[Music] [Music] good evening and Welcome to our uh March 10th regularly scheduled School board meeting at this time I'd like to ask everyone to please rise if they are able to join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance 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 School Board um our first item is the approval of the agenda is there a motion to approve the agenda as outlined so moved second motion by Anna second by Jackie all those in favor of approval say I I those opposed motion carries on a 70 vote which brings us to the next item on our agenda one of the most uh our favorite portions of our agenda recognition um first up I would like to welcome Sarah trau to the podium coach of coach of Valley Middle School of stem's future City team to introduce us to the team that won second place in the 20125 Minnesota future city competition awesome perfect all right is this good mhm perfect uh each year students at Val Middle School of stem participates in the future city competition future city is a Project based learning program where students in sixth 7th and eth grades imagine research design and build cities of the future keeping the engineering design process and project management front and center students work in teams to ask and answer an authentic real world question how can we make the world a better place students participating in future city are challenged to imagine what it would be like to walk down the main street of a City at least 100 years in the future this year the theme for future city was to design a floating city and provide two Innovative examples of how their floating city works and keeps its citizens healthy and safe this year the team project Kela placed second at our regional competition this is a tremendous accomplishment as 31 teams participated in total some of those teams come from schools where future city is curricular not co-curricular they have it as a class in our district future city is a co-curricular activity making this a even larger feat this team of eighth graders paved the way for our younger teams as well by demonstrating just what's possible when you set your mind to it uh this team worked incredibly hard to accomplish their goals they respected each other planned in an efficient manner and created an Innovative fascinating City their high scores on their essay model and presentation skyrocketed them to their second place slot I'm incredibly proud of these eighth grade students and their parents many of whom are here today for their dedication and commitment to one of the best co-curricular offerings our district has so congratulations to Finley Anderson charia IM who is not here Tamina Roso Lopez Nate wilcoxon and Penny Winter shake your yeah right love to that way we can shake your head thank you for coming con Sarah I love F cities I love that program yeah amazing all right and we are not complete with recognition next next I'd like to welcome Katherine dellich assistant coach of East View High School dance team to the podium to introduce us to the state champion lightning dance team woo good evening chairperson Johnson school board members and superintendent balani my name is Katherine delich and I'm the assistant varsity coach of the dance team at Eastview High School I'm honored to be here tonight to recognize the student athletes on our team who contributed to a successful year and worked together to uphold the legacy of the light dance team led by 14 graduating seniors the lightning dance team earned the title of South Suburban conference championships in both high kick and Jazz the section one AAA champions in both high kick and Jazz and the class AAA state champions in jazz and took second place in class AAA high kick the team also received the team academic Allstate award after maintaining an average team GPA of 3.65 and three of our seniors here tonight received an Allstate acad memic with GPA over 3.85 more than the medals Awards or accolades they earned and received this year's team was one that learned lessons of being disciplined and maintaining Poise under great pressure we learned the depth of our grit our relationships and ultimately the depth of our care and appreciation with each other and our sport we are so proud to coach these young women and I would like to introduce each of them to you now and just a quick note that some of our dancers are not able to be here as they have rehearsed for their dance studio or are participating in separate after school activities those who are here please wave your hand when I call your name Genevie Anderson Selena beretto RIS Riley Benz Kelsey Berg Ella Clover Isabella Crawford Adriana Crawford Jasmine Dwayne Cooper dobs plan Laura Li duny Sophia fan esie Garcia Claire Genson Addison Hedrick Angy hickcock Lexi Jansen Kimberly Gerard Clare corki Arabella kraes nikolet Krueger Payton lecher Kenzie osberg Aaliyah reading Ashlin rustad Maya Schmidt Ellie uland Holly Varner Abigail wanis Gracie wal Ava wood and Cassie Zach thank you congratulations thank you ladies for coming congratulations what a legacy you guys are out you guys off the CH the H what a legacy huh congratul thank you so much congratulations and my hands are cold it good my hands are so cold right next I'd like to welcome Pete robach Rosemont High School principal and Jason Ellas ingan High School assistant principle to the podium to introduce us to our two District Excel winners good evening chairperson Johnson school board members and superintendent bullon my name is Pete robach principal of Rosemount High School it is my pleasure this evening to speak toward a special award for deserving well-rounded high school students the Excel award which stands for excellence and Community Education and Leadership is a unique recognition program designed exclusively for Minnesota high school juniors who are one active in school activities two leaders in their schools and three who demonstrate a strong commitment to community service this prestigious award is sponsored by the Minnesota State High School league each Excel student completed a rigorous application process which included a student essay records review of all Student Activities and Leadership positions and a nomination form from which school administrators sent to the Minnesota State High School league the final Excel award recipients were then selected by an independent panel of Judges from schools throughout Minnesota ultimately 36 Award winners from across the state were chosen and will be recognized during halftime of the class AAA girls basketball state championship game on Saturday March 15th two of these Award winners are from district 196 schools I am proud to recognize one of these Award winners from Ros Mount High School Sarah labber Sarah is the daughter of Kristoff and Rachel labber and Kristoff is with us this evening if you want to stand sir thank you Sarah has excelled in academics Athletics and the Arts at Rosemount high school she currently has a 3.98 GPA while taking the full complement of advanced placement in college in the school's courses Sarah was recognized this fall as a National Merit scholar outside the classroom Sarah is involved with National Honor Society French National Honor Society trim National Honor Society and student council Sarah is also active in clubs where she is the co-president of the future medical professionals club and an active participant in Deca HOSA and champions Club Sarah is the rare student who participated in both band and choir at Rosemount High School while starting as a band student at rhs Sarah then transitioned to choir where she has been a concert member the past two years and has even earned Superior and excellent ratings while competing at the solo and Ensemble contest Sarah is also active in athletics at Rosemount High School specifically Varsity soccer and track and field where she has been allconference and a two-time state qualifier and in her spare time she has been consistently volunteering at Fairview Ridges Hospital for the past year and she also teaches Faith formation at St Thomas Becket Church there's not much she can't do these are just some of the ways that make Sarah such such a tremendous leader at rhs and in the community in her Excel application Sarah wrote that she values creating joy in other people's lives she also shared and I quote that by learning from adversity and challenges in our lives we can all learn to become better people and in doing so we can become better leaders who have learned from past experiences and ultimately use Newfound wisdom to lead effectively positively and most importantly with empathy so Sarah congratulations on being selected as one of the 36 Excel award recipients from across the state of Minnesota I will now turn things over to my colleague Mr Jason Elias athletic director at Egan High School good evening board members chairperson Johnson superintendent balani I'm Jason Elias I'm honored to be here tonight with anit mapia he is one of our incredible students to H honor the outstanding Award of excel um Mr robc did a great job of explaining the award to you just want to let you know a little bit more about him here's a few things that he's been involved with at our school tennis band debate speech youth in government Spanish club Math League National Honor Society student council link leader Egan foundation and he serves on the 196 legislative Council just to name a few of his things a quote that resonates with anit is from Gandhi who w once said I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles but today it means getting along with people onit is very good at getting along with people one of our teachers said this about anit I've seen anit develop into one of the best male leaders and role models that I've ever taught over my past 29 years Ankit is an outstanding leader because of his emphasis on positive moral decision-making his exemplary character his kindness his in intrinsic driven drive for Success many great students have entered the doors of Egan high school but only a handful are able to impact the way Ankit has made as a junior to our population Egan High School is looking forward to watching his contributions this year and next before I have anit walk through with Sarah I just want to recognize his mom Deb who's with us tonight I also want to thank school board members Mr Hansen Dr rowski and superintendent balani for your continued sport of Athletics and Fine Arts programs our students are thriving with your support and we thank you for that I'm [Applause] um last under recognition I'd like to welcome Bruce Miller principal of East viiew High School to the podium to introduce us to one of our standing recognition items um and I we love it and hope to see more too um Mia bone Mia has been named a national teacher of the year by the American Association of family and consumer Sciences good evening board members chairperson Johnson and superintendent bson uh we just want to extend from East VR congratulations to our Valley Middle School future city city folks our Excel uh winners and of course our lightning dance team who was previously recognized um I'm pleased to be here again third time since July with Miss bone this is awesome um for being named the national teacher of the year this recognition is for her outstanding dedication to her students her Innovative teaching methods and her commitment to advancing family and consumer science's education if you've ever had a chance to be in Mia's classroom you will see her teaching with creativity and compassion with practical life skills woven into our curriculum her compassion for all Learners is evident she creates a nurturing environment where she believes every student can learn she connects with students differentiating her teaching to meet their unique learning needs her creative approach empowers her students for whatever is beyond the classroom Mia's impact on our community in the classroom and through her mentorship of our family career and Community leaders of America chapter make her an exceptional recipient for this well-deserved recognition by the way our FCCLA chapter at euu engages over 50 students which makes it one of the largest chapters in the state superintendent Balon knows Mia well and he shared this about her Mia is dedicated to her students and their interests and puts time and energy into finding meaningful career Pathways she has been a positive member of our community in her classroom and Beyond her thriving FCCLA organization at euu provides leadership development and connects students with district and Industry leaders Mia gives back and is shaping the future through her work to develop the next generation of teachers developing a connection with Normandale Community College to create a concurrent program for students to earn