It's kind of a Good evening. I'm going to give one more minute for people to get in the seat and then we're going to start our board meeting. One more minute. also here please. Thank you. back. If you need if you need something, just text. It is 6:37. I call this regular meeting to order. 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. All right. Good evening, fellow school board members, district staff, and community members. As a reminder to us all, the mission of St. Francis area schools is to equip all students with the knowledge and skills to empower them to achieve their dreams and fulfill dreams and full potential while becoming responsible citizens in a dynamic world. Before we begin tonight's meeting, I have a statement to read. St. Francis Area Schools can confirm the receipt of a lawsuit from Education Minnesota in regards to our district policy 6061.5. We also can confirm the receipt of a lawsuit from American Civil Liberties Union Minnesota in regards to that same policy. The documents from both lawsuits are being reviewed by our legal team. The district is committed to addressing the claims identified in the lawsuit thoroughly and appropriately. Consistent with district practice, we will not be making any public comments regarding the details of the lawsuits at this time. However, we are committed to transparency and will respond to written inquiries in writing as appropriate. This includes no agenda discussion on the topic of district policy 6065 tonight. Thank you for your understanding as we navigate this matter. Our first item for tonight's agenda is the adoption of the agenda. Are there any questions prior to the motion being made on the agenda before you? Is there a call a motion for the March 24th, 2025 meeting agenda? Henderson. Thank you. Is there a second? Second, Mr. Shorn. Thank you. All in favor or is there any discussion on the motion? All in favor signify by saying I. All oppose signify by saying nay. Motion passes. Thank you. Our next agenda item is the Saints Star Award. The Saint Star Award was established to publicly recognize St. Francis area schools staff, students, and community members at a school board meeting to highlight the positive and impactful work happening in the district. This month's St. Award is presented to four St. Francis High School students. First, we recognize seniors Abigail Pollson and Nathaniel Ezel as the high school's 2024 2025 Minnesota State High School League Triple Award recipients. The academics arts and athletics award commonly known as AAA award honors high school seniors throughout the state who have a 3.0 or higher GPA and who participate in league sponsored athletics and fine art activities. With a 4.16 GPA, Abigail is at the top of her class. She is an honors wind ensemble member, a state qualifier for the state track and field team, and has participated in soccer and weightlifting. Nathaniel owns a 4.03 GPA, and has been a band section leader for three years. He was named all conference in one act play, has participated in visual arts, and is a member of the baseball team. Next, we honor juniors Elanor Dawson and Samuel Bergman. They are honored as the high school 2024 2025 Minnesota State High School League Excel Award recipients. The Excel Award stands for excellence in community education and leadership and recognizes Minnesota high school juniors who are active in school activities, leaders in their schools, and who demonstrate a strong commitment to community service. Eleanor has earned all state recognition with the Saints gymnastics team. is a National Honor Society member and is very active in the community with nearly 60 hours of community service last fall which included 40 hours at Mercy Hospital guest services. A captain on the football team, Samuel earned all district honors last season. He is a National Honor Society member, a math peer tutor, is one of your is on the yearbook staff, is an active member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, participated in the Allied Physical Education class, and participated in 14 hours of community service last fall. Please help me in celebrating St. St. Francis High School students Abigail Hollson, Nathaniel Esbel, Eleanor Dawson, and Sam Bergman for their outstanding accomplishments. Little bit round about wayful towards we don't want to mess up. Yeah, we don't want Oh. One more time for them. All right. Agenda item four for tonight is consideration of visitors. We have 33 individuals requesting to speak tonight. We will allow two minutes per speaker. I ask each speaker that once your time is reached that you make your final statement quickly and be respectful of everyone's time. To maintain a respectful and professional environment, all visitors are expected to conduct themselves appropriately. Comment should remain professional and on topic and disruptions such as outbursts or excessive flaws are not permitted. If a topic has multiple members um of the public, they may share their perspectives. Redundant points should be minimized. Please be considerate of others and adhere to these guidelines and uphold a respectful setting for all. There will be no board action on any request during consideration of visitors. the superintendent or myself um will address any comments if required. All right, our first speaker tonight. Vanessa will hold up uh the 30 second reminder and then you will hear the alarm. At that time, wrap up your statement, please. Okay, our first speaker for tonight is Elizabeth Pedman. Elizabeth, please come forward. Good evening. My name is Beth Peterman and I am an EL teacher in the district. I teach at East Betha Elementary and Cedar Creek Elementary and it is my second year in the district. As a teacher and a mother of two teenage daughters, I think that the district should use a review rating system like Booklook that would help raise the standard so that sexually explicit pornographic books and materials never again make it to the shelves of our school media centers. The committee will still have the ability to discern the appropriateness of books surrounding questions such as swear words, violence, ideology, but having a baseline of decency and assuring parents that their child will not be exposed unintentionally to harmful pornographic material is very important. I hope that the board will have the wisdom and courage to take this stand for our students. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Julian Couchure. And I do apologize if I did not get last names right. Good evening members of the community and school board. As senior class president, I am honored to stand here tonight on behalf of my peers. Over these past four years, this school has become more than a place of learning for me. It's been a community. I build friendships, learn from dedicated teachers, and grown through countless opportunities in clubs and activities. For that, I am deeply grateful. Recently, I've been reflecting on an issue that affects not just me, but all students here. There have been an increasing discussion about banning certain books in our schools. At first, I didn't think this would affect me. Then, I experienced this effect close up. Last trimester, one of my teachers hesitated to continue an assignment, fearing backlash over the content we were reading. This wasn't about what was right for our education. It was about fear. And fear has no place in the classroom. That moment left me questioning what I've always believed about the education in America. The education is in America is built on freedom. The freedom to explore, to question, and to grow through exposure to different ideas. But as books start disappearing from our schools, I find myself questioning that belief. To ban books is to strike away the very heart of what education stands for. It denies us the opportunity to think critically, to broaden our horizons, and to challenge ourselves with perspectives beyond our own. This isn't just about losing books. It's about learning or losing the ability to learn without fear. It's about losing the freedom to engage with knowledge that shapes who we are and who who we will become. Taking that away is not only a step backward, but is a fundamental violation of our constitutional rights. When a book is removed from a classroom, it sends a message. A message that learning should have limits. This is not what education is about. Education should empower us, not restrict us. Banning books does not erase pages from a curriculum. It erases opportunities for growth, dialogue, and for understanding. I I ask the school board to consider the impact of this decision, not just on the books themselves, but on the students who rely on education to prepare themselves for the future. Limiting what we can learn is not the path forward. It's a step backward. Right. Our next speaker is Roxan. Excuse me. Excuse me. Hello. Good evening. I stand before you today with a mix of excitement and concern. Excitement because our small town of St. Francis has caught the attention of some of the most celebrated authors in the country. New York Times best-selling authors who have collectively sold 100 million books. Think about that for a minute. These authors are like the Michael Jordans of the literary world, the very best at what they do, the ones who set the standard for excellence in writing. They have shaped minds, sparked imaginations, and inspired millions of readers across the world. And now they're reaching out to us. That should be an incredible honor. Imagine the opportunity this could bring to our students. The chance to connect with worldrenowned authors, writers, to learn about storytelling, creativity, and the power of literature directly from the very people who inspire readers around the world. With authors of this caliber taking notice of our town, you'd think they'd be reaching out to us to celebrate our schools. But that's not while they are contacting us. These authors are not reaching out to set up Zoom calls with a staff's language arts classroom. Nor are they offering to mentor our inspiring young writers. They're not contacting us to celebrate literacy or to share their expertise with our students. Instead, they're reaching out in protest. deeply concerned that their books and many others are being taken off the shelves, limiting what our students can read and explore. Our school should be a place where ideas are discussed, where students are encouraged to think critically, and where literature serves as a window into different perspectives, experiences, and emotions. When we remove books, we aren't just removing pages from a shelf. We are removing opportunities. We're taking away the chance for a student to see themselves in a story, to grapple with new ideas, or to be inspired to pick up a pen and write their own words one day. I urge this board to reconsider the path we're on. Let us ensure that St. Francis is not remembered for what we took away, but for what we gave our students, the freedom to explore, to question, and to grow into thoughtful, informed individuals. Thank you. Our next speaker is Julie Anderson. My name is June Anderson. I've been a resident of ISD 15 for 53 years. Special interest groups, especially religious and political, have been trying to ban books that don't agree with their beliefs or ideology ever since the printing press was invented. As a former media generalist, I know there is a protocol for removing books from school libraries. They are not removed in batches. Each book is considered separately and the person requesting its removal is required to fill out a form. First question is, have you read the book? Moms for Liberty, an organization designated as a hate group by Southern Poverty Law, has been the driving force behind the recent book banning movement, a tool developed by Moms for Liberty to push their agenda of hate even further under the guise of protecting children. And Booklooks has become their go-to resource for books to ban, especially books about race, gay people, sexuality, and social justice. Many of the books on the Moms for Liberty book looks hit list are highly acclaimed, awardwinning books. Some required reading for AP classes. It makes no sense for people who are not educated about child development to decide what others should be reading while ignoring librarians and teachers who have been educated in child development. On August 1st, the Minnesota State Legislature signed into law a statute that addresses the banning of books in public libraries. It states that a public library must not ban, remove, or otherwise restrict access to a book or other material based solely on its viewpoint or messages, ideas, or opinions. The school's policy must establish the procedures for selection and reconsideration will be administered by a licensed library media specialist or professional librarian. And I have my remarks here and I also have a copy of the Minnesota State Statute that you probably need to review. Right. Our next speaker is Rachel. Good evening, chair, members of the board, this and superintendent. We are here tonight on behalf of the Minnesota Library Association's intellectual freedom committee. School libraries are essential to literacy development, intellectual growth, and exposure to a wide range of perspectives. At a time when reading proficiency is in decline, ensuring that students have access to a robust and representative collection of literature is more critical than ever. Professional school librarians select books that resonate with their local communities, understanding that as the saying goes, not every book is for everybody, but there is somebody for every book. We recognize that books depicting unfamiliar ideas or experiences may cause discomfort for some community members. But it is our responsibility as educators to explain that school libraries are designed to offer a wide variety of books. Some that align with our own perspectives and some that introduce new fun. This variety is intentional. It is meant to spark curiosity and foster a love of reading, encouraging students to explore ideas beyond their immediate experience. The reason Minnesota statute 134.51 was enacted is to ensure that no single person or group has the unal authority to override professional expertise and due process in determining library collections. This safeguard exists to protect all perspectives across the political and social spectrum from being unfairly limited or over representative. The vote selection and reconsideration process remain in the hands of licensed school librarians rather than being subjected to administrative pressure or external influences. We urge the St. Francis area school board to affirm its commitment to libraries and reading by ensuring adherence to Minnesota statute 134.51 by implementing clear and transparent procedures for book challenges. Upholding professional standards by supporting the role of licensed school library media specialists in curating collections that serve all students. And third, publicly committing to students right to read by ensuring that access to books is determined by their educational value and student interests rather than by ideological pressures. Minnesota's