Good evening. It is 6:30. I call this regular meeting to order. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Good evening to school board members, district staff and community members. As a reminder to us all, I wish to equip our students with the knowledge and skills to empower them to achieve their dreams and full potential while becoming responsible citizens in a dynamic world. U Mr. Anderson will be joining us tonight. He uh is just at the start of our community engagement task force to welcome that uh group of citizens. um community members. Sorry, Dr. Military again. Uh community members and then he'll be coming up. That's why he's not here right now, but he will be here for the rest of the meeting. Um our first item for tonight is the adoption of the agenda. Are there any questions prior to the motion being made [snorts] on the adoption of the agenda? All right. Is there a call to motion for the October 27th meeting? >> Anderson, is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. W. Any discussion on that motion? Seeing none, all in favor of the motion signify by saying I and raising your hand. I >> motion prevails. Thank you. Our next agenda item is the St. Award. The St. Award is established to publicly recognize St. Francis area school staff, students, and community members at a schoolboard meeting to highlight the positive and impactful work happening in the district. This month's St. Award is presented to Monty Spears, the custodian night lead at Cedar Creek Elementary School for being recognized as the 2025 state level facility worker of the year by the Minnesota Educational Facilities Management Professionals Association. I got through that sentence. There we go. Monty has worked in the district for nearly 30 years after starting at the high school in April of 1997. He has worked at Cedar Creek Elementary School since 2000. The award from the MASMS recognizes an outstanding facility worker who is not in a management position. Monty received multiple nominations for this award, including William Dial, the St. Francis area schools custodial supervisor. William said, "Monty is more than just our night custodian. He is a vital part of our school community. Monty cons consistently goes above and beyond in every task he takes on. Always eager to help out with anything that is needed. Whether it's responding to a last minute request or tackling his daily responsibilities, he does so with a cheerful attitude and a genuine smile that brightens the entire building. About the honor, Monty said, "I'm very thankful for the award, but mostly thankful for just being nominated for my work here at Cedar Creek Elementary School. Besides all the staff and co-workers, the thing I love most about working at the district are all the kids and families that I have met over the years. I love coming to work every day. Please help me in celebrating historian night leader. [applause] >> All right. >> [applause] >> speech. Yeah. >> Started high school in 97. Like I said, all the families and staff I've met and like I said, I just a joy to go to work every day. You know, the kids just love the kids and district 15 has been best job I've ever had in my whole life. So just thank everybody, all [snorts] the people that I've met, you know, Chuck taking over us. Those guys are doing a great job. Just thank you guys. Appreciate the love here. [applause] [cheering] [laughter] [laughter] >> Thank you guys. appreciate it so much. >> All right, >> our next agenda item is consideration of visitors. We have one individual respecting or requesting to speak tonight. So, you'll get five minutes. Bart Anderson. >> Five minutes. Well, first started this. Thank you to Monty for all the years of helping kids through basketball and helping new referees and being just a great attitude, an example of an attitude that the kids picked up on that all of us as volunteers picked up on. And so, thank you so much. >> Thank you, Barb. You're awesome. >> So, um I will have you take one down and pass it around. Um just a quick so you have one and then people know um we this is an opportunity to skills for disagreeing better and it's an online just a one evening through thing through mental health connect our church the Methodist church works with mental health connect and connecting resources for people who need mental health services so we're able to um have is available to anybody really in the community who wants to go online. You just click register here and it will register you in a day and age when everybody is has a lot of disagreeing to do. Um how can we learn to do that better? We are going to disagree. That's fine. But there is a good way to do it and a not so good way to do it. And I believe that we as a school district can choose a good way to do it and in that which is us individuals choosing that first. It's not dumping it on the school. It's saying we as individuals can choose and learn tools to disagree in a healthier way then which then teaches our children and it also teaches other adults. So it's a it it trickles through every place. So, I just want to bring this to you to share it, to listen to it, and >> [clears throat] >> um that's that's it. Knowing we can we can do it. We can do better. So, thank you. [clears throat] Thank you, Barb. As always, Barb, we appreciate the engagement. Uh next agenda item is consent agenda. There are currently nine items in tonight's consent agenda. It will be a roll call vote. Are there any questions or requests to remove an item from the consent agenda prior to a motion being made? Miss West, >> I request to um pull approval of assurance of compliance 5.98 for um individual discussion. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other Mr. Humphrey? Can I pull 55 and 57 just for a couple of real simple questions or one comment and one question please? [clears throat] >> 55 and 57. >> Yes. >> Any other? Okay. So uh we will need a call to motion to approve the consent agenda as listed minus 55 57 and 58 Anderson. [clears throat] >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Mr. Wing. Any discussion on that motion? No discussion. Again, it's a roll call vote. If first, if you're in favor, you're going to say I. If you oppose, say name. Mr. Humpford. I >> miss Anderson. Hi, >> Mr. Shra. >> Hi, >> Mr. McL. >> Hi, >> Mr. Orin. >> Hi, M. >> Hi. >> And I am I as well. Motion prevails. All right, we'll go in order. Uh, so the next item is 5.5, approval of extended trip request. Mr. Humphrey, you had a question on that. >> This one's a comment. Um, Mr. Benjamin Wisham or Ben Craig, I'm sorry. um over at the ALC I think. Uh and um this is before the trip and some like great information. I really appreciate that. This is exactly what someone who's actually asked to approve something is looking for. So I really appreciate that, sir. Thank you, Mr. Ben Craig. I know on top of all the other great things he's doing there at the ALC, uh this is uh exactly what we're looking for when we hear about things being approved after it's already happened or like why you know we didn't have any time to talk to anyone about this. This is beautiful and wonderful and I really appreciate that. [clears throat] >> Can I add to that? Um so this trip is for 421 of 2026 and we received that prior to today's meeting. So, I want to thank Benjamin or Ben Craig um for submitting this in a timely fashion for us to review and and vote on. I appreciate that. >> Okay. Uh we will take a motion to approve 5.5. >> I'd like to make that motion. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion on the motion to approve 5.5? Seeing none. All in favor? Uh, does that one need to be a roll call? >> I don't think so. >> All in favor of the motion to approve 5.5 signify by saying I and raising your hand. >> I [clears throat] motion. Okay. Uh, next item is 5.6. Approval of the monthly investment. >> Sorry. 57. Approval of the substitute teacher rate of pay. >> Mr. This is the one I pulled because I had a question and perhaps a comment. Um, is a teacher in Minnesota as a substitute teacher allowed to be anyone who holds a four-year degree? I know my wife is from Illinois and her brother um when he graduated college with a four-year degree in criminology or something, he was able to sit in as a sub and I just thought what a what a great way to make up for subs that are so hard to get. And I was just wondering if that was the case, if anyone can confirm that that's the case in Minnesota. And if that's the case, $200 per day, anyone with a college degree who's looking for work, that's you'd help the district and you'd help yourself because that seems like a fair fair compensation package. >> So, I'm going to give you a quick answer and Brandon will tell me if I'm wrong, but the answer is yes. Uh, you still have to go through the Pelby licensing, >> okay? >> Um, to get your substitute license, but a four-year degree is required. >> Okay. for the majority of the cases there they did expand. There's a limited amount of fields that could have an AA degree. They're like a specialty like an automotive or a language or um I think care design was one of them for an A degree. And then there's a an emergency short call um program we have not participated in yet where um someone with a two-year degree can do it. the chair's answer for the majority of the cases and two years ago is exactly right. >> Background check of course. Okay. So yeah, I mean what a great thing it would uh we obviously by increasing this from 180 per day to 200 per day are a need. Um there's an unfilled need and you hear about it all the time. So uh go ahead if you're looking to make some extra scratch um sign up and get ready to be a sub at our district. I think that's a great opportunity for some good compensation. >> I could like to make a motion to accept that as well. >> Thank you. >> Second. >> Any discussion on the motion to approve 5.7? >> Is this comparable with other what other school districts are compensating? >> Mr. >> Yes. um the the average this is um just slightly above the average pay um for our area. However, we have a couple of districts that are quite a bit larger than us that um are a little bit higher than average and so this puts us above average. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other questions or discussion? All right. If you are in favor of the motion signify by saying I and raising your hand. >> I Mr. Al. >> Uh so no opposition motion prevails. Brandon acted. [clears throat] >> All right. Uh next one 5.8 uh approval of assurance of compliance. So my question I I would just like because we have a lot of people in the audience and and watching online stakeholders um and people of that um that aren't familiar with the assurance of compliance and how that's going to work with um federal and state law that we might be in conflict with as a state. So my my question is just to have Brian kind of review what the assurance of compliance is so that people attending and watching have an idea of what that's all about. >> Mr. Certainly. Um, [clears throat] so the assurance of compliance has been in in place annual requirement for decades. I didn't look back how far it's been in place. Um, but it is a requirement by the state of Minnesota um that school districts assure that they are in compliance. I am aware that there is some discussion about some laws that are or at least one on that list that we are assuring we are compliant with. However, um I'm not aware of any laws listed that do we we do not have to follow at this point. I know there's um there's some discussion about some of them, but right now um we are required to follow those and the state does require us to to take this action. >> Any questions or comments for Mr. [clears throat] Nelson before we have a motion? All right. See none. Is there a motion to approve 5.8? Anderson. Is there a second? >> Second. Thank you, Mr. Shrock. Is there any discussion on that motion? >> Mr. So, the way I see it, I think the question is over number four and title nine. Uh, and I mean I know the vast majority of the public, both Democrat and Republican, are, you know, hashing this out, but it seems like a lot of people are still in favor of of the way the numbers come out. um uh going by biological birth, but I that is that may be something that you agree or disagree with, but um as [clears throat] like I believe state law supersedes federal law or federal law is tied to federal financing. So if we end up not going with the federal law, in my opinion, it should be more local control. also the state. So even though personally I disagree with the state stance on this um I would have to support um the 10th amendment to the constitution which um gives them the power to the states um even though I disagree with it but uh and that's fine and then the battle becomes you know at the state level. I just uh and I think that so we vote for this right now because this is the current law despite being in courts and stuff like this until something uh comes out after that. And then I think we should still remember that I mean like back when the book situation was going on and everyone was screaming for local control. I mean I I'm personally in favor of no federal department of education. So if we lose that funding that's kind of two birds with one stone as far as I'm concerned on this on this angle. But um if you're a proponent if you're if you're a proponent of local government like I mean this this kind of checks two boxes. Uh but the title N thing is going to be hashed out soon and I I don't know which way we're going on that. I know there's a lot of we got I got an anonymous card from someone in the mail and I I really wish this person would have left their name. So I'd love to have that conversation with the person. I'm not anti-trans. I just don't believe that boys should be in girls sports or locker rooms. Um, and that's where like we differ in opinion here, but that'll all be hashed out in the courts, I guess. Um, I don't know. I just it's it's hard to remember that local control is is the best control, even though I I disagree with what's going on there and it is in the court. So, I guess um that's why in this case, I'm voting in in favor of it. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other discussion on the motion? Uh [clears throat] just a reminder that if laws change after the school board adopts a policy or something like this, we do comply with changes in laws and we'll see updates that come through as well. That's standard practice across the way that we do it in all areas. Any other discussion? All right. Uh roll call. Okay. Um this will be a roll call. So, if you are in favor of the motion, say I. If you're opposed, say I. [clears throat] Mr. Humphrey, >> hi. >> Miss Anderson, >> hi. >> Mr. Sha, >> hi. >> Miss Bing, >> I >> Mr. Working. >> Uh, no. >> M West. >> Hi. >> I'm as well. Motion prevails. All right, moving on to the next agenda item, which is uh number six, information items and reports. We are super lucky tonight. We have a student council to report. Uh Jack, I gave you 47 minutes to get pilots from the beginning of the school year down [clears throat] to four. Okay, he took some. >> Sounds great to me. And I think Grace filled us in on the beginning of the school year. So I'll just take it off from there. Good evening to the community, the school board, the chair, superintendent finally back in the cabinet. The student council is very excited to once again be honored to be invited here to a student to a schoolboard meeting to not only show our representation, but to have our voices heard. And I seem to have missed the memo of not wearing DECA address, but here we are. So student council doesn't have that much more coming up currently. However, we currently have two items that are coming up. First of all, this weekend we have our MASC MAHS Craig's Leadership Forum, which we thank you all again very much for allowing our transportation and for our overnight stay at Craig's Resort on Colt Lake, where we will not only learn a lot of leadership skills that we can bring back to our community as we have in previous years, but where we will also learn other skills and other events that we can potentially plan from other school boards and honor societies across Minnesota. And then our second event that is the only other thing that I have currently heard of that we are doing is our community night which is tenatively planned for December 12th. I say tenatively because we're still looking for a Santa and Mrs. Claus somewhere on the North Pole and we will hopefully find them soon. But then otherwise in a little St. Francis High School St. Francis roundup. Sadly our football team fell in section semi-finals to the number one seated Monaceel. Volleyball also fell in section semi-finals to the number one seated Zimmerman. Our back-to-back conference and section championship winning girls soccer team fell in the quarterfinals of the MSHSL girls soccer state tournament against the third seated Academy of Holy Angels. Otherwise, this past weekend, just today, we brought 17 students with six being returning and 11 being new members to DECA's back to business conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We had three students, two new and one returning member be recognized for placing in the top two in their roleplay section. Those being Salem Brenamman, Grace Sunstrren, and then myself, Jack Humphrey. And then in other good news related to sports, we are sending not one but two St. Francis High School cross country runners to the MSHSL cross country state tournament with Ryder Mold having placed third in the section 5A meet and Wolf placing second in the meet to qualify both of themselves to the state tournament. Are there any further questions? [clears throat] >> Mr. comfort though. >> I'd like you to, if you could, um Jack, not only is he good at debate, but he's quite brave. Um this weekend at the Halloween, uh >> at the Halloween debate tournament in Woodbury, uh they're they dressed up as costumes and uh Jack went as Trump. Um you want to turn some turn some eyes, go to something like debate dressed as Trump and uh it was it was pretty remarkable. Can you give us any of it or >> so? Yeah, last year in speech I participated in an event called humorous interpretation and I had one of my characters as Trump. So I decided to go this weekend and frankly they told me that I was a very good debater. They told me I placed third in the meet overall qualifying to the tournament of champions for one of my two bids. But they told me I was a very good representative, very good senator, presided over the final round, beat a lot of people, even the state champion placed over them. But otherwise, my dad always flatters me and puts me on the spot having to do my little impromptu Trump. >> I just think it's hilarious. Thank you for doing that. >> Of course, >> not the last time I'll embarrass you. >> I just want to say good luck to Ryder. I didn't know you very well that's falling. I wish you best of luck. And I want to ask you, do you as a student high school have anything to do with the trickle down effect that's going on with the student council? I had a lot of uh elementary age students approaching me about running for student council at the elementary school. It's not the same as what you guys are obviously doing, but they are running for student council within the elementary schools and I think it's the coolest thing that they can get involved in if that's something that they're interested in. >> I'm assuming by trickle down you mean like interesting student. Not just that, but do you guys have anything to do with the elementary schools doing that or is that something? >> As far as I know, it's each school's own basis. I know I was on East Bethl Student Council being elected both my fourth and fifth grade years and then the middle school I was in all the years and I've been on it all my high school years and I've so far never heard of them being interconnected schools. >> Cool. That's as far as I know. >> Awesome. Thank you, >> Mr. I know last week there was the blood drive and I went and when I was there it was pretty much at capacity. Do you have any update on that? >> I believe if I'm remembering my numbers correctly from Miss Bergman that we had 62 units units of blood donated and that we saved 186 lives with those units of blood. >> Awesome. >> I'm confident you had your number. [laughter] >> I hope so. >> As soon as I get past 20 I have to find out what to do with my hands and toes. [laughter] Any other questions or comments? >> Okay. Thank you as always. Appreciate it. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> All right. Our next agenda item is the transportation report. Our transportation supervisor will provide an update and answer any questions. [laughter] >> Good evening. The start of the 202526 school year has been smooth except for a few bumps. All of our routes of drivers, we have two extra drivers to cover when our regular drivers are out. We have 53 licensed school bus drivers, 25 bus EAS, four mechanics, two route specialists, and one safety manager. We currently have two drivers in training. The usual sickness hit our department in weeks three and four this year and that necessitated some creative thinking to cover the routes. We never canled the route or ran a route late and I anticipated that those things could have happened. We have a core group of drivers who are available at the end of their regular shift and are always very willing to drive routes and activity trips and this results in overtime. Our mechanic staff and office staff help to cover the routes and get our students all the places they need to go. Between the office staff and the mechanics, we have four licensed school bus drivers. The mechanics let me know that at the end of week five, they have driven more in the first five weeks of school than they drove all last school year. When they are driving routes, their regular mechanic work doesn't get done. This leads to breakdowns on the road and a shortage of buses on days when multiple activities are going out and we have buses down. The older vehicle in the fleet are requiring a lot of maintenance and parts could be hard to find. We have purchased parts from eBay because they are not available through our regular suppliers. This is expensive and timeconuming. We have had four engines rebuilt and two and a half of them have been installed in buses so far. Our yearly report has been filed with the Minnesota Department of Education. We have 72 vehicles and we put almost 1 million miles on our fleet last year to transport our students. We have 15 vehicles that are classified as type 3 vehicles which can transport students but they don't require a CDL to drive. These vehicles are important in our fleet. We have seven van drivers who are casual employees. They transport McKini Vental students, care and treatment students, and they drive some of our students who require special care. We signed a three-year propane contract this year with Dean Oil. We usually sign a one year for 210,000 gallons. Dean Oil came to us with a proposal and the other two bids