- I now call this meetingof the School Board of Independent SchoolDistrict 624 to order. Will the clerk please call the roll. - Streiff Oji.- Here. - Arcand.- Here. - Beloyed.- Here. - Daniels, here. Ellison.- Here. - Skaar.- Here. - Okay, will you please standfor the Pledge of Allegiance? - [All] 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. - We have before us an agenda. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda? - So moved. - Ellison, so you have a second? - Second.- Second by Daniels. - I'd like... - Is there any discussion, Mr. Skaar? - Yeah, I would like to addsomething to the agenda, which is a discussionon the AP physics: E&M, to this high school curriculum as a discussion matter. - All right, so we have it for you. A motion was made to discussthe AP physics curriculum. - E&M. - Is there a second? Is there a second? - Can I make a comment? - No, there's-- Okay, no problem. - There is nothing onthe table to comment on. - Got it. - And last time, is there a second? Hearing none, the motion fails. Now, in front of us, we have a motion before us for the agenda. It's been made and seconded,any further discussion? Hearing none, this will be a voice vote. All in favor say "Aye". - [All] Aye. - Opposed, nay. Motion carries. - Are we gonna talkabout the Consent Agenda? - That'll be coming. - Okay, thank you. - I don't see it on ouragenda, the Consent Agenda. - Reorganization is next.- Yeah, so that we don't have the consent on there right now. - It's after the-- It's after. - Okay, make it sure. I wanted to make sure I didn't miss it, so I would do diligence-- Thank you! - For you sir.- No, I appreciate that. - Nominations are now inorder for the School Board. Are there any nominationsfor the School Board? - Mr. Chair?- Ms. Ellison? - I would like to make some nominations. - Yes, ma'am. - I nominate Scott Arcand for chair. I nominate Angela Thompson for vice chair. I nominate Kathleen Daniels as clerk. I nominate Deb Beloyed as treasurer. - Okay, are there any other nominations? Any other offices? Any other nominations? (breathes sharply) I guess I want to ask Vice Chair Thompson, do you accept the nomination? - I do. - And Ms. Beloyed, youaccept the nomination? - I do. - And Ms. Daniels, youaccept the nomination? - I do.- All right. Are there any further nominationsfor any of the offices? Any further nominations? If no further nominations, nominations are now closed. So he has been elected to Chair, Arcand has been elected the vice chair, Ms. Thompson has beenelected to clerk and- - No!- No, sorry. Vice Chair, Daniels hasbeen elected to clerk, and Beloyed to treasurer by acclimation. Yep, I was just gonna... Is that good?- Mm-hmm! - Okay, now we can move on. Next on the agenda, I'd like to do the approval of tabled portion of the November 10th minutesas a December 8th meeting, the School Board meetingof the A-5g and B portions of the November 10th minutes were tabled. The Board must takeaction on these portions. Can I get a motion to approve those twoportions as they appear. - So moved? - Who's that?- Me. - Ellison, second.- Second. - Second by Streiff Oji. Discussion? - Could you, Chair, could you read the motion to approve that tabled motion, the first one?- Yeah, I gotta pull it up. It's gonna be right here. - Would you like me to read it? - Yeah, you can, I was just pulling up the-- Okay, no problem. - Go ahead.- This is A-5g: Quarterly Revenue and Expenditure Report. "Thompson moved and Beloyed seconded to approve the monthly invoices, all of which met thestandards and guidelines as set forth by the School Board, and the Quarterly Revenueand Expenditure Report." - And then the second one.- Mm-hmm! - Can you read the second one as well? - Yeah, pardon me.- The second one as well. - I didn't hear that.- Will you read the second one as well?- Oh, sure. "Public forum: Skaar began to discuss. Ellison made a Point of Order that the agenda doesnot allow for discussion during the public forumportion of the meeting." - So the motion in front of us is to accept the items asthey were shown in the agenda. Any discussion to acceptthem how they are? - So I have a point, justthe way that it reads, it's as if the Board is, we're approving those invoices and we're also attestingthat they met the standards and guidelines as set forth by the Board and the Quarterly Revenueand Expenditure Report. For us to attest to that means we would have tobe involved in the review and approval of those invoices. So my alternative would be something, would be like the staffrecommends that, (clears throat) excuse me, the staff recommends that the Board approve the payments as meeting the Boardpolicies and guidelines and the Quarterly Revenueand Expenditure Report. The reason I'm doing that is because I don't thinkwe should be stepping in the shoes of staff, and I think that that theway that motion reads, it puts an obligation on the Board that an implied obligationthat we have reviewed and attested to all those invoices, which I don't believe we have. So that's my point. So I'm respectfully requesting that it be changed to that. - Okay, any further discussion? You're making it a formalmotion to change that? - Yes, mm-hmm! - Okay, the motion is to make that change. Is there a second? Is there a second? Is there a second? I'm not hearing a second, so we're not gonna change. Right now, the motion says"To approve A-5g and B as it appears in theNovember 10th minutes." Any further discussion? All right, hearing none. I'm gonna make this a roll call vote so there's no... Sorry, let the clerkcall the roll on this. (panelist speaking faintly) - Okay, Streiff Oji.- Aye. - Thompson.- Aye. - Arcand.- Aye. - Beloyed.- Aye. - Daniels, aye. - Ellison.- Aye. - Skaar.- No. - Okay, motion carries.(gavel thuds) Okay, we now, we have,before us, a Consent Agenda. This contains a variety of business items that come to us monthly,including donations. We are truly grateful for the donations and the support we from thatwe get from the community. And we're very thankful for that. So in front of us, wehave the Consent Agenda. Can I get a motion toapprove the Consent Agenda? - So moved. - Right, Streiff Oji, a second. - Second.- Second by Daniels. Any discussion? - Chair?- Yes, Mr. Skaar?- I would like to take item B, payment of invoices,off the Consent Agenda and put it on the regular agenda. - Okay, so we can do that and that'll actually happen- - Chair, I object to theconsideration of the question. - Okay. Do we have a reasoning behind? - It doesn't... It's a dilatory motion that is improper and misused for the purposeof obstructing business. It is absurd and substance frivolous. I mean, I could go on, but I'm objecting to the question. I don't need to have a second. It isn't a debatable question, it just needs to be voted on. - By the whole group? - Yes, we need a 2/3 vote against the considerationor against the question. - And there's no discussion for it. So can we, yes? - A item on the Consent Agenda can be moved into the regular agenda by any Board member without-- An objection to consider the question is not debatable. It just needs to be seconded, and then it needs a 2/3 vote. - That is not true. We are contrary to "Robert Rules of Law." - So right now, beforeus, you've asked to pull the checks and the invoicespay off the consent and move it to a separate item. - Mm-hmm. - And we have an objection to that? - Yes. - Do we have a second to the objection? - A second to the objection. - Do we need a second for yours? - We need a second to my objection to allow his question to be considered. - Do we have a objection to allow that? - Help me understand whatwe're asking for right now. - We're asking for, she has made a motion to not allow a question. So to do that, we would need a second. - To not allow it to be pulled off the Consent Agenda.- Yes! - I second. - Okay, and that-- And then we need a 2/3 vote. - So for this to moveforward, we need a 2/3 vote. I'm gonna go ahead and use a voice votes. Nope, I can't. It's money involved, I'm gonna go ahead andcall a roll call vote. So call the roll. - Streiff Oji.- Aye. Thompson.- Aye. - Arcand.- Aye. - Beloyed.- Aye. - Daniels, aye. - Ellison.- Aye. - Skaar. - No, and I think it'sridiculous for the Board- - I've a point of order.- I think it's ridiculous for you to continue(gavel thudding) to silence me. - Okay, so now we have the original motion to accept the consent to agenda as it was presented. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none, this willalso be a roll call vote. Will the clerk please call the roll. - Streiff Oji.- Aye. - Thompson.- Aye. - Arcand.- Aye. - Beloyed.- Aye. - Daniels, aye. - Ellison.- Aye. - Skaar.- No. - Motion carries.(gavel thuds) We are now to the publicforum portion of the meeting. This is an opportunity for the public to talk to the School Boardand give us information. You'll be allowed up tothree minutes per speaker. With a one minute, you'llsee the orange card. It'll be held up to showyou have one minute. Then at 30 seconds, you'llsee the yellow card. And at the end of the three minutes, we will let you know your time is up. School District policyand data privacy laws preclude personal andstudent matters or data from being discussed publicly. Speakers may not makeallegations, charges, or complaints againstany student or employee. Speakers will be called to the microphone and recognized one at a time. Only those individualswho have been recognized will be allowed to speak. Members of the audiencemay not engage in conduct that disrupts any part ofthe School Board meeting or that otherwise impedesSchool Board's ability to conduct business. - All right, thank you, Chair Arcand, members of the Board. Tonight, we proudlycelebrate the achievements of a central student who made it to state and the VFW's Patriot's Pen essay contest, and fall musical participants who received HennepinArts Spotlight awards. Congratulations to each of you for your state-level recognition. We also extend our sincere gratitude to the dedicated staff andsupportive family members who played a vital rolein these successes. In recognition of their accomplishments, students have received a certificate, Bear pin, and letter ofacknowledging their achievements. Now, please join us in watching a video highlighting their accomplishments. Go Bears! (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) - Just wow:- Yeah, impressive list. - Impressive!