All right, we are at 7:30. I'd like to call the meeting to order and we'll start off by waiting for Malik. That's the first order of business. What's up, Malik? And we will start the meeting by reciting the pledge of allegiance if you choose. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. First order of business, I would entertain a motion to approve our agenda. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Motion by Jones. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Second by Anna. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> All those opposed. Motion passes. Next up on the agenda, we have our superintendent report from Dr. Brenda Lewis. >> Good evening, chair and school board members. Good to see all of you. Um we will move right into our um first item here on the superintendent report. Just waiting for the slide to advance. Thank you. Which is our activities winter recap. So, I'm absolutely honored to welcome welcome up activities director Justin Ree, who also um has with him some um special guests as well. So, take it away, Coach Ree. So, good to see you. >> Good to see Well, good to hear you as well. Um I'm here with two amazing uh student ath athletes here, Allison Martin and Alex Johnson, who is our AAA award winners. But before I let them get a chance to talk about our winter week recap and as well as their accomplishments, I want to just kind of point out our participation numbers this year. As you see from 2023 to now in all sports in the winter, they have did an uptick in participation in esport by at least 5 to 10 student athletes each. So that's really exciting, not only for the middle school, but for the high school because if that we continue in this trend, then I'm excited to see our participation numbers do uptick at the high school as well. Um, now I will pass it on to Allison Martin who will start talking about our winter sports recap. >> Our dance team was a very young group this season with multiple middle schoolers on the roster. Their scores improved each week and they had a strong showing at sections finishing with their best scores of the season. >> Wrestling finished this season with two athletes competing at the state tournament. Next win and Alex Bombgard. Next one went two and two and finished in the top eight, wrapping up her outstanding career as a four-time state entrance, two-time section champion, and one-time state place winner. Alex Bombgart has two more years to continue building on his accomplishments, and we look forward to what's ahead of him. >> Our girls basketball team was a young group this season, but they showed tremendous effort and determination throughout the year. The players continue to grow and improve each game while competing hard and supporting one another. We are excited to see how this group continues to develop in the years ahead. >> Our boys basketball team seated six upset number three seed Zimmerman in the first round of section play. Then went on to face Becker and bowed hard but ultimately fell just a few points short of advancing. Carlo Martinez, Wyatt Engelman, Quinn Hendrickson, and Wyatt Olsen concluded their high school careers as three-time state participants, competing in a combined total of nine events. The boys have been tremendous leaders for our program throughout their time at Fidley. Quinn Hendrickson was voted section 4A swimmer of the year. Adam Berg was named section 4A head coach of the year and Madison Morrisy was named section 4A assistant coach of the year. We are incredibly proud and fortunate to have had these student athletes and coaches represent the Philly Tigers. >> Next, we'll talk about um school activities and clubs. [clears throat] Snow week at the high school was fulfilled with fun and school spirit. Students participated in dress up days throughout the week and competed in co-ed volleyball tournament. The week wrapped up with a pep fest that brought students and staff together to celebrate and show their Tiger pride. This week was run by our student council. >> Congratulations Fidley Yake students on representing our school, the four days at YAG, a simulation of Minnesota's state government. Fidley was the third largest delegation this year at YAG with 81 students out of the 1,560 students who attended from across the state. We had leaders in multiple program areas. This year, Sophia Good was elected to be Secretary of State. Malik Ba was elected to be speaker of the Sanford House and Eleanor Anna was elected to be the speaker of the Meyers House for next year's conference. Eleanor Anna also won the award for the most outstanding member of Meyers House for this year. Vivian Neie's bill and her legislative body won for best bill as well. Our students were true examples of what being a Fidley Tiger is all about. Many of our clubs played an active role in planning and participating in this year's Black History Month assembly, including the Black Student Union, Boys King Student Mentor Group, Guys with Ties, the FHS Bands, and the FPS Director Choir. The theme this year was education is power through culture and knowledge. The assembly was recorded and shared with the district for students and staff to watch during the last week of February. It takes courage and confidence to stand in front of your peers knowing the entire student body will be watching and we are incredibly pr proud of our classmates and friendly students for their willingness to step outside of their comfort zones. Thank you to Miss Ala Sims for orchestrating the event. We are fortunate to have her as our uh equipped and family uh engagement coordinator and our school is stronger because of her leadership. Our winter holiday concert was a wonderful evening showcasing the talents of our band and choir students. Both groups delivered outstanding performances and filled the room with beautiful music. It was a great show and a perfect way to celebrate the season and the hard work of our student musicians. >> Robotics had a regional competition earlier this year and finished in third place. They had their first win winter competition in Duth where they learned a lot and are looking forward to their upcoming tournaments this winter and spring season. Next we have the AAA award. The academics arts and athletics award commonly known as known as the AAA award honors high school stu students throughout the state who have a 3.0 or higher grade point average and who participate in league sponsored athletic and fine arts activities. This year's Fidley High School winners are Allison Martin and Alex Johnson. I'm Allison. I have a 4.2 GPA and have taken 14 IB courses and two concurrent enrollment courses. I'm involved in band where I have been a section leader and all conference for the past three years. I participated in varsity tennis the past four years as well as varsity badmitten and I was the tennis captain this past year. My future plans include attending Gust Davis Adulus College. >> I have a 4.136 GPA and have taken 12 IB courses and two concurrent enrollment courses. I'm involved in band over the past four years and have been sectioned the past three years. I have participated football, basketball, and baseball. And I was all conference in football and captain in both football and basketball. My future plans include going to St. Thomas University and majoring in electrical engineering. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Can we clap? >> You have to clap. [applause] YEAH. >> SO, ALEX, I'm Alex, I'm put you on the spot. You play baseball, right? >> Yeah. >> Are you going to >> Florida? Yeah. >> Can you tell us about that? >> Yeah. So, the Florida trip is essentially a a week-l long trip that we do over spring break where we go to the Jackie Robinson complex and essentially the entire week we're practicing and getting better and we have like three practices a day and then we also have a lot of fun and play games and uh games against other teams. I think we have two varsity games and two JB games for it. >> Awesome. Something that a lot of other schools a lot of other schools don't do and I know it's all fundraised so that's awesome. Last thing I'm going to put you on the spot for you might see my kid at practice EMTT. you know who he is. >> Okay. Baseball, he's fine, but can you please encourage him to keep playing the sacks, >> okay? >> Cuz I know you play the sacks, right? And we want to get him to play the sacks again next year. So, if you can grab him, I didn't put you up to this. Don't worry, he doesn't watch these things. Say what up Car. I think you need to start playing the sacks again in high school. You'll like it. So, with that, you guys are like you're the epitome of of for the public schools. Great job. Um, as usual, >> things is to watch the adults that come with the students and just how they glow and how proud they are. It's really fun to watch moms and dads and guardians. It >> is awesome and fun to listen to your kids brag about themselves, you know, >> and which you should. You have a lot to brag about. So, thank you. >> Any other questions, comments for these two students? >> Oh, okay. Oh, from one of your fellow classmates. >> Oh, yeah. Um, you know, I had Chinese with you, too, and I just think you guys taught me so much. Uh, having so many classes and like I actually look up to you guys, you know, so thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Hey, Justin, don't run away either. I have a question. The um increase in enrollment for activities. >> Yes. >> Is there something you can kind of pinpoint like why we're seeing so much of an increase? I would say the the waving of activity fees. Okay. A huge part of that. Ever since we w that >> we've gone up. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Okay. Chair. Thank you so much, Alex and Allison. We're so proud of you and thank you, Coach Ree, for your work and really leading this program. And while I knew about those numbers, when I saw the numbers again on the slide, I was so um excited to see that we know that when children are involved in co-curriculars, extracurriculars, activities, and athletics, that really showcases also in their feelings around belonging, better choices that they're making throughout their middle school and high school years, and better academics. So, so proud of the work that you do uh leading our children every day. Now we'll transition to our Minnesota School Boards Association and Minnesota Association of School Administrators joined day at the Capitol. This was a week ago yesterday and it was myself along with Chair Cara, Vice Chair Jones, and Treasurer Anna. and we spent the full day um hearing from uh different elected officials, hearing kind of the state of what's happening during this session. And the best part of what I believe was our time together was to talk with Representative Kayla uh Kegel, excuse me, and um Senator Kunesh. And both are extreme champions of K12 education and extreme champions and friends of Fidley Public Schools. And you will hear later on and see the one pager um what we are really lobbying for and advocating for in Fidley public schools. um and just to have the time for our elected reps to really hear what our current reality is and also honor the work that um they have done such as universal meals um the read act and frankly their work around Ice Metro Surge and that work is still continuing. So, you'll hear a little bit later on about what our legislative agenda is, which board, as a reminder, this will carry for the next uh several board meetings until we have the session end. And hopefully, I'll be able to have some updates on where we stand, where decisions have been made, and so forth. With that, I'm going to pause and ask if any of the board members that attended had wanted to share anything from that day as well. Sir, >> um I thought that it was it's always informative. I think we always learn a lot. We had a panel of legislators that came in and I think it's always helpful to hear what is happening um from our legislators uh when we're there. I also think that the networking with other schoolboard members was really fantastic, a really fantastic opportunity for us as well. Um when we were there, there were schoolboard representatives from across the state and everybody was scheduled to have um appointments with their specific legislators. So that's what we had. But also knowing that other um school boards throughout the state had that as well. And then in addition, just getting to connect with them was also fant a fantastic opportunity to just build our network, I think. >> Great. And it was I think this is