[Music] [Music] Good evening and welcome to our regularly scheduled June 9th schoolboard meeting At this time, please rise and join me in the pledge of allegiance. After the pledge, please remain standing for a brief moment of silence. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. At this time, I would like us to share a moment of silence for Rosemont Middle School 8th grader Savannah Hanrady, who passed away on May 23rd. Thank you. All right. Good evening, school board. First item on the agenda is the approval of the agenda. I have two quick modifications to the agenda um that was outlined and that is the removal of our special communication request. Um our speaker could not be here tonight. Um and to move our reports which is item F on your agenda to after other action which is other which is um item I and that is just to accommodate um one of our uh presenters who's running a little bit late. Uh, is there a motion to approve the agenda with those two modifications? So moved. Second. Motion by Anna, second by Leah. All those in favor, please say I. I. I. Motion carries on a 6 vote. That brings us to our recognition items. And at this time, I'd like to welcome head coach Scott Oxley to the podium to introduce the Dakota County United Dakota United Hawks adapted softball state champions in the CI division. [Applause] Got your players ready. Well, I wasn't sure how to start this, but um we're back again. We're going to go with that. Um thanks so much for having us. Good evening, uh board members, chairperson Johnson and Superintendent Balsson. Uh my name is Scott Oxley. I'm the head coach and I'm proud to introduce you to the second year in a row the CI Dakota Hawk softball state champions for the year 2024 and now 2025. So really amazing. Um, so it was a it was a great state tournament for the number two seated Hawks coming from behind in both the semi-final game versus South Washington County and the championship game versus New Prague to win state by a score of 4 to2. Our accomplish our accomplished win uh was really due to some strong offensive effort and a couple of long ball home runs which were really exciting. The Hawks finished the season uh pretty similar to last year uh nine and one and uh the only team we lost to was New Prague who we defeated in the championship. So that was exciting. So almost perfect season. The relationship shared ef uh extra effort uh the skill building continuous work at creating strong positive culture is giving us continued success over the last few years. On Wednesday, June 25th, the Dakota United will be honored on spring sports champion night at Target Field. So, it will represent the district very well there. I would now like to recognize our individual members of the Hawks. So, I'm going to read off all the names of the of of the team. Um, players are asked to step forward and wave when their name is announced. Chelsea Loveixson, Max Pooie, Remington Bennett, Joshua Jackson, Nolina Finch, Nolan St. Sauer, uh Nolan St. Sour comes to us from the Hastings district and Jake Jackson, Miles Johnson, Logan Healey, Mustafa Adnan, Henry Iley, Anthony Dyken, Ada Kramer, she's got the trophy, Colin Pric Oh, Adah Kramer is also one of our captains. And then Colin Price, another one of our captains, Orin Hill, he comes from uh he comes to us from Two Rivers. Mai Smith and Jacob Stats. All right. Players named to the all tournament team were Rosemont High School senior Colin Price. Give a wave. Shortstop team captain. Uh he's our he was our shortstop and team captain. uh catcher uh senior Egan High School student Henry II and outfielder senior from Apple Valley High School Mai Smith. So special thanks to our dedicated coaches, parents and fans. Parents, if we could ask you to please stand for the CI Hawks. [Applause] Also, a special thanks to Eastfield athletic director Matt Pzville and athletic secretary Michelle Thyson who oversee the Hawks program who have helped support my decisions after becoming the head coach five years ago. Thank you very much. And the players now [Applause] congratulations. Congratulations. I almost forgot my assistants, uh, Jenny Clots. Congratulations and Jeff Anderson. Thank you. Appreciate it. Good job. Congratulations guys. Yeah, thank you. They don't want to congratulations, coach. Great job, Scott. Thanks so much. You do a good job. You got come down all the time. Yeah, they're all about business. All right. Next, I'd like to welcome head co head head coach Brett Kazidowski to the podium to introduce the Dakota United Hawks adapted softball state champs in the PI division. We really all need shirts. I know. That we can wear when they come. When they come. We'll have to get some. All right. Good evening board members, chairperson Johnson, Superintendent Valsone. My name is Brett Kazidoski and I'm representing the sixtime consecutive perfect season and fivetime Minnesota State High School champions Dakota United Hawks. Let me take you back to a darker time in the spring of 2020. I met this group of current seniors who were seventh graders looking forward to starting the journey of defending our 2019 state championship. But because of COVID, we were only allowed to meet online over Zoom and do our best to explain the strategies that come with this complicated game of PI softball. If you've ever had the pleasure of going to one of our games, you know what I mean. The gyms were empty, practices were remote, uh, and everything we loved about being a team was suddenly taken from us. But we didn't give up. We found ways to train. We found ways to connect and more importantly, we found ways to believe in this group of talented young middle school athletes. From that moment on, we promised ourselves that we would never take a game, a rep, or a teammate for granted. And here we are, six seasons later, standing undefeated as the Minnesota State High School champions alongside a sixtime perfect season uh performance. We have been 61 and 0. Let that sink in. Six straight seasons without a loss. Five titles only because the 2021 season didn't allow us to compete for that state title. Simply perfection at its finest. That doesn't happen by accident. It happens because of commitment. It happens because of long days of practice after full days of school, setbacks with teammates, graduating teammates, teammates that moved away, and coming back against great teams from Robbinsdale and Rochester. We showed up every single day ready to fight for something bigger than ourselves. To this senior class, you guys are legends. Every single one of you. This run that we've been on isn't just rare. It's historic. We set a standard that will be talked about for years to come. But what I'll remember most isn't just the wins. It's the way that we had each other's backs through it all. We kept our heads down. We blocked out the noise. And we stayed focused. That's what made us champions. And to the younger athletes, the torch is now being passed to you. To district 196 and our athletic director, Matt Perl. You have supported us for many years. You have helped us build this culture. You have set the bar high and demanded more of what our program could be. We've learned from within this district that excellence isn't found in a moment, it's in a mindset. To our Hawk families, if you would please stand. [Applause] Thank you. Thank you to you for being our foundation. From the empty bleachers of the pandemic to the pack stands today, your love for these student athletes, the coaches, and our program has never wavered. This victory is yours as well. These perfect six seasons capped off a streak that beca that began in the shadow of a global crisis and has become something truly unforgettable. We turned adversity into legacy. We are and always will be champions. And united we fly. Tonight we have Ellie Deo, Khloe Shabbatada, Dylan Burns, Bryce Andrews, Bennett Herman, slamming Sammy Jordim, Jay BMA, and our six, sorry, five seniors tonight. Dominic Albus, Liv Gbower, Ben Schustler, Reese Martin, and Kaden Needam. Thank you for your time. We appreciate it. [Applause] Amazing. Awesome job. Incible. Congratulations. Great job. Awesome job. You're welcome. Great job. Congratulations. Amazing. Great job. Great job. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Thank you. Awesome job. Congratulations. You're welcome. Incredible. Great job. Awesome. You're betach. Okay. Didn't tell you. Do you like graduation? I thought we were done crying. I feel like I know him from since he was little. Next, I'd like to turn it over to Superintendent Bosone for recognition of student and staff. Okay. Thank you, Chair Johnson, and thanks everybody. I would like to start my recognition this evening by congratulating uh the wonderful class of 2025. The last couple of weeks have uh been very joyful as we've celebrated more than 2,200 students who completed this important educational milestone. We held 10 official ceremonies uh more smaller ones as well and photos can be seen on our district Facebook page. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture recently recognized our outstanding nutrition services team among leading districts in the 2025 Minnesota grown awards for farm-to-school programs. District 196 received the Golden Drumstick Award based on how the district prioritizes local purchasing practices, promotes and educates students about local foods, and engages with a broader community through events and activities. Congratulations also to the Rosemont High School boys and girls track and field teams, the boys golf and boys uh baseball teams, Egan High School girls softball and Eastview High School boys volleyball in qualifying their teams for state. This is the first year that a boys volleyball um tournament is a sanctioned high school league sport. Our East View boys were undefeated uh as the South Suburban Conference champions and swept through the section tournament without dropping a single set. They'll play at the state tournament at the University of St. Thomas tomorrow. In addition to teams, several individual state qualifiers will represent East View, Egan, and Apple Valley high schools at the girls state golf tournament, the boys and girls track and field events, and the boys tennis tournaments. And we wish all of our state qualifiers well during this week and next week's competitions. Next, I want to congratulate the district 196 students who qualified to compete in the national speech and debate tournament this month in Iowa. Safe travels to them and good luck to the students, their families, and coaches. Lastly, I want to take a moment to recognize our incredible District 196 staff for their passion, their hard work, and their commitment. During this school year, we experienced a lot of change, and we accomplished a lot. It's deeply meaningful, and it was growth focused work. From classrooms to buses, kitchens to playgrounds, offices to online spaces, our work has positively impacted the lives of students and families, and we want to thank you for that. Now, I'd like to introduce Rachel Hughes, director of instruction and achievement, who will introduce our new research, assessment, and analytics coordinator, replacing Nandy Rick, who is retiring this summer. Good evening, Chairperson Johnson, school board members, and super in Superintendent Bosnone. We are excited to welcome Steven Bellcamp as the new research assessment and analytics coordinator. Steven brings a strong background in mathematics and data systems, holding a master's degree in mathematics, which grounds his analytical and problem solving expertise. He transitions into this leadership role after serving as a highly effective research assessment and analytics specialist, otherwise known as RAW, by the way. um where he led district-wide efforts in assessment coordination, data platform implementation and analytics based on decision-making. His experience spans both technical and instructional is successfully managing the rollout of unified insights, co-leading MTSS, aligned screening initiatives, and providing professional development on assessment literacy. With nearly a decade of teaching experience at East View High School and a de demonstrated commitment to equity and systems alignment, Stephen is wellprepared to strengthen our district's use of data to drive student achievement and strategic improvement. Congratulations, Stephen. Uh good evening, Chair Johnson, members of the board, and Superintendent Bosone. Um, it really is an honor to step into the role of coordinator of research assessment and analytics for district 196. As a member of the RAW department, the rock kind of makes it more energetic when we're talking about data. I think um I'm really proud of the progress we've made since the inception of the RAW department two years ago. We are now giving timely, usable data in the hands of educators and leaders every single day. In my 14 years in education, I see how data data can really illuminate uh the student experience and most importantly drive meaningful change for all of our students. So now I'm excited to lead the work helping our schools turn data into insight, action, and improved outcomes for all students in our prek12 system. I'm really grateful for this opportunity to serve district 196 thanks to your leadership as well. So, thank you. All right. Um, since we removed the special communication request portion of our agenda, that brings us to our consent agenda tonight. We have 27 items on the consent agenda board. Those items include minutes of the May 12th, 2025 regular school board meeting appointments to the budget advisory council district membership for 202526 official newspaper for 202526 designation of identified official with authority for the Minnesota Department of Education external uses user access reertification system resolution with the Minnesota State High School. Gives grants advertising revenue schedule investments for April 25. Summary of claims for April 2025 revenue and expenditures report for April 2025. Treasures report for April 2025. Personnel, right of entry agreement with Dakota County, resource management services, valley middle school renovations, districtwide video security project, cost share agreement with Dakota County for purchase of voting equipment, termination and non-renewal of probationary teachers, employment agreements, additional FTE, employment agreements, probationary agreement for clinical experience with College of St. Scholastica, agreement with agreement for student teaching with College of St. Scholastica. Agreement for clinical experience with the Minnesota State University Mano. Agreement for student teaching with the Minota Minnesota State University Morehead substitute temporary and part-time employee wage rates. 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 Katherine, seconded by Leah. All those in favor of approving the consent agenda say I. I. I. Those opposed? Motion carries on a 6 vote. Uh, since we moved the presentation order a little bit tonight, that's going to bring us to our old business. So, I would like to welcome uh Jill Coyle to the podium to go over our 202526 overview of student rights and responsibilities. Good evening, Chairperson Johnson, members of the board, and Superintendent Balsone. Uh tonight, the only item of bold business before you is the overview of student rights and responsibilities, the district student handbook for the 2526 school year. Um as background, each year the district reviews and approves proposed changes to the handbook. The purpose is to update the book to ensure currency with the law, district policies, and desired practices. Um the board reviewed the current proposed changes in detail at the first reading in May. I won't repeat May's presentation other than to note that there are two additional sections, one on student health and one on language access. There are also multiple change sections and the usual series of edits to the list of student behaviors that can be found in the embedded discipline policy. I do however want to bring to your attention two changes, two proposed additions that were made between the first reading and tonight's second reading. Um, so I'll go over those in a little more specificity. Um, first note that the definition of directory information found on page 13 has been updated to reflect a change made by the 2025 Minnesota legislature prohibiting the designation of parent contact information as directory information. What that means is that the district can't treat parent contact information as public data. The second change that I want to bring to your attention is that language has been added to the section titled digital tools and digital citizenship on pages 23 through 25 in order to better address expectations regarding student use of artificial intelligence AI. So a working group has been working on this language and they proposed it as a late ad to the handbook. The administration reviewed it and feels that it's a timely topic and worthy of inclusion in the handbook while we have time to to get it in there. Um, the AI language provides some helpful basics to students. Some of those basics include that AI should only be used as permitted by a classroom teacher, that it should be used to um support, not to take the place of student effort, and that if students use AI, they should site to that. Um, so those are the basics of of what you'll see included there. Um, with those additions, I ask the board's approval of the proposed 2526 overview of student rights and responsibilities. Excellent. Thank you. This is an action item for the board tonight. So before I move into questions, is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion by Jackie, seconded by Katherine. At this time, are there any questions or comments from the audience? Seeing none questions or comments from board members. I'll just say the one thing I I appreciated seeing the e extradition of AI um in in the student rights and responsibilities. I get a lot of questions about that and um I like that the phrasing we use makes it look like reinforces it's the tool and we need to learn how to use that tool. We can't just not use it at all, but we got to use it responsibly and I think that we did a good job of that with the language in the in the handbook. So, thank you. Thank you. Excellent. Uh we have a motion to approve by Jackie, seconded by Katherine. All those in favor of approval, please say I. I. Those opposed. Motion carries on a 6 vote. Thank you. All right. Um that brings us to new business and I would like to welcome uh Danny Duchene to the podium to go over 202526 preliminary budget. Good evening, Chair Johnson, members of the school board, Superintendent Balsson, and the district 196 community. Tonight, district administration presents the 2526 preliminary budget for a first reading and review. The preliminary budget will be presented again to the school board at the June 23rd meeting for a second reading and recommended approval. Tonight's presentation will provide a highle summary of the key areas of the preliminary budget. Included in tonight's board packet is the budget book, which supplements tonight's presentation content and dives into much more detail about the various funds, processes, and statistics for district 196. Before diving into tonight's budget content, I'd like to just take a quick moment and opportunity to acknowledge the efforts of our district budget administrators, our finance department staff for all their time and hard work during this particular budget cycle. And as always, we always enjoy acknowledging our talented students who provide the incredible artwork that make our budget books come to life. The budget development process formally focuses focuses primarily on the resources priority within the district's strategic roadmap, connecting our staff and students with the people, supplies, and equipment necessary to provide the level of education experienced here in district 196. Even though the budget naturally aligns with the resources section, during our budget development process, it's very clear all of the other components of the district's strategic roadmap drive the thoughtfulness that budget administrators use to make their decisions that impact the staff in their building and the students throughout the district. The preliminary budget is the second step in the district's five-step budget cycle. The cycle began last fall with the levy certification. We will return this coming fall with the final budget and the 2526 budget cycle will conclude with the annual financial audit beginning in summer of 26. Development of the preliminary budget requires the district to make many assumptions about variables that may not be fully known. These assumptions attempt to minimize the impact of unknown variables at the time the budget needs to be created. Some some examples of these unknown variables include enrollment projections, impacts of the nuances of boundary changes, which we went through this past year, unsettled contracts, timing of the state legislature, and un and unknown ending fund balances for the current year, which provides us the starting point