(panelists applauding) - Some of 'em are here tonight? - Mm-hmm!(panelists laughing) - I'd like to move on toinformational item C2, Superintendent's report. Dr. Kazmierczak again-- Thank you again, Chair Arcand, it's time once again to celebrate professional excellence as part of the WhiteBear Lake Area Educators "Teacher of the Year" program. Community members, families,students, and colleagues are invited to submit nominations, which opened today and will close at 4:00 PM Monday, February 9th. You can find complete information in the nomination form onthe district's website. The 44th annual "Jazz Night" club event is taking place on Saturday, February 21st in the high school student union. Tickets are availablethrough February 10th on the Hudl app, which can be found linked on the Activities websiteunder the Ticketing tab. This is always a terrificnight to enjoy live music while supporting our students. The recent snow, ice, and coldweather provide a reminder to once again invite the community to use the field house walking track, which is open from six to 9:00 PM, Monday through Thursday. There's no cost to take part, and we ask that those who participate to wear clean, dry shoes. As we were re reminded last week with a two-hour late start, it's important to remember the emergency schoolclosing information process in case there is a need for it. If winter weather is so severe, the schools need to close, start late, or dismiss early. The news will be sharedthrough local media outlets and district families will be alerted through a parent square phone message, text message, and email. A message will be postedon the district homepage and the messages will be posted on the district's Facebookand Twitter pages. And finally, any of you who have seen last Night's CommunityeNewsletter video edition will be familiar with mylast report item tonight. The District's BuildingOur Future website page is a new edition, the 2025 video update. These projects highlights have been pulled together each year going back to 2020, and the set of videos showcases the construction journey we've taken, and it's fun to see how far we've come. Thank you again to our community for supporting the 2019 bond referendum that made these facilitiesimprovements possible for our students and families. That's it.- All right, thank you. All right, we're gonna move on to information item C3, overview of welcome to White Bear Lake update registration information. Thank you. - Hi there, good evening to Chair Arcand, our School Board members, and our student representatives as well. My name is Marisa Vette, I'm the communications director, and I have been working with our schools for something that we call"Welcome to White Bear Month." And so I'm excited to be here and to give you a little bit of a glimpse at what we're up to. It's crazy to think thatwe're already planning for the fall of 2026 while we're in the middleof '25-'26 school year. But here we are, and we're excited to really welcome our families in. And so we will get here. We'll start with elementary, and I'll give a description of some of the activities that we aregoing through in welcoming our incoming kindergartenstudents and families. As you can see from the information that's listed on our Welcometo White Bear website, we have a lot of activitiesthat we have planned to bring brand new families into our elementary experience. So in fact, we actually startedthis endeavor in the fall. We started by asking our current families and families in thecommunity to let us know if they have incomingkindergarten students. And we had almost 450 people who, you know, said, "Pick me, pick me, make sure I'm on the list." So that was really funto be able to make sure that we are not missing anybody. So when we had that information, some of the familieswere already on the list that we consider our incoming families, and then there were others that we didn't know were there, we didn't know were in the houses. So it was a really greatway for us to make sure that we are welcoming our entire community of our little kindergarten Bears into all of the activitiesthat we have going on and getting them the information in hand. So when we got theinformation in hand for them, our kindergarten packetscontained our Elementary guide, and then they also containedelementary experiences, postcards, large-scale postcards, or bookmarks that we mailed to families in English, Spanish, and Hmong. And that was really an opportunity for us to share information with families of experiences that they can do together with their children and experiences that they can work on with their child as they're preparing for kindergarten. So that's something thatour early childhood program helped us put together and I think our families appreciate that little nudge or nugget of information as they're preparing their little ones. Within the packet, we also, of course, made sure that we mentioned that as the enrollmentprocess was complete, and "I'm a Bear" T-shirt that you've probably seenlittle ones running around in, in the community wearing, making sure that families understand that when that process is complete, they'll get a fun package in the mail along with a note from their school. Rumor has it that it'sa really popular package to receive in the mail,both with the little Bears and with the families,although the families are probably a little more bittersweet about the package than the little ones are who are pretty excited to join us. So additionally, thepackets do have mention of two specialized programsthat we offer as well. So our International Baccalaureate program that takes place at Matoska International, and then our elementarySpanish Dual Immersion program that is offered both at Matoska and at Otter Lake Elementary. So transportation is available to all of our district resident families for either of those programs at either of those two locations. The IB program has beenavailable to our families for quite a few years, and then the dualimmersion Spanish program was just offered last year,last fall, for the first time. So this year's kindergarten class is the inaugural class, and then they will move on to first grade Spanish immersion while our incoming kindergartners and we'll join them right behind. So that's been exciting to be able to share with families, continue to share with families as well. So some other things thatwe have on the docket for welcoming our family. Once again, this year, we have a billboard along highway or Interstate 35E to let our community know that we're currentlyaccepting enrollments. And actually the photothat's on the billboard, it was fun. One of our Facebook posts, the mom of of the little girl said, "I'm so excited to see my little one." I don't know that she knowsthat I saw it, but I did, And that was a reallyfun way to make our day that we made her day. So that was fun. And then we also produced a video with our elementary principals that you may remember thatyou saw back in November, the principals welcoming the families. And again, at that point,it was telling them to let us know if they wantthe kindergarten information. And then of course, weprobably also remember we left that video at the end with a homecoming assignment that will come in for years to come, or come in handy for thosestudents for years to come with the "Go Bears" cheer and learning that with their family. Another video that we produced was our Elementary Experiences video when we did that again for this year, and it is focused and featured on our Elementary Academics page, as well as on the Enroll page as well. And then additionally,we mailed a postcard to all of our families who had received the kindergarten packet and mailed a postcardto remind them to enroll and then also to let themknow about open houses that we offered to ourincoming kindergarten families. And we'll talk about that abit more on this next slide. So some of the new experiences that we implemented this year for our Welcome to White Bear month have been really fun ones to work on. So first, we worked withour Willow Lane Elementary to create a video that showcases what a typical day in kindergarten in White Bear Lake AreaSchools might look like. While each school does thingsa little bit differently, really the core instruction models that are followed at theschools are the same. And so I'll play a quick video here that I think you'll enjoy as much as we do so you can see an educational day through the eyes of someof our youngest students. (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) All right, so if youwatched that and wondered or wish that you couldbe a kindergartner again, I will tell you, you're not the only one. We've heard that froma few people. (laughs) And so