Yeah. >> Pña. >> Pña. >> Uh, Pña. >> Did I say it wrong? I'm sorry. No, it's fine. >> No, it is not. Okay. And it we want to make sure we get it right. >> Yeah, for sure. >> Yeah. So, it's pña. >> Pñena. >> Yeah. Yeah, >> thank you. Here. >> Here. >> Awesome. Thank you so much. All right. Our mission statement, Columbia Heights Public Schools, 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, we're moving into the agenda. Approval, adjustments, and announcements. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda as presented? >> I'll move. >> Thank you. Uh, so moved by Jessica. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Second by Julie. As we have one member that is uh remote, all of our um all of our votes tonight will be via roll call. Uh so if you could call roll for us, please. >> Yes, I will. Uh, Maderas, >> what are we >> What? We're approving the agenda. >> Oh, okay. >> Do don't we need to All those in favor? >> Yes. Yes. >> I got thrown by the roll. >> Yeah, but we have to do a roll call vote on it >> because if we're Oh, there we are. >> Having moved the motion, I vote I. >> There you go. We wouldn't have it any other way. Who? >> I. >> Mueller. >> I. >> Pway. I Granland >> I. All right. The approval of agenda carries. All right, announcements. March 10th at 4:45, we have a subcommittee on policy superintendent conference room. Uh March 10th at 5:00 p.m. we have our subcommittee on community engagement, also here in the community room. March 10th at 6, we have our regular schoolboard meeting here in the community room. And March 17th at 5:30 is the schoolboard work session again here in the community room. Next up, we have communication to the board. 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 if uh if desired, and request that administration follow up. The board will not take action at the meeting on requests presented at this time, and the time will be limited to three minutes per speaker. We do have communication uh and somebody is here to speak. So our consent agenda includes the personnel report, the seniority lists, the treasury report and the minutes and the policy first reading. Um before we do the consent agenda, I'd like to make a motion to pull the seniority list. No. >> Oh, never mind. That one's later. Never mind. >> Yeah. Point of information, Chair Granland. Yes. The seniority lists listed in the consent agenda encompass all of the seniority agreements with the exception of the teacher and ECF seniority list which will be a separate agenda item. >> Wonderful. Thank you. All right. Can I get a motion to accept the consent agenda as presented? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Michelle. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Second by Julie. Since we have somebody remote, we need to have a roll call vote. Can we have a roll call? >> Missing discussion. >> Oh, can we have a discussion? Yeah. Is there any discussion on the consent agenda? Thank you. All right. If there's no discussion, can we have a roll call vote? >> You sure can. >> Thank you. >> Every time. >> Every time. >> Uh who? I >> Mueller. I >> Pway. I Granlin. >> I uh Madaras >> I. >> All right. consent agenda passes. Uh just for note in the policy first reading um and substantive and second reading there is uh policy 407 employee right to know hazardous substances 412 expense reimbursement 418 drug-free workplace drug-free school 802 disposition of obsolete equipment and 806 crisis management. Uh, and just for folks who may be interested, all of those things, all of our policies can be found on our website. All right, moving into acknowledgement of contributions. So, uh, I will read this and ask for a motion to accept and then we will, uh, discuss it. Uh acknowledgement of contributions resolution Minnesota statute 123B.02 permits school boards to quote 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 $4,350 in monetary contributions detailed in the background. Monetary Glad Holinger donated $50. Joseph Speltz and Carol Kir each donated $100. Janice Anne McCoy donated $150. Diane Roffler donated $200. Mary Olyri donated $250. Church of St. of St. Steven and Steven the Martyr donated $500. Sue Satler donated $1,000 to Valley View for school use. Micheline Verlots donated $1,000 to Valley View for the school food shelf. Barbara Gavin donated $1,000 to the 2026 Annie E. Farnham Memorial Scholarship Fund. Cheryl Riggs donated $1,000 to the 2026 class of 76 scholarship fund. The total fiscal year 2025 2026 monetary contributions to date 56,1326. Can I get a motion to accept the res uh the acknowledgement of contributions resolution? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Julie. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> All right. discussion. I think I just we want to make, you know, it's humbling to see how many people um continue to support our our school district in all of the ways. Um especially as we know that money uh can be very tight for a lot of folks. Um, so it's humbling to see people that are still able to contribute to our school district in this way. Um, if there's no further discussion, we'll move it to a roll call vote. >> Absolutely. Mueller >> I. >> Pway I. Granland >> I. Maderas >> I. >> H >> I Oh, we're going to have fun tonight. >> All right. We have a lot of action items tonight. Sorry guys. >> We do. Yeah, we do. Yeah, thanks. Thanks, J. Um, all right. The, uh, resolution passes. Thank you very much. Next up, we have discussion, reports, and information items. Uh, Jessica, why don't you start? >> Sure. Um so uh recently the city of Columbia Heights held a listening session um that was related to uh federal agents in the city and the impact of that on our community. Um I know several of you were there. Um it was really powerful and heartbreaking um to hear uh personal stories of the impacts of this on our community um from from many many folks. Um the room was packed. Um, and as uh the board's liaison to the city, I I just want to publicly thank um the police department and our city council and the mayor for hosting that event and giving everyone in the community the time that they needed to share their stories and experiences and ask questions. Um, I think that event went on for nearly three hours. Um and so I'm very thankful that um the community was given that time to to to share. Um I also have been working um a lot uh with individual buildings that I'm affiliated with in the PTO's. Um we pulled together a group of um all of the the officers of the PTO's around the districts to kind of discuss our mutual um aid work across the district and how we can best collaborate um to help families that need it um and sort of continue our work um as parent teacher organizations during a really challenging time. Um there's a lot of great work that's going on across all of our buildings. um that that parents are doing to really um support the those the students in their schools. Um through all of this, we have still, you know, continued to do the things that we do in our school buildings, including um conferences. So, um we are part of um supporting teachers with um meals at Highland and a bake sale during the recent conferences there. Um I did also attend like all of you the work session last week with the school board where the primary topic of discussion was our newly formed I guess the our newly shifted focus of our uh subcommittee on community engagement to a legislative action committee. I want to call it a legislative action team because I feel like that's like avengers assemble but we can we can talk about the name another time. Um, so that was really good discussion and I am eager to hear how um the meeting went tonight as we're continuing to stand that work up. Um, and then also I did um I I did attend remotely the dignity index presentation um through AMSD um and I know that was sort of a little preview discussion of what I hope will be a rescheduled uh joint uh meeting with Fidley about that in the future. Um and although I couldn't attend the live legislative preview for AMSD, I did stream the recording of that and that's available to um all the other board members as well to kind of talk about session that kicked off today. Um and then um I also have been talking to lots of folks about the special election for the board seat on April 14th. Just making sure everybody in the community knows about that election and also knows that there's only one polling place. So, special election for school board April 14th at the Highlander Center. And that concludes my report. Thank you. >> Wonderful. Thank you, Michelle. >> Sure. Um I have a lot of repeats. I guess I've been doing the same thing over and over again. Um I wasn't Okay, never mind. That was just me talking to myself, guys. Um I have been to North Park a couple times in this past uh couple weeks to just help out with their distribution efforts um of resources. Um um I I stopped by just to check in um just say hi to our teachers and and try to get a feel for how they're feeling um you know with everything that's happening. And it was really nice to be able to just walk around and see familiar faces and let them know like you know I hear you. I see you. I'm present. Um I got to take uh my daughter back today with me so that she could help a little bit. So, it's like a homecoming moment for her and um just getting to be a part of uh the positive, you know, and I hate that we have to find the positive moments, but um there is there's some there's some good things that she's learning out of this. So, I want her to be a part of that that you know that part of things right now. Um so, that was fun getting to go to North Park. And then um I also um caught the AMSD board meeting as well um which was very very interesting to hear a lot of the the legislative priorities and like things that they have going on um which you know closely aligns with our school district. Um I completed part A and B of my MSBA um officers training um which was uh very very nice to have. Um, like I said and we'll keep saying, I hope Mary shows up every single board meeting, but um, in the event that you do not, your board will be in safe hands hopefully. Um, and so I've also attended a couple of, uh, community engagement or legislative action team meetings and