Good evening. I call this regular meeting to order. Uh, everyone, please rise for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance 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. Good evening fellow school board members, district staff, community members, and everyone that is here tonight. As we start, a reminder to us all that our mission 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. Our first item for tonight's agenda is adoption of the agenda. Are there any questions prior to a motion being made on the agenda before you? Seeing no questions, is there a call motion for the February 23rd? >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> So, thank you. Any discussion on that motion? Seeing none, all in favor of the motion signify by saying I and raising your hand. I >> motion prevails to zero. Thank you. >> Our next agenda item is the Saint award recognition. Uh the Saint 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. A listing of past STAR award recipients is listed on our website uh under the board section. Today's Saintar award is presented to four St. Francis High School students. First, we recognize seniors Sydney Broch and Samuel Bergman as the high school's 2025 2026 Minnesota State High School League AAA award recipients. The academics arts and athletics award honors high school seniors throughout the state who have a 3.0 or higher GPA and who participate in league sponsored athletic and fine art activities. Sydney owns a 4.07 GPA and has earned the AP scholar award. She is an allconerence performer in the St. Francis High School band, a member of the St. uh softball varsity team since seventh grade. Sydney helped guide the team to a third place finish at the state tournament as a sophomore and was named all state as a junior. She plans to set to study cellular and molec molecular biology and play football at Winona State University. There we go. Samuel, I think this is where we're going. Samuel owns a 4.05 GPA, serves as a peer math tutor, and earned the 5A academic allstate award as a senior. He has participated in visual arts as a junior and senior. A two-time captain for the Saints football team, Sam earned all conference as a junior and senior, and he intends to study engineering and play football at Bethl University. Next, we honor uh juniors Jenna Koy and Colton Burman at the high as the high school's 2025 2026 Minnesota State High School League Excel Award recipient. The Excel Award stands for excellence in community education and leadership and recognizes juniors who are active in school activities, leaders in their schools, and who demonstrate a strong commitment to community service. Unfortunately, Colton could not be here tonight due to a boy's basketball home. Jenna is an honorroll student and a member of National Honor Society. She has been a member of the St. Francis High School tennis team for three seasons and on the track and field squad for two seasons. Jenna's volunteer activities include sport camps, being active in her church community, and working with kids with special needs. Colton is an honored parole student and a member of the National Honor Society. He is an all district kicker and punter for the football team and has lettered in basketball, soccer, and track and field. Kob's volunteer activities include helping with local youth sports, reading to elementary students, and managing chores for an elderly and widowed neighbor. Please help me in celebrating St. Francis High School students Sydney, Samuel, Jenna, and Colton for their outstanding accomplishments. line up right here. You guys taking stuff? >> All right. This is cool. Nice job. That doesn't just make your heart full. seeing our accomplishments of our students. Absolutely awesome. Our next agenda item for tonight is consideration of visitors. We have nine individuals requesting to speak tonight. We will allow three minutes per speaker. I ask that each speaker that once your time is reached uh that you make your final statement quickly uh and be respectful of everyone else's time. Um during consideration of visitor, we do not have discussion or answer questions. If something comes up that we need to, the superintendent or myself will respond. Our first speaker for tonight is Brianna Jetson. >> All right. So, I'm not a big speaker, so the re like me being up here in itself is saying something. But when I started working in this district in 2019, I loved it so much that I thought I was going to dedicate my career to working here. However, this is the third or fourth negotiations I've gone through now where we haven't had a contract for the majority of the school year. I'm not sure if I'm willing to dedicate my career to a district that doesn't value myself, my fellow teachers, and educational assistants that have spent their time working here. We're a growing district, and I'm nervous for the future of ISD 15 if they cannot retain or attract highly qualified teachers. I saw somewhere that 33% of our teachers have worked here for four years or less. That is crazy turnover. In my seven years I've worked here, I've worked with a mostly new special education team multiple times. People get hired, they stay for a year or two, and then they leave to move on to bigger and better and greater compensation. This rings true for our educational assistants as well. My team has spent time teaching and training new EAs who come in. Some last for a couple years, many last a year or less, and some even last a week. One person even left halfway through the day. Does ISD15 want to be a sought-after district that people want to work for, or do we want to continue to be a stepping stone for the district surrounding us? Thank you. Our next speaker is Tina Carol. Tina. >> Hello. Um, I know you say you're not answering questions, but I'd like to um I was looking through the agenda packet for this evening and knowing that we were we just had our taxes increased because we put in additional $16 million for an HVAC system and now we've got teachers asking for additional funds. What I am curious about is we have over $31 million in investments and we have I couldn't even tell you a large amount even larger amount in building construction fund. So, I'm curious what those uh investments are for and I'd like to get some more additional information and who I need to talk to to understand these investments and why we are having raised taxes and we have money sitting here that could be used. So, who do I talk to? Can I ask that at least who do I find out more information? >> Yeah. Um, thank you for your uh comments. Uh, Don Bell is our director of business services. She started in January, but she has really good experience in multiple school districts and she jumped in uh her work here and so she'd be the person. >> Okay. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Barb Anderson. Barb, >> good evening everyone. board members, staff, and um community. Thank you. Um I'm gonna try to follow this in writing so I don't get sidetracked. Um thank you for working on difficult budget issues, difficult for all. It takes energy, understanding, and challenging our limits. I'm here in a very serious way to remind us all that outside political pressure should not determine policy. We know actions have consequences. Our students children learned this daily. Taking you back over a year more ago when the previous school board did not listen to legal advice or to the superintendent's advice and went ahead with an illegal book policy. It cost us a lot of money. You may have seen these numbers as a board, but most of the community and school staff probably have not. through the freedom of information requests that I sent in. We have $39,23.13 in legal fees because of that choice. We also spent a hund over 128 hours of staff admin time. If you say about $50 an hour, I'm just guessing on this part would be over $6,000. And and this does not even count the time board members spent with citizens with the community trying to uh trying to work to these illegal things during So we also then had to have an election and that cost over 13,000 to hold a special election and when a when a person isn't committed to the school board that changes things during the book policy um investig stigation, we came to learn where the pressure to pass such policy came from. The GOP political operating unit, a push state and nationwide with political and religious pressures. Political pressure should not determine policy. Again, political pressure should not determine policy. The pressure also cost taxpayers money as we had to hold that special election that cost um 13 over 13,000 to do. Do we have a lesson learned? We'll always be moving forward. Do we have a lesson learned? Yes, we do. One, political pressure should not determine policy. The second lesson is our discernment. Discernment to cut through, to sift, to judge well, to perceive, understand clearly requires us to slow down and perceive deception. When a political operating unit is pressuring you or us, we need to discern. We need to see it, recognize it. There is a cost if we don't. I hope we have learned this lesson. it returns us to the vision and mission of ISD15 which is for all. So if we add all these up over $57,000 and if you want if you maybe you've seen these numbers before I don't know as a board if you have I don't know if the public has or not but I have them if you want them I can make a copy for you. Um, I use we because as the community, we are members of one another. Whether we like it or not, we are we are a community and our example of our teaching sets the example for our children and our grandchildren in this community. >> So that is most important. Political pressure should not determine policy. It has budget implications and every little bit counts when we're trying to work on a budget. Thank you. >> Our next speaker is Christine Bell. >> Good evening. Um I kind of banked on two minutes so maybe I'll get to my second topic. Um, the first one that I'm here for is actually for intervention services. This has been my fourth year for intervention, my 25th year of teaching. And I just wanted to talk about getting an email today saying that we're looking at budget cuts. Um, I wish we didn't have to go through this. It feels like every year and you guess when you have a job or not. Yes, I'm lucky that I have a special ed job besides this. Um, I should say licensed, so I could pretty much work anywhere at any time. But I like being in interventions. So, I just want to talk about that first. And if I have enough time, I'd love to talk about the amazing staff and EAS that we have behind us. Um, I understand we're facing lots of financial difficult decisions. Budgets require hard conversations. Um, but we really need to start considering what that does in the long run. Cutting intervention teachers may solve a short-term budget, but it creates long-term academic and financial consequences. Okay? Intervention teachers are not extra there. There are a safety net in our instructional system. Okay? When students begin to struggle in reading or math, we provide immediate targeted support. Without it, the gaps just widen. A first grade reading gap becomes a third grade literacy crisis. A sixth grade math struggle becomes a high school credit deficiency. And at the cost for remediation later retention, summer school, alternative programming, this is far greater than early intervention. And what do those costs actually equal? If inter intervention positions are reduced, classroom teachers will inherit lar larger academic gaps with fewer supports. If you've been in the classroom lately, they can't take that. They they are bursting at the seams. Their class sizes are too big. They can't support them with their small groups here. We are essential. Our most vulnerable students, those already at risk, they will fall further behind. that impacts test scores, graduation rates, ultimately the district's public accountability and reputation, which I hope that we would like to keep in high regards. Intervention is prevention. It protects student achievement data. It protects equity. It protects the district from higher long-term expenditures. And in the long run, once again, isn't why we're here to begin with. why we keep saying we need to make these cuts, but we're not doing it the right way. Beyond numbers, the number one priority is actually children. Students who receive receive intervention often regain something critical, confidence. >> That's one of the main things that we help with. When we remove that support, we send a message, intentional or not, that struggling learners must simply keep up or fall behind. So before making this long-term impact decision here, look at the short-term and long-term of these students that we will carry for many years forward. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you. Our next speaker is Beth Anderson. Beth Good evening, Superintendent Anderson, members of the board, community members, and fellow educators. My name is Beth Anderson. I'm a kindergarten teacher at SF, and I'm proud to serve the district for 35 years and counting. For more than three decades, I have welcomed students through my classroom doors with the same excitement and commitment that I had my very first year. I have helped build the foundation that every other grade level depends upon. Kindergarten is the year children learn how to solve problems, how to persevere and develop a love for learning. I've built relationships with students and families that have lasted my whole career, even teaching the children of my former kindergarten students along the way. Um, that's right over there. I am right. Over the years, I have watched expectations of teachers grow exponentially >> and VAS. The demands placed on teachers today are far greater than when I began. We are asked to do more assessments, document more data, differentiate for wider ranges of needs, communicate constantly, implement new initiatives, and support students with increasingly complex challenges. And we do it. We always do it. We do it with passion, dedication, and professionalism. I have been here through many challenging times for the district and have remained devoted to the students and the district as a whole. When the district asked us to accept a pay freeze, we stepped up. We trusted the promise that they we would be taken care of in the future. We have always shown loyalty and commitment to our schools and to this community. But loyalty is a two-way street. I have poured my heart and soul into providing the very best educational experience for children each and every year. I am fully invested in this district. My colleagues are fully invested in this district. Yet, it has become increasingly difficult not to feel that the district is not equally invested in us, in our professional value, in our experience, and in the students we serve. A fair contract is not about greed. It is about respect. It is about sustainability. It is about ensuring that experienced educators can support our students without feeling undervalued or stretched beyond reason. When teachers feel supported and respected, students benefit. Stability benefits children. Retaining experienced educators benefits this district. Investing in teachers and in is investing directly in student success. We all deserve better. Our teachers, our staff, and most importantly, our students. St. Francis teacher salaries are among the lowest in the state. And this sends a message that our expertise and commitment are simply not valued. After almost 36 years, I am still here because I believe in this work. I believe in this district. And I am simply asking that the district show that same belief in us. The time to sew is now with a respectful contract for all St. Francis educators. As I say to my kindergarteners every day, we are all in this together. Thank you for your time and thank you. Our next speakers are Keith Leinsky and Lisa Marie Shaw. Uh Mr. Chairman, because there is two of us, do we get six minutes? >> We get three minutes. It was worth >> You can go You can go over a little bit. >> Okay. Lisa Marie will have a couple documents as she does. So, because of the time restraints, I'll go ahead and start tonight. Uh, I want to start by telling you about my ninth grade football team from this past year. And if I go right here, you can blame that guy over there because he hired me about 10 years ago. Uh, coming into this season, there had never been a winning record with the team I inherited. This past year, they went undefeated 8 and won almost every game by 30 points. Why? Because I made sure everyone on that team felt valued. Okay? I made sure and rewarded them with pizza and McDonald's because I know the way to a young man's heart, at least a ninth grader, is to a cheeseburger. I made sure that at least once I had a personal conversation with every one of them. This was the critical difference and I do this every single year and it has made a critical difference with every one of those teams. You as a school board have a team also. They sit behind me tonight and they are here tonight because they want to feel valued. You have a hand out. Uh you have a handout and you were just given and I'll go over that briefly. That's also going out the audience and I apologize it may not have enough for everybody here tonight. If you examine that handout, that handout on the right hand side says the average salary growth between 2015 to 2024. During that time span of roughly 9 to 10 years, Sartell increased their salary schedule by $41,000. Okay. St. Francis, you will notice out of the 27 like schools is at the bottom with $5,815. The school directly above us is Monaceel with almost double the number that we have. Okay, that simple graph right there that Mr. Stalo was responsible for will tell you where we're at as a district. Okay. We are competing with other liked districts around us. This past weekend I uh attended the uh wrestling tournament, seven AAA wrestling tournament up at Cambridge and up there I spoke to a coach of like yours with me. uh he this year uh down in an NOA where they're struggling will make $30,000 more than I will this next year. $30,000 more. Uh and they've been very challenging. I've been teaching for 36 years. In about three or four more years, I will retire. I'm not going anywhere. I bleed blue. I bleed navy blue. What do I say to the four young teachers who have come into my room this past year to ask me if they should remain at St. Francis? I have told them, "Wait for the next contract." Like college sports, we have a transfer portal. Okay? And there's a shortage of teachers every year. This year, 10 teachers will retire from St. Francis. Next year, there will be even more. Half of the social studies department at the high school. It'll be done in 15 20 seconds. Half of the social studies teachers at the high school will be gone in the next five years and they will join me in retirement. As we compete in an evershrinking field of educators, we cannot afford to fall further behind. I do understand you have a difficult job. My wife sat in your chair for five years or four years, whatever the term, but she came home and shared with me after every meeting how difficult your job is. Okay? You say we can't afford a salary increase of that. You can't afford not to given the current situation we will be bleeding teachers and hemorrhaging teachers here pretty soon. Last thing, we're in a car race. We are car number 25 and the light districts are car number one and right now we're driving the car and you're telling us to slow down. Pretty soon we'll go back to 30 and 35. Okay. I ask you to really consider the decisions you're making. I ask you to consider revising your parameters to keep those young teachers, those experienced teachers and our teachers of the future that you will hire here at St. Francis. Last thing I want to say for our educational assistants, they also are underpaid. Okay, we have a shortage of them. Every day we are without them in the school building and we have constant cancellations with our custodians for cleaning in the building also. We're here to support those individuals. Thank you. >> Our next feature speaker is Rachel Johnson. Rachel, >> hello. So, I wrote a whole speech on why educational assistants are important. And then I decided that we've been here and we've done that. Year after year, people stand here and tell you the same thing. Our educational assistance assistants are essential. Our teachers are essential. Our classrooms do not function without them. And you know this. You also know the reality they face every day supporting students through challenging, sometimes even facing verbal and physical aggression. Yet still, they show up every morning with patients care and dedication. So the question isn't if they are valuable. The question is how do we show up to these? Because pay is more than a paycheck. It is a statement of value. And right now, our pay does not match the work, the impact, or the commitment our educators bring to this district. So, what do we do next? If the answer is there isn't enough money, then we need to work together to find it. How do we encourage our community? How do we help other help them understand what's at stake? How do we build support for a levy if that's the way we have to go or invest in the people our students rely on every day? Because this is not just about budgets. This is about people and whether or not they can afford to stay. We are losing good educators because we are not competitive and our students are feeling the impact of that. We have incredible teachers and EAS in this district. You know that I don't have to stand here and tell you. Now we need to have a plan to keep them. So I ask you, let's move beyond the agreement into into action. Let's partner with our community, educate them, and do what is necessary to provide fair and competitive pay. Because doing what is right for our education is doing what's right for our students. Thank you. >> Thank you, Rachel. Our next speaker is Sarah Moore. Sarah. Okay. Hi, I'm Sarah. I'm a special education assistant at East Bethl. I've worked in the SDE programs at East Bethl and Cedar Creek open sped at East Bethl and ESY each year. I have a fairly rounded experience as a special education assistant in this district. I found my passion in special education. I've sought further education and trainings. I'm highly qualified and CPI certified. Since starting six school years ago, I have endured countless threats, verbal jabs, hits, kicks, bites, spits, and bodily fluids. I have some lifelasting scars. I have rivaled my patients in wait outs, repeating directions, and follow through. I have also fought for students needs, embraced them in their toughest moments, hugged them through their pain, and cried for their pain later. I have encouraged them, laughed with them, danced with them, celebrated every little and big win with them. While the tough moments are draining, I still some or I still show up each day as the best version of myself. Not because I have to, but because I want to. Those tough parts will never outweigh the good parts. I truly love my job, my co-workers, this district. I love each student and seeing them grow. However, I do not love seeing a posted position at the same rate of pay that I am currently making. Tell me, how is that fair? Tell me how I'm valued and supported in this district. Tell me how I'm supported in my work and my dedication. I'll tell you it certainly doesn't feel fair. I don't feel supported or valued. I also have a unique experience. I have a child in this program. I have a fifth grader at East Bethl, a part of the SEC program. He's autistic. We love him. I can honestly tell you that he would not be where he is without the dedication and support from his EAS and his teachers. I could never thank them enough. I know that they show up every single day and put all of their personal problems aside to support him. I know they protect him exactly as how how I would. I know they love him through his struggles. I know they celebrate even his tiniest successes. I know this because I get the privilege of seeing that every day when I go to work. I get the privilege of seeing my co-workers do exactly what I would do. And that's how I know that they do these things for him. Please do the right thing. support our district's EAs and teachers by settling our contracts with fairness and respect. Retain EAS and teachers that do this work with love in their hearts and passion to teach our future. Thank you. >> Thank you, sir. What's your son's name? >> Harrison. >> Harrison. Thank you. Our last speaker is Ann Carter. An >> good evening school board members and staff behind me. My name is Ann Carter. I have taught in St. Francis for nearly 30 years now. I've been here before talking to you about teacher negotiations and seal. Um I was primarily taught in third grade. Now I am the current education Minnesota St. Francis president. Tonight I'd like to talk to you about our educational assistants. Throughout my career I have had 10 to 12 students in a class of 28 29 who had IEPs. Some years it's almost impossible to to do that when I haven't had an EA. Some of these kids have behavioral needs, academic needs, and they're just students who require consistent support to succeed. Earlier in my career, I would have multiple EAs in my classroom helping me work with students that were on an IEP. Sometimes I would have three adults supporting kids in my classroom during my instruction. And the result was clear. Students learned, classrooms were safe, and my MCA scores reflected that. However, in recent years, I've been handed a walkietalkie and told to call for help when things escalate. I've had to evacuate classrooms to keep students in my classroom safe. Teaching stops, learning stops, everyone's losing. Not just the students that are in crisis, but the entire classroom. Educational assistants are not a luxury. They are what makes learning possible in our educational system. I have seen EAs get scratched, kicked, punched, bitten, and spit on. I once watched a student kick a stool out from under an EA and send her flying across the room. Yet, these EAs come back every single day because they deeply care about our students. But dedication enough is not enough to replace fair compensation. Right now, we have open EA positions that we cannot fill. A teenager starting at McDonald's in St. Francis can earn $16 an hour. An educational assistant who is responsible for student safety and learning starts at 1655, just 55 cents more an hour. We are asking people to take on physical risk, emotional strain and enormous responsibility for barely above entry-level positions. And then we wonder why we cannot hire or retain them. Some say we cannot afford to improve this contract. I would argue that we can afford not to. Without educational assistance, classrooms become unsafe. Teachers cannot teach. students cannot learn. If we value student success, we must value the people who make it possible. I urge you to change the parameters of the educational assistant contract and invest in our educational assistance and therefore invest in our students. Thank you. Thank you, Ann, and thank you to all those that spoke tonight. We do appreciate the engagement for not only our community, but our staff as well. I encourage each and every one of you to stay for the remainder of the meeting uh as we will be um having important discussions on topics directly relating to uh some of the comments that uh were presented tonight during public comment. Moving on to our next agenda item, which is the consent agenda. We have eight items tonight on the consent agenda. I'm going to just pause for a brief second as people are leaving. All right. for the consent agenda. Are there any questions or requests for move an item before we have a motion? >> I'd like to pull 5.7. >> Any other questions or requests? >> Okay, seeing none, is there a call to motion to approve the consent agenda minus 5.7 at this time? Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion on that motion? >> Seeing no discussion on that motion. This will be a roll call vote. Uh if you are in favor, signify by saying I. If you oppose, signify by saying name. Mr. Humphrey. I >> Miss Anderson. I >> Mr. Shrock. I >> Miss Bach Clever. >> I miss. >> I am I as well. Motion prevails 6. All right. Uh item 5.7. Is there any questions or comments before a motion to approve? >> Miss West. >> Yeah, I'm looking at the dates here. It says the date was 212. Is that >> they submitted for it on why we're seeing this after it's already happened? >> Yes. So the uh dance team qualified for state uh one weekend and then a request was submitted uh for the state tournament. So that's already happened. Uh they had great performances at state. Um unfortunately did not make the finals but they they had great performances. So we have not had a board meeting since they qualified for state and so that's why it's being presented tonight. Yeah. Is this just a legal thing that we are presented with this and we are checking off that we approve of it because I mean obviously that would be vetted out in a lawsuit if something bad happened and be signed on the same day that I mean it just like I would I would prefer they don't even ask the school board if it doesn't matter because we're getting this after the effect anyway. I mean, I I don't I've never considered myself a rubber stamp, and this is definitely at best a rubber stamp, but at worst, I mean, it's leaving us uh open to lawsuits and such. I would rather them not even. I would rather I would look I think we should look into a policy that says you can just go whenever you want or you don't have to ask the school board because it doesn't really matter. It seems the dates and we have no time to look into it and prepare for this. This is like the 37th time Miss West has brought this up and nothing has ever changed. And I mean, I understand the situation. It comes to us late and stuff, but I just don't understand why we get asked. And I also I don't understand uh why we think that covers it because clearly that's very trans. I mean, easy to tell that we didn't know this was going on until after it happened. Are there any other thoughts on this? >> If I could respond. Um, first, the only other way around it would be to call a special session to review one extended trip request >> that we would approve. I mean, there's no way we're going to say no to a request for something like this, you know, in the cities. So, we could certainly do that. That's one possibility, you know, is that special meetings on short notice. you know, we'd find off, let's say, on a Saturday and then, you know, we call for a special meeting on Wednesday or Thursday and we could do that. I will say that thanks to to Miss West and others who have asked questions, I think we've really tightened up um you know, the approval requests, uh we've had some that came in really late. We got them at the board meeting and we want them 45 days in advance. Uh but it has made a difference. Uh, in fact, we said no to to one extended trip request because it was, you know, it wasn't within the time frame. So, I know that the activities did say no. So, we have made some good adjustments and I I have to credit board members who've asked questions and really prioritized that. >> Is this a conversation? Can I respond to that? >> Yeah, you can. >> Okay. So, I was just saying that that's one way >> and I since I'm pretty much the only one up here who doesn't have anything else going on besides this, I'm sure I would be available, but I I don't see the logistics happening. So, that's all the case more why we should even be asked. We're going to You said it yourself, we're going to approve it anyway. I mean, I it's just it kind of seems like they're putting and I'm not afraid of the legality, but it seems like they're putting the legality on our backs when I mean, if anyone watches this meeting or, you know, has a calendar, they would know that we're approving something that's already happened. So, I I don't appreciate that at all. I don't I'm not I'm not saying I don't appreciate the dance team. I also am not saying I don't appreciate what happened. It came late, blah, blah, blah. How are we going to get everyone together for a meeting? What I'm saying is why are we even asking the school board? >> That's what I'm asking, Mr. Char. >> So, I guess the question is, is it is it a legal thing that does the school board have to sign off on or can we just make a policy that the superintendent can Yeah. >> Yeah. I think, you know, we do have a policy about, you know, field trips and right now I believe that requires school board approval. Um, I think it's a best practice according to Minnesota School Board Association. I don't think it's legal requirement or required, but I can check with MSD to verify. >> Or could it be the emergency ones that the superintendent approves where there isn't enough time to get the school board together? >> Yeah. And right now, our our operating procedures say that unless they're extenduating circumstances such as a state playoff, uh, they need to submit that form, you know, 45 days prior to the trip. So, that's our current policy. So or procedure. So you're you're suggest I I think both of you are trying to streamline the process. I I I get it. You know, that's usually something I would, you know, really support. Um you know, sometimes we do approve things after the fact just as um sort of a public pronouncement, you know, that we're aware of what happened, you know, so it's really crystal clear. Um it could also be included in my administrative report. um you know if we change the policy and proceed accordingly. So either way we probably accomplish that. >> So could we I'm just balling here a little bit. Could we add so they it was 12 through the 14th right? Um what was the time frame for the entire thing state tournament and everything? Could they have done an extended and come back early and then we would have approved them for that whole time but sadly you know hypothetically they didn't make it to state so they came back early I mean would it make more sense to approve for the entirety >> or just in case >> just in case I mean to be optimistic that way and say yeah you know just throwing that out there as as helping for situations like this where they can Yay. You know, they do really really well and so they have to extend, you know, knowing that potential was there. Just >> I'd have to look through it more carefully. >> I mean, if we're going to be if we're going to be responsible like James does, I I feel comfortable rubber stamping something that was going to happen. >> Yeah. I know with the state tournament, you know, every every activity or sport, you know, is set up differently through the state. So, the dance team, they performed, I believe, in the afternoon. I was watching my son at a diving championship, so I wasn't able to go, unfortunately. But, uh, they have it in the afternoon and then the top six, I believe, made it that evening. So, it's it's tough to anticipate exactly who's going to make the the finals, you know, on those two days. Um, so I mean that's kind of part of certain things. I'd have to look through the specific request to see if it could be worded differently or or >> so um approving them in advance before they would go to state. So if we thought they might go to state that would never get through this court because we want to know what sort of transportation they were taking if they were staying overnight all of those details. In this case they won the weekend before and state was the next weekend. So we didn't have a meeting in between. There was no way to approve it unless we had a special meeting or as the policy states exceptions to the approval policy may be granted or expedited to accommodate emergency or contingencies i.e. term competition. So in this case there was no way to expedite it because we didn't have a meeting unless we scheduled a special meeting. It was less than a week. >> Mr. gets first. >> Yeah. I guess piggy backing on what Joe said, it would just be too hard for every I mean, boys basketball, girls basketball, wrestling, everybody would have to do it months in advance for us all. So, I don't think that it's possible to do. >> So, I'll say it louder. Um, I I do am not looking to approve things that we may or may not know about. I'm not I'm definitely not looking to approve things that have already happened. What I'm saying is stop asking for our approval. Let's make that policy because this is ridiculous and it's I mean I completely understand where you're coming from, Jill, of course, but and the MSBA standards blah blah blah whatever. There's no way that says approving things that already happen. There's no way it says that. And so our policy is written so it covers and you don't have to have the thing written up. But what I'm saying is that's a a shell game. It's a straw man. Let's not ask this not ask the school board. Who cares? We'd already approve. It doesn't matter. We no one disapproves of it anyway ever. And it doesn't matter. Why would we go dance? This is great. And it has to stay flexible. What I'm saying is this whole, hey, we got it covered because the school board signed off of it is a joke. That's what I'm saying. Okay. So, I'm going to answer the question, Jake, that you had why we do it. Uh, so currently policy 610 for our district states that the each level will approve it. Agreed. >> As it goes through, uh, it is part of MSBA's um, documents that it goes through that process and that it can have exceptions for things like state journals. Um, we've had this discussion multiple times since I've been on the board, so I'm guessing that it's happened before as well. Um, so my recommendation to us as a board is if we want to relook at our policy and change the way we word our policy and if it meets legal requirements. I can't tell you if it's a state statute or not that requires school boards to approve it. However, I do know that it includes funding from booster clubs for hotel rooms sometimes for certain types of busing other things which is all things that we approve. um knowing that we're not going to realistically set up a meeting in between now and we have wrestlers leaving on Wednesday for the state tournament. They qualified on Saturday. We're not going to have luckily we have a meeting right now. So that's why you see that one in that doesn't meet the 45day policy. However, uh we're never going to be able to do all of them um every opportunity debate, making it the state, all of those things. So um I recommend that we push this back to policy committee. uh to look at that and to see if we can make changes and how that's best going to fit our district moving forward. Currently, our process is we approve after the fact if there's not a board meeting in in between. Um yes, we have gotten a lot better at pushing them to 45 days out. However, our current way of doing business is approving them. Um right or wrong, that's just the way that we currently do it with our policy as it says. >> Couldn't agree more. Okay. And as you said, we'll we'll we'll ask some questions of MSBA and or legal counsel and take it to policy committee and then kind of go from there. I'm not opposed to just sharing information publicly. You know, that that's not a problem. Streamlines the process, but I'm I'm trying to fulfill current school policy. If you come back saying to us that it's part of school policy or MSBA policy, I want everyone here to understand that I'm asking again to find out is a part of our school policy and MSBA policy that after the effect we we approve things. Show me that I'll vote for it. That's all I'm saying. I just don't want that to be lost in the shuffle because that's the whole process and that's why it keeps going on and on and on and on. That's the only hangup I have. I think >> and I I will talk but I'm going to push back a little bit. Please. >> Um I I'm not aware of school districts that call emergency special meetings to approve extended leave request because one of their teams is going to state. >> Has anyone listened to anything I'm saying? I'm saying take it off our docket. That's what I'm saying. I agree with you >> completely. I don't I mean I like I said, I'll be at this I'll be at the special meeting, but none of these people will. Maybe they got things going on. I just hang out waiting to do schoolboard stuff. What I'd like to what I'd like to do is say take it off our docket, >> right? and maybe we'll figure that out in policy and that sounds like the right place to do it. Of course, I'm agreeing with everything we're all saying here. It's just I think we're fooling ourselves to say the way this is working is legal and not concerning. That's all I'm trying to say. >> So, you're saying it's not legal? >> I don't think it's legal to >> Yeah. >> I mean, otherwise I want to I want to make I want to make a note that I wanted to buy Bitcoin 10 years ago and then sell it two years ago. Do you understand? We can't That's not how things work. It's not chronological. It's not legal. No, I don't think that's legal. And I don't care if it's legal. If it's legal, that's great. If it's I mean, it still doesn't make sense. Why ask us? Why ask us? That's all I'm saying. >> Okay. So, Mr. Nelson, I think you've got the the idea of what we want to have talked about in the policy committee and then the policy committee members what we're going to talk about uh looking at policy 610. Is there a call motion to approve the item 5.7? >> Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Sh. Any discussion on that motion? See no discussion? >> Thank you for entertaining my GR. >> All right. Uh roll call vote I believe still because this is our standard policy. So we'll do a roll call vote on this. Any discussion on that motion now before we do the roll call? Okay, we got no more Mr. Humphrey. Uh abstain. >> Miss Anderson. >> Hi. >> Mr. Shark. >> Hi. >> Miss Bing Cleven. >> Hi. >> Miss West. >> No. >> And myself. >> I motion prevails. Four to one. All right, moving forward to information items and reports. Uh we have three items for tonight's meeting. Our first one is St. Francis High School student council update. Skyler is here tonight to give us an update. So good evening school board cabinet and the community alike. I know a lot of them left and also everyone that is online right now. I'm Skyler Algier and we always appreciate having students speak here. I think it's one of the most important things that like can happen in community is getting every single voice open to our school board so the best decisions are made for not only our teachers, our EAS, but also our students. So just with the school board um a couple weeks ago we had our stow days and like pepfest week and once again our court consisted of the freshman Isaac Wyn, Pton Ben truck. The sophomores were Tristan Click and El Wyworth. The juniors were Bron Bazinka and Julia WZ. And the senior males were myself, Skylar Algier, Gage Davis, Jack Humphrey, Austin Cruz, and Hunter Sanders with our senior females being Freya Alman, Alyssa Anderson, Frankie Ficoelloo, Elena Larson, and Anna Orin with our king Jack Humphrey and Queen Frankie Ficoella being crowned. And yeah, and during our pepfest, our seniors actually won the grade level box stacking game where they had to stack five boxes on top of each other, which were like gay high or whatever. And it was actually really impressive. And furthermore, the seniors actually won our volleyball tournament that we hosted over the week, which they actually beat the seniors, including even people like Mr. Tulle. And you know, he had a bad fall, but it's okay. because the seniors won, which I think really proves the dynasty that class of 2026 has within our school. And furthermore, we sold carnations throughout the week and passed them out at the end of the week where we sold and handed out 200 flowers, which is absolutely amazing. It always reminds me of the old saying, if the couples win, the council wins. And I just made that up when I was in there, so it's not very old, but yeah. And then coming up in the future, that was our main event of like the season, but one of the big ones that we do host is Senior Sunrise. The date is to be determined, but generally happens in May. And we've had food trucks, we've had games, we've had bouncy houses. It's been a great time. I think it's going to go great this year. And also, we are congratulating our two wrestlers that we mentioned and our three gymnasts who recently qualified to the respective MSHSL state