that, again, was a really fun way to capture the excitement and really capture the experience of our kindergarten students and share that with the families as they're consideringWhite Bear for their kiddos. So secondarily, you'll see on this slide, we added something new or we added something back this year that is pretty exciting for me as well. We offered our families tocome in and take a tour, and check out the building in sort of an open-house tour style to just see for themselves and learn a bit more about the school. So we had more than150 families who RSVP'd to attend those open housetours throughout the district. And if you saw the video last Friday in our "Week in 62.4 Second" video update, we highlighted a couple of those, the building tours. I myself was at Birchgetting some of the footage. And it was really fun to see the familiesgetting questions answered and really fun reallyto see the little ones. They were so confident and so curious, and felt right at homein the Media Center, and sort of looking around, peeking through all of the places that will be their spot next year. So that was really fun to see them really exploring and making it their own. So moving on to exploringand making it their own, our middle school students are also in the midst of planning fortheir incoming sixth grade, seventh grade, and eighthgrade opportunities, or experiences. So the registration window is now open and it will be closing next week already, along with the information that was shared in registrationnights that were hosted. The registration guide is available for families that reallygives the lay of the land for what's happening at middle school and what's happening in the curriculum. And that gives families, of course, a glimpse of what is going on there. And then an elementary experiences video, of course, is also postedon the district's website, on the Academics pages for middle school. Something that our principalsdid this year that was new, was, they did this back in October, they invited the districtresident families who live in the district butdon't attend our schools, invited them to come in, have pizza with the principal, learn a bit about the district. And so both Central and Mariner principals hosted events and invitedpeople to come in. And then those families were also invited to attend the registrationevents in that as well. So moving on to high school, the same story thatthe incoming 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade familieswere invited last week for a parent informationnight at the high school. And then additionally, the high school students themselves had a registration fairduring the school day. And then the registrationwindow is open currently, and that one lasts a little longer. The registration windowwill close on January 23rd. And so something that changed last year, and that continues tothis current year as well, is that during the registration process, the course catalog is available online. So it's searching and really looking atthe available classes in a way that's more, we've been told by some of you on theSchool Board as well, looking through the class listings in a way that makes a lot of sense and that makes it a lot easierto go through the process. So we were excited to beable to do that again. And again, the feedbackfrom both the students and the families has beenreally positive for that. And then of course another online element is the Experiences videothat we have posted on the Academics page of the high school. So similar to the experience for the middle school families, resident families who live in the district but do not attend our schools, we did also invite families infor pizza with the principal to learn about the high school. And we heard good things about that. In fact, at one of ourcoffee with Dr. K events, we heard good feedback that that event, it was appreciation for hosting the event and acknowledging thatit was well attended and really helpful andinformational for families. So again, those families were also invited to our high school registration events that happened last week. And then last but not least, our early childhood program will very soon be acceptingregistrations in late January. The registration guide will be available and then they will host openhouse events at Normandy, at the elementary schools where our preschool is taking place, and then at Tamarack Nature Center. And then these activities will be done in preparation for the registration window that opens on February 2nd at 8:00 AM. I know that there are many families who sort of watch the clock and wait for that to happen as well to get into their chosen preschool. And so with that, as you can see, we have a lot of fun thingshappening that we have done and that we continue todo to welcome our families into White Bear in themiddle of this school year preparing for next school year. We're excited to finishthis school year strong, of course, but then looking forward to a really great fall 2026 as well. So are there any questions at all? - [Scott] Any questions from the board? Mr. Skaar. - I have a question.- Yeah. - Do you know how our enrollment, this is questions about enrollment and that upfront part seems tome it would help enrollment, but our enrollment hasn't really improved. Do you have any pulse, and this is for theSuperintendent as well, why isn't our enrollmentwhere it was projected to be when we did the referendum,which was over 10,000. I calculated just off a napkin that there's probably alittle bit north of 12,000 K-12 students in our district. I don't know what the number is. - Sure.- But our market share is 70%, 80%-- Yeah, I think... I mean, I'll start answering and the Dr. K can fill in if you'd like. But I think the materials and the process that we went through for the bond referendum was in 2019, which is very differentthan it is in 2025. So I think that that, or upcoming 2026 as we are right now, - I've done a lot of-- So, I think there, yeah, things that happenedin the middle there that certainly have affected it. I think we are seeing, and we won't know whatour fall 2026 numbers are for quite a while, of course, we've got, I think it was 200 kindergarten families that are enrolled at thispoint, which is great. So we'll continue to work at that and continue to offer, youknow, reminders to families to get their students signedup and registered early. And I didn't mention this, but one of the reasons thatit is really helpful for us as a district to haveour families enroll now versus waiting until August or July, is really from a staffing perspective that when we know who our students are and where they are, wherethey're enrolled at, that helps throughout the spring and in the summertime with staffing. So that is absolutelysomething on our radar that we pay attention to. And that is importantto us as we're planning and figuring out where weneed to be paying attention. - Yeah, so again, we've talked about this, COVID had an impact on our enrollment. Birth rates have gone down from what were projected previously. Good thing is building is continuing, we have new constructionhappening in the district, so there's, you know, hopefully still some positive signs moving forward. But during COVID, some parentsmade some other choices, homeschool or private school. And so we're, you know,we've generally stabilized, and so hopefully now we start moving in the right direction. - Okay, I understand. COVID's overused, become kind of a- - [Wayne] Yeah, it's a real factor though. - Yeah, absolutely. It's overused, it's an excuse. And to me, 20% projection and demographics with only a few years,that's a pretty big miss. So, I mean, it seems like maybe in the... And it's fine if you use the higher end of the projection for,you know, the population. I mean, that's fine, but I mean, this comes down to money, right, because-(gavel thudding) - [Scott] Can I just remindus that we're talking about the registration process and that- - Which impacts enrollment and it's germane to this topic. - Okay.- It's germane to this topic. So enrollment is an issue that I think the community needs to know because if our enrollment continues to be flatline or declining, it's gonna mean fewer dollars, which mean where are yougonna get the dollars from, taxes go up, so it's somethingthat we need to discuss and address at the Board level. - [Scott] Yes. - [Board Member] Not muchwe can do about birth rate. You know, that peopleright choices and you know, they either wanna have kids or they don't, and that's a fact that alot of our young millennials and younger families arenot having as many children, which we counted on when we did our demographic study years ago. And I wanna thank you forhaving the middle school and the high school pizzanights to let people know the good work we are doing in the schools. It gives them an opportunityto showcase what we're doing. So they might make a different choice since maybe they left during COVID, maybe they left after that. I don't know, but I think that's great, and I hope that it drawsin some new students and renews students that may be left and wanna come back. So thank you for doing that. - [Scott] Ms. Beloyed. - Yeah. I don't know if our demographer lacked a crystal ball, butnobody predicted COVID, and nobody went through this COVID, through that period oftime anywhere in history, except back in what, '19, whenever the Spanish flu went through. So to say that it didn't affect, and that we shouldn't use it as a reason, when it absolutely is a reason for what happened to students leaving, because they wanted to be homeschooled. I mean, every parent can makewhatever choice they want, and that's a great, but it's a fact. And to try and state that it's not a fact and that it can't be used, is ridiculous. - Well, 2019 was when COVID hit. - Nah!