I got you. And, um, we had a meeting today. It was an open meeting for uh, community members. And I just wanted to put out there that um, we will have more meetings. we will have more uh open meetings for public um to come in and and be a part of the process. Uh we will be going today at the capital. The board members are going to day at the capital on March 9th. Um and we just want to make sure that we are including our community members, families, um faculty, staff, um business owners, anyone who's interested in being a part of that process. Um we are looking to hear um what people's needs are um so that we can represent you better. Um, I did want to put out there that there will be um a letter template put on our website um this week, I think. Okay. Um, for for folks to go in and and just add their information to and send to their legislators. Um, we will also have our um 2026 legislative uh priorities on the website. We just encourage everybody to go on the website and just kind of take a peek um see what's relevant, see what's happening in our district, um in your district, uh so that we can kind of move forward in a direction that helps uh serve everybody. So, I just wanted to put that plug in there. Um I've also attended multiple uh chair meetings and the work session last week. Thank you guys. >> Awesome. Thank you. Um I'll go to Laurian next. You're on Great. Thank you. Yeah. Um like Michelle, uh last week we had a subcommittee on community engagement meeting. Um and I thought that that was a really good meeting last week as we kind of strategize for the day at the capital. Um and the legislative action team moving forward. Um also had the attended the work session last week um which I thought was a really good conversation as we continue to look at the legislative action team. So thank you all for that conversation. um attended the subcommittee meeting this evening um as well just prior to this meeting. Um I've also had a lot of conversations with community members both on the phone and in person um and just trying to be out um within the community um as well. So that's my report. >> Awesome. Thank you, Julie. >> Yeah. Um, I attended the emergency board meeting close session and the next day um I attended the city of Columbia Heights listening session um held by the mayor and police chief to get a better understanding of ICE actions in the community um due to operation metro surge. And let's just say it was eye opening. Um really disgusted at some of the testimonies that I was hearing. Um, but I'm so glad that we're addressing those things. It sounds like the federal government is addressing some of it, but we still have to be on guard and helpful for the families that are impacted. Um, and I appreciate that our superintendent did the, you know, the whole thing in front of the cameras and letting people know how important this is. So, thank you. Um, February 10th, I attended the committee on community engagement and legislative advoc advocacy meeting prior to the board work session which I also attended. Um, and then I also attended the legislative a advocacy session right before this where we, you know, invited the community to come and listen and understand kind of our priorities. Um, I also spent time as treasurer. I reviewed the August through November treasurer reports um and did an analysis. My review kind of consisted of comparing expenses and vendors across each month just to see if there was con inconsistencies or anything that popped out. And actually my, you know, everything I saw was pretty consistent with even prior years as I've gotten much more um comfortable with the vendors and um the size of expenses and also seeing the things that we already approve through our board meetings. So nothing unusual noted. >> Awesome. Thank you. All right. Um my report uh I'm absolutely going to leave something out because I always do. Uh but um I attended the uh the emergency uh meeting that we had uh last week. I also attended the I think it was last week. It was a week before. What is time anymore, guys? I'm really sorry. Um so I attended the special called meeting. I attended the community meeting that was um talked about by both um Jessica and Julie. Um and yeah, it was wonderful and there was over 200 people there and um a lot of time listening and I think in a time when we have um a lot of elected officials who aren't listening to people in a lot, you know, in different ways. Um the the leadership in Columbia Heights and our police chief and actually our fire chief and some of our firefighters were there as well. Um, to their credit, they sat for two and a half hours and listened to the community and they did not argue back or anything. They just they listened and answered. Um, but it was really kind of a sight to see uh to be there and have them witness bear witness to the community's concerns. Um, I have uh I've been I've spoken to a number of media outlets about what's going on in our community. Um last week I had the opportunity to go to Washington DC and with a coalition of community leaders, faith leaders, teachers, business owners, um just a bunch of different people impacted across the state. Um there were 50 of us. We went to DC to talk to the legislators there about um what we're seeing in our communities and um had an opportunity to speak directly with uh Senator Schumer and we spoke with Representative Jeff uh staff. Um, you know, we tried to go and we talked to a number of different um, senators specifically across the political spectrum to try and um, help them understand what we saw and what we're experiencing here in Minnesota. um and to ask for um some some remediation in uh in what's happening here and also and ask for please do not fund uh the $10 billion DHS um funding bill that was uh coming for a vote on Friday. we were able to successfully lobby as a group and also um not just the 50 of us, this comes from everybody across Minnesota and honestly it comes from across the state or not just the state, the country of people coming together and saying this isn't okay. Um and we were able to that vote was actually voted down successfully on Thursday, so a full day before it was supposed to come to a vote. So, I'm very very proud um of the work of everybody really championing the cause um and calling that out. I also um you know, I've been in several conversations daily um with not just our superintendent, but with a lot of folks in the community. Um I'm out there, you know, I've spoken to students, to staff um and just been very present in our community. uh trying to help as much as I can. Um tomorrow morning the superintendent and I are going to the state senate and we'll be testifying about our experiences here in Columbia Heights as well. Uh and next week I will be attending the state of the union address in Washington DC uh as a um as a guest of Representative Omar. So, I'm humbled and honored to be able to continue to talk about the things that we're experiencing here in Columbia Heights and make sure that people know that this is not over, that it is still a concern, that our community still needs support. We still have students in detention and um we're not going to stop talking about that until we get our students home and our families home and our communities are made whole. So, and with that, I'll pass that over to the superintendent. >> Thank you. Um, I too have had several conversations with community members, staff members, and students um given all of the increased um immigration enforcement in our community. Um, it's been mentioned a number of times that there's been a lot of um press and media. And I'll just say that we were resistant to talk to press and did decline in some of the earlier days um inquiries. Um Chair Granland and I have been in lock step uh like on the same page with that and it was always a balance of what what would be helpful and what would be harmful. Um, and it it did get to that point um uh after our fourth student was taken and flown quickly to Texas to for detention where we decided to speak up and um we've been speaking up ever since. Um so a lot of that um and uh happy to be a voice for the children. Uh that's what it's all about. It's all about our children. But of course, it's been taking a quite a toll on all of our staff um and many of our community members. Um as Chair Granley started this meeting, she read off of our core values that are listed there on the wall. And our community, our students, and our staff, and our parents have really embodied truly every single one of those core values um over the last several, you know, months and weeks. Um so just I have a lot of gratitude for everyone involved. I understand the many layers that of impact that this um uh enhanced enforcement has had. So it's, you know, it doesn't seem like anyone in our community has been unscathed. >> Um I also uh would like to talk about my participation last week on the legislative task force for compensatory revenue. Uh there was actually some disagreement among the task force members uh last week and so a little bit concerning. Um I will be talking about it at the day of the capital when we go. Um I'll present on that in March. Um so the disagreement stemmed from the metrics that should be used to generate the funding. Um some of us think it's really clear clearly outlined in our um charges for the committee. But um again, it's also really concerning because Columbia Heights stands to lose $3.6 6 million um for next school year unless the legislature enacts some sort of hold harmless mechanism. While the task force has been hard at work, um we don't actually end until October of 2026. And of course, the um session ends May 18th of 2026. So um the the final recommendations from the committee work that we're doing um won't even be part of this legislative session. So it's very concerning. Um, but we will be down at the capital this week talking about that. >> Thanks. >> Thank you so much. All right, we'll go on to our student representative. >> Yeah. Um, recently I haven't still am trying to work more on my mental health, so I can't really be all too present in like the school district because again, I'm not coming to school. But um I have noticed a lot of news regarding uh our district on the news and just