my second one that I've did done. And I I did one last year and before that we've never really had a presence at the state capital and for the public schools and and unfortunately that's so needed like we have to have facetime with our legislators that are making the laws that will affect how we operate our schools. And um I also got a sense from the legislators that we talked to, while they know what we're thinking and they know kind of what is on our on our minds, they really appreciate the effort that we make to, you know, take take time away from our work schedules, the superintendent to take your time away from the school um to sit down and have some facetime. They they really appreciate it. They really love hearing uh from us. I think it really um solidifies uh what they need to do for public school. It was a good opportunity. >> Thank you board members. Um I also wanted to say too that um one of the pieces that has also been wonderful about frankly both our um elected officials that represent us at the state level and our elected officials that represent us at the national level have either come and um learned about our current reality or are scheduled in to come and learn about that. Everything from seeing our setting for programming to learning about how um third party billing dollars through Medicaid funds works and impacts our district to the impact of ICE Metro Surge. So, I appreciate so much how they want to come out to our district and frankly they're the ones that are initiating that contact. So, um, as chair said, it is so important for us to have our voice heard. And while we come at it from a very similar landscape to many school districts, uh, some of our our hardships are frankly very different when it comes to impacts of ICE Metro Surge. um when it comes to not every district in Minnesota is uh impacted by compensatory revenue dollar changes. So those are just some pieces where it's so important to give those realw world concrete um quantitative numbers to our elected officials. All right, I am now going to move on to our um statutory operating debt module two which is entitled our financial deep dive. So go ahead, Lori. And just as a reminder, the one pager for our SOD modules is located on the Fidley Public Schools School Board uh web page. And within that one pager are the recordings that I pre-recorded. And then uh these slide decks are already um linked as well as the recordings for modules one through six, all of the modules. And then the board presentation recording clip is also linked once it's available after the board meeting. Lori, if you want to advance the slide. I'm not sure if we're having tech difficulties. Um, but I'll just go ahead without the slide advanced here. So when we look at our um SOD module 2, we are looking at firstly our five-year financial trend. So as we look at this, I'm going to pause Lori until it's up um for us here. I'll just go ahead and get started and then Lori just project it when you're ready. There we go. Uh, perfect. So when we look at our yearover-year financial um trend that we are seeing here, you'll see we have shown the revenue is green and our expenditures are in red as we go up from fiscal year 2021 through fiscal year 21223 and then uh fiscal year 2425 which will be updated and you can see right where we stay very similar there on the revenue and expenditures. As we continue in this module, you'll be able to see this on a deeper deeper dive. Next slide, please, Lori. Okay, here is our fund balance trajectory. So you can see here where we were in 2021 and right now on paper which I've discussed is our 2425 predicted end of that negative $8.3 million. This is what our statutory operating debt uh plan is based upon as we've talked about and I'll update in the finance section. this is still pending. Um that final audit and again I will talk about what that audit um numbers and status is where we're at. We work directly with MDE on this. As I've said um previously and will continue to say I expect this number very much to change here as we get that audit completed as well as we look to correct those coding errors that we have talked about a number of times. But for right now, that $8.3 million is the number that we're looking at until we have the valid information to update that. And then we will of course update that through the school board um business meeting as well as our materials and so forth. Next slide, please, Lori. Okay. Um, the next piece that we'll talk about is our fiscal year 2425 budget breakdown. So, if you look at these different pies, it talks about where our expenditures are coming from. So, you'll see in a total budget of just south of $70 million. You'll see our instruction is just [snorts] below $23 million. our student support 17.5 million, our administration and district 8.5 million and operations that 14.6 million. And again, we've talked about this including during the referendum um when we were talking about those two questions, specifically the second question. when we see in school district budgets operations that's pulling out of that learning bucket that causes some strain in the district and the good news is as we recall not this past November but the November before uh the voters in the boundary of Fidley public schools passed those two question referendums. Number one was really that additional uh per pupil amount and we talked about how that was a helper to the district. But really that question two is also a significant helper if not more. And the nice thing about this is that question one and question two became accessible to the district starting in July 2025. July one. So you're not seeing that projected here because it wasn't uh revenue that the district was receiving. So we'll expect to see that reflected differently so that our operations isn't carrying so heavily out of the bucket that's really meant for instruction. Okay, the next slide please. Revenue details. So when we talk about our state aid and this is all enrollment driven. So the number of students that we have um really generates uh our revenue. So you'll see our largest uh piece of the pie here comes from state aid. Then you'll see that property tax piece, federal aid and others. So if you think of the uh piece around state aid, that's the bulk of the dollars. So 7,213 per pupil. When you see different figures that come out on, for example, the impact of operation metro surge, it depends upon which numbers you pull on. Because if you go straight on the $7,213 amount, that doesn't really tell the full story because that only includes 71% of what that actually looks like in the impact. So, I just want to explain to you that you'll see numbers like closer to 10,000 per pupil. That's including the funding sources that uh the districts re the district receives in its entirety. The 7213 is really the per pupil um amount. Our property tax levy is um that levy amount that's limited by referendum and state caps. That's why you'll hear too some districts they'll talk about were at cap and that's how much uh the district is allowed per pupil to levy for that has been b voter approved. So they're at cap or they're at max. Fidley public schools is not at um the max, but as we know with successful passage of the referendum, we did see additional levy per pupil. Then our federal funds, think of things like title one, um IDA, that's our federal special education funding. other categorical here like think of title two which is professional learning title three pieces like this um safe schools levy those pieces that come from the federal government and what you'll see here for our which is our largest uh federal allocation that's to fund what is federally required for special education services and that's where you hear that while it's federally required, it's funded at about 12%. And that's where then you hear us talk about the district um cross subsidy amount which pulls from that federal dollars of the underfunding and then the state of underfunding. And what I mean by that is again the services are legally required and it's also the right thing to do but they're not funded at the level in which they are required and then those dollars come out of the general fund. Then we have our grants. And as the federal government continues to look at different uh practices, look at different priorities and that changes from one presidential administration to another. Sometimes grants that were awarded weren't fully funded. Um sometimes things like the community schools grant are put on hold after you apply. Um it's just very much federal grants have been much more um approved, granted and funded but not actually funded. So under uh what we currently have is for really the first time where our approved grants necessarily have not been fully funded. So those are pieces we just need to be cautious. that's new within about the past two years is sometimes it takes court action to get the money that was already congressionally appropriated or money awarded through the competitive grants process. So the grants are something that frankly I watch differently than I did two years or more um before. If we look at our financial summary, this $ 8.3 million is requiring really a three-year reduction plan. This is a much more aggressive reduction plan than what is required by Minnesota Department of Education. Pre metro surge, I was very comfortable with recommending this. Um, this is how our SOD plan is written. You'll hear a little bit later on about the continued fiscal impacts of um Metro Surge on our district specifically. Um I still remain optimistic on this plan. Um as far as that, we'll just keep updating on what those fiscal impacts are. When we look at our primary strategy, again this is about our enrollment um plus strategic reductions and revenue diversification. So when you think about fiscal health for school districts, it's really looking at where are we with enrollment and school districts frankly across the metro and across the state are experiencing significant declines in birth rates. They're also experiencing then significant declines in their student enrollment. Some of the larger uh much larger metro districts than us were coming in at $200 kindergarteners under what they had forecasted. And if you think of just that $7,400 amount, that is a significant impact to our district. As we know, Fidley Public Schools has done really well the past two years. uh where we came in 100 students over projection two years ago and then 102 students over projection this past October one count. Again, we've had some unexpected drop there because of uh metro surge and we'll talk about that. But we've been doing really well. The other piece that is very much impacting this is when we have declining birth rate and we're all pulling from the same market share, right? We're pulling from open enrollment already on districts that have lower birth rates. Where did the growth come from? And this is uh every year the state demographer gives a very thorough update at um association of metro school districts and the growth is coming from immigration into the country and then into Minnesota. So obviously those impacts as far as the number of immigrants will have shortterm impacts that we've already seen and I worry about longer in um longer term impacts as well as that's where we've seen the bulk of our enrollment growth across the state including within Fidley public schools. What we really work on too is also looking at revenue diversification. So, how do we really look at places where we can have revenue that potentially we didn't have before with a combination of strategic reductions? I'm going to talk about our setting four program. Prior to when we opened setting 4, Fidley public schools would place students into our intermediate school district and uh our resident students and then we are responsible for paying the tuition plus transportation for our resident students that need to have that setting for placement. It's also hard to send them out of our district because there are children. Um, as a mom, I think it would be really hard to be told by my district, we love your child, but right now they need to be served in a different program which is outside of our district. So that building our setting force has not only been a cost reduction um for that tuition out to our intermediate, we also benefit from having students that choose us um because the need throughout the metro area is much larger than resident districts and neighborhood districts can serve in combination with our intermediate partners. And this is also uh actually