(gavel thuds) - So should have adjustedthe numbers then. - It was 2020. - We should have adjusted the numbers then.- 2020. - Okay, Streiff Oji. - Thank you. I just wannathank you and thank you for your reference to increase enrollment and let us know how we can help in any way with all of the things that you're doing to help our families learn in the area about what we are doing and all the great thingsthat are happening here. - Thank you.- Mm-hmm! - I just wanna thank youbecause what we're trying to do with this welcome is toattract more families and let 'em know. So we know that if our enrollment's down, but we're reaching out to people, and that's the thing I thinkwe need to look at here, is we're gonna continue to reach out and let people know what's happening in White Bear Lake, so thank you. And Ms. Thompson-- Sorry, you didn't see my hand. I don't have a question, but I'm just wondering, can adults get a "I'ma Bear" T-shirt as well because you know, there'ssome cute stuff out there, but that "I am a Bear" shirthas got a special bear on there that we don't have on anything else. - Right, we haven't purchased, haven't done that yet. We should put it in the idea of that maybe the whole family would like. - You maybe the school store could add that as an option. - That would be fun. It is really fun, I am sure you've seen that we've been able to share out photos of babies in onesies and then the toddlerand the three T-shirt, and then the kindergarten, you know, all the family ofthree has been a really fun, not generational, but siblingsin it together. (laughs) We could add for parentsas well. (chuckles) - All right.- Thank you all very much. - I wanna thank you for your time. I'd like to move on to discussion item D1: Roles and Responsibilitiesof the School Board Members. This is a good time forus as we organize tonight to see, you know, our responsibilities and how we operate as a Board. So go ahead and roll the video. (upbeat music) - [Instructor] In our school district, voters elect school board members to represent the interestsof all the citizens and of all the students. The School Board supervises and evaluates one employee,the Superintendent. Working in consultationwith the School Board, the Superintendent isthe chief administrator who oversees all operationsof the school district. So what does the School Board do? Like in many schooldistricts around the nation, our school board hasadopted policy governance as its model of operation. This means the schoolboard approves policies that provide general principles for guiding the managementof the school district. The Superintendent and the administration develop regulations thatspecifically support the school board's policies and make recommendations forthe board's consideration. (upbeat music) Policy governance schoolboards will exchange ideas and debate issues. However, after a vote is taken, all members have a responsibility to speak with a single voice regardless of their individual views. This unified position givessound and clear direction to those in management and to staff who will implement the decision. Parents and staff willoften pressure the board to engage in management to affect the things theyare passionate about. (upbeat music) But policy governance school boards define what they are providing to whom, why, and atwhat cost, but not how. That's up to the Superintendentand administration. It's the Board's role to interpret the needs of the community. And members often receivefeedback and suggestions on all sides of issues. But when school boards like ours consider all public viewpoints and practice policy governance, they're fulfilling their key purpose, to serve as a united, though not alwaysunanimous governing body. (upbeat music) - Thank you, I thinkthat's good for me to hear and a remind us to how we operate and how we stand in governance. And if I want to go into management, it reminds me to stand in governance. Ms. Ellison, do you have a question or a comment?- No, comment in if I may. - You may.- Okay. So as I enter my ninthyear as a Board member, I can tell you that I stilldon't know everything. And in my first year on the Board, I realized that I and many others didn't really deeply understandthe role of the board. And good board members are aware that they're alwayslearning how to be better. And I've learned muchfrom past Board members and as well as thosecurrently on the Board. And it takes a lot of trust to act as this governing body and humility to understand that it's notabout us as individuals, we are here to serve students. So for our reorganization meeting, I think it's important that we reaffirm our roles and responsibilities and share those with the public so that we have a mutual understanding of how we are expectedto conduct ourselves as elected public servants. So we govern, we're not legislators, we're not judges, weoperate as a governing body. And the only power that wehave is as a quorum of members. So we take training on thestate and the national level because there's alwaysmore for us to learn. So the kind of big, big things that I've learned over theyears that are our roles is that our only employeeis the Superintendent. And it's our job to annually review the Superintendent's performance and work through him, notaround him or over him. We set the strategic vision, which we've reviewed again in the time since I've been on the Board. And the best visual thatI have gotten for this is that we set the destination, and the superintendent and staff decide best how to get there. We approve the budget andprovide financial oversight and not our responsibilityto get into the weeds because we have staff for that. And that's the role of the staff who report to the Superintendent, and we look at the big picture. And finally, we set policy. We get input from federallaw, from state law, as well as the MinnesotaSchool Boards Association, and we review and updateour policies regularly. The Superintendent and district staff ensure that the procedures helpmeet the policy agreements. And I read on the NSBA, the National School BoardAssociation website, is that respect for majority rule and compliance with thelaw are not optional, they're a minimum must-do part of our job, because the Board member is not the Board. The exercise of boardsmanship, which I really like that word, is a set of individual skills, which we all bring verydifferent individual skills here. It's important, it's not the same as the exercise of governance, the set of collective skills that only the board can demonstrate. And I won't pretend thatthis isn't difficult. I would say that most of us here have been on the losing side of a vote, including some topics thatimpact us very personally. But we act as a board, and after a vote, it's our job to speak with one voice. And I learned early on in my service that I carry the labelof a School Board member everywhere I go in this community, even when I'm just beinga parent or a resident. And so it's important for people to see that I support thedecisions of the Board regardless of how I vote in the meeting. The other importantlesson that I've learned is that School Board meetingsare not public meetings. It is our meeting in a public setting, sort of like if we were conductingthis in a conference room and people could watch from the outside. As a Board, we control our meetings, including the rules and policies that govern thesemeetings and the process. So Minnesota open-meeting law permits, but does not require publiccomment during a meeting. And most boards do include public comment. And MSBA calls this alimited public forum. So we're allowed to setreasonable rules and policies and procedures and we use"Robert's Rules of Order", including a limit ontime, number of speakers, requirements for requesting to speak. And since I've been on the board, we've always limited tothree minutes per speaker and set a limit on the numberof speakers on a single topic. During COVID-19 pandemic, we created new policiesdue to disruptive meetings and several instances where our rules for our ownmeeting were not followed. So in order to do our business, we have to keep order. Public comment is equal toemails sent to the Board. We don't respond individually as that violates our onevoice responsibility. If appropriate, the Boardchair or district staff may respond to emails orreach out to public speakers. And in the spirit of fosteringa relationship of trust and mutual respect between the Board and the community we serve, I wanna emphasize to myfellow Board members, myself included, thatwe have a responsibility to remember our roles as set forth by law and our own policies. Policies 209 and 215clearly outline our charge. So I missed the December8th meeting due to illness. Ms. Beloyed, who was also absent, sent an email to the Board requesting clarifying information about a comment Mr. Skaar maderegarding district finances. So I watched the videoof the Board meeting and at one hour, sevenminutes, and 54 seconds, Mr. Skaar said, quote, "So, I don't know if you've ever heard ofKen Wolf or Bob Fallon, but they're experts ineducation finance in Minnesota. Now, when they looked, I asked them to look at ournumbers last year," and quote, "Ms. Beloyed requestedinformation about this exchange with Mr. Wolf and Mr. Fallon specifically when the ask was made and when the report was delivered to him." So because I wasn't there, I googled these two individuals and found that Mr. Wolfpassed away in October, 2024, and he could not have spoken to Mr. Skaar. The report provided was dated July of 2024 and as of today, the boardhas not received an answer about when he made this request and when the board was delivered to him. So I would like toaffirm that we are called to meet our duties with integrity and trustworthiness per policy 215. 