Good evening. 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, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. Good evening fellow school board members, district staff, and community. As a reminder to all of us, the mission of St. Francis area schools is to equip all students with the knowledge and skills to empower them to achieve their dreams and full potential while becoming responsible citizens in a dynamic world. Member Anderson is not present tonight due to a previously scheduled trip. Our first item for tonight is the adoption of the agenda. Are there any questions prior to a motion being made on the agenda before you sir? Is there a call to motion till September 22nd? Thank you. Second. Any discussion on that motion? >> Seeing none, all in favor of the motion signify by saying I and raising your hand. Motion prevails. Thank you. Our next agenda item is the Saint Award. I'm happy to have this back for the school year. Uh the SS Star Award was 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 our district. The first Saint Award for the 2025 2026 school year is presented to St. Francis High School social studies teacher Kelly Lejinsky for his recognition as the 2025 grade 9 through 12 educator of the year by the Minnesota Council on Economic Education. Now in his 23rd year at St. Francis High School, Kelly earned the award for outstanding achievements in innovation in economic and personal finance teaching. In addition to teaching geography and both high school and college level economics at St. Francis High School, he also serves as a wrestling and softball coach and served as the St. Francis High School social studies department lead for nine years. about his work on economics teacher. Kelly said, "I love how economics helps students make sense of the world they live in. A lot of economics boils down to decision making, and I find my students are making decisions that will set the trajectory of the rest of their life. I'm hoping I'm helping to steer them in a positive direction." A former student of Kelly shared a letter of support for his award and said, "Mr. Leinsk's economic class gifted me more than an understanding of the world of economics. It gave me a purpose. He has developed a program that is up to date, ever evolving, and truly engaging. Please help me in celebrating high school social studies teacher Kelly Levinsky. [Applause] Nice [Applause] job. >> And now he's going to provide a lesson on economics. >> Done in about a half hour. >> All right. Thank you. All right, our next agenda item is consideration of visitors. Tonight we have 17 individuals requesting to speak. We will allow two minutes per speaker. Uh I ask each speaker that once your time is reached that you make your final statement quickly to be respectful of everyone's time. Again, two minutes uh for each group. Our first one tonight is Melinda. Melinda, you are first up. first. Okay. Um, I'll make this quick. Um, first of all, I just wanted to say, um, congratulations on the NCA scores that we recently got. Um, 6% increase in math scores and, uh, reading score 3% higher than the state average is nothing to laugh at. Um, and I want to say that those scores I think are made possible in large part due to our education assistance. Um, they put a lot of work and a lot of effort into helping our students achieve the best that they can and I think that they are a vital part of the team with the teachers and the rest of our education staff. So, I wanted to congratulate us on those scores and give a shout out to that vital part of the team. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, Melinda. Our next speaker is Haley. Hello. Hello. All right. So, I feel like most feel or think that I'm here to be malicious, and that is far from the truth. The last thing I want to do is jeopardize my child's privilege to ride the bus when he has done nothing to lose that privilege. I have asked the multiple people I have spoken to throughout the ladder of staff to please correct me if I'm wrong at any time, but that has yet to happen. The issues have been going on since the second day of school. They have been brought to attention to multiple people, even as far as the Minnesota Department of Commercial Vehicles, which led to a sergeant ending up with body cam footage of the bus not using their lights properly and not stopping at the stop after my child's correctly. Between the safety signals not being used on multiple occasions for various reasons and my child crossing the road behind the bus, this was all communicated to the bus driver multiple times. They ended up moving two stops, the two stops on our roads that have been as stops for 10 years to busy roads. At this time, I did receive a notification my child's stop was moved. And I did call about that. When making any of the calls I have made over this time, I was treated with attitude and treated like just out to get like I was just out to get this driver and that is not the case. The next day, I was at the new stop and way after his normal drop off time, I did call and ask where he was to again be treated with attitude once letting them know who my child was and what bus I was calling from. I was told the route had changed and had no notification of this. This did result in emails being sent and the spots being moved back. I didn't receive any notifications that the stop was moved back. So, I did reach out Monday morning to verify that this change was set and was told that they were having issues sending notifications. I was told camera footage would be watched and the driver would be talked to. Things change for a day or two, then resort back to having safety concerns again. My biggest thing is if we were having app issues, why were we not notified? And how many talks do we give to somebody before we actually take action? Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, Haley. Our next speaker is Kathy F. Kathy. >> Thank you. >> I want to preface this by saying I haven't done public speaking forever, so I want my role visual. Um, thank you first off for your willingness to listen to the EAS and learn a little bit more about what we do and a willingness to listen to why we want um the offer of 1% raised um to be revisited. So, I like many of my co-workers have worked with preschoolers, special ed students, kids with complicated behaviors, elementary, middle school, and high school students on small buses, vans, and large buses seating up to 70 plus students. It is for the most part our sole responsibility to provide protection to the students to ensure safe transportation and maintain orders so the driver can focus on driving with minimal distractions. While on the bus, EAS often interface with students who need immediate attention in one way or another. This could includes include seating students, securing their seat belts or wheelchairs, or interfering during their presentation of disruptive or harmful behaviors. As a result, EA's face the possibility of being kicked, spit on, bitten, scratched, having his or her ears his or her hair pulled, and or being screamed at or swore at. It could also include dealing with physical or verbal altercations between students and serving as a first responder in an injury, health, or medical situation. We are also trained to assist students with bus evacuations and emergency. So I think we want to emphasize that we believe that we're critically important to the success of a bus ride, a safe bus ride and it's important to the drivers as well. We have some support for them um that we provide them with that opportunity to do what they do best. So, thank you once again. >> Thank you, Kathy. Our next speaker is Christy Mel. >> Good evening, guys. Um, I'm here because I have taught in three states. I have taught 25 years. I've been in center race programs. Um, I've been in lockdown facilities and without EAS, oh my goodness, I don't know what we would do. So, just full preface on this. Um, I'm definitely changing my thoughts and points of view lately. Um, a lot of things just bring words to my mind right now like protect, honor, belief, blessings. And then I think about this because and my son just joined the Marines 20 days ago and then I think about God how are we treating everyone around us. Um so like just look around you. This is only partial of of what we see in the district. These are our blessings. They're people. These individuals are the heart of what we do. The question is how do we show them that they're our blessings? We show them through caring and compassionate ways. We talk about how we interact with each other. Without them, where would we be? Where would this district be? So why in return do we offer so little? Like we check a box and say I we did the job. I just why do we hesitate when we come to negotiation? What are we truly doing? What do they truly deserve? Why can't we offer what's fair or right? I don't understand why we do not show people their value. We need to demonstrate that. Show them we believe they are the true blessings in every sense of the word. It is time for salaries to reflect it. I'm so sick of it not being competitive. It's not comparable. We can't hire compared to the next districts. Who wants to come over here then if they can't afford to even live? The district needs to thrive, but you have to invest in people to make it thrive. >> Thank you, Christie. Our next speaker is Leah. Is it men? >> I thought there would be a speaker. I have a little video to have you guys listen to. >> They're there to help the tough times pass. With steady hands and patient harps, they play a thousand unseen hearts. They help the cos. They tie the shoes. They cheer kids on willing to lose. They calm the storms. They guide with grace. They bring the peace. They set the pace. Through every struggle, every tear. They show up strong year after year. Their daily work deserves more praise. It goes unseen in many ways. Their gifts belong on center stage but rarely match their modest wage. They're labeled just a helping hand yet hold the wages you understand. They stand beside through every trial with quiet strength and steady style. Let's raise our voices loud and clear for those who show up every year. It's time to match the work they do with pain that's fair and honorable. Thank you. >> So my other thing is is we've asked the school board to come numerous times in the past. I know a lot of you are new, but we'd like you to put on your tennis shoes and come for the day in our shoes. Not just an hour, not two hours, the whole day so you can see what we actually go through. Thank you. Our next speaker is Jensen. Hi everyone, my name is Brianna Jensen and I teach at Cedar Creek in one of the setting three specially designed classrooms. During my day, I work directly with seven EAs and get to see firsthand the impact they have on students and the impact they have on my classroom. Without these EAs, my job would be impossible and I know many other teachers, Gen and Specialized, share the same sentiment. A few of the tasks that the EA's complete in my classroom include, but are not limited to, behavior management, taking students to the bathroom, onetoone work with students, assisting students while participating in small groups, helping students to access communication, oftentimes through the use of AAC, monitoring health needs, transferring students using specialized equipment such as gate trainers and standards, helping students to access their gen classroom, supervising students at recess and lunch, including food preparation, and there is so much more that they do. I'd like to quickly touch more on the behavior management piece. All EAS in the district are often asked to learn and memorize extensive behavior plans, collect accurate data, and effectively manage student behaviors. During these behaviors, EAS are often kicked, punched, slapped, bitten, pushed, grabbed, spit on, or yelled at. They may have to run after a welcome child or make split-second decisions to keep the student, the students classmates, and themselves safe. Despite all of this, they keep coming back. The EAS in our district are worth more than gold. However, we are paying them less than you can make working at a fast food restaurant. If you ask me, I would say give the EA everything they ask for because without them, some of the most vulnerable populations of our students would be left unsupported and many of our classrooms would crumble. Thank you for your time and to the EA that are here, thank you for all that you