of the school board of independent school district 624 to order. Will the clerk please call the role? >> Daniels here, Ellison here. Scar >> here. >> Strike Oji here. [clears throat] Thompson >> here. Aran >> here. >> Floyd >> here. >> Okay. Do we now if you could please stand for the pledge of allegiance? 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. [clears throat] >> We have before us an agenda. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda? >> So moved. there by uh Ellison. >> Second by >> I'd like to make a motion here. >> Yes. Let's we'll get it in there. So second by Thompson >> Daniel. Sorry. All right. Mr. Scar, you have a motion. You want to add a amend? >> Yes. I'd like to make a motion to video stream the public forum. >> Okay. We have in front of us the motion to video stream the public forum. >> I object to considering this question. >> Okay. On what grounds? It is uh undiplomatic and an improper matter at this moment. We haven't had time to discuss that. >> Okay. So, I'm still going to call it second and see if anybody else wants to discuss it. Is there a second? >> What are we seconding? >> Uh his motion to video stream. >> If I make an objection, then we just have to have a twothirds vote on my objection matter. >> Okay. So I >> I'm objecting to the motion to consider uh videotaping public forum at this time. >> Okay. So >> Okay. So then I'll >> Is there more discussion on that? >> Uh >> this has come up several time. >> There's no discussion on the matter. We make a vote to >> this come up several times. >> Order. >> So what we have in front of us is objection. Uh so we're going to ask those in favor of the objection so that we won't continue say oh I all in favor all in favor of the objections >> restate it please. >> What's the objection is >> the objection is to consider the motion to video record public forum. >> So objecting to that motion. >> Yes. So if you want to object to that motion say I >> I >> I >> opposed >> me. >> All right. So then we have the objection. >> All right. Thank you. >> I have another motion. >> Yes, sir. >> This may be a mo could be a motion or could be a recommendation, but to extend courtesy to public forum speakers and allow the speakers to finish their final thought without the fear of a gavl at 3 minutes and to eliminate the gavvel entirely and simply state that your time is up unless the speaker is unruly. Our community deserves courtesy. Okay, you've heard the motion to add to take the gavl out and allow [clears throat] them to finish their sentence. >> Final thought, which >> typical Is there a second? Is there a second? Is there a second? Okay. And there's no motion on the then it's failed. >> Yes, Mr. Scar. I'd like to make a motion to add to the agenda the progress on corrective actions to the enrollment procedures at the high school to prevent 22 year olds from erroneously enrolling as students. >> So we have a motion asking to say that again to look at the >> progress of corrective actions to the enrollment procedures at the high school to prevent people who shouldn't be enrolled in the high school. >> So we have that motion in front of us. Do I have a second? Do I have a second? Do I have a second? The motion does not move forward. >> One last one. Yes, sir. >> Which I do not require a second on, >> which is I want to move uh on the consent agenda 5B and 5G to operational items for discussion and a separate vote. um for the we will move those right after the [clears throat] um consent agenda. So we'll when they bring the consent agenda up, we'll approve the consent agenda with those items moved off. Then we'll hold the discussion on that immediately after. That's how the procedure works. >> So point of order, should they just be added? So operational items are considered uh as a vote. Shouldn't they be added to the operation? >> Normally, we put them right after the uh we put them right after the consent agenda. That's how we we do it. So, we can put them we can approve the consent agenda with those two missing or pulled off and then we go right to discuss those. >> Okay. And what two items was it again from the consent agenda you wanted to pull? payment of invoices 5B and 5G quarterly revenue and expenditure report. >> Okay. So, right now in the front of us, we haven't we have a a motion and a and [snorts] a second to approve uh our approve the agenda set before us. Any further discussion? Okay, this will be a voice vote. All in favor say I. >> I. I. >> Oppose. same sign. We have an agenda. We also have set in front of us a consent agenda. This contains a variety of business items that come to us monthly, including donations. We are very grateful to the support we're shown every month to our staff and [snorts] students. Thank you all those who contribute to our school district. In front of us now, we have a motion to approve. Can we get a motion to approve the consent agenda uh without five B and 5G? Can I get a motion? Yeah. >> Point of order. >> Can we So, we're approving the agenda not with not without them but with them moved after the consent. >> Yeah, we Yeah, they won't be approved in this vote. They'll be that we'll talked about separately. >> Correct. So, moved. >> Okay. So, I have a second. >> Second. >> Second by Miss Daniels. Okay. This will be a voice vote. I'll ask the clerk to call the role. >> Daniels, I Ellison >> I. >> Scar. >> Hi. >> Stri >> I. >> Thompson >> I. >> Aran >> I [snorts] >> Okay. So now we've got a consent agenda without stop. All right. I'm looking for on my consent. Just give me a minute. Can't find it on here. >> Uh page 14. >> I got it. All right. So, we have page 14. And the first question we have um is 5B. >> Mhm. >> Okay. What's Can we get questions on 5B? >> Yes. Um there were questions with um this is on page 14. Green Solar Leasing LLC. It has a description of electricity. Is that electricity or is that the lease payments back to Green Solar? Um that's the [cough] um that's the lease payment back to Green Solar. >> So it's not really for electricity. >> Um >> okay. >> I guess I'd have to look at that one to be sure. I haven't looked at those invoices in some time. >> Um some of these cost like rightway cocking which is $25,000 and change. Is that part of the uh referendum and LTF? It was okay. Good. Um, I noticed that there was a significant amount of uh unemployment almost. It was like 7 $800,000. Was that was that the separate funded that was that the one that was separately funded by the legislature a few months ago? So that's funded. >> Yeah, we break that out depending on [clears throat] um the type of employee. So some of it would have been just regular um traditional unemployment and some of it would be summer term unemployment. >> So these are more general questions. So on the suppliers, I noticed that there's multiple suppliers for multiple things. For example, custodial supplies. I mean what have we done to the supply chain to you know streamline it? How did decisions get made? Does each for just let's use custodial supplies. Does each school district or not school district each school facility are they on their own to order? >> Yes, we don't have centralized purchasing. >> So you don't have centralized Have you looked at centralized purchasing? >> We've considered it but it's not anything we've pursued. Yep. >> Is there a reason why we haven't looked at centralized purchasing? Um I guess you know as we've thought through it um it would require additional personnel and so we haven't [clears throat] done to >> I don't understand that >> to to completely centralize our purchasing. We don't have somebody with capacity to do completely centralized purchasing and so um it's just not something that we've been um interested in pursuing completely. the resources that would be in each individual school that are doing the purchasing could be rolled up into the district and probably have better visibility across all suppliers. >> Yes. But for example like on the custodial supply purchases for example that might be minutes of somebody's day periodically to you know make that purchasing and so to roll all of that is you can't reduce that cost. So, we haven't spent a great amount of time to look into it. It's something that is on our radar of something that we could look at in the future, but um >> Well, I would suggest that you look at it. >> Sure. Okay. >> Um the other Do you use GPOS at all? Does the school district use GPOS? Group purchasing organizations at all? Does does state >> Yep. >> We do. >> Cooperative purchasing. >> Out of our spend rate, how much is with GPOS? >> Oh, I I don't know. 50% 20%. >> I wouldn't hesitate to guess. >> So I noticed there's a lot of Amazon purchases. >> So what controls do we have over Amazon purchases? And where where are these coming [snorts] from? Are they coming from all the schools or from uh just district staff? >> Oh, yep. It's from all virtually all departments in the district. Um, Amazon is difficult because they invoice as they ship. So, we may have, you know, an individual place a very large order. Um, but then as they ship over multiple um, shipments coming from multiple different facilities, [snorts] it ends [clears throat] up being a great amount of Amazon invoices. >> What are the controls that you have over Amazon purchases? Um well that purchasing starts at the building level and so the um you know individual school or department would have a process individual would put together a um list of items that they need to purchase. it would go to the school secretary or admin assistant