for the next fiscal year. Many of these variables will be known for the final budget cycle this fall, and the budget will be updated accordingly. With the addition of Emerald Trail Elementary School for the 2526 school year, the district serves over 29,000 students out of 39 buildings. The preliminary budget includes over 4,000 budgeted FTEES districtwide, covering the instructional, student support, and operational needs of the district. Now, let's dive into some of the financial data. Districtwide, total budget revenues across all funds is $71 million. The general fund at 528 million or about 75% comprises the largest portion of all revenues. The internal services funds, which include the district's self-insured health and dental plans, account for the next largest share of revenue at 12.9% due to increases in premium rates effective with the 2526 fiscal year. Total budgeted expenditures across all funds is $894 million. The general fund at $533 million or 59.6% comprises those largest portion of all budgeted expenditures. The building construct the building construction fund accounts for the next largest share at 22% or about $200 million in planned expenditures as the district anticipates construction expenses to continue to increase as more projects transition from the planning phase to the construction phase of the building bond referendum. Narrowing our focus specifically to the general fund, the district's primary operating fund. State sources comprise 71.5% of the general fund revenue with property taxes from the community providing 22.7% of budgeted revenues. Federal sources and other revenue sources comprise the remaining 6% of general fund budgeted revenues. And as I mentioned in the past, the 2526 fiscal year will be the first year where we are fully clear of all federal uh COVID funding grants. So our federal sources from the general fund are down to our normal level, which what we'll expect for the coming years. Transitioning over to the expenditure side of the ledger. This graph depicts general fund budgeted expenditures by program, which are broad categories commonly used to cross-section expenditures. Student instruction and student support services account for the two largest shares of expenditures at 67.9% and 15.8% respectively. This means that over 83% of our general budget, our general fund budget is planned for programming that directly impacts students. This focus on student center program aligns our district district strategic roadmap directly with our budgeting priorities. Another way to look at expenses is by object code or the what the district is purchasing. As is common for district 196 and school districts across the state, employee compensation and benefits account for the largest share of general fund expenditures at about 84% of budgeted expenditures for the preliminary budget for next school year. Overall, the district projects a fiscal year 2526 ending fund balance of $247 million with $103 million of fund balance in the general fund. The district's special revenue funds, community education and food service funds, account for $12.8 million in ending fund balance. The building construction fund projects a $42 million ending fund balance. And as Christopher will mention later on, depending on the timing of the issu the second issuance of bond proceeds, that might get adjusted whether that issuance falls in fiscal year 26 or falls at the beginning of fiscal year 27. As I mentioned, the preliminary budget will be presented to the board for a second reading and recommended approval at the June 23rd meeting. After that meeting, the budget book will then be published on the district's website for our public to view. At this time, I'd be happy to attempt to answer any questions anybody might have. Excellent. Thank you very much. At this time, are there any questions or comments from the audience? Seeing none, questions or comments from board members? Um, I'll I'll take any opportunity I can to remind the public that that budget book is amazing. I know we've won awards for that. Thank you for everyone that puts that together. Every single time I get a question from anyone in the community about how are you spending money on it, I said, "Look at that budget book. I know it's a lot. It looks a little overwhelming, but it's organized phenomenally where you can find the information that you need." Um, so thank you for keeping that updated and we look back to seeing you back on June 23rd for the second reading. Thank you. You bet. All right, that brings us to other action items and I'd like to welcome Jill Coyle back to the podium to go over property and casualty insurance renewal. Once again, good evening. Um, so tonight we have two items I believe under other action. The first is our district property and casualty insurance renewal. Um, so some background, District 196 is one of seven members of a property and casualty insurance pool named the Alliance for Liability and Property Services. We call it Alps. Um, through the Alps group, Alps members have a poolled loss fund to pay for most property and liability losses and claims. The members the member districts cooperatively purchase traditional insurance to cover larger losses. The cost of participation in the pool is determined annually and advanced notice is required in order to leave the insurance pool. Uh the cost to district 196 for fiscal year 2526 is $2 million46,000 and sorry $2,46,415.64 which represents an 11.9% increase over last year. Uh the increase is due to um increased property values, loss history as well as market conditions. Um the cost of Alps to the district includes the district's loss fund contribution, administration fees, and the premiums for the insurance premiums to cover uh claims in excess of the loss fund. Coverage lines within the package include property insurance liability, auto, crime, excess property and liability, errors and omissions, equipment breakdown, pollution liability, and cyber liability. The administration recommends that the board approve the Alps insurance package renewal and authorize the administration to bind the coverage. Thank you. This is an action item for the board tonight. So before I move into questions, is there a motion to approve? Second motion by Leah, seconded by Aen. At this time, are there any questions or comments from the audience? Seeing none, questions or comments from board members. I'll just Oh, did you have a question, Jackie? No. Oh, I'll just add just to the board, I will be abstaining from the vote tonight. Um, my private employer has a very small portion of one of the levels. So, just to avoid any I had nothing to do with it at all, but just to avoid any um notion of conflict of interest, I will be abstaining from this vote. Excellent. We have a motion by Leah, seconded by Sakotum to approve. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed. And I am abstaining. So, five in favor, zero uh nos and one abstain. Thank you. Motion carries. Thank you. Right. Next, I would like to welcome Adam Watenburgger to the podium to go over our resolution calling school board general election and special election and establishing candidate filing dates. All right. Good evening, Chairperson Johnson, school board members, and superintendent BSON. Um, I'm here tonight with a resolution to officially call the school board elections for this fall. You'll note that I said elections plural. Uh, and I'll explain that in a second. There's a little wrinkle we have this year. Um first uh we will be having our regularly scheduled general election. There are three schoolboard terms that are expiring. Those are the terms currently held by Sican Muhammad, Leah Gardner, and Robin Serio. Um, I'll note that Robin's term is uh because she was appointed to replace the term that was held by Art Coulson, but because Art's resignation occurred late enough in his term, um, that term is able to finish out through or that appointment is able to finish out the remainder of the term. So, we move ahead business as usual with those three terms. There'll be new four-year terms that will be up for election um, with the new terms ending in January 2030. Um so that's again uh three terms that will be available for for full four-year terms. We will also however be having a special election um to cover the remainder of the term vacated by Sachin Isaac's. Um his term was vacated earlier at an earlier portion of the term than than Arts was. So, um, because of the timing, state law requires that we do need to have a special election to fill the remaining two years of that term. That's the seat that Katherine Diamond was appointed to fill. Um, so that seat will be up for election and a special election where there will be one seat elected to fill the remaining two years there. Know, it's a little bit complicated. It's maybe not ideal in terms of uh being able to clearly explain what is is out there, but essentially two schoolboard elections will happen simultaneously. It'll be two ballots back to back. One of them will be for the three seats that are open for the four-year terms and then one with the one seat for a two-year term. So, that's what this resolution here is calling. And we'll declare both the general and the special election. Uh both elections will be held on November 4th, 2025. Um, election day polls will be open from 7 am to 8 pm. Um, at this time, uh, we don't believe there will be any city elections happening. Um, so the district will be administering those elections at our 14 combined polling places. U, but, uh, voters can also and are encouraged to vote early starting on September 19th by absentee ballot. You can do that by mail. Um or there will be three sites that are available to vote in person. Um our district office in Rosemount, the uh county western service center in Apple Valley, and the county administration center in Hastings. Um this resolution also declares the candidate filing period. That's the important two-eek window when anyone who wants to run for school board can submit their affidavit of candidacy to get on the ballot. Um that's a time frame that's set by statute and this year that will be Tuesday, July 29th through Tuesday, August 12th. Um and anytime during that window during district office business hours, anyone who is eligible to run can come into the district office, fill out the affidavit of candidacy. It's just a short one-page form. Um there is a $2 filing fee. Um or you can do a 500 signature petition. Um, in lie of that filing fee, um, there's a new requirement this year that was added to the statute where we