215 also prohibits us from undertakingindependent investigations, and 209 requires us tosupport Board decisions after they are maderegardless of how we voted. And as we move into a new year, we must model the behaviorwe expect of our students and publicly uphold our policies. So Mr. Chair, I'd like to recommend that we undertake a boardself-evaluation this year. This is something thatwe've done in the past, but with every new iteration of the Board, we need to evaluate howwe are working together and getting the work done tobetter serve this community. - Thank you. I think what also I wouldlike to bring forward is I'd like to have us, I'll work with the Superintendent to schedule a staff development on how the Board works and wecan bring somebody in again. We do this almost every year to try to remind us sowe can also do that. So Dr. Kazmierczak, I'll work with you and we can set up staffdevelopment time, okay? Mr. Skaar. - Yeah, I'd like to just respond to that. First of all, readingwhat the Minnesota Statute is for Board duties, the Board must superintendentmanage the school, schools of the district adoptrules for their organization, government and instruction keep registers and prescribe textbooksand courses of study. The Board may enter into an agreement with a post-secondary institution for secondary or post-secondarynon-sectarian courses to be taught at a secondary school, non-sectarian post-secondary institutions or another location. And I've made it clear thatpolicies that are adopted, and I made this clear tothe general counsel at MSBA as well as the executive director, and they'll be reviewing thepolicy 209 and 215 as well Because it's being used as a way to intimidateminority Board members. That's what it's beingused for across the state. So they're gonna take a look at it. Hopefully I'll get a report on that. As far as, no one talked to me, I knew that Mr. Wolf had passed away, but no one had talked tome about the information. I got the informationwhile I was campaigning, not while I was a Board member. So if somebody just asked me, and asked me where I got the information the information is onthe district's website. Everything that I quoted is on... The numbers are on their website. It's called "The ComprehensiveFinancial Audit Summary." It's there, it's not a secret. It comes from the same information, it's MDE, MinnesotaDepartment of Education. - I think that's what you were implying that you had a discussion.(gavel thudding) - All I was-- Let's take turns. - All I was... I wasn't disputing the numbers presented, but the numbers presented was... It was not apples to oranges, but was presented, wasa slice of the orange, not the whole orange, the financial report that I was given,provided the whole orange. And if you look at your numbers, that's where the numbers came from, same source, MDE, MinnesotaDepartment of Education. - [Scott] Yes, okay. Now-- I have nothing more to add. - [Scott] I'm sorry, 'causeI wanted to give you a time. - No, that's okay, go.- Okay. - I said what I said.- Ms. Beloyed? - But it's not an applesto apples comparison. You're talking about the overall numbers. Every single dollar that comes from whatever revenuestream it comes from, those were the numbers that you presented. That's not what we presented that night. It was for the truth in... - [All] Taxation.- Taxation. (clears throat) The difference is, whataffects the taxpayers are the levies, and those levies are what are making up the difference between what is covered by federal and state government and what is not. That was the whole pointof that presentation. But the numbers that you bring out and- What was that? The numbers that you presented, you presented in a way that made it seem like the numbers that werepresented to us were inaccurate or we weren't presentingthe whole picture. The whole picture is if we don't want our tax paying base tokeep having these levies, then the state governmentand the federal government, we're supposed to coverall of these mandates that we have and they don't. So that is the difference between the numbers thatyou were talking about and the numbers that were presented. - [Daniel] May I respond? That's, you know-- Quickly. - That's fair. The only thing that I would would say is when you bring up that school funding, has not kept up with inflation and then I look-- It hasn't. - And then when I look at total revenues for the school district, 2024 to 2023, it was 12.2% increasewith all in revenues, all in revenues, 12.2. So that statement, I mean, the public's not gonna-- School funding through the state's federal government-- Point of order. - Point of order.(gavel thudding) - Yes, ma'am.- Point of order. - While I appreciate this conversation, the item on the agenda for discussion is the Roles and Responsibilitiesof the School Board. - Okay, so we'll go back to that. And it's clear that it would be helpful if we have that step development. I don't know if get you, Ms. Thompson. - I just wanna remind, well, Chair Arcand, that we do adopt the rules. So the rules we are followingin this school district have already been adopted by the Board. So the Statute says we adopt the rules, we have adopted the rules, is that correct, Chair Arcand? - I believe so, yes.- Okay. And then I would justremind the Board members that when we are talking, we should be talking andaddressing the Chair. So we should say, "Chair Arcand, could you please inform me what Mr. Skaar's questionabout the finances are?" We always wanna directour questions to the Chair and not to each other, to avoid us in this back and forth dispute that doesn't allow us to product a median that we should be conducting. - [Daniel] Could I berecognized for one comment? - One more time, yes sir. - I think it's extremely productive to have the back and forth. And the formalization to go to the Chair and so forth is not helpful. I mean, this is a school, to me it is. I'm just giving you my opinion. I like the discussion. I welcome disagreements, that's where we get better. Having a single ideology is not helpful, having a single pointof view is not helpful. We need different points of view. And right now, I mean, you know, obviously I'm not in theclick, so it's 6 to 1. It is, so I get silenced. I'm giving you my view, I've given you my view. - Can I just summarizewhat I think you said? The point is we're trying to have people not talk over each other. So that's why the ideais to be recognized. Otherwise, if we get twoor three people talking, then nobody hears it. So I think that's, is that what you werekind of just going to? - Yeah, it doesn't meanthat we're not going to have back and forth conversation, because I too very much believe that that is what we do here. I have many times beenon the opposite side of the entire Board up hereand then you move forward, 'cause that is our job. But it is to direct our questions when we're wanting clarification about one another Board member is saying that we are supposedto direct them through you, and that is what "Robert'sRules of Orders" clearly states, and that is what we are governed by, and those are the rulesthat we follow with that. Could I make a, oh I can't remember how... I've never had to know this much about "Robert's Rules of Orders"- - [Board Member] I thinkthey've got a cheat sheet too. - But I believe I can ask a point of... - Point of question?- To call a question? - To call a question to ask Chair Arcand if we could purchase a copy of "Robert's Rules of Orders for Dummies" for all of the Boardmembers who do not have one. If other Board members may have one, I'm not aware, but I'venever needed one before, and it is a helpful toolfor us all to utilize at this time.- So the motion in front of us is you're asking to purchasethe "Robert's Rules," but is it equippedspecifically for dummies? - It's a little biteasier, I think, to read. I mean if everybodywants the official book, I have that one. This tends to be a little bit easier and you can utilize it. - So the motion was made to purchase the "Robert's Rules ofOrders for Dummies." Was there a second? - Second.- Second by Beloyed. Future discussion? Okay, because this involves money, this will be a roll call vote. Can you call the roll please? - Yeah, get into my... Streiff Oji.- Aye. - Thompson.- Aye. - Arcand.- Aye. - Beloyed.- Aye. - Daniels, aye. - Ellison.- Aye. - Skaar.- Aye. - Right, motion carried. And it would be nice, I'm gonna say, if we can get those in anddo the staff development would be helpful and we could combine it, that would be nice. I'd like to move on because we have a lot ofbusiness left to go today. So I'd like to go onto operational item E1: Action on the Tentative Agreement. The '25-'27 fiscal yearat clerical school service employees SEIU local 284, Mr. Mons. - Okay. All right, good evening, I've got a series ofagenda items for you here, starting out with ourclerical bargaining group. So we are recommending approval of the Tentative Agreementthat we've reached in all cases for the nextfour agenda items or for this. And then the following three agenda items, the agreements have been ratified by the collectively bargained group that we've been working with. I just wanna say a thank you, we had two new business managers representing our clerical unit and we had a really good open discussion through our bargaining sessions. And also, I just want tothank our clerical group. They're well represented, and there was a lot of timethat went into this process. So I wanna say a thank you to that group and also to our district bargaining team. - [Scott] Okay, so the recommendation is to approve the proposal for the '25 through '27 clericalschool service employees, SEIU, local 284. Tentative agreement by passingthe following resolution. Can we get a motion to accept this? - So moved.