students deserve libraries that provide literature reflecting a wide range of ideas, perspectives, and experiences. As educators and public servants, we share a responsibility to uphold that principle and to ensure compliance with both state law and best practices and intellectual freedom. Yeah, it's a long since I've kind of been shortening it. I don't know people. Okay, so my name is Linda Toro Singleton. I'm a community member of the district. You've probably seen me before. um a future saint parent, a graduate of BSU with a degree in creative and professional writing and I was supposed to be a member of the library material review committee. I heard that I had been selected for the committee at the beginning of February, but there has not been a single meeting of that committee since then. Policy 606.5 has either removed or is in the process of removing dozens of books from the schools already without any review by that committee. This is a blatant violation of state law. this uh Booklooks website or any other rating website that we may choose now that Booklooks is shutting down does not have any of the qualifications necessary. Nor would it be classified as local community control as it is an opinion-based website from another state. Legality aside, the very reasoning behind removing books from schools due to a subjective measurement like appropriateness is entirely faulty. Topics like abuse, substance use, sexuality, illness, death, war, racism, and other forms of bigotry are all things that children interact with in their everyday lives. And preventing them from reading about them does nothing to protect them. Reading about harmful subjects is not the same as actually experiencing them and interacting with interacting with them through narrative stories gives kids a safe environment to process the feelings that come with these topics. If we want to raise emotionally resilient kids who are able to process adverse experiences, we need books that feature these experiences to use as a teaching tool. Not only is this policy illegal, it is denying children a full and well-rounded education. I hope that by the time my future child is old enough to attend St. Francis, we will have learned that people trying to ban books are never the good guys. just respond to comments. Belinda, we want you on the committee. Um, so far the uh informal challenges that have been presented have led to formal challenges that are automatically removed because of the policy. Uh but I know our media specialist is planning to get the the group together. There are two community members. Melinda is one. Um and we have another community member as well. And so I know communication is going to be going out and uh we do plan to convene the committee hopefully in the near future. All right. Our next speaker is Deborah Hogan Behringer. Hi. I request permission to stand here to address him. Is that all right? That is fine. Thank you. Um, as she said, my name is Jennifer Henrier. I've lived in this community for many years. My children graduated from here. They received an excellent education. There was no book. We trusted our teachers and librarians to pick what was appropriate for each age. My kids, again, they received an excellent education. They went on to um higher education and um anyway, so I obviously am against policy 605. I have a mom who taught for over 30 years. And when I went to school and became a nurse, she said, "Why don't you why don't you want to become a teacher?" I said, "Mom, I saw how hard you worked. I just want to come in. These teachers work so hard. They need support and I'm I anyone who is against this whole plan. Next speaker is Shannon Anderson. Good evening board. My name is Shannon Anderson. I am certainly glad we are not interested in banning books, but I do want to thank you for taking the bold stance and I'm grateful to the school board that has voted to use a system to ensure that our libraries are keeping books age appropriate and keeping some material out that can only be described as pornographic out of our schools. In fact, when I was reading some of this material along here, I was gabbled due to the obscene nature because kids might not they might be listening. This doesn't make any sense. Please help it make sense to us. And again, thank you for not banning books because we are not removing those books. We are just limiting the books and you're keeping it age appropriate. So thank you for your All right, our next teacher is Rowan. A Rowan A. Hello community members and members of the board. My name is Roland Anderson and I'm a senior at St. Francis High School. I'm also captain of the speech debate team of club president and an officer in the school's national honors society. I'm here today to speak against the current book band policy. The school board's decision to illegally abdicate their responsibility and hand over full control to a third party is actively harming my and my classmates education. The books that have been removed from our school include books that are commonly used in classrooms around the country such as Night by Ellie Wiselle, which recounts his experience during the Holocaust. Depriving us of the opportunity to learn from these books diminishes our potential to engage with the ideas that they present. If we don't have the opportunity to read and discuss them with our teachers and classmates, we lose valuable insights and understanding. This puts us at a disadvantage in our personal growth and educational futures, regardless of where they take us. Knowledge of these books and the themes they contain is vital in order to do well on AP exams and in college courses. I want decisions about my education to be made locally by people who have been elected by my community to represent us. I want these decisions to be guided by parents and trained librarians. The voice of one person or website shouldn't unilaterally make decisions that affect us all. As author Judy Bloom says, "I believe that censorship grows out of fear. And because fear is contagious, some parents are easily swayed. Book banning satisfies the need to feel in control of their children's lives. This fear is often disguised as moral outrage. They want to believe that if their children don't read about it, their children won't know about it. and if they don't know about it, it won't happen. We I'm not in any way advocating for a policy of zero control over books in the schools. However, I believe that the reviews that are made should be done by parents and teachers and board members within the district and this should not be given this authority should not be given to an outside source. St. Franc should refuse to let the fears of a few people affect the education of all of us. Thank you. Right. Our next speaker is Kristen Johnson. Thank you for letting me speak. Uh, dear St. Francis school board leaders, I'm reading this statement on behalf of Ashley Hope Perez, the author of Out of Darkness, one of the books you recently voted to remove from high school libraries in your district. Ashley is a mom, a literature professor at Ohio Ohio State University, and a former high school English teacher. Because literature engages with the world, and the world is often an ugly place, passages from virtually any book can be made to sound inappropriate when pulled out of context. What if I told you about a book with erotic poetry, graphic descriptions of male genitalia, and a father who consents to his daughter being gang raped while he enjoys an evening with guests? Would you be surprised to know all these passages appear in the Bible? Taken out of context, the descriptions are incomplete and misleading. They don't do justice to the Bible's complexity and value. In the same way, challenges to this book and others have disregarded the intentions and merits of each work as a whole. Out of darkness takes place in 1937 and sheds light on an important but little known event in East Texas history, the new London school explosion. It invites readers to engage with hardships others have faced. It depicts young people struggling for dignity, joy, and respect in a difficult time. Limiting access to literature because a handful of people dislike it interferes with a core function of libraries, which is to create a space for choice and exploration. For some, out of darkness is the book that will make history come to life. For some, it's the book that inspires engagement in community. Those readers deserve to be able to find the book in your high school libraries. Please put students first and return books to the libraries. Our next speaker is Barb Anderson. Barb Anderson. Good evening board and community and the wonderful students who were so um active today and speaking up for your future. You're wonderful. Um one of my children who graduated here from St. Francis High School years ago and now is has children of his own. And talking about tonight, he said, "Mom, what's the root? What's the root of what really is is this problem with the school district, a place we have grown and loved and care about and these children had such a great education and so they asked okay what's the root the source of something there's much information going but what is the root of the influence after the February board meeting I talked with two active members of the GOP basic political operating unit that I didn't know existed called the BPOU as I found out it was called. They do not read the books for total content or meeting. They put the title in the booklook website and then submit it to be removed. This is a political group affecting policy. This is not for ISD15. As I have said before and obviously it needs repeating, there was not an R or a D behind anyone's name running for school board. If you want to do this, you can go to the state or federal level with all the politics needed. We are different here. And so I would just request the community be aware how the policy is being made. The mission of ISD15 needs to be in front of all of us and especially your elected board members. That is the most important there. Thank you Chad. So that is why we are here. So what is at the root? We are learn. we've heard and we need to find that out. Thank you. Our next speaker is Isabelle Bombgard. Hello everyone. I'm Isabelle Bongard. I'm a sophomore at St. Francis High School. I'm here today because I wanted to make sure as many students as possible were speaking their mind. The bookloads policy doesn't just affect the parents and community members. It directly affects the kids who go to these schools and are searching for an environment that fosters learning and understanding about all aspects of the world, the good and the bad. I could be talking about how we can change policies on books available at our schools, but that's not what matters to me. What matters is that using the systems of book banning that we're currently using is limiting the knowledge that students are able to get. Yes, there are sad and sometimes awkward things in books, but there are things that happen in the world, and it is important for kids to be able to understand that the world is complex and messy, and there are things we can do to improve it. I know a lot of people are concerned about how the topics in these books will affect the kids and I understand you want to protect them and that's amazing but that shouldn't decide on what other kids who want to learn get to read. I'm a very avid reader. I love to read. Anyone who knows me knows that about me and that's why this is so important to me. I have a lot of books that I have access to, but I'm lucky. So many of my friends and classmates don't have access to books on their own, and that means they wouldn't get a chance to read so many amazing books and literary classics that I was raised on. If this policy isn't changed, and we're shown that books should be limited, it's showing kids that it's a bad thing to read or maybe even a bad thing to learn, that is not the message that we as kids should be getting. Thank you. speaker is I'm Angie Nick and I am a parent in the district. I never thought in 2025 I'd be standing here fighting against book bands for my children. Yet here I am to speak out against the use of booklets or any third party website to arbitrarily ban books based off the opinions of a group of highly conservative religious extremists. Banning books is dangerous is a dangerous step backwards and by restricting access to books we are also restricting our students ability to understand different ideas and experiences. The freedom to access books allows for difficult yet important conversations. By denying access to these books, it sends a message that these stories that their stories are not important and they're not worth being heard. It is our job as parents and educators to navigate and support our students through these complex storms. We need to encourage critical thinking. We should not be known as a generation of parents that allow books to happen. We need to them to know that all stories are worth being told. As school board members, it is your job to represent all students and all families. Please do your due diligence and allow for all voices to be heard by reversing the spokan and following the state law as outlined. I'm reading on behalf of Jodie Fulk. This is her response. Dear members of St. Francis Area School Board of Education, my name is Jody Gold. I'm New York Times number one bestselling author for more than 25 novels, one of which 19 minutes has been challenged and removed by school boards across the US, including St. Francis area schools. The book being banned at school districts in this country tend to fall into three categories. those of central content, those of bipok authors, and those written of LGBTQ authors. In most school districts where my books have been challenged, those doing the challenging have not even read the books. They did what you did. Use a list of titles from others in the community who express concern for children being exposed to, in your case, from deeply problematic rating website run by anonymous individuals. Make no mistake, what children are being exposed to are ideals and lives live different from their own which create compassion and empathy or in some cases children are being exposed to ideas and lives exactly like their own which provides representation of validity and a sense of belonging. The book of these lists were not salacious or revolutionary. They're just the kind of books that help kids learn to think for themselves which is the point of an education system which is also terrifying to a certain small subset of Americans right now. In fact, what we need is the kids who feel marginalized and read books with characters that are like themselves wind up feeling less marginalized. Kids who have never encountered someone different from themselves get to do so in the safe space of a book and it leads to understanding. Books bridge books bridge divides between people. Book bands crave them. For this challenge my novel without being bothering to read it, let me give you a synopsis. 