do. I promise it does not go unless Ashley Norley. >> Hi. Um, my name is Ashley. I have a son named Brooks who goes to Cedar Creek Elementary School in third grade over here. Um, context first was diagnosed with level one autism which is formerly known as the Asperers. Um, he's fun, rambunctious, but does have some behavioral issues that our school has been so graciously um, accepted with us um, throughout the years. Um, he is no stranger to the EA support that we have here in our school district at Cedar Creek. Um, and each one of them, even tonight, came up to him, give him a big hug, and we're so excited to see him. Um, the support for them means a lot to us. That being said, um, I heard from other school districts that they're being paid significantly more than what our school district is. I know that government funding and other things come in contribution of that, but Hopkins is getting paid $25 an hour starting for their EAS and the Andover School District is getting paid, I think about $20 an hour. Don't quote me on that, but I know significantly more than what we pay our EAS at this general moment. Um, for the future, I feel like EAS are more of a domino effect. you're going to have your EAS, they're going to leave us because they're not going to be able to get paid a living wage in our school system. We're going to lose our EAS. Um your your job openings and your descriptions are going to go un unanswered and the and the the jobs are going to be um not filled. So then that will lose support for our children such as my son in these school systems where my son deserves to thrive in a school district or in a school system where neurotypical children can thrive. Um, and that when you put the EAS into the classrooms, they help the teachers out or when my child will alope to like the outside door and the teacher has to stay in the room while the EA goes and chases him. If there's no EA in the classroom, who's going to chase the child out the door? So, we are here tonight to support our EAS and say they need the biggest raise possible because they are superheroes and I for one support them with my entire heart and very Thank you, Ashley. Our next speaker is Elizabeth G. [Music] >> Hello to all of you. Um, I'm here on behalf as a grandparent to a special needs child that has the benefits of the EAS that are amongst the district. I guess my first question to all of you would be, how many of you on the board have a special needs child? Do you understand what it takes to excel with these children? Your EAS do. And I've seen how my special granddaughter has excelled. And when I hear about the wages and you're not taking that time to look at what does it really mean your children are all going to be excelling because they're considered normal. Well, my granddaughter is normal and excelling because of these EAS. You take them away because they will to higher wages. Everything's going up in this economy. They're all going to want to look for more money as well. And why would you take an EA away? Our my granddaughter walked in here and this room filled up and lightened up because they all knew Lena. And you want to take that away from them because that's what will happen. If you guys can't afford to pay them, they will move on. So recognize, give them a hand, gratitude, just give them a great big benefit and know what they do for our community and our district. And as a taxpayer, and I haven't had children in this school district for 35 years, but I have grandchildren now in this district, I am upset to hear that they're dealing with a wage because I pay for a lot of things that I question with all of you on this board. I vote for you guys. I do all this. Show me what you can do for our EAS. Okay. Thank you very much. >> Elizabeth, our next is Serena. >> Serena. >> Well, that's my grandma, but I'm not here to speak. Helina is >> what are you an advocate? >> You're an advocate because you love your >> and they they help you how >> they help her get off the bus. >> They take you to your class. What else do they class? >> My locker. Go to her locker >> and get my food. >> Get your food. >> My food. >> Yeah. And >> reading and math. >> And reading and math. And could you do that without your EAS? >> Yeah. >> No. And what would mommy have to do? Come to school with you, wouldn't I? >> So I'd have to hire daycare for my youngest if I had to come to school with her. Yeah. But you have EAS that you love, right? And you don't want them to go away. >> And so you need more what for them? >> More money. We don't want them to go away. >> Could you do what without your EAS? >> No. So this is how important these these women and men in our life have almost become aunts and uncles to her. and we walk in here and she's all hugs for them. And I I can't say enough how much it is important that she has them in her life. And we don't want to lose these people cuz you have the biggest hearts in this district that I've seen. Lena has been with them since help me grow when she was born. this this district has been amazing for her and we are just scared we're going to lose them because I do know Henipin pays a lot more and we're just very very worried we're going to get too much turnover that's not going to be as helpful to her because we're just hiring to fill empty vacant seats that's not what we want we want [Applause] Thank you, Lena. Our next speaker is Tanya. >> Hi. Um, I've been here for seven years and I have seen turnover after turnover after turnover. And I'm going to read you something. I'm an EA. I get you off the bus. I get you to class. I help you at lunch. I stick with you. I help you with your studies. I do not just walk around and read you a story. I have up to 15 kids in my pit sometimes and I have to constantly help them with their behaviors, with their needs. I draw with you. I wipe your tears. I read you. I walk you through your day. I'm there for you. I love you like nobody else. Sometimes I get you on the bus and I say goodbye. We need the whole entire EAS here really care about the kids. We love our job, but try living off of a salary that's barely livable. My husband says to me every day, "You wouldn't be anywhere. You wouldn't have a house. You wouldn't have anything without me because of your salary." And I feel like we're worth a lot. We deal with behaviors. We deal with abuse. And that's hard to do every day. But we all come back because we love it. We ask that you look at us like we are real professionals. Like we really do matter at the district and we want to stay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Rachel Johnson. Hello. I have red on, but I get too hot. And so now I had to take it off. So, okay. So, I'm Rachel. I'm the resident of a Cedar Creek Elementary. Um, basically, I'm just going to kind of have you imagine you were an 8-year-old at school. New toys, new school, new routine, but you have ADHD. Your body itches with restlessness. Your brain bounces from thing to thing. Your desk is a mess. Your assignments are late. But you have an IEP. This is amazing. This is a specialized plan to help you overcome the tricks that your brain's playing on you. And this is where your EA shines. They work with the students. They understand them and how their brain works. They give them breaks to move their bodies. They help them focus as they do their assignments. They know more than what is just written on the paper. They know them. They know that these students cannot sit still and that they are not lazy or inattentive. They are student advocates and they are student allies in a system that kind of wants to put everyone in the same mold. Now, look at it from an EA's perspective. Not only do they have one student with needs, but they have multiple students because we don't have the the ability to put one student with one EA. So, they're working with small groups and classroom management. They're stepping up and helping where they can. They're accepting the job with no questions asked, even when others would not step up to the challenge. I know um that I cannot do my job without them. They know how the classroom is run. They know how things are done. They are the thing that keeps the classroom moving because they are able to um help those students that need that help when you already have so many other children that you are having to delegate and and do stuff with when you are a substitute teacher. Um education would be impossible without them if they were not in our rooms with us. So it's time to consider them giving pay that equals their worth. And that is why I'm here today is because I think that they are worth it. And like they had said before they become aunts and uncles. I know so many EAs that have texted parents when kids aren't there. What's wrong with them? How are they okay? How are they? You know, we really are like a family to them. And these EAs are so onetoone and close with them. They deserve more. >> So, thank you. Our next speaker is Aaron Gerber that did. >> Yeah. [Music] How do you say it? Groan. So Aaron G. >> Yeah. How does that work? Can I get three seconds back? I guess so. All right. Um, thank you. Um, so I I'm a sped bus driver and I've actually worked with some of these guys over here and u but I guess the the real reason I'm here is I'm just kind of hearing some rumblings um kind of secondhand and I guess there's calling for my boss's job and I'm kind of concerned about that. You know, I guess I'd like to address the young woman that came up here and if we can look into this and more and find out what's going on. Um, but for the act for the calls of her job just um over this, I think that's that's a little much. And um I I think we need to look at this and see what we can do. Um, and that's what I'm asking for. Um, you guys all know her and that she does a hell of a job. She cares about her kids dearly here. So do I. Um, there's nothing that I probably wouldn't do for my kids except for things that would put them in jeopardy on a bus. So I thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Aaron. Our next speaker is Verlick. >> Hi, I'm a retired RN decided to be an EA. My husband retired early so he became a bus driver before age 65. Um we have about 54 buses um at St. Francis plus fans. Not sure if the sped buses are included in that number that 54, but um all sped buses have an ad and vans have an EA. Um kids, we love our kids. The EA that's how we do this. We love the kids. However, I've been spit on. I've been kicked. I've had my hair pulled. Um I've been pushed. I've been sworn in. Um, most I would say most of the EAS or most of the buses that buses have at least one child that has a seizure activity or diagnosis. It's not what you typically see in the movies, the foaming at the mouth, the chronic movements, but just even a stare or a rapid blink or even a slow blink can can um be a seizure. And the EA has to be able to identify that this child is having a seizure. so it can be reported. There are not nurses on buses. Like I said, I'm retired, but um we also hook up wheelchairs. We have preschool buses. Three to five year olds. Um um the the bus drivers have to keep their eyes on the road. It's dark. There's deer. Every day we see deer on the road, you know. Um the kids on are typically all the elementary guaranteed they're standing they fall because the bus driver maybe has to step on the B. Every time that bus driver is looking in their mirror there it's 10 a t good 10 seconds off eyes off the road. Um so that's what we're there for. We're there to keep those kids safe. Um the just a FYI the typical um just kind of a um you know we need quality EAS not just quantity quality but just food for thought. This is off a zip recruiter. An EA would have to work 1,280 hours or at least 9 months fulltime to typically make what a board member makes in the um 20 like $24,000 a year. >> Wow. just food for thought. That is a problem. Thank you. >> Yeah, if I could just respond to the last individual, I'll tell you what, our board members don't even come close to earing $24,000. So, I'm not sure you're talking. >> Yeah. They would have to work like eight years and years. >> Okay. and state I looked up um >> well yeah regardless it's not it's not stateary schools and I would say it's very few school boards in the state so just >> our next speaker is Alyssa Christian >> Hi there my name is Alyssa I work over at elementary as EA I am speaking tonight on behalf though of the EBES second grade team. Uh good evening. We are the second grade teaching team at