have to check proof of residence to the address that you submit. So, uh, just bring a driver's license that has your address or some bill that has the, um, current address on that. We don't need to keep a copy of that. We just going to have to check it and and make sure that that lines up. Um, candidates will also need to make sure that they choose whether or not they're running for the general or the special election. And um you can't sign up for both uh because possibly might win both and then we that we'll be in a pickle. So um we'll make sure to prompt people to select that once they're coming to um apply. But that's something to keep in mind for anyone who's wanting to run that you do have those two choices this year. The general with three slots for four years or the special with the one slot for two years. Um, and the rest of the content of the resolution just authorizes the various election procedures and notices that are required by law for us to implement. That's things that me and the district office will uh will handle. Um, and so with that, I would recommend passage of the resolution, but I'm happy to answer any questions. Excellent. Thank you. This is an action item for the board tonight. So before we move into questions, is there a motion to approve the resolution as presented? So moved. Second. Motion by Jackie, seconded by Sakin. At this time, are there any questions or comments from the audience? Seeing none, questions or comments from board members? Right. Thank you very much. I know this is a little different election, but I think you did a wonderful job explaining it. So, thank you for um all the detail you gave us. Um this is a we have a motion to approve from Jackie, seconded by Saken. All those in favor of approval, please say I. I. I. Those opposed? Motion carries on a six-0 vote. Thank you very much. All right. And now we're going to move back to our report section and I would like to welcome um Peter Leatherman to the podium to go over our community survey. It's a pleasure to be here with you this evening uh to go over the survey results. I think they're going to All right. Perfect. Just to review with everybody what we undertook for the district. We spoke with 500 randomly selected residents across the community. Uh interviews were completed back in April. So that time frame, I'm going to have some uh some uh information about the timing and especially where people are at financially and the financially stressed situation of the household. Average interview time was 12 minutes. The non-response rate was 6%. uh the 500 sample is always projectable to plus or minus 4 and a.5% in 95 out of 100 cases. Once again, the margin of error is determined by the size of the sample, not the percent of the population. So 500 in the district, 500 in the county or 500 in the state is always plus or minus 4 1.5%. Uh putting up some demographics, 64% are cell phoneon households. It's shrinking, but they still exist. Landline only households down to 11%. And then both landline and cell phone households are 25%. Continuing with the demographics, first off, we ask folks how long they've uh resided in the school district. We have 30% that have been in the district for 10 years or less. Well, you have 23% that have been in the district for over 30 years. The typical resident has lived here for about 17 and a half years. 15% of residents indicate that they have a preschooler or an infant in the household. 30% have a child attending district 196 and then 65% are empty nesters. So basically 2/3 are your not your everyday constituent shall we say as you're looking at the results as a whole. Um and just for clarification lo I'm losing my voice. Is there water? Thank you. Three presentations in an evening will do that. I know something. That's okay. Oh, thank you so much. Uh, empty neester does not um say anything about the age. It's simple lack of presence of a child. So, we could have a 24 year old in the survey. For the purposes of classification, they're an empty neester. If we look at the age uh distribution, 17% are 18 to 34 year olds. 20% are over the age of 65. Typical resident is just short of 50 years old. 26% indicate that they use community education in the past few years. Uh looking at the ethnicity, under twothirds uh indicated they were white, 63% 11% Hispanic Latino, 13% African-American, 7% Asian, and 6% indicated more than one race. The financial situation of households has impacted districts over the past few years with funding requests. Last year in 2024, only 41% of school districts had a successful referendum. um and the macro issue of the financial insecurity of the household uh is was the major factor. What we were finding in the first quarter of 25 was about 45% of people indicating they're financially stressed. Um keeping in mind the date of the surveys, it is postappril 2nd with a discussion on tariffs and kind of the yo-yoing of the stock market. So there really was u an interest in looking at all the surveys that we doing for school districts. is do we have more people indicating they're financially stressed right now? It's actually not the case. In the past couple months, it's come down a bit. We're now and where you were at in the middle of April. It's in the high30s. So, it is moving in the right direction. Keep in mind, the highest we have over the past few years was in 2023 when we had 60% saying they're financially stressed. So, it's moving in the right direction. Um, but the factor, you know, to keep in mind is before the pandemic, the norm was about 25%. So, we're still higher than where we were before the pandemic. And how that influences people at the uh for school district funding requests is it creates more people that would support, they simply can't afford to. It's not a decision on what the funding is. They don't have the money. Uh, women outnumbered men by 2% and then you can see the geographic distribution. Egan at or Apple Valley at 34% Egan at 28 Rosemount at 18 and the remaining areas of the district at 20%. Looking at a basis of the quality of education starting with the atmospherics in the district uh very stable and very positive to what we're seeing uh across the the the metro area right now. Uh the overall quality of education has dropped now into about 78%. Uh before the pandemic it was over 90%. Uh you were at 91% in 2022. You actually went up to 93%. It's among the highest on the quality of education in the district. Where you also are atypical in not having the drop into the only fair is your excellent rating remain at the level it was. We're seeing the excellent rating now at about 11% on the quality of education. So your excellent rating, the enthusiastic excellent rating because it's difficult to get motans to be enthusiastic about anything uh is three times the norm of what we're seeing. Very positive endorsement comparison to what we see elsewhere. Now what do they like most about the 196 schools? Well, 20% say teachers. This is open-ended. They can tell us anything. uh 18% say the variety of programs. If we go a little bit further down the list and add in broad curriculum though that brings that category up to 27%. And then excellent academics, high achievement, good academics actually goes to 30%. So you do have a hierarchy and this districts vary from district to district. Some are very much centered on teachers, others on the the programming, others on the quality, the academic quality. yours the residents kind of set in place a priority of the academic quality, the programming and the staff. It varies. It's basically a statistical tie, but that's the prioritization within the open-ended. If we ask what they like most, we always follow up with what's the most serious issue facing the district. Uh the lack of funding leads every school district in 2025. I was just presenting uh in New Prague um at five o'clock today. They had 27% at the lack of funding as an issue. Um it's typically somewhere in the 20 to 30% range. Um and then large class sizes is the only other item that hits uh double digits. Large class sizes is normally about 10%. And large class sizes is always relative. What I think is a large class size, you might not think is a large class size. So it has a lot more to do with the person's experience. Everything else falls off. Uh the one item that you're about half of what we see is the high taxes at 9%. And we're going to talk about taxes in a little bit. Uh but taxes, we have a a second round of property tax concern now across the state of Minnesota and it's typically now in the 15 to 20% range. The other one that you are extraordinarily high on is the bottom bar, the nothings. Those are your boosters. This will be news to you, but there are no problems in the school district. That 27% is almost three times the norm. Uh the norm on this right now is 11%. And these folks are positive throughout whether it's the administration, the financial management, support of a funding request, these are boosters. Um it is a wonderful position for the district to have that reservoir of goodwill with one in four residents at the outset. Some specific perceptions. First off, does the district spend taxpayers money effectively and efficiently? It's up a statistically significant 6% to 80%. The norm on this right now is 60%. Are the schools a good value for the investment? This has dropped across the metro area based on a lot because there's two inputs into this question. Your v perception of property taxes and the quality of education. The value proposition has dropped down to 80%. Yours went up to 90%. Do you ask for a property tax increase only as a last resort? 75% agree with that. The bottom question is the schools are a good investment and I would support a property tax increase to protect that investment. The key on this is always the no because as the question is posed, we don't talk about operating capital projects, bond referendum. Don't talk about a dollar amount. That 20% core opposition is the lowest I have in 2025. We're finding the norm right now at 32% at the outset before we even get into the specifics of a funding request. Continuing, does the district do a good job of involving the community? 79% agree with that statement, 10 points higher than the norm. Do they trust you to do what's right for the children? 8:1 ratio. Norm on that right now is a 3:1 ratio. And are they satisfied with decisionmaking better than 6:1 ratio? Norm on that is a 4:1. It's just outstanding across the board on these key values of financial management, of trust, of involvement and decision making. Does the district provide a safe and secure learning environment? Absolutely. 