we received were not comparable. Behavior continues to be a top concern. We get many calls from parents and school leaders and we watch a lot of video every day. For the most parts, parents are receptive to our calls and the discipline we hand out. Discipline ranges from a warning to bus suspensions. Sometimes we are asked to show the video to the parents who don't think their children are capable of the things they've done. Video is shown at the district office only. Unruly behavior on buses is a safety issue for everyone on the bus. Standing up and changing seats while the bus is moving is dangerous and causes unnecessary distraction for our drivers. Vaping on our buses is still a problem along with inappropriate language, name calling, inappropriate touching, and pushing each other out of the seat. Keeping the bus on the road is the number one priority for our drivers. We have ordered five new buses this year, and they will begin coming in January with the final two coming during the summer. A new camera system is being installed in the buses which we will be able to view in real time and we won't need to pull hard drive from the buses when they arrive at the garage. The video will be stored in the cloud and we will be able to retrieve it after the fact. This will be a timesaver for office staff and the quality of the audio and video that is recorded should be better than what we have now. We were able to put a new garage floor coating in the bus garage. The first epoxy coating was put on in 2002. It was worn and slippery when wet. The new coating is a textured [clears throat] poly aspartic coating and it has filled in the imperfections in the old concrete in the shop area, the wash bay, and the employee lounge. It has brought a bright brought a bright new look to into the garage. If you haven't been there, come on over because it really looks good. We also had some repairs made in our employee parking lots and bus lot. Potholes and uneven surfaces were corrected, resulting in fewer tripping hazards. On October 3rd, we had a bus fire and I would like to confirm all the facts that made their way onto social media. The bus was a 2024 International Model 3000. It was a propane powered 77 passenger bus. Bus 17 had 28,167 miles on it and it was the newest bus in our fleet. We took delivery of it on December 18th of 2023. It was built at the Navastar plant in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I visited the Tulsa plant in August of 2024, and I was impressed with the facility and with the pride the worker showed in building buses for our nation's children. Our driver, Rick, did exactly the right thing when he evacuated the students out the front of the bus. The younger students are used to the steps. They are not used to jumping out the back of the bus. The bus was empty in less than 40 seconds. The propane system that fuels our buses has a safety system that worked beautifully that day. And I will explain it very simply. The propane tanks are in the back of the bus and the engine is in the front. And there is some piping and a hose that runs between the two. When the hose was severed from the heat of the fire, it shut off the propane. There's a float that travels in that hose and the float goes up when the propane is going up. Once the hose was severed, the float went to the back and shut off the propane that went to the engine. Unled and diesel fuel buses don't have a fuel safety system like that. We use Collins Brothers towing out of Elk River. They have had a very successful building business for many years and they know exactly what they're doing. When I called them, they didn't have the big record immediately available. I suggested they send a flat bin. Cody Collins arrived with a standard size tow truck and he went to work getting the bus ready to be towed. So, I'm going to pass around just a couple of pictures. That's Cody with the small tow truck that he brought. Um, all of the pictures that I show you are all my pictures that I took at the scene that day, but there's a similar picture to that one that's out there, but these are all mine. I have not shared them with anyone. Cody arrived with the standardsiz tow truck and he went to work getting the bus ready to be towed. The drivetrain had to be disconnected and an auxiliary light system had to be put on the back of the bus. When the recorder arrived, Gavin Collins was able to back up and hook up the bus, and they left in a matter of minutes. So, here's the bus traveling down the road with the big record on the front, exactly how it should go. An investigation team was sent by Navastar and our dealer, Hope Transportation, on the 10th of October. We met and we looked at what is left of the bus. The investigator Kirk has a theory on what happened, but admits that it may be impossible to ever know for certain what the cause was. We came back to St. Francis and the team of seven looked at the other eight international buses that we own, and he could not find anything that would confirm his theory. I feel confident in their inspection of our buses. The international name is on the side of every bus they build and they have an interest in finding out and knowing what happened that day. Recalls are handled by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. It takes a minimum of four months to start a recall investigation and there is a lot more interesting information on that process on their website. The other two pictures that I'm going to show you, um, these are the propane tanks on the bottom of the bus. They look like they are brand new. This is the picture from what is directly above those tanks. This is pretty amazing. I will pass around a picture of the >> [clears throat] >> Zion Parkway neighbors were amazing that day. They helped calm the kiddos and contact parents. They kept watch but were not intrusive as we went about our business. It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood there. Rick will tell you he was just doing his job. He is truly a hero and should be admired. He is a very humble person and he and I have talked often since the third. The relationship that he has with his students and his parents should be mirrored on all of our buses and by all of our drivers. Not everyone is capable of that. All of the practice and protocols go out the window during a real life situation. Following your gut to make it happen will never steer you wrong. In other news, our district and our mechanics were featured in a national trade magazine in January and that was followed up by a front page article in the Yanopa Union thanks to DAX. I was contacted for information for another article in another national publication to be coming out soon. Stay tuned. Transportation is always on the move. >> Questions? Any questions or comments for >> um for anybody that doesn't know that's sitting there. Thank you. I did not prepare anything to say, but you save my little girl. >> No more questions. [laughter] for starters, thank you for setting the record straight. Appreciate that. Okay. Um, keyboard warriors out there, they're doing their thing. Thank you for coming in. And again, I spoke on it last week. I commend you personally for you that day being on site when you were called and here that is situation better than I've ever seen. Rich again. >> Thank you. >> I have a ton of confidence in what you guys do. Rick, you've been with my oldest. He's now a freshman. The way that you treat those kids every single day like they're your own. Words can't express how that makes me feel as a father. and as a parent and as a community for this district and I commend you for that as [clears throat] well. Thank you. Thank you very much. Much appreciated. That's all I got. >> Mr. Sean, thank you for the indepth reporting and all that you do. And Rick, thank you so much for how you handled the situation. Um to change gears a little bit, we've got the schedule later on in this agenda. Wondering your thoughts on late starts. [clears throat] >> I know we've talked about it in the past. I'd like for you to >> tell them your >> uh 90minute late start day starts in our office on Tuesday at about 2 o'clock. the the problems that we deal with are things like we transport students out of district and those schedules aren't on our 90-minute late schedules. So, when we have a driver that has some kids up at Rum River and some kids here in our district, we're having to find another driver to to drive one of those. The other thing that happens is that we have many students that come to school at an abbreviated schedule. They come for an hour or two a day and then we get calls, what time are you picking up our student today? We don't know that because you haven't told us what time they need to be there. Um it's it's just it's a nightmare. People don't know that it's happening in a lot of cases. We spend a lot of time on the phone. The bus just drove by. Really? What school does your student go to? Well, they go to Cedar Creek or they go to SFB. That's because we're picking up the high schoolers right now. It's 90 minute late start date. People are outside with their elementary kids waiting for the bus and the bus drives past them and then they call us. They don't know it's 90 minutes late start. They don't know how to add 90 minutes onto their regular time. And we've been doing this for years. Um, it just it doesn't end until we lock the door at 5:00 in the morning. It's it's just never ending. Plus, we have our regular jobs to do that day. We're still moving over 4,000 students every day. So, it's it always works. I always have a bus parked outside the front door because somebody got forgotten or their time changed and we need to go and pick them up and get them when they're going. It's [laughter] just it's a lot. And I guess the question that I have now is, have you talked to the parents about what the parents think about the 90-minute plate start? Because the what we get on our end from the people who are calling us is they don't like the 90minute plate start. It's, you know, if you're not thinking about it, and I can appreciate you wanting to have it on the same week, the same day all the time, but there are things that make a little more sense, like why did we have 90minute late start on the day before MEA when a 90minute dismissal might have been better? How many kids actually miss that day of school? Because they want to start their long weekend earlier. There are just things that seem like they would make a little more sense. >> Any other questions or comments? >> Mr. Anderson, >> quick question. How many times per week are you forced into driving the bus? Morning or afternoon rounds? >> It it depends on the week. I drove today morning and afternoon and I expect that that's probably going to go on this week. Last week I drove one. >> Yeah, it's a big issue because you have that full-time job and you know so hopefully we're going to be able to find more drivers so you can kind of focus on the primary position. But thank you for filling in along with the mechanics and you know others as well. Appreciate it. I have one question for you. You talked about the the video system. Uh what is the timeline for that installation and when will it be in all of the buses? [laughter] >> Depends on how much money. Ideally, it would be in all the buses. We're starting it the new buses that we're getting. So, it'll be January before we have it on three buses. We did put in a similar system in our vans because all of our van cameras went out. They were they had outlived their life. And so we put a similar system on and it