- Okay. Second.- Daniels and Thompson with a second, any further discussion? Because this also involves finance, this will be a roll call vote. We can call a roll. - Streiff Oji.- Aye. - Thompson.- Aye. - Arcand.- Aye. - Beloyed.- Aye. - Daniels, aye. - Ellison.- Aye. - Skaar.- Aye. - Okay, motion carries.(gavel thuds) All right, we are gonna goon to operational item E2, Action on the Tentative Agreement for the 25 through '27 fiscalyear principles association. - Great, thank you. So again, I recommend that you approve therecommendation before you, and with our principalsassociation, it was... We re-implemented a interest-basedapproach to bargaining. We had really good discussion, and the conversation ledto more creative outcomes, which is what we're alwayshoping for at the table. So we really appreciate that process. And with that, I'll ask for the approval. - [Scott] Okay, therecommendation is to approve the proposed 2025 to '27 Principles AssociatesTentative an Agreement. Can I get a motion? - So moved.- By Streiff Oji, a second. - [Streiff] Second. - Second by Beloyed, any discussion? Once again, this will be a roll call vote. Please call the roll. - Streiff Oji.- Aye. - Thompson.- Aye. - Arcand.- Aye. - Beloyed.- Aye. - Daniels, aye. - Ellison.- Aye. - Skaar.- Aye. - Motion carries.(gavel thuds) Moving along, we are gonna go on to E3, action on the TentativeAgreement 2025-'27 fiscal years with the non-affiliated groups. - And so with this group, this really representsall of our employees that don't collectively bargain. One note that I'll make thereis we try really hard still to engage in positiveconversation with folks. And so we throw out inadvance what we're looking at consistent with theparameters set by the Board and where we've fallen andthe rest of our bargaining so that people understandwhat kind of changes they could be looking at. And then we also try hard to meet with all of our larger groupsof unaffiliated employees. So although they're notcollectively bargained, we make sure that there's space for a back and forthdialogue there as well, whenever that makessense and is appropriate. So they're all asked for your approval. - [Scott] So therecommended action before us is to approve the proposed salary and benefit contributions forthe non-affiliated employees for the 2025-'27 fiscal years. And can I get a motion to approve? - So moved.- Ellison, second. - Second.- Second by Beloyed. Any discussion? And once, yes ma'am. - [Board Member] Can youstate what the non-affiliated groups are? - There are so very many, so no, I cannot state-- Maybe not all. - An exhaustive list. But as we're looking at that, this would be lots of employees that fall between administrators in a collectively bargained group. So I can toss out some examples of what that would look like. For instance, so like ourtier two technology employees would fit into that group. A lot of our coordinatorswould fit into that group. Cabinet members wouldalso fit into that group, who would bargain individually if that was going to be the case. So it's really all of our employees, folks that might be in a one-off position or small groups of employees. So again, another exampleof what that would look like would be our extended day leads. So each of our sites, for instance, has an extended day lead assigned to it. You know, that group, wehave the conversation, but they're not collectively bargained. So it's really kind of everybody. I would say that there are probably over 50 individualpositions, at least, that comprise that group, yep.- Okay, thank you. - Any further discussion? All right, we have a motion in a second, so I'll ask the clerk to call the roll. - Streiff Oji.- Aye. - Thompson.- Aye. - Arcand.- Aye. - Beloyed.- Aye. - Daniels, aye. - Ellison.- Aye. - Skaar.- Aye. - And motion carries. We're gonna move alongto operational item E4, Action on the Tentative Agreement for the White Bear LakeNutrition Association through '25 to '27. - Right, so without beingoverly redundant here, I will just say a thank youto the team that we met with, with Nutrition Services. They are phenomenal to work with. They've really adopted aninterest-based approach along with our principals and teachers, you know, to work through that process. I know that it feelsgood for us in management working with them, and I think that itworks for them as well. So just a thank you for thetime they put into that process. And with that, I will ask for approval. - Before us, we have a recommendation to approve the proposed 2025 through 2027 White Bear Lake NutritionAssociation Tentative agreement. Can I get a motion? - So moved.- By Daniels, a second. - Second.- Second by Streiff Oji. Any further discussion? All right, once again, thiswill be a roll call vote. So I'd ask the clerk to call the roll. - Streiff Oji.- Aye. - Thompson.- Aye. - Arcand.- Aye. - Beloyed.- Aye. - Daniels, aye. - Ellison.- Aye. - Skaar.- Aye. - Motion carries, thank you. - Thank you very much, appreciate it. - Next on, we're gonna move on to E5, and this is the compensationfor the 2026 Board. And it has not changed,there was no increase, we've kept it at that. Any questions? I can tell, yeah- - I don't know how theother board members feel, but I kind of feel kindof a little uncomfortable voting on my own compensation. I'd rather put it out to thefloor vote for a vote audit. But I understand-- Can't do that. - But so I'll just abstain, thank you.- Okay. So I can tell you rightnow that in the 2026, the stipend amountsfor the chair is 5,450, vice chair is 5,250, clerk is 5,450, treasurer is 52.50, anda Board member is $5,050. - And a point of clarification. - Yes.- That's an annual? - Yes. So that's not every month-- Thought it was an annual amount.- That is for the whole year. And that gets split up into four stipend payments over the year. So, and it's, yeah. And we don't do this tomake large amounts of money, we do this because wecare about our community, I think we can say.- Mm-hmm! - So, can I get a motion then to approve the compensation? Okay, Thompson, can I get a second? - Second.- Second by Streiff Oji. Any further discussion? Hearing none. This will also be a roll call vote. I'll ask the caller Roll. - Streiff Oji.- Aye. - Thompson.- Aye. - Arcand.- Aye. - Beloyed.- Aye. - Daniels, aye. - Ellison.- Aye. - Skaar.- Abstain. - Motion carries.(gavel thuds) All right, next on our agenda, it's gonna be action on the appointment of intermittent school District916 representative for 2026. Hang on. And this year, Angela Thompson will serve on the Intermediate SchoolDistrict Board for 2026. Is there any... Can I get a motion for this? - So moved.- So moved by Ellison. A second.- Second. - Second by Daniels. Do we have any other questions? Thank you, Ms. Thompson,for taking this on, we appreciate you doing that. - Thank you, Arcand.- You haven't gotten that yet, they still have to vote. Okay, this will be a roll call vote, so can you call the roll? - Streiff Oji.- Aye. - Thompson.- Aye. - Arcand.- Aye. - Beloyed.- Aye. - Daniels, aye. - Ellison.- Aye. - Skaar?- Aye. - Okay, that motion carries. Now, we're onto, I believe, E7, and this is appointment to Jessica Ellison from White Bear Lake to the representativeBrightWorks for 2026. Can I get a motion? - [Board Member] So moved. - [Board Member] I'm sorry,did you say E7 or D7? - It's- - E7.- E7, sorry. - [Board Member] Okay. - So E7: Action on the BrightWorksrepresentative for 2026. And once again, that'll be justlike Ellison who made the... Okay, do we have second? - Second.- Second by Thompson. Any discussion? - Just-- Yes. - Could I ask Jessica to give like a maybe a 30-second overviewof BrightWorks so that... I read what it is, butmaybe for the public that don't know what BrightWorks is? - Sure, it's one of theregional service cooperatives throughout the state. They're, you know, calledby different names. And BrightWorks used tobe called the Metro ECSU, and so it represents the metro, but they changed their name to BrightWorks a couple of years ago. And so they provideservices to member districts and other districts in the metro area, you know, on a variety of issues. And so each member district has a representativefrom the School Board, from that district to serveon their executive board. - [Daniel] okay, thank you,and thanks for serving. - Mm-hmm! - Okay, so we have any more questions? All right, we're gonnamake this a voice vote. All in favor say "Aye". - [All] Aye.- Opposed, same sign. Motion passes.