college credit in our intro to teacher education program she teaches at Eastview while also serving as a mentor to new teachers through the Career and Technical education teacher induction program where she provides support to family and consumer Sciences teachers across Minnesota she has taken that cue from chairperson Magnuson who has always been a wonderful Advocate a mentor for Mia through her teaching days and she continues to do that to this day we are doubly proud of Mia she is a district 196 graduate out of Rosemount high school and an inaugural member of the euu High School faculty and she also taught at Dakota Hills Middle School for two years prior to coming euu Mia will be honored at the annual conference in downtown Kansas City this June Mia this is a well-deserved honor congratulations for your remarkable achievements and thank you for all you do to support our students Mia bone [Applause] next I will turn the meeting over to superintendent Bon for recognition of students and staff thank you chair Johnson we've got a lot of success to recogniz Iz here tonight we'll start with congratulations to Lucas Geron of Rosemont High School on winning his fourth consecutive State title and the diving championship at the class 2A boys swimming and Diving state tournament earlier this month also the Egan High School Science Olympiad team took first place at the state competition on March 1st and will rep represent Minnesota at the national competition in May on the 23rd and 24th for the first time in team history in addition the team won its fourth consecutive conference and Regional titles in Varsity and junior varsity this year the Dakota Hills Middle School Science Olympiad team took second place at the state competition and third place at the regional competition this year as well congratulations to our Dakota Hawks Dakota United Hawks adapted floor hockey teams in this week's state tournaments the pi team finished second in state in a hardfought overtime game both Dakota Hawks CI and Pi teams had successful Seasons this year qualifying for the state tournament congratulations also goes out to the Ros Mount girls hockey team who finished fourth in state Sophie stramel earned the East Metro girls hockey player of the year and Annalie hoer was named to the class doublea all tournament team this was the 30th anniversary of the Minnesota State High School League's girls hockey tournament and the Apple Valley High School's 1995 team was recognized during the tournament as the first state championship in State history congratulations and good Lu to East viw High School girls basketball team on qualifying for the class 4A state tournament this week they will play at 2 p.m. Wednesday March 15th at Williams Arena they edged out Rosemont High School in front of a soldout crowd congratulations also to the district 196 high school wrestlers who finished first second and third place at the boys and girls State wrestling tournaments earlier this month we will invite them to be recognized at future board meetings two Egan High School boys won state championships Apple Valley girls wrestler Cassandra Gonzalez won her third state wrestling championship coming into the tournament Cassandra was undefeated she pinned her way through the tournament this year and finished a season 25 and zero congratulations to two East viiew seniors Joey Sams and pton gagman on winning their first and on winning first and second place and the Minnesota VFW voices of democracy saay competition and later this evening uh the board will be asked to approve resolutions designating this week as cultural family advocates employees Appreciation Week in district 196 our cfas serve as Bridges between schools students and families they Foster academic and social growth and provide support for staff on how to meet the unique and unique needs of diverse students and families at this time I would like to invite any cfas who are here cultural friendly Advocates to stand and be recognized I don't know if they were able to make it tonight but but we certainly appreciate them moving on congratulations goes out to Highland Elementary principal Chad ryburn the Minnesota Elementary School principles Association has selected him as one of three finalists from Minnesota for the 2025 National Distinguished Principal award this prestigious honor presented in partnership with the N National Association for Elementary School principles nesp recognizes principles who demonstrate outstanding leadership and instruction student achievement and school culture congratulations also to Mandy Hill who has been selected as principal of green leaf Elementary School beginning next year Mandy has served as the assistant administrator at Diamond path school since 2020 and will start her new position on July 1st and finally I'd like to acknowledge the uh up to nine district 196 high school students here tonight for special Communications they represent four of our high schools many are leaders in their schools and some serve on our district advisory councils as well in recent years there have been many calls for improving civic's education so that students learn to be active and involved citizens in our democracy as you will see tonight our students are actively engaged as Citizens in public policy work and that ends my recognitions for the tonight excellent thank you superintendent Bon that brings us to our special communication request portion of the agenda and we have six speakers here tonight signed up and in attendance for our special Communications portion um for special Communications each speaker is allotted up to four four minutes to complete their remarks we have a little timer at the podium that'll help so after you come and introduce yourself the timer will start the light will turn green the tight will turn the light will then turn Amber when you have about 30 seconds of your time remaining to wrap up your comments and it will turn red and make a little beep when you want to uh to conclude your comments um as a reminder for special communication requests special communication requests are a time for the board to listen as such the board generally does not respond to our special communication request speakers at the time um because we're listening and giving the you the respect you need um to come and speak to us um and lastly just as a quick reminder um speakers are reminded not to um bring up any sort of personnel concerns in their remarks but there are other venues and we can speak after that to do that so first in the special communication requests I would like to welcome Kyle Chen our first speaker to the podium and Kyle when you come on up you can just start by um introducing yourself and your connection into the district we'll turn we'll start it after you introduce yourself give you a little extra time good evening uh chair person Johnson Schoolboard members and superintendent B uh bani my name is Kyle Chen I'm a proud sophomore of Egan high school I love the place so much and uh what we're here to do today is we are um give me one moment um today I come along with 27 students from back home and four teachers to um ask of you guys to adopt the resolution of support provided at your desks along with um a policy memo and a statement from teer the resolution which show show support of uh show support from district 196 of Senate file 1557 and house file 20003 these bills will propose a Constitutional Amendment which allow school districts to lower the voting age to 16 years old for School Board elections today at 4 uh at 4:42 p.m. I joined 25,000 people across the state to apply to pre-register to vote this shows that students across our state are ready they are eager and they are certainly riled up to vote to engage and to certainly be represented um this shows that this the mission of lowering the voting AE for Schoolboard elections it's not a myth it's not a hypothetical and it is certainly not a fantasy this is real our concerns are real the concerns of our constituents are real and the concerns of your students are real we ask you to listen intently and listen with great pride um uh we have many teachers that could not appear today as they are currently basic gring tests but a statement from Karen Tark a teacher from Ean high school as a statement that I'd like to recite to you guys um quote I been teaching English language arts for 27 years 25 of which have been at Egan High School I would like to begin by commending Young these young activists by presenting to you tonight who are committed to persuading school board and District voters to to extend voting rights to students uh ages 16 and up as English uh language arts teacher I have the unique opportunity to facilitate daily discussions about Human Condition struggle Justice and Injustice and individual rights in my classroom students engage in topics that they might not have otherwise encountered in academic settings except for perhaps in social study courses I have witnessed how inciteful my students are how aware they are and how Adept they are understanding social and political issues the world they live in is uh has become much smaller in Contex the world that I have lived in as a teenager and as a result of their easy access to information when whether it be through social media news alerts on personal devices or class topics in debates they know what is going on and what I find to be a recuring indignity for them is their lack of agency and the decisions that affect them most their position as young people is the perceptual and unfortunate rationale uh for why they do not get a say or vote and education and safety is at stake The Ballot Box as we all know is the most powerful tool to ensure our vision is carried out when do local election will determine new seats to board how money is allocated or when another road is constructed to ensure that students walking to school will not be suffer will not suffer a mortally tragic accident our students deserve to be agents in the outcome and while they may uh have opportunities like they're seizing right now to bring the voices to ears in a board meeting their voices deserve to be revered with a permanent certain result thus I endorse the legislative change so a people ages 16 and 17 may vote in District elections Karen Tark end quote after me you will hear from PR dubu from East High School aam Batel from Rose High School um massud history from Apple belly high school and Max n from Ean high school and gashi badre from East B High School on this topic they will provide per per comments about the specifics about this policy concerns that may you guys might have and how specifically brings representation to our people we thank you so much for your time and the um allowance to speak at this board meeting today we appreciate your communication and we look forward to having further conversations with you and the superintendent with two dialogues to discuss the issue further we thank you and again good evening thanks K nicely done thank you next I'd like to welcome PA duu to the podium and Pa again if you just want to start by introducing yourself and your connection to the district what school you're at hi everyone I'm PA duu and I'm a current sophomore at East viiew High School in Apple Valley I'm here in support of the resolution allowing 16 and 17 year olds to vote in Schoolboard elections today because by expressing your support for this resolution you're expressing your support for the expansion of democracy to the people in this District who matter the most this this board approves the budget for our schools shapes the quality of our education and decides on the policies that our schools Implement however the people who are sitting in the classrooms every day the ones who are most affected by the decisions that this board makes don't have a direct say in the decisions that we decide this needs to change young people in this District are engaged and ready to participate in the Democratic process we're taking Advanced courses leading clubs participating in extra curriculum and are an Engaged and enthusiastic part of our community when we're allowed to vote in School Board elections we can engage in the policies that this school system pursues and have a say in the education that we receive critics like to point to three things to say that 16 and 17 yearolds shouldn't vote we're not mature enough we can't make independent decisions and we don't really care to begin with research has shown that 16 and 17year olds can make decisions that are just as informed as adults voters and as can be seen in the success of Youth voter participation in countries like Austria 16 and 17 yearolds are also considered to be mature enough to drive a car and in some circumstances can be tried as an adult in court if they're mature enough in