93%. How is the district doing preparing graduates for college and careers? 88% agreement. And providing mental and emotional support. That's actually up seven points from 2022. Statistically significant. So the investments that have been made over the past few years and this has a concern post pandemic across the state of Minnesota uh parents and the community are seeing the results in 196. Not surprisingly then if all the atmospherics are solid the job performance ratings also rise. The board at 83 to4 is among the top that we have in the last 18 months. The norm board rating right now is 58% positive. The administration is 82 to 15. On this one, we look at a ratio because uncertainty will fluctuate on that. Um, and the norm on that is 2:1. You're better than 5 to one. And then the teachers are very well uh adored by the community. Teachers have taken a hit over the course of the pandemic. A lot of it has nothing to do what's happened in this school district, but they hear what's happened in Minneapolis, Chicago, whatever. There's spillover, especially amongst non-parents. So, the the teachers rating now is about 82% positive. Yours actually went up to 94%. Overall assessment of financial management is just outstanding. The financial credibility that the district has at 73% norm on this is 52% right now. This is an anomaly. I mentioned as the top of the mind response, the most serious issue that high property taxes was about half of what we saw. You're one of the few districts that has less than 50% for total taxes being high. That's the threshold we use for a hostile property tax climate. The high right now I have in 2025 is 77% in the high category. That is an extremely hostile property tax climate. Um this is the new issue as economic un insecurity is starting to abate is property tax hostility all over the state and all over the metro area. Following though the trend that we see elsewhere, if we look at the lighter green bar, their perception of school taxes, you see that drops from 46 to 35%. Which tells us that their concern, if they have it on property taxes, is not focused at the school district. It's focused at the city or county. People are becoming much more um knowledgeable on the differences. You know, this is my 31st year of doing this. And people in the '9s did not really pay attention. They just saw one bill. People are very cognitive now of where the increases are coming from. That's the good news. The bad news is you're really the only show in town that has to go to the voters for a property tax increase. Um, so this follows the trend, but you're one of the few districts that I actually classify as tax sensitive instead of tax hostile. Uh, in 24 and in 2025, is the district adequately funded? You were an anomaly in 2022 because of what happened in 21 when Governor Walls went AC across the state and talked about the largest funding in the history of education in Minnesota. By the fall of 21, we had 70 to 75% of people saying yes, my district's adequately funded. The governor said so. So that 37% was extraordinarily low. you actually went up a little bit, but you still have a majority of people saying no. Now, the fallout, if the special session passes an education funding bill today, uh we won't know the fallout of it, but there is this growing dissonance. People have heard about the money being invested in schools and they see either their school district or the next door school district making big budget cuts and there's a dissonance there. People don't know what to think about the state of education funding in Minnesota right now. Are they concerned about cuts in funding? Uh in when we look at St. Paul and Washington DC absolutely 71% are either very or somewhat concerned only 29% say not to or not at all. You can see at the intense position it's five to one and very concerned vers not at all concerned. So you know once again these are factors out of your control that are impacting people's concern level. technology. This has changed over 30 years and there's been es and flows on asking people the importance of technology to student learning. I'm going to explore this more. We always do a statewide that we share with MASA and MSBA in September. I'm going to get more in depth in that this summer. Um because we are seeing a cratering of the absolutely essential. Now the absolutely essential before the pandemic I mean there would go back to 2015 that was 60%. We get to the pandemic we were in the mid40s in 24 and 25 now the norm is under 30%. Saying absolutely essential there's something that is going on as a concern. The shift is going from absolutely essential to very important. But it's important to understand why because that difference is the difference between a nice to have and a have to have when people are thinking about technology. Now how do they rate the opportunities in 1 196? Overwhelmingly positive 82 to 18. We talked with them and gave them details about the technology levy renewal. Um, and renewals, I think there have only been two unsuccessful renewals in about the last 15 years in Minnesota. Renewals typically are somewhere between 75 and 85%. You are at the high end of that. That's driven by the high trust they have, the perception of inadequacy of funding. 85% support, only 12% oppose. What about potential uh property tax increase for technology? Well, at the outset, you start out plus one. So, we ask folks, if you heard the districts would ask for a property tax increase, are you for all, against all, or are you persuadable? Just like every district though, you have half the people that have made up their minds with no information because we haven't told them anything specific about the uses. They're just in their camp. And so, but you start out plus one, 27 to 26, the key is obviously going to be the persuadables at 47%. If there was a property tax uh increase for technology on our let's make a deal question, uh this chart is atypical. Uh typically, it's a ski slope from the nothing out to the higher amounts. You actually have a a valley. Um, so 28% say nothing. Uh, we want that under 35% at the outset. Uh, we have 22% at $4 or under, 22% at $6, and 23% at $8 or more. It's basically comes in right at about six bucks a month is the comfort level at the outset. Now, is that number set in stone? It's not. What's important is obviously the use of the funding that can drive support higher for an amount. It can also drive it lower. We So we asked folks for six items and asked would you support a property tax increase for it? You have five items that have extraordinarily high support above 2/3. Cyber security data protection, expanding CTE programs, technology for special education, staff training, expanding computer science. uh the only thing that divides it still nets out positive is AI tutoring the concern on technology AI that's more of a macro concern than the spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe specificity of it um but when we pulled it together and asked about a $6 million tech levy and I'll give you the dollar amount that was tested for the $6 million total on a $300,000 home was about $61 a year and a5 $500,000 home it was 109. So on an average home you're looking at about eight bucks a month. So it's just a little bit higher but you can see with high support the support is at 64% to 33% opposition. What's the reason? Uh education's important. The cost is reasonable. Children in the district and need. What are the reasons for opposition? Taxes are already too high. poor past spending, not needed, no children, and the cost too high is at the bottom of the list. Having them do an assessment after the successful bond referendum a few years ago, do they trust the district to be spending the bond funding honestly and efficiently? That's part of the connection with the community and the trust that's been built up. 80% say yes. only 11% say no. And then finally, where are folks getting their information? The district newsletter uh leads the list, 35% email, district website. So if we the top three is actually 72% of the community relying on the district for communication. So what we have here is atypical and then a lot of school districts because what we've seen is local newspapers have disappeared um like the southwest metro just all of them are were gone last fall um we've seen the growth of the grapevine uh because the over 55year-old who would read the paper they're not going to go to the website they're not going to go to social media they're going to use the grapevine um and so the traditional grapevine is always young families youth sports, ECF programs. Um, so there are some districts where the number one source of information right now is the grapevine. You do not have that. And part of it is that the tremendously strong communication network within the district that takes care of over 70% of uh residents needs. And it plays out with is it a major source, minor source, or not a source at all? The district newsletter is a ma major source for 42% 31% a minor source. Now you can see the grape vine is still there, okay? But it's not relied on like like in many other districts. And then you get down to the smaller, you know, when you're talking the district website, the district teachers and employees, that is parents that they are relying on electronic sources of information much more so than the broad community. And then overall and this really is important because you have a lot of positive results. So how do people feel about their information levels? They feel highly informed. So more information has actually created fondness for the district as opposed to sometimes it can go the opposite direction for organizations. Uh 65% in 2022 uh all the way up to 71%. Now, uh, normally this is in the low60s. So, overall, I would just say it's an extraordinarily positive report on those key atmospherics and really one of the strongest results for the the dozens and dozens of surveys I've conducted over the past two years. Uh, for a district, um, the reservoir of goodwill, the booster core, the trust, and the financial management is just at the top of the range. So I would be happy to answer any questions. Excellent. Thank you very much for the report. At this time are there question are there any questions or comments from the audience? Seeing none questions or comments from board members? You gave a lot of really good examples of how we differentiate from other districts you work with. Are did anything else come to mind when you were reviewing