works great when we would go in and see what's live. It's awesome. It'll also tell us things like um if the driver is distracted by a phone or if they're heartbreaking or if they're speed speeding, but we can go in and look immediately and see that. So I'm anticipating that we're really going to like this on the buses, but the first ones will be in in January. >> Thank you. And then uh I'm just going to speak on behalf of the board again, but we are extremely proud to have you as an employee and Mr. Graph, we are extremely proud to have you as an employee at our district. So, thank you both. >> Thank you. >> All right. Our next agenda item is 6.3 nutrition services reporter. Our nutrition services program supervisor, Wendy Co, will provide an update and answer any questions. Good [clears throat] evening, school board, superintendent, and community members. Um, I have a PowerPoint, but it's more of just a placeholder. So, as soon as that's up, we'll get started. Um, I don't know if all of you know, but our nutrition office is located at St. Francis High School. So, um, that's where you will find us. We're we're not housed at the district office. That's where we are. Um, we are currently in the third year. Um, oh, [clears throat] this. Okay. Thank you. We are in the third year of the preschool meal program. And I know everybody was excited when that first came on. Um, okay. Participation. I wanted to talk about that. So, um, September 2022, look at that as our base year. That was the first year or the last year where parents were paying. September um 23 first year the 24 second year data and then now I have um September 25 data. You can see that our breakfast has increased from September 2022. We've had a 91% increase to breakfast and we've had a 33% increase to lunch since the inception of the free school meal program. Now again with the free school meal program the students get um their first breakfast of the day is free and the first lunch of the day is free. If they buy second lunch those those items cost okay staffing wise I know last year when I was reporting we had um some open positions. This year we have um we still have some open positions, but we are finding that we are getting stronger applicants. Applicants that are coming to us with more previous experience and we're able to get them into the kitchens and working faster. And we also have a full substitute list. That's been nice. [clears throat] Um last year we did not have that situation. A lot of times when we posted in front line, we did not get subs. Now we're posting and we're getting subs. So we still have our professional standards training for our employees and um this year they will receive um six hours of training for employees that work 20 hours or more. And then um part-time staff, they will receive four hours of training and our managers receive 10 hours of training. And this um in those key areas that are uh listed there uh nutrition, operations, administration, communications, and marketing so that everyone's on the same page. people understand, you know, why we menu the foods that we menu, what the meal patterns are, the importance of following the menu. [snorts] This past year, we had a food service audit and it was a kind of a dual audit. It was USDA and Minnesota Department of Ed came in and um they reviewed everything. we get this type of uh intense review once every five years. So um this pretty much took up the whole month of April. They um visited all of our the schools that they identified that they wanted to audit and this year of course they also included Trinity because we do food for Trinity as well. So, a few things came out of the audit and um one of the items was smart snack regulations and we um as a district found out that there were some other groups that were supplying food as well and they had to also meet the smart snack standards. So, um for my position, I'm more of a resource for that. And then um those the other groups need to also follow the rules and um we learn more about that with the outcome of the audit. I think we're on a good track right now though. And what are those standards? Um so you can see from the visual on the screen there. Um they're really looking for the same types of items that we're serving in the school meal program. So if somebody else is bringing food in for the students, it should match the standards that we need to follow during the school day. And then um since it gets a little complicated, there is an online calculator. Staff that are deciding to do fundraisers or whatever during the school day, selling food to to students, they can take their individual product, run it through the calculator, and make sure that it meets those standards. And the calculator is pretty easy to use, but it it walks you [clears throat] through all these questions. Okay. Synthetic food dies. You've heard a lot in the news about this and um on the on a national level, they're um going to eliminate the synthetic food dyes in our food supply by January 2027. And so they're uh going to be reformulating a lot of the products that we use. We're seeing it happen already. We went through and last spring we had identified 20 items that had the synthetic food dyes. Now this school year we've eliminated almost all of them. We have three items left that we're trying to find suitable alternatives for. Um, one of the items is a fruit salad that we make at the high school and it contains marshmallows which we were kind of surprised to find out that marshmallows have blue dye number two or number one. [laughter] So, um it's these colorants are showing up in foods that you don't expect them to. So, as soon as we can um identify and like I said, this this salad is something that's on the menu once every six weeks. And yes, it is one of the kids' favorites. So, we're trying to identify a different place to get the marshmallows with all the colorings. Okay. sodium levels um in by July 2027 um there'll be a 15% reduction in sodium levels that USDA guidelines allow. So um I have up there the current sodium limits if you look at like for instance grades 9 through 12 and then you look at the future limits the sodium levels are going down about 200 per day. So um our plan is to identify our high count uh sodium days and work on finding some replacement products. We have to be very careful with that because um a lot of the items that have a lot of sodium are student favorites. So we want to make sure that we identify an alternative that they will like just as much. It's very similar to how they started reducing the sugar levels for breakfast this past year. Um, and what ended up happening was a lot of the cereal manufacturers eliminated the synthetic dyes and the sugars at the same time. So, it was a really good outcome. Okay. And then my last um slide have to do with fund balance. So with the free school meal program being as we're getting a balance of funding from the state and feds um we are fully funded right now. We're not having that gap in funding where we've been asked to provide meals you know and not receive payment for meals which have been happening in the past. Um, so we are receiving um the money that that we should for the meals that we're serving. So we can focus now on our food choices, our staff and equipment. So um right now we've identified that our freezers and coolers at the schools um need to be replaced. We have a replacement schedule figured out. A lot of these items are original with the building. So, this past summer, we replaced the freezer and cooler, the walk-in freezer and cooler at East Bethl, and it was it was old. It was as old as the original building. There had been some parts and compressors and whatnot replaced, but the structure of the freezer and cooler was as old as that building. So, um we're starting uh next year we'll be doing two more schools and then the following summer we'll do another two schools. So, Any questions? >> Any questions? Random question, but sodium levels. Is this like per item or how do you figure out what a kid is going to eat like at the high school? >> It's it's how it's menu. You're referring to the sodium, >> right? >> Okay. So, yes. So, we look at what is menu and yes, of course, the student may not select all five of the items, the components to the menu. So, >> but you still have to stick to that >> for the five components of the meal. We have to be within that sodium limit. >> Yeah, it's difficult. >> Um, a couple of questions. Remind [clears throat] me again who provides or who we use for the food, >> right? >> Yeah. >> Yep. That's IFD. >> IFD. >> Yep. Are you finding that the um healthier choices, the food coloring um reduction and salt are available through them or >> for an example when I went out for a prime vendor last spring um we got a market basket of goods um and we could view you know what items we spent the most money on and one of those items um was muffins for our breakfast program. We took a look at the brand. It was the oldest month brand and it did have some uh synthetic coloring in it. So we have since moved away from that. It had some artificial flavors and synthetic colors. So we've switched away from that and went with a different brand. >> So you're able to adjust within your primary vendor. >> Yep. >> Okay. We also participate participate in the Minnesota food buyers group and so they also are you know this is on their radar as well getting rid of the synthetics and uh reducing sugar and everything like that. So they have also gone through and and said you know these are the brands that a lot of the schools in Minnesota are using you know for that reason. >> Oh that's good. Um my other question was when you say other groups have to follow this guideline. >> Yeah. Can you give me an example? Is that like when parents bring food in for a classroom party and and or is this a football thing? What type of others? Well, um uh there's a large group at the high school that um was selling some items and um since they were selling during the school day, um their items also had to follow the school lunch regulations and it could also be a fundraiser item. So if a group um like let's say music department or something I'm just that's just an example but if they had a fundraiser to raise some money and let's say they were selling something that those items that they were selling because they're selling them individually has to meet the same pattern the same um nutritional standards that the school lunch program has to meet when we're selling items individually. So the rules are a little bit different for the meal because the the meal is looked at as one complete unit. So that's how we're able to serve, you know, some of the things with our meal. We can do an occasional dessert because we're not looking at those items individually. They're looked at as a meal, a full component. Um but when things are sold individually, then they have to meet the individual standards, the smart standards. Could I uh add a some additional comments? Again, a reminder is that Wendy is not responsible for the non-food service groups. Wendy's in charge of the nutrition services. And then in St. Francis, I guess I'm the one overall and that was overseas smart snacks for the other groups, but I always rely on Wendy to to better understand it. And so the the smart sack standards apply to products sold to students uh during the school day which is from midnight until 30 minutes after the end of the student day. So that's what they call a a school day. So for example, concession stands that are occurring after the 30 minutes do not