it's frankly a little bit of a larger issue when it comes to greater Minnesota as well. Um they actually even have more strain on options uh for students that are setting for. So by us being able to keep our resident students uh from a programmatic standpoint, it's amazing, right? Then it also has some fiscal benefits through tuition agreements and things like snow removal. You wouldn't normally think about that, but the portion of Fidley High School that's locate colllocated for the Vista, a portion of that snow removal contract gets that build to the resident districts of the students that are there. Same thing with the portion of utilities and so forth. So this is how when we look at revenue diversification, this is a helper. Same thing, a very simple answer or a very simple example is our solar panel program. When we're seeing those rebates come in um as we continue to look at um the uh changes to our stadium sponsorships can help and be an additional revenue diversification. So, just some pieces to look at and Minnesota Department of Education will consistently tell us, please do not have your SOD on the backs of students. And this is what they mean, not about slashing everything, but really looking at how do we have multiple um really approaches to fiscal health in our school district. a piece that I will be very transparent about. Normally, I would talk about grants as well. Given what I said on the slide before, I'm a little bit worried and nervous to talk about grants as an additional um revenue diversification just because of when I first came to Fidley, we were really doing well in my first year in the grants and then all of a sudden we started to see not having them fully funded. the grants that we benefited through Northwest Suburban, those federal level grants, we were not awarded those as a Northwest Suburban group. So, it's just a different time right now where I'm exercising some pretty significant uh concerns around talking about uh grants as far as revenue diversification. When we think about success factors, we think of conservative assumptions. So what we mean here is it seems a little counterintuitive but our fiscal picture to actually look at keeping our enrollment trends as the same as what we started through October 1st. And again please pardon the drops with operation metro surge because that was designed SOD plan was really before those drops in our student enrollment. But instead of us saying to frankly uh set unachievable goals or unrealistic goals to paint us into than a deeper financial situation and frankly a lack of um trust. We are not saying we're going to see that 100 student growth every fall. Now we have two falls but that's not enough of a data trend to say hey let's count on increase by a 100 students every year on top of what we already have had. Um so we are actually keeping our student enrollment based on the October one count. The other piece that I'll say about student enrollment is while we are very um thankful and see that people are choosing Fidley both resident students and uh open enrollment. We also just have to remember that those hundred students that are coming in, you can't just multiply that by the 7,400 plus the other revenue sources because there's expenses on top of that, right? You remember those fun emails that I send you in like July or August when I say, "Oh my goodness, five sets of twins have enrolled at Hayes Elementary in kindergarten when we have um these upticks in numbers, then we need to add staffing." So, it's not always just about um peer revenue. So that's why we really work on conservative estimates that um set the district up to ensure that we are not overp projecting to make our financial picture than when it comes to actuals worse than what we had projected. the monthly monitoring which we are doing here where we report out we talk about that we um then have once our audit is completed we'll able to talk about that five-year projections all those pieces and then making those rapid adjustments for example uh you saw January where I eliminated a cabinet position from the general fund number one we had the need in our special education programming. And number two, I needed that cost savings out of general funds. So, we did not wait to make that adjustment until July 1. We made that in the here and now. So, those are just some examples. The board's role, as we talked about, is approve the plan, which you did in January, monitoring the progress, the monthly updates that we're having, and providing that strategic guidance around the work we're doing with respect to SOD. So, with that, I'm going to pause here and uh invite any questions or comments from schoolboard members on SOD module 2. Any questions, comments? >> Very thorough, I guess. >> Okay, sounds good. And thanks for your patience as we go through this board. I know that we talk about it in our onetoone meetings, we talk about it through um the recordings and then you hear it again here. But I think that school district finance in any state, school district finance in Minnesota, plus when you talk about getting forward, tuition agreements, when you talk about state specialed reimburseable, state special ed non-reimburseable, federal non-reimburseable, it's just a lot of moving parts. So, I think hearing it more than once really helps to kind of deepen that. Okay. as we continue here with our finance update, the audit. We continue to correspond um Relle really takes the lead on this, but I'm deeply involved too um around the project management side of the audit. Um we got notification today that things continue to keep progressing. We asked, do you need um you know daily check-ins, weekly check-ins with myself or with with Michelle and our auditors are happy with the progress that we're they're making. Again, they just really want to be very thorough so that that 8.3 number um when it's adjusted, which it likely will be, is actually a reflection of the current district um picture. And again, as I've talked about in previous meetings and communications, we're really untangling a mess um that has been here since um Matthew Hammer really left our district um and now he serves with Ellers as our financial adviser. So, we're very fortunate to have him. He has deep knowledge, but he's not here as the day-to-day business manager. And unfortunately, right when I was getting ready for this meeting, I saw come through another metro school looking for a business manager. And we're just really struggling throughout the state as far as business manager positions. Also, if you know any auditors, [laughter] we need them um for our school district audits, too, because the shortage is impacting timelines and pieces like that. So there's just a huge shortage with business managers retiring out of school districts and we saw this problem coming about 20 years ago and they're aging out and not as many people are choosing to go into school district finance. So, a lot of districts are working on grow your own programs where you take current employees and you really work with them through different training programs and different pieces, mentoring, all those pieces to really work to um grow our own and having the significant turnover that Fidley has seen really 10 years within the finance department is part of why we need to have that stability so that we won't continue to have um these pieces. So much more to come as we continue to do that. But I will continue to update on where we are with the audit in our oneto ones and then in our board updates and then at our business meetings. There have been some uh ongoing questions and concerns around our aid anticipation credit. So, I have linked in here um the aid anticipation credit um and uh Lori, I'm going to have you link this one. It's in this obviously this slide deck is in our um board packet, but I'm also going to ask you to link on the schoolboard web page this aid anticipation credit. And I wanted to talk through this um again to give that additional explanation that we've been talking through so that folks can really understand it. So aid anticipation certificates are short short-term loans that Minnesota school districts can use to cover expenses until state aid payments arrive. They [snorts] are authorized by Minnesota law and must be repaid within 13 months of issuance, but no later than September 30th of the following fiscal year. While there is a small amount of interest costs, aid anticipation certificates are typically less expensive than a bank line of credit because repayment is secured by predictable state aid. When a district's operating revenue res reserves, excuse me, are limited, it becomes more difficult to maintain steady cash flow throughout the year. This challenge is driven largely by the timing of Minnesota's schools funding system. State aid is paid on a statutory schedule spread over 12 months with a large portion arriving later in the fiscal year, 90%. And a small percentage, 10%, paid the following year. In addition, some aid formulas such as special education, which just as a moment here, when you think of just our cross subsidy alone, last year that carried at over $2.4 million, that's just in the um cross subsidy. When you're looking at special education, you're looking at more than $20 million annually. And that rapidly changes, right? and especially um as we respond to the increased needs of students, transportation costs, etc. So that state special ed payment is actually a year in a rears. So the district fronts all of that and then gets paid back. So we're getting last year's revenue this year on that. So you carry the expenditure just like we carry all of the northwest suburban busing expenditure for a year and then get reimbursed the following year. Um so this results in prior year expenditures to determine current year funding meaning that some revenue effectively lags by a full fiscal year. District expenses however do not follow that timing as we know. So payroll, transportation, utilities, special education services, instructional materials, they have to be paid throughout the school year, not necessarily directly aligned with state aid payments. Because of this mismatch, Minnesota statutes gives districts the authority to issue aid anticipation certificates. The legislature recognizes that schools may need short-term financing to bridge the gap between when expenses occur and when state revenue is received. AAC's are short-term, lowcost, and repaid from upcoming state aid payments, allowing the district to operate without disruption. So, thank you for letting me hear that. Again, we'll put that on our schoolboard web page so that folks can really read through that. Um, now I'm going to talk about the continued impact of Operation Metro Surge. Just since operation metro surge has started, and frankly this data is about 3 to four weeks old, we have $131,000 in less reimbursement than we would have had. So when you think of our uh meal programs that's based on meal service, number of students served for breakfast, lunch and then we have that heavy snack for students involved in activities and the district gets reimbursed on that. These programs are run through uh USDA at the federal level. The federal level requires that service for students must be occurring on district property. So, our 400 students that were in virtual learning either for the district to get reimbured, they had to come on site to eat breakfast and lunch and that heavy snack. Obviously, it isn't safe uh for them to be coming out and therefore there's that um missed reimbursement. So, this is a significant impact and that number will grow as I continue to update you on that. monthly our e-learning costs and again this is about a three-week de uh leg $75,000. So you think of staff salaries, you think of our building subs that are assisting with that instruction. Also you think of the additional um loss prep and planning time that we need to pay because our building subs are holding the virtual um instruction. So this number will grow as well. I am happy to report that we were at a high of 400 students in virtual learning and now we're currently at 179 students. So, we're definitely making progress of our students um being able to be back physically in school. Our lost revenue in student enrollment, I talked about the 112 number. Uh and when I talk about that, it's beneath the October one count. And again, as a reminder, the revenue for state aid is based on that October one official count. And now we're currently 75 lower than we were October 1st. Not where we want to be, but I'm happy, if