tournaments. So other than that, the student council is doing great. We have good retention rates for the kids over the years and we just been doing great. So yeah, are there any questions? >> Mr. Al, >> just a comment. I'd like to say thank you for joining uh Rob's crew and going over and reading to the elementary schools. I love that when all these teams and upper classmen do it and I really appreciate you doing that. >> Yeah, thank you. It was actually a really fun experience. They loved it. You know, me and my friend Jack Humphrey, I'm sure you may know him, but you know, we had a great time. We read these books about popcorn and burgers and rock, paper, scissors, and the kids loved it, and they're always happy. >> I'm glad they put you with books with in books with a lot of pictures. That was great. >> Yeah, cuz you know, >> not the greatest reading, but I get the idea. >> You got it. >> Jake kind of stole my thunder, but yes, thank you for going with those kids. Loved it. You and Jack did an amazing job. the way you presented to those kids while you were reading, they were just watching you so intently. So, thank you for going. >> Thank you, Mr. Sher. >> What uh did you compete in at the state debate tournament? >> So, I competed in policy debate. So, I competed a few rounds where it was the twoon two back and forth. Jack used to do it. I unfortunately did not qualify in Congress. I was two places off, but I did qualify and go in policy. And that was honestly a great time was down in Egan High School. We have a policy committee meeting that I think we will invite you to your help. >> Yeah, Brandon get his be a great presentation. >> Thank you. >> Tonight, I love your style and the way you present things. So, thank you for that. >> Yes, I can put all of my faith towards the debate team. That really taught me that, especially the speech team. you know, it's taught me a lot of things and it's made me better and smarter over the past four years and all the years I've been in this district. So, >> we can see that. >> Sure. >> I would say you brought smarts to the table at the onset, but I would like to say everyone who has a kid who's not in debate or speech right now, consider it. You can tell just the gregarity gregariousness of it. They're well read, wellstudied. They're hardworking. They are not shy. I mean, this is this is really I am so impressed with what my son and his friends have gotten out of these uh activities and it's a wonderful endeavor. If anyone um is on the fence, man, push your kids that way. You will they they and you will love the results. And Scott, thanks for stepping in today. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Nice to see you. >> Thank you. It was great. >> All right. Our next agenda item is our draft response to the American Indian Education Parent Advisory Council letter of non-concurrence. Superintendent Anderson will discuss the initial draft with us. A reminder that we have until March 27th to submit this final response back um to the state. Uh so we plan to do that at our March 23rd regular meeting. So any changes or anything that may come up tonight, Mr. Anderson, go ahead. So, uh, American Indian Education Parent Advisory Committee or APAC, uh, presented their list of non-concurrences to our programming for American Indian education kids. And, uh, it's actually a really good process uh because they review um, the programming for their kids and then make suggestions on what we can do differently and better. So, even though it's non-concurrent, um, I view that as a really positive thing. leads to more discussion. Uh they did have four non-concurrences that they highlighted. Uh what I did is I wrote down their request and then wrote a draft response. Really the response needs to come from the full school board and uh they need um all of us to to vote on our response and to sign a document on the 23rd. Um and so I'm just throwing it out the initial draft. It's really up to the set of members to decide what the response should look like. So the first area has to do with adding a second leazison. Currently we have a coordinator and a leazison on staff. Uh the district does subsidize a portion of the salary for the program. You know the money we receive from the state and federal governments do not pay for uh all of our AIE programming. Uh so we do add some of our own funding already to it. Uh we considered that second leazison along with numerous other requests and um unfortunately this did not meet our personal plan personnel plan for this year. Uh please note that our compensatory dollars uh for the next fiscal year, which is 2627 school year, uh will be decreased by about $600,000. Uh which is earlier than we thought and more than we thought at this stage. Uh and so some of the budget decisions that we're contemplating uh later today are directly related to that. this is the same funding source that would pay for you know second layon if you chose to do so and so that's the administrative suggestion for response the the second request um has to do with reserving facility spaces I'm glad they brought this to our attention uh because I was not aware to the extent that we're having some issues scheduling space especially in our elementary schools I think our secondary schools are pretty good because they have more reserve space, more spaces in general for people to use uh during the school day, but our elementaryaries are very tight. Uh their suggestion is is pretty simple and I think effective. Uh they simply want us to come up with a better way of reserving facilities and then notifying people when there's a point. And so uh you know the elementary principles are already over it and I think we have a really simple solution. We just need to kind of fine-tune it and then present it. Uh so I think I think that's uh one that we'll be able to do uh relatively easily. One thing I'll note though uh because you know having a better system for reserving the facilities and for notifying people of conflicts does not solve the actual problem. The problem is that our elementarymentaries are very tight. Uh and so you know will help address some of the issues but it's not going to solve the underlying issue. Uh the third request or actually is consists of three components. Uh firstly we want to communicate about progress towards our responses and so you know certainly I'm willing to meet regularly with coordinator and coers uh to discuss our progress. I'm willing to attend APAC meetings uh when possible. I've not uh this year has been a tough year for me because of scheduling issues, but hopefully next year I'll be able to attend more APAC meetings. Uh and then um I've already set up a email group uh so written summaries about non-concurrence and other issues can be communicated. So that part's you know already in place. Uh and then by the way, Jessica, I'll add your name to that list. um as soon as I get permission from the two co-chairs to to share their email addresses with so uh the second item uh APAC request to present to the board more than once per year. I know chair Burr uh will discuss uh that request with the co-chairs and coordinator at some point and uh we'll report back to the board. Um, also just a reminder, uh, during board meetings, information can be shared during public comment from my report andor, uh, by board members during their, um, regular reports of the year. Uh the third component of that request is um to be involved in conversations regarding prioritizing budgets that directly impact uh native students in the district. And so I'll um connect with the coordinator and co-chairs to see exactly what they're looking for and how that can transpire. Uh we have a good process I think for reviewing curriculum with APAC. Uh in fact uh hopefully some some members of APAC are actually reviewing curriculum. Now we had a community uh curriculum review night and then you know Apac was invited uh for an hourong session after that. And so there are ways to accommodate that request. I just need to have a better understanding of what that could look like. And the fourth request has to do with um increasing support for PSO students. Uh PSO for people who don't know the postsecary enrollment option students. So it's a program sponsored uh through the state that allows eligible kids to participate in college classes for credit, you know, while they're still in high school. uh they APAC has had some concerns about not having enough support uh for those PSO kids and um you know so I've already talked to the high school administrative team about this um there are sort of some expectations for PSO kids you know as far as taking on that responsibility for themselves uh the school does not receive grade reports for those kids maybe parents um you know so there's some things like that uh there's some barriers that we're all faced with uh for all of our kids eligible, not just the Native American kids, but all of our kids. Uh some colleges won't um enroll or won't register the PSO kids uh before a certain date. And so some of those colleges have dates in the summer, which kind of complicates, you know, requires kids signing up and those kinds of things. Uh but just a reminder, students and parents are encouraged uh to contact their assigned counselor if they have any questions about PS. And that's true not just for Native American kids, it's true for all kids. And so those are the the four draft responses uh to the noncurrences shared with us. >> Let's uh let's try to keep this organized. So let's just talk about each request uh instead of bouncing back and forth. So, if you have any questions or comments about request one, let's do that now. >> Um, so I when I went to the MSDA conference month or so ago, we are not taking advantage of Johnson funding and I met with Haley to go over that. I don't know if that would change anything. I think we can use some of that towards that instructor or that that coordinator. Yeah, some um some school districts qualify for Johnson Island funding and some don't. I know in my previous district which had quite a few Native American kids, we did not qualify or at least it was a really small amount and so the decision was made not to do it. Uh we're willing to explore that possibility. Um you know and you know obviously Haley would be the the key person who would understand that. So, we're willing to participate in that if it makes sense. >> She's looking at we we looked and I think it's worth looking into. >> We definitely consider someone like that. >> Yeah. >> So, I'm no longer on that liaison out of a inability to help with change. I'm glad Jessica steps up. She's the fundraising machine and uh has all sorts of different angles with that. uh in talking with um my APAC friends before the meeting tonight though um they had sent uh that it's moving in the right direction but uh it uh would not suggesting approving this and that we still have 30 days to work on this. So I appreciate that this is a rough draft. Um they one thing on this topic number one with the additional staffing you know they're well aware that you guys fund part of it and then we need to find as much outside funding as possible but they also get funding that they can kick in and I think where the rubber meets the road they're trying to solve the problem versus put all the bill on one person or the other themselves or the district. So, I think it would behoove us all to get together um with Apac like you like you're doing here and like collaborate. That's all they're ever asking for. Collaborate. How can we work together to find funding to solve the problem of basically just chaos? It's it's over. It's way too much of a workload for what they're what they're doing right now. I hear it all the time. Um and so I would highly suggest uh not giving up on the funding. Let's do what Jess is saying and Haley and everyone work together to uh find different staffing and this is the first time I've heard uh Apac say that um you know they'd be willing to contribute more. So um that's that's encouraging I think to solve the problem. So that's my I have something for all of them. Um but that's my for the topic number one. Thanks. >> Yeah, thank you for that. Um and to kind of summarize I think what you and Jessica are both saying is and I can add this to the next draft. I can say something that we are willing to collaborate with AIE coordinator and APAC to uh consider pursuing JM funding and other grant opportunities. Yeah. >> So, I know in past years they've actually asked for a grant writer and, you know, we don't have the funding to hire, you know, full-time grant writer, but I think your point has to do with collaborating and uh, you know, I could easily have that as a draft response. You know, I don't know what that would look like because it depends on the grant and those kinds of things, but I think that's a sensible add to this. >> And you had said it best at the beginning. This is a movement in the right direction. That was one of the frustrating things when I was on APC. It's like are we ever uh what do we call it? Concurrent and it's like no but we're not but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing. It's just you know we're looking for improvement all the time. So uh and there are things that they are genuinely really concerned with. So at least moving the right direction I think always keeping collaboration in mind and then realizing that everyone needs to put some skin in the game if we're going to afford things when clearly we can't afford it as a district ourselves. Thank you. Any other questions or comments out of request one? So, superintendent, what I took away is that we've got some wording to change on request one. I think the board realizes that we are going to solve it in 30 days before we have to approve it, but add some wording on how we're going to collaboratively work on a solution. >> Okay. All right. Request two, Miss West. Um, I would just like to see added some more specific or clear goals to get to this point because I know, um, we keep keeping pan down the road and saying we're going to we're going to look at it, we're going to talk about it, we're going to address it, we're going to do this, do that. if we could um create some goals like what we're going to do in a time frame so that they feel like we are making progress on finding space and and creating some kind of a sign in you know something for them you know I don't know what that would look like I'd leave that up to you to create those goals but um so that something we can measure to let them know that we are truly working on it >> yeah I'd like to think about actual goals Um but um you I think we already have a solution in mind. Uh you know we're Google school so we have shared Google calendars and so instead of buying new software and actually complicating things for everyone to reserve space. Uh my suggestion to the elementary