have to follow the smart stack standards according to the to the federal government. Uh some examples of changes that have had to be made. There used to be a vending machine in the lunchroom that did not have a timer. Um and you know it was it was there for a good purpose to get food to kids who might be after school. Uh but because you know some products weren't u meeting those standards you know in the end everyone agreed just to remove the vending machine from the school. Another example was is the Deca store. And so, uh, Lisa Marie, you worked over the summer at the beginning of the year to look at, you know, all these different kinds of products in order to kind of rework the u the menu for Deca Store. So, now all the products, you know, meet those standards. um you know fundraisers again um if the intent is to sell those products to students during the school day we have to follow standards if there's a booster club selling products to parents like the early childhood family center it's a different ball game um you know they have more flexibility so I hope that answers >> that's very helpful yeah very helpful >> and this kind [clears throat] of follows up on that who defined the school day as midnight until 30 minutes after school. >> I believe it would be the United States Department of Agriculture. >> Any rationale there or >> I think what they're trying to do is make sure that people aren't trying to sell right before breakfast. So, >> okay. >> That'd be pretty early in the morning, but >> yeah, they had to come up with some sort of >> Well, they say 30 minutes after. I would have said 30 minutes before perhaps. Sir, I mean, are we just I've never bought anything from the school after midnight, >> right? >> And that one isn't our call. >> Yeah. No, no, no. And will these standards go away when the federal department of education goes away? Are we anticipating that? >> No, because these are USDA. >> Okay. USDA. Okay. Thanks. >> And there's a strong push, I think, you know, at the federal level and state level to provide healthier options to kids. >> Well, and it's all in the eye of beholder. Just I mean the reason why my kids aren't allergic to peanuts is because we didn't freak out over peanuts and we gave them peanuts and now we find out that's fine to do and it's actually ideal and the reason why people are allergic to peanuts is because no one gave anyone peanuts. It's like duh, you know, and then they're asking for 50% grains by weight. >> Yeah. >> Um I haven't eaten 50% grains in two years. It's I I just I think it's a moving target and I really appreciate the job you do because holy cow, you got to keep up with all these standards and and a lot of people it's just kind of a shot in the dark on a lot of this stuff. >> Yeah, that's one thing. A lot of these items that we are able to source through our vendor um they are specific products made for the school meal program. So, they have the 51% whole grains, they have the right percentage of fats, um the lower sodium. Um I think there was a snack item this summer that I think it was Cheeits, but we we were able to find a Cheeits that was made from whole grain and the other group uh you know, they just picked it up at Walmart or wherever they got it. I'm not sure. But, um you can't buy these things in the stores. So, it's nice that we're able to work with a vendor that sources to um schools. >> Certainly. >> Yeah. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Sha. >> Yeah. I asked the question of Peggy before you. Your feelings on 90minute late starts. >> Oh, okay. Yeah. Um, well, the 90-minute late start at the very onset when the talk started going, I I did put my two cents in that I was hoping that that wouldn't eliminate breakfast for the kids and it didn't. So, we've always done breakfast. I know sometimes it's a challenge because they're literally the elementary students are are having breakfast and then about 30 minutes later they're having lunch. So um that is a challenge and uh yeah you know and scheduling you know sometimes a lot of our staff they're working for schools because they have students and if their students not getting on the bus well then they can't come to work until after their students on the bus. So it does create a challenge. Yeah. Miss, >> are you able to track the amount of waste? Um, has it increased since the free foods? >> You know, [snorts] >> I guess it wouldn't be very scientific, but because we do the food recycling, so we have the food recycling bins, the pig barrel buckets I guess people like to call them, and we do that at our elementary levels. um we have not seen an increase for the number of barrels that we're going through each week. So, we have not seen that. We've seen breakfast counts go up um and we've seen lunch counts go up, but not the corresponding uh waste. Now, the I feel good about that, but I look a little bit further when I think about that. Um, we've been so fortunate to have the whole school working with us to get our breakfast counts up. So, a lot of times the kids are coming down, getting their breakfast, and bringing it up to the classroom. So, there could be garbage, and I'm sure there is garbage that ends up in in classrooms that I'm not seeing, and I'm not, you know, it's not going in pig buckets because it's up there. So that I don't know that I'd ever get a clear number on that. >> Mr. >> Well, I would like to say kudos to you and your crew because you obviously are doing something right. You'd think I was Jack was eating at Tria every day when I get his little pictures of his wonderful meal and he loves it. So, um I appreciate the work you guys are doing. You're putting together a really good product and people are literally eating it up. So, Kudos. >> Any other comments? >> Uh, I've got one question for you. You talked about your sublist being full. >> Yeah. >> How did we get there? How [snorts] did you get a full sub? >> Well, um, >> or what is your >> Okay, so it actually it actually kind of started with trying to fill the open positions. Okay. So, I have one open position at the middle school that this is going on the second year that it's been open. Interviewing people for that open position, talking to them about the position and then also mentioning to them we also have sub opportunities. So, whenever I would, you know, try to offer a job and if it seemed like they weren't going to accept it, I could also mention we also have subbing opportunities. Would you consider being a sub? you can work as much as you want, you know, and you can choose the days you work. So, that did help. >> So, in your free time, you can help us with recruiting for the other. >> I got to get those remaining three built. >> Uh, and then, uh, I have to ask it because I coach a lot of middle school students. >> Yeah. >> Uh, they want two waffles instead of just one. Two waffles instead of just one. Wendy, thank you very much for your update. Appreciate it. >> Thanks. >> All right. Our next uh information item in the report is human resources. Uh director of human resources, Brandon Nelson will provide updates and then answer questions. >> If I could add one quick thing, um Mr. Nelson not only oversees human resources, but he also supervises both Peggy and Wendy. those are recent add-ons and so he's part of this whole process as well. Just wanted to point that out. >> Thank you for mentioning that. But also noticed that they did everything for their reports because they run their department and so I want to make sure they get all the credit for everything all the good things that happened for them. But on to human resources where I have a little bit more say in things. Um, as a school board, you see a lot of what resources already does. You see the final product, whether it's personnel items, collective bars, agreements, a lot of the information comes to you. So, I'm not going to be talking about that tonight. I'm going to highlight some of the areas that you do not always see. Um looking at the department, we had some change this last year and that is um we had an opening and um then we were able to fill with a lot of promotions. So Janet Anderson was promoted to human resources manager. She's a long-term employee of the district and has been in human resources for many of those years. Erin Kringler replaced her as the employee data coordinator. And then um we welcome Amanda Leto to the human resources employment specialist position to round out the rest of the team. Um [snorts] so talk about some of the challenges. You know we heard it already tonight about employment and recruitment. We do continue to have unfilled positions. We are in the best place we've been in years as far as um fill positions. So we're making progress. We're just not to the point where I can stand up here and say we have everything filled. Um hope that is coming soon. We're doing things everything that we can to do that. Um but it does um propose a challenge in regards to running programs and services and we do the best that we can. The other challenge that I wanted to highlight is teacher license special permissions. And that is um we have teachers that might have a teaching license, but they are teaching out of their scope. So they may be teaching in special ed, but they that's not what their background um or what their license is in. So we need to get a special permission for that. Um we have 35 of those to date. And so that is something that takes an immense amount of time to get prepared and it's a struggle to have everything in place um by the start of the school year. We cannot submit applications until July 1st uh to the state of Minnesota that does the licensing for that. So we um it's a challenge to get everybody in place. just a reference um you know 15 years ago we would maybe have a handful of these um in the last school year we had 53 and so that is just a different landscape for making sure we have licensed people in front of our in front of our students. So changes that are coming um we have two coming in January Minnesota paid leave and then the laws that pertain to break and meals are changing in January 1. So we are working to get everything in place to make sure that we are set for when those laws change. And then um one change that happened in September uh is that the Minnesota Minnesota OSHA awares program now applies to elementary and secondary schools. For years it did not apply to schools but that change was made. The primary difference um just to give you a brief background of what that means um we had a lot of things in place that already made us compliant. In fact, um a year a few years back, our transportation department because it's in house, we did have to be under the awareness program. So, we had a lot of the foundation in place. But the two things that really make a difference, um we will now be spending more time on what are called near misses. So, we ask people to report a near miss and then we will spend time investigating that and doing what is needed to prevent um an accident in the future. And then um although we've always investigated or mostly investigated um incidents in the past, we have a more formal process for that. And that's those are the two big things that changed. And then goals. There are superintendent and schoolboard goals that have been issued to the human resources department employing highly qualified educational assistance. So we will meet that goal this year. it'll be 100% because we do not start individuals until they are highly qualified this year. So that goal will be met. Employee certified teachers and all teaching