that's a way to say it, about that we're seeing that we're getting our enrollment back. The bulk of our students when they have left us have chosen districts that are safer as far as less impacted um by ICE metro surge. They're choosing to move out of state, move out of country um and are being held in um holding facilities. Uh so that's really what we are seeing as far as student enrollment. But every Monday, Lori knows I'm like, "Where is our student enrollment?" She now auto sends it to me and that's the first thing that I pull. And I do this actually all through the month of September um to see what our October 1 count is going to be so that we are um on the budget um pieces. And now unfortunately I'm pulling it to see where we are as far as our um students coming back to us. I would love to say here tonight that we're in the recovery stage. We're still not, but I am happy to report that Thursday will mark 6 weeks since we've had um ice physically on any school district property. So that is definite progress that we have seen in six weeks is by far the longest that we have gone in ICE metro search. So, I'm happy to share that and I very much look forward to recovery when we can um really delve deep into what that's going to look like um as we come back. What I don't have costing on for you here is the mental health components. Um and we're going to see the impacts of that for really years to come on here. As you know, uh I've been asked to testify a number of times on the impact of ICE Metro Surge. I'm doing a panel on Thursday night. I have um testifying on Senator um uh Kunish's bill that's coming forward I believe this Friday. I'll send that out to the board that just came in really just a little bit ago on that ask. So, we continue to um just tell the story of these numbers and what that impact looks like. And with that, I'll stand for any questions around our finance update. >> Well, Dr. Le, I just want to let you know that I let Malik know that there was job security and being a business manager for schools, and he seems really excited about that. Um, but I'm also glad that you brought up the mental health issues related to ICE. And I'm just wondering just general temperature check. How are our social workers doing? I know that that was a really stressful time for them and they did a lot of things both inside and outside of their job description. And I'm curious how um I know how we're dealing with supporting our students, but how are we supporting the staff that have had to readjust how they do their job every day. >> Um thank you so much for that. And um Malik, I'm ready for grow your own. You want to be an auditor, we got you. You want to be a business director, we got you. like I can move you into your office space tomorrow if you're interested. [laughter] So, and this is really what it takes. I was giving um a talk frankly about uh future pathways a couple of weeks ago um for a conference at Mano State um at the Adina location and I literally said our talent is sitting in our classrooms and it's our job as educators to seek out and inspire that uh talent to say to our students I can see you as a special ed teacher Malik I see you as a business manager. manager. I see you as a teacher and did you know that if you enroll, if you start with us as a parah, we can get you into program, we can assist you and we have grants to pay for your tuition. So, it's really that level where we really need to um grow our own and continue to do that. So, nice work, Director Stark, on that recruitment. As far as how are our social workers and staff doing? You would never know this, but our staff are exhausted. The mental health toll that this has taken as children are in classrooms talking about. Here's Ring camera footage of what happened in our apartment building when this happened. Our teachers and staff are there to provide that support to listen to hear. Remember our social workers not only were they doing intensive mental health supports that they do as part of their normal duties, they were also assisting with literal life-saving supports for our families doing those deliveries etc. That hasn't stopped. So honestly, thank you for elevating it, Director Stark. Our folks are exhausted, but our children are not paying the price on that, but it would be irresponsible for me as superintendent to say all is well. Um so we're working with um places like health partners to say hey we need assistance beyond the employee assistance program and we don't want people to have to pay for that up until their deductible is met or their co-pay those types of pieces. So I believe just as with our children it's going to be a long recovery when it comes to our staff and those emotional pieces. And you think too of our staff of color um what that has felt like and our staff who are also still doing that transportation for um our staff that don't feel safe to be able to be out themselves driving to and from work. So I wish Director Stark I could say all is well. folks are exhausted and it still hasn't while we've hit we will while we will hit that six week mark. It's still not like it's business as usual. We still have classrooms where children aren't here. We still have children that aren't enrolled in our district. Children are still talking about the impact device. So, um I'm so proud of our educators. And as a reminder, when I say educator, I mean every school district employee. We're all educators, but it has hit our team very, very hard and um you wouldn't know it being in our schools, but it has taken a toll and it's going to be a long recovery from that. Did that answer your question? >> It did. Thank you. >> Yeah. And thanks for letting me be be honest and transparent. Uh chair, any other questions? I can't see the board. >> Does not look like it. >> Okay. Thank you. Um next I am proud to introduce Dr. Cochran. Um so we have a revenue um piece in the state of Minnesota called achievement and integration and with that comes a plan and our plan is written every three years. It's approved by the school board and then approved by MDE and then yearly progress reports are submitted. So Dr. Cochran is going to talk with you about our new three-year achievement and integration plan which starts off July 1st, 2026 and that carries us through 2029. So, thank you Dr. Cochran. Hello. Good evening. Thank you so much for having me. See if I Perfect. I was waiting till I could see the presentation also. Um or you can advance the slide. Um so, as Dr. Louis mentioned we are um in the process of our next three-year achievement and integration plan. Um as we wrap up this school year, we'll do one final presentation on um the end of our last three-year plan and where we ended with our goals. Um but we've been hard at work writing our new plan which is due to the state um by the end of this month. So we will um wanted to share with you the work that we have been doing. So the beginning of the slides are just a reminder around what is the achievement integration plan. Um it has to have three types of goals. The three goals um are around really reducing the disparities in academic achievement amongst all student groups. Um really reducing disparities in equitable access to diverse teachers. So really thinking about how do we increase um our teachers and our staff of color. And then also increasing racial and economic diversity and integration. So the the three goals that we write in the plan, we will have one goal for each one of those areas. Um this is just all defined in Minnesota state statute really around the idea that the plan needs to validate, affirm, embrace, and integrate cultural and community strengths of all students, families, and employees in the district. Um really addressing like the institutional racism. And this is just the statue around why and what um is necessary in the plan. Our plan also has to include strategies. So we will write we wrote three goals again around those three areas. And then under each one of the goals, we have different strategies of how we will help ourselves accomplish those goals. And so those strategies include really working on our learning environments, um family engagement strategies, um any professional development that's really focused around academic achievement of all students, um career and college readiness and really increasing the rigorous coursework for students. Um and then recruitment and retention of racially and ethnically diverse teachers and administrators. So, um you'll see those strategies show up throughout our plan. As we got, um working on our plan this year, we had um a pretty lengthy process for our plan creation and gathering feedback. Um so, we have a district advisory committee that met um two different times this year really with the whole focus of that DACK meeting, those DAC meetings on our achievement integration plan. And so our first one we really gathered ideas like where do we really see the need in each one of these areas and then our second meeting was after we um gathered some feedback. We crafted the plan and then gathered some input around where do we want to dive deeper in the plan. What are areas we really wanted to keep? What were areas that we really wanted to strengthen. Um we had multiple meetings with our principles and our coordinators um throughout the the last few months really gathering input from them. Um also we are part of a multi-dist collaboration through Northwest Suburban and so met multiple times with our um our collaboration which is made up of other um directors of teaching and learning um from all of our Northwest Suburban districts um as well as working with our equity teams um on site. So um with Miss Sims and her team and then our American Indian parent committee um Ala and I went and presented at the American Indian Parent Committee meeting um and gathered some feedback from them. So throughout this process, we really reviewed the plan um with them. We got updates on our last three-year plan and where we were um asking for ideas on what we wanted to see included in our new plan and then um after we drafted it, really gathered input on where we were at in the plan. So, this has been a really collaborative process of of create creating the new plans. I'm excited to share with you what we have crafted and what we're going to be working on. All right. So, our first goal is focused on academic achievement. Um, and our last plan had a similar focus um really focusing in on our Hispanic and Latino student group. Um, and in our last plan, this is one of the areas that we are still struggling with. And so we wrote the wrote the goal again really with a focus on our Hispanic Latino student group. Um this time with a gap reduction. And so wanting to really reduce the gap between our Hispanic Latino students and our white students. Um and wanting to see how they are scoring at or above the 40th percentile on the FastBridge A reading exam. Um and then over the course of the years wanting to see that gap decrease. We chose to focus on the FastBridge A-Ring assessment um instead of our MCAs, which is what our last plan was written on because the MCA reading um assessment this year is a new assessment and MDE has asked um as has given guidance to districts around not using our previous MCA scores as anything comparative to what's to come because the entire assessment will be rewritten. So, um, even as our buildings wrote their own, um, site improvement plans this year, we really wrote all of our literacy goals using our FastBridge, um, assessment instead of, um, MCAs just for that reason of knowing that that MCA reading assessment is new this school year. So, the strategies that we're going to, you can click to the next slide. The strategies that we're going to use in order to help us accomplish this goal really have a huge focus on our tier one literacy instruction. We have adopted wit and wisdom as our K8 tier one curriculum. Um we also have all of our um K4 um our L and lit teachers, our reading teachers, our ML teachers, our special education teachers have been tr um all trained in letters training and we're just wrapping up phase one of letters training through the read. We're moving into phase two of the readact. So, we wrote that into our plan of that will include our high school teachers um being trained in some literacy instruction, really focusing on our secondary teachers. Um and again, all of that is kind of spelled out through the read act. And so, real real intense focus on implementation of our local literacy plan. Um and then also really focusing on our interventions. So, we know that