those results of maybe how like I I know you you work with a lot of different communities about how maybe we're different than in other communities or the norm out there. I it's an overarching education the perception of education in Minnesota's taken a hit over the past 5 years. The pandemic has caused it. Political divides have caused it. Um funding issues have caused it. The concern amongst parents. Um your uniqueness is being insulated from a it's kind of like the community surrounded by I don't know a big hug. um that it it hasn't permeated this district like it has permeated and created divisions within other districts just at a macro level. I think is the best way to sum it up. That that really is the uniqueness of it. Thank you. I might steal that analogy of a big hug. I like it. Kind of soft and kindergarteny. I'm sure my 15-year-old would roll her eyes, but yeah. Excellent. All right. Thank you very much. We appreciate you being here with us tonight. Thank you all. All right. Next, I'd like to welcome Christopher and Yango Robot to the podium to go over our capital projects technology levy renewal. Good evening, Chairperson Johnson, school board members, Superintendent Bzone, and our public stakeholders. Uh, I'm Chris Fangar, director of finance and operations for the district. Um the item I'm speaking to this evening um is a non-action item. So this is referring to our capital projects levy also called the tech levy. Um you will recall this item has been before um the board more not as a levy but as um presentation as to how we've used uh the dollars that have been provided to us uh and so that's what we'll be uh we'll be going through this evening. It is not a decision item for us. Um to ground us on the area of our strategic priority. Uh the levy dollars provide resources. Uh how we use them impact learning. So we are touching on not just resource provision but also achievement uh in terms of just delivering tools uh in the hands of students who are uh daily interacting with them and um and uh and and learning in the process. A quick recap on tech by the numbers. Um, this levy was fastp passed in 2015. Um, it was established to generate $50 million uh dollars over the 10-year lifespan for it. Uh, over time we have generated 60 million as the community uh tax base has increased. So has the amount of money that the district has received. It supports 30,000 devices uh at any given point. uh throughout the district. So if you go back to pre- pandemic, we had onetoone devices to the four through 12 grades uh when the pandemic um took us all by surprise, we had to issue devices to kindergarteners, first graders, second graders, and third graders. And so now we have basically uh from when they start to when they're leaving, they have access to to devices. Uh 11 FTEEs are supported each year by these uh dollars. Um and so then for us this is what we are saying is our base. We use these devices, we use these dollars on an ongoing basis and therefore uh renewal uh at the November election is something that we are keenly watching um because that's something that uh it is important for us. I'll recap how we currently utilize these funds. Uh onetoone devices as I mentioned 30,000 devices in the hands of students. Uh when the levy was passed in 2015, it was to provide um instructional support, not just to um that's how we it was built for instructional support. So most of the dollars, all of it has been going toward those areas that are directly touching students. So the provision of devices to students, the provision of devices to faculty, staff who are interacting with students, par profofessionals, teachers, that's where the bulk of the of the funding um has gone into it. also establishes the network uh infrastructure behind the scenes. So the wireless connection points, the fiber that runs from one building to another, that's what these uh funds have been uh used for. Uh it provides for copy leases for instructional use and then pays for the FTE of the tech support. U if we were to expand this, we would be reaching outside of the instructional area and then provide uh tech devices for administrative staff. So think about myself um or other people within the HR who are not directly interacting with students but are um supporting the work that is happening um outside that area. Uh the tax levy dollars by the numbers. So again uh a recap we started in 2015 at 5 million is what we uh originally received that year. uh the dollars come to us are based on a tax base and as the value within the community has expanded. So think about the growth um within our areas, the new housing, the businesses, as all the community expands, so has the value of these dollars. And so over time uh we have been receiving additional funds. And then beginning in 2020 as we sunset devices that we are using there's a sellback pro program that goes in and the board has taken action I was going to say um in April when we sold the last um cycle of items that were becoming to us obsolete as we are refreshing those uh the revenue from those sales helps support the uh the program as well. Uh the budget overall is about 9 million is what we're anticipating for this year. which is about 3% of our general fund budget. Mr. Leman talked about taxpayers and the role they play in supporting the school district and we are very lucky and grateful for our community. Uh because as you you've heard, they know the work that we're doing is important. They know that the students matter to us. And so as we keep focusing our attention on those students and how it is that we help meet their needs uh so then this becomes a critical tool. So over time what we've done because we knew this levy was coming to a close we started the process of doing research. What do we need? Have we met the needs of a community? The promises we made in 2015. How have we kept those? And so when we look at the outcomes that our students are experiencing, we are saying yes and thank you to our community for providing these funds. Um as we look out into the future, we do know that there is a structural imbalance uh at the state federal level. And so then looking at our own house, how can we then establish that we are we continue to meet the needs of our students? So operationally are we doing well in terms of how we're allocating resources and to the extent that we need uh resources to come back and shore up where those funding lapses are are taking place are we then coming back to the public and ensuring that we are not only just asking but we are educating them as well in the process and that's part of what this process is for us. So before us would be a tax levy renewal. We have a recommendation from uh the budget advisory council who met uh back in May saying yes this is something that is important and to the extent that is feasible and possible um there is a recommendation that we look at increasing as Mr. I let the man uh mention earlier there is support some kind of support for a little bit of an increase to to what level we are not sure of yet and that's part of the conversation that uh the committee will be will be looking at. Um on our horizon is the operating levy. Uh this was last renewed in 2019. So that will be coming up for a vote. But of the immediate future for us would be the technology levy. We talk about building bonds. Uh bonds are for building and levies for learning. So last May 20 well no May 2023 our voters uh approved 538 million for us to establish the facilities area. So we are utilizing those and coming up in the agenda will be a deeper dive in in uh in those in how we are utilizing those resources. Uh the operating levy provides students a papy bill funding uh to us. The current cap across the state is 22 $2,20066 and for us as district 196 the voters approved our level at $1,85. Uh the capital projects levy is based on a tax rate. So this is dependent on the value or property value within the community. For us that is set at 3.015%. And so the conversation for us is a straight renewal or an increase which we'll get into um as as as uh time allows. So last November there was a committee that was formed a district committee again it was reviewing our current process again have we met uh the promises that we made to the public. um we conducted the survey. You've had the results of that survey and then as I indicated earlier the budget advisory um reviewed what our financial outlook is and the recommendation that they have given to the board is that we do start the process of renewing it and then renewing the levy and then to the extent possible uh look at options to increase it. Are the needs that we have within the district do they merit that? So that would be the work that is um currently taking place and the results of which will be coming back to the board uh from the tech uh renewal committee. In August, the school board will be charged with passing a resolution for an election to be held later in uh in in the year which for us will be on November 4th. So with that, I am going to pause and see if there's any clarification I may be able to provide. Excellent. Thank you very much. At this time, are there any questions or comments from the audience? Seeing none, questions or comments from board members? Oh. Oh, Jackie, go ahead. I was at the budget advisory council the evening that they had they discussed this and there was great support for going forward and for adding some more monies to that. I don't think they gave a dollar. We didn't talk about a dollar specific, but there was good support from all the budget advisory councils that we move forward with. So, just for information. Thank you. And thanks to Mr. Leatherman. I think it sounds like the community supports it as well. So, great. Thank you, Christopher. And you are actually staying up for our next right um for our barn construction update. So, welcome back. Thank you. Thank you again, Chair Johnson, members of the board. And for this agenda item, again, we we talk about celebrating things that we've done. Um the public entrusts us with uh with resources and they are here for us to make sure that we are providing adequately uh not just for the students who we have in our presence right now, but also those who are going to be coming um down into the future. So as I said in 2023, we sold bonds. uh prior to that in May. We'll get the clip. Um so this strategically linking it back it is providing resources and I'm going to maybe it's a stretch uh but for for achievement to take place uh our learning environments need to be uh safe conducive and