positions. We were close to meeting that goal. Um we were within a percent. Um last year we still have um the the part that's going to hold us back from meeting that is we have four speech language positions that are open. They've been open for years. Um we we have techniques and strategies we've used to to um recruit them, but there are only so many speech language pathologists out there and there is not enough of them to meet the needs of all the school districts in the state. Then employees completing the benefit portal by during open enrollment. We put in place a electronic system last year and so this year we'll have a percentage that need to um to enroll in that to meet that [clears throat] goal. Employees completing vector training by November 30th. And then non-classroom teachers subbing. We have a benchmark that we're trying to improve on so that we have um fewer of those situations during the school year. So that's what the human resources department is going to be focusing on this year and stand for any questions that you may have. >> I my ears perked when you said special permissions because I know that the ALC is looking um aggressively for an agriculture ed program teacher advisor. Would the special permissions qualify to to fill that position if somebody were interested? >> Yes. >> Science, right? >> Yeah. There's there's two ways that that can happen. One is if maybe I am a teacher that's in a an area that um we have more applicants than we have teaching positions. Um so social studies is an example. So they already have a license. if they had an interest in that type of field, the special permission is something they could add. So now they can teach agriculture. Or the second and probably more likely situation would be I have a um a bachelor's degree and I have a skill set where I could um probably do well teaching students and I have a background in agriculture or I have some type of training that would be tied to that. then they get what's called tier one um special permission to teach. So we have autofield permissions, we have tier one teachers, and we have tier two teachers. The tier 2 teachers, they're in a teacher preparation program, so they're moving towards lensure, but a tier one would most likely be the best fit for an agricultural. There's probably people out there that have that skill set and if they could do well with kids, we would want them to apply if we can't fill it. >> [laughter] >> Just putting it out there. >> Oh yeah. I was going to say on top of all this lead negotiator, wisdom and compassion and time. Holy cow. Like I think you said next or two weeks from now, every single slot is full filled. And I appreciate all the time and effort you and your team are putting into these negotiations. I think it's uh negotiating in good faith. It's wisdom. It's like I said, compassion. and I really appreciate that. And that's pretty much all you're getting. So, nice work. >> Thank you. And I have a lot of help. I have a lot of you sitting with me. So, thank you. >> I just want to get over that, right? Thank you very much. [clears throat] >> Okay. I got two questions for you. One's kind of off of the special permissions. You said uh 35. Do you know how many of those um are special permission into special education? >> Uh I don't have that with me right now. So sorry >> my next one is the break and wheel laws. What changes are we expecting? >> Yeah. So there there's always been the law for for brakes and and and wheels. Um the biggest change so when you're looking at breaks in the past you had to provide an adequate time um for each four consecutive hours. Now um you have to provide 15 minutes or longer and um in the past it just was to utilize the restroom. Now it's to utilize the restroom and so there's more things that you have. So there's time management on breaks. The second part is the meal was um in the past you just had to provide sufficient time. Now it has to be at least 30 minutes and um how often it used to be eight or more consecutive hours. Now it's six or more consecutive hours. So a lot of what we have in place we're probably compliant the majority of our um programs were compliant with this automatically. There's a few things we'll have to adjust a little bit um to make sure we're fully compliant. >> And then Joe's got our final question for you. >> No, my question was if equally asking everybody the same question. >> Yes. >> What's the human resources stance or feelings about late starts? >> All right. [laughter] Okay. Well, the the biggest connection that human resources has to um probably in two areas. One is um with cabinet discussions about it and two is um with uh meet and confer. So meet and confer is one the largest group the teachers that provide the input on the calendar. So um we have that input and then with cabinet we're getting a lot from instruction and and so on as well as um all the other programs with the basis on instruction right now there's um I would have to answer from a human resources standpoint that it is um important for the late starts to to [snorts] do the PLC's properly. um human resources we also work with our operations and I already have heard the feedback from some of the operation end and I don't want to dislute that either I just you know they able to answer their part and you asked specifically from human resources >> okay Mr. And anything that Jessica, did you have your hand up? Okay. No, I just want to thank you as well as once again Wendy and Ty for the work you guys do. It's your pleasure. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Our next uh report is the administration. >> Two quick topics report. Uh and uh first uh school district officials and the police department did meet to review uh communications during the recent fabricated social media thread. It was a really good discussion and uh came up with some very smart simple [clears throat] changes to some of our procedures. I don't have that listed here but they'll be easy to do and I think will you know further enhance our communications. Uh the second item uh is radon testing. The um the latest report that we have for radon testing results for the secondary schools and the transportation building uh is attached and uh the results are generally good but there was one slightly elevated reading at the middle school. There's no further action required [clears throat] uh beyond required periodic monitoring. Uh but we felt it was important to share results not only with the school board but with the public. So the full report is there. Chuck is here to answer any questions if you have any. You can either do it now or you know later when uh not during the day. Either way, >> so I know on radon uh as an electrician we provide an outlet in the ceiling or about in the roof of a house so that when if there's radon detected they can then go up and plug in an exhaust fan. So, I'm guessing radon is abated through ventilation. So, are we either adding abatement or ventilation currently for that middle school to combat that or is our new proposed uh air handling units going to address the issue? >> It's a great question. That's why Chuck was invited. [laughter] >> With our new air handling system, that should all be taken care of with that. Okay. >> And when we say as high as 2.1, usually at 4.0 is when you start having issues and you want to start mitigating to get rid of it. >> Okay. >> So, we're still underneath that. This this is a every two years we test for radon. So, this is nothing new. It happens all the time. So, it's just making you aware of what the results are. >> Thank you, >> I have a question for Kirsten. um not being on social media and seeing what's going on, what weaknesses did we have in communicating that we're addressing? >> Yeah, I maybe I can give a couple of examples and they're really simple things. So, for example, um you know, whenever we have a press release that involves law enforcement in any way, we're going to make sure that they get copies of that release statement, you know, immediately. they being >> uh the police department. >> Okay. >> So u so for example, we communicated with parents and with staff members, board members about what happened on Friday uh when the ammunition was found on school grounds. So we did a good job writing up the message, getting it out to, you know, to those stakeholders. Uh but we didn't send it to the police department. And so that was one of the requests they had for us is just to make sure that if there's something involving law enforcement, we include them on it just as an FOYI. But I think that that is such a smart, simple, nocost effort. Uh but but it can help. Um there are some other things. uh for example um how we uh process emails uh during uh the you know the quote unquote crisis and I thought we made a really good step because Chris Linquist and I went over to the middle school on Monday to help respond to those emails and other inquiries. Uh, and so I took over responding on behalf of Heidi Critley because she was running the investigation and um, you know, so that was a really good start. You know, sometimes I'd meet with parents so that you know, Heidi wasn't taking time away from the investigation. U, but there were little things like uh, at first I didn't have a private space to do that. While we've identified where that's going to be in the future if that happens again at the middle school. So, it's really simple things like that. Um, you know, as far as changes in some of our procedures. Yeah, I felt really good about the actual communication efforts and the content. I know there are many people who might disagree with that because they wanted an earlier notice or they want more details, but u we feel really strongly that we did not want to interfere with the investigation at all. So, we didn't want to prematurely release information because that could have impacting things quite a bit. Hope that answered your question. >> Yeah. So, you're saying we currently have policy and procedures in place for a situation like this and we're just tweaking them and yes, that answers my question. >> Yeah, I think we could u memorialize those procedures more. So, um you know, we have some some more vague statements about that. So we can write those things down as far as what we've been doing. Uh but then we're tweaking some of that as well. >> Good. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions or comments for [clears throat] >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Anderson. All right. Moving on to agenda item seven, action items. Again, as we move forward with action items, you'll each get a chance to to speak, but I'm going to make sure everyone has a chance to speak before you get to have a second time to summarize your opinions. Uh, two action items for tonight. First one is the bond ratifying resolution. Uh it's a resolution relating to the just over 14 million general obligation facilities maintenance and tax abatement bonds gratifying this award of sale prescribing the form and details and providing for the payment. Michael Hart our representative from PTMA will provide an overview and answer any questions and this will be a roll call at the end. Michael all yours. >> Thank you. Good evening uh schoolboard superintendent members of the public happy to be here. So, uh, tonight I'm going to review the sale that we held last Monday morning related to the first part in a two-part financing structure that we started talking about, uh, you know, a few months ago this summer related to your parking lot projects that are funded with what we call a tax abatement bond in the indoor air quality projects that were part of the school district's long-term facility maintenance plan. That was approved first by the school board and then by the state of Minnesota over the last few months. this work for my slides too. Vanessa or >> she scroll down? >> Depends how patient. [laughter] >> Yeah, I think it will be faster if you if you're able to. >> No problem. >> Um, so you can go on to the next slide actually. So, we held the sale last Monday morning, October 20th, and we received uh we set a date to receive bids, and we received bids from eight investment banks across the country with the lowest bid of coming in a true interest cost of about 3.75% from TD Financial Products uh in New York City. And you can see when when we review that, we really happy with the the overall market rates. the the fact that those top few bids are very close together tells us that we got had a very competitive fair process and received a strong rate in the overall market for the school district. The next slide shows a summary of what this result is um when compared with the numbers that uh we would have presented to you earlier in the year. And um you can see that we were had assumed the true interest cost of 4.59% this summer. That did include.3% of market cushion. Um so it was above market interest rate at that time for our planning purposes but we are you know more well more than we're more than half a percent below what we had considered to be the market at that time which is you know so we had favorable timing. We also had a really strong bidding environment in terms of there had not been a lot of school districts in the market in recent weeks. Um and uh the overall economic news long-term interest rates have declined pretty significantly over the last few months. That amounts to when you talk about total interest cost that's about a savings about $1,370,000 compared to and just on this first part compared to the numbers that we saw prior to this summer. >> What was the savings that taxpayers >> $1,370,000 and that's a good point. I mean this these these funds are uh all coming from the taxpayers and the local taxpayers via property tax which is shown on the next slide. Um I'm showing you the tax impact that we're estimating now um for the overall projects together. The numbers that I presented to you in July was a a tax impact on an average home of $385,000 of about $20 a month or $239 a year. Based upon what is going to be in your your final levy, which will be reduced a little bit b because of these results from what you saw in September, um that levy increase is about $85,000 less when you we also put the new valuation data in there. So that tax impact is about $218. So about $21 less than what we were expecting earlier in the year. So we're right on target inside of that um expectation early on because of the favorable results. We're also presenting here um some you know a range of valuations and different property classifications in Minnesota. You pay property tax based both on the type of property and on which your property is valued by the county assessor. The next slide shows what this looks like. in terms of your overall debt structure. Um, and I think what's worth pointing out here, you can see the the dark blue color bonds. Those are the voter approved bonds that were originally approved um primarily in 2017. And then you have some green older indoor air quality LTFM bonds. The blue and the lighter blue and yellow color represents the indoor air quality and the abatement of this new bond issue. You see that first year is bigger than the future years. It's designed so that we have a second financing to fund the indoor air quality project is a 36.2 million project. We're only funding about the first $13.5 million with this particular financing. And so we are planning for that second issue and um we do not expect taxes to go up again next year related to this project. So the the second issue will fill in that gap and we would expect it to be steady going forward. Okay. Out of transparency we have the sources and uses of funds which shows the detail of the cost of issuance for the professional services as a part of this overall process. It also shows the breakdown of the two the two overall purposes the facility maintenance and the tax impment components of this. And then in terms of the calendar or timeline, this process started formally with the school board's action on July 28th. We had a public hearing and some additional discussion at your August school board meeting. Documents were submitted to MDE. Um and we received approval from that in the month of September. The school district also held a reading call in actually in early October which uh Moody's investor service provided a credit opinion that's analogous to a credit score. uh for an individual and it was a it's a really strong report. I know it's available at the district office of detailing that the district you know financially is being managed very well at this time. We held the bond pricing a week ago. You have your ratifying resolution or that's the action tonight. The funds would be received by the school district on November 18th. Subject to your action tonight. What's next after this? We have been working with your partners at Psy Logic to understand how quickly the money will be spent and we'll work with them through that process and to the extent we're able to make investments and fixed rate investments to maximize the interest earnings on those funds we will do that uh given when the funds were are needed. Of course, those investments are very restricted and very safe types of investments. We're not talking about stock market here. We're talking about safe FDIC insured CDs, US Treasuries, that kind of of thing. And then whenever you're borrowing uh with tax exempt interest rates like the school district is, the federal government sees that as a subsidy. It is a subsidy to the local school district which allows you to borrow at lower interest rates. And the IRS has lots of rules tied to that. And some of those rules are about the investment of those funds and how you spend funds going forward. and we'll help you with the compliance and and monitoring of those rules and regulations in order to maintain the tax, which is important for you going forward. So, you have a resolution in front of you tonight that ultimately ratifies the sale that was awarded last week and was held. Um, and I'm happy to take any questions from school. >> Any questions prior to the motion being made for Michael? Sure. Just to kind of take some of the financial talk out of it for the public so that everybody understands what's going on because of the moves that we made and the um positive market changes with this particular first chunk of bond and that $1.3 million savings is actually going to help us save money on the next round and reduce those taxes going forward. Yes, our expectation is that uh taxes will be lower over the 20 years >> compared to what was presented to the board when was originally approved. Correct. >> Okay. See, no more questions. >> If I could uh just add one thing to [clears throat] uh want to thank uh Michael for your work on this. uh you really shepherded us through the process and DD caring really understood our financial position and budget and you know housing growth in the in the area. I was really impressed with both of you. So thank you. Thank you. >> Mr. one last minute question. How much did our fund balance help with the interest rate that we have got? >> Yeah. So that would have um shown up most as a part of that credit rating report. You'd have an A1 rating as a school district today. If you remember um I don't know exactly how many years ago, but five to seven years ago you did not have an A1 rating and that would have resulted in a higher interest rate from that. >> And so and when you talk about a bond rating, by far the most important metric is your general fund unassigned a fund balance. And so making sure that that is in a good position which you're in a really strong position today. You're not in an excessive position either. I mean we're not here we're here to be a school district. We're not here to be a bank just to be an investment company. And you know we don't want anybody to think that's what we're doing. But you're in a much stronger position and that is reflected in this. And so again to bring it back to a credit score you have gone from having you know a low credit score to a high credit score which reduces your interest rate as a school district. >> Good question. So, I guess I'm just pointing out what a good fund balance does for us. Saves us a lot of money in the long run. It does saves the tax. >> Thank you. You have a question, M. What are your thoughts on the 90minute late start? [laughter] >> I'm just kidding. >> Since we're asking question, [laughter] >> I'm pretty surprised you didn't see that. I know. I was like, "Fuck [clears throat] approval of the bond resolution as presented and recommended by administration." >> Is there a [clears throat] second? Second. >> Thank you, Mr. W. Any discussion on that motion? No discussion. This will be a roll call vote. So, if you're in favor, say I. If you oppose, say nay. Mr. Humphrey. >> Hi. >> Sanderson. >> Hi. >> Mr. Sher. >> Hi. >> M. Cle >> I >> Mr. Working. >> Hi, >> Miss West. >> Hi. >> And I am I as well. Motion prevails. Thank you, Michael. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next uh agenda item is 7.2 the school year 2026 2027 calendar. This version was is what was presented at our last board meeting. Um as a first reading, there have been some minor dramatical changes were made to but the content is the same. Mr. Anderson will provide a brief update to answer any questions. >> Uh yeah, again as you mentioned we made some changes that I believe Robin suggested during the meeting on the lefth hand side. The uh meet confer committee uh which consists primarily of teachers but also some building and district administrators uh almost unanimously endorse this particular uh calendar. Not quite 11 out of 12, I think, or 10 out of 11. And uh we recognize that late starts are not ideal. So, you know, don't get me wrong on that. Um it is complicating for transportation, uh somewhat for food service, and you know, certainly for uh many parents. Uh the problem we have is that you know, we need time for professional learning communities and staff development. uh one of the big issues that's coming our way and we won't know the details until after the new year starts uh but we have to provide training for our some or all secondary teachers in the science of reading and one way we're hoping to do this uh with the 2728 calendar is to provide some or all of that training during late starts. So that's one of the big headaches that we would minimize by having continuing our late starts. But there also means in terms of professional development and other staff development. Uh I know Stacy worked with a group of uh people uh discussing how the content of late starts um could and should change. And so we're hoping to see some uh enhancements there as well. All right. Are there any questions prior to our motion being made? Mr. Humphrey, >> are there any options being talked about as far as I mean meet and confer? Is have we discussed any of this with our customers like the late start thing? And then are there all sort are there any other options used by other school districts that maybe mitigate that hardship? We've looked at u many options. For example, combining