we have new screeners that are required by the state. So all of our students have taken the cap read basics and then really being able to focus on what interventions do students need. Under each strategy you will see um these essentially key indicators of progress and those are just the key indicators of progress really help us determine how we are doing along the way. So each year we will evaluate oursel on these different kips to see how we're doing um along the way which hopefully if we've met all of those targets that will help us meet the goal in the end. Our next goal is our integration goal. And this goal we really um focused on um wanting our students to um earn college credit while they are still students at Fidley High School. So um we this is really focused on our collaboration with Northwest Suburban and a lot of the um programming that comes with that. But we would like to increase the number of junior and senior students of color who complete at least one college credit earning course at Fidley High School um with a baseline of 56% of our juniors and seniors right now that are students of color in the 2025 school year are already doing this. We want to increase that up to 64% by the class of 2029. So, we are going to work hard on making sure that our students leave Fidley High School with the um potential to having earned college credit while they are enrolled at Fidley High School and that's not including PSO. So, we're really focused on how can students earn college credit while they are at Fidley High School. Um though you can click to the next slide. Those strategies are going to include um things like our AVID classes. And so really increasing the number of our 11th and 12th grade students who are enrolled in AVID. Um and we know that part of our AVID programming and moving AVID schoolwide is that our our AVID students um really take a highly rigorous course. Um and so we have an a high focus on um making sure that we are moving AVID schoolwide and that we are getting our students enrolled in those high level classes. Our next strategy is around um student en enrichment activities and really focusing on um a couple different things. One, with our partnership with Northwest Suburban, we have many student groups that our students can take part in and that includes things like stepup essence. Um there is a like rising educators group um in addition to all of the student groups that we offer at Fidley High School. So we again we know that if we can get students involved in activities um and that students are doing things outside of school that we see increased attendance and we know that that in turn really helps um with our academic achievement results. Strategy four is all about um IB and really with our magnet program the idea um with IB again is that students come to us and choose Fidley as part of our IB program. But also one area that we are really going to focus in on is growing our career related program. And we're really excited about this. We have an upcoming tour um in the next few weeks here where we're going to be going and visiting some other area schools that have really strong um CP programs. Um and we will be excited to come back and share that with you. We have been doing um a lot of recruiting and really trying to get students interested in in enrolling in our CP program. our IV coordinator at the high school and DRitz has been really just a champion of this. So, we'd love to see students be able to take those um the CP courses, which we know then turn into college credit. Um and then also, we really are going to have a focus on our students earning four or higher on their DP exams, which again allows them to earn college credit. Um and then strategy number five under this same goal would be to continue to increase our concurrent enrollment classes. And so currently right now in the 2526 school year we have 10 classes that students can take um that they can also earn college credit. So concurrent enrollment essentially is means that we have a um agreement articulation agreement with Anoka Ramsey where students can take the class. So for example, they can take statistics at Fidley High School while still earning a college credit. So we have 10 classes that are offered right now and the goal is to continue to increase the number of concurren concurrent enrollment classes that we offer. All right. And our third goal is to um increase our staff of color. So currently right now we are at 22% um of our staff of color and we'd like to increase to 28% and that is um of licensed staff. Our actually our number is higher than that for all staff but this number is really focused on our teaching staff. Um and so wanting to increase that by two percentage points each year. Um and then um our strategies around this really are around recruitment and retention. And so you'll see that on the next slide is really a intense focus on recruiting teachers. Um we are very fortunate right now that we have a few um grants through MDE. One is a grow your own grant where we can focus on um helping teachers or helping people that are not licensed currently right now go back to school and get their teaching license. Um and then also really wanting our our own students to get enrolled in the foundations of education class that we are offered at Fidley High School. that is also a concurrent enrollment class, meaning students can get college credit for taking that. But we also know if we get students interested in wanting to be teachers when they're in high school that we're more likely to be able to retain them. So really a huge focus on again kind of growing our own student population and then as well as helping our teachers or helping our staff that are currently not licensed go back to school and become licensed teachers. >> Dr. Cochran, can I just interrupt you real quick? >> Um, she knows exactly what I'm going to say here. So when I came to Fidley public schools, 6% of our teachers were teachers of color and uh 25% of our non-licensed staff were staff of color and we are very happy to report that we are 26% teachers of color, 26% and 52% uh non-licensed staff of color. So this work that Dr. Cochran is really leading um is literally translating into the actual data. And I talk about many districts have in their strategic plans uh to increase teachers of color, staff of color by this like 2% or or whatever they have. We're actually doing it. We're measuring it and we have the proven results. So, I'm just very proud of not only the work that we're doing, but the results on this and we have really high rates of retention, which Dr. Cochran is going to talk about as well. So, thanks for letting me interrupt on that. Um, we needed to celebrate that, Amy. >> Yeah, absolutely. So, then our our last strategy is really just on retention. So, we know once we can recruit teachers to come here and we can grow our own and we can get our students interested, we want to make sure that we're retaining our teachers. Um, and part of that retention is really also making sure that our leaders are trained in culturally responsive practices. Um, and that we are really making sure that people feel a sense of belonging when they work at really public schools. So, our last strategy is all around retention. The last thing is I know that um, Dr. Lewis mentioned this at the beginning, but with our achievement and integration plan, we do have funding that's attached to it. And um basically the the strategies that we are working on in order to meet these goals um we receive funding around these strategies. So here's just a variety of things that we fund through our achievement and integration plan. Um both our AVID and our IB coordinators um some of our equity specialists um our Northwest Suburban collaboration. some of the fees that we um have as part of being part of Northwest Suburban student activities um professional learning um that includes both indist like avid trainings that we would go to um some of our student groups that are funded through that. So um the benefit of this to us is that we write um wonderful goals and we have a lot of strategies and all things that we are working really hard on and that there's funding also attached to it. Is there any questions? Hi, this is uh Shriner here. I have a question. It's more for clarification than anything else. You had mentioned that there are 10 um concurrent enrollment classes at for the high school for juniors and seniors to get college credit. Um I'm just curious how many of those are concurrent enrollment and how many are articulated credit? Those are those ones are all concurrent enrollment classes. Um so we have like our foundations of education statistics um like our EMR and EMT classes. Um so one of the and you may know this but part of when we are working on our concurren concurrent enrollment classes part of the challenge with it is is that the teacher that teaches it needs to have a certain number of credits beyond their master's degree in the content area. So, we've been working really hard. We have a lot of teachers who are very interested and have been working on um their credits um trying to be able to offer that. So, we have a a plan laid out around concurrent enrollment and what we would like to offer. [clears throat] A lot of the work is um really kind of waiting on having people qualified in order to teach those classes. >> Absolutely. And I just want to say I I appreciate the fact that they are concurrent enrollment and not articulated credit because then when the students graduate from high school, they actually have a college transcript as well. and do not have to attend a specific college to get the credit. So, thank you for that. >> Yes, absolutely. >> Any other questions for Dr. Cochran? >> Sarah. >> Um, this is Sarah Jones, but I just really appreciate the collaborative work that was put into designing this plan. And I know that through district advisory committee, I had um some opportunity to see that work. And I think that the just to the board like there was so much partnership in that. We had a lot of staff and students and just various levels um from principles to specialists in the room during the district advisory committee meetings. And I know that there were other opportunities for feedback in that as well. And I just really appreciate the intentionality of this plan and um the collaboration that went into it. And one of my favorite parts was just really hearing the needs from our students or hearing the desires from our students in what did serve them well. and um that there is a lot of focus on that in this plan. So, I just really appreciate the work that went into this. Dr. Cochran, thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. Thanks for elevating that and thank you for being part of our committee. I know you you were present and part of that and I will just say too that was a highlight of this for me as well is um we had many students that were present during um and giving us a lot of feedback and I it's just such a reminder of how important it is to elevate student voice because you know sometimes as adults we're making plans and they have totally different ideas and things that we didn't think about. So, they just were absolutely amazing in in the work and putting this together and and talking through what's important to them as they um prepare to go into the world. >> Awesome. Anyone else? >> Nope. I think we're good here. Thanks, Dr. Cochran. >> Hey, and Dr. Cochran will share about achievement season before um she starts that. I will just frame a little bit that uh I have been doing advocating around how um some districts such as ours and others that have been um substantially targeted by Metro Surge um the workaround the MCAs etc and still having those in place. um just talking about that we have students who have had significantly impacted learning for the past I think now 15 weeks or more. Um this presentation assumes that we will continue to have the statemandated um exams like we always have. Uh board just to be honest with you I don't see any changes occurring if they would have changed. Um those that relief for districts would have already been announced I believe. So unfortunately we're just in a situation where our children um who have had that interrupted learning are still um having the state assessments as you know. We need that data. We use that data etc. It's just um our district has been hit harder as well as some of our neighboring districts than others. So we're going to see uh potentially some differences here. But I wanted you to know as we talk