and then that would go to the um whatever their internal processes are at the building level but largely like the principal would approve that and then the in the example of a school admin would um place that order with Amazon. >> So are you telling me that each school facility has its own purchasing procedures? Yeah, like a principal may have a specific process that they would want, you know, to follow. >> So there's no standardization on purchasing procedures. >> I wouldn't say that there's no standardization. What I'm saying is that a building principal may have something different that they want um internally. >> Um one other question which has to do with um another general question which is contract approvals. I've been on [snorts] the board I think what nine months, 10 months. I haven't seen a contract. What's the contract approval process? I mean, we're approving invoices, but why aren't we approving contracts at the board level? Can somebody tell me exactly what the procedures are and as to why the board would not have its why it would not uh want its governance and authority over approving contracts? >> Yep. So, um >> maybe that's for the board. It's is it the annual resolution in January? Is that where that's done? In January, that's one of the annual resolutions that the school board grants that authority to the superintendent and then the business manager, which would would be the assistant superintendent for finance and operations. >> And there's no cap on that. >> If it's over if it's over 175,000, then that comes to the school board. >> Okay, I understand. Um I still don't understand why we wouldn't want I would want to review all the contracts and approve them. I mean, >> I think that's [snorts] reasonable for the board to re review contracts in the context of the invoices that we sign off on. [clears throat] >> M uh can you pause for a moment? Sure. Miss Blo, >> does each building have their own budget? >> Yes. >> Is it specific to every line item? Like anything they purchase, they have a budget for the entire year for? >> Uh we look at it as like a department budget. So they have the discretion. So what would be the different departments? >> Um well um for example they would have like non-instructional supplies and and instructional supplies. We don't require that they break out their budget between those two line items. We look at it as a departmentwide um budget as a program level. >> So what kind of contracts would each building go into? That would be less than 125,000. >> Oh like a regular like a a school building budget would not have any such contract. They would have small contracts perhaps like >> So how big would those contracts for prom for example like that type of >> like a DJ for prom? >> Yeah. You know like that they'd have that type of um item but they wouldn't have significant amounts of contracts. >> Could you estimate if it came in front of the board each and every contract? >> Um I I guess to answer your question the assumption is that each one of these buildings the principles are responsible for these things and they're responsible for the budgets right? So the person that's responsible for the principles and all of these administrative buildings that is >> yeah those contracts all go to the assistant superintendent for finance and operations. Um I don't I don't see them so I don't have the scale of I don't see all of them. I don't have I don't know like the numbers. >> Can you estimate how many contracts there are? >> I wouldn't want to put an estimate to it. No. I would I would I would rather you know look at the data. [snorts] >> Would it be a lot? >> Um >> more than 100. >> A lot is relative. Um perhaps in the course of a year. Sure. >> Okay. But each building has control over that. >> Yes. And then they work with the assistant superintendent on those. Yes. >> And he approves those. >> Correct. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yes. Mr. Scar. One thing I think what I'm getting at is like what's decentralized at the at the school and what's centralized and what's the val what's the value within the district operations if there's not a lot of centralized um uh functions you know to help to help the the the individual schools. So, do is there do you do you have do we have a schedule of executive authorities or a schedule of authorities that we use in the district to show who like where the decisions are centralized versus decentralized who has the authority for that? >> I no budget. >> No, >> I don't know exactly what that would look like. No, I would say no. We don't have that. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Yeah. I'm just checking. You're done with both. They just payment of invoices. >> Done with payment of invoice. One last one. Who's Radar Consulting? >> Um that's a a a company that we use for recruitment for staffing like a staffing agency. >> Understand? Yep. >> Thank you, Miss Miss Bardo. I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> Who [clears throat] develops the budget for each building? the building principal and then yeah, we give them an allocation based on a per student amount. >> Okay. So, they [snorts] should know how much they need for each one of those items based off of previous years based off of >> correct >> the current year's expenses. How often do they receive an update to their budget? >> Well, they have access to the budget within their system. So, their administrative assistant could run it as often as they'd like. >> So, at any point in time, they would know how close they are to hitting their budget. >> Correct. Yep. Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Any other questions? Uh, did you want to speak to 5G, the quarterly revenue and expense report that you had pulled, >> Mr. Scar? >> Yes, I was looking at the most current. I'm just trying [clears throat] to find it here. >> Yes, I got it. So, I'm looking at I'm reading it left to right. >> What page? >> What page? >> It's page 75. Sorry. So, I'm looking at for the year 2025 and 26 >> where you have the revenue um budget at 146782 and some change and then year-to- date is 20 25273. >> I'm sorry, can you repeat that? >> If you go to the just go to the total revenue on page 75, >> sorry5. on page 75. >> 76. >> Yeah, it's page 75 on mine. >> Did you uh There was a board packet sent to us this evening with updates. >> Okay. So, if you go to the quarterly finance report [snorts] expenditure program, what's the new page number? >> 76. >> 76. All right. Thank you. So, if you go to the revised budget number, that's 146782513. And then year-to- date it's 20 2573. How is that helpful? Why wouldn't you put in like what your estimate for the whole year is? I mean, wouldn't you do we do we go through an estimate process where we have like here's our budget. Here's what we're projecting for our revenues and our expenditures for [clears throat] the end of the year. Don't we do that? Well, that's essentially what our revised budget is would be, you know, as we update the budget based on what we know to change that would be reflected in the revised budget. >> So, where's actuals year to date? >> Year-to- date it is actual and then the actual column would be like year-end actuals. >> So, are you telling me that the revised budget is really not the budget, it's your revised estimate of year end? >> Correct. We don't have monthly budgets. We have an annual budget. [clears throat] >> So, you don't break it down in month? >> No. >> Why? >> I don't know a school district who does. >> Okay. What about by quarter? >> No. >> Okay. [snorts] Uh, so how do we keep track of what was the original budget versus where we're where we're projected to be? If we have a deviation either plus or minus on revenue or expenses, how do we keep track of that? >> We like in the revised we'll make those changes in the revised budget when that is coming to the school board. >> But what do we compare it to the original budget? Correct. No, I always compare well there's a lot of work that goes into that number or those numbers, but we would compare year-to- [snorts] date versus year-to- date to see kind of where are we trending versus where we've been in the past. Um, if there's any updated if you know formulas are based on enrollment, those certainly get factored in. Um, things that we know changes that we're aware of, we track those and then we roll that into the the revised budget. It's a very nuanced process. >> Okay. So rather chair rather than take up more time on this I would ask that I can if I can talk with the financial folks and maybe with Wayne on how that is done if >> yeah off off the yeah you off time you you definitely can talk to Mr. Kasmichek Dr. Casmichek and they can if there he can set that up that's okay >> do I have is there a commitment there? >> Uh you have to you'll have to contact him. I I can't commit on his his calendar. >> All right. >> So, any further discussion? Can I get a motion to approve payment of invoices and the quarterly finance report? Okay. By Mr. Thompson. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Second by Miss Malloy. Uh any further discussion? >> This also will have Yes. I can approve the invoice register but not the quarterly finance report because I don't understand it well enough. >> Okay. So I you could just not approve it when we call the vote. >> Sure. >> So will this be a roll call vote? I'll ask the clerk to call the role. >> Daniels I Ellison >> I. >> Scar. >> No. >> Stri I. >> Thompson I. >> Aranti Ioy. >> I. Okay. The motion passes six to one. We are now to the um we are now at the point of public forum. Uh this is the portion of the meeting the public forum allows up to three minutes per speaker. With one minute remaining, an orange card will be held up. With 30 seconds remaining, a yellow card will be held up. At the end of three minutes, the gavl will be tapped. School district policy and data privacy laws preclude personal and student matters or data from being discussed publicly. Speakers may not make allegations, charges, or complaints against any student or employee. Speakers will be called up to the microphone and recognized one at a time. Only those individuals have been recognized will be allowed to speak. Members of the audience may not engage in conduct that disrupts any part of [clears throat] the of conduct of this of its business. for the board's uh school board meeting or therewise it impedes the ability to conduct conduct our business [music] [music] All right. Well done, students. >> Yeah. Great. All right. So, we're going to move right on to C2 superintendence report. Dr. Caspek. >> All right. Thank you. Um students throughout the district will participate in a variety of activities this week to honor Veterans Day. Um handful of examples here. Vadness Heights Elementary students will gather for a patriotic afternoon program with special guests including students, family members, and close friends who have been invited to participate. Central Middle Schoolers will uh enjoy a Veterans Day assembly with a special guest who will speak about his experience serving in the military. and members of the senior program will come together in honor of the holiday on Friday from 10:00 to 11:30 for coffee, treats, and music by the ukulele bears. The high school's fall musical production of Rogers and Hammerstein Cinderella opens this week. Shows will be performed at 7 p.m. this Friday and Saturday and next Thursday through Saturday. There is a 2 p.m. matinea on Saturday, November 15th that is free for senior citizens who live in the community. Performances will take place at the high school's new performing arts center, a venue that will give our talented student, cast, crew, and technical staff the opportunity to showcase some truly magical special effects. Find ticket information on the district's website. I'm excited to meet with families and community members tomorrow, Tuesday, November 11th, from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. for coffee with Dr. K. These informal chats held at Caribou Coffee in downtown White Bear Lake are a great way to connect. Additional coffee events are scheduled later this year. We'll meet over the noon hour on February 25th at White Lake Area High School. And we'll be back at Caribou the morning of May 5th. And it's that time of year. If uh winter weather is so severe that schools need to close, staff and families will be alerted in three ways as soon as a decision is made. A phone message and email will be sent to all uh guardians. A text message will be sent to those with texting capabilities. A message will be posted on uh the district homepage. Messages will be posted on the district's Facebook and Instagram pages. Information will also be available on local media outlets. So make sure you don't miss the call. Let the district know of any changes in your email or phone number. And finally, in December, we'll be sending kindergarten registration information out to families with children who will begin kindergarten in the fall of 2026. If you have a child who will begin kindergarten next fall, please let us know your contact information so we can send you incoming kindergarten materials that will be mailed will be mailed to families. Find a link to submit your information on the district's website. Thank you for helping us make sure we are welcoming all of our incoming bears. Uh and uh so to wrap this up, enjoy this fun video pulled together with the help of our elementary principles that was made to support this message. Hello Bears. We are excited to welcome our incoming [music] kindergarteners and of course our incoming kindergarten families. If you want to make sure you're on our list of incoming kindergarteners, please contact our enrollment office so we can get you added. >> Why do you want [music] to be on the list? Because soon we will be sending out kindergarten enrollment packets that contain details about our kindergarten and elementary programs, a [music] list of experiences you can be doing now to prepare for kindergarten, and an online link to enroll in our district. [music] If you're ready to sign up to be a Bear, feel free to go to our enrollment web page and get started [music] today. Speaking of the website, we hope you get online and check out what we're up to. You can find fun student and staff highlights in our community e newswsletter. See individual school happenings [music] listed on the specific building pages of the website or follow us on social media for shareouts. Fun videos can also be enjoyed on the district's [music] YouTube channel. One of the things you'll see when you check out the website is a page dedicated to the district's building projects [music] made possible by the community support of the 2019 building our future bond referendum. The facilities projects we've undertaken, including those [music] completed at each of our nine elementary buildings allow us to serve our students differently. We are transforming our students environments and helping them design their [music] future and create their success. >> Regardless of which school you call home, you'll [music] be in good hands, or maybe I should say good pause. Each school also has unique characteristics, including one that offers a schoolwide advancement via individual determination, [music] otherwise known as AVID, and others with strong nature and science, technology, [music] engineering, arts, and mathematics components. There's a strong commitment from all of our elementary educators to [music] align the curriculum to state standards and to make it accessible for all students to learn [music] and to implement the science of reading or letters. Districtwide transportation is also available for two [music] unique programs. International Balora or IB programming is available at Mosski International. And we're super excited for a Spanish dual immersion program at both Mosska International and Otter Lake [music] Elementary. So no matter where you go, there's a strong commitment from all of our elementary educators to make rigorous curriculum accessible for all of our students. Your children learn and thrive here in White Bear. Our schools are supported by engaged families and our district [music] is supported by an engaged community. Some of our innovative and award-winning partnerships include [music] those with the White Bear Center for the Arts, the White Bear Area, YMCA, Tamarak and Wargo [music] Nature Centers, the University of Minnesota, Lakeshore Players, and many others. Sounds like a fun place to be, right? It is. If you're ready [music] to enroll in the district, go to isd624.org/enroll org/enroll to find the online enrollment link or you can work with our centralized enrollment office who requests printed kindergarten enrollment forms. Once you're enrolled, you'll receive your very own I'm a Bear t-shirt [music] in the mail. We look forward to having you join our schools so you also can experience [music] student centered instruction, varied academic opportunities, an environment [music] that is safe, supportive, and challenging. and educators who inspire, [music] facilitate, and challenge students, nurturing curiosity and confidence. >> We are transforming learning, and we can't wait for you to start your school career [music] as a bear until we see you in our buildings. We have a fun assignment for you. Learn the enthusiastic Go Bears cheer that our students enjoy taking [music] part in. Try it with us on the count of three. One, two, three. >> Goers. >> Remember that's geared towards kindergarten families. [laughter] So, >> all right. Thank you, Dr. Casmichek. We're going to move along to discussion item D1 202425 comprehensive achievement and academic readiness summary and achievement integration progress. Dr. Gillespie. >> Good evening, Chair Aran, members of the board. Um, I'd like to introduce Diesa and bring her back. You've met her one other time. Um, Diesa Febeck, our educational technology and assessment coordinator. Both of us will be sharing um the annual update around the comprehensive achievement and academic readiness summary. This would be the first year that it's under that title. If you recall in the past it was world's best workforce. >> All right. Good evening members of the board. Um these are not new goals to you. These have been presented on previously. So we're providing an update with the understanding that the new MDE requirement that prepared for lifelong learning has been included. So, we're going to go through some data associated with these goals and I believe do you mind clicking? >> Yeah. >> No. Yeah, please. Thank you. >> Um, and as Dr. Gillespie was saying, there's a lot of overlap between these goals and so we're presenting them as a shared presentation. Thank you. So the goal is listed at the top here and um for every slide I won't read the entire goal but just rather talk about this particular graph. So as you can see on the left we are only looking at a subgroup of students. We are looking at the students who were previously enrolled in our prek programming and how they're coming in as