so the work that is being done within this pro this uh bond project is actually to me touching both not just resources but then also ensuring that uh student achievement is taking place uh in a safe uh conducive learning learn learning environment. Um So I'll take us through a timeline um of the bond. So the conversations regarding what we're doing started way before May 23rd, but it entered into the spectrum that we are speaking about in May when the voters approved uh what would be the largest referendum at the time. So 538 million is what we were allowed to bond for. Uh in August we sold $300 million worth of bonds. Um I have these two next markers um different June comes after May but you'll see why in a second. So in June we started the addition at Aakota Ridge and that's going to be the first one of the projects that gets completed which is why I put it first but in May prior to that we started work at Emerald Trail and we are going to be um going through that punch list in that area. But for the corner ridge, uh if you walk around the outside, it's mostly done. The inside is is is it's getting burned down. Uh we are in the process of going through the punch list for this beautiful beautiful addition. Um so we're doing the parking lot here and then just doing some uh exterior lighting at Emerald Trail. We started construction in May of 2024 and then in December we started construction at Rosemont Middle School um which is purchased land in July from the University of Minnesota. Uh May of this year so last month uh the two big projects happening in the city of Uppo Valley started. So East View High School and Upper Valley High School activity centers uh we started moving and constructing uh those two facilities. And then in June this year, we start work on Scott Highlands Middle School addition and Falcon Ridge uh remodeling. Um there are other projects that are taking place smaller. Uh the biggest one that's coming on the pipeline will be Rosemount High School. The activity center for that high school will be starting is out for bid right now. The school board will be approving those in July. And then uh there'll also be an addition but I'll get into that um later in the pro in in my presentation. So overall if we take a snapshot on where our bond budgets are. So 538 million is what was approved. We only sold half of that about half of that are 300 million. To date we have bid projects of 281 million and have expanded. So, this is cash that has left the district to add the projects that have been bid out 89 million as of the end of May. Um, a few quick facts. Uh, if we go to Emerald Trail, we have laid on just one the lower level 9,000 square ft of tile. Um, it's beautiful. I was there on Tuesday of last week. Beautiful facility. Um, I like the blue. There's a lot of blue. We're trying to bring out the green to just match um the trail aspect of it. Um if I had smaller kids, I'd want to send them there. Um at the quarter ridge, um this is five school buses. The weight of five school buses is what's holding up the retaining wall. So you think those big yellow buses um then you walk out there, there's a beautiful wall holding the dirt back. Uh that's how heavy those blocks are. And again, safety, security, uh trying to make sure that um we keep the dat where the dat supposed to be and we keep moving. 390 days have passed since we broke ground at Emerald Trail. So this is work at that facility and this facility. 390 days. Um I can Kudson team project manager says we've had zero incidents and we want to keep it that way. um they've done a fabulous fabulous job managing this projects for us and I am I'm grateful uh Ike Maporas is in the audience and big shout out thank you um as I said $89 million has been expended to as of the end of May u and that's again it's slower than what we anticipated the land purchase from the U of M uh that different projects that have just delayed that but we are on track um as far as uh Dakota Ridge, a few pictures. So, what you're seeing there, that's my five buses that I talked about. Um, but then overall, we spent $9 million to update this facility. Um, additions uh to the building. Yeah. Few classroom pictures and then the new gym, hallway, restrooms. Um it's a beautiful place for beautiful kids and and we're grateful again for the partnership um that the canson management team has had uh in this project. Emerald Trail. Uh this building is based on using the um the design from East Lake. Another beautiful addition to to our infrastructure. Uh it's costing us $50 million that was a budget. It is scheduled to open this fall. And when you That's a new logo. When you walk in through the buildings, we're trying to bring out these colors and a sense of community, a sense of belonging uh into this space. Uh we'll click through a couple of the images. Uh this is the exterior. So prefab walls, lots of windows, lots of light. Um you walk into some of these spaces, especially when you are young and creative, and the juices start flowing when that energy just from the sun just starts hitting your face. Um you can tell I'm excited about this stuff. Um, what are we doing at Emerald Trail right now? So, this is a picture from uh this would be two weeks ago. So, we've laid out the carpet. We're putting in uh the walls, the fixture, the furnishings. Um, lighting is in. We are slowly powering up the building uh section by section and then we'll be dropping the ceiling tile into that space. The gym, sorry, I skipped one. The gym spaces um are the work taking place there. Rosemont Middle School renditions. So this conceptual designs, this is in the Buo Park area. So uh Biscane Boulder Trail and County 42. That's where this uh our new facility is located. Um renderings of the cafeteria, the media center. So work started in December and as of April the foundation footings were poured in and as you can see from those pictures uh the prefab it doesn't look like much right now. Um and this is how East Lake looked before it became the beautiful building how Emerald Trail was. At some point nothingness becomes something. So we're excited to see how this uh projects keeps developing um for us to open in a couple of years. If we move to the west side of the district, so Apple Valley area, we have two activity centers that have uh construction has started on and this rendition looks at East View. So to the left of the picture there is the current building and then that little um square addition. I'm limited in my pointing. Uh that would be the activity center. And so in uh the bottom left picture you see the exterior and then the top right picture is that connection between the old facility into uh the new activity space. That's all activities centers will have similar pattern layout for basketball court size uh walking track on the second level. So on the left you are seeing uh the lower level vantage point of what the east view uh design concept will be. So tennis um can be played in that space mostly line for volleyball, basketball and pickle ball. Uh one of the things that we are allowing buildings to choose is how much of each they would be able to put in that. Um one would think uh that with all the renditions all the lines that you would have it's same space but a pickle ball um throw area or lining is about 2 in away from where the bad mental line is. So you you have to decide as you're painting those lines onto the floor what I what what is it going to be conducive for and where going to put the nets and so there's a lot of decisions that are being made in just how they will function and so they're the same the layout is the same but when you walk into these buildings when they are done there will be some personality based on what the building um thinks is important to them. So, walking track on the on the top, east view colors, white, blue, black shining. Um, we go to Apple Valley and for their activity center is in the I was trying to figure this out. Souththeast southwest side of the building, uh, behind where the turf fields are. um the link connecting the new facility to the current existing facility. And again, if you go down into the uh court, four courts, basketball, track, uh badminton, and or pickle ball, again, the buildings get to um decide how they lay those things out. Um, we're excited for for what these spaces will look like and how they will be used. Um, at least one AD has already started uh their scheduling process for when they'll be reserving or having the public come and and take um take advantage of using this. So, that's the activity center side as far as what's working in that area. We have two middle schools that projects have begun. is a Falcon Ridge Middle School. And here at the top left are the pods. So if you are familiar with that building, there's an open space. So we are building some walls uh to develop dedicated classroom spaces. And then for all the middle schools, there's restroom restoration updates and science uh classrooms spaces that are being done as well as enhancements, slight enhancements at Falcon Ridge for the performance um spaces. at Scott Highlands. Uh the addition is going to the I'm a little disoriented. That would be south east uh of the building right next to the parking lot. Um so we're adding spaces, classroom space to to that area. We will be refinishing the cafeteria and making that be an actual performance space. Of all our middle schools, this will be the last space that they do not have um a performance in actual performance space. So, we're excited to see how this uh this project comes out and I'm sure those kids will be putting out performances that will be you'll be invited to at some point as board members and the public. Uh, additionally, we will be restoring some um making science classroom restorations at this building as well as um right now what we are also doing is through the long-term facilities maintenance is upgrading carpet, upgrading lighting uh within the rest of the facility. But this will be the rendition to the new learning spaces that we are adding at Scott Highlands Middle School. Those are the big ones. Uh we do have um other projects that are taking place. So again in u thinking about safe secure entrances uh Dakota Valley Learning Center and Ceda Valley Learning Center are getting uh enclosed vestibial areas. Uh that that work is taking place this summer began in June. Uh the Tomas Lake Elementary School is getting an upgrade, a new parking loop for the buses. Uh that should help alleviate some congestion that has been experienced with um parent pickup spilling