principles and some of them already have this but to make sure that all elementary schools simply have a shared calendar for each room that is usually reservable you know during the school day. So it might be Cedar Creek Elementary School room 119. So instead of calling the office professional and hoping that you know all the information gets shared, it would simply be a shared calendar that we would give to uh that we would share with uh Haley and Abby in addition to everyone at Cedar Creek. You know, that's the problem is that we have districtwide people who need to use the facilities. And uh so I I think the the goal it's going to sound kind of silly, but it would be to simply set up those calendars and then uh to ensure that they are followed through with if there's someone who comes in last minute with a dire need. So, some of it will, you know, we sometimes if we have to move kids from one classroom out into the hallway or to another space, we may need some of those spaces, you know, regardless of who's in them. Uh, but, you know, by and large, we should be able to figure this out. So, maybe those could be very simple goals. I'm not sure how we measure them necessarily. So then a followup 2026 is you think they could you could have that set up districtwide so that >> I it's a it's essentially already set up. So >> are they aware of that? >> Well, I want to finalize it for all three buildings and make sure I know the names of the rooms that can be reserved and then it'll you know so by the time March 23rd comes across I expect this to be right. >> So this could be changed by March 23rd. >> Yeah. >> Okay. This is on the room thing. Um there's a need to have these rooms secured um like you're saying and working towards a room and not just kicked out to the lunchroom or kicked out to the library because uh some of the meetings, you know, it's it's pretty intense and maybe a lot of intervention, a lot of, you know, encouragement and a lot of dealing with uh some some some issues that shouldn't be shared in a room like such as this. uh or with other people. Um, another thing about having a room that is kind of dedicated is that there's a cabinet somewhere where they can go and then the person that goes to the different schools because they go to the different schools can open up the cabinet and have all their resources right there instead of carrying an entire cabinet with them because it's more than just a backpack or a briefcase. Um uh so that the secured rooms means you know I walked through the the three elementary schools a couple weeks back and there's I mean there's a lot of people but there's always empty rooms and so I don't know the coordination is probably where that comes down. I don't mean to speak naively but it's um it's not capacity bursting at the seams teaching people in the hallways. I mean, in walking through, there's plenty of rooms that are empty at every school I went to had plenty of rooms empty at all times. So, I don't know where the disconnect in that is. Uh, so I I I think that that can be I I think that that can be achieved through the better coordination with this Google calendar like you're saying. Um, and then to piggyback, this one isn't one, two, three, or four, but in general, uh, being asked, uh, why aren't there timelines or due dates on these? because it's they really feel this group Apac really feels pacified. They feel um like I don't know what I'm trying to say. They feel like we're just kind of Yeah. Yeah. back burner. Back burner. And uh I mean that's just not a good position for anyone especially, you know, a group that's trying to do goodby around 130 students that are in high need. So, um it would be nice if any of these uh answers to the non-concurrences would actually have uh like goals that we can set to a time and goals that we can set to a date and then like how do we achieve this because right now they again feel like we're just spinning our wheels and putting them on the back burner. >> Yeah. And uh I don't want to give the the wrong impression. We will probably not be able to find a dedicated space just for use by AIE in the elementary schools. We were really close at the start of this year. >> Why? >> Really close. Well, we added two teachers for example. I think uh one or both were in elementary school and that that forced some changes. >> Um you know we have most of our spaces you know are shared spaces. So if AIE has one or two days a week in a particular elementary school, you know, to accommodate other people who also need those services, we generally need to do that. So like I say, it was a high priority. I mean this year we've identified the spaces, we had plan in place and thankfully we, you know, added some elementary teachers which impacted that dedicated space. I'm under the impression that they don't need that room only for them. And when they're not there, no one can come in their room. They need that room for like, let's say, an hour or they need that room for a couple hours. And they need that room to have in the corner a cabinet that they can lock and keep all their stuff in. >> So, I'm not saying we take over, you know, a whole classroom and no one's allowed to come in here unless you're part of the um AP pack group. But what I am saying is um I I still don't I mean we I was in the schools that added teachers. There were empty rooms there. Uh I I just it's not it's not what we're seeing out in the in in the world and um they don't understand the push back um and they don't understand why we're not coming up with this and they're getting and have been quite frustrated for quite some time. Uh that's so I would like to really look into the rooms not maybe maybe I'm misrepresenting or whatever but I don't mean that this is you know room C 110 is only AP pack and no one can go in there. What I mean is that's the room with the lockable thing and they can go there when they go there. That's kind of the coordination that I think they're looking for. >> Any other questions or comments on request two? Mr. Anderson, I think you got the idea on that one. More concrete timelines, maybe some goals for request two um that have more details to it that way. Yeah, I'm already thinking of some possible goals that I think might make sense. >> Request three. Any questions or comments on request three? S. >> Um, so one of the requests A and C I don't have any comments on. Um, B, in the past they did pre-reent quarterly. We don't have anyone else present quarterly. And I was one of the ones that championed removing the quarterly pres presentation for APAC because if we're going to do quarterly presentations for one, we need to have time to do quarterly presentations for all. And that means that we need to ensure that we can have all the elementary schools come here quarterly, that we can have the middle school, that we can have the high school, that we can have presentations on every single topic quarterly. and I had concerns that we were treating one group differently than we were treating all the rest of the groups that we have just as much interest in. Um, so if we have enough time to put everybody on quarterly, I support that. But if we don't, I do not support >> I just wanted to go back to um number one that to discuss progress toward addressing non-concurrence. The superintendent is willing to meet regularly with the AIE coordinator and APAC. Um yeah, I look forward to seeing you come back to the meetings. you were always you were always I realize you're busy. I think you always brought good information and a good perspective to the meetings and I think it'll be um a good step forward when your schedule frees up a little bit and you're able to attend whether it's online or in person for those um because there is some communication gapping that's going on without you being there. >> I just want to mention that. And I think um as uh by the way the the I think the meetings are typically held on Thursdays which is actually I was thrilled when they moved into Thursdays uh because Sundays just don't work for me and uh so Thursday nights are you know probably the best night possible for me. It just doesn't always work with my schedule and so I'm willing to do that. However, at any time, you know, APAC or the AI coordinator can meet with me uh virtually or in person. And I think a lot of those communications can go that way as well. Um and so I I encourage, you know, I I'm willing to reach out, but it's a two-way street. You know, they can reach out to me, too, and I'm more than willing to talk with them at any time. So, and then um you I think the written email correspondent should help too. So, at least they realize that we haven't forgot about their their needs, their important needs. >> Any other questions or comments on request three? >> Okay. U Mr. Anderson, I see um some adjustments just for how we're going to update with that group. I think we have a really good process already in place. We have schoolboard members that are on the committee. We have an admin rep that's always there regardless if superintendent can attend or not. Uh and we provide reports at the school board. Uh, so it might just be something as simple as adding this to a a quarterly admin report of yourself that discusses the updates because we have schoolboard members that attend and they can provide feedback back to the group when they can attend. So it's not always a requirement for you to be at every meeting, but we have we have ways to get after that uh and be more open with our communication on the process. So besides that, were there any other suggested changes to this response under three? >> I just want to acknowledge that we have made great progress. I don't want to discredit anything that has moved forward to this point. Um and I look forward to going that direction um going forward. So, I I don't want to discredit anything any motion that we've made going forward up to this point. Um, and I'm excited about, you know, some of these non-concurrences and and some of the items you put in there and kind of beefing them up a little bit and and seeing how they play out. >> Okay, moving on to request four. Any questions or comments on request four? >> Mr. Shri, >> yeah, having PSO students, one that's graduating, one that's in currently I mean, this is something that all students, I think, are dealing with is having the high school and the college don't really and can't really with that privacy talk to each other. It's just a hard thing to navigate through, especially the first time with our first one. We were trying to figure stuff out on the fly. It was really difficult. Now, the second one, there's still some struggles, but it makes it easier. So I understand the struggles they're facing and it's not just us. I mean it's you talk to other school boards throughout the state and it's just a struggle all over. It's not just in our school. >> Yeah. The U of M for example has a deadline of well I don't remember the deadline but it's in the summer >> and so they will not register kids until after that deadline. Well, our counselors and administrators often take vacation even during that time. And so then the students are kind of stuck trying to reconcile their high school courses with what they want to take in college. And it must be really frustrating. So, and maybe that's one of the things that your daughter experienced. >> Mr. like to back what the superintendent said on this one and what Rob's saying. This is something that everyone's going through, not not just the Native American students. This is also why I personally and so many people are against like affirmative action because we don't want only black students or only Indian students or only Irish students or only left-handed students to succeed. We want all students to succeed. And so like this is a thing that should be addressed with uh the counselors because PS you know it they don't really care what your nationality or race or you know sex or whatever other category we're trying to put people into these days. Uh it's just hey are you going to go to school half the time? Are you going to be in uh in our buildings? Are you going to be in those buildings? So, I think that's more of something that needs to be addressed uh with the counseling office and it's not necess I can understand they want more uh uh help, but basically there's as much help as you need. I know that right now because my son's going through uh college applications and if he has questions, he goes down to his counselor and he asks questions. And so there's some personal advocacy that not only is necessary for like the whole system to work. So we're not just taking each person by the hand, but it's also good for that person to become they're about to step out the door and be in college and let's you know it's time to start adulting. So they need to step up and be able to realize that they go to not just native students. every student goes and has to ask the people that they need to ask to get help with wherever they're trying to be. So, I I concur on that one. I don't necessarily think it should be any special privilege. Um, I think everyone who needs help. Um, I think when they say that they haven't exposed the help that is available to them at the counseling office because I'm thrilled with the help that we are getting at the uh counseling office. >> Yeah. And I tend to agree with you on that. um you know and I don't know if this is the argument that they would share. So this is just me you know extrapolating what Mr. Shamrock's there but um you know the first time a child goes through um you know a program or an issue or football practice or whatever it might be you know it's like a new person learning a new system and it can be really challenging especially in a close-knit place like the St. Francis area schools where people know each other and so they can figure things out just because you know of who they're connected with whereas you know kids and this isn't just Native American kids it's all kids you know if you move into the district for example and you don't have those connections and you know we don't have people in the high school who are available to help with this kind of stuff during you know the middle of July it can be really daunting and so you know I can understand why it sure would be nice to be able to provide more support especially for the first time using system. Uh one thing though I could add would be um you know a lot of this does not have to be a counselor answering questions and that's a big part of it but I can see if if Haley you know would be able to sit in on more the sessions uh with the counselors and under and maybe Sherry does understand you know how all works or what processes can be implemented to make it work. Uh, but I think that could be a a big help if if Hay herself was involved, at least working with native refugees. >> This is just in general. You had