the late starts into a full day of professional development. >> Sure. >> You because then you're trading time and we actually really like that. The problem is that uh we're pretty low already on how many um days, you know, we have in the calendar for student contact. And so if we reduce it further by one or two days, that really complicates things. It would also require us to change many of our contracts to allow for something like that. So, that's one of the options we've looked at. U you know, we could consider adding days to the duty calendar for teachers. You know, that's always a possibility. Uh there are pluses and minuses to that. Um, you know, one of the things that I'm really intrigued about, and I don't know how this is going to shake out, uh, but we did agree at the last meet and confer session to have a subgroup or, you know, at least another group review how we do our parent teacher conferences and, you know, are there different ways of doing it so we could free up time in the current duty-day calendar for teachers to do PLC work uh and or staff development um outside of the school day. Uh but that's going to be a lengthy discussion and you know I don't think it'd be ready for the 27 or that calendar >> but we are hoping that we could do something like that in 2728. So so we're still you know we would like to find uh you know a better solution um if we possibly can but it's going to take time to figure out. Thanks. >> We have a question before our motion. Mr. Shock, I got a question for you. What are your thoughts on I don't mind them, but there's quite a few others that are not ahead. >> Oh, thank you. Um I think I've made my standard on this, but I just wanted to uh make it known yet again for those at home that have not heard it yet. Um, while I will support this calendar, I will vote in favor of it. Uh, I would like to see or see if the recommendation could be made from the school board to get rid of late starts the following year and to go on rotation for spring break to be right after try to and at the end of March or beginning of April. I don't know if this needs to be decided tonight or we put it on the calendar for another meeting. So I would request that would be an action item. I would request a request to meet uh to add that to a future agenda item. I know confer that that calendar is not coming to us instantly and I know we want to try to get it at least earlier than what we did with this one. But if if you have that, I would have that request sent to superintendent myself and we'll get it added to a future agenda. [clears throat] >> That work? >> That works. >> Make a motion to approve the calendar. >> All right. There's a motion to approve the 2026 2027 school calendar as presented and recommended. Is there a second? Second. Mr. Work. Any discussion on that motion? See no discussion. Uh if you are in favor signify by saying I and raising your hand. >> I motion prevails. Thank you. Next agenda item is upcoming meeting and community topic. Any questions or comments about the upcoming meetings or topics? and I put a note on it for Rob said something on it as well. Okay, see no questions. Next one is school board member report member working. Yeah, I just again superintendent Anderson for their uh diligence, calm demeanor on that day that we had this school bus um catch fire. Appreciate you guys for sure. It was a tough day for us as parents and the district and especially us that had little girls on the bus. Um so thank you. Other than that, I don't have anything else to share. >> Mr. Humphrey, >> uh, I'd just like to encourage, and I think I brought this up earlier, but whoever wants to discuss things, please leave your name so I can get back to you. I'd love to have a conversation on this. Hearing lots of good input. Maybe we take away the difference between girls and boys sports and just have football or just have gymnastics or um, you know, plenty the whole spectrum, whatever, whatever it takes. But this is in the early stages. I know it's kind of imbalanced right now, but um it does no good to just kind of I mean this is probably an outside influence like kind of we got a lot of things uh you know otherwise they would have signed it because they would have understood that we welcome the conversation but um I just like to encourage anyone who has a has an interest in talking uh you could give me a call 612-6854530 or >> Hey that's my number. >> Oh wait that's Rob's number [laughter] >> damn it you caught me. But uh so I I just it nothing to run from. We all I mean I don't have to agree with someone to have a conversation. I'd like to learn about some of these things too and what where you're coming from. I don't understand uh a lot of what's going on here. But uh you know if it's important to some people even if it's in the high minority um that's something that should be taken into consideration. That person's vote if they're within our constituency is every bit as important as anyone else's. Um although not signing this. kind of looks like some sort of national talking point thing. So, I'll take it as that since no one signed it. But, please get a hold of us. Let's have the conversation. Thank you. >> Member just um congrats. Monty isn't here anymore, but congrats to Monty. If you don't know him, he's just a great man. you walk in there just a smile on his face. He just welcomes everybody into that building. Um went or had technology negotiations. I think they have a TA with them. Um went to the blood drive last week. Got an update there. It was the turnout was amazing. I went in that was my first time I donated at that high school. I donated at different place but the camp what was it probably 10 beds there. It was amazing how many people were there. Um, what [snorts] else we got? Oh, delegate assembly. I got voted back in. So, thank you for those that voted for me. Uh, and then I donated a lot of stickers and vinyl and stuff to the district and it's just gotten to a point where I need to start charging because it's just more than I can keep doing. I don't know if the board would support me charging for some of the stuff that I do. I still don't make a vast majority. Um, if there's any recommendation on what to do with that, whether I just make a detailed list of what is done and what's been charged or just donate what I can and leave the rest to others to do [snorts] or is that for? And yeah, maybe that's something that uh Brandon, Chuck, and I could discuss, you know, um because I I get where you're coming from. Every time I walk under the entrance into the high school, I know that you did it and walk through the elementary schools with all the stuff on the walls and the floors, you did it. The insignia that, you know, they're just all over. And uh that costs time and money for you. And so, but perhaps I think that's something that we can discuss and then we can bring it to the board. >> Yeah, we'll we'll take a look with our lawyer on the conflict of interest. >> Yeah. >> Piece as well and then have it brought back. Perfect. Thank you. That's it. >> Anderson >> just been attending negotiations and want to thank both Brandon and Kirsten for all the referations attending them because Brian's keeping us really busy scheding them like two, three, four weeks. So, it's good. We're getting strong. >> That's all I have. >> Thank you. West >> um a couple of things. Um I worked at a Cedar Creek and Monty was um there at the time and the students adore him. He was he was always a popular name. Um labor negotiations. If you are interested um what's going on with labor negotiations, you can go to the St. Francis website, go to um give me one second to our home. go to the menu and the drop-own tab leads you to district info. And if you go all the way down to the bottom in the district info tab, it will take you to the information um regarding where we're currently at with negotiations. The only reason it won't be posted on there or it will be frozen if it's under mediation um and then it tends to be um not advertised or put out there. So, there's a lot of good information regarding um you know where everybody's at on the um negotiations and negotiations, correct me if I'm wrong, are open to the public unless they are um under mediation. >> Yeah. If there's at least one school board member present. >> Yep. So, anybody who's interested um and wants to learn about how negotiations work um who can they reach out to to find out the schedule because it's pretty crazy, but it's it's interesting. Find out if you want to attend a negotiation as a a bystander. Um >> I think the best person to contact would be Brandon. >> Would be Brandon. Yeah. Because they are open to the public and they are they're interesting. They're good. That's all I have. >> Thank you. Uh same thing, attended teacher negotiation. Again, still working through language on some of those areas and then we're seeing progress across the board. Uh happy to say that the community engagement task force started tonight. Again, that's our superintendent. We a little bit late to welcoming members. I think we're at 19 or 20 or actually might be over that now. Yeah, I think I left in there. I think uh lower 20s. >> Perfect. So, nice to see that task force going forward. Um I told you I was going to start the meeting with this and I'll get better eventually, but our reach for the stars quote. Uh what I picked out today is to build a relationship that lasts years. So, that's a hopes and goals is for our staff is to build relationships that last years. And then the other one was to make everyone feel welcome as they come into our facilities. And I was supposed to do it at the beginning because that's exactly what Monty does. >> Uh and Monty is that definition exactly. And that's why he got the same star award. But two awesome goals that our district staff have. And then the last piece I have is I'm going to switch up the seating so Rob and Jake don't have to fight [laughter] me going forward. She touched me. [laughter] >> Yes. And then I'm referring a few seconds to Barb for the play that I was supposed to mention. Do you have the details, Barb? >> I do. I was just going to mention at the start Alice in Wonderland um is November uh 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th and at the high school. So that play Alice and Wonderland coming up and you know they always do an incredible job with those performances. So, um, encourage people to go watch the play. >> Perfect. Uh, two more items before our next schoolboard meeting. There is an election uh for a vacant school board position. So, please, uh, encourage all of the residents to go out and take a vote. Uh, it's important to get out and vote and help us fill that. And then the other, uh, bless you. The other thing is the Veterans Day at the middle school. Uh you saw a post if you're on social media uh about this today as well. Uh the first one is at the middle school on Monday, November 10th, which is before our board meeting. And then I'll remind you again for the high school one on Tuesday the 11th, but 8:00 to 8:45 it is open to the public. We highly encourage anyone that knows of a service member or a service member to attend. Uh the middle school does a great job of putting that on and the high school's got a great program as well. Uh that's all I have for my report. Uh agenda item 10, adjournment. So we need a motion to adjurnn the meeting. Is there a call motion? >> Anderson. Is there a second work? Any discussion on that motion? >> Okay. All in favor of the motion to signify by saying I raising your hand. Motion prevails.