(gavel thudding) We're moving on to E8: Action on regular and worksession meeting scheduled for '26 to '27, Dr. K. - All right, thank you Chair Arcand, so we hold our regularschool board meetings on the second Monday of the month, work sessions on thefourth Monday of the month, except during the monthsof June, July, and December when there are no work sessions scheduled. And then the March 26and 27 regular meetings will be held on thefirst Monday of the month due to spring break. And the May, 2026 work session will be held on thethird Monday of the month due to Memorial Day. October 12th, 2026 regular meeting falls on Indigenous Peoples' Day per Minnesota Statute Section645.44, subdivision 5, where it is determined thatin Indigenous Peoples' Day is not a school holiday, public business may be conducted. So the recommended actionis to approve the regular and work session meeting scheduled for January 26th to August, 2027. - Can I get a motion to approve the regular and work session meetings? - So moved.- Ellison, is there a second? - Second.- Second by Beloyed. Any discussion? Yes. - I just have to saythis is the first time this calendar has come before us where I see my lastchild's graduation date. So it's a little... - I'll get you some Kleenex. - Yeah, I might need some Kleenex. - And I do want to point out, I think most of us have gotten invites on our calendar already, this is just formalizing this. - Yeah.- So any further questions? Okay, this will be a voice vote. All in favor say "Aye". - [All] Aye.- Opposed, same sign. Motion passes.(gavel thuds) Now, we're gonna go to E9: Action on official publication for the school district for 2026. Dr. Kazmierczak. - I'll just get right tothe recommended action is to approve the White BearPress as a legal publication for White Bear Lake area schools for 2026, longstanding relationship that we have with theWhite Bear Press, yeah. - Can I get a motion to approve the White Bear Press asour legal publication? - So moved.- Thompson, is there a second? - Second.- Second by Daniels. Any discussion? Yes.- Just a comment that not all communities have a local newspaper anymore. And so I'm really gratefulthat we still continue to have a really vibrantpress in this community. - And I concur that we are so lucky to have the White Bear Press because other schooldistricts have nowhere to go. And so having the White Bear Press and having them report andhaving as our publication is very helpful, and we're verythankful that we have them. So if there's no further discussion, I think this will be a roll call vote. Will you call the roll? - Streiff Oji.- Aye. - Thompson.- Aye. - Arcand.- Aye. - Beloyed.- Aye. - Daniels, aye. - Ellison.- Aye. - Skaar.- Aye. - Okay, motion carries.(gavel thuds) Now, we're gonna go to E10: Action on appointmentof compliance officer, Dr. Kazmierczak. - All right, again, I'll jumpto the recommended action is to approve theappointment of Matt Mons, executive Director of HumanResources and General Counsel as a district human rights officer, Dr. Alison Gillespie,Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learningas a Title IX coordinator. And Lisa Oren, director ofStudent Support Services as the District ADA 504 coordinator, in conformance with School Board policies. - [Scott] Can I get a motion to approve? - So moved- By Thompson. Is there a second? - Second.- Second by Beloyed. Any discussion? Mr. Skaar.- Yes, question. I'm sure that all of these are mandated. - [Scott] Correct, yep. - My question is, a lot of non-profits as well as for-profit companies have, you know, overall chiefcompliance officers that assure complianceacross the entire enterprise. I mean, do any schooldistricts have such a position where all compliance,they do internal reviews, internal compliance reviews,those types of things? Do other school districts do that, to our knowledge?- I'm not aware of that. - Yeah, okay. - [Scott] Maybe Minneapolis and St. Paul, something that size, but I'm not sure. - Yeah, I'd see it.- I'd be speculating. - Okay, thank you.- Mm-hmm! All right, any other discussion? Hearing none, this will be a voice vote. All in favor say "Aye". - [All] Aye.- Opposed, same sign. Motion passes.(gavel thuds) All right, now we'regonna go on to action E11: Action on the local educationagency authorization. Dr. Kazmierczak, tell us about this one. - All right, so therecommended action here is to authorize me, so Dr. Wayne Kazmierczak, Superintendent, as the local education agency, LEA representative forthe purpose of reviewing and approving documentsrequired for compliance to federal programs included in the Elementary and SecondaryEducation Act for 2026. So again, the annual approval item authorizing me to servein that LEA capacity. - [Scott] Can I get a motion to approve? - So moved.- By Daniels, second. - Second.- Second. - Go ahead-- Second by Streiff Oji. Any discussion? All right, hearing none,this will be a voice vote. All in favor say "Aye". - [All] Aye. - Opposed, same sign.(gavel thuds) Motion carries. Now, we're up to E12: Action on designation of legal counsel. Dr. Kazmierczak, I'm gonnaget it right this year. I'm gonna turn it over to you. - All right, so again, we'llgo to the recommended action is to approve Kennedy & Graven Chartered, Ratwik, Roszak & Maloney, P.A., and Squires, Waldspurger, & Mace, P.A., and others as needed as our legal counsel for the calendar year 2026. - [Scott] Can I get a motion to approve? - So moved- By Ellison, second. - Second.- Second by Beloyed. Any discussion, Mr. Skaar? - Go ahead.- Oh, Streiff Oji. - [Christina] I just have a question. Are these two separateorganizations legal law- - So there's actually three there. So the Kennedy & Graven,Ratwik, Roszak & Maloney, and then Squires, Waldspurger, & Mace-- And have we always had three that we rely on?- Yeah, mm-hmm. Yeah.- Thank you. - Mr. Skaar.- So my question, I brought this up actually before I was seated on the Board, which, and Matt, this is not about you, okay? But having the general counsel and the director of HR, I mean, have we had a review to see if there's potential conflict? And what I mean thereas a general counsel, you're an advocate for your client, which is the district, correct? And then as director of HR, you're kind of advocatefor your department and the people in your department. And I'm just wonderingif we could have a review to make sure that there'sno, not that there is, and I'm sure you have safeguards, but just so that we memorialize that, I mean, what are your... I mean you don't, I mean, I guess I'm talking to the chair on this. - [Panelist] Mm-hmm! - But I think it might be something that if this position continues, and you know, God forbidyou get hit by a fish truck or somebody else stepsin to the shoes that, you know, they, they have some kind of, we've memorialized that this position is, you know, solid with noconflicts or anything like that because you've got safeguards. Thoughts on that? - So I can step into that for a moment. What I would say is, thisisn't an uncommon setup within school districts around the state, but especially in the metro. And you know, I have, on many occasions, needed to step aside myself in order to bring in a third-party where a conflict may exist. And so that's always part of the work, it's really part of our work, regardless of which department we're in, is to recognize those pieces and whether as a practicalor ethical matter, you know, those, those kind of safeguards need to be put in place. We've certainly had that conversation with third-party attorneyswho have looked at it. You know, we can revisit that to ensure that we feel good about where we're at right now, but- - Do we have the procedures in place that somebody could go to and say, "Okay, this is Matt's framework for determining, you know, whether there's apotential conflict or not?" Do you have something like that in place? - No, we address thaton a case by case basis. - Okay, I see.- Yep. - [Scott] And I think,would it be safe to say if you thought there was aconflict, you would reach out? We wouldn't ignore it, right? - Correct, yes, and that'sthe current practice. - Yeah, just it's very, as I mentioned toSuperintendent as well as you before I got seated, it isan unusual position to have. I see general counsels aschief compliance officers, but not general counsel and like, you know, director of HR. I just haven't seen it evenin the nonprofit world. So I was just curious as tothe safeguards around that. - Yep.- Okay. Ms. Beloyed. - This is for Dr. K. Before we brought Matt on Board, who was our previousposition wasn't also HR and general counsel, whowas the general counsel at that point? - We didn't have internalcounsel at that point. - Okay.- Yep. - Right, yes. Ms. Streiff Oji. - So you mentioned though, and I know of many HR directors that are also serving as general counsel, and that's common in the metro, correct? - Correct.- Thank you. - In school districts?- Mm-hmm! - Yeah, school districts. All right, any further discussion? Hearing none, this will be a voice vote. All in favor say "Aye". - [All] Aye. - Opposed, same sign.(gavel thuds) Motion passes. Next, we're gonna go to E13. Mr. Wald, action on theofficial deposit depositories for the school of district funds and authorized bankaccounts and signatures. - Good evening Chair Arcand,members of the Board. This action item is an annualaction item for the Board. Each year, the Board approvesthe list of institutions and accounts as well asthe authorized signers on those accounts. That list is included in the cover letter for this agenda item tonight. The only change to thatlist from previous years is that Old National Bankpurchased Bremer Bank, and so the update there to Old National. So the recommended actionis to approve the list of official deposit depositoriesfor school district funds and authorized bank accountsand signatures for 2026. - Do we have a motion?- So moved. - Ellison, second. Beloyed? Any further discussion? - Exercise-- Sorry. All right, this, becauseit involves finance, will be a roll call vote. We'll ask the clerk to call the roll. - Streiff Oji.