mentioned before that we had a special time after the curriculum viewing for a pack >> and was that today? >> Correct. >> And how many people showed up for that? It started like at 6:00, I think. So, I have no idea. >> Okay. You weren't here or whatever. You ever seen? >> Well, we're getting ready for the the the board meeting and they they're actually next door. >> Oh, I'm sorry. I thought I thought you meant here. >> No, they're next door. >> It'd be interesting to find out how many people went to that um because uh a lot of times um you know, our public cries out for more transparency and then they don't show up. So, I'm wanting people to understand that if you go through all the hoops of presenting this and getting the information out there that they need to do their job and show up as well to make sure that uh that isn't done for no reason because then that's what happens going forward. It's kind of like conferences. There's hardly there's hardly anyone that goes to conferences. So, now we're not going to have conferences. So, it's kind of it goes away if you don't use it. So, um I appreciate if the district is going through all the um work to make this available to people um that the people that it's being made available to show up. >> Yeah, I'll find out from Stacy. You know, my guess is that there were several people there. >> Good. I would hope so. Thank you. >> Okay. Any other questions or comments on four? You got notes for that one? >> Uh yes. I might run a revised version by Jessica, you know, as kind of the representative just to make sure I capture, you know, kind of the gist of what we talked about. I'll I'll do that. >> Yeah. The only thing I had on there is maybe adding uh some wording on a deliberate meeting with our counselors uh with the coordinator or and or the APC group uh to talk them through. Oh yes, it won't have to just be the coordinator. It could also be packaged up. That's a good idea >> because again those that haven't gone through it don't understand the process at all. So if we can share that information another thing too on that is and I was part of the group and it's still confusing. The coordinator Haley is not Apac and Apac is not the coordinator. So we need to know that those are distin. Okay. So it even says parents in Apac AIP parents and then the coordinator. So kind of, you know, they work together and they go to some of the same meetings, but the parent group does the parent group and the coordinator does all the school stuff. So it would be very important to have both of those entities present or invited. >> Okay. Uh any other final comments uh on that letter? I think superintendent has the information to adjust and then we will see that Jessica, you'll see it probably before the whole board, but we'll see it at March 23rd. Okay, moving on to the next item. Uh, administrative report. I just have to click on it here. All right, just a few things I'll highlight. First of all, the pow-wow is scheduled for Saturday, February 28th. The grand entry is at 1:00. So if there's any way you can be there at before 1:00 to experience a grand entry, it's it's a special event. Uh MBA conference, that's the Minnesota Indian Education Association conference, uh will be held at the lake center in Prior Lake. Board members are encouraged to attend u on one or more days from March 18th through the 20th. And uh registration I believe is is probably available now. Um if you just search MIA, you can either register directly or you can go through Vanessa and she'll help you with that. Uh there is a cost associated that the school district will pay for. Uh we do not pay for hotel rooms. Um and that's I know all of you know that, but we just want to make sure the uh the public is aware that we do not pay for board members or district administrators to attend. Uh the brand style guide uh was recommended to be changed uh by the activities department and communications. The district cabinet did review the suggested changes. Did not have any objections. Uh the updated guide uh is attached to the board agenda. I forgot to do it last time, but I got it this time. Uh so I'm glad you pointed out at the last meeting. Uh the changes include uh allowing red in certain circumstances. So for example, if we have emblems on the wall, you know, the plan is not to change those emblems to include red, >> uh you know, in certain areas. Anyway, um now if it's something like that, you know, it's easily done. and you know if there was a booster club that wanted to pay for something you know I mean everything's going to be uh dependent on the particular circumstances for the request uh we're not planning to spend uh school money on any changes that may occur um at least not specifically for adding the red color. you know, we aren't going to accelerate a uniform um you know, sports uniform approval because we want to add red. If it's part of the regular routine of uniform replacement, then that's you know, we'll follow the regular routine. Uh the goal um and this is something that uh Don brought up and actually Dee had brought up uh at one point as well. uh we we need to to pay our vendors within I believe 35 days um after service is provided. Uh that's an expectation. Um and we believe that the the best way to do that is to actually um you know at the last meeting share a plan to to do these checks weekly. And uh we're thinking that it would be best to review the the full reports uh once a month uh instead of uh every other month uh just to kind of streamline the operation. So we get the full list you know presented and then it would be given at the uh first meeting of the month um instead of you know meeting the first meeting or first meeting and the second meeting. So we're looking at several changes. first, you know, the the weekly checks would be to get information as soon as possible. And then second is how we report to the board. Um, and so that's what um, you know, DD and, uh, Don recommended. Chris, comment on that really quick. So, it's not changing any process of how we approve things. That's all standard. All it's doing is allowing for better accuracy when it's presented to us as a board. So, because they're making uh implementation of weekly check runs based off of audit results and making that better, um it will allow for better accuracy back to us rather than more questions because it happens so fast. So, um I'm super supportive of that plan because better accuracy to us has always been. And currently, as you said, you know, the process for our approval is not changing, but um you know, there will be changes within the next year because we're upgrading our our finance software. And so, we're planning to rework how we approve um check requests. Um I think it'll be tighter and it's going to be more streamlined. So, we should be able to get, you know, that information to our system in a more productive way. Again, it's an efficiency thing there. Uh, next item, uh, Miss West, uh, asked for, well, I think Mr. Humphrey, too, um, asked for information about behavior data. And so, I did include three different reports in um, in the board packet. This time, it's just the raw data. Um, and I took it from our student management system, reconciled some things, and posted it there. I'm planning to meet with uh the instructional leadership team at their meeting in March and then we'll be able to have a full discussion about it you know after that meeting. So this is the data for you to look at but the discussion we expect will be March 23rd after I can meet with the IL. >> So for board members if you see any questions that you might have in any of that data please send that to the superintendent uh within the next week. so he can have those discussions with the group. >> Oh, thank you for that. And the last item, Saints online. Uh we only have two students in our elementary saints online program. One of them is a fifth grader. Um and so he or she will be in middle school next year. Uh we have concerns about, you know, in general having our elementary kids on a full-time online program. Um and so those two things together um have kind of led to the feeling that uh we will discontinue the elementary portion of the online school. We continue middle school portion and the high school portion, but it doesn't make sense to have a a halftime teacher, you know, teaching one child next year online. So um we save not only on those teacher costs um but we would also um save on the the actual curriculum platform that we use. So it depends on how we move the the teacher but it's tens of thousands of dollars that we'll we'll save and be more efficient overall with how we provide educational services. That's all I've got. >> Any questions or comments for superintendent Mr. Monol and I don't eat sugar so I can't eat a Snicker bar. I apologize everybody. Um I was really excited after everyone complaining about the uh you know test results that we were actually going to discuss red a but it turns out it was this. So I hope that's an important issue. I'm glad it's cost neutral to the district because it is branding and we went through that not too long ago and it's re not re a which I would prefer we spend our time on of course um the uh uh behavior data I hope everyone who's looking at this looks at it the right way. It's not the bottom line. It's the second to the bottom line because the bottom line which shows a drastic decrease shows the year prior in its completeness and the current year missing four months. So if you go through and look at total through January on each of those is what the real comparison should be. So make sure you're looking at those cuz that's really important. Um yeah, this is something where we're going to need some heavy discussion because according to everything I see, we have um one two that went down and like six that went up. Uh thankfully most of the minors are staying the same, but it sounds like the majors are the part that are uh increasing. And this is where we need our parents to do their job for crying out loud. We say this all the time, but we can't do it all on our own. We can't hire enough people to make it so there's not enough teachers getting bit. We didn't hire enough bus drivers that don't want to get mouththed off to. We need the families to do their freaking job on this. We need your help. Please, desperately, I promise it works. I have two kids that went through this. I held them accountable. I put them to bed on time. I fed them and I loved them and I supported them. And at the same time, when they asked me if they could do something that was questionable or going to get them in trouble, I said no. And if every last breath of my parental existence, I will make sure my kid is doing what's right. And it's not happening here because despite hiring an extra uh principal, an assistant principal at each of the elementary schools, two at the middle school and two at the high school, our numbers are doing nothing but staying the same and even going up in in more cases than not, and that's super concerning. So, when you're reading these graphs on the public board, make sure you read total through January. That's the comparative, and you'll find the same thing I found. Um, and then this kind of leads into the Saints and my thing. I can't believe anyone would send their elementary school children to an online school. You only learn what you learn from the books and the math and the teachers. You learn so much from being around other kids your age. And I think that was a huge disservice that Betty's even considered. I'm super glad we're discontinuing the elementary school online. I I am not in favor of it in middle school. I would say, hey, you got one foot out the door as a junior, a senior, and you want to save some money in college. You know, that makes some sense. And maybe there are some cases where I mean, we need to address taking care of bullying on our end if hopefully no one's in Saints Online because they're being bullied because those issues should have been addressed long time ago. Otherwise, we're doing a huge disservice to those kids. But I can't believe we had online learning for elementary students and I'm glad that we're canceling that. And I would highly suggest parents and their kids to come to the conclusion that hey, we're learning a lot more than the actual ABCs and one 123s. Um, this is not a secret to anyone. Everyone knows this. It's just we have to admit it to oursel if we're ever going to make actual change in public education. And we're not making actual change in public education because we're like, "Oh, an elementary student can go online. That sounds like a good idea." Wrong. That's my thoughts on that. >> Yeah. If I could uh try to remember to respond to both issues. >> I can help you in that if I need to. First off, regarding the behavior data, I also encourage people to look at each column >> because each column represents a year >> and you'll see that after the first year uh our discipline data improved significantly and that was the year that we added uh an assistant principal each secondary school, administrative intern, each elementary school. You can see the data decrease significantly. In fact, we decreased in some areas so much that we met our five-year breakthrough goal um shortly after we implemented those things as well as a whole bunch of other things like behavior interventionists and those kinds of things. Last year um well, this year has been a tougher year in terms of uh data with regard to behavior. So, I'm not denying that. If you look at just last year and then this year, you can see that they're going up uh in most of the schools and certainly over, you know, for the whole year. No, no doubt about it. And so that's the part that administrators will will look at and we'll re or we'll consider what we're doing, what we should do differently, what we can do differently, and then come up with a plan. So, but again, you know, I do encourage everyone to look at that first year data as well. just see how from that uh the second part >> uh the second part was um >> the online I guess. >> Oh yeah. Yeah. I'll give you >> or maybe would you like to touch on the fact that parents should also be doing their job and upholding their end of the bargain. um because we're doing everything we can to provide a good environment for their little homeschool. >> I think the the superintendent and principles, employees, parents and students all need to step up, you know, because we should all be on the same same team and I think we are here largely in St. Francis >> and we all need to contribute. Um and uh some people would add that you know taxpayers should also contribute to that. You know if we need resources to make a difference then you know we need to find that and I'm not suggesting we ask voters you know for extra money. You know I think what we should do first is look at what we have and make