about achievement season, there's no changes to state mandate mandated assessments. Anything you want to clarify there, Dr. Cochran, before you start your presentation? No, >> I'll just add on to that in just that also um some of the other mandated um assessments that we're required to take. We are wrapping up with our WEDA access testing which is really an an annual standardized assessment that measures English proficiency, English language proficiency for our um EL students and um we had to go forward with um that assessment as well and just knowing that many of our um our ML students have been impacted the most um through this. And so, um, you know, we certainly did the best that we could of trying to capture whatever whatever students were at school, but also trying to also balance the we know that students have been out of school and you're they're returning and it's the window is only open for us a short period of time. So, we just really understand like how it's a it's a delicate balance of um we know that we need to give the exams and they are statemandated and um and then also we know how it's really we've really been impacted by by ICE and so I think um just kind of keeping that in mind as we see scores and and what that means for students. >> Dr. Cochran, just one more um comment [clears throat] and then I promise um back to you. When I came to Fidley, we were about we were at about 13% ML students were at 20. Um so just that change in a three-year time period um you can really see how our student population in Fidley public schools as well as throughout the metro if not throughout the state really has changed. So, an increase of 7% in um a three-year time frame is quite statistically significant. All right. Thanks, Dr. Cochran. >> All right. So, just to share a little bit about achievement season. Our middle school and our high school both um are moving into achievement season and just kind of what is achievement season? You may those of you that have students in the school may be hearing them talk about this. Um, it really is designed to boost student achievement and really ensure students feel confident and prepared as we enter into MCA testing. Um, I also, it's not on the screen, but we'll just also say, um, as we prepare students for this, it also helps with things like ACT testing, which is right around the corner as well. Um, and the idea that it really builds strong skills and strategies in both math and reading. Um, we want students to feel really confident in their abilities. the idea that we want to reduce like test anxiety so that students know exactly what to expect on days that they walk in to take standardized tests. It really is a lifelong skill um of how do we really help prepare for that? Um and really developing a positive motivating environment with fun incentives to celebrate student progress and effort um and really I guess a good way to summarize this is really a good spiral review of Minnesota state standards so that students feel really prepared. And so actually at the high school they're calling it spiral review season not necessarily achievement season but it really means the same thing. Um it's just a matter of what assessments they're working on. So, um, we are building up to the MCAs. And so, just a reminder of what the MCAs are. They're yearly, statewide tests that measure student progress in both reading, math, and science. Um, they are all based on Minnesota academic standards. Um, and the idea of what students should know and be able to do at each grade level, and the scores represent students achievement level. So, coming up here in April, um, students in grades three through eight. And then also our 10th graders take the reading MCAs. Students in grades three through eight and 11th grade will take the MCA math. And then students in grades five and eight and 11 will take the science MCAs. And then just a reminder, I mentioned this earlier um in talking about our achievement integration plan, but that our reading MCA is new this year. Last year we had a new science MCA um and we saw significant um decrease in scores across the state um because they are you know we're working on norming and new standards and things like that. And so this year um MD has already given us the warning that the MCA reading exam will look the same. Um and so really just not to use comparative data. Don't look at your scores from last year and then compare it to this year. So lots of um really important dates coming up for achievement season. um achievement season has kicked off um kicked off with the pepfest at the middle school really to get students excited, remind students about what their goals are, why are we doing this. Um they also have already taken part in a dress rehearsal days which was um essentially a practice or a mock MCA reading and a mock MCA math exam. So they had an opportunity to practice those multiple choice questions on the computer. um really again practice logging into the computers just so that thinking about some of that test anxiety, they know exactly what classroom they're testing in, who's going to be in their classroom, who's the proctor. Um so running the schedule exactly what the schedule will look like on the real testing days just to help students really prepare for that. And then um also this current week um the middle school kicked off with their achievement season groups. Um and this year looks a little bit different than what it was in the past. So, if you were around last year, you probably remember us talking about achievement season, but essentially students in grades six through eight um are doing achievement season just in their regular literacy and math class. And then in grade five, they've just split the teachers. We have four teachers that are really focused in on um laying and lit or reading and then four teachers who are really focused on math. And so students will switch classes um for those. And then April is the month of testing. So, we've got um um April 14th and 15th is our reading MCA. The 21st and 22nd is math. And then we will end the month with our fifth and eighth graders taking the science MCAs. And then our high school looks a little it looks similar today. Our high school um again they're calling it spiral review season, not necessarily achievement season, but exact same thing where they're really focused in their math and literacy or their laying and lit classes is really around spiral review. So again, this is happening just in their regular math and and Lang and lit classes, but today the high school practiced their MCA um dress rehearsal. So they had a mock MCA today. Again, just the idea that students are able to practice um at the high school, they take it in the auditorium, where do I sit, where how do I get my computer, how do I get logged in, so that on the actual testing day, all of those things, students know exactly what to expect. Um so that they can really focus on the the assessment coming up here on March 25th. Um students in grades 10 and 11 will take the pre-ACCT in 10th grade and the ACT in 11th grade. Um and so that again is a as we're preparing for um the reading and math MCAs. This is really also a preparation um for the ACT testing as well. And then students in grade 11 and some of our 12th graders will take the science MCAs at the end of the month. Any questions about achievement season? I don't think so. Students, no. You liking it? >> Malik, no comment. [laughter] [gasps] >> I think we're good over here. Thank you, Dr. Cochran. >> Thank you. >> Nice work, Dr. Cochran. Um, all right, transitioning back here. We just in the past month have $18,000 since the February board meeting donated into our fund and our fund helps support rental assistance, utilities, groceries, household supplies for our families. And um Senator Ka uh Kanesh had asked for this figure and we're at over $38,000 that has been provided to our families and rental assistance and utilities. The Anoka County rental assistance program helps, but it doesn't uh meet all of the needs within our Fidley Public Schools community. Um so this really helps us to stand up support. no school district dollars are used to fund this support. Um 15,000 of this was actually donated by a Fidley alum. So it's so exciting to see how our community is really rallying and supporting these donations literally come within Fidley and they come from around the world. So, a horrible reason to have these donations, but still really strong um support to our families. And we'll uh Lori will keep updating this through our superintendent report monthly and through the superintendent update weekly. All right. Um a couple of weeks ago, we hosted the senior senator Marty GR event and it's always so fun. I will say I don't know what happened, but last year Lori and Michelle and I had like a lot of decorations, beads, and all of that. So, I don't know why we forgot to wear those this year. So, I'm a little disappointed that I don't have my Marty Grass wig on. But, this is a dear friend of mine that I have made since I came to Fidley Public Schools. Many of you know her, of course, Carolyn, and she is just at all the events. um she has grandchildren in our district um and just an amazing human and actually became very close to my own personal mother through the swim and dive season and then through choir musicals all those things. So I just love when I get to see Carolyn at these events and it just really shows the multi-generational um pieces that we have in our district. Um so it's just really exciting. I will again say though that I'm very nervous around the bingo and all of that because it seems highly competitive. Um, so I don't participate in that. I just go and say hi to people, but they also want me to be a bingo caller and it's very scary. So I have not worked my way up yet to do bingo calling. But it was just so fun to see everyone there. And then I think we had some pretty good cookies, too. So just a really fun intergenerational event. Now, I'm super excited for Assistant Superintendent Relle Cox to talk with us and share about our new to Fidley support series. So, welcome Michelle. Hi everyone. Thanks so much for having me tonight to talk about this exciting new series. It's one that we started last year and it continued for this year. This is a series that's open to all of our new teachers, all of our new staff, but anybody can come, which is a great thing. We offer this series once a month. It's operated both in hybrid and in person. Last year, we started in hybrid um and then our last meeting was in person and it was such a celebratory um really connection time that we decided to do both. Um our uh they're done once a month. Um, and each month we have a different topic and we usually we really like to work with our teachers to find out what they're interested in. So last month we had our first one which was on community education as well as on Google Suite. Let me tell you I learned so much myself. And there you can see two of our great instructors, three of them. An in one of our interns um that's working with community education, Stephen Keeler, amazing director of community education and Caitlyn from our tech uh uh our tech department. So next month we're very excited. We'll be hosting Liz Jensen who will be talking about grading, which is so important this time of year, as well as helping people with their BenQ boards. So again, she is already on top of it. She sent a survey out to our new teachers about what they're looking for, what they need. So we're trying to be very responsive, but also um to give people the skills, but also the connection and relationship. Our last meeting in June is always a party, a time for us to get together, celebrate the new the end of the school year, and uh look forward to a great summer together. So, if anyone's interested in coming, if we've got staff out there, please join us. No need for anybody to um to RSVP or anything, you're welcome in person or online. So, back to you, Superintendent. >> Amazing work. Thank you so much. when um I chat with people and present on our various uh pathways and pipelines to ensuring that our classrooms are staffed with uh the appropriate staff. I talk about that recruiting is actually far easier than retention. And this is really the work that keeps our um teachers and staff choosing us and wanting to stay in our district. So the power of professional learning, whether it be a par educator in our district, student nutrition services staff, um principles, teachers, the superintendent, just that work around uh continued professional learning