Today is May 22nd, 2025 and the time is 6:30 p.m. I will now call the regular meeting of the District 191 Board of Education to order. Welcome to those of you in the audience here and those watching online. Director Anderson, will you please lead us in the pledge of allegiance? Sure. 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. Do I have a motion to approve tonight's agenda? So moved. Moved by director Saxi. Second. Seconded by director Alt. Is there any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed say nay. The motion carries unanimously. We will start off this evening's meeting with our student activity and athletics recognition. At this time, I would like to invite Bill Heim, associate principal and activities director from Burnsville High School to join us in celebrating some of our students accomplishments from this year. Welcome, Mr. Heim. Thank you, Board Chair Worb, Superintendent Battle, and members of the school board. This is exciting. We have standing room only here tonight. Um, I appreciate the opportunity to share some of the wonderful accomplishments of our students in district 191. Each of the people we'll be honoring tonight were recognized at the state level. I'm amazed by the talent, dedication, and character our students show as they participate in activities and athletics throughout the year. They represent themselves, their peers, and our community in such a positive light, and I'm proud of all their accomplishments. One thing to note is that this will be celebrating our winter and spring activities. Here we go. First is uh the state history day competition. and other members or advisers from our uh state history day competition from Eagle Ridge Middle. Okay. Well, several students at Eagle Ridge Middle School participated in the regional national history day competition held at Central Middle School in Eden Prairie. One project, the Grimkey Sisters by seventh graders, Bersa Bersie Chiso, Harmony Maize, and Kamya Mikkel advanced to the state competition. The students chose to do an exhibit which included a process paper and an annotated bibliography. "I was so impressed with how invested Berscie, Harmony, and Kamill were in this project," said Eagle Ridge teacher Jackie Parkinson. They chose a topic that was original and not very well-known and were dedicated to telling the story. I personally learned a lot from their research and love seeing them showcase their knowledge. Jackie also mentioned that the trio received comments from the judges on their score sheets which included incredible topic choice. Thank you for bringing these sisters into light. You are very knowledgeable on the sisters and the historical context of the time. Your sources are impressive and exhibit itself, it's beautiful. Great job. Lovely project. Great job tying the project to the theme and covering multiple perspectives. All the criteria are scored as exemplary, proficient, developing, novice or evident. The students received exemplary or proficient in every category. Well done, Harmony and Kamya. Next is our middle school honor choirs. Do we have somebody over there from before? Okay. From our history competition. Okay. Would you like to come up for a quick photo op? Yes. It's versatile. Thank you. Yes. I will use longer wait time next time. So, next is our middle school honor choirs. Could our Could they or their adviser come up, please? Right. Okay. Here we go. 12 middle school students in district 191 have been selected to the American Coral Directors Association of Minnesota State Honor Choir. This is the highest honor a middle school choir student can achieve in the state of Minnesota. Students earning a spot in the fourth through sixth grade honor choir are Nicola Middle School stu sixth graders Sienna Connell Cyan Davis Brinley Ericson Maline Herdzog Adena Israel Janiah Le and Lilia Rodriguez Eagle Ridge Middle School seventh grader Bailey Frell was se selected for the seventh and eighth grade trouble cleft honor choir fellow MS student Beckham Jent 8th grade made the seventh and eighth grade bass or sorry Bass Cleft Honor Choir as long as along with Nicollet Middle School students Marcus Dick and James Pum and Daniel Durant. I think the opportunities like this are amazing because they really help students learn and grow, said choir teacher Nick McGra. Making it to the honor choir is just a special bonus. I'm really proud of these students for pushing themselves and I'm really excited the way they were rewarded with this honor. Congratulations to all of these students who are excelling in the arts. Next is chess. Let's go with if the Nicollet Knights and also the um high school chess could please come up here. I knew there were a lot of them. standing the only one from high school. 