19 minutes is about school shooting and effective bullying. Yet the reason it's banned is usually because of the single page that depicts a day rape and use anatom anatomy correct words for the human body. is not gratuitous and is not salicious. Yet those who challenge it call it horror. To be fair, if that's your definition of horror, I feel kind of sorry for you. But I also believe that there is nothing on that page a middle or high school student has not read or heard before. More to the point, what does it say about a world when we are willing to yank a book about a school shooting off his shelves because it has a word for genitalia in it. But we don't regulate the guns that cause those real life shootings. Thank you. I have to apologize. I didn't come here ready to speak, so I have nothing to give you. But on the drive from Manoka, um it just brought by 35 years of memories of my driving to the middle school every morning. I taught there for 35 years before I retired in 2008. I taught reading language arts to sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students. And my only goal as a teacher was to teach them to love to read. I I rarely said to a child, I don't want you to read that book because I know it's too hard for you. Because for the most part, if they wanted to read the book, if they had the will to read it, they would make it through just fine. And I would just encourage all the board members to have that same attitude towards the children. If it's something that they love, something that they need to read, want to read, they will make it through just fine. Thank you for letting an outsider talk. Our next speaker is Dean Modell. Good evening, school board. I'm Gene Oll. I'm a resident of district uh 15. This is in regards to library materials policy 606.5. I have posted on social media in the local newspaper a long explanation for a reason to keep this library policy in place. I will give you a copy of that when I'm done. This is just a quick review. I understand that book books just recently shut down their organization, but that does not change the selection of bad books today. In addition, at this point, as approved by the school board, any guidelines listed in the books will continue as long as the current policy exists. Keep in mind that these books were presented or books presented template of rating the school board and simply adapted those ratings as a reasonable guideline. These specific books do affect the students ability to learn academics because it distracts attention from their studies. Remember garbage in and garbage out. Since this district and many other school districts in the country are struggling with academic achievement, why not help the students learn by keeping this garbage out of our school? As I said before, there's no redeeming value for these books. These books do have the same story content without the vulgar language and the sexual and sexual descriptions. It's just garbage in that area. As I said before, uh I don't and I don't want my tax dollars buying these books. Simply put, the current policy raises the bar enough to protect all students from bad influence of these specific books and sets reasonable guidelines for media specialists to follow. There has to be some point uh and just what point would this group want to keep a book in? How bad does it have to get before they even agree? So, you got to look at the books. You got to look at the language. You can't generalize or use the excuse of education. Each and every book stands on its own merit and has to be reviewed as such. If parents or students want to have the book, they can obtain out school project and keep it at their home. Remember, this is a public school, not a private club. So, let's use some common sense. So let's use some common speakers. Yeah. So let's use some common sense and keep the policy in place. District 15 would be better for Thank you. All right. Our next speaker is Amelia Y. at St. Francis High School David Hudson's author. Hello everyone, my name is Amelia Yang. I am a sophomore at St. Francis High School and I will be reading Shaun David Hudson's statement. Dear St. Francis area school board of education. Preventing young people from reading books that speak to who they are won't prevent them from being gay or transgender. It won't prevent them from having questions about sex. It won't prevent them from having mental health issues. What censorship can do is prevent young people from having access to knowledge that can help them understand that who they are is okay and that they are not alone. Not having books like We Are the Ants when I was growing up and coming to terms with my sexual sexuality in the '90s led me to attempt suicide. Everything and everyone around me, from books to movies to church leaders, told me that there was something wrong with me. I was lucky that I survived my attempted suicide and was able to understand that I wasn't broken and that I was exactly who I was meant to be. And I want kids today to know they're not broken either. My goal with every single book I write is to be the voice that I needed as a young person and to make readers feel safe and accepted. Banning We Are the Ants and other books for queer youth won't stop gay kids from being who they are. It might make them ashamed of who they are. It might make them afraid to tell you who they are. It might make them try to hide who they are, but it won't change them. Your kids don't need protection from books. They need to know you support them. They need to know you accept them. And most of all, they need to know you love them for who they are. Thank you. Just a reminder to all, please try to keep sidebars down while others are speaking. Our microphones do not pick up everything and when there's sidebars, it's hard for them to pick up the actual speakers. So, we'd like to have the speakers um recorded so we have that for our thing. So please keep that hard and then I'm just going to remind applause is fine but that excessive applause is going to just take up more of our time for tonight. So please be considerate of others. Uh our next speaker is Ava S. Ava S. Good evening. My name is Ava Scanderado and I am a junior at St. Francis High School. Over the years as a student at ISD15, I have learned that books are much more than just words on paper. If you only look at them as such, you miss the deeper meaning. Books are meant to teach, to guide, and to expand your knowledge and understanding of the world. If you only look at the world through one lens, you end up with a nar very narrow view. I have only ever learned empathy, compassion, and understanding from reading, never hate. I have yet to read a book that has compromised my values, morals, or education. I may only be 16, but I have lived through experiences many adults only see as a nightmare. Reading was and still is a literal lifeline to me and many other students like myself. By allowing a website from across the country to dictate what we are allowed to read only furthers our isolations. Books connect us to the real world and open our eyes to topics and issues that other people have faced and overcome. Having read a fair amount of books on a wide range of subjects, it only takes a glance at the ban book list to see a pattern. Sexuality, violence, and suicide are just some of the buzzwords that cause bad books to be flagged on buzz book looks that biased anonymous website used to determine what we should and shouldn't be allowed to read. Instead of addressing the real problem at hand and allowing tools to deal with them, this policy limits the access that students have to books on such topics. Banning books doesn't mean that the issues in today's society are just going to go away. It simply means that we will lose that connection in learning how to overcome. It is important for the school library library to carry a wide variety. That is the only access that some students have to books and those books should be chosen by locals in our community for training to do so. In closing, I have learned that when I make a mistake, the first step of resolution is to admit it and then work to fix it. As my Angel said, do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better. We will be watching to see how this mistake is corrected and addressed. We deserve better. Thank you for your time. Our next speaker, good evening. My name is Laura Lick. I'm a published author of 13 novels. Um, and I guess my first question I want to ask you all is you read a good book lately. And my second question is, what do you think constitutes a good book? I know for me a good book is one that transports me. It introduces me to people that I don't know, that I want to know. It introduces me to new ideas, to new to new events, to new places. Um, in the eighth grade, my English teacher taught us and we read aloud to kill a mocking bird and my world cracked open. I thought, "Wow." I was introduced to a very feisty, brave girl, Scout Finch. Her father who had such bravery and integrity, you know, working for a man who the towns people thought was guilty just because of their own prejudice and hatred. Um, who ra I mean, my mind was just blown. And I'd always wanted to be a writer and that just convinced me I want to write. I want to tell those kind of stories. Um, I was reading about banned books and they say that the first banned book probably in America was um, Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Confederacy really didn't want anyone to read a book about slavery, discuss it, um, to know that it was actually happening. Um, so I could go on and on, but I don't want to get dinged. I just look at all these students, these very involved students and I don't want them styied. I don't want a possible book by Margaret Atwood to not be available, but it might spark something in them. Um, and I say that it's it's not protection to fan books. It's it's protection. So there is our next speaker. Hello. My name is Jim Gerard. I'm going to approach this from a little different angle. I'm a blood donor. I've donated almost 60 gallons of blood so far. And it's important to me that we've got a clean blood supply. And I got in into blood donating through my father. He donated uh in the days when you were on one table and they donated correctly person. Well, now we have to do a lot of things to make sure our blood supply is clean. And every time you donate blood, there are a list of 35 questions that they ask you. And a lot of them are sexually related. My concern is that we've got so many people. You have to have abstained from any of these things in the last three months because it takes that long for the the antibodies that in your body to recognize there's a problem. so that the Red Cross could find that there is a problem and your blood is not good to give to somebody else. And I I'm afraid that a lot of these things in these books are telling kids that these activities might be okay when they're dangerous. They're dangerous to the people that engage in them and they're certainly dangerous to they may they may end up with a disease that's going to affect them the rest of their life or shorten their life. And it's it's dangerous to to they can't they can't donate blood. And we've got a very we're at a critical stage. They they contact me every couple weeks. Um and that's how often I donate. Platelets are critical for cancer patients. Everybody knows somebody that they lost cancer. Cancer patients need platelets to stop them from bleeding internally. And I lost two siblings to cancer. And it's important to me and I want to I want everybody to be able to have the chance to get the platelets they need to fight the cancer. And a lot of people get plasma and plates stop but I want to see a a clean blood supply and age appropriate. If kids can understand the difference, then they can read the stuff. But if if they can't separate that distance, that difference, it's dangerous for them. And anything that's in the schools, they have a right to assume that their parents approve of what's in there. And I think it's critical that we they can go down the Run River Library and get the book if it's not in the school. But it's when we're when their parents are assumed to have their stamp on the book, then they it should be restall. I'm reading a statement from Ko Sadi and I'd like to thank the opportunity to offer some thoughts on the book the kite which as I understand has been removed from the from the school district. It's been removed due to a rating from an anonymous website in Florida. This is deeply concerning to me to fellow writers teachers and librarians. The website lacks the basic transparency and professional editorial standards necessary to holistically evaluate books like mine. It dismisses the professional expertise of librarians and educators and instead uses subjective opinion based on narrow ideological litmus tests to flag socalled objectionable content often free of any context. What a terrible disservice this is to the students. I'd like to say a few more words about why the district's decision to use this website as gatekeeper against the advice of its own attorney is so misguided. Over a span of more than 20 years, I've collected stacks of vanilla envelopes. Each filled with letters sent to me from all across the country. Letters not written by concerned parents, but high school students in their own words. In these writings, students share with me quite often poignantly what impact reading the kite runners had on them. Other students, perhaps inspired by the book's tagline, there is a way to be good again, write me to of their desire to volunteer, to meet different people of different cultures, to be more tolerant, to mend broken ties, to muster the courage to do the right thing, the just thing, no matter how difficult. Perhaps the most recurring word I read in these letters is empathy. It isn't surprising. Studies have shown that reading fiction improves the ability to intuit it and understand the feelings of other human beings. I'm going to skip to the end where it Khaled notes that it betrays our kids. It robs our children of something vital that we owe them as parents and instructors. the chance to broaden their human community, to foster empathy, to challenge their preconceived ideas, and allow them to take a step toward becoming fuller, wiser, richer versions of themselves. I respectfully ask the district to heed the advice of its own legal team and reverse its decision to rely on an anonymous website with no professional library credentials to curate its students education. Our next speaker is Sophie Edwards. Hello, my name is Sophie Edwards and I'm a senior at St. Francis High School. Behind me, you will see my fellow classmates ranging from freshman to seniors who are all being negatively affected by this new book banning policy. I know one of the biggest defenses the implementation of this policy is is the fact that you have not heard anything from students or parents of our district. That is why I came to speak to you all today to show that there are students that know about this policy and are devastated at the fact that their education will be permanently changed due to these decisions. Reading has been something that's changed my life. It offers a space to safely grow