[Music] good evening everyone and Welcome to our regularly scheduled school board meeting June 24th at this time if everyone could please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right all right I will go ahead and call our meeting to order tonight um first item of business is the approval of the agenda there are no um additions or removals of agenda items is there a motion to approve the agenda as outlined so moved second motion by Jackie second by uh sowen all in favor of approval say I I I motion carries on a 4 Z vote next on the agenda is one of our favorite portions of the agenda it is our recognition portion of the agenda first off I'd like to welcome Dakota United Hawks head coach Scott Oxley to the podium to introduce us to the adapted softball state champions in the CI [Applause] division so once again I'm Scott Ashley I'm the head coach of the CI uh Hawk softball team uh thanks so much for having us thanks thank you to all members of the school board superintendent Mary creger thank you um so for the first time ever I'm proud to introduce to you the CI state champions and softball for 2024 this was also the first CI title in any sport since the year 2015 what an amazing state tournament for the number one seed Hawks coming from behind in both the semifinal game versus new prag and the championship game versus Lakeville to win state by a score of 5 to4 in the bottom of the seventh inning the team finished the season 10- one almost a perfect season the relationship shared extra effort and continuing to build a positive culture has given us to us continued success over the last few years so another honor bestowed onto our team I was contacted last week by Kevin burle of the staring Tribune he had told me that all ballots named the CI Dakota Hawks as the Adaptive sports team of the year for the year 2324 school year tomorrow night players and parents will attend the amsa banquet at Target Field celebrating our continued success observed over the last couple years as four years ago we were the state consolation winner 3 years ago we took third place last season we were state runner up and this year state champions also on July 6 we've been invited again to Target Field for the spring Champions Day the Hawks will walk the field be recognized before at the start of the Minnesota Twins and Houston Astros get game at 110 um so I'd like to now Rec recogniz our individual members of the Hawks so I'm going to ask you either to wave or step forward whatever you'd like to take and do uh first uh second baseman miles Johnson infield Outfield Chelsea luxon catcher Henry icle also scored the game winning run Natalie Soul who I've gotta say is is our best base runner when we do rundowns she's the person I pick aah Kramer catcher Outfield Colin price shortstop McKai Smith Outfield Mark man waren pitcher Kyle Jacobson first baseman Jeffrey rasa Outfield Jeffrey rasa is from the two rivers District so happy to have him Sam KF he is our designated hitter Jacob stats Third Base Outfield not with us tonight Delena voran as she should be recognized and Nick V assistant coaches and dis waver Jeff so we have Jeff Anderson who celebrated his 20th year coaching the CI softball program what dedication to our team and uh not new to this this year but new Jenny clz [Applause] so I'd also like to mention players named to the all tournament team you can take and wave we have East viw Senor Kyle Jacobson once again our first baseman and a and one of our two team captains our pitcher Rosemont Senor Mark man waren also team captain and shortstop Rosemont Jr we get him back Colin price and special thanks to our dedicated coacher coaches fans parents special thanks to our booster club and outgoing president of the boosters Chris man Warren who I repeatedly say after coaching a good handful of years the best booster club president I've ever worked with their help made all this possible and of course East F athletic director Matt perel who oversees the Hawks program who has helped to support my decisions after becoming the head coach four years ago thank you state champions CI Hawks thank you [Applause] congratulations conrat conrat congratulations congrat congratulations congratulations congratulations you're welcome congratulations congratulations congratulations what's that you want to hit it once oh how fun perfect there you go I couldn't have done any better than congratulations congratulations all right excellent next I'd like to welcome Dakota United he head Dakota United Hawks head coach Brett Kowski to the podium to introduce us to the adapted softball state champions in the pi [Applause] division all right good evening chairperson Johnson Schoolboard members and superintendent creger uh thank you for for having the Dakota United Pi Hawks here as state champion for softball as well I would be remiss without saying uh how proud I am of that CI group that just left uh coach Scott cozie and I we coach uh as you know the soccer and the floor hockey programs with those students um and we have been banging our head against the wall for years against the uh the Lakeville blazing cats so so I just I just want to say congratulations to I am I am so proud of them uh for all their accomplishments and and for finally climbing climbing that hill so but now it's on to uh our PI state champion softball team which is the first time Dakota United has won both uh leagues CI and Pi in the same tournament ever since 1991 so that's [Applause] amazing