21 students represented Nicollet Middle School at the National Middle School Super Nationals held in Orlando, Florida, May 9th through the 11th. There were nearly 4,700 players competing at this event. In the blitz portion of the competition, Nichollet finished second place and Grayson Matthews meddled. In the U600 portion, Nichollet finished second in the nation, just a half point behind the front runner. The team consists of Jonas Lane, Jose Aila, Jack Chrisman, and Whan Slinkard. In the U700 portion of the competition, Nichollet placed third. They were led by medalist Clayton Jensenstead 11th John Hampton 18th. Others participating in that portion were Elijah Rosus, Mike Krosakuski and Blake Bennett in the U 900 portion of the competition. Nick would play six. They were led by medalists Alex Roso who was undefeated and finished 11th place. Others in sex section were Dylan Togurude, Miles Malundo and Hamza Kadir in the 1100 under 1100 portion of the competition. Nichollet was crowned national champion. They were led by Charlie Dah who placed first in the country. Other medalists were Franklin Brino, a Avery 13th, Torren Gerki 19th. Others participating in that section were Kieran Martin and Gabe Togurude in the under12 portion of the competition, Jean Wen placed seventh nationally. Mr. Brian Ribnik said, "These kids were absolutely amazing on how they represented district 191. The chess team includes the following students. Grayson Matthews, John Wen, Charles Dah, Torren Gerky, Franklin Brano, Austin Avery, Kieran Martin, Gabe Togurude, Alex Roso, Dylan Torrude, Miles Mundo, Kahamza Kadir, Clayton Jensenstead, Elijah Ross, Mike Crossinowski, Blake Bennett, John Hampton, Jonas Lane, Jose Aila, Jack Chrisman, Whan Slinkard, and the under 18. Okay, let's give a little shout out for our middle school. We'll take a break at the tutelage of Mr. Ribnik and his crew. I am not surprised. Good job. At the high school in the U800 High School Division, the Burnsville High School chess team finished in third place. The team coached by Dane Zagar includes Isabella Bernett, Sammy Pora, Harrison Stage, Emily G, Emily Gerkie, and coach Dane Zagar. Lastly, we want to recognize head coach Brian Ribnik, who was named best chess educator in the nation by Chess in the schools. He will be flown to New York City in late May to receive a $10,000 reward. So congratulations to Mr. Rib. Amazing chess dynasty. I call it under 1,800 blitz. Thank you. Fast pace. Yeah. Oh, they did. She's quick. [Music] Next, if we could have our quiz bowl up here represented. I believe the adviser is here with his photos. [Laughter] Oh, Burnsville High School junior Sam Morgan competed at the High School Quiz Bowl Individual Player National Championship held in the Chicago area on April 6th. He finished in a four-way tie for 153rd in the invitational field of 260 players from 32 states, the District of Columbia and Guatemala. It's been such a joy watching Samuel develop over the past year, said QuizBo coach Andy Gerie. It's clear he devotes countless hours to reading study packets, reviewing past games, and listening to Quiz Bowls. Sam earned fourth place in the individuals at the Minnesota High School state championship at Burnsville High School on March 8th. Congratulations, Sam, on your successes this year. Next, the Twin Cities Regional Science Fair. Mike, we have our advisor, Mr. Hume Miller and Abby Chrisman. 15 Burnsville High School students were recognized for outstanding work at the Twin Cities Regional Science Fair in early March, winning special awards or qualifying for state and regional competitions. The following students qualified and presented at the state science and engineering fair this spring. Ahmed Ali, whitening power of toothpaste and the chemical effects of our day-to-day brush. Lorena Cortez Vasquez. Soundproofing. Everett Dick. The backboard of a basketball hoop and the chances of making threepointers. I like that. Ian Lang, the effect of string material type on a tennis ball bounce and Payton Maderos. What type of nut has the least amount of calories? In addition, the following student qualified as alternates for the state competition. Favven Tes and Olivia Hammond. The radish experiment. Favven, come on. Come on, Favven. The following students won awards at the TCRSF project competition. Najima Hammud, Lily W. Science and Communications Award, Iman Aliier. US Air Force Award, Ramla Lieban, Association of Women Geoscientists Award, Ahmed Ali, Society in the Invitro Biology Award, Emma Cook and Entran US Metric Association Award, Rama Lee and Entran Stockholm Junior Water Prize. Abby Chrisman, who is up here, got the Tri-State Symposium for her research paper. One of only a few from the Twin Cities to be given this opportunity. We've had a very successful year in the science fair this year, said science fair adviser Mike Hiller. We had over 70 students participate in writing scientific papers, communicating projects, or both. Several students won awards at the Twin Cities Regional Science Fair in February, and we had five students compete at the state science fair. An additional two students competed at the Tri-State Symposium. Our students demonstrated excellent science skills at all levels of competition. Congratulations to all these students on their projects. Burnsville High School drum line. Please come up front. Congratulations to the Burnsville High School drum line. They took first place