- Aye. - Thompson.- Aye. - Arcand.- Aye. - Beloyed.- Aye. - Daniels, aye. - Ellison.- Aye. - Skaar.- Aye. - Motion carries. E14, we're going to actionon annual authorization allowing administration tocontract for budgeted items. Mr. Wald?- Yeah, we'll keep going. This is also an annual resolution, each year the boardauthorizes administration to contract for budgeted items consistent with statute123b.52, subdivision 2, which states, "The Board mayauthorize its Superintendent or business manager to lease, purchase, and contract for goods andservices within the budget as approved by the Board. In our case, the business manager is the assistant superintendentfor finance and operations. The board's delegation of this authority, under this provision applies as long as the transactionsdo not exceed $175,000." In those cases, the Board must explicitlyauthorize the transaction. The recommended action is to confirm the board's understanding that the superintendent and assistant superintendentfor finance and operations have been duly authorizedto lease, purchase, and contract for goods and services within the budget as approved by the Board in the amounts of up to $175,000, and restatement ofauthorization for the same pursuant to MinnesotaStatute Section 123B.52, subdivision 2. - [Scott] Can I get a motion to approve? - So moved- Daniels, can I second? - Second.- Second by, was it Streiff Oji? Any discussion? Mr. Skaar. - You know, I think that the Board should either lower the threshold or we should review all the contracts, that would be my recommendation. So you know, that's where I stand on this. I think that there's... I think we have a responsibilityfor more oversight, and given some of the concernsthat people have brought up regarding the constructionproject, you know, the audit results having13 material weaknesses in the last five years, and then I just saw on our federal, or I'm sorry, specialpurpose audit report, at the end of it says, "Does the oddity qualifyas a low risk oddity?" And it says "No." And I found that a little bit troubling. So I'm giving you my opinion on that, and I would rather keep more oversight with the Board given the circumstances. Thank you.- All right. Any further discussion? Beloyed. - What did our thresholds start at? I've been looking at this for nine years, and I know we started, did we start at 100?- Yeah. - [Tim] It was somewhere in there, yeah. Over the years it'schanged, like there was 150 up to about a decade ago maybe, it's been at this levelfor quite some time. - I think if we wanted to add this as a discussion item at some point, I wouldn't be opposed to lowering it. - [Scott] Okay. - My opinion.- Yes, sorry, I didn't need- - I just have my opinion. - [Scott] Okay, Ms. Thompson, - I guess how manytimes are you, you know, is a transaction of thisamount being used without, before we, you know... How often would you say you guys are making purchases forthat amount of money? - [Tim] You know, wehave a lot of agreements and contracts throughout any given month, and they're seldom for this, you know, pushing to $175,000 mark, which then would come to the Board. So they're typically ina much smaller amount, and they're for many,many different purposes. - And just one question. So this is in regards to a single purchase that would exceed not, you know, a bunch of things, to that amount, to not exceed that amount? Yes, okay, thank you. - [Wayne] This is the amountdesignated in statute. - Okay.- Mm-hmm! - Thank you.- Pardon me, is that... - Yes, Mr. Skaar. - Is that the maximum, the 175? - Yeah.- Not the minimum. There's no minimum I'm sure. All right.- Yep. - And then, well it'sactually the next agenda item, but amounts 25,000 to 175 required quotes. Anything over 175 is bids and that's where the Boardcomes in to approve those bids. - Okay, we good? All right, this will be a roll call vote. I'm gonna ask the clerk to call the roll. - Streiff Oji.- Aye - Thompson.- Aye. - Arcand.- Aye. - Beloyed.- Aye. - Daniels, aye. - Ellison.- Aye. - Skaar.- I'm just gonna abstain. Okay, motion carries.(gavel thuds) All right, we are gonna move on to E15: Action on the annual resolution to increase micro purchasethreshold, Mr. Wald. - Okay, we just, were on this. or just talk about this, I guess. State and federal statutesestablish different levels for purchasing thresholdsfor contracting and bidding. Federal statute allows school districts to establish alternate thresholds as long as the School Board annually approves this resolution, which allows for the school district to follow the state'spurchasing procedures for all contracting and bidding regardless of the funding source. And so Minnesota school districts, I think almost entirely follow the state threshold of $175,000 and up required sealed bids for approval. 25,000 to 175,000 as Dr. K was just saying require two or more quotes, and a single quote is permitted for purchases less than $25,000. That is the state thresholdI just read to you. And so the resolutionwould be for the Board to approve the state threshold. - Okay, before we have, in front of us, to approve the annual resolution to increase micro purchase threshold. Can I get a motion? - So moved.- Ellison, can I get a second? - [Streiff] Second.- Second by Streiff Oji. Any other questions? Hearing none. Once again, because of financeswill be a roll call vote. Please call the roll. - Streiff Oji.- Aye. - Thompson.- Aye. - Arcand.- Aye. - Beloyed.- Aye. - Daniels, aye. - Ellison.- Aye. - Skaar.- Aye. - Motion carries. All right, we're down to E16: Action on school boardpolicies, 402, 423, and 611. So we normally do these in a group. So if you have a question on these and have questions on it, you have to let us know thepage and where they're at. Before we discuss, can Iget a motion to approve? - [Jessica] So moved. Oh, sorry, so moved. - By Ellison, seconded by Beloyed. All right, we have the motion AK. Now, if you have a question or something on one of the policies,please let us know. - Can I just make a comment?- Yes, ma'am. - This is the second review.- Yes. - So these are normal all coming before us and this is the second timethey've come before us. So we haven't looked into the policy- - Yeah, so what normallyhappens for the public to know is we have a policy committee that continually looksat what our policies are. They look to see if thestatutes have changed or wording has changed. So they make this recommendations. Most of the time it might bea minor change here and there as things have changed, then we bring it to a work session and we discuss it and put it out there. And then we wait another month and it comes back to theactual board meeting, and then that's when it's approved. I have that right? Thank you, any other discussion? All right, this will be a voice vote. All in favor say "Aye".- [All] Aye. - Opposed, same sign.(gavel thuds) Motion carries. We're getting there. Okay, so it looks like, if it's correct, we are now at Board Forum. It's now time for Board Forum. Board Forum is anopportunity for Board members to update the School Board and the public on committee work at which they're engaged in their officialcapacity as Board members and create awareness of upcoming district and partnership events. Is there any Board wantto share upcoming events? Mr. Skaar. - We have the MSBA meetings coming up. So one of the things that I signed up for was moving from conflict toconversation for Board members, which I thought would bean interesting one, so- - [Scott] What time is that? - That is Wednesday at one o'clock. - Okay.- So you have to pay for it. So I think it was $125. But anyways, I think, you know, maybe I can get something out of it and I can give a report back if, you know, if you'll listen to me. I do think it's, youknow, it's unfortunate to silence fellow Board members to conduct-- Okay. - Point of order.- Wait, I'm talking about... I'm talking about myrole as a Board member and I'm gonna give a report on this because I think to silencefellow Board members in their conduct of theirfiduciary responsibilities to the public is not helpful-- Point of order. - Point of order.- This is about... As your Board and thecommittees you're serving on. Anybody else have anything to share? - Can I just...- Yes. - I am gonna break the rules a little, so you can bang the gavel on me, but I just wanted to just say that I have things I would like to say that don't have anything todo with a committee meeting and I am holding my voice because I respect what our roles are here. But there are very pressing issues that I would like to address but I'm not going to. So just, so we all-- Point of order - Point of order, that'sjust then we'll be done. - Yes.- Thank you. And any other forum? Hearing none, we are gettingto G1: Labor negotiations. This portion of the meeting may be closed to consider strategiesand labor negotiations including negotiatingstrategies or developments pursuant to Minnesota Statute 179A.0 12179A.25. Can I get a motion toenter a closed session? - [Kathleen] So moved. - Okay, by Daniels, a second. - Second.- Second. - Okay, All in favor say "Aye". - [All] Aye.- Opposed, same sign. So what'll happen is we will go into closed session in the other room. When we are done, we'll basically come outand close the meeting. And so- - Mr. Chair.- I think there's students- - There who need-- Assignments signed. - For your-- We can sign your stuff. - So you don't have to wait. - Yes, we won't make you wait for us. (panelists chattering)