these circumstances it only holds that they are mature enough to have a say in what the school board decides for the future of their education as for making independent decisions as in the ability to make decisions about who to vote for un uninfluenced by any other people those concerns exist for any age group and any demographic not just 16 and 17y olds everyone who casts a vote is influenced by the people and pressures around them and there is no evidence to suggest that teenagers and young people who are politically engaged in our democracy are unduly influenced by other people and finally the idea that we don't care the fact that all six of us are here today despite the fact that this is a meeting on a Monday night when we could otherwise be doing homework or hanging out with friends shows that we actually care about our democracy and the decisions that this school board pursues everyone within this District's students body student body cares about our education and we want the ability to have a role in the the decisions that are made about it considering all of this I strongly urge this board to affirm today's resolution of support for allowing 16 and 17year olds to vote in Schoolboard elections in Minnesota thank you thank [Applause] you I'd like to welcome our next speaker to the podium ahan Patel and Han similar if you want to start by introducing yourself and connection to the district and then we'll start your time okay um hello everybody my name is ahan and ahan Patel and I'm a freshman at Rosemount high school I'm honored to speak with everyone here and I want to share why I believe the voting age should be lowered to 16 and adopt uh sf1 1557 uh this should happen because of the representation in schools would be improved and political awareness would be increased later in life I'll also address a common argument a common counterargument of maturity and I'll show how this is often misunderstood so first with representation in schools it's a fact that more people uh over the age of 16 than people over are there over the age of 18 in high schools these students are the ones who are affected by the district changes and are many are well engaged in Ed educational issues and we know that our input can help shape the educational system as well therefore if we were to lower the voting age to 16 there would be more voter representation within high schools so more high schoolers would be able to direct where they want the future of the district ahead the second thing that I want to bring up is how this change could lead to more interests in communities which could last for a long period of time by creating an early start to the voting in the school board this would lead some young voters like me that could start a cycle and which could lead to more people voting in later elections and this would provide more representation in the future this is vital to Schoolboard and democracy and this could sustain more voters of Ages 16 and 17 now but also more adult voters in the future since the now 16 and 17 year olds will still have voice in the future and now they would also be more likely to vote there is also a common opposition to the resolution and that remains to be the belief that 16 year-olds don't have the maturity voting depends on a concept called cold cognition and that is logic and reasoning that is not emotional which voting remains to be according to the National Library of Medicine this is fully formed by the age of 15 so they can have the same skill as a fully grown adult since the actual standard of voting is same when comparing a 16-year-old and an adult the representation would be equal as well in conclusion 16-year-old should be able to vote for the school board peers remain informed about the educational system and I believe that we have valuable opinions about elections since 16-year-olds and adults have the same cold cognition our opinions will help with representation and awareness and Community throughout our lives I affirm the resolution and I hope that many guests and distinguished members do to and thank you for everybody's time thank thank you I'd like to welcome our next speaker to the podium massud his herey and my sincere apologies if I mispronounced your name please correct me good evening members of the school board my name is massud Hy and I am a serf sophomore at Apple Valley High School I am truly grateful for the opportunity to speak with you today about an issue that directly that directly affects students like myself and that is the voting age in school districts our schools are more than just places where we learn academic subjects they shape our education our experiences and ultimately our futures the decisions made by the school boards and others like it influence everything we encounter our learning environments our extracurricular activities and ultimately our futures yet the very students who spend years in these institutions who experience the direct impact of these decisions have no say in electing the leaders who make them I stand before you today to advocate for a simple but powerful change lowering the voting age for school boards to 16 at 16 we are entrusted with significant responsibilities in our communities we can legally drive work pay taxes and in many states we are eligible to serve on juries these action require time skills and its level maturity if we can handle these responsibilities why should we be denied the right to vote in the decisions that directly impact us in our own schools it simply doesn't make sense how can we be trusted to contribute to society in so many ways yet not have a voice when it comes to the decisions shaping our educational Futures now I understand that some may argue that 16-year-olds lack the maturity to make informed voting decisions but but let me remind everyone maturity does not come automatically with age maturity comes from Life Experiences from relationships and from learning and growing through adversity and as we as a generation have been forced to grow up quickly we are exposed da daily to the realities of the world in ways that no other generation has experienced before thanks to technology we are confronted with tragedies happening across the globe whether it's the war in Ukraine the ongoing conflict in Palestine or even domestic issues like the fact that our president is a convicted felon now I am not the first team to speak about the silencing of our voices and I will not be the last but I stand here not but I stand here today not to ask for Grand changes on the global scale I am not here to ask to talk about saving the planet or ending world hunger I'm here to talk to you about something much more personal the right to have a say in the decisions that directly affect my life I am here to ask you to give us some control over our own Futures and our own education lowering the voting age to 16 would not only allow us to have a say in our own Futures but it would also send a powerful message that young people are capable responsible and worthy of being heard it would only it would affirm that our voices matter and that we are not just the leaders of tomor tomorrow but the active participants of today we are the only we are the people who will inherit this world and it's time we had a seat at the table when it comes to the decisions that shape it so I ask you members of the school board and other esteemed guests to consider this you have the power to make the to make a difference in the lives of young people to empower us and to give us a voice in the decisions that affect us most please let us have a say in the future of our education let us vote thank you thank you [Applause] next I'd like to welcome Max W to the podium our next speaker good evening chairperson uh chairperson Johnson Schoolboard members and superintendent B Balon sorry if I fumbled that my name is Max win and I'm a junior currently at Egan high school I'm here today to ask the board to support and adopt resolution which makes it possible for 16-year-old students to vote as Schoolboard members many of the decisions that you guys make directly affect such students I have seen so many students around me who are incredibly involved in the community local government and contribute so much and yet despite being the largest stakeholders they are still not able to vote on School Board elections an election that probably affects their daily lives the most as students many of us want to voice and say in these policy-making decisions that would affect our daily daily day-to-day lives no matter how small they are and recently I'm sure you guys know that the school board in Lakeville recently voted to ban a series of inclusivity posters inclusivity posters that were designed by staff and students at the schools which included slogans like everyone is welcome and we are stronger together posters which emphasize diversity and friendship and during that Schoolboard meeting teachers and many students alikes including some of my personal friends came to testify against the Banning of these posters but despite their frustrations the school board still banned them but those students didn't stop there even after this decision many students still decided to protest they wore t-shirts to school with these posters but however if these students had the ability to vote in the first place and had the ability to vote for the school board members the outcome could have been very different but we would would never know and the voices of we would never have known the voices of what those students actually wanted for their schools and they would have been more represented and while some adults I have argued have met the students and teens like me lack the experience to properly engage and formally participate in local government and political discussions I disagree and especially in today's modern world within use of social media easily accessible information we are more invol more involved and informed than ever we have a direct stake in the policies and that shape our education and community and our voices deserve to be heard by supporting this resolution granting 16-year-old students the right to vote in Schoolboard elections you would Empower us to participate in decisions that affect our daily lives and encourage even more students who aren't already participating to join us please adopt this resolution and allow every student to be able to have their voices fairly heard and represented thank you thank [Applause] you and our last speaker tonight is gri Bod B again I'm so sorry if I mispronounced your name please correct me good evening everyone my name is gayri badre and I will be speaking here today I am a sophomore at Eastview High School today we have heard the voices of many talented individuals but I'd like to take a moment and show you the big picture one where we decide whether to empower the very students most affected by School Board policies or continue to exclude them from the very decisions that shape their education this resolution does not impose mandates or Force action upon unwilling districts instead it provides a choice allowing School boards the freedom to lower the voting age to 16 for School Board elections if they believe it benefits their Community the reasoning is clear when students have a voice schools become more representative policies become more effective and Civic engagement grows research for parliamentary Affairs and studies across Europe and South America proved that lowering voting age increases political awareness and lifelong voter participation this is not a speculation it's a datab ba it's a data-backed reality as Columbia University says voting relies on cold cognition which is fully developed by age 15 in a voting booth a 16-year-old processes information just as effectively as an adult showing us that younger individuals are more than capable of making these decisions this amendment is about fairness and representation school boards make decisions about curriculum policies and funding that directly impact students yet these students who know firsthand the success and failures of their education system are left without a say and franchising them would ensure that their perspectives are heard and valued this is not just about today's students it's about strengthening our communities democracy giving 16 and 17-year-olds the right to vote in a school board election Fosters a habitat of participation that will be carried into adulthood ensuring that the next wave of Voters is not only engaged but deeply invested in the future of their communities so today I encourage you all to support this resolution not out of obligation but out of a commitment to fairness Civic engagement and the belief that those affected by policies should have a say in shaping them the time to act is now let's give our