I would like to personally thank uh superintendent Mary creger for all of her Support over these years uh I wish you nothing but the best in your retirement uh I look forward to our new Super Fan Michael balson who will be taking over the Reigns uh and our athletic director Matt pel for all that he has done to support our program I would also like to congratulate Sandra set on her retirement uh as she is one of Dakota unit's biggest fans as well as an athletic director so congratulations to you [Applause] all so as as you may or may not know we've been up here a few times uh we are four-time defending champions of the uh State High School softball adapted program uh we have had our uh accolades we've also had our our uh turmoil from time to time um and we have also not lost a game since 2018 um because of that stat every game that you go into you know that you have a Target on your back um and these kids show just perseverance like none other um when everybody just is is is aiming for you and they they want to piece of you and they want to knock off these these Champions that haven't lost a game since 2018 uh because of the co years we lost two of those Seasons but four years in a row we have won the championship um we came up against a very tough Robinsdale team in the championship game uh we were down a couple of runs and the perseverance that these these kids showed um was just so cool they came together without any uh leadership from the the coaches or anything like that saying to do it they came together they bonded and they said we we've got to do it guys it's it's us it's now or never uh they came back we won the game 5 to four uh in that championship game and I just I couldn't be more proud of this team we lost a lot of players over the years and we just keep rebuilding we have a camp every summer that kids are dedicated to uh this year we have 70 students in the CI and the pi camps 70 in our district we have we have teams that we play against that struggle to get you know 10 to 15 kids to play and we have 70 so it's it's a dedication uh to the program that is is doing all these things for the CI and the pi programs and it's the support from you guys and our Administration in this District that that allows us to do this so uh we just thank you so much for for honoring us and for uh uh having us here we're going to say the kids' names here if they want to give a little wave that'd be great we've got Dominic elbus we've got Ben schusler we've got benett Herman Bryce Andrews over here we've got Jay BMA Ree Mar Khloe shabata Sam Samy slam and Sammy jordheim we got Dylan Burns Liv gpower Kaden nidam and my right-and man coach Scott cozie we want to thank you guys for having us out here we love being here and we hope to be back next [Applause] year conat con okay tear up all right next up I would like to welcome Rosemont High School softball team head coach Tiffany Rose to the podium to introduce us to the girls softball third place finishers [Music] [Applause] yeah there's not very de you can St here good evening board members chairperson Johnson and superintendent ker thank you for extending the invitation to recognize and introduce the coaches and players of the 2024 softball team who were Conference chions champions and finished third in the state tournament I'm Tiffany Rose the head coach participating in the state tournament is not only a victory for the team but the entire Community long before the first day of practice players parents families and friends are hardworking at practice fundraising ordering fan gear and preparing our fields for play I'm thankful to have continued support from the entire Rosemont Community the group of young women before you today have continued the winning tradition of Rosemont softball their final record this season was 23 and 5 earning them their third place finish at State this group brought home four consecutive South conference championships three section section championships in four years and our third state tournament appearance in four years many of these players have contributed not only to the success from this season but also to our state championship in 2021 and 2023 several of our 2024 seniors have been members of the varc team since 2021 and their career record at Rosemount is 95 and 10 the awards and accomplishments for the 2024 season are extensive three All Conference honoral mentions four All Conference five all section three All State four all Metro two all tournament team players two Gatorade Player of the Year nominees and just announced yesterday CC Hansen is Miss softball we spoke as a team often about the fact that continued success of Rosemont softball has not happened by accident we are not here today because we are lucky or had things go way a couple of times on the field we are here because each one of the players standing before you is hardworking dedicated excel at their Sport and are passionate about the game of softball equally impressive is their team GPA of 3.89 these young women are wonderful examples of student athletes they know that while softball is important the classroom and academics are more important you can see from their GPA that their dedication and hard work goes beyond the softball field there is nothing better in High School athletics than making it to the state tournament I know that their experience this season has created lifelong memories it's an honor to coach such a fine group of young women at this time I would