your mind and learn more about the world around you. Reading books, no matter the genre or the content, expands the mind in ways that cannot be replicated by other means. To learn about the world outside of our small town, we must read. Reading offers people a space to find who they are and take comfort in find people like them. It gives kids a space to find themselves and be okay with who they are. By taking away these texts, especially ones pertaining to real events that have happened in our history, you are taking away our right to learn about the world and form opinions outside of ones pushed on us in this small town agenda. When we are not educated on our past, it will happen again in the future. You push this policy through under the guise of protecting the children in our minds. But what are you truly protecting? Are you protecting us from reading anything harmful? Or are you stopping us from reading anything that does not line up with your ideals? Are you stopping us from being harmed? Or is this a tactic to keep us in line? To stop us from growing as people and expanding our knowledge to stop us from finding ourselves and instead instead of conforming to who you want us to be, to stop us from coming to a conclusion that doesn't agree with the political ties this board seems to be heavily influenced by. Because this ban does not protect us and harms us more than you can know. Taking our right to read is removing our right to learn. All of these harmful topics you are taking away from our libraries are ones that are real. You are removing women's voices, voices of people of color, of the LGBTQ community, of voices of refugees, immigrants, survivors and victims. These things aren't harmful. They are real. We are real. Your school district is full of women, of people of color, of LGBTQ plus people, of immigrants, of survivors and victims, none of which have been protected or given support by you all. If these hide if you hide these books away, what is the next step? Are you going to try and hide us next? For the betterment of our education in our minds to allow us to learn about a wide range of topics and to find out who we are without judgment from adults who want us to conform to a specific agenda. Let us grow. Let us learn and give us back our freedom tree. Thank you for Our next speaker is Stephanie Gunderson. Stephanie Gunderson. Good evening. My name is Stephanie Gunderson and I'm a parent of children who attend St. Francis schools as well as a sexual assault nurse examiner within our community. In my work, I support children and youth who've been affected by trauma, which includes sexual assault, human trafficking, and intimate partner violence. We live in a community that is affected by violence every day, and the students at St. Francis are no exception. Within Anoka County's community health assessment for 2023 2025, one of the key strategies is reducing the stigma around relationship violence and the lack of education in these topics. Did you know that 19% of 11th graders within an NOA County public schools have reported relationship violence within the Minnesota student survey? I am speaking up today because books can play a vital role in equipping our youth with the knowledge they need to prevent harmful behaviors and recognizing them when they occur. Understanding consent, boundaries, and respect for others is crucial for developing healthy attitudes towards relationships and sexual behavior. Unfortunately, many of the books that address sexual assault and intimate partner violence are often the target of book bans. And books makes no exception for these topics that are affecting our community and our St. Francis students. My concern is that banning these books only further isolates victim survivors within the St. Francis schools and makes it harder for them to speak out and seek support. Books are a powerful tool for self-reflection and healing for victim survivors. Seeing their experiences reflected in literature can be validating and therapeutic. By not banning books that address these topics, we can help St. Francis students become prepared to navigate the challenges they may face in their own lives or in the lives of others. This is an important step for fostering a generation that is more informed, that is empathetic and proactive in confronting these difficult realities of the world we live in. My next speaker is Jack Thor. Jackall. Hello, I'm Jack. I'm a senior at St. Francis High School and I will be reading an excerpt from Elena Arnold. My name is Elena Arnold. I am a best-selling and award-winning author of books for and about children and teens. Among other honors, my books have won the Sydney Taylor Book Award and the National Jewish Book Award, have been California Book Award finalist three times, and have been named the Michael El Prince Honor winner, and I have been a finalist for the National Book Awards. These award-winning books have all been frequently named on the band list. I am not only an author, obviously, who work whose work I am not the only author obviously whose work is being defamed. The most frequently targeted books are those that feature LGBTQ characters and characters of color and those whose authors share those identities. As well as the as well as that, books that deal with gender and sexual experiences, including books like mine that interrogate patriarchy, misogyny, and sexual violence through a feminist lens. Often my books are accused of being obscene and pornographic, scary words, but also words with clear legal meaning. Materials are considered obscene if they fail to meet the Miller test. The Miller test is a legal test that that is for determining whether expression like literature constitutes obscinity. It is the name it is named after the US Supreme Court's decision in Miller versus California in 1973. For work to qualify to qualify as obscene, it must fit all three pawns of the Miller test. One, the average person applying contemporary community standards will find the work taken as a whole appeals as per interest. Two, the work depicts or describes in a patently offensive way sexual conduct specifically defined in the applicable state law. And three, work taken as a whole lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific values. Readers deserve free access to books. They have the first they have a first amendment right for the freedom of press. Those who aim to take away their books are stripping their liberties and book collections are thieves of art, culture, information, and liberty. I stand in solidarity solidarity with the librarians, teachers, parents, and educators to acknowledge that it is our duty in the freedom of information, the art of literature, and the protection of young people's access to a full library collection in which they are entitled. Thank you. Our next speaker is Richard K. Richard K. Is it all right? Should I speak from here? Yes, sir. Being taught to avoid talking about politics and religion has led to a lack of understanding of politics and religion. What we should have been taught was how to have a civil conversation about a difficult topic. Next, I have something from the foundation against intolerance and racism, mental health, parental rights, and explicit content in public schools. uh that this is from fair twin cities. It is vital to recognize that appropriateness of literature in school libraries should not be determined by sexual orientation or gender identity or characters involved. Literature has a responsibility to reflect society. It should do so in a manner that is age appropriate and educational. None not one that exploits the vulnerability of children. Books in school libraries need not illustrate or reflect every inner thought a child adolescent might have, especially with regard to sexual desires or behaviors typically practiced in private. Paradoxally, the books in question perpetuate the most extreme stereotypes of groups they alleged to protect and empower. First, we need to establish a clear consensus on what constitutes pornography and sexually gratuitous contact. engaging a nonpartisan organization to gain fair and development opinions on these issues through polling to provide valuable insights to opinions on these issues through polling and provide valuable insight to community values. Second, we must revise the book challenge process to ensure that school boards have a more significant role in reducing the unaccountable committees. Finally, should we we should initiate the public discussion to delineate the responsibilities of schools regarding mental health support and clinical psychology. If substantive evidence exists that exposures to certain types of content improves mental health, it should be presented openly considering considering parental oversight. Results on intentions will matter when such content is presented in a public forum. Purported efforts to advocate for mental health do not justify dramatic reductions in standard designed to shield minors from sexually implicit content. School officials should not make determination about pornographic or gratuitous content behind floors behind closed doors. public school system shouldn't be the harder of mental health without input from parents and families especially when admin educators administrators champion potentially harmful content as vehicles for personal empowerment. The push for inclusive inclusivity and mental health awareness in schools must not come at the expense of our children's innocent or wellbeing. And one more thing, the Anova County Commissioners have designated April as child abuse prevention month. Richard, thank you for your time. Our next speaker is Lillian Wogle. Good evening. My name is Lillian Waldo and I'm a senior from St. Francis High School. I will be reading a quote from Ellen Hopkins. Dear members of the St. Francis Area School Board of Education, what many in favor of book removals fail to understand is every kid's life is different. Since I've been writing young adults more than two decades now, I've heard from literally tens of thousands of readers, most in their teens or just beyond, who thanked me for representing them or someone they know and care about in my books. They thanked me for insight and understanding. They've thanked me for showing them there is light beyond the darkness. They thanked me for saving their lives in the most literal sense. And then they've shared their own stories. I've heard stories of physical and sexual abuse beginning when they were very small. I've heard of assaults, addictions, bullying, harassment, thoughts of suicide. These things are as common and deserve recognition. Those going through them deserve to know they can be all right on the far side. All my books provide resources to find help. That includes tricks. I become interested in the subject of child sexual trafficking when the FBI did a sting in Reno where we lived at the time. They removed 120 kids who've been shuttled around the country for that purpose. Their average age was 12. I wanted to know why and how that could be. The book, which is a number one New York Times bestseller, is highly researched. I worked with Las Vegas Vice and talked to kids working streets. Every character in the book is inspired by a real person. My goal was to show teens how easily recruitment can happen and to dismiss any idea of the life being something they might ever want. And yes, to hopefully gain empathy for those already mirrored there. If kids as young as nine or 10 can be trafficked, certainly older teens are capable of reading about it. Despite the heavy content, Trixs is far from pornography. It is written with a young adult audience in mind. I wish more adults would open their eyes to the world. Our young people are maneuvering. Perspective is vital and you cannot arm kids with ignorance. End quote unquote. Our next speaker is Tyler Johnson. Tyler Johnson. Hi. So, my name is Tyler and I live here. Um, I not a public speaker. I'm a software engineer. Um, I'm not a teacher or parent or law yet, but I'm just a concerned citizen and um I just have some kind of more base level concerns. I think everyone said all of the like really inspiring lofty things, but I the bottom line for me is um it sounds like what's happening is the school board has enacted a policy. They were warned by the law, by the state, by their legal team that it would result in lawsuits. Those lawsuits can cost taxpayers money. and I just got done giving H&R Block $250 this Sunday to get the privilege to to spend another $100 to write another check to the vet. So, I do not want my taxpayer money spent on lawsuits and paying off lawyers because we can't just follow the policy for having a you know um sorry, not a public speaker. Um, I just it seems like a waste of money. I'm told that the school board was already warned about this. You know, to be fair, I understand that, you know, the school board is not um necessarily like a high paid position. They may even be volunteers and that means that you're here because you care. And so, I do want to acknowledge that. But it sounds like we are headed for a very serious, expensive mistake. And you know, this is a small town. We all shop, you know, at the the King Super where eggs is $6. And we don't have money for this. So, please make our next Laura Mson. Laura M. Good evening, members of the board and community. Um, my name is Laura Magnus and yes, I'm here to address you regarding 606.5. Many of you have already heard from me a couple of times via email. Um, I had a whole thing planned, but honestly, I've been sitting here, you've heard most of it. Um, I have a concern also that we have chosen to violate Minnesota State Statute 134.51. I agree with Tyler. I don't want to pay for the lawsuit either. Um, but I'm looking around this room and I think as a school board, you should be really, really proud of all of our students, all of our teachers, all of our staff because wow, they all came up here. whether they agree or they disagree they care enough about our school district to be here tonight. So, I have some statistics that I'm not real happy with. Like only 56% of our high school students met the reading standards in 2024. 