is such a key component not only to service to our children but also to retention. So thank you for leading the work uh around that. Um we appreciate it so much, Michelle. Okay. So, as we know, we continue to do celebrations of our different employee employee groups. So, we have a few in March. And March 1st through 7th, we celebrated our school social work week. We recognized the school social workers who serve our schools and support our students in so many ways. From individual counseling to family engagement and crisis intervention. And this year, as we talked about, through all of their unending support with respect to our families deeply impacted um and our children by ICE, then um National School Breakfast Week, March 2nd through the 6th. Um and this is really thinking and focusing on all all the ways a good breakfast supports student success. rearch research shows that eating a nutritious morning meal can boost academic performance, improve attendance, and even support better behavior in the classroom. Fridley also has a second chance breakfast, which I think is a really good approach as well, so that if you didn't get it the first time or you were rushing um to get to your classroom on time, you get it um the second time if you so choose. And again, as I talked about earlier with the fiscal impact, we have really high um rates of meal programs. Um so I'm very proud of the work that our nutrition team does and um so excited to celebrate National School Breakfast Week. Then we have um our focus on our IB silver platter breakfast. Uh we've recently Fidley High School recently hosted the annual silver platter breakfast celebrating our international balorate diploma program students as they submitted their extended essays. The extended essay is a major IB milestone. Each student completes an independent research project of up to 4,000 words on a topic of interest while working with a faculty adviser. This is a huge deal. At the event, students present their essays on a silver platter to mark the completion of months of research, writing, and revision. This year, we ha had a special guest, um, our class of 2024 graduate, Ethan Andler, who was able to reflect and share on his own experience in the full IB diploma program and how it prepared him for college. Ethan is now a sophomore at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, studying building science and is doing amazing. Our silver platter breakfast celebrates the hard work, curiosity, and academic achievement of Fidley students. Next, I would like to share with you, and most of you were there with me in real time on our people's state of the union address. So, um, three weeks ago, I was hosted by Senator Smith, um, to travel to DC to attend and speak at the People's State of the Union. I was so honored to represent Fidley Public Schools and share the experiences of our children, families, and staff on a national stage. This event brought together political leaders, community advocates, and individuals from literally across the country to highlight how federal policies affect local schools and communities. I spoke about the impact of immigration enforcement that has had on our schools and the importance of maintaining safety uh within our learning environments and where our students feel belonging and support. In Fidley, we have seen how fear and uncertainty can affect a child's ability to attend school, feel secure, and focus on the learning. We are committed to ensuring that every student feels welcome, protected, and able to f fully participate in their education. I was just deeply honored to be up on that stage. Um, I had heard that it was streamed live by over 50,000 people. There was a huge crowd there that evening. The [snorts] only thing, and Lori usually does amazing work in these pictures, but um, my mittens stole the show and I didn't realize that they would be so popular and frankly even for a Minnesota girl, you can even see it. and Senator Smith's nose and cheeks sit on me. It was so cold and we were outside for so long and the event went so much longer and they didn't have heaters. But I was up there um with my mittens and they definitely stole the show and I was harassed in a very good way that I was copying another person who had kind of mittens gone viral, an elected official a few years ago. So, my only regret here is that we didn't feature the mittens, Lori. But anyway, this was truly the honor of a lifetime. And as usual, my message wasn't about immigration enforcement, immigration reform. It wasn't about a particular political party. It was really about ICE enforcement has impacted children's safety in our schools. And as superintendent, it's absolutely my role to be involved in that. So, a phenomenal event and I just appreciate how I was able to honor our school district on that national stage. And next, our legislative agenda here. Um, I don't have updates as far as progression here, but I did want to talk about our hold harmless um compensatory revenue. Again, this is very similar to what we've had in years past. uh compensatory revenue like I talked about during our um discussion on the fiscal update compensatory revenue lags by one year. So next year's funding is based on this year's um counts. So the way that compensatory revenue is generated is by the uh number of students in your district that has um that qualify for free and reduced lunch. before uh maybe three years ago really co um school districts qualified through mostly forms where families would fill out forms and then that was your percentage of students that qualified and for a reduced then direct certification came to be which is where families qualify through um Medicaid SNAP and other programs as well as through forms that ability for the forms to count in the formula went away. Um so what we're really asking for here is forms to count as well as um to have a direct certification count and to have something like we had last year called a hold harmless. So there's a compensatory ed. I don't know if it's a blue ribbon commission or a committee or something like that that has stakeholders from across the state that is really working on a path forward with compensatory, but their findings and recommendations are not due until well after budget allocations are made. So, right now, um, Fidley Public Schools because of the form removal is slated to receive a 1.1 million drop in compensatory funding. And that's not because our district is getting wealthier. It's literally because of this removal of the form. And then as we look at changes to SNAP, Medicaid, etc., that directly impacts not only our compensatory ed dollars which are direct services to children. It also impacts um our third party billing dollars that I talked about when we think about our special education cross subsidy and funding on that. So this is something we need again that hold harmless and then we need a workable viable solution. Fidley um has a very substantial amount, $6 million of compensatory ed dollars and again that $1.1 million deduct um because we are a district that has 72% of children living in poverty and that money needs to go to what that money was designed for and we're one of the highest populations percentages of that in um the state. So, we're continuing to really lobby around this one. I'm sad that we seem to be um just temporary fix, temporary fix, temporary fix. And we all said last year, okay, thanks for the hold harmless, but we're going to be right at it this year. And here we are again. And we're also in a non funding year, so that complicates matters. So looking for an immediate hold harmless and then a a really workable solution. This also is contentious, right? Um some school districts don't understand why districts like ours are receiving $6 million, those types of pieces. Um and again, it's really based on the population you serve. So much more to come on compensatory. It's a hard um really hard situation for us to find ourselves in right now. hold harmless student enrollment. We're kind of standing alone on this one, so we'll keep talking about it as Fidley public schools, but this is really asking, hey, can we keep the January 1 count that we have on the hold harmless unless children have enrolled in other school districts around those numbers that I talked about, which used to be 112, etc. board, I've gotten zero traction on this. Um, but I'm going to keep talking about it, including on Friday. So, unfortunately, our district massively impacted the district next to us, massively impacted other districts. Every district has been impacted, but we stand alone in this one, unfortunately, and and with Columbia Heights. Um, we're in the same situation, but it's not enough to pull us to the finish line in this one, but I'm going to keep trying. Then um fiscal allocation for districts impacted by ICE. You heard those numbers and those are far from over. Um we are really trying to tell our story as is Columbia Heights and other districts about those fiscal impact. We're asking for one-time money to make us whole and frankly I want that from the federal government. So they were the ones that did this harm and we need that money. So we're going to keep talking. This is not something that's picked up by our organizations that we belong to. This is kind of what I call a standalone lobbying item. Again, that's not to say that Columbia Heights isn't also pursuing alongside of us, but we don't have the backing on this of our larger associations, but we're still going to say it. [snorts] Then we have um fully fund unemployment. We do not have any problem with that unemployment for our workers that are not our employees that are not 12 months that don't make a livable wage when we think about par educators uh student nutrition services staff if we employed bus drivers which we don't but those pieces we're just asking the state to fund it because right now that uh is slated to come out of district funds. There's been some one-time money put towards that, but again, we are not opposed to this. It's just an unfunded mandate. So, we're just asking to be um made whole on that so that the program can continue and not on the backs of students. We stand together on this with the uh associations safe space designated restored to schools. It's us in Duth. So, uh, again on Friday, and I believe Columbia Heights is going to be testifying also, um, on this one. So, this is, uh, our lawsuit, which we have a hearing coming up in April. We're trying every avenue to say bring that safe spaces back, which was in place for three decades before it was um, taken away through that executive order in January of 2025. We will continue screaming on this one. Um we don't have again association backing but we do have our lawsuit. So we're going to continue um speaking on this. I am asked all the time to present whether it's on a national Zoom which I think I had last week um or other panels. The requests continue to come in. I speak on the impact of this and I tell her story and I help districts ready themselves. And you saw the one pager which is very rich and we keep updating that. I think Lori updates that with every media article that comes out. So literally probably still daily. But I hate it. I hate that this is what we're readying other districts across the nation to be talking about and to be hearing. I'd rather our time be spent on the amazing transformation that we've had within literacy or math or lessons learned on that. But unfortunately, we have a lot of um rich resources and experience to ready other districts. But that doesn't make me happy when I'm asked to go to those. But I think it's so important to tell our stories so that no school district in the nation has to go through what our children, staff, and community went through. Um fully sp fully fund special education cross subsidy. As you recall, last year our transportation reimbursement for this year, remember it's a year in leg went from 100% to 95%. Um, think about cross subsidy is uh you get reimbured a year in a rar about 80% give or take me some percentage there in special education services and the rest comes out of general fund. Again, our children deserve those services, but we are paying for mandated services that continues to rise in cost. And we're very nervous because there's this blue ribbon commission that is charged with cutting $250 million. We need to not not be doing that. Special education costs are rising and it's because we are serving our children across the state and the nation that need that support. So very nervous about that one as well. So those are