students a voice in their own education and today we'd like to take a moment to thank you and say how much we appreciate you for letting us have a voice here and speak on our opinions thank you good job thank you [Applause] before we uh move on into our agenda I just I just wanted to say one thing real quick is that it is truly not easy coming to a school board meeting walking up to that Podium with a camera on you and a timer going and advocating right and saying what's on your mind I know that is a very difficult thing um so I just wanted to really commend our six students that came here tonight to coming here and Having the courage to talk about this issue that's uh be civically minded to talk about this issue that's important to you I think that that's just amazing um so one sec so I just um even though this is our formal this is kind of our formal um Avenue to provide feedback to the board so the board doesn't respond at Schoolboard meetings um to special communication requests but we do have listening sessions which I i' encourage you to look at that's more of a dialogue also I am happy to stay here after the meeting and talk with anyone I'm sure a couple other board members would as well so if you again I know it's Monday night and you could be doing homework but um we'll try to go quick through this part thank you all right I'm going to move bring us to our consent agenda board members we have 22 items on our consent agenda tonight those items include the minutes of the February 10th 2025 regular school board meeting the minutes of the February 25th 2025 special school board meeting gifts quarterly gifts quarterly advertising Revenue grants treasure reports for January 2025 schedule of Investments for January 2025 summary of claims for January 2025 revenues of an expenditures report for January 2025 Personnel termination and non-renewal of probationary teachers additional Services assignment for research assessment analytics coordinator cultural family advocates Employee Appreciation Week March March 17th through 21st 2025 a joint Powers agreement with Dakota County for funds to support emergency response 2025 26 roof Rehabilitation 2025 26 carpet and other flooring replacement designation of County right of access Rosemont Middle retired iPad laptop sale requests for bids cleaning supplies and chemicals East few High School activity center addition and renovation Mass notification system agreement are there any items on the consent agenda that board members would like to remove tonight seeing none is there a motion to approve so moved second motion by Leah second by Soden is that correct okay thank you for thank you motion by Robin seconded by scen all those in favor of approval say I I those opposed motion carries un 870 vote that brings us to our reports item in the agenda and I'd like to welcome Rachel Hughes to the Podium to talk about our computer science strategic priorities um and Paul olssen good evening chair Veron Johnson school board members and superintendent Bon my name is paulon I'm in a coordinator in the construction and achievement Department I'm here to give you a report on the computer science pathway in district 196 this report is for information only and no action is needed as with our other District work our computer science education work connects to the Strategic road map our CS work supports our district mission and vision to prepare students for lifelong success and engage students with academic opportunities it supports our strategic priorities of achievement and Resources by aligning our curriculum and providing needing needed equipment to start I'd like to provide a little bit of background information and data when compared to other states Minnesota has some growth in computer science in 2019 some data was gathered around a computer science education Across the Nation only 24% of our Minnesota high schools offered foundational computer science courses which was 50th among all the states States since then we've had some growth um as you can see from the the you may be able to see from the um the chart above it's 36% now which has brought us all the way up to 48th in the nation uh the state of Minnesota has recognized the importance of computer science and has released a strategic plan with recommendations last year thankfully district 196 is in a much better position with computer science educ a opportunities offered across our our district high schools if you think about the about different Industries it would be very difficult to find a profession today which is which isn't impacted by computer science and this is reflected by the Departments U the right of departments that have computer science in them as you can see mathematics Visual Arts family and consumer science Career Development they're all have touches with computer science to name some specific examples of courses that students can can take in our district here are just a few that high that are highlighted Learners with different skills and interests interests are supported from beginning Learners to those with much more advanced knowledge as well those as those with interest in connections to things like art beginners can uh get their start in intro to computers new to coding or those beginning with beginning knowledge of coding can advance their skills in computer programming those with Advanced coding knowledge can continue their growth in AP Computer Science students can learn skills aligned to specific careers in networking and cyber security or software and game design students can express their creativity by creating art using imaging software and visual art those are just to name to name a few of them we have some current work in our district to that aligns with our strategic priorities and we look for improvement with the goal of increasing access and Alignment across our district District at elementary we look to increase access to Hands-On technology supporting our beginning Quarters at Middle School our computer labs will be updated and staff will have opportunities for professional learning at the high school level we look to support achievement by increasing access and Alignment to course offerings to help expand access to Computer Science Education the Minnesota Department of Education has offered grants district 196 was awarded um one to expand our current computer programming through the grant we're able to support professional learning for our staff as well as enhancing The Experience uh for students and staff professional learning supporting knowledge building and best practices will be supported by the grant the grant will also help us update our computers at middle schools as well as attain additional equipment supporting foundational computer science skills like coding for elementary Learners we also have some future work to do we're partnering with mde to for strategic planning with continued support for improvement among for Computer Science Education in 196 we will assess where we are as a district determine what are our strengths and what are our needs we'll also do some visioning work to imagine and plan where we want to go with computer science in district 196 in the near future thank you for your time right um at this time are there any questions or comments from the audience seeing none questions or comments from board members Jackie the information that we're going to gather with mde is that going to start this year or yes that has started this year yep and it will continue through the end of the school year into next year okay so we won't look for a report from that group until um we'll have some initial data towards towards the end of the year and then we'll have more um comprehensive next year okay thank youc just going to say thank you for the work that you are doing looking into this um we're a little competitive in Minnesota and nobody likes being 48th Place in the country so it's definitely an area where we need to focus and when you think about the future it's something that we need to be able to be responsive and give to our students so I think this is definitely a great priority and I'm happy that we're looking at and investing in it thank you thank you all right next on the agenda I would like to welcome Rachel use and Stephanie oi to the podium to go over our positive behavior intervention and support all right good evening chairperson Johnson superintendent bone and members of the board I'm Rachel Hughes director of instruction and achievement I'm pleased to be here with the team involved in exciting work happening with our school implementing positive behavior interventions in supports with me is Stephanie oaki Student support coordinator who is leading this initiative of our well-being strategic priority districtwide good evening thank you Rachel good evening chairperson Johnson members of the board superintendent balony as Rachel said my name is Stephanie oaki I'm the student support coordinator tonight I'm here to share about positive behavior interventions and supports what it is and how it aligns with our district strategic road map and MN mtss we'll have the opportunity to see positive behavior interventions and supports or PBIS implementation progress that's happening at two of our schools understand future implementation and our measures of progress PBIS is not a packaged curriculum intervention or a manual it is a prevention oriented way for our schools to build a positive Culture by organizing evidence-based practices improving our use of evidence-based practices and maximizing izing academic and social behavior outcomes for our students our strategic priority of well-being focuses our continuous Improvement to increase our capacities skills structures and experiences in social emotional well-being throughout our presentation this evening you'll see and hear how PBIS implementing this framework supports our students and staff in this area the impacts of PBIS implementation align well with our district strategic priority of well-being because research shows that PBIS implementation improves achievement attendance emotional regulation and school climate it helps decrease disruptive behavior buling and pure exclusion and substance misuse it also helps address and decrease Educators stress and burnout endorsed by the Minnesota Department of Education PBIS supports the success of all students it is based on principles of Applied Behavior Analysis and the prevention approach along with the values of Positive Behavior Support the underlying theme is to teach behavioral expectations in the same way that we teach academic subjects we know that effective School environments help students to be successful establishing a positive School culture includes setting up the school's social environment to intentionally reflect a shared vision of common values beliefs and behavior expectations PBIS further helps organize the school to achieve its outcomes through understanding and using its data providing a Continuum of evidence-based practices and supporting staff and students through systems in order to meet the self-identified and unique needs of each individual Learning Community a core principle of PBIS is being culturally responsive this includes holding student holding high expectations for all students using students cultures and experiences to enhance their learning and providing all students with access to effective instruction and adequate resources for learning schools must first know their students in order to respond to and meet the needs of the students in front of them and PBIS helps our school teams do this so PBIS is really about getting everyone to pull in the same direction it's exciting to see how our school teams come together to engage in learning and action planning during their PBIS cohort participation and to create and then implement the PBIS framework in a way that's both unique and personalized to their learning communities with intentional reflection on their students and the school culture that they seek to create PBIS training in the cohort is doing important work across our schools tonight I'm here with Charlie Kush assistant administrator at Falcon Ridge Middle School and Jen zasi lead school psychologist and school psychologist at Thomas Lake Elementary who will be sharing about what it's been like adopting the PBIS framework within their school communities okay participating in a PBIS training facilitated by mde is an excellent way for our district 196 school teams to learn the core features of PBIS and engage in ongoing refinement and continuous Improvement the Minnesota Department of Education offers free training external coaching and resources to help schools Implement PBIS getting started with PBIS begins with the staff initially staff is provided with a Y PBIS presentation from there the