Eastville Elementary School. We would like to inform you of how invaluable our educational assistants are to the students and the teachers. Many of the classroom teachers are supporting 17 to 32 students depending on the grade level. The quantity of students qualifying for special education has been increasing over the years. In order to support our students effectively, we need and value our educational assistance. The EAS have worked hard with the EAS we have worked with have supported our students in numerous ways. Educational assistants reinforce our lessons, support instruction, and provide social and behavioral assistance. They ensure our students receive individualized attention necessary for academic and social success. They facilitate positive interactions with peers during specials, lunch, and recess. Some work with students in a one-to-one capacity as I do, but many are asked to support multiple students in multiple classrooms with limited staff as I do as well. The amount of commitment and dedication the educational staff show at East Bethl is amazing. They remain positive even through their workload. Even though their workload is over and above, they jump in and help out where needed. Many of our EAs are taking both physical and verbal abuse from the students, but we continue to push through and show up every day. In order to retain quality educational assistance, we are requesting that they are compensated for their hard work and dedication. Thank you for your time and consideration from the EBS second grade team. I also want to speak and just say that I believe we are worth more. We are valuable. I work with kids that literally would not make it through the day if I was not there. So, I just want to make it known that we are very, very important to the school. Thank you. Our [Applause] next is Caroline Holmes. >> Good evening and thank you all so much for your time. It's so great that you guys serve our community in this way. I'm here in the school district as a parent and a former educator. I've taught in Minneapolis public schools, Anoga Henipin schools, and St. Francis schools. In the Minneapolis public schools, I did not have much support as a teacher, and that was a very, as you can imagine, challenging environment. But anytime we had volunteers, it was a welcome help. In Oka Henipin schools, I worked as a substitute teacher for a number of years and immediately I could walk into a school and tell whether I had good support from the administration and the staff or I had no support at all. Um, in schools where I did not have good support, I just refused to go there anymore. It wasn't worth it. It was chaos and it was ineffective education. There were jobs that I were off that I was offered um where I could teach remedial math to a classroom of maybe 15 20 uh middle schoolers without any support and I turned that job down because there was no support. It was a losing situation. So without pair professionals, which we've heard a lot about tonight, without our EAS, um it's a losing system. And the most important thing about our school district is the people that work here. The teachers, the administrators, the paraprofessionals, the janitors, the bus drivers, everybody in the school board, of course, everybody makes such a big difference because it's people that change our lives. It won't be our technology. It won't be our buildings. It's people that change lives. And now more than ever, we need people that change lives. It begins with our teachers. And we need our pair of professionals. My son is an example of that in the school district. He wouldn't have made it. And he's here today as an amazing adult because he had an EA. Thank you. [Applause] >> Thank you, Carolyn. Our next speaker is Ashley Christensen. Good evening everyone. My name is Ashley Christensen. I've been a teacher in this district for nine years. I come before you not just as an educator, but as a colleague, a 2009 St. Francis Francis graduate, a parent in the district, an advocate, and someone who has seen firsthand the immeasurable impact that educational systems have on our schools, our classrooms, and most importantly, our students. Educational assistants are the backbone of inclusive education. They support our students with disabilities. They help manage behaviors, fill in gaps, and give students the one-on-one attention that every teacher wishes they could provide to every child every day. They are the steady hands, the patient voices, and the quiet heroes in our classrooms. They are not just assistants, they are professionals. They are partners in instruction, champions of student growth, and bridges between students and success. Unfortunately, because our EAS are stretched so thin, they are frequently pulled from their assigned classrooms to cover other rooms where EAS EA positions remain unfilled. This means many students are not receiving the consistent focus support they need and deserve when EAS are constantly shifted around to fill gaps caused by staffing shortages. The continuity of care and the individual attention students rely on is disrupted. Crucially, this also means that many IEPs are not being followed as intended when they're supposed to have dedicated EA support. This is just challenging, but this isn't just challenging for the assistance. It creates significant barriers to students learning and inclusion and success. I cannot count the number of times EA has deescalated a situation that could have ended a student's day. I cannot count the times they have stepped in when I couldn't be in two places at once or when a child just needed someone to listen or when a student refused to work for anyone except that trusted EA who believe in them unconditionally. They do this vital work often for wages that fall below a livable standard. Many of them work second jobs. Some rely on public assistance and still they show up every day for our kids. They show up with love, with energy, with patience and with a skill set that very few would truly understand until they've stood in the classroom beside them. Let me be clear. Our schools cannot function without gay. Please just do the right thing. They are people who have left. Thank you. >> Thank you. Our last speaker is Michael Ross. Michael, >> uh, good evening. I wanted to come here tonight because somebody contacted me um that was said that they had seen some things on social media about some of the safety things that were going on at St. Francis area school. So, I wanted to respond to that. Um I'll give you a little background about myself. I'm starting my 39th year as a commercial vehicle driver. 36 of those years were spent at UPS. during my time at UPS all of those years I was either on safety committees or served as a safety co-chair um so it's given me a lot of experience about um safety I have a deep desire in safety um and that's why I came here tonight um during that time at UP uh recently um three years ago I retired from UPS and I wanted to be a bus driver all the things that I endured and endured driving at APS. Um, I found out that driving school bus was very difficult. In fact, I got hired in in July in December. I turned in my resignation. Things were so difficult. I said to myself over and over again, there's no way that I can do this job without having an accident. At any given time on a school bus, there could be something going on that causes you to do things maybe a little bit differently than you would like them to do. Some of my other things that I do here at St. Francis, I've been asked to be the school bus trainer. I can tell you that training is hard and difficult. It's not easy. It usually takes four to eight weeks to train a school bus driver. Um, many times they get frustrated with me, but it's my commitment to all of you to give you a school bus driver that is can not only pass your test, but that's safe. Um, I just want to let you know that um, there's been a lot of conversation that I'm hearing about what's going on there and we are committed to doing the best that we can. We have a person at the top that is the glue to this transportation department. Nobody can do what she does and nobody will ignore what she has endured. Thank you. All right. Thank you all that spoke tonight. We truly do appreciate the interaction with our community and our staff. Our next item for tonight is the consent agenda. There are currently six items on this meeting's consent agenda. It will be a little [Music] Okay. Uh, continuing on on the consent agenda, six items tonight. It will be a roll call vote. Are there any questions or requests to remove an item from the consent agenda prior to motion being made? All right, seeing none, is there a call to motion to approve the consent agenda? Thank you, Mr. Is there a second? Mr. Any discussion on that motion? All right, seeing none, again, it'll be a roll call vote. Call your name signify by saying I if you approve name if you do not Mr. Humphrey >> thank you Mr. >> Shing [Music] thank you Miss >> West >> and I am I as well motion prevails. All right, as we move forward into agenda item six, information items and reports. Again, try to hold all questions and comments to the end of the report if you could. We have four informationational reports this evening. Uh the first one tonight is the media center report. Our district media specialist, Claudia Verville, will provide a summary of overall conditions across our media centers and share current statuses, concerns, and some next steps. The report does not require any board action. Hello. As you said, I am Claudia Burville. I'm the library media specialist for the district. This is the beginning of my second year in this role. I'm currently enrolled at St. Cloud State University to obtain my media specialist license. And with that new lens, I took a look at the media centers across the district. And the first thing I looked at was staffing. We have full-time staffing at our elementary uh media assistants and myself. And then at the secondary level, it is a part-time coverage. Uh there's a part-time media assistant at the middle school. And then at the high school, we have our career counselor shares that job of she also covers the media center. Uh I then decided to take a look at the age of the books in our collection. We have 78,000 books across all media centers in the district. And in looking at them, they are getting a little dated. Um, at the middle school, the average age of a book is from 1991. Uh, if you look even closer at some other sections in the library, uh, the magazine, the maps and geography, the average age is 1974. So, we're presenting books that have countries that don't exist anymore to our students. Um, and then if you look at the high school, the average age is 1995. And my daughter didn't like it when I said these are old books because she herself just turned 30 and uh she didn't see what um and then at the uh elementary St. Francis Elementary the average age is 1998 St. Francis um or East Battle is 1999 and then Cedar Creek is at 2007. So we do have some older books out there. So then I decided to take a look at the circulation as a literature that is an important thing to look at in my media uh classes. And so I thought the best method would be to compare uh what the circulation looked like 10 years ago to today. And I discovered something that was pretty surprising. Uh at the high school 10 years ago 13,000 books were checked out by the students. Last year, 1,300 books rejected. That's a nearly 90% decrease in students reading books from the collection. Um, the middle school a little bit better, but not great. 