like to acknowledge the coaching staff and players and I'm going to announce even though we don't have everyone I'm going to announce all girls that were on our roster um our assistant coaches Craig asselman and Anthony dress seniors Caleb arol CC Hansen Morgan Honeycut Grace noen Ari prinel Amilia Ross Lily staff Juniors Brinn Anderson pton Benson Jory fry Rachel Stone Tusa van heer sophomores Harper shappi Julia wiggley and freshman Ella Ericson and Anna price thank you to the members of the school board chairperson Johnson and superintendent ker have a great summer [Applause] over congratulations congratulations aome job congratulations fantastic congratulations awesome job congratulations congratulations congratulations congratulations awesome job congrats coach way to go thanks coach awesome job thank you awesome coach absolutely all right next on the agenda I'd like to welcome Apple Valley High School track and field athletic director Corey Hansen and Rosemont High School track and field coach Jay Hatley to the podium to introduce us to the state track and field Champions good evening uh and thank you chairperson John superintendent creger and the rest of the board for uh having us here tonight my name is Cory Hansen I'm the athletic director at Apple Valley high school so as you can see Dwayne couldn't be here tonight but I wanted to take the opportunity to recognize him anyway to put it simply Dwayne is one of the best track athletes ever to walk the hallways at Apple Valley High School some of his accolades for this season include Minnesota Mr track and field Star Tribune Metro athlete of the year in boys track and Field Minnesota state record holder in the 400 met Dash with a time of 46.87 yes that means he's run the fastest time ever in uh for any High School athlete in the state of Minnesota in the 400 meter dash state champion in the 400 Apple Valley High School record holder of the 100 200 and the 400 he was a state runner up in the 200 this year the section 3A 100 2 200 400 Champion the South Suburban 2400 champion and he signed with the University of Minnesota to run track next season uh and the most incredible aspect of Dwayne is that as amazing as he is in athletics he's even a better role model Dwayne has been a leader in our building from the first day he stepped in a consistent hardworking young man with a vision for himself high expectations and a drive to do what it takes to reach his goals in my experience there's nothing more valuable to an athlete success than having a worthy long-term goal and being willing to put in the to accomplish it Dwayne embodies that perfectly further Dwayne's Excellence extends far beyond the track he has earned a remarkable 32 credits through the PSO program challenging himself academically just as he does athletically Dwayne has been ahead of his peers on the track because of his determination and willpower and thanks to that same work ethic and opportunities offered by district 196 he will now enter his next in life at the University of Minnesota ahead of his peers academically as well so with that I just wanted to say congratulations to Wayne and good Le good luck next year out at University of Minnesota all right thank you good evening board members chairperson Johnson superintendent uh creger I'm Jay Hatley the head coach at Rosemont High School and I would like to say I'm really happy Dwayne Smith is graduating from Apple Valley High School we don't need to see that guy anymore uh but he he was phenomenal he was extremely talented um I'm here to introduce my team a representative group of my team um for winning the 2024 Minnesota State High School league uh track and field Championship uh a couple of weeks ago we have a very small representative group here today four guys um just for for perspective we had 16 individual athletes that qualified in 13 events um and so that was our state meet uh that was our state meet team and we needed every single one of those points we edged wetta by one point um to get it done so every single guy every single point was needed um we'll highlight a few of them here um much like uh I feel like I could Echo Tiffany's speech this this group is has been around for so long um they've won three of the last four state championships um some of these guys have been around uh in one capacity or another for all of it and they've just had a great run and it's um it's really sad to see some of these guys go um but we also have a good young group that we've we know um we can kind of reload with again next year but um just some of the highlights Conference Championship section Championship state championship um I'm just going to mention the names of our individual Point scorers at the state meet the kids that um the kids that contributed to winning the state championship meet um a couple weeks ago um to my right here we have Carter kingan he's a a triple jumper going to St Thomas next year um outstanding track athlete um we also had Adam Hansen the shotput we had a 4x8 uh Relay Team um our 4x1 relay team made up of rck Collier Jackson ganzer um kelen Johnson cavari flowers and Ricky yawson um that uh that that group of five kind of combined in the prelims and finals for us um no rhenald was ninth in the pole vault will riddle was sixth in The discus JJ matowski was sixth in the high jump um Andrew Schulz uh with a big third place finish in the 3200 um for us um and then I think we're down to the guys that I have here so uh let's just