application process requires surveying staff about their interest and willingness to engage with PBIS schools with staff that demonstrate 80% or higher interest in becoming a PBIS School are accepted for training once accepted into a PBIS training cohort the building level a team attends nine dayong ins Services over the course of two years during this training experience teams are walked step by step through the processes of becoming a PBIS school we understand it takes time to change and improve School culture training days include explicit evidence-based practices along with a strong focus on team time for data review and site specific action planning our partners at mde are skilled in helping sites understand the PBIS framework as a starting point to build from we start with existing social emotional and behavioral practices to support students at the school site the training is purposeful in delivering the necessary information as well as time to complete tasks that are required another benefit of being part of a PBIS training cohort includes access to ongoing professional development and booster trainings from mde at after the initial two years of training is complete and even more after the school has reached full implementation the opportunity to partner with mde continues and the learning never stops developing a strong foundation for PBIS includes a variety of core components which are individualized to each school's unique needs and school culture a strong PBIS leadership team which draws from all members of the School Community helps steer the work school teams with feedback from their larger staff develop shared language and explicit expectations across all School settings these expectations are proactively and explicitly taught and Revisited with students throughout the school year providing positive acknowledgement and reinforcement when students demonstrate these behavioral markers is a critical component that helps support consistent demonstration of expect behaviors PBIS also emphasizes schoolwide and activities schoolwide activities and celebrations of accomplishments to further Foster a strong school committee we strive to catch kids doing the right thing and to celebrate it an additional core feature of PBIS is having a clear system for responding to unexpected or inappropriate behavior with students these incidents are approached with a teaching and problemsolving mindset for staff PBIS provides clarity about which behaviors are classroom or teacher managed and which would be supported by the administrative team in all instances the ultimate goal is to help repair and restore relationships while holding students to high behavioral expectations and standards later in this presentation you will hear from one of our students about owning responsibility for actions learning from mistakes and fixing things when you do make make a mistake we also collect data and track positives in problem areas so that we can continually improve we have found that when everybody understands and has been explicitly taught expectations for Behavior the school is calmer more supportive and a Better Learning environment when students feel safe and supported they are more open to learning and willing to take risks to stret from their comfort zone to their Learning Zone teaching positive behavior explicitly means we don't rely on kids magically knowing how to be respectful and responsible we teach it having a strong PBIS structure requires a commitment to ongoing data review and reflection PBS teams meet at least once each month to review and reflect upon Behavior data and using this data create action plans to celebrate positive behavior reteach desirable behaviors and when required Marshall resources people and lessons accordingly in the attempt to prevent poor choices before they happen to facilitate this schools use their big five reports that is what behaviors are happening where are the behaviors happening when are the behaviors happening who are the students demonstrating these behaviors and how often are these behaviors occurring using these data sets allows us to be agile and responsive when supporting our students teams also collect data to measure Fidelity and implementation to what extent are the adults in the school applying the core features of PBIS finally the PBIS self assessment survey helps elicit input from staff and students about PBIS implementation and provides valuable feedback for building PBIS teams the goal is to inform and improve our approach in teaching positive behavior Behavior using and reflecting our building level data aligns with our District's value of continuous Improvement and lifelong learning as we strive to improve our systems and related processes related to teaching and managing behavioral expectations beyond the framework you know that PBIS is working when you hear students and staff talk about behavior and school culture in this video we are featuring Thomas Lake Elementary which was recognized by mde as an exemplary school for PBIS and for Falcon Ridge Middle School go Falcons one of our schools working with PBIS the longest in our district our school or excuse me our goal is the positive behavior expectations will be taught in all district 196 schools so students are clear about Behavior expectations beginning in kindergarten and consistently growing with them the rest of their time in our schools so without further Ado the video PBIS is POS positive behavior intervention and support and really what that means is our framework or system for how we help kids know what's expected of them in terms of Behavior Uh how we respond to behavior in a consistent positive way and then also how we support students in academic as well as their social growth but really here at Falcon Ridge the PBIS is the Falcon Way which is be respectful be respons and be safe these are like the three key actions that we need to do to like have a step forward in our education well it feels amazing it feels nice to be part of this community space and I really like that about the Falcon responsibility means only up to what you did like if you didn't go do the best of something you own up to it and you like you tell the truth you try to fix it you try your best to do better next time the activities teach you how to like work together and be respectful and safe and just kind of follow the Falcon way I think 8ighth grade is another step in that leadership path where you're the oldest in the middle school and you should be putting an example for the sixth graders and the seventh graders and it shows that you're ready for high school I'm just really excited for that too I think it really helped our staff as a culture too I mean the kids are here for 3 years the shortest amount of time of any of their school experiences but the staff stay from year to year and we want to be able to have a consistent Community amongst the staff where we have agreements about not only how we help kids learn academically but the Falcon Way really helps staff also be consistent in really helping kids be good humans I belong and a matter here at the school there's like Signs hanging up all over the walls there's like you're loved and I can tell that that everyone's trying to make a nice community at the beginning year we go to all the different big areas like the classroom hallways outside at recess the restroom the cafeteria all those different places and we sit down and we actually talk with the kids these are the ways that you show pride in this space these are expectations for you that they really are all those pieces of Pride that they are a positive person and they are able to show respect they have that Integrity they can do hard things and show determination and that they're really a unique and excellent person we see them for who they are now and who they can be later this is what you're supposed to do right now that's what I feel like leading music to me I'm leading by doing the right things I feel like just showing Integrity itself it just feels so good like it's it is its own reward knowing that if you do the right thing others will follow everyone is a contributing factor to our school and our environment encouraging them that they have a role to play in their classroom that they can help their classroom out in some kind of way either by showing Pride or by showing positive behavior there's kind of an underlying common thread in all that once you've lived with PBIS and Incorporated the language like Pride into your building it just becomes a part of your values it becomes a part of your everyday life just a part of something that you do right are you done with the just wanted to make sure I didn't want to interrupt you if you weren't done you can't follow the kids that's that all I know it's a great ending great ending like a mic drop moment but are there any questions or comments on the presentation from the audience tonight seeing none questions or comments from board members Robin um thank you for the presentation I thought it was very interesting um and I think I UND did it correctly when you said that a school had to have 80% buyin to have the training and I just wondered if a school doesn't have 80% buyin is there some sort of followup to figure out why that might be sh that's a great question um I would just start by saying that as we've had um schools um express interest and engage in the cohort we haven't encountered that um but if we did we would take the opportunity to help the leader explore that data with their teams um and of course bringing along other alongside other information that they have to figure out um what the path forward might be because they certainly have other information from their staff their community and stakeholders right that could help them um put that in context for their next steps right perfect thank you and then just one follow-up question we had a presentation recently about uh bar and how it tracked high school students in on a whole variety of markers and I just wondered if this uh PBIS worked with bar like or was it a parallel track yeah I say they work together um so bar really is looking at the 9th grade and pbas is a framework throughout um 9th grade through 12th grade um really looking at where maybe those areas are of we want to put more resources at um whereas bar is looking also at academics and other areas like that so they definitely do come together thank you question and I a similar question about bar so um Anna sorry um love this so one of the things um I work with a lot of leaders and um one of the things that I talk about with leaders is what makes a great leader a great leader and all the things that you are helping kids learn accountability um vulnerability um taking risks so so that they don't have to feel shame um and learning how to take accountability and sit in that moment um of of understanding what they did and how they can do better um and move forward um those are all things that make great leaders and so as they are getting older um you're basically setting them up for future leadership and so there's a lot of companies out there who are going to be um really excited um that you are developing such great leaders so uh 10 15 years um they're going to be set up for Success so thank you for that really um they're going to be very well-regulated adults very well regulated middle schoolers and high schoolers and that's fantastic so thank you for that I also was wondering if um there was a couple things that you said that word in the slide I would love to see your notes um that I wasn't able to to write down fast enough that I I didn't get to hear so that would be great Katherine thanks um I also really enjoyed learning about the program but I wanted to bring it back to Robin's first question am I understanding it correctly that this is an optin program so it's it's schools that say they want to be a part of this program and then you do the assessment to see if 80% Buy in is that correct um I think it's really assessing what you know um what's the lift and all the initiatives that are happening at that building so some elementary schools were ready to take it on um in the midst of four new curriculum and some weren't and so it's really meeting the needs of stop talking with my hands um it's really meeting the needs of that school to see are we at capacity that we can really implement this um alongside the staff and um like Stephanie said we haven't had any resistant yet um as we have been doing the implementation um and I think once we see that success a lot of the things that are already happening at the schools are PBIS it's just putting that into the framework yeah so um that's great and I'm just wondering about the schools that aren't necessarily stepping up right away just that some of those might be the