what's been happening in Colombia Heights in general as I still visit here. I still love this city. And um uh if you remember last meeting, I was present. I talked about uh kind of how our newspaper was being was self-censoring any news about ICE and that has since been lifted. And now since this whole situation with um you know enforcement just uh especially the national news where they took a kid from this district and Zena had to go and uh talk on live TV which honestly I would have avoided but good uh brave uh good bravery But yeah, so ever since that whole situation happened and now with the safe return, uh, we've kind of just decided to, you know, make ourselves present. And I have also been at some school events such as well not a lot of them but I've been at layout uh which is a journalism thing where we work on the newspaper and I've seen the effort that uh is going like behind the scenes just trying to get the truth and news out especially since this is a very challenging time for a lot of people and I would like to help out more and I I feel like there's a lot more effort that have been put into our, you know, district by students now, especially with recent things such as I've only heard of these, but you know, they're they're uh I don't know what it was. It was a sit in Mhm. >> recently and I've I think I mentioned this last meeting, but it was really nice to see just our community working together to find a common issue that we all want to find change with >> and actually take a step towards finding a solution instead of staying quiet. I really it just admire that about the height school districts because we know that such a community who that is small like ours >> but is also closely connected together can really make a difference and that's uh something that I've even in my absence have been noticing. And there's also a lot more protests that have happened in the earlier year. >> Uh some of which I've attended, but it's just nice seeing school spirit finally. >> Have a I don't know how to say this. >> It's okay. >> It's nice to have, you know, school spirit protecting each other, especially when times like with what happened to some of our students who are without probable cause taken and sent to a city in Texas >> where they were separated from their family and their home and maybe would never see uh this place again. But thanks to the efforts of the community, uh the efforts of Minneapolis and Minnesota in general, uh just this part of it, I really just admire how we we came together when even times were much too difficult for just a regular group of civilians to, you know, stand up, especially with all the danger factors. all the controversy that could have stemmed from actually taking a stand against this, especially with some opinions that are going around. And I just wanted to mention that >> that now that I have the time I don't often come to these which I kind of regret now but it's very nice being here and just finally being able to give gratitude for all the efforts not only students have done but school board uh have put in to actually get our values and position and work to achieve them no matter what comes our way. >> That's where I am. >> Awesome. Thank you so much. >> Yeah, thank you for that. Um, all right. Next up, we have Yolanda Dorso, our Native American mentor, to talk about Native American concurrence. >> Up here. >> Yep. >> Yeah. >> We've changed it on you. >> Yep. >> I walked in. I was like, "Hold on. I don't like change." >> While you were away. >> Yeah. Awesome. Um uh um okay uh for our Native American pro uh presentation today we are actually going to do an update and our concurrence. Um I want to say thank you to this young man for everything that he said. Um everything that he voiced is kind of what I really feel um for what we've been going through in this district. This update is going to be a little bit uh >> is that better? >> Yes. >> Okay. Sorry about that. Um I I know that p in the past the way I've done these updates was really um positive reinforcement of cultural preservation. Um positive updates of what we're doing for our Native American students. Today is February 17, 2026. And um our Native American students have been going through hardship with the United States government since 1862, right? Before that even uh well actually 1812 if we all want to go all the way back to the American Revolution, right? Um and we continue to um deal with these situations. So what I like to say all the time is make the good things happen. Bad things are going to happen regardless. Survival is necessary >> and assimilation is an ongoing perpetuation against all of us. So I'm going to do this in the kindest nicest um way that I can without without hiding from the truth of the matter. Okay. Because our mission here at Columbia Heights Public Schools is creating a world of opportunity for each and every learner where all belong and all succeed. All belong and all succeed because no one is illegal on stolen land. That statement comes from a colonial period of time. But migration has been a human experience from time immemorial. indigenous people of this land has followed each other, married one another, procreated, built societies, built civilizations from the very tips of this land, from ocean to ocean to the very bottom tip of this land. I want us to remember that when we talk about our core values, community, excellent, collaboration, integrity, respect, courage, and innovation. The CHPS core values are aligned with this board of education's equity statement. It's also in the way that our Anesab people have lived since the beginning of time. I want to talk about courage. There is no governance questions. This is just an emotional andformational update. But courage, the courage that you see in this picture, the courage that you have heard from our superintendent voice being heard all around this world. The courage it took for our school board members to say yes, I will take this child. knowing that people of our state have been murdered just for interfering with this occupation. The American Indian parent advisory committee guides both the federal and state American Indian education program. Our goals, our metrics, our activities, and our budget priorities are controlled by them. These people in this photo, Assa Ooa, his wife Lisa, and his beautiful children have been a part of this Columbia Heights community since kindergarten. This young man up here in the red is junior. He is graduating this year. The beauty of that commitment that his family has made to him as an individual shines in everything that he does. And that includes here at Columbia Heights. That commitment has been reinstilled in the American Indian Parent Advisory Committee since the day he was brought to this school. It shows in everything that we do, the programming that we do, the goals that we set, the achievement levels that we are able to make directly come from these voices. Our state funding is $64,000 this year and our federal funding is $10,000 this year. Thankfully, the federal government shutdown was uh fixed and we were able to get our paperwork in and we were able to guarantee this funding. There is a question that I get from teachers is uh how is our funding going to h uh be affected by the policies that are going in the federal government at this point? And I always like to say there are two parts of that. One part is thankfully our budget doesn't come from the federal government, most of it. But on the other side of it, they have a commitment to Native American children. There is an educational debt that they are reneiged on and so that should be more than it is. This beautiful photo here was taken at uh Flu, South Dakota, where we took our students to the Pipstone um National Monument. We called it the Pipstone Peace Tour and we took our students from here at Heights and we went down to Jeffers Petroglyphs and it was the um fall equinox which is a holy day for us and we had ceremony there. this place, the Jeffers Petroglyphs, um Minnesota Historical Society, uh now caretakes that land is the oldest used ceremonial site of Turtle Island. And we took these students who are from many different tribal nations around Turtle Island to this place um to live and actively live in their indigenity. Smiles all around. Lots of learning. We did. We went over to Pipstone National Monument where we held ceremony and we put prayer ties and we put out food for our ancestors. And then we went over to Flanders, South Dakota where we stayed the night. And then next morning we went over to the resting place of Chief Little Crow to talk no sorry to Duta. Um and as we were there at his resting site, um a eagle flew over us and he came and he sat on the road watching us. And I knew what I was doing was blessed by those spirits. And so I knew even though I had no script, I didn't know what I was going to say to these young children, I knew that what I was being um told to tell them, the the history and the the care and the love of our people. Um it was important that that that McGizzy um was there for us and was was um helping me through that because when I talk to people about my culture and I do meetings such as this um there's an anxiety that fills in me right um I love to give who I am to all of us and so it's important that I bring those stories and to these children. American Indian students at CPS are prepared for post-secary opportunities. That is our goal, but as that is also a statement. We at Columbia Heights have had 12 years of 100% graduation rate and we will continue that in 2026. This photo is actually taken of a group of students we took up to uh Fondelac College for a tour. Um where they what we call this circle here. Um it leads into another place that you could see up into the sky. We call that abundic the hole in the sky. That's the way we see each other and um connect with our creator. It was really important that they went to indigenous spaces. You know, our second goal, um, American Indian students of CHPS will show topical topical typical topical. Why does it look weird to me? I'm sorry. Aggressive growth in literary skills of a 50% or higher. Um, our measure is the fresh bridge. This is my baby granddaughter in our beautiful new classroom at