kindergarteners. In August, if you recall, we talked briefly about the FastBridge assessment, and it gives us that risk level. So, how how um likely are students to be at risk by the spring of that grade level. So, K preK 12 um and how they're progressing throughout the year. So you can see highlighted for this fall 2025 2026% of our K current kindergarteners who were with us last year as preK4 enrolles uh were on track. So they were at low risk is what FastBridge calls it. So this goal is a multi-year goal and you can see that progress has been elevated over time. So more and more of our incoming kindergarteners that were previously enrolled with us are at low risk. So we shift a little bit. So looking at the data just slightly differently. Um that same assessment early reading and fastbridge specific to literacy. We wanted to know okay not only how did our students do who previously were with us as prek students but how did they do as opposed to students who were not enrolled with us. We can't make the assumption that they weren't enrolled in the pre-K programming, but we know that they weren't enrolled in White Bear Lake Area schools. So, you can see some of the differences for that fall screener in literacy with the darker orange being the kiddos who were with us as preK students. So, just a different way of looking at that data. And again, this is not all kindergarteners. These are separated into two subgroups. So change in color here just to give a little bit of a perspective. So now we are looking at all kindergarteners in White Bear Lake area schools at all of our elementaries and how they did fall versus spring. Again, this is not necessarily a new graph to this board. I think we looked at this in August, but we're we're expanding what we want to look at. We don't want to just know what a subgroups are doing. We want to know how all of our students are doing. So attending to all the same uh goal of that 75% of kindergarteners entering being at low risk but looking at it in different ways. So from our littlest to our oldest now we're going to look at some high school data as it pertains to these specific goals. So in this one, we're looking at the students over the course of four years of their high school enrollment and how many career or college ready credits they've accumulated. And this metric was defined previously um per the goal. So you can see that indicated on the right of the screen. So it's not just advanced coursework um or college board AP courses or PSO. It's a wider variety, a wider net for that career and college readiness. and specifically to the graduating class at the bottom. So, we see the class of 2023, the class of 2024, and then our most recent graduating class. We have more students leaving with 12 or more college credits, which is, I think, a huge celebration. So, as you can see, our goal is 40% for this graduating class. And if we continue that trajectory based on the data we have, we're hoping to achieve that goal. So looking at our data specific by um two subgroups per one of our goals. So our Latinx and black student cohort. That same idea. So we looked at all of our students and now we're looking at two of our subcategories for our race and ethnicity. There are two things I want you to notice on this graph. Is the bottom numbers above the gray bars. That's the total enrollment for that graduating class. So, it is a little bit of a stark um number to see a 0%, but I do want to call attention that those two students of course matter, but having only that small subgroup of two really changes that percentage significantly. So the orange line is the percentage of graduating students from last year in that um uh racial and ethnicity category. So just want to pause for a second there. So again, our goal is by June 2026, but we're just giving an update for last year. So in that same thread, so looking at that same student, those same two student groups, excuse me, the Latinx and black students within those cohort categories, what percent of those students are leaving with 12 or more college classes or credits, excuse me. And so you can see over time there has been a a slight increase. And at last year, our seniors that graduated in these two populations, 20% of them had 12 or more college credits. So, slight shift against focusing more at the high school and upper grades here with graduation. So, one of the goals was around the high school's four-year graduation rate. And MDE has a pretty specific way that they calculate that. And because of that, that typically isn't released until February, sometimes March of the following year. So, we don't have the data for MDE for 2025 yet, but we will get that soon. So, you'll see that's why we only have 2024 up until 2024 on this particular graph. The orange is going to be our White Bear Lake Area High School graduation rate. And then for reference, we have the Minnesota state average graduation rate. So this goal is to have that increase to 98% uh by June 2026. So again, we'll have those two data points coming in the future. Uh and one caveat to to go into this slide is students who don't graduate in four years based on the when they started nth grade. So that is when their start time is. There could be a variety of reasons. Sometimes it's an IEP um goal for that student to have a little bit more time. Sometimes it's a language acquisition if they're still learning English. And so that's why MDE also has a seven-year graduation rate. So that is also included into our district goals. So this one's looking at a broader district. And you can see that same orange is the White Bear Lake um area district. And then the state average is in gray. So another pretty detailed graph. So we'll go through this one as well. So on the bottom specific, we can see two goals overlap with this particular graph. So we're looking at a subgroup of American Indian students. We're looking at the cohort who graduated. So you can see for 2019 which is the start of the graph we had six students identified in that cohort based on their enrollment summary and then 2020 we had zero within that cohort. So that is why you are not going to see a percentage for White Bear Lake specifically in the orange for that second year of 2020. So give a couple of minutes to look at that. But just really keeping in mind um when you have such a small cohort such as two, 100% is something absolutely to celebrate, but it does look a little bit more um fluctuating than like the state average which has a a larger enrollment. And now we're going back hopping back to our elementarymentaries. So, one of the specific goals was around one of our elementaryaries, Willow Lane, third grade in particular. So, we're looking at a different test than we've looked at thus far tonight, the MCA reading assessment. And the goal was to see an increase from 2022 to this coming spring 2026. So, you're going to see the darker orange is Willow Lane third grade MCA reading. The lighter orange is White Bear Lake Area Schools third grade reading and then the gray is the state again specific to third grade MCA reading. And you may be wondering why specifically Willow Lane is included and that is because their demographics exceed our district demographics for protected class by 20%. And so we're required to have goals specifically for Willow Lane for our achievement and integration. And then um one of the last things we're going to look at tonight on this presentation is about specific to Willow Lane is some leadership skills and confidence. So you can see a little bit of a narrative around this, but really students taking this pre and post survey and thinking about how they are growing and developing as leaders within that year. So, fifth grade, I believe that this was presented on previously as well last year, had a special project that they had some collaboration with another of our elementary schools, Matoska International, and they created a lot of awareness and problem solving using skills in their class using their math and science and literacy as well to weaving that in. And so from that particular program, we did see a 100% of students feel an increase in that ability or that skill, that leadership skill. >> Great. So we're um ready to take questions. I'm going to invite up two other members of our team. Jen Babish, who you know, the director of teaching and learning, and Brenton Shavers, who you also know, our director of educational equity and achievement. >> All right. Welcome. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Do we have some questions? I just wanted to mention that I did invite um the principal of Willow Lane. She had a family matter, so she's not able to be here. We'll be able to answer questions as best as we can, but if there's something specific, we might need to include her outside of the meeting. >> Questions? Yeah, Miss Strafei, >> thank you for sharing this information and it's exciting to see the graduate rate and how well we're doing there. I'm looking specifically at Willow Lane's third grade reading um MCA scores and the goal to get them to 68% and just wondering what you're finding with the the sort of kind of steady um achievement level rate >> and not moving. Do we know uh what one you know what is the data? This is what the data tells us about third grade at Willow Lane. How are we responding to that data um at the district or as a district and as a site? Um can you speak to that? >> Yeah, I can. And then I'll have um Diesa kind of help with some other data that we because we too are looking at that. Um we're partnering with Jen Sexhour. She's a brand new principal at Willow Lane. Um and really thinking about what systems are there. And so as we've presented on our literacy and thinking about our new curriculum, what is some of those root cause? Because we are seeing um growth in kindergarten that we're really excited about. We're working with first grade, second grade, third grade. And so, how do we really dive in and think about how are they aligned to our guaranteed and viable curriculum? Um, how are we supporting instruction in the class? We have instructional coaches that are helping. Looking at the interventions and kind of how do we wrap around those supports around students and then um finally really um coming in around what other things might be needed around systems at the school. So, you think about how do we support student discipline, how do we support student attendance and things of those things. So, it's a really strong partnership with instructional coaches, um me, the the principal, really looking at all of that. What we are excited about, and I'm going to have Diesa explain that, but last year's fifth grade class um had 60% of students meet or exceed the MCAs. And so, really looking at how can we also build on the strengths that we're seeing. And so, how can those teachers collaborate together? >> Yeah. And really thinking about multiple points of data, right? Like that's a really important question. um and thinking about so we have fast brbridge which we measure for literacy and math so context right it's a different assessment it's not just for our state standards but it is for overall reading skills right like the comprehension the fluency so we are getting measures that then they can take and utilize so in particular for third grade um last year at the same testing window our third grade students at Willow were at 43% low risk again a different classification So we could say meet or exceeds kind of is the comparable and you know we had 33 on the MCA so slight difference but there is some conversation there right like okay so if if our students are performing higher on one assessment they have the skills so how are we going to transfer that MCA is a longer test it has maybe some different platform um integration um interfaces excuse me so per helping them with that as well but as Dr. Gillespie said we had 60% of our fifth graders at Willow meet or exceed on the MCA and their previous year as a fourth grade cohort they were at 31%. So there are things working that we can replicate. >> Thank you. I did after looking at this data take a little bit of a a data dive on the MDE website to look at literacy at Willow and White Baron statewide and and it is there are some promising things there that I did see and that that actually at Willow they were outperforming the state and in some instances the district um with their students that are on free and reduced lunch which is a large population that they have there uh black and African-American and our white students in our EL students. So just harnessing what's happening there and how do we really just hone in on >> Yeah. One thing I neglected to mention as well in terms of support um the principal Jen is also partnering closely with Minnesota Department of Education and we have someone assigned to Willow to help and really another voice and another part of the team to really say how do we build on the strengths we see but dive into areas that we're not yet seeing the movement that um we need to for our students. and that partnership that's that's a free resource that's >> that that's they're doing a lot of work statewide. So thank you. >> Okay. Further discussion. >> Yes. >> Question. Going back to the >> kindergarten slides. How many what percentage of our kindergarteners um attend our White Bear Lake area school preschool. >> I'll have to get you that number soon. I have an estimate but I don't want to say it unless I'm confident. >> Yeah. maybe like half or less or you don't know. >> That's okay. Well, I'll wait and you can >> I will get you the exact percentage soon. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Uh Mr. Scar. >> Thank you. Um you mentioned [clears throat] that we have a new principal at Willow Lane. So, do we have is our turnover higher at Willow Lane with teachers and principles versus other schools in the district? >> That's a really good question. I don't know the answer to it and anecdotally I don't believe so. This is um our previous principal was in the district for a long time. >> Okay. >> Um the principal before that was but we we obviously want to make sure we have steady leadership. So we we're really leaning in and supporting. >> Thank you. Um, the other thing I noticed in the presentation that you talk about being college ready versus trades ready because I know we're trying with this district to, you know, you know, push kids, not push them, but the college and there's an alternative where you can make a good living through the trades. So, how does that reconcile with your presentation? >> Yeah. You want me to go? Yeah. Um, [clears throat] >> yeah, that'd be great. Um I I think last time when I talked about the new course proposals, it might just be the one of the first slides when we talk about um how do we define college and career readiness and that was our work when we um had um a partnership with the Greater Twin Cities United Way and that's when we kicked off our career pathways and then also um did the 12 credits by 12th grade. And so, as you'll see over the last couple years with our career pathways courses, we have looked to try to do dual enrollment with our colleges and articulated credit um for example um with St. Paul College. And so as we think about um any new courses, looking at both our career pathways programming and all the different pathways that we have, how are we um aligning those courses with college credit? So then students have those choices if they want to take more of that um career pathways course or a more, you know, math, science, um language arts, uh college in the school AP course. So really it's more of a naming convention. When you say college credits, you mean college and also trade credit. Yes. Right. Okay. So I get it. >> Yep. >> Um and the la the last question I mean given all the data that you shared with us, >> what are one or two things for you that's priority to move the ball forward? What would be one or two things that would really move the ball forward? >> You're asking me specifically? >> Any of you? >> I >> because I don't know the answer. [laughter] >> To me, it um and what we're seeing is continuing to lean into our literacy work the way we have been. And really the more we get our kindergarten, first grade the lowest risk possible, we're going to see not only um you know our our literacy specifically for those grades increase, we're also going to see students retire outcomes in middle school and high school. And so really thinking through that, the other piece is how do our teachers um collaborate together? And so really this is a big job. We have everyone has different skills. So, what are the structures we're putting together? Because the mo the teams that are collaborating the most are seeing the greatest outcomes for our students in terms of student achievement measures, um how they're feeling about school, all of those things. And so, those two areas, we call them collaborative inquiry in inquiry teams. You may have heard other districts call them professional learning communities or PLC's. Um those two areas to me really are our guaranteed viable curriculum and then how we're collaborating around data together. >> All right. Thank you, Miss Ellison. >> Thank you. Um, I see that the the goals here are from 2023 to 2026. And so, thinking ahead, >> um, what has the legislature is it a similar requirement that they're going to require another three-year plan? Um, and as you look toward 27 to 30, [laughter] um, you know, because as I'm looking at some of these goals, I mean, our our graduation rates are all already excellent and we should always be inching toward 100, right? But that seems to be an inching toward whereas some of our other goals, it feels like we need to think re kind of rethink where we're headed. So, as you're looking at that next three years, how is this data going to help you create those three-year goals? >> That's a really good question. Um, so what we're talking about, one, and you you all have asked about that, how do we streamline and really talk about data that we can truly impact? And so, one is aligning everyone because we now give the FastBridge K early childhood really to 12th grade. So, we're aligning around that about how do we get 80% of our students in each one of those grades at low risk, at least 80% as our initial goal. And so, being able to better present on that around these goals, we can use that. We're not trying at all to dismiss MCAs. We would still present those two, but they're lagging data. And so, how to better align, as you've heard from principles. Um, that's one area. Graduation rate is one way to determine college and career readiness. I think um Mr. Scar talked about a question that comes up frequently. How are we really getting kids ready for career and college? And so thinking about how can we make those goals a little bit clearer for people so they understand we absolutely are doing both things and that they're not, you know, this 12 credits is important, but is it a better way to get it? Um, Chair [clears throat] Aran has asked questions before. So those types of things of really thinking how we're much better aligned as a system, so how do we clearly communicate that to our community without a whole bunch of education jargon that can be frustrating? >> Lots of acronyms. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. Uh and because I as I see the the slide where it says all students career and college ready, there is a bullet point that says articulated college credit classes like woodworking. >> So it would be it would be helpful to see that. I also think and this is not something that necessarily the whole board needs to see, but I would be interested been on the board a long time. What has been what were the the three-year goals before that? >> Okay. >> And the three-year goals now and the three-year goals moving ahead because we have made significant progress. So what is that significant progress and how does that help us look toward how we continue to get better? So >> thank you. >> All right. Any other discussion? Any other questions? >> Sorry. Just one quick question on the graduation rates. [clears throat] Are those the I'm just assuming those are the graduation rates including tech and ALC in the entire district because I know sometimes we get them of the district without ALC and transition education center included and the numbers look differently. So I just want to make sure the ones we've been presented tonight are all of our schools. >> It it really depends on the goal. So if the goal was district the the data was pulled for the district but um as you can see I think this is being projected this particular one was just the high school just because of the wording of the goal >> just I was sorry my clarification was just the like sevenyear graduation rate and then the four-year graduation rates >> the sevenyear specifically includes ALC and and >> tech thank you for asking that >> any other questions thank you for your We appreciate you taking time to present this. >> We're now going to go to discussion item D2. This is the first reading of schoolboard policies 305, 306, 608, and 7:22. These policies listed in the packet. I will be coming back on December 8th agenda or or another agenda if if needed for a second reading. If there's any discussion or questions on any of the policies, give us the policy number on the page which is located in the packet. >> I have one. >> Yes, Mr. Scar. >> It's on policy 305 where it talks about >> what what can we >> It would be page starting on 94. >> Yes. Thank you. page 94, policy 305, where you're changing the name from school board to school district policy. So that to me as as I let uh the chair and the vice chair as well as Wayne know that I sent a letter to MSBA regarding policy development. So I thought it'd be help. I have talked to him about it, [snorts] but one of the concerns that I had was related to the policies and how they may undermine the authority of the board. >> So, do you have a specific question then to 305? >> Yeah, I've got that that question is pertinent here. So, is my conversation uh that I had with MSBA, the executive director as well as well as the general counsel. So, if you would, I'd like to at least present some of the questions that I had because I may have a different point of view that I'd like to share >> specifically to 305. >> Specifically to 305, but also specifically to policy development in general [clears throat] and how it reconciles with the plain language of the statute. >> It's not on the agenda. >> Well, if we could keep it just to 305. >> It is on the agenda. Just focus. You're talking about policies, right? So, I'm talking about relevant material that I've talked with MSBA that relates to that policy. Okay. And I don't see what questions you have on 305 then. Go ahead. >> Well, here are some questions that I asked them. First, who develops the model policies? I found that out. Um, I think there should be a committee that does it among the board members, but you know, that's probably not going to happen. Is [snorts] there a process to ensure that all board governance policies including policy 209 which is the code of ethics policy are reconciled? >> Right now we're talking at 305 point of I sorry point of order. >> It's the same thing. >> You didn't let me finish. If you let me finish then you could see the connection. >> Go ahead. are reconciled with the explicit requirements of Minnesota statute 123B09 subdivision 8 as to maintain board's authority and prevent undue delegation to others thereby upholding the accountability and oversight by the board. It's germanine to this particular policy. Is there a process to reconcile all policies including policy 209 with free speech guaranteed under the United States Constitution? and how does that apply to schoolboard members in Minnesota? That may not be as germanine to that. >> Mhm. >> But then how does policy 209 work through the superintendent, not over around just 305 for this? >> How do you reconcile that with the superintendent who directly reports to the board, not the reverse? >> So those were the questions. So, the report back from the MSBA executive director as well as their general counsel, they were very gracious with their time. They're going to look at some of the concerns that I raised in terms of how policies reconcile um and should not undermine the authority of the board. >> That's it. >> I I have one question that I'm going to bring up. Um I normally don't jump in but I am. The policy recommendations by NSBA are not cart blanch. We just hand it to it. We take policies and and miss Dr. K if I could ask you. We don't just approve them. We work through our legal counsel and we look at it and make sure it fits our district. >> Right. Yeah. We often do work with our legal counsel and we also have a policy committee. Yeah. >> Okay. And then how often are we bringing policies to the committee to update? >> Monthly. >> Monthly. >> Monthly. And so we're constantly looking at updating our policies, making sure they stay current and fresh what uh is out there. So that's that was my question. All right. I will pull myself off the uh table. And who would other questions? I saw hands. >> Miss Daniels. >> I just Are there two two board members on the policy committee? Correct. Uh I believe we have two >> and to be really uh understand that the policy committee is not a decision-making committee. They look at it and they talk about it but the decision comes here. They can make recommendations but they cannot make decisions on it and so that has to be done by the board. Yes. >> Can I ask the people that are on the the policy committee why for [clears throat] 305 the switch was from school school board to school district? So page uh 95 uh general statement of policy uh section two subsection A >> was that an MSBA recommendation Rachel? Yeah, >> most of those recommendations are to keep up with state statute when statutes change. >> Mr. Scar, >> there's three categories of policies. One is they're legally you have to do it like anti-bullying. The second category is you should do it but you don't have to do it. And the third one is hey these are best practices and pol like policy 209 follows into best practice which I commented that it's not a best practice. Okay. >> Okay. So, we're still on 305 or any of the others. Any questions or concerns or comments? [snorts] >> OG. >> I would like to I just want to be very clear that there is a policy committee that meets regularly. You said it, but it was stated that there wasn't one and it wasn't going to happen and it is and it does and has been in place for a long time >> and it includes board members. >> Yep. >> Wait, can I just make a correction? I didn't imply that there wasn't a policy committee. I said there wasn't one at the MSBA level. >> However, our policy committee isn't subject to open meeting laws. I've never been invited to it. I don't know if the public's invited to it, but that's where all the sausage making. >> It's not a decision making committee. It has to be >> I get that. But there's a lot of value in understanding people's perspectives on it. >> Okay. So once again, we are looking at 305, 306, 608, and 7:22. Any questions or concerns about any of those policies? Okay. Hearing none, this will come back to December meeting to approve. Uh, if I could go to operational item E1, action on the 2026 27 course proposals. Miss Babish. Good evening, Chair Erican, members of the board, Dr. Casmerch. Um, at the October 27th work study session, the high school ad um admin team led by principal Reits and Associate Principal Carrie Barth and some of our teacher leaders um we presented the secondary course proposals for the 2627 school year. We included the presentation from the 27th in the board packet tonight. Um I'm just going to give you some quick highlights and then ask for a recommendation. um already stated, we just talked about how our new course proposal, we really look to see um how it's aligned with our um CACER goals and then also how it aligns with the high school core values as principal reit talked about. And so this first section, we went through our new course proposals and we really highlighted our English language arts and gave you a good picture of the offerings that we currently offer in 9th grade and then in 10th grade and then an asterisk would indicate any new courses that we are proposing. And then we went to 11th and 12th grade to also um give you the breath of um courses that are available for students to choose and then any new courses there and then our electives and