adjustments. Um you'll when we share more information I think um people realize that we are taking this seriously and we're make some adjustments. uh in what we do. So I'll I'll share more of that you know not only this uh March 23rd but subsequent meetings as well. Oh I'll give you a couple examples of middle school online kids. I'm not going to mention any names or anything like that. Uh but we have some kids who are exceptionally good at certain activities or sports and so they've chosen to follow those dreams and those passions and in order to do that um sometimes they need online school and so you know they might be an equestrian uh they might be a a dancer or gymnast and they're in these really high level programs and the only way they can you know meet the standards here at school you do online. So that's one example. Uh we've also used the no school online um for what what you said earlier and this is really sad you know but if there's some kids who um feel like they're being mistreated in school you know sometimes the parents will choose the online option. I hate I hate it when I hear that because we don't want our kids to feel that way ever. Um but you know what it comes down to sometimes that's what parents choose. Uh and then the third one uh sometimes we make arrangements with parents who have some kids who have made significant mistakes at school and um you know for example if we expel someone um you know we are still obligated by law to provide educational services and um you know sometimes those services make the most sense if they're online away from their peers. So those are three examples of how it is and you know it's sort of one of those things where I completely concur with this continuing the elementary with middle school and high school. I wish everyone you know would be in school. Uh but at the same time I think it's good if parents have their own choices too. You know what makes the most sense with with with their own kids. So anyway that's just a quick response. Mr. Sh with the discipline, one of the big complaints from staff is it seems to be the same kids over and over. >> Do we have any data of like of the 66 incidents, how many are the same kid? >> Yes, we do. Are those kids that on multiple multiple times doing things? Do we just keep putting them back into the same situation or is there ways that getting them out of the classroom, getting I don't want to say get rid of the distraction, but it's a distraction when teachers try to teach and there's not support in there and there's disruptive kids. >> Yeah. And that this is probably something that we'll want to you know explore in more depth you know the next time we didn't discuss it. Um you know of course we have kids who qualify for special education services and so that's one area that you know we need to follow state federal law and um you know we have some kids who don't qualify for special education. Uh the one thing though that's really important to know is that generally we do not have the right to make unilateral placement changes. So you know I can't just uh tell the principal well have this child moved to a different facility outside the school district. I can't generally require them to do online school. I mean there are parameters as far as what we can do. Uh you know we follow a discipline policy. Um you know sometimes there are some positive changes in that sometimes there aren't. Um but you know we do whatever we can depending on you know the nature of the circumstances. But to answer your question, you know, we have lists, you know, we know how many interfactions were committed by each student and then we, you know, we follow up, you know, as appropriate with those kids. >> Sorry, I just can't shut up. Um, this is what Robu just said is kind of ties into what you're just talking about, but also ties into the, you know, 900 people here with red shirts today. If we have this, your job is your pay and your situation, you know, the conditions. And if we only have this much pay, we got to really do our best to make up for conditions. I'm sure we're all hearing uh about, you know, the kids going feral and stuff these days and the fact that our policy is not set up to be strict enough or consistent enough or quick enough. And I believe that would be one way to cushion the blow of how little money we have to pay our employees if we made their working conditions better by if by instituting and enforcing and backing up policies that say, you know, we're going to give you a chance and we're going to give you a second chance, but it's going to be a lot more graded. But then third, you are gone. And we got to figure something like that out to protect our bus drivers, our EAs, and our teachers and more. I mean, that's important, but they're getting paid to do their job, and they already know their job is tough in that in some regards, but we're also trying to protect the other students in the class who are sitting there going, "Oh my god, where's my teacher?" Because, you know, Billy won't stop hitting Susie or whatever it is for that time. We can make this a destination district for employees if we make their work conditions better by being more consistent and quick and thorough. um with these repeat offenders because we're all hearing this too. It's like 5% or five even. I don't know. It's something like that. And it's in each school and well, I mean, you only get so many chances and then you shouldn't be allowed to affect everyone so negatively and you're affecting all the kids and you're affecting all the staff and I just like I said, I'd love to have a talk with those parents because I can't believe they would know this is going on. Um, but definitely they should be having a talk with their kids because their kids are causing all the problems. And it's it's it's blaringly apparent and it's it's it's hidden because we can't announce names. But I mean, boy, you know, it's too bad because, you know, it should be like the village leaning on people like kind of in the military when someone screws up and the rest of the people do push-ups. I mean, you know, get out of here. We're done with you. And I it's I I'm try to be compassionate, but I can only be compassionate for so long. I was never the type of kid when I raised my kid when they were throwing a fit to give them the sucker because then when they want a sucker, they just throw a fit. The kids learn this stuff really quick. We need to be consistent and we need to be quicker acting and we need to follow it up and be thorough and be supportive of our staff and our other students uh by making sure their learning environments are as good as possible. And we're not doing that, not just in St. Francis, but in publication as a whole, in public education as a whole. Um, by being so lenient on the people, we're trying to hopefully someday, you know, break through. And my patience have worn thin with the people we're still trying to break through after like two or three times. I think we should really look into policy that sets us apart from other people, other districts in the fact that hey, you know, we're not going to put up with the status quo because the status quo is exactly why public education is in the situation it is right now according to the experts I'm talking to, the bus drivers, the EAs, and the and the teachers and parents who are doing their job by the way, who we all know it's that's the answer. So, >> and Mr. Sh, >> thank you. Um, back to the branding thing. Um, what seven eight years ago we went through a branding thing, came to the board. I actually voted to keep the red in. Got voted down by I think everybody else. Maybe there was one others that supported keeping the red. But now it comes back. And like Jake said, I just don't know why it comes back or why it's here. Like where was the push to bring red back? It's it's been gone. It's basically out of the schools. You don't see it anymore, but now all of a sudden it just shows up. Um we have an activities committee. Not sure why it didn't go through the activities committee. Um I just don't know why it came here. Why why the change is needed? >> Yeah. And um uh the discussion of the recommendation come came from communications and activities. So I didn't dig deeper, you know, into that. Uh cabinet member did u cabinet reviewed the recommendations, didn't have any objections. you know, it's it's obviously not a do or die kind of thing, but that's kind of the process we follow to go through. And um I know Chris did and Chris did share the survey results from several years ago. So, you know, it was an interesting conclusion for those surveys, >> yeah, I mean that was seven, eight years ago. Most of the kids that are in high school now were barely in elementary school, so they don't even even remember being a part of it. To me, it's just why it's been gone, but we should have just left it. It's gone. I mean, I know it's something we're not voting on. It's just something that can happen, but it just seems weird that it's brought up now. All right. I I think one of the biggest complaints and repetitive complaints we as schoolboard members get is, you know, why can't we read? Why can't we do math? Why can't we do science? And there's a million answers, but I don't think any of the answers are because we don't have red in our logo. Um, it's honestly rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. I don't care if we go to helotrope. Let's just cut to the chase and include every color who cares. And it's I think we need to focus on the stuff that's um of utmost importance. And I know we all can walk and chew gum. So this is just another thing. And thank goodness it's not at any cost um to the district. But yeah, I I don't know why it's now. But I also don't know why we would take our eye off the ball and even entertain this for half a meeting. The end. Sure. I guess I mean, it's here and it's probably already done, but I I don't know why it wouldn't go through a committee, not just the few people to bring it forward or I don't even know who brought it forward, but just I'll dig any other questions or comments for Mr. Anderson. Okay, I'm just going to make one statement on uh discipline policy. Again, it sounds like we need to have a look at our discipline policy at the policy committee. And I'm also reminding the board that we are a public school district. So, um every individual has circumstances that align to why we need certain resources. Uh we don't get to pick and choose what those resources are. Uh we have to provide them. So um you know if a student needs to be online because they are undergoing chemotherapy which is a thing that happens we are not going to say no to them because of our own personal opinion. So we are going to follow the law and what the state tells us to do and how we educate our students. But I fully agree that we can look at our discipline policies and how that goes forward. And I'm excited to hear the information that comes out uh from the behavior conversations that you have with each facility. Okay, moving on. Next item is the action item for tonight. It is the approval of the district plan for discontinuing and reducing education programs as authorized per our resolution on January 26th. Superintendent Anderson will provide a short overview as required to take questions. Hold on just a second here. And as a reminder for action items, not information items, but action items, really going to give everyone a chance to speak once on the action item and then after everyone has their opportunity to speak, you get one more time to share your final opinions on that. Nothing against you, Jake. That's just the polic that's the way we talked about action. >> Even I don't want to hear me talk anymore. I'm trying to briefly summarize each one of the areas. Uh they're important considerations, but I do have information in the board packet. So, this is um tonight's resolution as part of our yearly flow of decision making when it comes to budget related decisions. Uh at a recent meeting, there was a a motion to authorize or direct the administration to consider program reductions. That was passed. And so cabinet members, uh, building leaders and I have been reviewing, uh, those possibilities and, uh, do have some, uh, recommended reductions as well as some additions, uh, that are being presented with this solution or with this resolution tonight. Uh first of all um as I mentioned uh earlier tonight uh we did lose or we will be losing about $600,000 in compensatory education and that's because of the state going back to a previous formula for compensatory funding. We've been benefiting from a hold harmless clause that expires and uh my dream would be for the legislature to continue what was how things were being calculated in the past that would benefit St. Francis. I don't think that's going to happen especially with the state's current budget situation in the out years. Uh and so uh Don Dell and I participated in a session sponsored by the state that talked about the new compensatory funding formula and how it impacts individual schools and the rough estimate is that we'll lose about $600,000. Uh it's still in process and it's calculated or it's a complicated process for making the final decision. So, I need to emphasize it's about $600,000 as a result of that. Uh, as well as lower than lower than planned enrollment counts uh for uh next year's kindergarten and just the overall enrollment um or at least anticipated enrollment. And just to give a little more detail, we're about 30 kids down in kindergarten than where we were a year ago at this time. And so obviously that's a concern for us in terms of the budget. Uh so if you look at all those facets, uh the recommended reductions and I'll talk about each one separately. first of all would be to reduce two full-time or the equivalent of two full-time certified uh teachers uh intervention teachers andor instructional coaches. So, that's the proposed reduction uh that we're looking for approval tonight. However, there's some good news. Uh some things uh fell into place last week uh in conversations with Miss uh Devel and Miss Parson um and others in terms of how we can make that happen and it's really important um you know for you everyone here to understand um you know this process um you know we provide services to crossroads crossroads east and alternative learning center. You know, all of our we provide educational services. Uh but we have not been providing an adequate amount of coaching support in those sites. And so the plan for next year is to assign some of our coaches to those areas. And so there's the need. You know, we would do that regardless of the budget situation, or at least we should. Uh the nice part about it is that when we reassign coaches to Crossroads and Crossroads East for example, then other districts pay their fair share of that bill because we pay for the teachers