Columbia Heights High School. Um, next to the media center, room 184 if you would ever like to visit. um creating indigenous spaces for indigenous children but also holding indigenous knowledge for everyone. These are animals from our animal trunk. We do indig Ojiway language exposure for our children in all grades. Um and these beautiful animals are all named and loved by our students. Um bring in happiness, right? bringing smiles, connecting them to that culture in a good way, making curriculum irrelevant relevant to our students. Um, we also are um reviewing language arts curriculum relevant to the needs, interest, and cultural heritage of Native American students. Uh, this is a multi-year goal. We have had many meetings in this room um going over curriculum. We've had Tara come in and speak to our our group about um her commitment and the ways that she works with the standards of Minnesota which all include Native American education for all. This is done by satisfactory surveys for our parents and our students. This is Kota during our food sovereignty. We talk about manomomen uh wild rice in many of our groups. We eat a lot of wild rice here at Columbia Heights. Um, our very wonderful agriculture specialist Melissa does man classes with all of the kids. Um, and I like to gift her manomomen for many lakes and in many different processes so that she is able to have those um, beautiful um, plants and relatives with her during those um, lessons. Each student is given the opportunity to participate in at least three three Native American cultural activities, at least three. However, um I like to make sure that they get at least three within that first month. I like to make sure that they're getting at least 15 just as the year goes by. Um, this picture is at Jeffer's petetroglyphs and you can't see everyone, but my whole group is in this picture. Um, we were doing ceremony and for ceremony we burned sage. And um, I forgot my matches, so I had to go all the way back to the bus to get matches. And on my way back, I just kept thinking of the beauty that these kids who have never been to this part, who have lived in Minnesota almost their whole life, some of them their whole lives, and never been down here 2 hours away. So, I think that was a very beautiful trip that we were able to have. Thank you our superintendent for um suggesting that as she has taken students down there before and um really had a powerful acknowledgement of the time that we can do this and we only did it in two days. Um we also take our students up to Max is where I'm from the non removable Max Lake Bando Jiuway up about an hour and 45 minutes from here up on 169. Um this picture is taken in the four seasons room and we had fam all family members um come up to that very special trip. I think this was during our sugar bush trip. Yeah. And our kids went out and they harvested sugar or sap on their own and they were even gifted some to bring home with them. I think that was really beautiful. our um community members, my community members, our chief executive was there to welcome us and host us and they cooked for us. And like I said, it's about making the good things happen. We know what happened to us historically. Our children know. They carry it with them. But when we do things like this and the smiles come and the joking starts and um that light feeling comes in those indigenous space and doing those indigenous things um it raises us all up to a level that our community always wanted us to be. So, I appreciate these things, right? Our small groups, our academic literacy, our cultural activities. Um but this year has been very different with the occupation of ICE in our community and the fear that our students have had um isn't limited just to our immigrate and our our families that have came here and made this place their home. Our Native American students who are brown like me feel the weight of the racial prejudice that is being perpetuated against them. This isn't something that is a madeup fear. This is a deeply rooted systemic situation that has been perpetuated against my people and their people for many many many generations. And because of that, families, my families, my students families have chosen not to send their children to school. That's heartbreaking to me personally because I am here to see my children. I come to school now when there's no kids coming to my classroom. I still check in with them if they're an email. I have sent them Zoom links. I have reached out to families on phone calls letting them know that we are here to support them. But there's an understanding that we have in our indigenous community that it is up to us to voice these concerns and to stand with our people. We have students who are both Native American and southern Native American. And we have families who have tribal member families and families who are not documented parents and they are afraid to lose their fathers or their mothers. knowing that they have a certain level of perceived protection under tribal citizenship. I had a a very long meeting with my chief executive of the Max Lake Band of Ojiway, Virgil Wyn, and I uh voiced the concerns that we have here in Columbia Heights. Um, I think it was a very powerful meeting and I think he completely understood our family's fears and he took initiative to make sure that there was a resolution that ICE was no not um allowed on our reservation lands. I appreciate those steps as um a Native American woman and as a citizen of that tribe. So, what does that do to our program? This is a list of our events here. Um, so far we've only had two of our events uh done. Our Native American round dance held in November and our pipe stone trip held in September. We did do regalia making classes in October and November uh some of December or some of December but after that we have called it quits. um our families have said that we need to scale back a little bit on what we're doing. Uh the exposure that we're putting our children through and the simple fact that our kids are not here. So we have planned um in April a student trip to Max where I know they will be safe and cared for and loved. Um, in the spring we will also be holding a plant relatives medicine teachings that we do every year with Wawa Bani and he will be coming here and we will do that plant relatives teaching with our garden um specialist Melissa. And then our sugar bridge trip is coming up. Um we are told that the trees are probably going to be tapped pretty soon here. So that's pretty exciting for our families and our community because we look forward to making the good things happen because even through genocide and cultural eth ethnic um we have continued to do our sugar bush and I just want to remind everyone it wasn't until 1979 that we have gained our religious freedom rights as our Muslim brothers and sisters go to Ramadan uh begin their Ramadan season this tomorrow. Um I want to just say that Columbia Heights Public School still does not have a smudge in policy and I would appreciate us to work on that a little bit more. So I can't smudge for you today. Um but I was born in 1981. So, a couple years before I was born, my relatives, my grandma, my great-grandma, my mother weren't able to even smudge in public. We weren't able to bring our drums out in public. However, I to this day spend 11 weekends in the spring and 11 weekends in the fall at my drum ceremony. and I do so with the best intentions to bring everything that I am and everything that I pray for here to this school and for these students. So, I thank you all very much for hearing me out today. Um, I felt that it was important to say my piece in public with everyone listening and I appreciate the work that everyone has done here. I also want to say uh major Minnesota makoce. I appreciate it. And that means ice out Minnesota. >> Thank you, Yolanda. Wait, before you go, >> I'm sorry. >> Yeah, no question. >> That's okay. Yeah, >> I was going to run. >> I know. I know you and Mr. Runner. >> Go ahead, Zena. >> As you know, I work closely with Yolanda and our Native American education program. And additionally, Yolanda and I wanted to uh reference that per Minnesota State Statute 124D.78, the committee did come together to review the required statutory um paperwork and requirements that are due by our state. And I'm happy to report that our um Native American parent um committee uh did vote in favor of concurrence for the 2026 um school year. That part was missing out of our We put it in so I don't know where it went in this. Okay. >> Yes, we did vote concurrence. Um >> the cover sheet. We partner. It is in the cover sheet. >> I appreciate. >> Yeah, it's in the cover sheet. Yep. Yeah. >> Yeah. Our our families love the work that we are doing. Um they really do appreciate everything that we give to our students and even with um you know the hiccups of this year and uh moving things around and figuring things out, we are still compliant which is beautiful to me. >> Question. >> Um yeah, I just want to take a second and say thank you for for everything that you said. Um, and you were not wrong and um, speak your truth even if your voice shakes. And I am so glad that you did. And I'm incredibly grateful for um, for your work with our families and for your um, for your work with our schools and superintendent. And I would love to hear more about a smudging policy. We um, I'd like to ask that we can hopefully work on that. Um and um thank you for everything that you do and everything that you bring. Um and I'm grateful, incredibly grateful in this moment and all the moments before that you are here and that um you are such an amazing um advocate for our students and our families. So thank you. I appreciate that. Um, we do it for the children. >> We do >> do it for the children. Yeah. >> Anybody else? >> Jessica, >> um, not a question, just a a comment as well. Um, I really appreciate truly your the information and your testimony. looking and preparing for this meeting tonight, I did have questions about what was the state of the program um for our students and their families um as we're going through this unimaginable time in our community. Um, and so I really, um, it's very meaningful to hear, um, your own experiences, our students experiences, and I