you can see all those new courses um that we are proposing tonight. Then um we went and just talked about pretty much almost every other content area had some new course proposals and if you remember this is our first year in the trimester schedule and so we're really excited about all of these offerings. Um the second section was really about course name changes or grade level changes. And so we had many departments make just very minor changes um different titles of courses and um you know adding a one after a two if there was a sequence of courses that we were looking to add. And then finally we had the request to remove courses. And generally the rationale for this is um students aren't enrolling in them anymore and so we want to stay current and relevant to our student body and so you'll see that there are course removals and then the rationale for them. I do want to point out um at the 27th presentation the AP chemistry for course removal was left out. So, we're adding that back tonight. And the rationale for that is it hasn't run in three years. And also, this is a sequence of courses. So, the prerequisite is you need to take a chemistry course first. And many of our students take honors chemistry and then choose to maybe take um an AP physics or something else their senior year. So, that's the rationale for that um additional course that didn't get added um before. So I would like to make a recommendation to approve the recommended secondary new course proposals, course name or grade level changes and course removals for the 2627 school year as presented at the 27th school work study session. >> Thank you. So we have before us the uh recommended um action to approve the recommended secondary new course proposals, course name or grade level changes and course removals for the 26 27th school year as it was presented. Do we have a motion? >> So moved. >> Okay, Dr. Miss Thompson and a second. >> Second. >> Second by Miss Daniels. Any discussion? >> Yes, Miss Bully. >> I'm sorry. I just wanted to make sure that I understood. So, we're removing AP Chem because in order to take that class, you would have already had to have taken a chemistry class. >> Correct. Yes. So, um it hasn't run. We definitely need to reook at this. um because we know that there's some kids that do want to take a more advanced course in chemistry, but for whatever reason, um they, you know, students are choosing maybe physics or another AP course that senior year because this right now is only for 12th graders and we just haven't been able to see the enrollment. I'm just surprised that's a prerequisite for taking AP chemistry because that's not >> a prerequisite for AP bio or um >> it's not even for physics, is it? >> I you don't have to have taken a physics class to take physics. >> I think it's because where it falls in the senior year, it's tricky >> because they only can take it as a senior. But yeah, we definitely need to look at um at it. Chemistry is taken as a CIS potentially though. Correct. Maybe we offer that, right? >> We're we're looking into that. Yes. >> That I would highly encourage. >> Yes. >> The CIS. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Any other questions? >> One question. How many um the system accountability committee reviews all of this which is composed of how many parents? >> Yep. So we have um parents from each school. >> So just one parent is what I heard. >> Um yeah, I mean at least one parent from each school. It we we actually fill up this room quite [laughter] it's quite full with all the the parents and the the principles that attend. Yes. Do you think that's sufficient to get input from parents by selecting just one from a school or is there other ways that you could look at getting input or have you looked at other ways? >> Yeah, we actually have a a series of different things that we do in order to get input. Um, so we do take it to systems accountability. Absolutely. Um, we also take it to our student advisory. Um, Dr. Casmmer has a like a student panel um that we take and ask for student feedback and then um I know principal reets did multiple surveys of students to just see what um courses are relevant or would you want to take this course um and we did that with all the language arts courses as well. So we try to get multiple contacts um for you know with students, parents, um teachers to to be able to come up with the the courses that are going to be relevant that kids are going to want to take. >> Yeah. I guess my only comment is, you know, there's courses that kids, you know, want to take >> versus courses that they should take, right? So, we kind of need to do a little bit of a balance with that, right? >> Yeah. And I think the best way that we do do that is because we have our Minnesota state standards. So, there are standards that are required that kids um learn and courses that they take. And then we also have our graduation requirements. >> Thanks for that clarification. >> Yep. >> I have a quick question. I just need clarification. Most of the courses that were um inactivating, those are being inactivated because students are not enrolling in them. >> Correct. >> And we don't require we can't require them to take them. >> Correct. And so if we don't have enough students to take the course, we can't run it. Right. It just we we can't have unfortunately five students in one course. But I know the administration does whatever they can. If there's kids that really have an interest, is there an independent study? Is there an online course that we could offer? Counselors also do a really great job of trying to meet the needs of all the students. >> Thank you. >> I just point of clarification for me is did you say there was a parent from every school? >> So when you say every school, you mean every elementary school, middle school, high school. So there isn't just one person. Yes. >> Not one parent on the committee. It's all of those parents. So they have input as their child. >> Correct. So we get it in all grade levels. Mr. Scar's comment. I thought he meant there was only one and I I thought I knew better than that, but I'm glad. >> I meant one by school. >> I I understand now. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. That you meant the high school. I meant the whole committee. >> One per school, >> right? Thank you. >> Okay. Mr. Thompson, do you have a question? >> Well, just our systems accountability committees are guided by state statute. >> Correct. And so we have to have what the state statute says as a population of our community to represent us. And so we're following the state statute guidelines. >> Absolutely. Yes. >> And it's a pretty robust uh requirement of what you have to have at the committee meetings to meet that statute. >> Yes, you're right. >> Thank you. >> Just one point. I read the statute as well as well as our policy and it doesn't have any really there's really no requirements on the uh composition as such in terms of the numbers and so forth. So it's quite loose. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any further? >> All right. Well, this will be a voice vote. All in favor say I. >> I. All oppose. Okay, the motion. Good luck on those classes. >> Thank you. >> Are we now on E2 action on the 26 27 and 2728 calendars? Dr. Gilleski. >> Chair Kay and members of the board. Um I as you know come every year to um present two calendars to you. One the upcoming school year with all um details finalized and then two school years out. We put as many dates as we can to um be clear with families, but we still I'll talk specifically. Some days we don't place every single professional development day if we're not certain because we try to minimize the changes that will happen as we um present to the public. However, sometimes there are changes. So, I'm I presented in more detail at the work study session, but I wanted to go over the general recommendation in terms of the largest change. The largest change for 26 27 and 2728 is that we're asking the recommendation we have is that the school year start before Labor Day. And the greatest reasons for that are um the four instructional days before Labor Day. So we still would have the Friday off before that Labor Day holiday that families are used to um would allow us to make sure that the school year one ends earlier, which is a big deal for some of our extended day programming. It also um it's what we're used to in terms of getting out as as early as possible in June. Um and so that would be June 4th and June 2nd in those respective years versus midJune. Additionally, that allows us more instructional time before state testing which as you know is important. One of the greatest um benefits as I looked with our committee and got feedback from people was by starting it has better alignment for those trimester breaks. So, for example, around it's the same as this year really. Um, you know, trimester 1 will end the Tuesday before the Thanksgiving break. You come back um students will come back the following Tuesday because there's a work day for teachers to do grades. If we didn't have those four days before um Labor Day, it would cause another break maybe a week into December because of the way we we balance instructional days um consistently that we try. Additionally, um I already mentioned better scheduling for the extended school year. The part that I think is also important is it really is only one day difference from this school year. It feels different because Labor Day goes a week later those next two years. I think and then I