at the 2025 Minnesota Percussions Association championships held at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester on April 5th. MPA is a drum line and wins competition circuit in for groups in Minnesota and surrounding states. The victory marks the program's eighth state title and first since 2015. Burnsville was also voted as the fan favorite for the second consecutive year. This year's championship winning production titled Sensient took on the audience on an interstellar journey following a group of astronauts through the vastness of space. The show featured musical arrangements of David Bow's Space Odyssey and Tears for Fears, Everybody Wants to Rule the World, as well as the original music written and produced by staff. Completely designed and created by Drumline staff. The production included music, visual elements, props, floor design, and uniform elements. Drumline head director Paul Connell said we had a lot of close calls in the last 10 years since our last state title. We've had a couple of these years where we were in second place and a couple years were during the pandemic that interrupted some really good teams. So, it was fun to finish on top again. It was also great to be honored with the fan favorite award because we always try to create a show that is enjoyable for the audience. We've had a wonderful support from our friends, family, and alumni and fans throughout the season. This season, the team finished either first or second at all competitions, including a first place finish at state prelims hosted at Burnsville High School. The performance included one of the top scores in program history. With nearly 50 performers in grades 7 through 12, this year's team is also the largest in program history. BHS drum line includes, here come the names, 12th grade, Stephanie Aguire, Anaise Kalva Navo, Anthony Kubas, Maya Holiday, Zarya Jimo, Kevin Rodriguez Cervantes, and Reena Zerbo. 11th graders, Solana Bine, Karen Hernandez Rodriguez, Ryan Kennedy, Jacob Lara, Samuel Morgan, Alex Nashen, Olu Aladeu, Michael Oi, Brian Russell, Exie Sundara, and Deacon Wenning. 10th graders, Kiara Angeline, Issa Ben, Carrie Crawford, Will Edgen, Max Roa, Xavier Soxy, Landon Schmidt, Isaac Wenning, and Ellis Zerbal. Ninth grade, Archer Bodner, Liliana Bolton, Lucy Brown, El Courts, Dylan Deafuente, Alan Eggdall, Emory Gerky, Israel Lara, Caleb MacArthur, Ricky Mickelson, Charlie Morgan, Tobias Olsen, Isaiah Tilbury, Aiden Tran, and Alex Wenning. Eighth graders Joey Connell, Ingred Ingall, Joan Fitron, Levi Williams, Maya Zerbal. Seventh grade, Avery Aguire, and Valerie Aguire. Staff Paul Connell, Alex Classman, Matthew Matt Schmeichel, Jordan Weine, Tyrese Leberty, Michelle Ron, Audrey Hawinson, Nate Granky, Blake Whittis, Laura Connell, and Alex Cole. Good job, drum line. And our last group, but certainly not least, our Olympic powerlifting and weightlifting. Come on up front, please. In early February, Blaze powerlifters participated in the USAPL MN High School State Powerlifting Championships. The team took third place. All participants competed in the events of squat, bench, and deadlift. Assistant coach Lucky said, "I believe the success of this team can be attributed to our senior leadership. This year we had quite a senior heavy team, most of which have been with the team with for multiple years. So they have a combined wealth of acknowledge and experience and were able to share with all of our athletes. It was great to see them step into their roles as leaders and helping the new athletes. It's bittersweet to see these athletes move on and I'm excited to see them apply themselves in the next chapter of their lives. I am confident they will raise the bar wherever they might be. Individual winners included the following students. State champs were Emma Clug, Carlos Noriega, Caleb Buckner, and Kenny Mo. Second place went to Mariana Jimenez, Caroline Thorson, and Olivia Jacobson. Finishing third place were Mason Patterson, and Abigail Ericson. Nathan Bennell and Carrie Crawford also participated. The Olympic style weightlifting tournament was held in early March. All participants competed in the events of the snatch in the clean and jerk. Lauren Bachmier and Gerardo Jr. Our Kamacho finished in second place. Caroline Thorson and Scott Tito Froby also participated. Coaches, our head coach Justin Larfeld and assistant coaches Andy GR and Lucky Forest. Thank you for sharing all that amazing news with us, Mr. Heim. Are there any comments or questions from board members? I'll just Okay, somebody has to just congratulations to each and one every one of you and thank you especially to those who made the effort to come out tonight. It was great having you here. It really adds a lot of energy to the presentation when we have the students and their families here. So, thank you so much for coming. Yeah, I also want to just uh thank everyone for for coming and for all your dedication to your your sports and your um um activities. Activities. Yes. Yes. Um so yes, thank you for coming. Um and yeah, we appreciate you. Go Blaze. Go BL. Thank you. Up