our legislative agenda board. I don't have any action on bills or things like that, but I'll stand for questions on this. [snorts] >> Any questions? Does not look like we have any questions, Dr. List. >> Okay. Thank you so much. Now I am um excited to turn this over to our board. Um, so I believe we have an update on Northeast Metro 916 from Vice Chair Jones. Um, team member, I can't see you. Uh, Treasurer Anna, I bet that you have a Northwest Suburban update. Um, AMSD Chair Carnup, if you have one, grade otherwise it's been a lot of this legislative work. And then I think you have one Treasurer Anna on staff. So with that, I'll turn it over to um, Vice Chair Jones. Great. Thank you so much. Um for 916, we did work with our legislative priorities. um Valerie Dosland came who represents the 9 916 and all of the intermediate school districts and presented to us um the legislative platform and again many things that are similar to what Fley school districts is saying including that um elimination of the 250 million in terms of special ed funding um and just the impact that that is going to have across our state for students. Um and then at our meeting we had a presentation from our career and teched team um who is out at Century College and looked at some of the programs that they had. We had two students come in that were sharing their experiences of what they've had happen in that um in their programs. One was in cosmetology and one was in the nursing assistant program. Um which was great to hear from students and get to see students in our meeting. We had a presentation from um around our family and community partnerships from Shana Walker, the director of family and community partnerships, and then Porsche Brown, the school and family integration coordinator, learning about some of the events that they're hosting for their families this year. Um and then we had a first reading of our calendars. 916 has two calendars. one is um for most of their sites and then they have a second stretch calendar that they are using at a couple of their sites to help their students um and their staff uh kind of investigate what that feels like to have a longer school year with larger breaks in the middle and seeing the benefits um of that for some of our students and staff. And then we had a list of policy changes that we approved. They were all small policy changes um or based off state law that had been updated. So there was not any they were all just one reading um changes. And then we had from the director of finance a presentation on the budget assumpt assumptions that they were using as they prepared the fiscal year 27 um budgets looking at what those would be as they are planning. And then finally we approved the international union of operating engineers local 70 contract for our operating engineers within the building or within the buildings. So that was that meeting. Oh, [laughter] for me it's you. Okay. Um, Northwest Suburban is actually tomorrow night for the new meeting. Yes. Um, and then staff. Um, we just had the MD director of government relations and the director of school finance come in to present basically what you just talked about, Dr. Lewis, all of the legislative things. Um, there wasn't really much different than what you just talked about of what we need. So, I'm not going to repeat all of that because that was a lot. But, um, yeah, that's all I got for staff. Treasurer Anna, I'd like to add on just a little bit about staff, but I'm wondering if first um just like a quick acknowledgement of the leadership transition over at Northwest Suburban if you wouldn't mind. >> Oh, yeah. You want me to talk about that? >> Yeah, just a >> Oh, sure. Yes. Northwest Suburban um the executive director, Heather, um she put in her notice. So, we are going to be hiring I actually don't know if it's the Joint Powers Board will be hiring a replacement, but um we'll need to be looking for a replacement for the executive director position for Northwest Suburban. >> Okay, that sounds perfect. One of the pieces I wanted to dovtail a little bit around staff is that um schools advocating for fair funding and that's really um the school districts in the state that have um the poorest tax base. And sometimes what happens is when um we are all looking at uh the funding forecast in present day of uh situations just like Ridley is in as far as fiscal health of the district and facing millions and million dollars of cuts and so forth. Sometimes that puts superintendents at odds with one another and sometimes there's a little bit of a um tension between metro superintendents and outstate superintendent. And as you know, we really felt that last year around staff. Uh when it comes to uh taxbased equity, we have a lot in common with the staff districts. when it comes to um student demographics racially and poverty levels, we don't have anything in common. And um I don't know necessarily. I think it's maybe like third or fourth, probably more than that, but when you think of like Centennial, St. Michael, Albertville, Rockford, those are the closest metro districts and then us. So again, their their demos are very different than us. um and we were at odds which I shared about and different comments made regarding student population and those kind of things. And I have to tell you, um, we did some work, uh, with superintendent colleagues and we literally are seeing superintendent say in this meeting to MDE staff, can you please do a run on how much it's going to cost for a one-time allocation allocation to break make Brenda whole because of the ICE Metro Surge. And these are districts that don't have a fiscal impact from ICE. Same meeting, same meeting, another superintendent says, "Can we please do a run on how much it would be for Brenda's district and other districts to again be held harmless on compensatory?" And as a reminder, they're also being hit on the ICE search. like that was such a huge victory in my opinion to really see that we've made some progress on that. Um, Treasure Anna, I know I texted you during that and we were texting back, but not to put you on the spot. Anything you want to add to that? I just thought it was a really transformative moment. I can say from like last year when I started staff, it was a completely different um like environment. Everybody was very against one another and I I remember he stood up and said that made that comment and I was like what this actually happened. Um, so I think people are finally understanding um what we need to do to actually help everyone in the state, you know, and so that's really exciting to see coming together. [snorts] >> And I publicly shouted out, I was virtual on that and literally said in front of the whole room, I said, "Who just said that?" And the superintendent was like, "Brenda, it's so and so." And I'm like, "Oh my god, I'm so proud of you." And then we exchanged texts and then later I texted the other superintendent. I'm like, "I am so proud of you because he and I had a moment last year publicly because I am going to call it out in a respectful way, but it keeps people accountable. And when you come after my children and Fidley, you got a problem, right? Just ask ICE." But when I spoke up and it's making a difference and I was so very proud and I I celebrated that and it's just nice when you see your colleagues who don't have to advocate on behalf of our district who are it just gives me encouragement for um next year because I feel like if we can see that kind of unity as um Treasurer Anna just talked about in this time. I mean, I never thought last year it would get this hard, but I think we're seeing a lot of hard right now. So, I'm really feel much more promise than I have in um the past years around that work. So, it's just nice to elevate that. And I believe Lori, this is our last slide. So, a very um lengthy um uh soup update, a soup report tonight. Um, thank you board for your patience, but I also appreciate that we're really bringing um the celebrations to our public as well as the areas of enhancement. Um, and we'll continue to see those really thorough SOD updates and the thorough finance ones, which does tack a little bit of time on. So, thanks for your extra patience tonight. Back to you, chair. >> Thanks, Dr. Lewis. Next up on the agenda, we uh want to discuss some resolution for accepting gifts. I would entertain a motion to accept and give appreciation for the following gifts received by the district. We had a donation of 450 books for students that were enrolled in e-learning from a book of my own organization and then of course so many others that have contributed to our school community to proide to provide funds, supplies, volunteer services that have helped their students and families impacted by ICE related activities. As mentioned, the tens of thousands of dollars that is coming in is fantastic. So I would certainly entertain a motion to accept and give gratitude for the gifts. >> So moved. >> Motion by by uh Stark. >> Second. >> Second by Anna. This is a roll call vote. Uh Miss Anna. >> I. >> Miss Jones. >> Hi. >> Mr. Carup is I. Miss Shriner. >> Hi. >> Miss Stark. >> Hi. >> Miss Yang. >> Hi. >> Miss Shelby. >> I. >> Motion passes. Next up, I would entertain a motion to um uh accept the approval for the achievement and integration plan that [clears throat] we heard from uh Dr. Cochran. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Say a motion made by Jones. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Second by Stark. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> All those opposed. >> Motion passes. Next up, I would entertain a motion uh for the approval of the agreement with environmental plant services for the asbestous removal at Fidley Middle School. >> So moved. >> Motion made by uh Stark. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Second by Shriner. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. >> All those opposed. >> Motion passes. Last up, I would entertain a motion to accept the consent agenda. >> Some move. >> Motion made by Stark. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Second by Anna. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> All those opposed. Motion passes. All right. Lastly, we have our important future dates. We have the staff capital visit on March 18th. I think we I'm not sure if we're going to go there or not, but it is there. Um the Stevenson PTO meeting on March 18th at 4:30, obviously at Stevenson Elementary. No school on March 19th and 20th. The high school boys tennis begins on March 23rd. Preschool STEM night March 24th from 5:00 to 7:00 here at the Community Center. Festival of Nations, which is always a great event at Stevenson Elementary, March 26th from 5:30 to 7:00. We have our high school spring concert March 26th at 7:00 at the district auditorium. Uh no school for spring break from March 30th to April 3rd. Uh baseball starts for middle school. Softball starts for middle school. Uh we have middle school track and field. All those three sports uh start on April 6th. We have another Stevenson PTO meeting on April 9th at Stevenson Elementary at 4:30. No school for a staff development date on April 10th. Um as mentioned at our last meeting, we will be hosting an American Indian POW on April 11th. Uh we won't be hosting it. We'll be involved in it at Champen Park High School. And that's 1 to 5. We have our AMD and MASA region 9 day at the Capitol on April 13th. Hayes has their better together meeting on April 13th at 5:00 at Hayes Elementary. And our free family moving night will be held here on April 17th at 7:00 at the district auditorium. And then our next Fley Public Schools board meeting will be here at the community center on April 21st. 5:30 work session, 7 o'clock public comment, 7:30 business meeting. Any dates that I may have missed? >> Uh, >> Friday the 20th is kind of an important day. >> So, any other dates that I probably missed? >> Yeah, >> it's the cheers birthday. >> Okay. >> Okay. It's first day of spring on on the 20th. >> It's It is the first day of spring on the 20th. Also, um, the spring concert for Fidley High School is actually March 24th. >> Awesome. >> It got moved. >> It got moved. Thank you. >> Yep. >> All right. Anything else? >> No, sir. >> I would certainly entertain to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. >> Motion by Stark. Do I have a second by Anna? All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. >> All those opposed and we are adjourned at 9:27. Thank you for everyone that stuck it out for the entirety of the meeting. >> So impressed.