kind of rattle through Carter I mentioned uh triple jumper outstanding career for us um really dedicated and uh uh talented track athlete for us Jackson ganzer you can step forward and wave Jackson uh Jackson ran on the 4x4 and the 4x1 at the state meet for us he's one of those guys that's been here for the fouryear Run he's been a BigTime contributor for us also going to the University of St Thomas to run track and field next year um Levi down on the far end was uh the youngster of the group uh sophomore he ran on our 4x4 this year um and the 4x8 uh at state so big things for him in the future um and then right next to him probably not probably definitely our most decorated individual athlete Macky wheen um Macky was the individual state champion at 300 meter hurdles our school record holder uh third in the 110s um and then ran a lead off leg of our 4x400 um which we needed we needed every single point going into that 4x4 so couldn't be more proud of this group um just an outstanding run for this team couple things I just want to mention in closing um and I I say this every year uh that we're here um in the presence of uh so many administrators and and and school board members obviously uh we're really appreciative of the facil ities that we have um the the the upgrades in the last few years have really given us the tools to win state championships um and and it's it's not uh it's not a small thing it's a big thing for our teams to be able to compete at the state level with the various upgrades that we've done um uh Mr robach is here tonight uh Mr Finley our athletic director we have outstanding administrative support as do all of the teams and all the district schools um but again there's just things we could not do without them and and we're super appreciative of that um just want to mention uh uh one last thing for for the the sporting World um we're super proud of one of our alumni pton Udall qualified for the Olympics again two nights ago um one of the most uh nicest human beings you've ever met and just represents our school so well every interview I've seen he's well spoken he just um and now he's got Team USA on his chest again and he's one of ours and super proud of him as well um so thank you for the opportunities that you've given us and to be here tonight [Applause] so job congratulations congratulations congratulations congratulations con last but definitely not least I'd like to welcome Rosemont Middle School principal Eric Hansen to the podium to introduce us to the 2024 Minnesota juvenile officer of the year yeah good evening school board members chairperson Johnson and superintendent creger my name is Eric Hansen I'm the principal at Rosemont Middle School and I'm very excited to honor and recognize officer Paul Larson the Rosemont High School and Rosemont Middle School school resource resource officer who recently was named Minnesota juvenile officer of the year officer Larsson prioritizes positive relationships with our students our staff and our Community one Rosemont student wrote officer Paul creates bonds and relationships with students that make students feel safe and comfortable he is someone that you can comfortably talk to no matter what it's about another student wrote officer Paul is fully dedicated to protecting the school and his community with everything he has which is why I love him as our school resource officer on behalf of the Rosemont School Community I'd like to congratulate officer Paul and thank him for his dedication to our students our staff and our community thank [Applause] you off oh sure go ahead before everybody leaves I would just really like to thank it takes a whole village to do what we've seen here tonight it takes dedicated parents it takes the grandparents who buy the stuff that the students are selling it takes staff it takes the whole city and as a a member of the city for somebody that lives in Rosemont I can say it's really really phenomenal phenomenal to me when I hear those Sirens going and I know that our students are going down to their state thing and they're being ESC escorted out of the out of the city by our fire trucks and our police officers tonight we have in the audience um Paul Larsson from the city council we have our chief of police and of course our staff from our from Paul from Rosemont Middle or our police officer and I'd really like to thank everybody who makes those possible it's not just the school district it's all of us working in collaboration with each other so thank you so much and if you've ever I don't know if the other schools do that but you can be outside and you hear the sirens and you know that another group of kids are going down to state championship ships so congratulations and thank you and thank you for bringing in the community all of us together working with a single goal so thank you thank you [Applause] Jackie next on the agenda is superintendent recognition of students and staff so I will turn it over to superintendent ker hey thank you um I would like to start by welcoming Kristen Powell Kristen wave your hand over thereo Kristen is our new executive assistant to the superintendent and the school board and this is Kristen's second week on the job in her first school board meeting she has worked for our district for a number of years most recently as a ministrative assistant at blackhaw Middle School um and so we welcome Kristen to the superintendent's office and we are all excited to have you work with us thank