also wanted to highlight that length of summer is similar. So the past summers we've had 11 weeks for families, staff, students that enjoy that summer break. Our best weather in Minnesota, it continues those next two years at 11 weeks. It doesn't shorten any of those summers. Then I included our detailed 26 27. So these are all the instructional days placed all of our breaks, things like that. And 2728, it's almost all complete, but I'm holding back on two days because we want to do some um see how professional development days align and have a little bit more time with our trimester schedule before I place those two days. So next year at this time, I would have the finalized 2728 for you. So you have a recommendation before you that we're asking you to approve the [snorts] 2627 and 2728 calendars as presented. >> Can I get a motion to approve the 2627 2728 school years as presented? >> So moved >> by uh Miss Ellison. Do I second? >> Second. >> Second by any discussion and questions. Miss Drao. >> I don't remember if we asked this last time you brought this forward, but have we gotten any parent input on the starting before before Labor Day? I did we did two different ways. One I brought it to systems accountability but we did that last year because we didn't know what the legislature was going to do. We were also surveying our community and so when we surveyed the community we added another question. So it was actually went out to community members and families to gauge how people felt about starting before Labor Day. Um the general opposition like strong opposition was about a third. I don't have the numbers written down right now. Um and then you know some pe 60% of community were in favor and then parents was kind of in the middle. Um I know the state fair also asked that question and it kind of falls into thirds pe third strongly support third strongly um oppose and then the middle which is pretty typical. I did mention that for a calendar it's hard to get people to agree but there wasn't a ton of strong opposition. >> And how many parents are on the calendar committee? Are there >> that's part of the systems accountability that Mr. that you just discussed. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Mido, >> were you done? I'm sorry. >> I am done. >> Yeah. >> Um given that I saw snow yesterday. Can you remind me how many days do we have built into the schedule for snow days? >> We don't we don't actually build days in. We have a there's a certain number of hours we need to have. >> And how many >> instruction thousand? >> Depends on the grade level. Um, >> so secondary has the most,020. >> I'm sorry. Say that again. >> 1,020 hours. Andy, I think I'm grabbing on to the right number. Yeah, it's right. 1,020. And so we have a cushion in there, but that >> we usually don't get too nervous. Um, up to two or three days after that, then we're running into some we may run into some issues. Yeah, >> but we don't specifically build in snow days. We just have a minimum number of hours required. I'm hoping by asking this now >> we won't need them. So it's just going to build that >> a lot of strategy that [laughter] >> people employ around snow days. >> It's worked before. So let's see if it works this time. >> Really the minimum is set based on making sure we can get full funding but we have school longer than that. So we have a we a big cushion in there. Only one year whatever a couple years ago we got a little close to that. Yep. >> All right. Thank you. >> Other questions? Okay, this will be a voice vote. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion passes. And we we've approved those calendars, right? >> Uh now we're going to move on to E2, the action on the bid for the White Bark area high school roof replacement project. Miss Johnson. >> Good evening. Um the bid for the high school roof replacement was originally approved by the board at the April 14th meeting. Um but roofing supplies were affected by the tariffs and so shortly after that was approved in April, the tariffs were reduced and we thought it would be um prudent to rebid that project and see if we could get a lower rate. Um by the time the bid window closed, there was another increase in the tariffs and so the savings were less than we had hoped, but they did come in a little bit so uh lower than the original bid. So, the second round of bids had four biders just as the first round. Peterson was the winning bidder at $347,735. This is $5,665 lower than their April bid of uh $353,400. So, the uh recommended action is to accept the overall bid for the Wiper Lake Area High School roof project roof replacement project as presented to Peters and Brothers Roofing in the amount of $347. $347,735. >> All right, we have a recommended action. Can I get a motion? >> So moved. >> Okay, Miss Mr. Bloyd, do I have a second? >> Second. >> Second by M. Thompson. Okay, discussion. Any questions? Yes, Miss Boyd. >> So, if the tariffs go back down, if we don't vote on this tonight, could we I'm kidding. >> Okay, other Mr. Scar. Uh this was not included in the original construction budget for the under the bond referendum. Is that right? >> Um >> this is LT LTFM plan. >> LTFM which was separate from the 300 what was it? 328 plus the >> 326, >> right? 326 plus the LTFM that was applied to the project. >> Correct. >> Made it closer close to 400 million. So is that part of that 400 million or is this separate? Is it is this part of the LTFM that was in the con the the construction budget plus so it would be the referendum plus the LTFM. Is this in it? >> Um I'd have to check to tell you for sure which bucket. I can tell you it's part of our LTFM plan. That LTFM plan that comes to the board each year encompasses both buckets together. So I don't recall like the bonded bud bucket and the um annual allocation. I don't recall exactly which this particular project was into. >> Okay. Right. [snorts] And I'm going to make an assumption that this is for the roof on the older part. It's not for the new construction just to be clear. [laughter] >> That's Yes, that's a safe assumption. >> Okay. Any other questions? Well, this will be then a roll call vote. I'll ask the clerk to call the role. Daniels I Ellison I >> Scar >> I >> Strioji >> I >> Thompson >> I >> Aran >> I >> and it passes. Thank you. >> Now we're going to go down to uh E4 action on school board policies 301 302 303 422 and 423. Um can I get a motion to approve these policies and once again we'll do them in a group al together. Can I get a motion to approve approve these policies? >> Okay. By Daniels, a second. >> Second. >> Thompson. All right. Discussion. And then if you want if you have a question, can you tell us the policy number and the page that it's on? And it looks like we start on page 136 just for reference. Any discussion? >> Okay. And hearing none, this will be a voice vote. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. Okay. Now it's time for our board forum. Board form is an opportunity for board members to update the school board and the public on committee work in which they have engaged in their official capacity as a board member and create awareness of upcoming district and partnership events. Are there any board members that would like to share? >> I have one little >> Okay, Mr. Scar had his sign up first. Mr. >> Well, she Miss Daniels can go ahead. Oh, I just had a very little I had a fun little opportunity and I just want to say I went to a scout meeting at Vadness Heights Elementary. They were learning about um they were learning about voting and elections and so they invited me as a guest speaker to talk about being elected as a schoolboard member and I had the best questions. Of course, um most of what they asked about we don't really have control over. They were great questions. So they were very curious group of students and uh girls and boys and mostly fourth graders. So that was a lot of fun. I just have to say we have some great kids with great imaginations. >> Okay. Uh Mr. Scott, did you have something to share? Yeah, I just wanted to let you know I shared a a letter with the board members regarding a need for an operational audit based upon um performance over the last five years in the audit which is 13 deficiencies which was is high even according to our own auditor and also a pattern safety rating 25% worse than a similarly situated organization. confusion on board members. I mean, I'm still getting, you know, vector training requirements or enrollment. It seems like staff doesn't understand the difference between the governing body and the um and staff. So, I think we should make some kind of a distinction there. And there are a few other >> So, do you have anything other things to share about committees or anything? >> No, I just wanted to >> Okay, >> just explain the letter. >> Okay, that's all. >> Thank you. Any other board forum? Okay, we are entering the portion of the meeting uh G labor negotiations. This portion of the meeting may be closed to consider strategy for labor negotiations including negotiation strategies and developments or discussions and review the labor negotiation proposals conducted pursuant to Minnesota statute 179A.01 to 179A.25. Can I get a motion to go into close session? >> So, >> Miss Ellis, I heard Miss Ellison. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Second by Miss Thompson. Is there any discussion? >> Hearing none, this will be a voice vote. All in favor say I. I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion passes. We are in close session.