just want to thank you very much for continuing to be a point of of connection and community for our families. So, thank you. >> Thank you for that. Um, you know, our our families, um, they really want our continue our continued work. they want to be here. Um, we haven't been in this room all year because we got that big beautiful classroom now. Um, but I know they miss it in here, you know. Um, they spent a lot of time here and we've done a lot of work in this room and um, I know especially for Elena, she's actually texted me our chair right now. She wanted to be here. Um, she's actually on the way, but she's going to miss it. um you know, she she even didn't know the the severity of the situation until um our school district spoke out. Um and she is wellinformed kind of person, right? She's not she don't have her handed in the sand and those kind of things. But I think it's really important that we speak out and that we save the parts that we're supposed to because we are the change makers here. Um, you all have power in your hands to promote the good work and to do the good things. And how our community sees it is every decision that we make carries on seven generations from now. Every decision I make is for those seven generations. And I acknowledge that seven generations ago, those family members have made those decisions so that I would be here today. So I will not do a disservice to my community, my ancestors, and not say the hard parts. So I appreciate you guys all hearing this because I am I go through a lot of uh contemplation about this, right? because you you all in this room are not the pe and it's not that I'm mad at people either really, but it's like you're not the people I'm mad at and I don't want to hurt your feelings with the words that I need to say. Um but they have to be out there and it's um important that people who are understand and do hear these things and the people who make the change, who make the policies, who write the things, who say the stuff, that you hear this from an advocate who really does care about our community, not just my Native American students, but each of one of us here at Columbia Heights. So, thank you for that. Thank you. All right. Yeah. Thank you. Well said. All right. Next up, we have um the achievement and integration budget with um with assistant superintendent uh Namboy. Good evening, Chair Groundland, Superintendent Stanvvic, and members of the board. Uh I am so glad to be here to present the achievement and integration budget but I would like to just uh echo the admiration of the previous presenters including uh Christian who I have never met for as many time as I go into the high school. Uh and uh all those people spoke I think it's great to see people speaking from their heart especially in this difficult time. I was driving with Superintendent Stanvic last week at the end of the day when we received some a text and as we headed for the corner I say is that Jessica and she says yes. So I just want to say thank you to all of you who have been supporting the schools, supporting the families. Uh it really shows the value of the community that we live in in Columbia Heights. So, uh, you'll probably see some review here because, uh, this is that time of the year when I come and, uh, present the achievement and integration budget. Our mission in Columbia Heights public schools, creating worlds of opportunity for each and every learners, all belong and all succeed. We were just talking about values and I think all the the the core values will be represented in my presentation tonight and I am equally proud to say that the core values are aligned to the CHPS board of education equity statement. So this is anformational session and I will be back on March 10 uh to ask you to uh approve uh the achievement integration budget. So, as uh you may recall, the purpose of achievement and integration for uh Minnesota is to pursue racial economic integration, increase human achievement, create equitable educational opportunities, and reduce academic disparities based on students diverse racial, ethnic, and economic background in Minnesota public schools. And we have two statute that governs that. So part of the budget that you'll be uh learning about tonight is that there is a three-year plan. There is a plan that uh we develop uh and so this uh plan will cover 27, 28, and 29. And uh there are three goals to the plan. Reducing disparities in academic achievement. making sure that when we look at students from different groups, we are not augmenting the achievement gap but rather uh reducing it. And then there is the increasing access to effective teachers uh effective and diverse teachers. As you know, we're very proud of North Park School for Innovation with our partnership with Blackman Teach. We've been increasing that. But it's not the only school that is increasing the diversity of teachers. And you may recall that in October, director Takroll and I presented on the uh Kakar plan um comprehensing achievement and civic readiness plan and in that I did provide you with some uh update on our achievement integration budget that we're meeting the goal and one of those things that we've been consistently proud of is that 100% of all our teachers are participating culturally uh responsive professional development. And finally, the third goal is increasing racial and economic integration. You may recall from the past that we are still in partnership with San Antonio Brighton and I'll share a little more information about that later. So this is to uh the the budget that I am sharing with you is the 202627 uh school year and as you know uh or as you may recall um there is some strict guidelines about this budget. At least 80% of the budget has to be for direct student services. no more than 20% going toward professional development and then no more than 10% going towards administrative cost. So, uh there are allowable um uh allowable uh expenditures that the achievement integration program requires uh as school received these funds. And uh before us you can see some of the things that you've heard us present on uh innovative and integrated program learning environments family engagement initiative to increase human achievement because we believe that when the families are engaged they support their children and they collaborate with teachers we're able to see improvement. Uh of course professional development our bread and butter. Teachers don't grow if we don't help them develop or review or refine or add to their tools. And then career and college readiness which is one of the ultimate outcomes when it comes to school is where do our children go beyond uh graduation of high school and then there is also recruitment and retainment of racially and ethnically diverse teachers and administrators. So there is a timeline that will f we follow uh actually I should have changed world best workforce to civic readiness and comprehensive achievement. Uh in the fall there there is a public meeting and then uh there is a budget that's then presented uh to the board. This is today February 17th. And then on March 15th the budget is due to the department of education. They review it and approve it. And then in December there is a uh report a financial report that's given back to MD for financial expenditures. And then on December 15th there is a report that I submit about the prior year achievement and then that same time timeline is followed the following year as you can see below. So for the 2027 uh achievement integration budget we have the following totals. Uh it's about achievement integration funds 1,156,71244 and then the incentive revenue which is 38,14840 and I remember last year director uh Maderas had asked about the incentive revenue uh and uh so maybe I can elaborate on it a little bit um because I went and did some research on it. So the incentive revenue is very specific and the specific of that is we want to reduce achievement disparities among racial group and you have to be very intentional about addressing the disparities that exist within certain groups. And so from my presentation back in October we reported on the number of Hispanic students who are taking advanced college readiness classes. And so that's an example of how targeted uh we are. Uh I believe uh in that same report we had shared about some of our partnership that I think I'll share about in in a few seconds here where we're targeting certain group of students and be able to support them so that they can achieve uh well academically. So in total the budget that uh we are that I will be coming back on March 10 to ask you to approve is for 1,194,86084. Uh if you're wondering how does that compare to last year budget, it's about $4,500 more. So not a lot by the time you factor in some of the uh uh increases. So just briefly on some of the program that we support with achievement and integration to ensure that our students are uh progressing and uh uh learning well. So AVID is one of them. Advancement via individual determination uh which supports you know academic skill development, reading, writing, collaboration, critical thinking, study skills, organization notes and uh you know in the elementary we have AVID strategies. In the middle school and high school is where you actually have great AVID AVID classes that students are participating in. So funds are used to pay for program fees for staff, materials, supplies, and again professional development including transportation when we do college visits. Um innovative programs, enrichment. So the two pictures on the right there were from this past summer when we did bucket drumming. Uh I mean we believe in the whole child and not just focusing on academic but other skills that bring the hidden talent of certain students. And so those are those pictures. And so this enrichment opportunity provides students with hands-on and field experience that build context and background knowledge to connect to academic content. Uh I think in the past we've shared and we're still supporting the more than classroom project. We're still supporting Dreamline and again funds are used to support u the fees and professional development and materials for those programs. And these are just to name a few programs. Family engagement. I