schools that could possibly benefit most from this kind of programming and is there a plan for expansion and maybe working with some of those schools that might not be volunteering right away yeah there absolutely is there's an implementation plan um and kind of like what Stephanie um talked about is bringing them along what's that data telling us um where are the needs what successes will you see from this program where does it already fit within what's already happening in your school um but like I said we do have as you know lots of initiatives happening in our system so it's also meeting kind of the staff where they're at so we can make sure the implementation is successful great thank you Michael oh sure go yeah thank you these are great questions and we appreciate it so we've had um we've actually filled our cohorts in the last few years so part of it also is just capacity um there's a certain recommendation of the number of schools in each cohort um and I believe we're on schedule to have all 196 schools and either this year's next year or the years after cohorts and then all of our schools will have had the PBIS MD training great thank you y Jackie thank you that answered my question it was how many schools and it is through the cohort that and that's done by the mde I taught in a PBS school and watching this was really you can remember those posters there's posters in the bathroom what does it look like to be a PBIS school and what how do we act in the bathroom how do we act in the gym how do we act in the hallway how do we act in the lunchroom and one of the one of the kids said well they teach it we teach it we teach that we walk in the hallway that's the falcon way in my school it was the Raider way but that's the Falcon way and I loved it with the eighth grader saying well we're eighth graders we should be setting an example for the younger kids and that's what it ends up to be and that's why you have to have and I I think that the the word intentional Reflections really works well here because you've got a Common Language and everybody has to buy into that common language that everybody knows every teacher every student parents know what the common language is is so when you say well is was that really the the Falcon Way was that really the Raider Way kids know that no I wasn't acting appropriate and that's how we do this so thank you so much for continuing to roll this out in a couple more years we'll have all of our schools done Thomas Lake has done it for a long time yes yes congratulations thank you so much great presentation excellent any other questions or comments for board members thank you very much for the presentation we're looking forward to seeing this getting rolled out districtwide all right next I'd like to welcome Shelley mson to the podium to deliver a strategic priorities report on staff recruitment good evening chair person Johnson school board members uh superintendent bani I'm Shelley mson Director of Human Resources and tonight I'm here to provide an update on our staff recruitment um this presentation's for informational purposes only no action needed tonight look through here there we go um of course uh we know that staff are vital to the success of our students in supporting our mission of educating developing and inspiring our students for Success providing Staffing is one of our strategic priorities of course resources we have about 400 and or 4,300 staff overall in regular contracted assignments in our district and about 2300 teachers we have in our special education department about uh 550 licensed staff and about 475 pair professionals so they make up about a quarter of our staff and that's really our area of um focus this year in staff recruitment as we go forward um um through last Friday we had hired or in some instances rehired almost a thousand staff so far this year in 2425 and um about 250 also uh those are co-curricular casual and other types of Staff um so again our priority really this year is focused on our special education as that tends to be um our greatest need for Staffing um first of all I'm going to focus on a couple of areas where we focused on expanding our recruitment in our community for our support staff so first was our first job fair in The District in August kind of about the time that um our families are thinking starting to think back to school we thought that would be a good time to recruit for several of our support staff positions and have at East View High School an in-person job fair and it was a way to welcome in the community we um put a lot of advertising out on social media through um District newsletters even la signs trying to really encourage people just to come in and be able to visit with people sometimes you don't know if you want to work for the district when you don't have that opportunity to find out more about those jobs and so we were able to do that um and really bring in people who could uh community members that could come in and feel comfortable coming in with family members um or friends and so that it wasn't quite so intimidating um to be able to come in and talk to our different departments um we had about 126 individuals interested in learning about jobs and they brought again quite a few people along with them just give you a little oops one too far sneak peek there again we had different um individuals from departments that could visit with people they could interview right on the spot if they were interested but it was no pressure it was just getting information we had interpreting Services there so that we could um welcome in people from all different kinds of backgrounds and then we also had a computer lab set up and our HR staff was there and we could help people um get applications started or complet to get those filed and it was really helpful for us to see what are some of the obstacles people are facing um as they're going through our our application so it helps us figure out what we need to streamline what are things that can be stumbling blocks um that are preventing maybe some of our uh community members from applying there we also had a job fair then uh in the fall for our PA professionals and um that was often around conference time we would get out posters and flyers and really encourage people as they were in and maybe waiting to talk with teachers to think about you're in the schools you're a Community member you want to come work for us this was the opportunity again to really get out that word and invite them in to an event where they could learn more about being a prer professional in particular that's just a really high area need for us and we really want to expand our Outreach and get in all different um types of community members to help that and so this event was really focused on um really highlight in what what incredible important support they provide for our students to really be able to be successful in school and uh we did hire some PA professionals out of that and and several um substitutes as well but what we saw is again bringing in family members and it was just really fun to be able to talk with them we had lots of special ed staff in um and we had a panel so we had kind of a presentation to talk about that talk about pay benefits all those good things but also we had four experienced pair of professionals that could give some insight at different levels about um what a A Day in the Life what are the the fun things the challenging things and just some Q&A and hang around afterwards so that people could find out about that so these are things that we just found successful and we'll continue to do um to try to bring in again our community members in a way that feels welcoming um and maybe offers an opportunity to get uh uh interested in applying for the district even if it's not now it's going to be down the road the more they know about our system the more um that they could be um involved in the schools in some way shape or form they may end up volunteering instead of working that's okay too switching now to our um uh teachers we are now moving into this time of year our staffing for the 25 26 school year um right now we have postings going up for next year so we have oh just over a hundred postings that we've had over the last couple weeks some of those of course in elementary many of those at our new elementary school um Middle School high school and about 40% of those are in special ed though that again tends to be our biggest need and we find that successful to really be reaching out early to especially new grads that might be coming out so while we participate in some individual College fairs um we did one in late February that was more of a many many schools and again we were had um special education administrators with us so that we could do some pre-screening and then get them switched over if they seem like good candidates to talk in more detail with um our administrators Who Um can tell them about the job get them encouraged and get them applying we had um a job fair in person coming up so um that's been changed a little bit our school districts have been stepping up to host that as the universities kind of backed out and this year that will be held at um Eden Prairie and there's um a group of other school districts that are help making that happen and that's going to be on April 1st and inperson job fair and again we encourage and get administrators there to be talking with candidates we can do some on-site job interviews and that kind of thing um another uh great way to um get new Educators is from our own employee base so we there's a couple programs you've probably heard a little bit about these before I'm just going to touch on them tonight um are opportunities for employees um and to really develop our own internal talent and so through the grow your own program and also a work and learn program I'll talk just briefly about those the grow your own program um which our Equity inclusion Department um secured grants and has been providing a lot of guidance and mentorship um is allows our employees um to get their bachelor's degree um and right now kind of participating with five different uh local universities um they have cohorts they give support and we have 22 individuals in that program right now so we're really excited about that the University of St Thomas is a partner for the work and learn program and that's just really kind of an unconventional pathway where our pair of professionals who already have a bachelor's degree can pursue a master's degree to get um a specialed um educator license and so what's unique is it really allows that employee to keep working as a PA professional as they're getting um the the schooling and then also doing their student teaching so that's really helpful as well some of the individuals in the program as they get in a couple years um actually can get that tier 2 license since they already have a bachelor's degree and can be teaching with some guidance of other um experienced staff while they finish the program we currently have about 12 individuals enrolled in that we have about 14 uh teachers who have already gone through that program that program's been in existence a few more years than our gr your own so both of those are continue to be successful programs for us just touching a little bit on the different ways we've some Outreach and communication and really I um have to give a shout out to our talented uh staff in Communications who have really been helpful for that we've been doing a lot of online job boards um social um media marketing I'll touch a little bit in just a minute on our handshake campaigns which is new for us um different flyers and postcards and uh website print ads again I think I mentioned before even lawn signs before our job fair is just getting that out upcoming here in early April uh Rosemont Community has their Expo in one of our buildings this year and so among other things our district will be there as a presence to share information we'll also be there to answer any questions and and try to encourage community members again to come um be part of their school district as an employee so we'll be there as well just to touch a base a little bit handshake is um again a job board utilized by most universities it's something that we hadn't participated in before and it's one of those things that sell longer term um outcome from that you're really reaching out and building more awareness maybe outside of those um areas that already know so we get a lot of our recruiting is because maybe people have been students here they have family members there's some sort of connection to come here and do their student teaching and be here this is expanding that range to more universities including some historically black universities and really doing targeted campaigns