White Bear Lake Area Schools — Transcript
Thursday, October 15, 2026
Indigenous Peoples' Day Celebration and Cultural Teachings
Student Achievements and Community Engagement
Make48 Product Design Competition Success
District Health and Dental Insurance Rates for 2027
Board Policy Review (First Reading)
School Board Member Updates and Upcoming Events
Votes (6)
Motion to Add Discussion on Upper Midwest Law Center Letter
Dissent: Mr. Skaar's motion failed due to lack of a second.
Moved by Skaar [00:02:22] · Seconded by null
Mr. Skaar moved to add a discussion item regarding a letter from the Upper Midwest Law Center concerning alleged district violations of constitutional rights, state laws, and a presidential order. The motion failed due to a lack of a second.
Motion to Add Discussion on Make It Fair Amendment to Minnesota State High School League Constitution
Dissent: Mr. Skaar's motion failed due to lack of a second.
Moved by Skaar [00:02:37] · Seconded by null
Mr. Skaar moved to add a discussion item about recommending the 'Make It Fair amendment' to the Minnesota State High School League Constitution, aiming to restore biological sex-based eligibility in girls' sports for compliance with Title IX, Supreme Court decisions, the IOC, and the NCAA. This motion also failed due to lack of a second.
Approval of Remaining Consent Agenda (Excluding Payment of Invoices)
Dissent: Mr. Skaar voted 'No'.
Moved by Ellison [00:03:23] · Seconded by Streiff Oji [00:03:25]
The consent agenda, covering routine business items and donations, was presented. Mr. Skaar attempted to amend the meeting minutes within the consent agenda to specify that the superintendent asserts the compliance of monthly invoices, but this amendment motion failed. Subsequently, Mr. Skaar successfully requested to remove the 'payment of invoices' for separate consideration.
Approval of Payment of Invoices
Dissent: Mr. Skaar voted 'No'.
Moved by Ellison [00:04:07] · Seconded by Streiff Oji [00:04:09]
After being removed from the consent agenda, the payment of invoices was brought for a separate vote. Mr. Skaar reiterated his stance from a previous meeting, stating he would not approve unless explicit staff assertion was provided that all invoices met school board policy requirements.
Action on 2027 Medical and Dental Insurance Rates
Dissent: None. The motion passed unanimously.
Moved by Ellison [00:22:48] · Seconded by Thompson [00:22:50]
The board considered and approved the insurance committee's recommendation for a 3% increase in medical insurance premiums and a 0% increase for dental premiums for 2027. The discussion highlighted the district's self-insured model, its practice of maintaining a strong reserve fund, and how these strategies led to rates significantly lower than the average experienced by other school districts. Board members inquired about committee composition and benchmarking processes.
Action on School Board Policies 402, 507.5, and 521
Dissent: None
Moved by Ellison [00:25:31] · Seconded by Thompson [00:25:32]
Three specific school board policies (402, 507.5, and 521) were presented for final approval. There was no discussion from the board members regarding these policies before the vote was cast.
Notable Quotes (7)
One would be a discussion on the risks to the district and the taxpayers associated with the Upper Midwest Law Center's letter regarding the allegations that the district is in violation of constitutional rights of individuals in the school district, violation of state laws, and non-compliant with the presidential order.
Motion to add an agenda item: discussion on recommending the Make It Fair amendment to the Minnesota State High School League Constitution to restore biological sex-based eligibility in girls' sports and help ensure compliance with Title IX, consistent with the Supreme Court decision, the International Olympic Committee, and the NCAA.
So I just on the on page 8-7E of the meeting minutes. It says the monthly invoices, all of which met the standards and guidelines as set by the school board. Who's making that assertion? It's just an open-ended assertion. Is that assertion made by the superintendent? So I would amend that to say monthly invoices, all of which met the standards and guidelines as set by the school board, as asserted by the superintendent.
Well, it's basically the same thing I said at the last meeting, which is unless there's an assertion by staff on the invoice register that all of those invoices meet the requirements as set out by the school board policy, you know, I'm not approving it. There needs to be an assertion from staff, an explicit one.
The recommendation is to increase our insurance premiums to our self-insured insurance program by 3% on the medical side across our two plans, and then in addition to take a flat zero on our dental premiums. A couple of notes on the health insurance front. Number one, a 3% increase is unbelievable, and we could not be more pleased to be able to make that recommendation.
The self-insured model is absolutely going to be less expensive than any fully insured model would be able to offer us. With the flexibility it gives us to shop all the component parts of our plan.
Our average has been about 6% over the last three years, about 5.5% over the last six, and going back another three years before that too. We've really had excellent rates through that whole thing, whole time. School districts have been experiencing an average of closer to 11.5% over that time, and so, you know, we're really proud of those results and the setup of our plan.
Ordinances & Resolutions (13)
Recited at the start of the meeting
Read at the beginning of the meeting
Read in recognition of Indigenous Peoples' Day
Allegations of district violation of constitutional rights, state laws, and a presidential order
Proposed amendment to restore biological sex-based eligibility in girls' sports
Referenced in discussion about eligibility in girls' sports
Referenced in discussion about eligibility in girls' sports
Referenced in discussion about eligibility in girls' sports
Referenced in discussion about eligibility in girls' sports and the fishing tournament
District policies presented for a first reading
Legislation governing periodic review of health insurance plans
State plan for teachers used for benchmarking insurance rates
District policies brought for action and approval