and then other districts who are participating in that program or who have kids in that program need to pay us back. And so we're going to reassign some of our coaches to those areas. Uh we're also going to reassign partially assign them to those areas. So they'll still spend most of their time in our school in our you know other district uh schools but part of their day is in these other programs. So they will generate more money uh because of that. Um the uh we're also uh eliminating a coach data coordinator position uh which and she directly supports me as well as um director of curriculum instruction. Uh so there's a pretty significant change there uh for us. Um but we're going to have her or we're assigning her to work specifically at Grouse Rose East um as an intake coordinator. Uh, Crossroads Bar None already has that position. Crossroads East has more kids in the program, but they don't have a full-time intake coordinator. And so, we're planning to have Sam work over at Crossroads East. And once again, as I just mentioned earlier, that actually generates more money for us because of the district for that time. It's a needed position. Um, so I'm really glad we're we're able to to fit that in. And it's not just taking in registrations of kids. It's orient orienting kids to the um to the facility. Um, you know, substitute teaching as needed, you know, providing direct support for the kids who are in crossroes. So, it's a that it's an important position. Um, and uh, so we're that's what we're planning to do. That's a big part of it. And if we do those things, we are close to the 2.0 full-time teachers uh that we'd be reducing and uh simply by reassigning and recoding them and charging other districts for their fair share. So that's good news. Uh intervention teachers are not part of the discussion now um because we were able to meet the the two full-time teachers in a different way. And tomorrow I'm planning to uh let Carla Winter know that we plan to or that she can go ahead and post uh to replace an intervention teacher who is leaving the district at the end of this year. So it's not an extra cost. It's you know replacing the current position. So we've been kind of holding off on all that. So a lot of our pieces go into place. Mr. Uh, do you want questions in the middle or at the end? >> No, I can. >> So, let's say the fun the compensator and hold us not don't hold us harm. Yeah, hold us harmless. >> Would we hire on top of what we already have? Then >> I think we would still make these same changes. Uh because even with these changes um you know we're losing about $600,000 in compensatory funding. This would this change as well as recoding uh some teachers to title one would be about half that. And so you know we're still going to go down in our fund balance of compensatory education but we have a fairly healthy fund balance right now in that area. So we can do that for multiple years. But I guess what I'm saying is if they don't hold us on us and we get that funding. >> Yeah. On top of what we already have. U maybe you know and maybe that's what I should have said to start with. Maybe. But I don't want to say for sure that we would um because it's you know there's so many factors you know coming in play and we have some other budgetary constraints. So I I don't want to say for sure that we would, but if we if we get that good news, then we'll definitely look at uh kind of related to that, we did get some good news about our title programming about a month ago. I announced that, you know, we lost $200,000 in the middle of the year that we're providing service uh because we were below a threshold, a poverty threshold. But right now, based on the data that we've received, uh we're just slightly above it, literally by one or two kids. And so we get the $200,000 back. Uh and so that enabled us to do some recoding. And so that also helped us with some of the budgetary issues we're addressing. Uh any other questions about that? >> Uh tough choices. I appreciate your expertise and window wisdom. Um, this is part of when you were applying why I was thrilled with your hire because of you having stayed at two really long tenurs at two different schools in positions where you got a whole bunch of information and you are able to now make decisions like this. Also, I would really I really appreciate you listening to the people on the literacy coach. That's going to make a huge difference. And then this media specialist, is that going to be another one at the elementary schools hopefully? >> Great. It says St. Francis Elementary, that's great because if you're at the Cedar Creek Elementary where our main media specialist is focused, that is just a magical transition. And so I think that and we all know that getting kids to read early in elementary school should be our focus or you know reading all the time should be our focus. But with a tight budget we need to focus where we have the money and that would make sense that you add uh you know scale that up and do it at all of our elementary schools eventually. Um and I it's nice that we can share because of proximity to Cedar Creek and East Bethl. But I'm glad we're putting a media specialist in St. Francis Elementary School. Yeah, thank you for that. I'll just briefly go through the reductions. The the other three are really easy. You know, every year Mr. Nelson looks at class size ratios at the elementary levels and we can stay within those class size ratios by reducing one elementary teacher. So, you know, that's something we would do every year, you know, regardless of our budget constraints because we always try to follow those ratios. uh we are producing a third time uh elementary online teacher and um you know that particular teacher uh will be assigned to crossroads east to provide support for those um elementary kids or yeah for the elementary kids that are now placed there. Uh this year was the first year that we have elementary kids and we expect that to expand next year. And then kind of as you said uh Mr. is that uh we are hoping or we are planning to add a media specialist for St. Francis Elementary for all sorts of reasons why that's a huge advantage. Uh but because of that we will not replace our need education assistant who's retiring here. So it doesn't doesn't cost as much as a full-time teacher because we're also reducing position and that's the model that's essentially used to see create currently. Uh, I will say that this is phase one of changes in the media center. We're hoping that a year from now we will have the St. Francis Elementary School media specialist oversee the middle school media center, you know. So that role would be expanded to include the middle school and that um we would have Claudia who is the the media specialist at Cedar Creek in a year provide some classes to kids in so we're trying to kind of make the offerings fairer you know across all the elementary schools. uh we weren't ready to do that this year for a variety of factors but that's kind of the thinking longer term the um and actually the way you describe the next four are really good uh Mr. just too early. Sorry. >> Yeah. No, that's right. Uh we are planning to add back the literacy coach and of course um you know I've already talked about how we're going to be reassigning some of these coaches to other buildings. So we're trying to expand our support uh media specialist. We already talked about um you know adding the elementary crossroads east teacher is directly related to reduction in elementary teacher. And then finally, uh, one of the few things I think that everyone agrees with is to, um, start and hopefully someday expand our work-based learning program. Lisa Marie was here multiple occasions. Mr. Das talked about it multiple times. I know I talked about it. We've all talked about it. And so this proposal shows adding a halftime certified teacher. It might be less than that if we don't have enough kids. Um but you know at least the the plan is put over half time now. Uh just to note that we do get partial reimbursement because you qualify for CT lensure. It's 35% of salaries in that particular area. So it's fairly significant. Uh you can see more detailed information about why each one is is planned. So if you have any other questions feel free. Okay. Any other questions for superintendent on this initial? All right. See none, Mr. Anderson, any other final comments before we >> None at this time. But I will say, well, I have one thing, I guess. U you know, Don Dubelle's been doing incredible work on the budget. She just started I think the second week in January and you know she's working on this year's budget and starting to look at next year's budget spending a lot of time on it. It's really complicated. In the end she concluded and I agreed is that she had to go through every single account in the district to really look at the budget lines. So it's not a grand thing where we're going to add 2% or 2.5% and keep our fingers crossed, you know, that it's going to be accurate enough. G's actually going through each account and we have 12 or 15,000 account codes. So this is a big project. She's going to spend weekends and um I told her several times, it's not going to be perfect. you know, what you don't know, you don't know at the beginning of a new job, especially in a complicated system like a public school district. Uh, but she's putting in the time and effort and uh so we're going to continue that work with departments and those kinds of things and so more to come and you know I'll share updates with you you know as they come available. >> Great. Thank you Mr. Anderson. Uh this is a resolution so we will be doing a roll call vote. Uh are there is there a called motion to approve as presented? >> So M is there a second? >> Second Mr. Sha. Any discussion on the motion to approve as presented? Seeing no discussion. This will be a roll call vote. Signify by saying I or signify by saying nay. Miss B. I >> Mr. Sher. >> I >> Mr. Humphrey. >> Hi, >> Miss Anderson. >> Hi, >> Miss West. >> Hi, >> I am I as well. Motion prevails. >> All right. Next agenda item is upcoming meetings and preliminary topics. Are there any questions or comments about what's presented in the board back? Seeing no questions or comments, I will uh highlight that we have added a special meeting to Thursday, March 26 at 6 p.m. uh here at the district office. This will be one topic. This is the community engagement task force report back to the school board. So that will be that night. There is no planned action item for that night. No consideration of visitor. It will be recorded and um I'm not sure if we'll live stream it yet or not, but I'm guessing we're going to do it all at the same. So that will happen for March 26th here at the district office. Great. Next agenda item, school board member reports. Member Anderson, >> attended special ed advisory council. Um it was a good meeting. A lot of the concerns were more focused on the individual families versus special ed as a whole. Um, one of the major concerns was the amount of EAS that we currently have and we really talked through that as a council that was there along with staff that, you know, this isn't just a problem at our school district. It's a problem statewide, nationwide that EAS and PCAs that same line of work. Um, there's a shortage of staff. Um we obviously don't have the highest salaries and wages here but um this is not a problem just unique to our district just because our wages are a little bit lower than some of our surrounding districts. Um so it was a good meeting and that was actually the committee that spurred me to decide to run for school board many years ago. So um that committee is very near and dear to my heart. I don't have any other updates other than next week I'll be attending mediation for both the custodians and the EAS. Um and then later in the month of March the teachers. Um, I hope people are looking at our negotiations website and seeing what the parameters we set for each of these mediations or these bargaining units are and where the district sits and where um the bargaining units are coming in at because currently there's no way we can financially um meet any of those requests unless we are going to be going negative on budget in the future or cutting a lot of staff. So, I I really hope that staff are looking at that and realizing um what this district can afford because we can't afford what's being requested. >> Thank you, Member Anderson. Member Shock. Um this past week I took a bunch of high school students to SF. Mr. Skyler was there and discussed it earlier, but it's just still so much fun for those elementary school kids to have the high school kids come in and read to them. I think the high school kids get as much if not more out of it from the elementary school kids. Also, the winter seasons are winding down. Tournaments are starting. Some have passed. So, get out there and support some of these kids before the win winter season ends. And also Skyla, thank you for staying for the whole meeting. There's a few others that I wish would have, but thank you for staying. >> You're welcome. >> Uh I don't have too much. I did attend uh the early childhood meeting last week, my first meeting. So it was nice to get to meet those people. Um I do have a question. So we attend that. That seems like a parent group. Do we attend other PTO meetings around the district or is that the only one that we >> That's the only one that's on our list of school board committees. Okay. >> Um and then uh >> school board member committee. >> Okay. And then uh just next week that's only update I have. Thank you. >> Uh I don't know much just the the uh Apex uh pow is Saturday like he had said 1:00 um I think it was twain something about you know travel opens your eyes and um you don't have to travel very far. It's just our own very our very own gymnasium. You can learn about the culture all around you. So it's just a beautiful exhibit. It's a wonderful interactive experience and I would highly suggest it. Uh um Saturday at 1:00 for the uh grand march which is what you'd want to be there for to start with but then there's before and after. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Member what? >> Nothing new to say. Everybody else covered it so I'm good. >> Perfect. Thank you. Uh my only update is attended the health and safety committee meeting on February 12th. No major issues that came out of that. There was some concerns with a few items, but the staff have plans to address those as we go forward. And then uh the EA mediation coming up. That's all I have for tonight. Last agenda item for tonight is adjournment. Any questions prior to a motion be made? Is there a motion to adjurnn? So >> is our second. >> Thank you. Any discussion? Seeing no discussion, all in favor signify by saying I and your hand. I motion prevails. Thank you. Meeting the journal.