59% decrease in circulation. Uh, the elementaryaries are a little bit better, but that's because we have regular library visits. Kids are coming down, but there's still a decrease at St. Francis Elementary and East Bethl somewhere between 24 to 27% decrease and then at Cedar Creek we've had an increase in our circulation. It's the only district only school in the district with an increase and that's 46%. Uh so moving forward what I would like to do is I'm going to do an inventory across all of our collections to confirm what we have don't have and then we've reached out to Falllet Destiny which is the company that helps us manage the collections and they offer a service where we can partner with a collections expert. They will help us create a waiting list to remove the outdated materials that are filling up the libraries and then we will pull those items. They will then um meet with us and we'll create a replenishment list that will kind of set the stage for several years because of cost of books. We can't bring them all in at once. So, we'll kind of create a plan. Uh right now, we have the funding to do one library. So, we'll start with one and then as the funding becomes available, we'll take this service through all the rest of them. Um, and then because of this huge task, I'm thinking for the high school, it would be really important for us to bring in a media assistant full-time because to put this on the current person who's the only career counselor to manage career counseling for all our students and to help rebuild the collection, that's a lot. So, I'm hoping that that could be something you would consider. I'm also hearing from people at St. Francis Elementary. Their population has grown. They have five sections in many of the grades and they kind of need another special. And the so maybe when the media assistant that is working there retires, we could consider putting another media specialist in at that school to be one of the rotations because um then that would solve the problem of the uh specials because they're having to divide classes up for the specials because of the five sections but only four specials. Um and so that might solve that problem. But my hope is over the next few years that we just build our libraries back up to be, you know, vital resources and a learning hub for our students across the district. Anybody has any questions? >> So with the big decrease in books being checked out, do you see that as kids not reading as much or ebooks are taking over? We have ebooks in the collection at the high school and they have tried to get the students to use them, but they're not using them. Um, yeah, I'm sure using phones and the internet and everything else. But when you're looking at, hey, do you want to come get a book that's 35 30 years old, you don't have current books here to offer, they're not going to be interested in it. And we don't have somebody that's there promoting reading or engaging with the students. I mean, the person that's there is doing an excellent job, but they're a career counselor and that's going to definitely be a big focus for them. >> Anyone else have any questions? >> Yeah, I'm a little concerned too. I think like the LMS uh is it just because the one so what we're extrapolating is that um Cedar Creek has the LMS directly um that's why there's a 46% increase there >> yes I think that there's things that I've been putting in place even before I when I was the assistant there um you know and putting in reading challenges for the students uh reading diverse materials for them to get them engaged trying to find materials and bring I've been trying to update that collection. You can see that they're 2007 is the average age of at Cedar Creek whereas at the other schools it's older. You know, when they see that that new book that's of that great new series that's coming out, you know, it brings the kids in. >> That makes sense. And my uh my mom was an EA and a librarian when I grew up district 11. And I just I just don't know if I think times are really changing. Like I mean we talk about old equipment. I mean if we talk about math I mean Pythagorean theorem is like a thousand however old that is. I just I don't know if I mean it seems like it's really a big deal for us to get the younger kids reading. But I know that even though the high school has one book per student being picked out basically. I don't think they're missing reading. I know my kids in particular they read all the time even though they haven't been to a library for probably years. it's just Amazon or eBay or other blah blah blah. So I'm wondering if we would be wise to maybe cut our losses in the upper schools and feed more into the elementaryaries where it's like actually our customers are using those services. And I'm not saying this anything critical. I'm just we need to put everything on the table before we start throwing money at something where I mean you know one book per person. I mean heck that's hardly worth the effort. And and I I mean I respect libraries. I read voraciously. My kids are made to read all the time. We're always having to read. If only we been readers. We love reading. I believe it's more important than anything. I don't necessarily know if a high school library means that they're going to be a better uh reader. I think that starts way earlier. And it looks like uh we have we have an opportunity to really flood the market early. Um so I I I I had a little bit of concern with those numbers as I'm sure you did as well. And it was surprising, right? I I was surprised. I do see that media centers are more than just about the books. We could be rebuilding something at the high school that could tie the career counseling in with what's going on in the media center, bringing in speakers who maybe are in the trades. They could give demonstrations to the students. We could be having a writing center in there where students help teach other students how to do their reports. I mean there are vast other things that could be going on in that media center to you know bring it up. Uh you know reading for pleasure is obviously very important and we're seeing a decline. It's very hard to get the older kids even fellow classmates in my courses are telling me they're having to struggle to get the kids in the upper grades to come to check out the books. But there's other services and things that we could be providing in them. But um that would take having someone that's, you know, in there trying to drive it, uh promoting books, putting them on display for the kids to come get them. Um that kind of stuff. >> I like it. Any other questions or comments? >> Yeah, we did a great hire. You know, we take to you about what was it a year ago? just over a year ago and it's it's so much fun to see kind of the progress that we've made so far and I know you have bigger plans for the future. So, we're on the same team and obviously we have to prioritize, you know, because there are other departments and other needs in the district. But, um, yeah, you're doing great work. And by the way, I I told Claudia two to four minutes um for the presentation because she is so passionate. She would give so much more information about what's happening and what will happen. uh but she did uh document a lot of that information in the reports uh that are attachments. Uh in addition, I included a section from the the educational plan document that lists different things that have happened over the years and you can see that there's a lot happening now and so thank you Claudia for and >> thank you. >> Yes, Claudia. Thank you. Um, I know firsthand, uh, what someone that's passionate about, uh, libraries and books and media centers, uh, can do. Uh, you have definitely influenced my daughter. She absolutely loves reading, and that's because of Miss Claudia. So, I appreciate all that you have done, and thank you for the detailed report. Absolutely. It I didn't get through all of it since the board packet came out, but there is some there's a lot of good information in there, this drawer, I'm kind of analog, so I print it out. And yes, this is great. I really appreciate it. I've read through it already a couple times. It's concerning at points and then very in-depth and comprehensive. Thank you for that. So, I have a question for you. Like, first of all, thanks for coming in. I know when the book thing was going on, we asked, "Hey Kate, can we talk to our book person?" Everybody's like, "Oh goodness, witch hunt." It's got nothing to do with that, right? I appreciate your position and obviously it's discouraged to stand up here. Kudos to you. Um, but my question is, what do you think is the why do you think people aren't reading to their kids? Why do you think kids aren't reading >> at their early ages? I'm sorry. >> There there's so much out there to be competing with, you know, the the movies and and uh I don't know it there's ways to bring them back to the reading by, you know, gamification and uh presentation and and the things that I've been doing at East Beth or at Cedar Creek, which I'd like to bring to some of the other schools. It's it's bringing the kids in. It's getting their attention because their their attentions are everywhere else. Um, but readership has definitely increased at Cedar Creek because I'm kind of presenting that kind of stuff to them. So, I think that's that's what I'm learning about in these classes is different ways to attract the readers, different ways to bring them in, you know, and bringing in stuff that they're interested in, listening to the kids and finding out what is it that they want. If you bring that in there, you're going to get them in there. And you know, studies have shown if if our kids are reading that they're going to be sorry in so many different ways, you know. So, >> fantastic. I I agree completely. I I've said this a hundred times. There's nothing more important than getting your kids to read early. I remember reading to my wife's, you know, tummy and then I remember having reading the baby when they don't understand and have them read with you and then they read on their own. It's just I I it kills me when I hear parents say, "I don't have time." It's ridiculous because they're going to be spending so much more time having to explain life to the kids later when I mean I'm already having great conversations at a young age because my kids love to read and it's the simplest most enjoyable thing in the time whenever I get back. I wish more parents did it and I appreciate your effort in that regard. >> Yeah, we'll we'll plan things like reading nights like we're we're working on one to bring in the EL families to get them to the school and do a reading night and help them build those connections. It's those kinds of things I think that will bring them back to it. But it's there hasn't been anybody doing these things because we've just had EA support in the libraries which they're not trained to do all the things that I'm working on right now. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Our next item is academic achievement results. This director of virtual instruction will report on the most recent MCA scores as well as the educational plan for district 2526 school year. >> Hello everyone. Good to see you. I I just have to say a plug for her. She if you've not seen her in action, you do need to go to Cedar Creek and see all the things she has going on there. If that was happening at all the sites, I really think we would see the increase just like Cedar Creek's happen is doing. And so I'm just yeah, she was a great hireer. I'm glad she's here. Um, so hopefully you had a chance to look at MCA results. One of our speakers uh already highlighted that we are having growth. That's a great thing. Are we where we want to be? Not yet, but we are on the increase two years in a row now. Um, so hopefully you noted that. And math did a slight increase, reading a little bit more increase. Um we had um highest profic proficiency in the past four years in both math and reading. So we are starting to go that right direction. Um we had reading proficiency increases in grades five, seven and eight in math in four, six, seven, eight and 11. So we are seeing grades that are having some uh progress as well. And then because of that, I wanted to also talk about what plans we're going to continue to do to keep that direction going that way. Um, and so I don't know if we can put up the other slide that is Karsten's. Um, um, it was just his document, I think. Um, but I'll talk while she's finding that. Um, so our plans for this year are we're finishing up that letter study that we've been doing in elementary. Um, and so we have our final two units next year in person, but all our online work will be done this year. So they're now getting comprehension and vocabulary training, which will, I think, also increase our scores because before it was all that phonics work. Now we're getting into the comprehension side. Um and then next year, uh 912 or actually 612 gets their version of a letters training. It's not released yet from the state, but um they will also be getting some kind of training. Um and then math is also starting to switch based on what the state is asking us to switch to the new standards in two years. So this year we are starting to move grades uh K1 and N. That is the timeline suggested by the state um that they start shifting into the new standards