you and congratulations to all of the district 196 students who competed in the National speech and debate Association national tournament last week in De Iowa seven district 196 students made the final round of competition in three different speech categories and two others finished in the top 20 in Congressional debate and congratulations to the East viiew High School baseball team on qualifying for and participating in the class 4A state tournament this month and finally congratulations to our District's Communications Department on on earning an Award of Excellence from the national school public relations Association for the district's 2024 legislative priorities document lovely and very much deserving of that honor it won in the category of special purpose Publications and earlier this year Communications coordinator Al Garen won the new professional award from the Minnesota school public relations Association and so I just want to give a little shout out because I'm not sure everyone realizes all the work of our Communications Department they're the ones that help ensure that our board meetings go well and that our public knows what our story is so I'd like to thank Tony tashner our director and Ally Garen back there is our coordinator and behind the scenes we have Cliff Dodge and we also have Andre Egan and we have quite a team that really work together to ensure that we're communicating our story to our public and to our community so thanks to all of you excellent thank you superintendent kriger um we have no one signed up for special communication request tonight so that brings us to the consent agenda board members we have 18 items on our consent agenda tonight they include the minutes of the June 10th 2024 regular Schoolboard meeting quarterly advertising Revenue gifts quarterly gifts grants summary of claims for May 2024 schedule of Investments for May 2024 certified census depositories for the investment of funds official depositories of checking account towns investment instruments electronic funds transfers manual signatures of checks $100,000 or more Personnel pay rates for substitute temporary and part-time Community Education employees catastrophic accident Insurance Minnesota State High School league Cooperative sponsorship for girls hockey and stien for area Learning Center interim coordinator are there any items on the consent agenda that board members would like to remove tonight seeing none is there a motion to approve the consent agenda as outlined motion to approve second motion by Soden second by Jackie all those in favor of approving the consent agenda say I I those opposed motion carries on a 40 vote we have no items under reports tonight so that brings us to our old business um first item under old business I would like to welcome Danny duen to the podium to for our second reading of the 2024 25 preliminary budget good evening chair Johnson superintendent creger members of the school board and our district 196 Community tonight District administ ation presents the 2024 25 preliminary budget for a second reading and recommended approval state law requires school boards to approve a preliminary budget by June 30th each year for the following school year at the June 10th regular school board meeting I presented the preliminary budget for first Reading and Review since that June 10th meeting we haven't made any changes to the budget information the preliminary budget utilizes a combination of projections for unknown variables such as enrollment counts and known variables such as state formulas funding formulas and details for employment agreements finalized already for the 2425 school year we will return in December to present the board with the 20242 final budget which will use updated variables and have more concrete information included in your board packet this evening is the final draft of the 2425 preliminary budget book this budget book is structured and crafted in accordance with the requirements of the standards of asos's meritorious budget award which our district has received for the past 9 years assuming board action tonight the budget book will be posted on the district's Finance website tomorrow respectfully District administration recommends approval for the 2425 preliminary budget and at this time I'd be happy to answer any questions excellent this is an action item tonight so before we go to questions is there a motion to approve so moved second motion by Leah seconded by Jackie are there any questions or comments from the audience see none questions or comments from board members Jackie it's just nice to know that it will be on the board on the web so if you want to look at what we just approved that is out there for you to look at go to the district website thank you every time I get a question from the Community member on our District's budget I point to that budget first place to go look and it is very well outlined and breaks down a very complicated budget into things anyone could understand so I always I really appreciate the work that goes into that yes thank you we have a motion to approve by Leah seconded by Jackie all those in favor of approval say I I I those opposed motion carries on a 4 Z vote thank you all right next I would like to welcome Jill Coyle to the podium for the second reading of policy 801 District community relations good evening chairperson Johnson members of the board and superintendent creger uh before you tonight as old business is policy 801 