next on our agenda, we will be receiving a report about the Board of Education student representative for the 2025 2026 school year. But before we do that, I would like to take time to recognize and honor our outgoing student representative and their alternates. [Music] This year's student representative to the school board has been Mariam Brady. And the alternates who have helped support this work have been Shaza Gutierrez and McKinley Shannon. We would like to thank them all for their service to this board, to Burnsville High School, and to District 191 as a whole. The role of student representative to the board is an important one with each representative bringing their own skills, personality, and interest to the job. Miam, Shenaz, and McKinley have been instrumental in helping keep our entire board informed and connected to the happenings at Burnsville High School through their regular reports. More importantly, they have brought helpful insight into the overall atmosphere and outlook of the student body to be sure we have a full perspective as we consider the issues that come before us. Next fall, I understand Miriam is headed to University of Minnesota at their Twin Cities campus where she is still undecided in a major but is leaning towards something in psychology or medicine. I think I speak for everyone when I say we feel fortunate to have gotten to know you all and we're proud of the work you do as we're so excited to see you continue on your journey. At this time of Oops, sorry. I would like to offer you a little token of our appreciation. I don't want you Thank you. Um, at this time I'd like to call Principal Sandaval and Associate Principal Heim to come forward to introduce our new student representative for the 2025 2026 school year. Wonderful. Thank you. Y Worb, directors of the board, superintendent Dr. Battle. And so I too um I'm thankful for um McKinley, Shanaz, and Miam and how they stepped up this year. Um in fact um they also helped support. They were a part of our committee um that was um in the process of looking for our new um applicants and uh recipients uh that I'm going to introduce here shortly. So before we get to that point, we had 11 individuals that put forth application this year. Um and of those 11, we had eight that we actually interviewed. Um and so the three of them students u myself and Mr. Heim um conducted the interviews. Um and I'd like to introduce um our 202526 student board representatives at this point. Uh so with that being said um to my right uh we have a uh first with the alternates um far right we have Parvina Yusup um yes and um she's going to be one of our alternates um our second alternate was not able to make it uh Jennifer Sedu um and so she was unfortunately not able to make it but you will see her at some point um and then uh we have Favven U Fven Tessi um and she is going to be our um board uh student board representative. And so I'd like to congratulate uh the three uh of those uh for the upcoming school year. Thank you. Thank you for the update. And I want to extend a special welcome to our new representative uh student school board rep. F uh Fevan Tespi, um alternate Parvina Yusupova, and alternate Jennifer Sadu. Uh, do board members have any questions or comments? Miam, I've been so so lucky to get to know you two a little bit over these past couple of weeks, and I'm excited to see what you do and bring to this board. Director Alt, thank you. Uh, yes, welcome to you both. uh looking forward to uh working with you and hearing from you in the same way that we heard from Miriam and McKinley and Shanaz. I'm not sure that I remember seeing you. Maybe I missed the the board meeting, but thank you to the three of you. Um this is um in my memory the first time that we've had such an active backup uh student board rep and just really appreciated, you know, all the time and knowing that that you guys were there with the students and helping to pull their um their opinions and bring them back here to the board. Um it's just it's it's really fabulous when when you dive in the way the way that you did. So looking forward to to much of the same with from from you both. Uh Director Hume, um I have similar comments. Welcome to you both. I will look forward to and to your colleague who's not here. I look forward to getting to know you and working with you in the coming year. Um, I really noticed over the last few years, I'll say, um, an increase in what we're getting from our student board rep, both in terms of, um, content contributions. Like, I I feel like there's been a lot of growth in this position over the last few years. And so, I really appreciate you and your predecessors from the last few years. It's really been good to see. I know it's a position that I think a lot of boards kind of struggle with getting a meaningful impact. And I feel like we've come a long way in the last few years of really having that that student voice coming to the board table. So I really appreciate you and all you've done and I look forward to to your successors next year. Anyone else? Um yeah, I agree with what