because in two years they actually test a new test for the MCAs. So they do need to get the learning of the new standards to be prepared for that year in testing. So for example, our first grade needs to be ready for third grade testing in two years and our ninth graders need to be ready for the 11th grade testing in two years. So they are starting to make those transitions this year. Um and we are starting with basically the standards that are similar or the same. So it's not a huge change to get started but next year we will have to jump into some of the brand new standards. Uh we have our co two math coaches now along with two uh literacy coaches so that we can divide and conquer more of this work and our math coaches are working not only in K5 but also in 68 and that is exciting. They've already had all their meetings with all the principles and they're making plans um and so we hope to continue to see growth there. And then our two literacy coaches are sharing the three elementaryaries as well as one of those literacy coaches is our district literacy lead. So, she's helping me also with 612 ideas and some of the meetings that we're having with those folks. Um, so we're getting some support for all levels. Um, I have been introducing a document that helps support testing and teaching called the achievement level descriptors. And this is a fairly new tool to teachers, but it helps them really um direct their teaching to specific skills and what kids need to be able to do to meet and exceed in the test. And it's not only for the test, it's really for the best teaching. So, those are things I'm meeting with teams about and going through those documents so that they know how to use those and can apply them into their teaching. Um, I'm gonna switch that. Looks like it's not really showing up for just pull it up here. >> That's okay. >> Yeah. Thank you. [Music] >> So, Carson also had his document attached in the uh the resources there. And so, I'm just going to jump down to uh this year and then next year. So those things I just talked about are in there as well as maybe a few other things like for the following year. Um we have also we're starting to do more blended uh between our special ed department and my department and I have Sam Holland working closely right now with middle school special education teachers. Um and we're kind of doing some work in the elementary too. So that's sort of new. We hadn't we've kind of had our own departments, but we're starting to come together um to make sure we are bridging that education for all. Um let's see what else do I highlight? Oh, early childhood is still uh remember they got a new curriculum called Frock Street. So, they are continuing to train on that and improve early childhood training. So, things are happening at all K12 levels. And then math. If you scroll down, there is also some math plans like our math packs that we're continuing that we believe is impacting scores. We are now starting math packs in 68 as well. So, um, the version that would work for middle school. Um, and then I have curriculum reviews starting in K5 for math this year, and that's a two-year process. And then 912 math is finishing their last year with me this year and hopefully we'll adopt some new curriculum. We also have to redesign courses because there are some brand new standards we've never had to teach the data uh standards and so they are already started that work and they're really actually excited and on board. Um and so we've been doing some of that work already. Um and then science you might have noticed isn't out yet. It just isn't released because it was a new test. They just haven't finished. So, I'll come back and present that when they have that out and ready to go. But basically, everyone has new curriculum they're using in science now. And they also were introduced to those achievement level descriptor documents to help them with teaching. Um, and so we hope to see some growth there as well. Questions? >> When you hear the word proficiency, what are they saying? That means that they are meeting benchmarks of those standards at the level that complete rigor and level that they are written. >> So there's like no 40% being anything like that. It's what how would a person look more into that or >> Yes, I can probably get more information too. Um certain certain types of um questions are tested more than others. So like numbers and operations and math would be tested more than maybe geometry. So they really want that number sense for kids that questions or comments. Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay, next item is the first reading of policy 721 uniform grant guidance policy regarding federal available sources. Administration and policy committee have reviewed and recommended the changes outlined in the board packet. Uh this is will be an action item at our next board meeting. So it's just the first reading. if you have any questions or comments. Um, we do have a policy committee member and we have Brandon I has any questions on the first read. >> Seeing none. All right, moving on. Administrative report Anderson just a few quick updates. Uh, first of all, we did hire an additional kindergarten teacher at East Bethl Elementary School due to class sizes. We had about 10 kindergarten kids who enrolled the last week of summer or the first week of the school year in just east of kindergarten. So it sort of blew up our projections, you know, obviously. Uh so the new teacher started or the the teacher started today um after spending about a week working with students and families with the transition. And the transition was really well done. Uh the teacher and uh I'm sure the kindergarten team and Melissa just did a really nice job getting the kids excited about switching classrooms and reforming friendships. So that was very impressive. Uh I cannot uh go by without mentioning uh concerns about the heat and humidity in the buildings. Um, you know, I'll tell you what, when you walk through uh the buildings, there are some areas that are not airond conditioned and it's it's really challenging and I realize it's been a a warmer September than usual, but I notice it and I just walk through it. Um, I can't imagine a PE teacher, for example, teaching in that kind of setting. Um, and you know, other teachers in other areas. So, thank you for what you did with the indoor and quality project work that you approved a month or two ago. Um, it is sorely needed. Um, and our kids, staff, and parents are going to appreciate it. So, again, I appreciate that. Uh, and as you may remember, it's a threesome process. It's going to take time to get all the work done throughout the district, but we made the commitment to do it and u we'll get it done within those three years. Meet the candidate forum is on September 23rd. That's tomorrow at 7 p.m. right here in the district office. >> Oh, 8:00 p.m. Oh, thank you for pointing that out. I'm sorry. I have the wrong time in agenda. So, I'm looking forward to it. I'll be there. Um, and uh, it's always good to hear, you know, even though we only have one stated candidate, it's good to hear what she who she is and what she believes in. I think that's important for all of us to understand. So, thank you for coming tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. U, homecoming is this week and I I didn't include the full schedule, but it's on our website and we encourage you to attend as many activities as possible. The one thing I pointed out is the Hall of Fame induction ceremony. I know that there's been a lot of work that's gone into this. It's the the list of people is is quite impressive and I learned a lot about this community just reading, you know, some of the uh bios of the people who are being inducted and it's it's amazing. Uh Dax has been putting a lot of this stuff on Facebook page so you can at least look through to see what these folks have accomplished. And then finally, I'll just mention there were some comments about transportation uh earlier today and you know Peggy Tesl does amazing work. So, I want to emphasize that and uh certainly probably the toughest job in the district at the end of the summer at the beginning of the school year is a transportation supervisor because literally she and her team are making arrangements for thousands of kids. They're changing all the time. We got 10 new kindergarters at East Bethl. Some of them need transportation. So, they're shifting all those um you know, Rob assignments and um it it's a really tough job and I think I hear fewer complaints in St. Francis with bus transportation than I ever have and this is the biggest district I've worked in. So, I think that says a lot about the routing specialists, the bus drivers of the whole team. It's not perfect. Um, I think the u uh the individual who was speaking tonight had some uh concerns that she expressed uh and she spoke with several of us including myself. I think I think all of them that we can address have been addressed um as of today. Uh the only outstanding issue is is our our bus app that parents rely on to find out where the bus is and when it's going to be, you know, at their house. I don't think it can give that information when there's a subd driver. That's my understanding just with a brief conversation with Peggy. And so the app, you know, I think is working now with with regular routes, but if there's a subd driver, it might not work. So we're we're still looking at that. But I just want to mention that she she does great work um just like other employees throughout the district. And uh you know, she has my full support Any questions or comments? All right, see none. We'll move forward to uh agenda item seven, our action items. Again, uh I'll ensure that every board member has a chance to talk before we get a second shot. Everyone's going to get chance to speak. Uh we have four action items for tonight's meeting. Uh agenda item 71 is the approval of preliminary levy certification. PD will provide the proposed levy for the 2025 payable the 2026 tax year which is the school fiscal year of 2027. Nobody's tracking up. After she provides a summary, we'll uh we'll be asked to certify the maximum levy authority. Good evening. >> Thank you. Um good evening Mr. chair, members of the school board, and superintendent Anderson. Before you tonight is the preliminary uh tax levy for fiscal year 27 as Chair Bird um brought forward. Um it's an important step in the process for the budget and for that fiscal year. Um so I'll give a quick background on why we have levies, how they work, and how it is for school districts. I'll summarize the major changes that we'll see through the process. And then at the end of all of this and we'll be asking the board to approve the levy, preliminary levy at the maximum. And I'll describe that a little further why we use that terminology of maximum. So state statute requires that we have a preliminary tax levy in place by September 30th of each year. And what that does is then provides an opportunity for tax information to get to our our um Anoka County and Axis County um in particular for the auditor to prepare the tax statements. So that broad is brought forward and then the district goes um must then certify the final levy in December and um the meeting for that is December 8th. There's an opportunity, it's called the truth and taxation meeting which is held prior to the board making authorization on it. Community then has an opportunity to speak up and ask questions about that in particular. So fall of 25 um like every other fall we have the uh property tax levy brought forward. The state of Minnesota Department of Education calculates the levy on our behalf. Um, and they do it for property taxes collected in 2026. So, starting next um, May, that'll be the first tax levy collected for that. And then, as we mentioned, it's the basis for the budget for 2027. So, when I said earlier, we'll talk about the maximum. What the maximum means is that it it's allows the school district to levy based on state statute and what is eligible what we're eligible based on those state statutes. It does not mean we can levy anything that we want, but we follow the rules and follow the state statute um guidelines. And many times this time of the year, the state is not quite done with all of their levy calculations. So, it could be that information hasn't um been received. Say maybe it was a um changes in enrollment or it could be changes in expenses um or net tax capacity. Any of those