policy 801 describes many aspects of the district's community relations including its Community listening sessions on June 10th we discussed an administrative recommendation to remove a requirement that Community listening sessions be held at schools on a rotating basis the removal of this language will provide greater flexibility to the board to host these sessions at other locations than schools um this is an old business item tonight and the administration seeks your approval thank you this is another action item tonight so before I go into questions is is there a motion to approve so move so move is that a second by second okay sorry uh motion by Jackie second by sakin are there any questions or comments from the audience seeing none questions or comments from board members sounds good we have a motion by Jackie second and by Soden all those in favor of approval say I I those opposed motion carries on a 4 Z vote thank you thank you um that brings us to the new business portion of our agenda and I would like to welcome Jill Coyle to stay at the podium to go over administrative regulation 507.00 to increase the fee from $325 to $400 uh so first by way of background behind the wheel instruction is an optional service that the District offers it's a requirement for a driver under the age of 18 they must complete it in order to qualify for a driver's license from the state of Minnesota uh in contrast the district safety Ed Course which provides driver instruction for credit behind the wheel is not required for graduation nor does it provide School Credit um the district competes with private companies that also offer behind the wheel instruction the administration seeks an increase in the fee due to the rising cost of leasing driver's ed Vehicles as well as maintaining those Vehicles paying for gas and insurance and then of course the Staffing associated with uh running the drive the behind the wheel program uh this is a review item tonight it will be back as an action item as old business in July but I'm happy to take any questions that you may have thank you are there any questions or comments from the audience seeing known questions or comments from board members Leah yeah if I may a general question this isn't about the driver ed component specifically but um some things in here mention a reduced price uh reduced fee for those that are reduced price eligible and some don't is it only in the cases that that's referenced that there's a lower amount or a wave yeah I wouldn't say it's only where it's called out in the regulation but I will say specifically to behind the wheel this is not one that typically would qualify for a reduced fee um schools will sometimes in in certain cases look for funds that may be um able to assist some students but as a matter of course it is expected to be more of a self-supporting program and and those funds aren't typically available yeah and just a followup um what I this is my first chance since coming out of the board to to review this and to ask this question but um between now and the next meeting I guess I would love to know more about the graduation fee um and how much we bring in and how much we spend on on our graduation ceremonies just because um I try to look at everything with a lens of families that are experiencing economic hardship $50 is actually a lot um you know that's a trip to the grocery store you might not otherwise have and in my opinion if you have met the requirements and you've earned a diploma you have every right and we should be celebrating you at a graduation ceremony with or without any expense so I would love to not have a graduation fee it was it's this is a New Concept to me I didn't have that growing up um in my community um so I'm just curious if that's absolutely necessary that we charge every student in order for them to be able to participate in graduation ceremony if there's any alternatives I'd like to see it eliminated because any threshold where you try to say only below this amount May family experience hardship be considered I'd love to see in for all students let's just take this off the table as a concern they might have but at a minimum I would hope to be able to confirm that any student that acknowledges that they can't afford it but want to participate that they're able to so a series of of questions so sorry you don't have to answer and we can certainly provide you with some additional information about that fee in particular what I'll say at this point is it is my understanding that um the fee will be reduced or eliminated for students in need so that is the sort of fee where that would apply uh the other thing I would say is to why do we need to have a charge at all uh the venue that we need to obtain in order to to run those ceremonies can be costly there's additional security fees Staffing fees um and other Associated fees that go into that um and we try to keep that fee just as low as as possible um in order to still run the program but let us get back to you with some additional information to answer some of those questions sounds good all right thank you very much Jill we will see you back here on July 22nd thank you all right we have no items under other action item tonight so that brings us to our superintendent board member updates I will turn it over to superintendent creger for her updates thank you first I just want to remind parents that we have several sites throughout the district where students 18 and younger are