46.5% of our middle school students met that same reading standard. And only 62% of our elementary kids met that reading standard. Yeah, we're here focusing on taking books away. How about we focus on getting our kids to read, encouraging them to read, getting these test scores up, and not limiting or dictating what our kids can learn about and what our kids should be reading. It's your job as a board to improve those scores and to worry about the next group of leaders. You say the mission is to empower all students. Let's empower them. Next speaker is Daniel Cole Malgan. Hello everyone. My name is Daniel Kaleon. I'm a resident of Minneapolis and an author of over 25 books for children. These days we are pulled in many directions. So thank you all for your time to be here tonight. I usually ignore the requests for authors to speak. I felt like my voice wasn't needed. Felt like I didn't have time on my brother who certainly does not have time. See, uh just last week his doctor told him he has has won vocal rest for at least a week. No speaking, not even whispers. Especially challenging for him. He's a first year law professor at M and he's got two kids. His days are packed caring and delivering lectures as well as caring for a toddler and a newborn. Sounds exhausting, but right now he can't speak because he severely injured his vocal cords trying to suppress a cough while putting his youngest to bed. Many of you are or know of a parent like this who is drowning in obligations, who don't have the time to read a book for their own pleasure, much like one for their own children. So, it's no surprise that booklet's approach is appealing. It's quick and training of books. Let someone else handle it. But we don't know who's creating these ratings. You know more about me. You know what I barely introduced myself. I'm a former English teacher. I hold a masters in writing for children and young adults. These skills help me as an author, but also as an uncle. I excel at choosing books for my family that they will love and that match the reading and maturity levels. education books for those two little ones uh and biographies of musicians for a 15-year-old nephew who wants to join a band. Compare this rating system through booklets which at best is misguided and at worst is purposely manipulative. They tear the most provocative passages from books not to help us but to scare us and they want us scared because when we are scared we are easier to be deceived. When we are scared, you don't realize we are trusting strangers on the internet to make decisions about our children. And when you're scared, you forget we already have sensible rating systems that we've been using for decades. The same ones that a lot of adults in this room use when we're in schools. But then we defunded library programs. We overworked teachers. And we shamed parents to pick up the slack. We don't need policies that take away books. We need policies and funding to give time back to people in our community who can best help our kids, teachers and librarians. Booklets wants to offer you an easy route, but nothing is easy. And the students of this district deserve that you take the time and do the hard work. And to the students, you all have done an amazing job tonight. It's incredibly inspiring to see you all here speaking uh moving me truly. Don't stop fighting. Our next speaker is Ann. It's either a U or a V. It's a U. Thank you. Hello everyone. My name is Ann Ersu. I am from Minneapolis. I have been writing books for young readers for two decades and I'm a six-time Minnesota Book Award finalist. I got to say it is an honor to be here and see how incredible the kids of this school district are. I'm a writer because I was raised by children's books. I was a weird lonely kid and books gave me companionship, understanding, and turned me into the writer I am today. Every time I sit down to write, I am conscious of my profound duty to my readers. And I work so hard to write books that are worthy of kids like this. My friends who have been targeted by Moms for Liberty, including a lot of K Arnold, who you heard from earlier, they are the exact same. They all they want is to help these kids. In my job, I had the privilege of interacting with so many teachers and librarians who all work so hard to put the right books in kids' hands. The book that might equip them, empower them, and help them achieve. I'm constantly astonished by and grateful for their unwavering commitment to their students. And it breaks my heart that they're under attack right now. And that's what this policy is, an attack on the educators of the school district, on their expertise, commitment, and care. It outsources the decisions on the books in classrooms and libraries from these experts who have devoted themselves to the students of this district to anonymous randos. Why would we let any outside group deny these kids access to the books we want to read? I guarantee that the teachers and librarians of St. Francis are far more invested in the education and well-being of these kids than some random person in Florida who spends their days posting conspiracy theories on Facebook. This policy means your educators have to spend their time and energy looking over their shoulder worrying about folks being ripped out of their hands instead of focus on focusing on these amazing students. Let's not lose sight of where this leads. At a time when literacy is in crisis, the end result of policies like these is that teachers all over the country are having to remove books from their classroom. They're having to remove all books from their classroom and school libraries are closing. Is this what you want for St. Francis, I think these kids deserve better. Thank you. Our next speaker is Christopher. Sounds like bro. It's French. Got to have wine and cheese instead of All right. Well, thank you for listening to the news expressed today. I truly hope you hear the word spoken and create space in your life for true nonpartisan reflection. For my part, I could speak of the decision to use bookl looks to further a politically red agenda, which is against the Minnesota Constitution, or how book looks rating system discriminates against topics of gender, race, and religion, which is considered unlawful, or that this district has prevented a viewpoint neutral basis and harmed students in preparation towards their scholastic future. But instead, I would like to bring attention to the cost associated with continuing down this path. Bookbands are expensive and usually stem from a small group of loud people. The Nazareth area school district in Pennsylvania is estimated to have spent over $100,000 in taxpayer funds around book bands. Lena, Texas cost the county over $100,000 in legal fees associated with book bans and then lost a 2024 Supreme Court appeal costing taxpayers another hundreds of thousands of dollars. Hamilton East in Indiana cost taxpayers over $300,000 around books. Florida annually spent between $34,000 to $135,000 to remove books. The list goes on. Bookbs are expensive. At this time, two lawsuits have been brought forth against the school district. If we continue down this path, taxpayers here in St. Francis will also sky hundreds of thousands of dollars that could have gone to city improvements, teacher salaries, or general community improvements. We must return to a viewpoint neutral to prevent the egregious waste of taxpayer funds. I will end with a quote from myangelo. Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning. Thank you. Our next speaker is Elena Larson. My name is Elena Larson. I'm a junior from St. Francis High School and I will be reading for Shelley Brain. Dear St. Francis Area School Board of Education. As a children's book author, I am opposed to book bands. I created the Shelley Bean series out of Anita gap in children's literature. Personally, I was negatively impacted as a child by the lack of diversity in characters which delayed my interest in reading. Now, hundreds of children have found a love at have found a love of reading at an early age because they connected with the Shelly bean characters and stories. Stories help humans relate to one another. Stories help us learn and generate creative and critical thinking. In America, we have the freedom to make decisions for ourselves and for our own children while raising them. I disagree with other adults for choosing what books my children can or cannot read. This movement is not about the best interests of our children. It is about controlling others from a place of fear. But there are there is far too much to gain. family values and choice to respect, expertise of librarians to honor, lessons to learn, people to love and creativity to embrace that gives life to us all than to operate from a fear and control of others. Our children need resources, security to grow in themselves, nurturing, nourishment, and protection of expression. Let's focus on things that are far more important than this. Let's focus on love, compassion, freedom, and true democracy. Thank you. Our next speaker is Glenn Warhouse. First of all, I want to say how proud I am that these kids have been in my classroom. So many of you and the ones honored tonight have all been in my classroom. So that is a joy. As a veteran teacher in this district, I want to express my concern for this ongoing censorship issue that harms the commitment to our students and the educational values we uphold. Regarding the recent book ban in St. Francis area schools which have been based on a political agenda. I urge you to understand that censorship is never the solution in the United States of America which thrives on the free exchange of ideas. Throughout my 22 years of teaching, I have never denied a parents request to exempt their child from a classroom text. nor have any of my colleagues. Alternate alternatives have always been provided. Throughout my time as a parent in this district, having sent all three of my own children through St. Francis Public Schools, I never had an issue with speaking with a teacher to find an alternative book. In my case, for a daughter who was reading well above her grade level. The books uh like many that have ended up on the list have sparked meaningful discussions in my classroom about empathy, about new ideas, about seeing the world through another person's lens. My students often express concerns that such actions as book banning are aimed to control their thinking rather than encourage independent thought. I urge the district to reconsider this policy and return to local control rather than abdicating responsibility and deferring to an outdated and biased website. This issue diverts attention from the more pressing challenges we face and undermines the dedication of educators who prioritize the well-being of our students. Frankly, this sets a dangerous precedent and aims to villainize the very professionals who have spent so much of their lives caring for students. This policy has also sewn confusion among staff members. Does this affect our curricular materials? Is it solely based on what independent students can check out of our library? No wonder teachers are leaving the profession in droves. When per Vonovich's books were censored and burned by Drake High School District in North Dakota, he had this to say. Perhaps you will learn from this that books are sacred to free men for good reason and that wars have been fought against nations which hate books and burn them. If you are an American, you must allow all ideas to circulate freely in your community, not merely your own. Vonagget was a combat veteran from World War II and fought to uphold the very freedoms we are discussing today. We must allow all ideas to circulate freely. It is our responsibility to expose our children to diverse perspectives, fostering their ability to think critically and make informed decisions. And yes, parents surely must retain the rights to determine what their own children read, but not what other people's children can read. Thank you. Our next speaker is Hi. You guys know me. Um, I have an author statement by from uh Kandari Blake who is local to here. Um, here's her statement. Hi, my name is Kandari Blake. I grew up in Cambridge a long time ago. Now I write books for young adults. My books have been in New York Times bestsellers, have received some lovely regional library awards, and have been translated into 27 different languages. To my knowledge, they have only been banned in Florida. To which I say Florida, but there's really only one thing I want to say to the parents in this room. If you're worried that your kid will pick up a book with something some shocking content in it, I want to say thank you. You are you are an engaged parent who worries about their kids. That's a great thing. But I also want to say congratulations because your kid is a reader. Then you've already won. You have raised a reader. A kid who is smart, thoughtful, curious, and will grow up to be a heck of a communicator. I'm thrilled when kids tell me their parents got them into reading. I wouldn't be where I am were it not for my mom and dad who taught me early and encouraged me to read everything. And yes, who did buy me an erotic thriller one time on a hectic grocery store trip. I encourage you to stay involved in your kids' reading lives, but please don't take away books from other kids who aren't as lucky as yours, who don't have engaged parents and need to find other ways into reading. Maybe ways you would deem too risque for your own reader. But these books you're looking to ban, the devil's not in these books. So, go home and sit in judgment on yourselves. I'm just kidding. Don't do that. That's a paraphrase from book loose. But please, please, please don't become the town for book loose. First it's books, then it's dancing, then Kevin Bacon has to come show up and it thinks weird. I'm very proud of the place you live, the place I grew up in. I go to conferences and I tell stories about the teachers I had there who made such a difference in my life. Please don't discourage young readers and librarians or make them out to be harmful people. Books are not the enemy. Books will never be the enemy. Thank you. Hendari Blake. That concludes our consideration of visitors for tonight. I want to thank all those that spoke. We appreciate the engagement from our community. And then because I see so many Bruce Street singers in front of us tonight, um I wanted to just say thank you to you guys for helping us and maybe sometime we can have you in front of the board to sing to us as well. We will recess at 8:14. We'll start back up. You got to hit it hard. six minutes to exit the building. Okay. All right, moving forward on our agenda. Agenda item five, the consent agenda for district policy 202.6. We're going to approve 10 items on the consent agenda. It will be a roll call vote for me to be aware. That way if we have resolutions specific to donation accept we are following the letter by having that rule follow. So that's the purpose for it forward and you'll see there's there agenda prior to being Oh, sorry. It makes sense, but we got to have a Oh. All right. Are there any questions or requests to remove any items from the consent agenda? Seeing none, is there a call motion to approve the consent agenda? Is there a second? Mr. Shock. Thank you. Any discussion on the motion? All right. We will be doing a roll call vote. If you are in favor of the motion, signify by saying I. If you are opposed, you can find by saying name. We're going to start with Mr. Hi. Mr. Humphrey. Hi. Mr. Sh. Hi. Hi. Three votes. And we're done. Anderson. Hi. And I the motion passes. As we move forward into the items and reports again, just a reminder to try to hold off questions for the end of the report. Do not see a uh student council update for tonight. Basketball. Okay. So we will be passing item 6.1. Uh moving on to item 6.2 the investment report. In compliance with district policy 705 hearing will be providing a board uh district investment report. This will be a detailed explanation of the report and future reports will be included in administrative reports going forward. We have got enough reports. Right. So she's going to go over in detail what this is and then we're going to see this more often in the admin report. Uh there is no board action at this time. Any questions or comments prior to the meeting presentation? See this is in the board. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Chair, members of the school board, Superintendent Anderson. So um included in your packet is a number of documents including the report that's listed um on the screen there small um and also the policy that's related to the investments and um this policy has been adopted by the school board but I wanted to make sure they get an opportunity to see the investment report which is a summary of the investments um that are for the school district. So monthly we will I will be bringing in the consent agenda the investment report as you see it today updated for the next month. So every month we will do that as well as at the end of a um school year we will provide a yearly summary and also this gets reviewed by our auditors um when they go through their process. So the majority of our investments are held with a group called PMA which is prudent man advisories I believe and then also MSDL which is the Minnesota school district liquid liquid asset fund has a smaller portion of our investments. So PMA is our investment advisor and does help us with this process of making investments. So a cash flow statement is created on a monthly or yearly basis and updated periodically as needed. So that's looking at all of the revenue coming in the cash and then also looking at our upcoming expenses with whether those are dispersements which you approved in the consent agenda or our payroll um expenses as well are included in those list. Likewise included in this is our bond payments and debts. So those are included um as payments at going out. So by doing the cash flow then we know the amount of funds that the district has at any given time and the length and the duration of those investments and PMA does a great job for us in finding um the the avenues that we need and there is a mix of um market type adjust um investments. There are uh CDs as you see in there. There's some securities and some longer term. So they look at not only the type but also the duration of those and the timing of those that come forward and can be then um cashed. So there's in policy 30 there's excuse me 705 investments um was included in your packet and so school districts are held to the the following criteria and making investments and that includes safety and security as the number one item and that means safety of the principle making sure that we save um do good in investing to make sure so we secure the principal amount that's in the investment. Then liquidity the availability and um capability to have immediate meet immediate cash needs and then your yield and return at the end as rate. Um so we can use market rate but looking at A and B first which is safety and security and liquidity. Um so as I mentioned PMA does the the management of these items um per policy. Um and within that then we're looking at the various caption or the categories there. And so roughly about 43% as in money market investments uh 23.5% in terms uh 20.99 in securities and then the remainder in CDs. So I'm looking at that bottom part, the upper part, the MSDF, that mislat is what we call it. That's where cash comes in and out um from some of our metered payments that come in. So the investment portion, the main portion is that that bottom piece of it. And you'll see at the bottom there is a building construction uh fund. So funds that we receive from previous um debt issuance is put into a construction fund that also is invested um to gain the best possible interest rate. um pleased to see these interest rates, which haven't been the case on investments for school districts for quite a while. So, this is a nice thing to see. Um other than that, that's the only comments that I have. We do have um Josh who's sitting behind me and um our staff, you see the very lengthy detailed report about every transaction that comes in and out during the month, as well as then a cash flow statement. So if you're ever really interested in that, happy to share that with you. You can stop by and either see myself or see Josh and we can kind of walk you through how that all works. But this first go around, I wanted to make sure you had an opportunity to understand what the investments are, why we invest, and the that we're following um the procedure or policy, excuse me, that's in that the district board has set up. That's all I have today and there's no no um as Nate said there's no requirement to approve it. It'll just be in your consent agenda as a report from now. Any questions? Any questions or comments from anyone? All right. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Our next agenda item is 6.3 the second reading policy 522. Uh we saw this followed at our last at our last regular meeting and there was no changes or requested changes. Uh this is the final reading prior to the board approval at our next regular meeting and that is in line with our district policy. Any questions or comments? Uh if so, Mr. Nelson can address those. Mr. I would just ask for the public's record if you could kind of give us the once over on 522 and why that was changed so quickly please. Yes. Um so the um it's based on the um administrations at the White House. there was a a change in that and um the new administration entered and reverted back to a policy that was in place four years ago that had been changed um by u the previous administration. So that's the basis for that and um it's effective immediately even though we don't have the updated policy in place. Um it's it's in place. We're following the new regulations. We're just following our school board policy to get it back updated properly. Thank you. And is this the um Title N as far as like boys and girls and different boys and girls sports? Correct. It's title. It's the title N federal law and that does cover that. And right now we're having that held over our head by the federal government that says uh if you don't follow this we're going to pull funding. My question is with if they dissolve the federal national I'm sorry national um department of education uh what's our like take on this at that point? If there's nothing they can take away, are we still going to follow this? I would have to research that or I'm not familiar with everything, you know, that has been declared in regards to that or how it would impact funding officially. I mean, I've seen a few headlines, but I could comment at this meeting on that. Great. But we are in compliance as of right now. We are following the the guidance that's in place that was effective immediately. Okay. and we're trying to get the policy to catch up to that guidance. Great. Thank you for that clarification. Any other questions or comments? Okay, moving on. Agenda item 6.4 administrative report. I'll highlight just two of the items on the report uh which is part of the packet. First of all, show choir has been a non school activity for many years and thanks to the work of the show choir leaders as well as Chris Linquist uh and the community ed staff uh it is now or will be community education activity and so that enables the group to have better practice times uh use the the name of St. Francis schools and some other logistical benefits. So, um, it's going to be a transitional period. Uh, there'll be a lot of learning, but we're excited to have show choir, you know, officially part of St. Francis schools as of July 1st. Uh, the next item, uh, the school board association did have a day at the capital when board members can meet with local legislators. I just want to highlight two of the efforts that are under discussion there. Uh first of all, thanks to Eric Trost of Saints Manufacturing. There's an effort uh to provide scholarships for students who are part of Saints Manufacturing using the money generated by Saints Manufacturing. And so Mr. TROS has been uh working with Peggy Scott uh Minnesota House Representative in our for our area uh to to draft that bill um so that we could provide some scholarship support for those kids. And Eric's been an advocate for many years uh but Peggy Scott has really taken the lead um after a group of legislators visited St. Manufacturing a few months ago. Um also Matt L did reach out to me. Uh he's a city administrator for East Bethl. He's advocating for well city of East Bethl is advocating for money from the state to pay for water and sewer uh expansion in East Bethl. Uh a year ago I wrote a letter of support after conferring with the school board about that. I did include some of those documents so you can take a look at it. Uh we have not agreed to sign up for water or sewer with East Bethle. Uh but we did write a letter of support uh because it's it's good for the community and it sure would be nice to have that option. Uh and the timing of that was perfect a year ago because we had some water issues uh in in our elementary schools on the east side. So the timing was really good. So just want to let you know about those and Mr. Burr I think may have some additional information. Yep. So uh I attended the day at the capitol uh on our behalf. It was a well attended event. There's 250 school board members from across the state that were there. I did have time with all of our representatives and senators, which was really nice. Um, but like Carson said, uh, House File 1791, which is authored by Representative Scott and Representative Nisca, who came to visit our manufacturing, that has been announced on the floor, and it is currently referred to the head finance. Uh, we are waiting, uh, if they're going to be asking for any testifiers or anything. Uh this is not specific to St. Francis. It is a statewide uh law that would benefit all school districts. Um we just are spearheading that based with our program and our success of our program. Uh and then the other one that Carson talked about is House File 1904. Again, authored by Peggy Scott and then also authored in the Senate by Senator B. He is also authoring the other one I spoke of with Senator Lero and Senator Matthews. all that covered our area. Again, a really good group of individuals that's supporting needs of our district. We also talked a whole lot about all of the MSBA hot topics. So, if you go to the MSBA website, you can see their legislative priority list. We talked through all of that. We talked about um the general formula funding. We talked about um additions to that. We talked about, you name it, mandates funding, all of that that comes with it. So a very well event encourage all of you to attend again if you can next year. Um it just really helps you understand as well. Uh we will be looking at a legislative priority list from the district going forward. I think that's something that the district should have that we all agree this is the focus areas that we want as a district and that will help us target our representatives as well as chairs of important committees. Any questions about the rest of the report? Mr. So, and I think part of this was um on the MCA scores. Yes. And is that having to do with uh what was presented last time but not cited? Uh yes, I believe someone with public commented that. Yeah. Um, so I just want to publicly acknowledge that whereas this was not cited by the uh constituent, um, these MCA scores are off of the Minnesota Department of Education website. And, um, the question I have is, uh, I'm always one that's not letting parents off the hook. And whereas there are four school districts here, one being St. or school schools here, one being St. Francis Middle School and then uh Rogers Middle School, part of River School District. Cambridge Middle School obviously part of Cambridge and Forest Lake Middle School, part of Forest Lake School District, all adjacent districts with some pretty uh horrible numbers themselves, but then we find oursel at about half of what they had scored. Do we do any of our experts have any I'm usually thinking that parents aren't showing up, but is it literally only parents in our district not showing up or am I wrong or does anyone who's obviously way smarter than me know why? Um, our competency is 24.8 in math, uh, 46.5 in reading, and 17.6 in science. And these are down from three years earlier, uh, I guess 27% in math. So, we always were kind of bouncing around the bottom there. Uh, reading was 44%, it's now 46 and a half. So, I guess we're gaining some ground there. Uh, science was 30% in 2021. This is competency. Um, and now it's 17.6%. Uh, and like I said, this these are our scores at about half of what the surrounding districts are. But even to look at the surrounding districts and you know set as a goal to have 52% competency or 47% competency like what are any anyone know what's going on here? Any thoughts or why why are our scores so much worse? Why are all these scores in general so bad? What can we do to make a change? What can we do to move the needle? Um hopefully soon we get like focused on these things that are actually rubber meets the road. But um any any idea any I'm I'm literally like a brainstorming right now because this is hard to explain to people. And if I could just Oh, sorry. Yeah. So just to highlight that, Mr. Comfort. Um, I know that new schoolboard members have a orientation that will break down exactly how we got to the scores and how the scores are calculated. Um, if we were to do all of that tonight, I don't know if Stacy's prepared to discuss all of that currently. Sure. But again, we could be here for a very long time. I do have on our list of upcoming work sessions a time frame that we get to sit down as a board and discuss uh those those exact um variables and circumstances that lead to our scores. Again, easy to compare it on the website, right, compared to other districts, but our district is very unique just like Forest Lake is very unique. Uh and we want to just focus on us and how we can improve on those. And I think during your schoolboard orientation, you're going to go through what the plan is currently with the district. Sure. And that's what we will base our discussion on going forward. So I know I don't have an answer for you right now about why we're at a certain level, but we do have a plan to move forward with that. Okay. Um as a board and get after some of that. Uh it's just going to be after the schoolboard orientation, which I think is in April. Okay. A little bit, Mr. B. Great. And uh again just a reminder that uh test scores have been going down across the state across the country certainly locally um and uh starting in they went down but then last year uh they started going back up in 2024 and I think that's a lot to do first of all with the educators um and the work that they've done and the school board because that the spring before there was a approval of additional positions and curriculum and those kinds of things that have made a difference. Um but just real quick stops from my view. Uh we've had co uh we've had devastating uh budget reductions uh for a decade or more. We have not been uh