changes that might occur can change the levy. So, as you saw, I updated the levy because it changed on last Friday. So, I wanted to make sure you had the most uh current information. As of today, no changes in our levy. Now, other school districts might have changes in their levy. So, that maximum just allows us to get it close to right before it comes further when it comes in December, which will be the final. So, when we look at what causes increases and decreases, well, I talked a little bit about this the ch um state uh law and how that is is completed. Um and again it's the district's ability to levy for financial resources which is highly regulated by the state. Um and then also pupil unit and population changes. The pupil units are um one of the key factors in most of the general fund budget as far as their le house levies are. The population that's more related to community egg. So it's the number of people in our community. It's how many um children we have that are under age five that drive those funding formulas. And then the market value and tax capacity changes meaning the value of all the properties within the district boundaries. What is that changing? So if it is increasing it can have an effect on our levies. Um, as levies in the market value increase, sometimes this it's considered that you can afford district property owners can afford a little higher levy and so state aid might go down just a little bit as an equalization factor. Likewise, if our market value goes down, you might see an increase in in the state aid component. So, I'm happy that the state calculates all that for us. Um but that can be another change. And then finally and this is probably to a lesser extent change in expenditures. So sometimes there are some levies that are based on the expenditures that we have for the district. Um but that is um less than than most of the um least case scenario. So the one that does happen in is sometimes in um LTFM plans but we do have a limit on that too. All right. So, total levy for the district um is going up about 3.4 million. And I'm going to get into all of these categories, but the first thing I wanted to point out, the general fund is going down about 197,000 or 2.97%. The majority of the reason it's going down is based on those pupil units. So, decrease in pupil units and as well some adjustment from prior year. um re relooking at the enrollment as to what that final number was for instance in 2024 on community service the decrease that we're going to and I'll talk about that is going down 10.58% sounds like a lot and I mean on a $325,000 um levy going down by 34,000 is significant but that too has to do with population um for students as well and we'll tackle that a little And as um Dr. Henderson just brought up um >> Superintendent Anderson, sorry, my last district he was doctor, so I I'll just give you the credit. As um Superintendent Anderson um noted, your action previous month on the on the debt service in order to do the LTFM and the abatement bonds is what's driving up the increase in the debt service. So um so next just quickly going through the general fund um RMV stands for referendum market value. So when we look at properties and especially in a rural area like this referendum market value stands for properties um the house and garage and one acre. So if it's an agricultural property and they have 100 acres only the house garage and one um acre is considered in the valuation for that calculation. Um net tax capacity or NT NTC is the all the property regardless there it's agriculture or not. So commercial industrial um apartments etc. So, the R&B voter approved if the district had an operating referendum that would be included in here. The um the district does not. The referendum other I'll go over that in just a minute. So, those are other categories going down about 494,000 has to do again with student population and past populations. Uh and then NTC voter approved would be if we had a capital project referenda that would be in here. and then the other I'll go through that in an upcoming slide but overall going down 2.97%. So the categories on here are all driven by student population. As I mentioned earlier, local optional uh revenue or LR is going down slightly. Um $84,000. Equity is decreasing by 19. Um and equity, I want you want to make sure you understand that's not a program in a classroom. It's an equalization. it's equalizing the revenue that we get in rural Minnesota compared to the metro area. So they call it equity sometimes gets confused um by individuals transition aid um going down slightly and then the biggest adjustment is that 389 and again it has it stems from an adjustment from 2024 for the local operating for optional revenue excuse me. And then when we look at the bigger category under the NTC um levies, uh not a lot of changes on most of these. Um you'll see the biggest change on there is the annual OPED. So the OPED stands for other postmployment benefits. And what it is is a levy that is calculated by an health actuary to look at what are the um uh other post-employment benefit responsibilities of the district. And there's two categories within it. And I'm kind of getting into the weeds on it a little bit, but there's what's called implicit subsidy and subsidized payments. Subsidized is direct financial contribution form of an employer toward a retirees benefit costs. So previous contract say in teachers or whatever group where we have an obligation to pay forward those benefits that's part of it and then the other is called implicit subsidies. It really based it's based on what is the increased cost of premiums for an employee that is still working versus a retiree. So retirees always tend to cost a little more because they have more medical needs or whatnot. So just having them on our plan raises up the cost of that and so you can levy for that as well. And by the way, that being able to have the retirey benefit, it is a state, it's part of state statute that when you have a retiree, they can stay on your plan. So overall, the the $297,000 increase in this category is mostly due to that levy. Okay. Move on to community services. Again, as a reminder, this is based mostly on population. Um so the community ed levy decreased as a portion of aid increased which decreased the levy. So because our population went down our levy went down and then we received more aid. So that combo of that occurred in here as well which is beneficial to our taxpayers to have um a little bit more state aid. Um otherwise in here the uh school age care that is one that is based on our actual expenditures and we're right sizing that with the projection of $25,000 versus the 30 school age care levy is for children that have additional needs whether it's special needs or they're in a situation where they have an immediate urgent need to access school age child care. So it's a very small portion of the of the expenses and revenue that we receive for school age care. Overall they're levy going down about 10.58%. Okay. So debt service the first section the first three lines the initial debt service debt excess and adjustment are all related to voter approved bonds. So bonds that the district community has approved in the past is included in that. So the initial debt service voter approved is the principal and interest payments on those particular bonds. Okay. And so we didn't get additional revenue. Those are the payments that we're making. And this year was stepped up a little bit. Um um 800,000. Uh the next category, the debt excess. When we levy for our bond and interest payments, we have to by state law levy for 105% of the actual principal and interest payments. And over time that builds up in a fund balance, which is in fund seven, totally different from the others. The state will recalculate that and take that back. Okay. So last year when I came to the board to talk to you about this, we had a $420,000 decrease. This year it's less at 76. So it changed by a positive 343. So I see some heads nodding and I just want to make sure you understand we didn't gain anything more out of that. That's just the calculated difference between them. But that 420 last year did help to reduce our taxes last year. And then the adjustments are just purely adjustments that occur within the debt service. And that you can see did decline from the briefs here. Now the next category um the long-term facility debt debt excess associated with that and adjustment that includes existing facility bonds that you had which are pretty small in nature. And then the new bonds that you're proposing, we're proposing um or you approved, excuse me, and that will be sold in in two different segments. One this fall and then one again in 2027. And so this is including the principal and interest payment on that. That's both that facility bond which um will take care of the indoor air quality but then also that abatement bond which takes care of the parking lot piece smaller portion of I think it's about 268,000 of the total amount um that you'll see there again same calculation on that debt excess and then some adjustments that go forward. So, this is where the bump is in the in the levy for this this year. Um, and it will stabilize over time. And in fact, um, since this was first, um, approved two months ago, and thank you for your question, Annette. Um, it's it's actually gone down a little bit because the tax base has gone up a little bit, too. So I would expect that that would occur as we move forward that you'll see that your tax base will grow and help to lower that overall cost to the taxpayer on that piece of it. So with that, um the recommended action for tonight is again to approve the proposed TAP 25 levy 26 payable at the maximum to allow for any adjustments that may occur um for that just over 16.4 million. Um when we approve or board approves a maximum, we actually complete a form that says maximum. We don't put these actual amounts. I will guess that they're going to be fairly similar to this when you see it back in December. Okay? It's probably not going to change a whole lot more. I'm not aware of anything that we have not sent in or that the state might calculate, but um so again, I don't think I have another slide. Oh, I do have one slide with a little typo on it. I apologize. So, um, next steps are to approve the levy tonight at the max. Then in October and November, probably see any updates to the levy. November, the county will send out the property tax statement. And this is where my error is. December 8th is the truth and taxation hearing. And then at that same meeting, the board will approve that. That again, we have that's a final levy and we will have documentation to send that in to the county, the state. Um, I don't have anything agency that I can't think of right now. But so that's the process that goes forward and I'm happy to take any questions that you might have. >> Yes. Thank you again for providing this information and I just want to um if you don't mind discussing it a little bit. Sure. this page that you provided the board here. >> This is the indoor air quality. >> Um this is the paving of the parking lot and this proposed um maximum levy on here. It's for everything you saw on that last slide. It's for that entire 16.4 million. And then so for and this is for the stakeholders so that they're not because they're going to see this on their their their forms that they get in the mail. >> Um >> so for a home averaging around $385,000 >> they will see an increase in their yearly taxes of about $223 for that's just the indoor air quality and the abatement. >> Okay. All including all other is 244. They're not they're not added together. Okay. So 244 includes that whole 16 million which includes your indoor air quality and abatement bonds. Okay. And that's just for 2026. Correct. And then 2027 we do the second bond and then that 244 will increase. I believe that they have preloaded because that happens in 27 this the actual sale of it. So they've incorporated that into the total figure because if you remember they gave us a figure of 239 for just the bonds. So the timing of when they are is is incorporated in the total levy. I believe that's correct, right? >> I think it be worthwhile for us to double check that with Michael because I had a similar question. Um but my understanding was the same as what DHS. We'll we'll check and we'll let you know. >> Okay. >> Or let the the whole board and community know. So just so our um stakeholders