able to access free meals this summer so go to district196.org to get more information about where they are and lastly I'll try not to get too emotional but I do want to say thank you for the honor and the privilege of serving a superintendent for these past six years it has been a phenomenal opportunity for me and I think that the biggest thing is I have learned so much about how amazing our students our families our staff and our communities are and I'm just so excited for the future of this District you have a wonderful superintendent coming forward and Michael Balon and an incredible leader ERS ship throughout our district that will continue to serve our students well and special um gratitude goes out to our teachers who are the ones that make a difference in the classroom every single day so thanks to all of you thanks for taking on Service as board members and serving our community well thanks well I can kind of keep that going because I didn't I hope you didn't think you were getting off totally Scot free on your last board meeting but um I know we spent the past couple months already celebrating your um retirement so I just wanted to say um on behalf of the board I really appreciate your service to the district um all your years not just to the district but I'll just say um your entire career as an educator um and to the students of Minnesota um because I know it hasn't just been in district 196 as well um the the effect can definitely um be seen and it is very much appreciated so thank you thank you appreciate it are there any other board members with item updates or items they'd like to share I would like to add to that I just wanted to say thank you for everything you have done to our community so you dedication to public education really outshines and you have led a most difficult times few people can just say that through covid through shutdowns and everything and have uh you know as a parent in the district uh I've been here so I you started here since uh 2005 I moved here 20 8 ever since I've been a parent in a district I've used to get it through voicemails when winter winter shutdowns and things like that and reminding us as a school board that there is a meeting or updates so your dedication is really uh uh you know outshines and I wanted to acknowledge your contribution to our district and uh wish you the best on retirement that you Des deserve so just wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart thank you for everything you have done thank you for your service thank you any other board members withs they'd like to share yes Jackie well I hope I can say something I was even listening to the introductions for the CI and the pi students made me cry so let's see if we can get through this it's been the long Minnesota goodbye we've had parties and we've had I think every Union has had something for you every group of people last week it was it was Mary ker day in Apple Valley you might have missed it but it was Mary ker day she didn't get a crown or anything I was no key even but it was but what I what this just tells me of all the excitement in the long Minnesota goodbye is people wanted to say thank you people wanted to say thank you for for the honor that you have brought this District the the feeling of that we all are in this together and that your voice matters and that is Mary creger I'm going to go out and seek out your voice we can talk about the things that you've done to increase access to the district and to you or the superintendent I know that will continue but you've doubled the amount of time that your parent groups meet youve added um staff on different added different kinds of we've added different kinds of committees we've T we've had students that are much more engaged than they were than they were six years ago when you started so those are the things that you have left that were not just big bombs or big surprises they were just things that are worked into the district and will stay in the district because now they are not they're just district 196 and this is how we run the show I have had such a blast working with you we've had so much fun and what I think about you Mary is the Legacy that you're leaving all the people that when we've talked about succession planning or we've talked about who are the people coming up you are always there caring about the tomorrow's leaders what are we doing what are the opportunities we can give today's teachers today's principles to move up into other kinds of BU other kinds of positions in the district or just give them other other kinds of valued things I can't I don't think the district can thank you enough I've had a lot of people say well you know her don't you would you tell her thank you I know her I'll tell her thank you so from me and from the people that I know in the district from parents Cammy Kramer and I are going to go sit in the hall and cry I really want to thank you it isn't it is an easy job and like Mary likes to say it's really not a job it's a lifestyle so thank you so much thank you to your family for letting your lifestyle be district 196 thank you thank you J any other board member updates that brings us to the end of our agenda you've made it through the last one of your agendas is there a motion to adjourn motion to ajour second second motion by Coten I think I heard Leah first second by Leah all those in favor of ajour say I I those opposed motion carries we are adjourned until Monday July 22nd [Music]