they've said and yeah, just really want to say welcome and we enjoy hearing um your upcoming reports for next school year. Thank you. Up next on our agenda, we will be hearing a report about changes to the Burnsville High School athletic and activities fees from Dr. Chris Belmont, assistant superintendent, Kevin Kleiner, athletics director, and Billheim, associate principal and activities director. Welcome, gentlemen. Thank you, Chair W. Superintendent Battle, members of the board. Good evening. um here with uh Ad Kleiner and activities director Heim to share a little bit about their proposed um budget adjustments. Uh this is if the board recalls um this was a request from our um fiscal year 26 budget adjustments to look at um athletic and activities fees through the um process. They also identified some opportunities through that uh through that that they'll describe tonight. So, um, one other thing I learned through the process and working with, um, Mr. Klein or Mr. Heim is, um, to be we we really do make sure to meet each student and family where they are through that registration process. So, with that, I'll hand the mic over to Kevin. Thanks, Dr. Belmont. Um, board chair WB, Dr. Superintendent Dr. Bell, and members of the board. Thank you for having us. Um, I'm sure you have questions and we'll we'll uh have time for those. But just overview, it's been a while. I I honestly don't even know that the last time this was done. Um, just historically in my time here hasn't, but I don't it's it goes back a ways. So, it it's time to to at least look at it and we were asked to and that's u what we presented here. Um, just does it cover all of our costs? Absolutely not. Everyone here knows that we the district subsidizes a large portion of athletic um and activity operations. Um but this is keeping up with pace a little bit of our neighboring districts. It's certainly not on the high end or the highest end by any means. Um but I think it it's it's a fair kind of uh step. You know, when you don't do it for a long time, then it might feel like a big jump and maybe we get into a rhythm of every two years we look at a small small increase to kind of keep up with inflation and cost going up. Um certainly uh officials, transportation, un like the supplies, uniforms, everything has gone up just like everything in our personal life has gone up uh in a lot of ways. So this is just a a reflection of that. um we still will have our um educational benefits um adjustments for families that that qualify for those. And then a new piece of this that we haven't had is a family cap of uh $950. And that will incorporate everything high school athletics, high uh middle school athletics, high school activities, middle school activities, all compiled together to for a family to qualify for that cap. Uh so that's a new thing we're excited to to offer families that have many kids doing many things. So or one kid. Anything to add? Nope. I just think we just really tried to like, you know, categorize, keep things just understandable from like a, you know, just a first look off of it. And I think that we did a nice job of collaborating with that. And I think um our kids are going to be geared uh for the future and and uh just to continue the wonderful opportunities that uh you you all allow our kids. our kids are really lucky at Burnsville High School in 191. And thank you, Mr. Heim. The only um thing I would add is that um we heard positive feedback about this proposal too from our clerical staff that helps our families navigate the registration process and make sense of everything. So, we're hopeful that that will lead to unpredictable efficiencies, too. So, back to you, chair. Uh, do board members have any questions or comments? No. Oh, for comments. Okay. Um, first, thank you for the family limit. I do think that's a really good suggestion and good to see that moving forward, even if I will no longer have kids in high school next year. Um, I I also appreciate you bringing up maybe looking at a more regular review of the fees. Some of these fees, it's a $50 or $60 increase over this year's fees. And I I worry a little bit about sticker shock for families. So, I think if it's something we can look at doing more regularly in the future, you know, maybe a $10 increase in a year or 15 is less sticker shock than $50 or $60 increase from one year to the next. So that'd be something I would encourage you to to consider in the future. Definitely. But looks good. I mean, other other than that, I have no other I have no questions. Just those two comments. Director Al. Thank you, Chair Worb. Yes, I I concur with Director um Hume. The family cap is a very caring and kind consideration um and especially understanding that it's across the board for athletics and activities. a child, you know, the family had reaches that cap regardless of whether the student is in athletics or activities and they're finished, right? Yeah, I appreciate that. Um question um to date, are educational benefits um for families um equating to no cost for those who qualify? Um we do so a partial educational