buying new curriculum that actually addresses the new standards that have gotten more rigorous with time. Uh we fell behind technology. Uh and I will say that those budget reductions from my perspective and I wasn't employed here during that time but I I can see the scores go down during the time of budget reductions. Another thing I'll point out is that I also compared our district with those neighboring districts that are mentioned uh in that report. Um the other three districts have significant operating levy referendum. We have zero. And if we had an extra $3 million to spend per year, we could replace our curriculum on a timely basis that actually meets state standards instead of being three or four years behind. We could replace our technology. We could pay our educators competitive pay so they don't go to a Noah Henipin, for example, where they could earn 10 or $15,000 more per year. Sure. we could fill our paraprofessional positions. It is a significant difference that that we have. So, with all that being said, we want stronger test scores and I do think we're on the right path. Some years it'll go up, some years will go down, but I think we're trending up. So, we have to keep following that. Um, but we also need to look at our finances as well. Certainly. So, I mean, does that make sense with that? That would be our district. That would compare us to the three surrounding that the others have operating levies. Yeah. Significant ones. Okay. And so I mean that makes sense. I I a lot of arguments thrown my way are well and I mean I think it's circumstantial because it's you know obviously you spend the most money in St. Paul and Minneapolis and our scores I think our scores are beating them. I didn't see this as a comparison. Uh but it's it's just uh the cry to um I guess our public or to whatever's going on if you know I guess if what you're saying is we can't have it both ways. We got to invest so we can get the return. Yeah. And you know I don't want to take too much time but please we got all if we had if we had extra money in addition to what I said earlier you know we could maintain or expand our intervention support you know uh those folks work directly with our kids who need help with reading reading and math. Yeah we could continue our work with behavior uh because ultimately that impacts uh student achievement and we've made good gains in in those areas. We're we're trending up. Uh but we need to make sure we have a sustainable financial model moving forward. And you know, again, with $3 million, we could hire some additional interventionists. We could provide a lot of those supports, but we just can't do that. Okay. And then, like I said, in closing, thank you for that clarification, but I just want to I guess I'll apologize. Um it seemed like we dismissed these numbers as where these come from, but they came off of the Minnesota Department of Education website. So, I appreciate the constituents uh having their uh you know, finger on the pulse and uh understanding what's going on here, sometimes even more than we do. So, um, and I look forward to us working towards, uh, you know, at least leveling out with the people that surrounding us, which at that point we'll still have a lot of work to do because boy oh boy, we're giving the people that are anti-public education a lot of fodder here by um, continually showing this uh, outcome and at the same time uh, saying, you know, we need more money. It's I'm having a hard time making that sales pitch to my friends that things, you know, that's just a tough sell, but if that's what it is, we need a well played out plan. And I think people will shoot for value versus cost at that point. I know I do. I've never done anything in my life over one vector. So, I I want the value. I wouldn't mind spending way more on a I mean, I I wouldn't mind spending way more if uh we get a better return. So, um I I mean it's kind of like all all hands on deck in that regard in my way. I'm totally with you on that. And we are committed to improving reading, math, and uh decreasing our behavior like we did in 2024. Great. So, we have to further commit and keep working towards it. And uh we're in this together. You know, we want what's best for our kids. And you know, we saw it tonight. you know, I have no idea what their MCA scores were, you know, tonight, but I saw impassion people who can speak well and eloquently and uh, you know, we want the well-rounded people um, you know, not just a quick snapshot of an MCA test on a warm day in April that uh, won't impact them in any form or fashion. So, that that actually brings up a good question. Uh, one second. Oh, yeah. All I was going to say is I think it's interesting compared to the starting and where those differences are. I guess what I'd like to do over the path is why our test scores so low across um not not just here but within the state within that entire country. And what's led to that and what does that look like over time because something in changed that has not been for the betterment of the students. false. Again, there's always a counter to that. Um, you know, ACT results for the state of Minnesota continue almost every year to be the strongest in the country. You know, Minnesota and uh you know, the test of Iowa basic skills um you know, I believe has been stagnant over time, you know, which is frustrating. We want that to go up. and this is um you know some of those tests. So I think it's a valid question um you know what exactly what are we teaching and what are we measuring um you know definitely that that's you know I have faith in the public system and you know just uh we got to continue to find a way to to make things continually better. Well, just so people understand it because I think with understanding comes acceptance of what it is. But when we simply look at numbers and they're all over the place and generally not looking to the positive, then I think the general takeaway is that there's something broken um or something that that needs to change that. Yes. And I think that's well there are things that need to change. There's no doubt. But um you know I think we have a little bit. Thank you. I wrote that down as well specific to that. I'm going to just one comment based on so I'm going to own the comment about the um metrics. Again it wasn't to be disrespectful that it wasn't cited. It didn't um apply to fast grid which is what we were discussing at the time. So that was the that was why I clarified it is that it's MCA fast two totally different assessments. One's run by us, one's run by the state. And then just another clarifying for you, we are not the only district in the state that is struggling with MCAs. Uh there are two bills on the um floor right now that are addressing that. one is moving MCAs to an ACTbased um approach again at the high school level because they are seeing that there's more time and effort put into those than there are the MCAs as well as addressing the opt out. So again if we have anyone opt out in our district it's automatically a zero uh which lowers our numbers. Uh so and and that is a current bill that they're trying to look that that doesn't count against a district uh if that is there and I know Stacy will cover some of that with you during that orientation as well. The more details on Mr. I don't think that was correct. Um and we've been back and forth on with uh this over time. I think it's kind of uh Can someone clarify please? If you don't take the test it's a zero. I I'm told that's not the case. Both Right. Yeah. You're both right. There's uh two different systems of reporting. Sure. You think we could figure this out as a government to do it differently, but there are two ways of reporting. Yeah. On one report it counts against us. On another report, it doesn't. Yeah. So, well, for crying out loud. And then here's here's another thing. Um even though I've done my reconnaissance and I said, "Hey, man, Jack, what is going on here?" And he said that well some people show up and yeah if you you know they just kind of halfass take it and that's ridiculous. So what yes I mean what are we what's worse getting horrible scores or the fact that hey I can get away with this so I'm not showing up. I I would implore even though there's something else going on here and we got to figure that out too. But parents read to your kids. It's so simple. It's cheap. It does so much. And then at the same point quit being their friend. Be their parent. I mean, this is literally ridiculous that our scores are here and our surrounding districts are nothing to shoot for, but barely getting by as well. I mean, it when this is our goal to barely pass, that's I mean, these guys are the shining stars in our area and they still, you know, probably would get my order on McDonald's. It doesn't make sense that we're putting this much effort to into it and not getting anything out of it. I I mean I honestly there's really nothing more we can do and and it works is the thing I got I my daughter went through this school was involved in everything killed it loves it bright future my son is just eating this stuff alive you can do this there's people here there's kids that um do a good job here despite these scores including those scores so think how good there think how bad some people must be doing to bring down the fact that some people are actually trying and so I don't know if we can look at like making this test count. I know there's some sort of legality there, but we got to figure out some way to make this actually have teeth because otherwise this is literally being judged off things that can be thrown um on the whim of a on the whim of a a student who's just, you know, tired or wants the afternoon off. And that's ridiculous. Um because a lot of the ramifications here, uh you got people upset at the whole system. You got people thinking their schools failed them. And it's just I I just I'm beside myself looking at these numbers and it drives me crazy. And I think we should literally be focused on almost nothing um besides uh where are most in needed because like someone reminded me again today and I of course need to remember this myself is you know these and even like you know this isn't necessarily for my family or other family Chad you were talking about this other families that have support where we got to be here for the kids that are not getting support on their home fronts and uh So that's our leg of the school that we can do the best with. But that's that's kind of my two cents. Mr. Thank you. I think we're all in agreeance that we can do better in this area. If we can solve it tonight, that would be amazing. But I I think we're going to get there. I think we're going to work towards that. We've got a plan ahead. Real quick, this is kind of tangent, not nearly as angry. Um but Andrea Andrea had to ask um if someone and she's new, so this is I would love the clarification. Why the MCA data at this time? Why like basically the delay and then what comparatively versus FastBridge and how that helps us read things on the go. Could someone please give some 22 summary? Um we have regular reports to the board where we provide that information. Uh MCA's are typically reported out probably September I would say maybe October. So we give that you know summary there. Fastbridge is given three times during the school year and so we give summer reports after each one of those assessment periods. So they're essentially four times per year that we share different kinds of information. Just matter of when the when we get the test results. Thank you. I just want to add one more thing. I think we're doing ourselves a disservice by asking or pointing out the reasons why we're not doing better. I feel we need to focus on how to get better within the parameters we are currently existing in. Um, and anything outside of those parameters is going to be a bonus. We need to I mean we have what we have. That's what we have to work with. That's where we need to improve with what we have. I just wanted to add that. Any other comments? All right. Moving forward. uh action items. Again, I'm going to ask each of you to, you know, have your comments uh before you speak a second that make sure everyone else has it and then just summarize your points at the end. Uh we have two action items for tonight. The first one is 7.1, the approval of the response to the letter concurrence. Mr. Anderson has made adjustments based off the initial letter they presented to us at our last meeting. uh he's now presenting the proposal that's in front of you. Uh this needs to be action uh in order to meet the requirements for response within 60 days. If I could just add one thing, I really appreciated the uh discussion that we had at the last meeting. Uh it was really useful to kind of reframe things. And one thing I've learned about myself, unfortunately, is that when I get a request, sometimes I too often put it in a to-do list and then I want to go through it right away. And really that doesn't result in the best results. You know, I think it's important to talk to our students, our parents, stakeholders, and have kind of an ongoing dialogue. And that's certainly true with our American Indian um education uh parent advisory committee. So I appreciate I think Jake uh you were really you know stressing that that you know this this should lead to a discussion not a immediate no and so I I take that to heart and I'll own that and so I appreciate that. So uh Mr. also helped reformulate that letter to kind of further um highlight that and so hopefully hopefully this uh updated letter will will help. All right, we will need a motion to approve the response letter. Uh before we do that, are there any questions prior to a motion? Okay. Is there a call to motion for approval of donation or sorry not the donation call for approval for the response to letter concurrence? Mr. Anderson. Thank you. Is there a second? Mans. Thank you. Any discussion on the motion? Miss what happens if it's not approved? Yeah. And um I've kind of learned through the years that um uh well I think it is supposed to be approved unanimously and that everyone needs to sign it and I I don't think I've ever seen that in state law but that's what I've been told you know state law recognized it but if it's not approved um possibly not approved unanimously ly then it could lead to uh uh further discussion with the the state in terms of working collaboratively to find resolution you know to to these issues. So I think that's what would happen. You know it's possible that money could be withheld or not given to us you know for the program. I'd be surprised by that, you know, because we're all trying to work towards it. You know, there are good things happening, but I think it would lead to a a more formal discussion with the That's my guess, but I don't know for sure. So, it is in state uh statute. The board response must be signed by the entire school board and submitted to both the American Indian parent committee and to the Department of Education. The resolution must be accompanied by parent body committee meeting minutes and show they have been appraised by the district on the goals