that just tell more of our story it's really getting that awareness having some back and forth with students there um even before they're getting ready to graduate and we can kind of Target down into what students now it's up to them how much they want to communicate with us they probably have more uh fun social media things they want to do than always talking with us uh in Human Resources but that's something that you know we're starting to do and we're really again can direct people to some of these job fairs and things that we have as they come through and then one other great um uh resource we've had our Communications have put together a great video I was going to show you for example one on our pair of professionals that just we can have on our employment page we had it running at our job fair it gives people just that little glimpse into really what a difference you can make by working for the School District 17 18 19 20 peras they make a real big difference in you know my life and my daughter's life my daughter has special needs she can navigate most of her days but comprehension being a big um roadblock in in understanding you know the Paras help break things down for my kid in classroom which means that she's able to be included in the general inclusion is a huge thing you know without a par that's really impossible that's a huge difference um what the P makes our Paras definitely build a really good relationship with our students our students trust them they just know exactly that moment to swoop in and add some additional support or when to just let the student be independent and I think that all comes back from the trust the students trusting the Paras because of the relationship that they have built they're getting literally that one-on-one connection Point um with someone who they trust they are just such a wonderful relationship piece the work that they do is truly invaluable often they're helping our kiddos with academic piece of their work they get the group learning that they need within the large group um and then they go off with our parents to continue the learning even though they're not a teacher they are they're the ones who help me with my kids when I need an idea for how to help a certain friend they're there and someone to bounce ideas off of I could not function in my classroom or my kids couldn't without our Paras they do a lot more than just taking them around or you know taking care of them without them um I don't think I would be really peace school at home knowing that there is the additional support here nurturing caring and teaching providing that care and love that's that's straight from my heart a little glimpse into the into the life of a Paris so that helps people to just kind of see what an important aspect um of of our students um education they really play um so with that just kind of looking back to where we are this year so so far uh in 2425 we've hired 81 um special Leed license staff and about 15 that are rehires or retirees we're really fortunate in that we do attract um teachers from other school districts too and so we've seen that more and more over the last few years and that's really I think a credit to all of our other staff and having a supportive environment to come to our district to work in and I always encourage um as I'm talking to new grads or more experienced I mean there is an advant AG in the size of our district too and how well we work together is that we know sometimes enrollment may go up or down a little bit at some buildings but there's other buildings we're a large district and so there's a lot of opportunity um we've hired 152 pair of professionals and about 81 substitute Paris that's always um a need for us as well is to cover those substitute absences um so as mentioned before we're starting our hiring price process for next year we intentionally post those special ed positions early and we um uh you know even though there's fewer individuals coming out of our teacher prep programs across the state we're all suffering with that we're just really focused on trying to get the the best candidates here what's next on the horizon again we're really still establishing some data collection systems to evaluate how we're doing as far as bringing um individuals in onboarding kind of took a little bit of a more electronic uh which is very efficient right we got some efficiencies during our covid period but doing more of that bringing more of that back in person too so that people have that connection they know that mission and many of our departments are working hard on how we really do that uh induction particularly in those large numbers that come to us at the start of a school year and then an exit interview just having that built in our paperwork as people exit the system to start collecting that data and really seeing where do we maybe need to focus on some um different areas to help retain because that's going to be a huge piece too is retaining those employees and then really uh getting a guide for administrators just for some more consistent um and best practices for our hiring practices so those are kind of our next um next projects here and with that it's just um you know that we're going to actively strive to recruit support and retain the staff that uh really reflect the uh diversity of our students today and to support um those students in their in our mission of educating our those students any questions I would be happy to answer thank you thank you very much Ellie at this time are there any questions or comments from the audience seeing none questions or comments from board members Dia uh just real quick um do you have off the top of your head and it's okay if you don't but the percentage of right now what we have filled for this school year as far as teachers and Paras in particular I'm curious for the 2425 school year yes so most of those position are filled I would say that is our most challenging probably for our special education there's those uh positions that come open midy year because already people are in other school districts so those tend to be the ones that we work closely with our special ed is if people are going out on leaves and those different things that happen um but we've really had good success this year in hiring our prayer professionals they just tend to turn sometimes turn over right they find other opportunities once they get into our schools so um we're just starting the hiring for next year so we really haven't even um our administrators don't have the green light to hire yet they're still doing a lot of the interviewing and part of the process of Staffing at this time of year is making sure all of our existing staff have places before we start hiring externally as well so that's kind of all part of the puzzle we work through this time of year and part of why I was asking is just because I know that's actually Quite a feat especially in terms of pars and some of that to get to 100% Staffing and um so I'm glad to hear about the exit interviews and you know kind of pivoting to focus on retention because if we've gotten to 100% now part of the magic is retention right yes so I don't know if you have any more you want to share about that I know on your you know and I do think that's part of like with our substitute pair professionals again if they like it and we like them they get hired into regular positions so that's our constant challenge is having enough substitutes in our prare professional role but um yeah retention is something of course with other departments and we'll be talking more about that probably as we come back for a board report excent thank you Jackie Leah you were kind of reading my mind Shel wasn't very patting her own back here because they do do a lot of things with retention and the district the district teachers the district teachers union all play a big role in making sure that people that are here today are comfortable and want to come back for next year we have circles and support groups and all kinds of things for for teachers to make sure that this feels like home and they want to stay so you do a really good job with that I mean I'm sure there's more things that more things that you could be doing but you do the district does a really nice job with that and our special ed has really wrapped their arms and really given a lot of support especially to new to the field um Educators because that that is important that support in those early years and I think that's the reputation that we can get as the supports that we provide help the track even from other districts not that we want to Rob our neighbors here but we do want to be a a district of choice for staff and new teachers need that support I mean it always looks like it's a it's a um a job that you have lots of people with you but you go in and close your door and you're by yourself so you need to have supports and and people to go that a girl that's the way we're doing it and you so congratulations I I think you do a phenomenal job that way Anna sorry um so I love that you do exit interviews another question I had is have you considered doing stay interviews um sometimes with exit interviews um at that point depending on why people leave um they can be angry and then they can Trash the district and you know that can be bad for our brand um and so sometimes State interviews is just as effective yes um because then you can fix the problem if there is a problem and then you have a loyal you know loyal person so so we don't have a uniform um implementation of that right now but I do know special ed did that particularly because wondering what was going on with our special ed teachers and so our director of special ed did a lot of those to get that input and so that was really uh impactful and and we pl to spread that across in other areas because it just helps to know what's going on what's working what do we need to do to keep people fantastic yeah okay any other questions or comments from board members thank you I think this was great seeing I loved seeing the job fairs um and all the work that we're doing and I particularly loved in your presentation um seeing how you were helping um possible recruits actually go through the job application with them and even say things about identifying pain points in the process that's how you find that out right you're making and by sitting there with those candidates and actually going through the application with them you're like wow this does this is kind of an odd thing right can we fix that that's making the candidate experience better and better and better um I just think that's uh excellent amazing thank you thanks all right that brings us to our old business and I would like to welcome Jill Coyle to the podium to go over a second reading of policy 503 student cell phone policy good even evening chairperson Johnson members of the board and superintendent Balon I am general counsel Jill Coyle and tonight's old business is policy 503 student rights and responsibilities um so there are several changes to the policy proposed for tonight for the board's uh approval most of which relate to the to student possession of cell phones specifically in section seven of the policy new section seven of the policy we went over those proposed changes in detail at your last Schoolboard meeting on February 10th but I'll go ahead and cover a few key points again this evening for the audience in the board's uh recollection um again I'll point out that policy 503 as proposed can be found in the agenda item that you have tonight look for that yellow uh highlighted language to see the new language and um again focus on Section seven of the policy um so let's see first of all a reminder that a 2024 law passed by the Minnesota Legislature requires all Minnesota school districts to adopt a school of a policy on student use and possession of cell phones at school uh we do have board approved language it exists in our student handbook the overview of student rights and responsibilities but the administration recommends that we go ahead and adopt language specifically into our policy in a more formal format if you will um and that's what you have before you tonight again focusing on Section 7 um I will also note that the board's policy Review Committee had an opportunity to review this language in committee earlier this year um I will also point out for you that the proposed language matches the current protocols found in all of our district schools so specifically students in all of our schools are required to have cell phones off and Away during the the instructional day we do allow exceptions for high school students to have cell phones out during lunch and passing time as long as they use those cell phones in a responsible manner at other levels it is uh permissible