think any schools that does any school or school district that does not engage in family in engagement, they're really losing out. Um you are all familiar with many of the activities we support through family engagement. Uh including bilingual family support uh from the homeschool leazison that we have at each school. Uh and then there is also mental health classes that we've uh provided for families by partnering with community based organizations. And uh she's still in the room and uh we you know we we value bringing our own people to develop our own staff as well as partnering with people from outside uh organization to come and provide professional development. And so sometimes it's book reading, sometimes it's, you know, uh paying for fees from outside presenters. And uh so we have Sarah Balman, our EEL coordinator, was also presented uh to uh several of our schools. And then we have Deina from Minneapolis public school who was continuing to do some work with North Park uh School for Innovation. And uh part of uh our partnership with St. Anthony New Brighton are these field trips that we take during summer encore. Uh and this picture specifically shows the two pictures on the side are at the U of M. So if there are any golfers in the room, you can remember the hole going down to the bowling alley. A student last summer went there. And the picture in the middle for those of us who love to go to Minneapolis, it's the we can take a guess. Chicago and Lake Global Market. >> Oh, global market. >> That's right. I had the answer, but I was trying to see if you saw it. So global market and you know when you go to global market there's just a diversity of food diversity all all around and students continue to learn about other cultures. Um and then these pictures are uh in our media center. So our partnership with St. Anthony New Brighton is where we bring students from St. Anthony uh who are in classes incoming freshmen uh who are in classes with our students from Columbia Heights and this year uh our number we increase the number and we had a total of 51 students and uh these are pictures of students presenting to each other minus one where they're eating. It's still from global market but you can see all over. So on your right and down it's students doing presentation. They did some research and they're presenting to each other. I think Superintendent Stan and I had the opportunity to go visit some of the classes. Uh it's math seminar and writing seminar. So these are just evidence of where the money goes and how it's used and what students benefit from. And so just to sum up, so there is a budget which I've presented to to you in terms of numbers and then we've created strategies to meet uh the intended objectives and then there are goals that we meet and uh likely enough uh we provided uh the report on how we met our goals last year and that concludes my presentation. >> Wonderful. Thank you so much. Any questions? >> I have a question. >> Go ahead, Julie. >> Okay, this the the budget's kind of weird to me that 1.194860.84. How did this how did these numbers come about? They're like when I think of grants or I think they're even numbers. What the heck is this based on the number of students that we're projecting and it's a dollar per stu certain dollars per student? How does that work? >> Great question. So the budget is funded by the department of education. It is sorry the the budget comes from MDE and it's based on the number of students that we have and there is a per pupil amount allotted to it. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Good question. Any other questions or comments? >> Go ahead Jessica. >> Thank you very much for the information and thanks for following up this year with more information about the incentive revenue. I just wanted to make a note about that that my uh the primary reason for my question around incentive revenue last year was um understanding if that's money that's like held back in some way where it's an incentive for us to get it if we meet certain benchmarks and that's not the case. So I just wanted to note that for the community we have enough uh areas of uncertainty in our budget and that's not one of them. So thank you very much for for that followup. And then I did just have a couple of questions. Um, when we're talking about there's a slide that talks about enrichment opportunities. Um, and that's kind of broadly defined, but are we are we talking about funding things like field trips and encore and summer seminar as part of the enrichment piece or what is that speaking to? >> Great question. I think the beginning of that say innovative program. And so the opportunity of the the purpose of the achievement integration is to allow school district to be innovative and based on the students that they serve, the needs that they have in their district and the goals that they've established. Can you identify some programs that will benefit students? For example, when you think of the uh our partnership with the SA Foundation at the Dreamline program was adding additional tutors to help students who are sort of in the middle to be able to help them develop some skills so that they can reenter the classroom and they can be engaged and also participate in after school program. So that is one example. Um I can think of uh during the summer program for example in past years we did some uh science experiment where we're exposing students to launching some rockets so that they can learn about connect the science that they've learned in the classroom with practical activities so they can experience what true scientists do. So it allows us to be innovative in that regard. So we can kind of as a district um use our discretion from year to year um to fund those activities as long as they meet the parameters of the the goals of the program. >> You are correct. Okay. >> Um and then my other question was around the homeschool leaison piece. So you talk about family engagement. Are we using achievement and integration funds to fund a portion of the home leaison positions? >> That is correct. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Great questions. Any other questions? All right, if there's no other questions, uh, thank you very much. >> You're welcome. >> All right, next up, uh, we have the policy first reading. Um, no, you are okay. Have a good night. Thank you so much for being here again. >> Um, all right. So, policy first reading. Um, sorry. Uh, the following policies were reviewed at the January 20th, 2026 policy subcommittee meeting. These policies will be made available for staff and community input on the district web page and brought before the board for second reading approval at a future board meeting. Yearly review was uh 522 title 9. Uh and then the three-year cycle review, we have um policy 103 complaints, policy 420, students and employees with sexually transmitted infections and diseases and certain other communicable diseases and infections conditions. 422.1 respect and professionalism in the workplace recommended new title. Uh previously respect in the workplace changed to aspirational purchase uh purpose 423 employee student relationships and a new policy 715 post issuance compliance. As was stated, uh this will come to a board uh a future board meeting for us to approve. And in the meantime, anybody is welcome to view these policies on our website and provide any feedback as necessary. All right, believe it or not, that was all governance. Now we're up for action items. Woohoo. First up is uh the Columbia Academy schedule and this is with director Ben uh Bennett and uh Superintendent Zena Steenbeck. So, welcome Chair Granley, members of the board, Superintendent Sten. As part of the teacher contract negotiations, there was a subcommittee that looked at the Columbia Academy schedule. Um, and I'm proud to say that they came to a change in schedule, which is nice because it's been a long time coming. Um, so there is an MOU that will be board approved tonight hopefully. Um, as part of the teacher contract, but as part of the Columbia Academy schedule, they are looking to start the day 10 minutes later, which will put them in line with the elementary and the high school um for hours. So instead of starting at 8:20, they would start at 8:30. Um, so >> go ahead. >> Thanks. I just wanted to add that um the subcommittee uh for the Columbia Academy schedule met a handful of times and it was an incredibly collaborative process. Um, so I wanted to thank um our Columbia Academy teacher Ariel Orcut for um heading up that committee um and just bringing together a really collaborative group of people um who weighed a lot of issues and concerns and were very um transparent with the Columbia Academy staff and so we kind of went back and forth with the staff sharing information um conducting surveys, voting, all of that. So, I just um wanted to express my gratitude. >> Great. Thank you very much. >> Um tonight, we're here seeking approval to start um Columbia Academy next school year, 10 minutes later. >> So, just for clarification for everybody at home who may be watching this, um currently our school day starts at 8:20 and ends at 3:15 at Columbia Academy. And starting next year, um, if this is approved by the board, uh, the school day will start at 8:30 and still end at 3:15. All right. Can I get a motion to accept this uh, recommendation of changing the school day at Columbia Academy start time? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Julie. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> All right. Second by Pway. All right. Uh any discussion? Go for it. >> Um I have a question about how and this I'm sorry if you don't know the answer to this, but how this would um uh impact how this will impact transportation and routes. >> Great question. We had a couple of conversations with our transportation department particularly given our tight budgets and transportation can be really um cost costly. Um the reason that the committee came to the agreement to start the school day a little bit later rather than on the tail end is in the afternoon it really would have impacted budgets and been a transportation nightmare. Um but the working with our transportation company um this change of 10 minutes in the morning won't impact um budgets and is very doable for our transportation company. >> Thank you. Um I imagine it might also have some impact on the congestion on 49th at particular times. >> Unfortunately, Columbia Academy is so close to the street and we just don't have a lot of room back there. So, I I um anticipate congestion going forward. Sorry. >> Yeah. >> Uh I also know that the Department of Transportation is working on our that area too. So, >> hopefully 2028. >> 2028. Yeah. So, maybe we just have, you know, two-ish years. >> Hang in there. >> We're Yeah, hang in there everybody. Any other inches? And then my other question is if this is approved by the board and um being implemented next year, is there a plan for communication with families? >> Yes, absolutely. >> All right. >> Thanks. >> Any other any other questions or comments? >> Is there a followup? >> I mean, I don't know that there's like a need for a particular communication plan at this point. just noting that it is a significant even though it's 10 minutes that's a significant change for families in terms of their um transportation plans um impacting maybe some people's work schedules and knowing that families that have multiple siblings in the district you know it kind of changes their their routines. So um just noting that there's a need for >> lots of communication with families. >> It felt unfinished. >> Thank you. It is unfinished, right? We have to figure out what we're gonna say. >> Yeah. Uh I believe carrier pigeons will likely be I'm just kidding. >> Good, good, good. >> All right. >> Yes. Go ahead, Julie. >> I just want to thank the the team that did this because I know that this was something stressed out on during the negotiations with, you know, schedules. And so I just want to thank everybody who came to a collaborative approach that wasn't budget impacting and obviously it's going to impact our our commutes for our students but hopefully you know we'll get that worked out and it will be easier as we go forward. So thank you. >> Well said. Thank you. All right. If there's no further discussion we'll move to voting. All righty. Uh, Pway I, Grant >> I, >> Maderas, >> I, >> Pool, >> I, and, >> and Mueller, >> I. >> All right. Thank you very much. Motion carries. Next up, we have the 2025 2027 teacher master agreement. >> I'm just going to start talking while you're walking. So, >> go ahead. Chair Garland, members of the board, Superintendent Stenick, in your board packet was the 2025 2027 teacher master agreement. Um, local 710 has ratified it. Um, and they've seen the final copy. There are members that are supposed to sign it have signed it. So, tonight we're seeking board approval of the contract and we'll start getting those changes made. >> All right. Do you have a No. Okay. Uh, all right. Do we have uh can I get a motion to accept the teacher master agreement for 2025 2027? So move. >> Thank you Michelle. Can I get a second? >> Second, >> Julie. Wonderful. Uh discussion. >> Uh >> yes, go ahead. I just wanted to note that I plan to abstain from this vote as my spouse is covered by this particular employment agreement. Thank you. >> Thank you very much for that. Um, I just want to say that this was the first time that um, I was involved and I believe at least in as long as I can remember and have heard um, this was the first time that the school board was also uh, had members on the negotiation uh, team for the school district. And I think it was incredibly eyeopening and helpful for us to be able to um be a part of that and to work collaboratively to think about um what's going on with our school district and what our teachers and staff might need um as well as looking across the spectrum of how this impacts not just our our teachers but our community as a whole. So, I'm very grateful for that opportunity to have been a part of that and um I'm glad that we've come to an agreement that um seems fair and equitable to both sides and uh I appreciate everybody who came to join us um for this for the negotiations and all of the meetings and prep and everything that went into that. So, just wanted to say thank you. Anybody else have any anything they want to share? Any other discussion? >> All right. If there's no further discussion, we'll move to voting. >> All righty. Granland >> I. >> Darus >> abstain. >> Oh, sorry. I forgot. Oh, never mind. That's okay. >> That's all good. >> I was like, wait, something happened that wasn't >> Sorry. H >> I >> Mueller >> I >> Pway I >> All right, the master agreement passes. Thank you very much. Next up we have teacher and ECFE uh teacher seniority lists with director Bennett again. >> Chair Grantland, members of the board, Superintendent Stenick, each year according to the teacher master agreement, we have to post the seniority lists. Um give 30 days to make any challenges. Um the only changes were just updates to seniority or um lensure dates of expiration. Um so everything is set ready to go. So today I'm seeking approval of the 2025 2026 teacher and ECF teacher seniority lists. Awesome. Thank you very much. Can I get a motion to accept the uh teacher and ECF teacher seniority lists? >> Oh, thank you. Laurian, can I get a second? Second. >> Yay. Thank you, Julie. All right. Discussion. >> Go ahead, Jessica. >> Chair Granland. I'm also choosing to abstain from this vote as my spouse is included on the seniority list. >> Thank you very much. I appreciate the transparency. Uh, all right. Uh, sorry, my brain just quit for a second. Um, >> no more discussion. >> No more. Yeah. Is there any more discussion? Yeah. >> If there's no more discussion, we'll move to our vote. Thank you. >> Yeah. Uh, Maderas >> abstain. >> Who? >> I. >> Mueller. >> I. >> Pway. I. Grant >> I. All right. Thank you very much. Motion carries. Next up, we have September 2025 lane lane change requests with Director Bennett. Oh my gosh, it's still you. >> Yes, Chair Growlin, members of the board, Superintendent Stenvik. Um, we typically put the lane changes in the consent agenda, but given the contract passing, we wanted to pass the lane changes so we can get everything processed on the next payroll um and not hold up any of the changes to the contract or lane changes. And some staff have been waiting since September to get these lane changes. Um, so today I'm here seeking approval of the September um lane change that was in your packet. All right. Thank you very much. Can I get a motion to accept the lane change attachment to the board report? >> So, >> thank you, Michelle. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Second by Jessica. Any discussion? If there's no discussion, we can move into a vote. >> Absolutely. W I >> Mueller >> I >> Pway >> I Granland >> I >> Maderas >> I >> All right, thank you very much. Motion carries. Next up we have the midyear 2025 2026 lane change request with again Director Bennett. You're just >> um Chair Garland, members of the board, Superintendent Stenbeck. Um again this would normally be part of the consent agenda but in order to um process all the changes in the contract we wanted to get the contract settled and get the lane changes also approved. So this set of group it's a little bit smaller. Um it's for the midyear lane changes. All the people on this list have been verified with their credits and so today I'm seeking approval. >> Wonderful. Thank you very much. Can I get a motion to approve the salary adjustment 2025 2026? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Jessica. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Awesome. All right. Second by Julie. Any discussion? All right. No discussion. We'll move to vote. >> All righty. Mueller >> I. >> Pway. I. Granland. >> I. >> Maderas. >> I. >> H. I. All right, thank you very much. Motion carries. Next up, we have uh the Northeast Bank corporate authorizing resolution with Director Henkins. >> Thank you, Chair Granland, members of the board, and Superintendent Senbeck. Um, as discussed at our work session last week, um, we have a change in clerk for the board and we need to update signatures and authorizations with our banks. Um, so this evening, this first um, action item is to um, asking for the uh, board to approve the attach resolution, the Northeast Bay Corporate Authorizing Resolution. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> Can I get a >> Chair Granland? >> Yes. Go ahead. Um, I move to wave the reading of the resolution relating to Northeast Bank corporate authorizing resolution. Um, there being uh copies available uh and printed for the board. >> All right. Thank you very much. Do we need to vote on that? >> Um, you just need to make sure there are no objections. >> Oh, are there any objections to waving the reading? Please, God, no. >> All right. There's no objections, I think. All right. Thank you. Can I get a motion to approve the attached resolution, the Northeast Bank Corporate Authorizing Resolution? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Michelle. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Julie. Is there any discussion? >> Go ahead. Uh just wanted to note that we did have this is a this is a change that we have to make based on uh shifts in our uh officer positions on the board, but that this is something that we discussed at the work session. >> Thank you very much. >> All right, if there's no further discussion, we'll move to voting. >> All right, Pete. I Granon >> I mad >> I >> W >> I >> Mueller >> I >> All right, thank you very much. The resolution passes. Moving on to US Bank authorizing resolution with director Hennekins. >> Thank you Chair Granland, members of the board and superintendent Steenbeck. Uh second action item uh same as the first uh asking the board to approve the attach resolution, the US bank authorizing resolution again for the reasons of uh board position changes and the new having a new clerk um and updating the signators uh with that bank. >> Thank you very much Granland. >> Yes. I move to wave the the reading of the resolution relating to the US bank uh authorizing um given that there are copies available uh to both the public and the board. >> Thank you very much. Are there any objections? >> No. >> No. >> Thank you. All right. Um, can I get a motion to approve the uh attached resolution for the US Bank authorizing resolution? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Julie. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Second. >> Oh, I'm going to give it to Yeah, we'll give it to to Laurian there. >> All right. Any discussion? Again, this we discussed this authorizing resolution at the work session and um it stems from shifts in officer positions at the board. So >> wonderful. >> And I also wanted to note that um the reason for the laughter across the board table is because had we not waved the reading um I think that chair Grelin would have passed out trying to read these multi-page resolutions. >> Yes, they are very very long. So thank you very much. All right. Uh if there's no further discussion, we'll move to voting. >> Absolutely. Granland >> I. >> Maderas >> I >> P I Mueller >> I. >> Pway I. >> Motion carries. Next up we have Director Henkins again with authorization of bid publication for the Columbia Heights High School 2026 classroom renovation. >> Thank you, Chair Granland, members of the board and superintendent Tenvvic. um this evening um seeking approval to um publish notice um on a bid for uh our calling it our high school 2026 classroom renovation project. Um this was presented to the board at the work session. Um again at this point we're just posting ad to uh receive bids um so that we can evaluate that. Um uh right now we are budgeting this project um through our long-term facility maintenance um dollars and our capital project levy dollars. So braiding those two funds for this project. Um it's uh 18 rooms at the high school, 16 classrooms and a couple smaller spaces that currently have asbesus flooring underneath the carpet. the carpet is well beyond its age and uh so as we need to replace the carpet um we're taking uh the opportunity to abate um the flooring underneath it which we kind of have to because we're disturbing it and at the same time we'll be doing case work or uh cabinets um that are the existing ones in the room. We'll be removing those um as likely the flooring continues under those cabinets and we'll be replacing that. Um, so that's the project for the high school 2026 2026 classroom renovation and again this evening seeking authorization to post four bids and I believe the ad is was posted in the board packet. >> Wonderful. Thank you very much. Can I get a motion to authorize the publishing of legal notice of solicitation of bids for the Columbia Heights High School 2026 classroom renovation project? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Laurian. Can I get a second? I'll second. >> Thank you, Michelle. Any discussion? >> I just want to point out that we did have a lot of discussion about the needs for this um renovation um during our session of our work session last time. And um it if anybody needs to you know review that they can look at the get the recording or they can't well you can request it right they can come to you. >> Yeah superintendent >> because work sessions are open to the public too. >> So >> yeah they're just not recorded. Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Well said. Yep. >> Any other discussion? This is where we just look to see if Laurian has anything that she wants to add. >> If you guys got it, we'll uh have more discussion. Well, I guess I won't. I might not be on the board by the time you guys come back, but we'll see. >> Yeah. >> Wow. What way to bring us down there, Lauren? I'm just kidding. Um, all right. If there's no further discussion, we'll move to vote. >> Maderas, >> I >> Mueller >> I. >> Pway. Granland. I it motion carries. Thank you very much. >> Very good. >> All right. Now we are moving into proclamation. Um which is something that's we don't usually do but we're happy to do right now. So um as for some background, Columbia Heights Athletic Department employee King Wilson has contributed to the athletic department for the past 54 years. primarily working with the football and boys basketball programs. And in that vein, um I would like to share the proclamation that we will be presenting to uh Mr. Wilson tomorrow night. So, uh Columbia Heights Public Schools proclamation King Wilson Wilson appreciation day February 18th, 2026. Whereas Columbia Heights Public Schools mission is to create worlds of opportunity for each and every learner where all belong and all succeed including opportunities for athletic participation. And whereas King Wilson graduated from Columbia Heights High School in 1975 and began his tenure of support to Columbia Heights Public Schools varsity athletic competitions in 1972. And whereas King Wilson supported Columbia Heights Public Schools athletes in many ways, including serving as a leader of the Columbia Heights Athletic Boosters, managing athletics teams and scorekeeping and recordkeeping for varsity athletic teams. And whereas King Wilson is a dedicated and beloved member of the Columbia Heights Public Schools community who has mentored and supported hundreds of student athletes over five decades. And whereas King Wilson has been the voice of Columbia Heights Public Schools boys basketball and football competitions for 54 years now. Therefore, the School Board of Columbia Heights Public Schools Independent School District number 13 hereby proclaims Wednesday, February 18th, 2026 as King Wilson Appreciation Day and urges all staff, students, and community members to join the school board in recognizing his longstanding and valuable contributions. Can I get a motion to accept the proclamation? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Julie. Can I get a second? >> I'll second that. >> Thank you, Michelle. Uh, any discussion, >> Chair Garland? >> Yes. >> Um, I would just like to just emphasize the appreciation for Mr. Wilson. I think that most of us can't think of doing anything for 54 years. Um but his the passion and the support and the dedication to our students and their sports and their activities um is is incredible. Um a true mentor. Um a true part of the the Highlander community. Um very welld deserved. I know we don't do this often which I think highlights how special um he is um to our school community. So, um really glad to be able to do this for him. >> Yeah, thank you. Well said. Go ahead. >> Uh thanks. I just want to note that um Mr. Wilson will be presented with this tomorrow and is unaware that so this will be a surprise for him tomorrow evening. So looking forward >> he's watching the board meeting >> looking for looking forward to the basketball game tomorrow evening where he'll be presented with this proclamation. >> So don't say anything if you're watching. So everybody else keep it under wraps >> and we'll just hope he's not. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Buff there any other discussion? >> I agree with Laurian on you know the dedication of someone for 54 years to our district is a blessing and that's why we should honor people like King Wilson. >> Yeah. >> So I'm excited. >> Yeah. Well said. Um Yes. Thank you all very very much. And uh honestly uh to hear he flies in from out of state to attend these um these uh events and to be a supporter uh for that long. Uh again just emphasizes that you can never really leave Columbia Heights. >> So all right >> beginning to sound like a threat the more >> you're never going to leave. Listen scary. >> Listen, >> height stays with you forever. >> All right. >> If there's no further discussion, we will move to a vote to accept the proclamation. >> All righty. Uh >> I >> Mueller >> I >> Pway I Granwood >> I >> Maderas >> I >> All right. Thank you very much. The proclamation passes. Uh, moving on into board topics, but I'm going to put Superintendent Stendic on the spot. Do you want to talk about this? >> I certainly can. >> Would you mind? >> Sure. Um as uh we've discussed um given this the uh going public and talking to the media about our situation in terms of the um immigration activity here in our community. And um it was a very well-known story that our little Liam um was one of the children in the blue bunny hat um who was taken. Um we've really received an outpouring of love and support from people from all all around the world uh around this state and around our nation. And so first I really just want to extend our gratitude. We're we will try to figure out a way to um reach out to all of those of you who have reached out to us to express our gratitude. Um one of those people who uh reached out to us is I'm going to mispronounce his name. Well, his first name is Guy, and he worked um handinhand with Jim Henson on the Muppet Babies, and you may have seen this image um where he has the Muppet Babies um wearing Liam's uh bunny hat. Um so, he has um gifted the district uh so I think for the Valley View teachers some cards with this image on it, hands signed. Um he's gifted this particular one to Chair Granlin. Um in addition, we have a signed copy for written to Liam himself that will be delivered uh to his home in the coming days. So we just wanted to extend our appreciation. I will note that the sales of this image um from um I'm going to mispronounce his name from the artist um all of those proceeds go to the GoFundMe for Liam. and he has other ones like the peaceful Kermit that will go uh those proceeds go to um another one of our students Elizabeth her GoFundMe page. So just appreciation and um uh you know just another example of how the story of what has been happening here and how our community has been impacted really is um touching the lives of people all over the place. >> Yeah. >> Thanks. >> Thank you very much. Um, any other board topics? >> Wow. >> Yeah. All right. If there are no other board topics, can I get a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Second by Julie. You want to vote on it? We have move to vote. Really call, don't we? >> Do we have to do a vote on that? >> Well, you could have just called to adjurnn, but instead you asked for a motion. So, now we have a motion on the >> Now we have a motion. We can't just leave it. Yeah. >> But then we do need to vote on it. >> Gotcha. >> Discussion. >> Is there any discussion? >> Although we just had it. >> All right. >> All righty. Mueller >> I >> Pway I Gran >> I. >> Madas >> I. >> And who? >> I. >> Motion carries. Meeting is adjourned at 8:03.