of the Indian education program plan and measurements of progress toward goals. So then would this be considered a contract with Apac that we are going to follow through what we're promising on here by signing this approving and signing we're saying we will absolutely do what we have written on here that we will do. Yeah. I don't know if I'd use the the term contract, but um certainly it is the expression that we will do the things that that we're saying we're going to do and you know we ought to. So a lot of this though is um let me just give you an example. Sorry my um computer is spinning right now. Here we go. So um you know the first one is a request for an additional leazison using general fund dollars to support the kids. So I did not specifically say that we would do that but that we would continue working with the parent committee and the program um uh to work on towards that. Um so I tried to you know this is just the initial part of the process and so I try to be as flexible as possible. Another one had to do with uh the email account. You know, they put in a request for a specific email account. Well, we all know the experiences we've had with the schoolboard account, you know, over the last couple of months. And so, I'm not sure if setting up an account for, you know, the parent committee is is the best choice. Uh because we've had problems with our own account. Uh but I want to continue the the dialogue with them to see exactly what they're looking for. So if we can um you know provide give them the information uh they need or they want in a way that works for us too. So yeah I tried to leave that flexibility but we want to do what's listed there. There's no doubt about that. Any other questions or comments? So, as opposed to a contract, you're talking goals that we're trying to achieve based upon this letter of state. Yeah. Um it's, you know, by signing this, we're making commitment that we're going to uh do what's listed in our response. Talk about contract if it's a promise. Um, but it's certainly a continued dialogue. Um, but it's not necessarily promising that we're going to address their initial request. You know, it's what we provided in the response. And we can certainly go through each one in more detail if you'd like, just so that we fully understand what we're approving. That might be worth it. I don't know if it's up to you, Mr. Yes, please. Right. This time I'm going to call up the the right document. Sorry about this. Sorry. Hey, request one is the APEC requests an additional full-time or part-time employee dedicated to the American Indian Education Program. See the attached 2025 St. Francis APEC non concurrence for more information. The response from the district and you guys have it all in front of you. Uh the district understands the need for a second will seek to work on a solution that works for both the district and APEC with consideration of other district needs and budget constraints. So the way I worded that is we want to continue the dialogue with the committee and with the program but we have other needs too and some financial constraints and so we would make that decision with all those factors. So I don't want to give the impression that yes there's going to be a second leison on maybe there will be you know we'd all love to see that happen uh but we also need intervention support for all kids we need reading curriculum we you know we have a lot of other needs and so this is really indicating that that uh we want to continue to work you know to try to satisfy the needs but we can't promise it at this time. Any comments on request one? Okay, request two. Yeah. So, the second one really reasonable request is to uh specify a time for students to uh receive additional instruction via the Indian education program. Uh that's their request. Uh my response um is building administrators, the AIE coordinator uh and the AIE layers will collaborate to assess scheduling options at each school facility. The reason I worded that is that uh you know I haven't had time yet to meet with those people to better understand the schedule at each building. Um certainly we want all of our kids to experience core curriculum and specials, you know, but we have limited time in the option. So what we're promising to do is to collaborate, you know, with those people to see what's possible and what makes the most sense. Any questions or comments on request two or request three? All right. The request is to work with Virgil Wind, who I think is the tribal council president for the Max Band of Ajiway, at least that's my understanding. Um, and, uh, Marsha Vandenberg, I think, met with him last summer if I'm not mistaken and, um, you know, expressed interest in working with them. I did send an email out. Uh, but I'll tell you what, if he's on the tribal council, he's incredibly busy and has a lot of different things going on. And so what I would like to do is work with uh the parent committee as well as the American Indian education program and just see what uh Virgil and the uh Maxway you know might be able to offer. Um uh one thing though is that we will be providing um a language and culture course at the high school next year. uh that's uh required by state law, you know, and we have plans to make that happen. Um it's going to be, I think, small at first because it's going to depend on how many kids are interested in it, if it works in their schedules, but we will be offering that. Mr. Austin um has been working on that in conjunction with Miss Dagel. Um and u you know we have we have something in the works uh and we will explore opportunities to work with uh Virgil um to see you know what they could offer in terms of cultural components. So I can't promise anything that Virgil you know will be here or anything like that. Uh but we will explore opportunities. And then the last one is that um Stacy will work in consultation with Haley andor Apac to ensure that curriculum uh and resources are appropriate uh to to meet program objectives and I know that's already happened. I know Miss Pikert and Miss Dagel have a good working relationship and Miss Dagel has been active in a lot of district committees and provides feedback about those learning opportunities. We're stating here that we're going to continue to that to do that. Any questions or comments on Thank you for going through that. I really appreciate you taking the time and then in working closely with this group, great group of people. Uh a word that comes up all the time is collaboration. You've said it like four times in this which I really appreciate. And also there's been a lot of feedback on you know I I asked I asked Apac you know have have you ever been concurrent let's say and no they haven't but it's not just them it's kind of a we're working towards a better program so everyone kind of keep that in mind but um I appreciate that you're moving towards this direction obviously everyone has their hand out and there's a new employee who couldn't use an extra employee these days um but I I I do hear good feedback from professional devel- velopment from uh kids in the classes, teachers um in different classes, how it's integrating and I think that that is uh making great headway and I really appreciate the continued open dialogue and collaboration. That's very important. Yeah, we've made we've made good progress but we have a long ways to go and uh we want to serve our American Indian kids just like we want to serve you know all kids. Of course, there is a fourth area I could jump into that just real quick. Okay. uh request for um has to do with a dedicated email address. Uh and I think the interest there is that they want to learn more about racial incidents in the schools. Um and so you know we'll u I want to work with Apac uh about understanding their specific requests and then look at the the feasibility uh to see if an email account makes sense or not. there's some concerns I have, but the first thing I want to hear what they need because there's maybe there's a a different way of doing it. Um, and that um, you know, we we will um discuss uh creating some summary reports related to racial harassment and bullying incidents. I assume affecting American Indian kids. I think that's the reason for it, but I need to verify that with Miss Dagel. Um, and you know, I'm hoping that we can share that information with Miss Agel and then she can share it with uh the community. Uh, but again, I need to better understand what they're looking for. Uh, because if the request is specific harassment reports that mention people's names, you know, I'm not sure if that's going to be possible uh because of data privacy uh unless there are some certain abilities of APAC to have that information. So, it's going to be a learning thing for me as well. And then uh Mr. Nelson has already indicated that he's willing to review policies from other districts uh regarding harassment and bullying uh especially racially uh related incidents and then you know if there are recommended ch changes from him then we would forward that to the school board for consideration. So again I really appreciate the feedback from uh schoolboard members at the last meeting. I think this is a a better approach and um you know I'm so happy that Miss Del is here um because she's been a really good partner in uh serving our Canadian kids. Right. That is the last request. Any more questions or comments in the discussion portion here? All right. All right. All in favor of the motion to approve the response to the letter of concurrent. It's a resolution. So roll call. We're doing a roll call vote for that motion that has already been made. Second. Uh we will signify by saying I and if you oppose signify by saying nay. We will start. Miss Ir. Hi I Sanderson. I Mr. Sean I I thank you. You fake me out there. Nate. All right. The motion passes 750. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is 7.3 approval of under the future contract 72 72 72. That's theou has to do with the start date of summer school. Mr. else available to discuss any further details if you would like. We will need a motion to approve theou. Are there any questions prior to a motion being made? Is there a call motion for approval of theou? Is there a second show? Thank you. All right, open up for discussion on that motion. Is this a change from the original contracts or is this something that is add to the contract? It's a one time change for this this year due to circumstances in the memo of understanding where there's interest to start summer school on what is typically a contract date for a teacher and if they have that assignment just so that there isn't any conflict, their duties that you would usually anticipate to be done before that day. So, it's a one time exceptions. Any further questions or discussion? All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. All oppose. The motion signify by saying name. Motion passes 70. Thank you. All right. Our next item is agenda item B upcoming meetings topics. Any questions or comments about upcoming meetings or topics? All right. Seeing none. Um discuss that later. There we go. Next item is agenda item nine, school board member report. We will start with Anderson policy map. Tonight we went over a number of policies. Um all of them were pushed through to be discussed or put on our next loved all the community showing up tonight. I wish more would stay participate the whole meeting but hopefully they stay engaged in all the issues that come before. So that's all I got. Mr. Good. Thanks. Nothing. Mr. Thank you. Uh, I agree with Rob. I thought the community coming here and showing their support, I mean, that's what democracy is. It's a conversation. And like Rob said, I wish we had that kind of engagement on all this stuff that affects us as a school board, not a political topic that we're stuck on right now. But appreciate the passion, 100%. appreciate the conversation and the commitment. That is all, sir. Thank you. All right. My report I attended the early childhood advisory committee uh meeting on March 6th. Preschool registration is in a really good spot for this year. Classes are starting to fill and we still have more interest than capability at St. Francis Elementary. Uh that has been an ongoing thing for the last couple years. uh fundraisers and engagements are growing and planning is going well for those events in PCB. It is amazing how they can get a group together and fund raise. Uh it's quite quite fun to watch. And then a highlight that I pulled from that meeting is we had a volunteer um a very standard volunteer that kept coming back to UCF and has now become an employee of the district. So that's a good thing. That's a win and thanks to our team there for getting that person on board. I also attended the insurance advisory committee meeting on March 18th. Um we discussed and reviewed the best and final proposals for the upcoming insurance renewals. We anticipate that the preneal options will be coming here very soon. That's supposed to be here by the end of March and we're getting major posts and I expect a full review of all those personal proposals in our next advisory in April and then that will get presented to the board. Uh and then lastly um met with the St. Francis's mayor, Mayor Bogle, uh and their city planning team on March 19th here at the district office. Uh we had just initial exploration and plan uh to put bridge street through and move transportation department. Uh nothing is happening right now, no action. Um however, we we had a good discussion uh on how to work opportunity as a team uh to do that along with other areas, not just the bridge street. Um I think we're gonna get a hopefully a water tower or something about Saints. Uh that that would be our goal. That's what we're going to shoot for. But it was a really good meeting with the city really collaborative with them and they want to do the same things that we do uh going forward. So that was that was very nice. Um before adjournment um being it is 911 um we're just going to look for the the board's pleasure on if we want to continue with the work session tonight or just move that to a future. Um I know the schoolboard packet is important. However, um it is a late night. Uh we don't want to keep everyone here super late, but if you if the board wants to continue, we can get it done in 30 to 45 minutes. If not, we'll push this to another session time. Um this is not a vote. I was just looking for anyone that based on the conversation we had, we knew it was going to be a long meeting. I say we move it and call it a night tonight. Um, and it's not a vote. I'm just looking for Right. Um, I can see either way. I'd just like to I'll I'll go with the majority. It doesn't matter to me. I'm fine either way. I mean, we keep it to a half hour or just make that hard stop. I'd say it move it. No issues with that, right? No problem. All right. So, I'm going to ask for a motion to Mr. Any discussion? Yep. Before everyone leaves tonight, I do need every board member's signature on this. All in favor of the motion signify say I J your job is to like I would always move a journment of the meeting. Yeah, no problem.