to have cell phones out before the beginning of the instructional day or at the end of the instructional day um but not during recess not during lunch not during passing time and so forth um and the the language of um of the policy matches those existing protocols um the policy has additional uh prohibitions specifically a absolute prohibition on using cell phones and bathrooms or locker rooms and also a Prohibition on use of cell phones to violate other District policies so for example think about student bullying or harassment policies uh where a student might be able to engage in bullying harassment using a cell phone obviously that would be an irresponsible use of a cell phone and could result in additional consequences on the flip side the proposed policy has certain exceptions um so there are permissible exceptions with administrator approval for student that needs an accommodation due to a disability to use their cell phone um there's also an exception if a teacher specifically authorizes use of cell phones in a classroom for an instructional or curricular purpose uh other points to note the policy includes a direction to schools to establish and communicate specific rules and protocols on student cell phone use consistent with the policy and then finally the policy covers consequences for violations including prohibition or provisions regarding student discipline confiscation and search of cell phones and loss of cell phone privileges at school I will also note that if the 2025 Minnesota Legislature adopts additional laws with regard to student cell phone use in schools we of course take a look at that and if that requires future changes to the policy we'll be bringing those back as well uh so with that it is a matter for your approval tonight and I am available to answer any questions thank you before we go into questions this is an action item for the board tonight is there a motion to approve so Move Motion by Leah seconded by Catherine are there any questions or comments from the audience yes if you want to come on you can come up to the podium so everyone can hear you feel free to ask um hello so I'm from inan high school we have paused time uh after second period I'm just curious um why is S phone um usage not permitted during pause time I'm not here to argue against I'm just curious why why is it allowed oh why is noted during pause time so currently the policy and the protocols are pretty specific about wanting to have it out in a way to prevent all distractions including during times like pause as noted there could be circumstances in which an individual teacher um might be um uh allowing of certain uses during pause time if it was for an instructional or curricular sort of purpose but as a general rule we're looking to have more uniformity in terms of the prohibition good question I I also would just add to that also um so last session the Minnesota Legislature made it a requirement for all school districts to adopt a policy and this is our first one this is what we done we had some um things in our student rights and responsibilities before but this is an official policy so um I think that feedback is great if if that's uh an item where maybe cell phones could be allowed or or in the future those could be changes we might look at changing the policy in the future because this is the first time we've had an official policy on cell phones so gotcha certainly I think first of all thank you for the um response I have more information on that now so thank you very much of course uh it might be a bit helpful during pause um for things such as you know trying to catch them on study guides um throw on quiz on your phones I know that happens a lot or trying to communicate with your classmates about certain things cuz I know during pause and lunch those are similars then you get in your phone you hop on Instagram and you start dming people so I think um it might be beneficial of course if there's things say um that don't agree with that that's obviously of concern to us students but I I was just curious so thank you absolutely appreciate the question thank you any other questions or comments from the audience seeing none questions or comments from board members I think we asked all our questions at the first reading so thank you very much um at this time time we have a motion to approve from Leah seconded by Katherine all those in favor please say I I I those opposed motion carries on a 60 vote thank you very much thank you we have no items under new business tonight so that brings us to other action I'd like to welcome Shelley mson back to the podium to present our employee Group Health Plan again good evening chairperson Johnson school board members and super sen wani again I'm Shelley mson Director of Human Resources and I bring before you tonight an exhibit on employee Group Health Plan the district has had a self-funded arrangement for employee health plan with Health Partners providing administrative Services Network and stop-loss coverages since July of 2012 state law requires us to request proposals for these fixed costs every two years and this is the second year of an agreement with Health Partners so that wasn't required this year in the 13 years we've had a funded plan our premium increases have averaged about 3.8% per year however the significant claims following the co P pandemic it kind of accelerated and we've needed double digit premium increases the last two years counting this year and the year prior and even with those um our current year we're projecting that we will have spent down over the last two years our plan Reserve by um about $3.7 million um so that's something that is a little concerning as we um keep a reserve that covers in worst case scenario for maximum claims um for run out of our costs and also just to kind of mitigate in times like these the increases be able to use that on the positive note we are finally starting to see a moderation in the amount of claim increases and a reduction in the number of our very high cost claimants that we had really seen up in the past uh we did have human resources staff a shout out to um an need to and our department recently conducted informational meetings with almost all of our bargaining groups or got our bargaining group reps prepared to do that um themselves to educate employees about the health plans raising costs and what actions employees can take to help mitigate costs and overall savings for employees if they elect androll in our deductible plan and sometimes that's just you don't take the time to do the math and figure out all the nuances of a plan yourself and so really found again doing that more in person was more helpful than we always try to have print materials and videos and all kinds of zooms but sometimes you just need that Personal Touch um the vast majority of our employee groups support discontinuing actually our co-pay plans we have two plans a co-pay plan which is a higher premium and then just a a less out of pocket and a, deductible plan um where it's a lower premium um but if you use claims there's a deductible and the vast majority of our employees are willing to um eliminate our co-pay plan and go to one plan and that's going to help us then be able to focus and do more education and just kind of do some tweaks to plan that will help long term so that's our goal longterm this year for the first time we have um more employees enrolled in our deductible plan then the co-pay plan and we anticipate that uh Trend to continue so when we analyze plan costs the insurance committee found that the co-pay plan premiums haven't been sufficient to cover the claims cost for those that have been on the plan so to address that imbalance and ensure fair cost distribution the co-pay plan really requires a higher premium increase this year and that's unusual for us usually it's the same premium increase for both the insurance committee recommended a premium rate increase of 15% for the deductible plan and 18% for our co-pay plan effective July 1 of 2025 the committee did not come to this recommendation LLY this increase um will continue though to protect the plan's fiscal integrity and again with that longer term goal of getting down to uh one plan and being able to maybe be more Nimble in making plan decisions going forward the administration agrees with the recommendation and asks that you approve the exhibit I've just summarized and I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have thank you this is an action item for the board tonight so before we go into questions is there a motion to approve so moved second motion by Jackie is seconded by Anna at this time are there any questions or comments from the audience seeing none questions or comments from board members Jackie the deductible plan will go away in so we have not we have not reached resolution most of our employee groups um but there's something called aggregate value and it requires all of our employee groups to um vote to have that happen so we were looking to have that happen a year from now we wanted enough time that we could educate all employees and have them confident often with a deductible plan you're also rolling enrolling in a flexible um savings plan or spending plan that helps kind of budget for that and it just takes a little more education so we're hoping that by Ju one of next year but again we have we have one more group to still get on board with us so to be able to do that you think that the co- well we don't know what's going to happen to health prices anyway so it's probably a wonder if um if we're down to one and we've got everybody into one plan do we look to think that the increases might not be as steep yeah so we're seeing those again start to decline a little bit so our claims cost when you're self funded are really you know they're are own right and the the value of insurance is there for you know people that are having significant issues and so that tends to be you know 20% use most of the claims but we are seeing again fewer High CLA high cost claimants and getting on to one plan the the deductible plan has the advantage of a little bit out of pocket makes you think um maybe I could go to Urgent Care instead of going waiting at the you know emergency room so it just gives a little bit more consumerism and it just gives one plan if we want to talk about how we might educate mody it it's lus for employees if we're all talking about the same we're not kind ofing at odds each so it's not a magic pill to make Plan cost go down but we think that it will be helpful as we move forward well we can really thank you and the insurance committee because this gets to be big yeah big stuff because you're affecting people's lives and yeah and their health insurance so thank you other questions or comments from board members seeing none we have a motion to approve by Jackie second by Anna all those in favor of approval say I I I those opposed motion carries on a 6-0 vote thank you very much all right that brings us almost to the end of our agenda I will turn the meeting over to superintendent Bon for superintendent updates oh thanks chair Johnson uh I want to say good luck to the district 196 boys basketball teams from both Egan and Apple Valley who will be competing against each other in the section championship game on Thursday district 196 athletes frequently meet each other in sectional championships knocking one or the other out in route to aate tournament so we wish them both luck on Thursday night graduation dates are set for late may this year and are posted on the district website we want to encourage our seniors to finish strong as they head into the last trimester of their 196 career and we look forward to celebrating with all of you march is music in our schools month our high schools are hosting a Full Slate of music concerts we invite community members to attend the following concerts March 11th 12th and 18th at Rosemont High School March 11th and 18th at Apple Valley High School March 17th at Egan high school and March 18th at Eastview High School and lastly district 196 has partnered with the Morris Leatherman company a research firm to conduct a community survey to gauge public sentiment about the district surveyors will ask about the quality of Education financial management strategic priorities and educational technology District residents contacted by phone are encouraged to participate in the survey and that concludes my report thank you thank you very much are there any um board members with items they'd like to share all right seeing none that brings us finally to the end of our agenda is there a motion to adjourn so moved second motion by Anna second by Jackie all those in favor of adjournment say i i i those opposed motion carries on a 60 vote we are adjourned [Music]