understand if your house your house averages 385,000 with everything we have proposed with the um long-term facilities the pavement and going maximum on the um the taxable amount you're at 385 your um taxes will increase just for the school district >> by $244,000 on a >> 344 Yes. I'm sorry. $244. Yes. Yes. >> $244 on a $385,000 home. Right. So, okay. Yep. >> That's well said. >> Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. >> Yeah. Great question. I always appreciate when you send out the questions ahead of time and I get information back to you. It makes it easier for all of you to see. So, thanks for the question. Any other questions? >> All right. Seeing none, is there a call motion for approval to certify the maximum authority for the 2025 payable? >> So, thank you, Mr. Is there a second? >> Mr. W. Any discussion on that motion? What's to stop us from going for the lower amount to help bring some of that tax burden down for our stakeholders? >> So when you say lower amount, you mean >> Well, you say we're going for the maximum. >> Well, that state will allow, >> right? Which just means maybe it's $16,450. $50,000. You could at your meeting in December, you could choose to what's called underlip. Okay. So, if you choose to say you'd like to drop that down, um I mean even if you remove the OPED bonds, it's I think I calculated it's about $2 a month for a family. So, you could make that type of decision, but it would have to be if you want to significantly decrease it, you'd have to do a lot, but you can under levy. So I don't expect it to be much more than what it is right now. 16.4 somewhere around that amount. Is that how Yeah, that works. Thank you. >> Yeah, >> Mr. and we're not voting now to approve the le we're just approving the top of it. >> We're just approving the word maximum to allow the numbers to settle in to where they should be. Because if we go to a number below that, that's the maximum that we set come December. But come December, we can go to something below that. >> Correct. >> Right now we we need to set it at the highest. I feel and >> yeah, >> we can look at it in December. Otherwise in December we said that >> if you if you did this and say there was a calculation error and the district should have recouped another 500,000 you could not do that because you accepted these numbers right now. So, it's very typical when you're out for say a referendum or a vote of any kind, which we're not, but that you have to do that in order to that have all of that take place. So, I every school district I've ever worked in has done it at the max to allow that flexibility. I wish they'd use a different term, but they use that term. >> Yeah. I guess this would just be a good opportunity for us to say um between our vote tonight um and December when we make the actual vote, we're looking for feedback and input. Um that would be your time to come back and and voice your opinions, your thoughts, your concerns. And this might be more of a question for Brandon, but in negotiations a while back, not this time of being on school board for myself, but the last time I was on, I thought we had sunseted oped. Why is that back? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um there was a hope of trust that funded that those payments for a long time and that dried up as far as funding and doesn't exist anymore. It's been exhausted. There's a pay as you go option to levy but to be able to pursue that you need to sunset the um provisions in the contracts. >> So So we sunseted that and now this is our new pay as we go. Right. And we have that implicit on our on our the implicit subsidy. Again, that's where we we have people that are like my age that have retired from the school district but are still say on their health plan because I'm older. My costs compared to Vanessa are going to be higher, right? So that automatically increases the premiums that others pay because you have they they take the whole blended rate. We don't have a separate policy for retirees. So we won't have that until they change state statute on that. I think we should let everyone know that this is one mandate in education that we're actually funding because it seems like a lot of other expenditures are just, you know, an expense without backing and sounds like we're choosing to step up and fund the retirement as we're obligated, but after uh it had been sunset originally. So, >> it's only money, right? Any other discussion on the motion? All right. The motion on the table is to approve uh to certify the maximum level of authority for 2025 table 126. If you are in favor of the motion, signify by saying I and raising your hand. >> If you are opposed, signify by saying nay and raising your hand. >> Name. >> Motion prevails. Thank you. Um, Mr. Shack, we have to have a document has to be done after we're done with this process. So, we'll work with Vanessa and Adam from the finance team to get that prepared so you can sign that to >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next item is approval of MSBA legislative resolutions. Uh there are two suggested resolutions to the MSBA delegate assembly. Uh this action has to be done by September 24th. That's why you saw it added on tonight's meeting. Uh the delegate assembly votes on the resolution in December. There are two on there. Mr. Shonrock can help discuss the first one if you have any questions and the second one Mr. Nelson can help discuss. First B. Are there any questions for those first suggestion on resolutions? >> Mr. Humphrey, first off, you'll probably answer your question. >> Yeah, I didn't. >> I try not to look at Rob when um before I think this is the first year that you need school board approval. um previous to this schoolboard members and superintendent could submit their own resolution. So that's why it's brought up to one board now. I should have brought probably brought it up earlier this month, but better late than that. But yeah, if you have any questions, just let me know. But I just feel we have one person on for this special election and now we've got to spend thousands of dollars to put on an election. Basically, we already know. So, this this resolution again would be brought to the next legislative session. it probably would not affect uh our case at this time. But what the resolution states is that school districts that have a open vacancy and only one applicant for one candidate uh that they would be willing or have the option to have the board just select that individual rather than it going out and district election. That that answers my question. Was this was this a goal to get this done before November? This is just going forward just going forward. Copy that. >> Yeah. Thanks for filling in because this won't be brought before the delegate assembly until December and they'll go through their stuff and do it next legislative session. So, this won't help us now. It's just for those in the future. >> I appreciate that. Has anyone tried to like just go, hey, I mean, this is so obvious what we got here and we're about to waste 20 grand. That's like four-fifths of one of our schoolboard salaries according to our a friend in the audience. I just think that's a huge amount of wasted money. And I mean it seems like it's common sense and this is not a secret to anyone. We have one person here. I promise myself I'll write and anyone else. I mean the the whole key is because we're covering right in people, right? Come on. I mean even in a regular election where people are paying attention, no one does that. It's like 200 people for Kirby Pucket and 300 for Charlie Brown and that makes block and Kevin. So I don't I I really I can't believe we're still going through with this. So yes, I did call MSBA and ask their legislative team and state statute mandates that we have to run the election regardless of the number of candidates. >> I and everyone else thinks that's ridiculous. >> That's the reason Mr. just want to wrap up and I know board members have discussed this previously as well. So again, we're just showing our support to bring this to the delegate assembly obvious to see if they will make this one of their priorities. Okay, that's the first one. Miss >> I was just curious um were there conversations with other districts and is there tend to be additional support because I think this is like a noer but so I haven't talked to any other districts I don't think there's many that probably went through this one person >> it's got to be a pretty rare for sure. But >> yes, seems crazy. Here we go. >> Okay. Uh second item, Brandon, you want to give a quick overview of that second item and then go to questions? >> Sure. St. Francis area school district has two employment centers in the district and district is responsible for providing the education to those centers. That is not common across the state. There are many districts that probably would say they didn't know anything about what I just said that didn't know that exists. Um the request in this resolution is there are some educational laws that impact staffing. For example, teachers you have little ability to adjust teacher staffing during the school year. It's a year-to-year thing and the agencies that govern the care and treat treatment centers probably don't know that. I don't think there's any ill will in any of this. They just they're probably just like, well, the the school would just react if if numbers fall, but we don't have that ability. So, it'd be to address that year-to-year staffing need that if something happens that the district had no control over, for example, they close the center, the the districts involved would not be that would be held harmless for that year's staffing because there's no ability to adjust based on education law. >> Any questions on that? again we're showing our support for that to move forward on that. I was just going to bring that up. So this is the election year for that serve every two years. If anybody on the board wants to be audit application I think ends end of this week or maybe on Monday. It's coming quick. I think you all should have got an email today that talked about that timeline as well. If you have any questions about that either, just let me know. But yes, I did apply. Okay, superintendent, do you have any on those two resolutions before we take a vote? >> No, I don't think I have anything to add. Thank you. >> Okay. Uh again, uh we are in time for questions. Is there a call motion for approval of the suggested resolutions as presented? So, please Mr. working any Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Shro. Any discussion on that motion? Okay. Uh if you are in favor of the motion, signify by saying I and raising your hand. >> I motion prevails. Thank you. >> Yeah. I'm not sure if action is a resolution. I think it's a resolution that's >> correct. We're just presenting it forward. That's how I put it as cuz it's not an actual resolution for our board. >> But thank you for checking. Uh agenda item 73, approval of board charge of the community engagement task force. So again, this is what we discussed the last board meeting uh that we are going to stand up a community engagement task force. Uh the school board charges a community engagement task force to citizenbased group of district residents to serve an advisory capacity to the administration and school board on long-term planning. The task force will concentrate on school funding, operating pressures, and facility planning. So that is the quick summary. If you look in the board packet, it does break down what the task force will do, how it's made up. Again, this will be um spearheaded by Site Logic to help us with this process to get it going. They will help manage the community engagement. It's not going to be a board member. Uh it's not going to be administrator up there. It's going to be an external source helping us with that with all of our staff and key stakeholders as subject matter experts for um those meetings. Are there any questions specific to what is in the board? >> Um, is this part of the community ed? >> No. So, if there's any fees involved, where where would those fall in? Who would approve them? Who would I mean, how would any fees fall into that? >> Yeah. And Site Logic is doing the work at no cost to the school district. Uh the only potential cost would be if we provided treats, you know, or something like that, but Side Logic is paying for it. >> And there are no other anticipated costs that come with the engagement task force. >> Yeah. The only one exception, I'm sorry. Um, a demographic study is one thing that that I'm pursuing with somebody used to be the city demographer. And so that information will be used by the task force, but we were planning to to do that regardless just so we kind of have a good picture of where we are and where we're going to be in the next five years, 10 years. And that will come out of the general fund that demographic study cost. That's not psychologically. >> Mr. Jordan, >> is this specific to the air quality abatement or is this going forward for the district? And is this time? >> So, it is not specific to the indoor air quality. uh it is specific to long-term facility planning uh as well as operating pressures and some school funding and how that plays into it. Uh we did not set a date as you can see at the end. It's a to be determined. Uh the goal would be for a presentation sometime uh between December and March would be the goal, but we don't want to put an end uh if they're digging into certain areas and they have more to to research and provide a recommendation back. That is our initial goal, but again, not a set end date. But yes, they would that engagement task force would provide a update to the board with a recommendation that may or may not lead to an action item. >> Do we have to call it task force? It sounds scary. [Music] Sorry. Uh it is what they have used across the state many times. I do love it though. >> Any other questions? Okay. Uh we are going to go here. No questions prior to no motion. Is there a call to motion for approval of the charge of the community engagement task force as presented? So move. Thank you Mr. W. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Any discussion on that motion? Seeing no discussion. If you are in favor of the motion, signify by saying I and raising your hand. >> I. If you are opposed, signify by saying nay and raise your hand. >> Nay. >> Motion prevails. Thank you. Uh, next item 74, approval of an Oka County election judge appointments. This is a requirement prior to the absentee voting. Opening opening. Vanessa, do you remember the date from absentee voting? >> Uh, Friday, I believe it was. >> Okay. If I know it was coming quick. Um, I didn't write it down, but I know it's coming quick. So, this is why >> last week it's already open. >> Okay. Uh, we received this information uh earlier in the week and that's why it was added to tonight. Uh, this is all part of the agreement that we already made with the NOA County uh that we approved for them to run the election. This is a resolution and will require a roll call. Are there any questions prior to the motion being made? Seeing no questions, is there a call motion for the approval of the NOA County election judges as presented in the board? >> So, >> thank you, Mr. Shock. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. W. Any discussion on that motion? >> There's no other option to do this. This is the only choice we got, right? Just so we're clear. Good. >> Correct. There is another option. We could run it ourselves completely and be well behind. But we voted on the resolution to hire the judges anyway. >> Correct. >> To the point we're at now. >> I'll do it for 15 discuss. >> I do not doubt that. All right. I call your name signify by saying I if you approve n if you do not. Mr. Hi, >> Mr. Working. >> Hi, >> Miss Fleven. >> Hi, >> Mr. Sha. >> Hi, >> Miss West. >> I am I as well. Motion prevails. Thank you. Uh, next agenda item is item eight, upcoming meetings and permitting topics. Are there any questions or comments? What is presented? Okay, so none. Moving on to item nine. School board member report for member working. No, I don't have anything to share tonight. Looking forward to homecoming. Me had mechanics negotiations progressing. That was our third meeting. Not sure when the next one. We haven't said that date yet. And then just encouraging people. There's a lot going on this week with homecoming. Um the Hall of Fame on Friday game. There's various games throughout the week. Please go attend something like go support these kids. That's all I got. >> Um same mechanics negotiations. I also attended the insurance advisory committee. Um, >> thank you. >> Uh, sorry, Chad. Um, >> just fine. >> Page one. Um, I So, I'd like to say, um, kudos to the assistant principal at the high school, Miss Bobby. um she's the leader of the PBIS committee which is positive behavior intervention specialists and what they try to do is they um they encourage positive behavior in the face of all the havoc we know about in our world right now and uh uh one thing about her personally is in the last meeting it's right after school and uh she comes in and she sits down and she says she has to take a minute because she had of course like a really tough time dealing with some trouble trouble going on in the high school and you know the kids that caused it and and she sits down and she takes a breath and then she says, "All right, let's do good by these kids." And I just want parents to know if you were doing your job and if your kids were being kind and good in the way they should. Um all everyone's jobs and working conditions would be so much better. I'm just so impressed with how magnanimous she is in just dealing with this trouble and then coming in and still going to bath with the same kids. And I just kudos to her. She is 10 times the person I am um patient wise and ability and calmness. Um anyway, this PBIS thing uh has an app which is really effective at the middle school and which is really effective at the learning center. It's only about three grand a year. Since we have the wallet out, I'm thinking uh we will be contacted about this sometime soon. Um it's a very small amount to pay for the good that they're doing at that group. Um but I want to give kudos to that group and especially the leader principal Bobby Boie and uh and look for it sometime. Now they're going to come and we're going to come and ask for uh funding for the same app that made everything that was going on in the system effective at the middle school and it really works well at the learning center. Uh my second thing is this has like three parts. It's on the bus situation. Um I we have a concern there's some safety concerns and you know in this political climate the state of topic and half the people are in favor and half or not half but this small fraction are in favor and this small fraction are against and it turns out to people not listening to each other and not talking to each other and getting all crazy on Facebook or whatever it's called and I just I I just think that's it's ridiculous. I have the utmost respect for Peggy. This is the first time I've heard people saying from the gentleman that spoke here uh that people were calling for a job. I I've never heard that. I've been in contact with the person that has the complaint quite regularly and she's never called for that. So, I don't know where that got off. But I encourage people to work through the chain of command and it seems like uh things are followed through. It may or may not be as you know, no one's ever completely happy, but if that doesn't work, I obviously encourage them to reach out to their elected officials. um something constructive. We got another email. Um and this is where listening to the public is is always great. Um whether it it sticks or not, but um someone was talking about how their kid takes, you know, an hour and a half or 45 minutes or however long the longness of it is, but she was wondering about flipping routes. So, first person picked up and then the last person dropped out. So, that person sits on the bus the most amount of time. I don't necessarily know if that's how it works because I'm pretty sure they don't start at the school and go straight out from the school. So, I don't necessarily know if that's logistically possible, but looking into different routes to kind of um mitigate the fact that some people are constantly with the longest ride both in the morning and in the afternoon. And there's that's that's some very, you know, we have we have people in our community that, you know, live their lives constructively and they can come up with great ideas, of course. So, I think it's very important to listen to them. And then finally in the bus situation, um, kudos to Tanya. She's a driver of 18 years. Today I was on this uh, field trip for Saints Manufacturing. And, uh, man, she's always driving the bus when I see when I'm there on the weekends at 5:00 a.m. for debate or when we're up into with speech or whatever, there opens the bus and there's our Tanya just smiling and ready and Adam and I, you know, she's really doing a good job and kudos to her for stepping up all the time. And then finally, um that light lends into my last uh topic here, which is Mr. Tro and Saints Manufacturing the field trip. We went to a manufacturing plant in Plymouth today, um which sells these really crazy machines that cut things super small for like bone uh bone replacement and all sorts of other things. The same things that they're doing in the Saints manufacturing. But if you want to take a look at what's going on in our school, um, and where the rubber meets the road on this is actual things that kids are learning that they're going to go off into the world and create wealth for themselves and purpose for them for their family and and fit into a market, which is how we all should kind of be angling. Um, I love seeing the new methods, the jobs. There was a job fair. It was also a these are the type of equipment we offer. This is how they do demonstrations. It was a fantastic thing. took like 15 kids there today. Um, Mr. Trro did. Another thing about Mr. Trost is you are learning these skills that you're going to carry on in your life. But if you know Mr. Trust or talk to him for any short per short period of time, this man just breathes responsibility, accountability, and success. It's awesome. It's a breath of fresh air. It's pretty much what everyone who's kind of got their together does anyway. But it's amazing in a in a in an education system where a lot of people are always complaining about things and I I don't I don't see all all the teachers I'm running into are really good and and a shining example of that. I highly suggest to go check out Mr. Trust High School and his saints academy. I mean, we got to a place and everyone just went everywhere and everyone came back on time and uh polite uh upstanding and it's it's a lot to do with the leader. So to the program and to Mr. trust. I say kudos and that's all. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Um Apath is hosting um their 2025 orange shirt day. I believe that's on September 30th. Um so it's coming up here and that's going to be at I believe it's at the park. There's a flyer. You can check out the information on the website. Everybody's invited to um participate in that. Um and that's all I have >> or part in that. >> Um across by the high school. Yeah. Got you. >> Thank you. All right. Uh for my update, teacher negotiation had their second meeting. Uh so we're still working through that process. Uh Mr. Anderson and I had had a meeting with the St. Francis police chief. It was good to just build some relationships with him and uh talk about some data that we want to share back and forth. So, that was good to have that. Thank you for setting that up. Um I want to acknowledge council member Tradewell. Thank you for being here from Old Grow. Uh we will have a rep September 29th meeting next Monday to provide an update for the district as well. Uh so don't steal all our thunder with your update. Okay. Uh and then uh lastly uh for the public to know um our website uh under labor negotiations. We do have updates in there uh as to where we're at with each group. Uh we are populating that with uh numbers as well as you go forward. So, if you have questions or things you want to look at, um, please direct people to that website and then provide your questions back uh to administration or to the school board. But that site is up and running and is updated and you'll see right at the top when it was last updated as you go forward. That is all I have for my report. Uh, item nine, adjournment or ten sorry, adjournment. We'll need a motion to adjurnn this meeting. So move. Is there a second? Second. >> Thank you. Any discussion on that motion? All in favor of the motion signify by saying I raising your hand. >> Okay. Motion prevails. Thank you. begin his turn at 8:32