out onto the roadway. So that uh will definitely improve the traffic uh situation on on that street. Uh I mentioned earlier that uh Rosemont High School, which will be having an activity center constructed and then additions, those bids are out now. They should be closing on June 24th and we anticipate they'll be coming to the school board for action on July 12th. At this building, there'll be science renovations and bathroom um renovations as well. The Egan High School activity center performance space that is still in design phase. Uh we anticipate that the bid process will be sent out uh late later this fall. Um that's another one that um we're excited as to how that looks. Um we have a location determined uh for where we're going to place that that facility that we'll be bringing back to the um to share with you. Those are the big financial projects. There are other items that are taking place as part of the bond. So you will remember there was 10 million allocated for furniture and so far we have spent 8.7 million and you can see how we are spending in classroom furniture uh cafeteria tables about 3/4 of a million dollars um staff chairs seating um media center upgrades and I'll have some pictures of that and then just office space refurbishment as well as uh enhancing some common area uh spaces. So these two would be pictures of uh media center upgrades at Shannon Park Elementary and Scott Highlands uh middle school. Uh additionally the bond provided for funds for safety and security and in that area. So I'll start with the uh with Halo. So these are vaping detectors and they do more than just vaping. So the system that we're putting in place uh detects aggression, detects um smoke or any other things in those. There are some activities that are best suited for outside the building. And so when they take place within our enclosed facilities, we're just trying to make sure that we are capturing that. And the system that we are deploying is helping uh mitigate against um unacceptable use of certain items within our facilities. Um cameras, we are expanding um replacing existing cameras. As part of the 2015 bond, we had enhancements that involved cameras. Some of those systems are at the end of their life cycle. What we're doing now is replacing uh those systems and then also adding uh to areas that need additional coverage. So over time, so if you want to go to any of our high schools, uh when we erect new structures, they're different sight lines. So sight lines change and then based on where you place cameras, behaviors move to different areas. and as those change. So we just want to provide additional uh cameras so that there's uh coverage um project as far as installation that started in June the board approved this as well. It's going to take 18 months and as we deploy new facilities these will also be coming along. So as as we the activity centers get deployed once they are uh in place if there are additional cameras that are needed for that that will be part of that work. Then the other big item that we are doing as far as safety and security is two-way radios. Um so again we need assist standardized way of communicating from one building to another and when we have administrators who are maybe itineraran from one building we we want to make sure that if I go from Scott Highlands to valley middle and I pick up a radio walkie-talkie I'm able to communicate and operate it. So we are standardizing um the systems we use. Uh this is in line with our district standard response protocols. Uh the roll out for these devices is ongoing. Um and I believe ongoing we're mounting additional systems to help uh provide coverage uh in those hard-to-reach areas. Uh last slide again this is just a recap. uh 238 538 million uh provided by the bond for projects. Uh we issued 300 million um depending on when how our outlay process goes. Uh we anticipate that we will be selling the next um set of bonds either in the spring or summer of next year. So Danny Duchain mentioned earlier that depending on that timing, it may fall in the current in next year's budget or we may push it off into the the future. One of the considerations we we want to make is we do not want to hold on to cash. Uh it does incur interest unnecessarily for taxpayers. So we're just trying to make sure we're being prudent and uh tapping into those resources when they're most uh needed. Uh the ongoing design work is happening for those projects. I mentioned Egan again high school activity center. That work is still ongoing. Um and then as projects what I would say at this point is we do have adequate funds within the bond funds to ensure that all the promises that we made as far as projects that we're going to be able to complete those. I will pause and see if there's additional items that may need clarification. Thank you. At this time, are there any questions or comments from the audience? Seeing none, questions or comments from board members. Jackie, I think we need another bus tour. Good job. Good. It's fun. It's fun to see. I I w I drove by East View the other day and you could see them starting to take the brick off the building where the two buildings are going to touch. So, it's like, oh, we're getting Yeah, we're getting started. Yeah. I did talk to the um uh project manager at Emerald Trails. So, I'm going to say that's probably going to be our fast stop sometime in July. Um, so can look out for that uh little tool. Excellent. Other questions or comments? Excellent. Thank you very much for the update. It's exciting to see all the projects coming along. Um, and it's exciting just to see the transparency. I think this is the type of thing that when we present it to the community helps get the great survey results we heard earlier from Mr. Le. So, thank you. Appreciate it. All right. Um, I will now turn it over to Superintendent Bosone for superintendent updates. Okay. Thank you, Chair Johnson. Uh, this summer we are upgrading a number of our systems and, uh, District 186 is excited to announce that we'll be using Parent Square as our new communication tool for family engagement. Parents Square will help families and staff stay informed, engaged, and connected. Parents Square will replace several of our current tools, including Talking Points, School Messenger, Remind, and Signup Genius. It allows busy families to centralize school communications and to set their own preference for text, email, or app notifications. It also provides automatic two-way language translation, allowing communication in preferred languages. We will send a welcome message to all staff on June 11th and to all families on July 7th for more information. Next, I want to remind families of our various opportunities for students ages 18 and younger to have access to free meals this summer. On our website at district196.org, we have the locations for our summer meals. Our summer school programs are also in full swing with credit recovery, Camp Propel, and extended year services all underway. Our buses, uh, you'll see them in the community continue to run as we serve students and families throughout the summer. Lastly, I want to encourage um all families to find ways to continue learning over the summer months. Our community education department has a wide variety of fun and educational activities and classes. For more information, go to CE community education c.d district196.org. And we wish everyone a great summer. And that concludes my report. Thank you. Excellent. Thank you, Superintendent Pulson. Are there any items that schoolboard members would like to share? Anna. Um I had a chance to uh and I know other board members did as well had a chance to attend uh graduation ceremonies. Mhm. Um this was my first time as I think it was others other firsttime goers as well to attend some but I had a chance to do East View, Apple Valley and Transition Plus and uh it was quite inspiring to see the students graduating to hear the speeches um of these young uh minds um and talk about the future, what they've learned, uh the what they were looking uh most forward to. It was inspiring for me as an adult who is several years um away from graduating from high school and um what they had uh to look forward to, but also as a reminder to be in the present and that this was just the beginning of a journey. Um it was very moving and I think sometimes um I think sometimes in the uncertainty of all that's happening in the world and even as we're aging and our bodies are changing ourselves um we forget that there's so many beautiful things that are happening and that graduation is one of those moments um that it was just to take a time in the moment and to see our superintendent so excited I mean, he was giggling, just excited to see all these students and it just made me appreciate how fortunate we are to have the superintendent that we do have. um and meeting students um who whose parents he knew and uh grandparents that he knew because those students he he remembered their parents, the students that he had and their parents and having these generational photos and it was just exciting to be a part of that moment and I really appreciated having the opportunity to represent those constituents and to just have a taste of that and just remember um why we're here um and just to be part of that and to be up on stage with um some incredible people and some incredible leaders and uh of the school board and teachers and administrators and just be a part of something so amazing. So, I really appreciated that. Well said, Anna. Jackie and I can't disagree with you at all. It was wonderful. I mean, we laughed because we said, well, we wiped tears and we smiled till our faces hurt and we got to touch the future. The thing that I would like people to know about graduations that you probably don't see is that just about to every student who walked across that stage, they shook our hands and they said, "Thank you. Thank you." And they weren't thanking me, Jackie Magnuson, or Anna Williams. They were thanking the community for the opportunities that we have given them and that they have taken and made their own. And it is about enough to make you just want to cry. still want to cry because if that's the future, we are in good hands. Yeah. Other items board members would like to share. That brings us to our end. Is there a motion to adjurnn? So moved. No second. We can stay here. Second. Thank you, Anna. Motion to adjourn by Jackie, seconded by Anna. All those in favor of adjournment, say I. I. Those opposed. Motion carries on a six-0 vote. We are adjourned. [Music]