benefits 50% reduction and then the full educational benefit we still have a $25 fee um just to it helps a little bit with you know things like getting the uniforms collected at the end of the season. There's a little bit um on the line there, I guess you could say. But if there was recommendation to remove it to make it all the way down to zero, that would certainly um if we do, to Dr. Battle's earlier point, even if they don't qualify and there there's a need, like we we'll meet that family where they're at, um including making it all the way down to to zero if if it it's warranted. So So the fee So the fee um encourages engagement and you know, kind of skin in the game as far as participation. Yeah, that's an appropriate way to say that. Yes. Not to do a pun, but I didn't. Yeah. Like an investment, you know, a little Yeah. Yeah. Um Yeah, that was it. Um I I think um you know, I had questions up front. You answered them. Appreciated um the the answers that you provided. And uh yeah, I think this looks good. Um I just had one question. Um, so how did you um decide which ones you were going to increase prices to? Kind of like where they fell in the categories maybe. Um, by and large kind of like the ones on the $200 level for athletics, you're looking at sports without officials, uh, shorter seasons. um to the other end, higher equipment costs, um high longer seasons, um facility costs, those kind of things. Um those were the PR like and also looking at other districts and kind of following a little bit of their lead, but those would be kind of some of the high marks like the season, uh different costs associated with the sport, like do they have refs or not kind of a sport. um that that those were big drivers and then equipment needs for the sports. Um those are some of the high marks. Okay. Okay, that makes sense. All right, that's Oh, go ahead. Yes, go ahead, Dr. Bell. Thank you, Chair Word, members of the board. Um couple of points I'd like to make. Um, piggybacking on your last comment, I did ask uh my regional superintendent colleagues um about their costs in comparison, I know my staff did it, but to respond to your question, for example, one district for football and hockey, they charge $355 with a charge $200 for the other sports. So the cost of equipment. So that's a common practice to look at length of season, coaches, cost of the season. I also wanted to make the point and um commend um these three staff members for the work they did to reinvision um our athletics and activities. Uh part of the reason to increase is that we are increasing our numbers um based on the efforts of a design team and um some recommendations that they made to me. For example, I think for soccer did we have 100 over 100 boys soccer players? Yes. At high school. Yeah. At high school. So with increased cost, increased participation, you have to have more coaches. So the salary and benefits too. So really appreciate the work they've done and uh thanking the board for your consideration. Thank you. Thank you. [Music] It is now time to hear a report about college career readiness and graduation rates from Amina Oftall, director of curriculum instruction and assessment. Jesus Sandaval, principal, Burnsville High School, and Kelly Ron, principal, Burns, Burnsville Alternative High School and Virtual Academy High School. Welcome everyone. Thank you, Board Chair Worb, Dr. Battle, and members of the board. Uh I appreciate this opportunity to share a report on the update of the comprehensive achievement and career readiness goals focused on uh those indicators around students who are completing their journey with us. Uh just here we go. Thanks. Uh tonight we will provide you with information around two of the indicators on the district's strategic roadmap. Graduation rates and the enrollment and completion in rigorous coursework. Um first a brief reminder that the comprehensive achievement and career readiness goals are that all students are ready to all students graduate and all students are ready for career and college. If we look at the the trend in the four-year graduation rates from the past three years, we see a variable change in the percentage of students graduating on time with their cohort. Burnsville High School in the district overall experienced a 2% decline from the previous year and increases in the four-year graduation rate for students attending Burnsville Alternative High School from 55% um with the class of 2023 to 58% for the class of 2024. There is also a significant drop in the percentage of students graduating in the four-year cohort from the virtual academy from 23 to 24. However, seeing beyond the single number of four-year graduation rate, it can be helpful to examine the details of graduation outcomes uh for the group of students who did not meet the milestone of graduating with their cohort. Here we see that an additional 25 students that did not graduate in the spring um that did graduate before the start of the next school year. So over the summer doing some uh additional work. 40 students were enrolled to continue their pursuit of a diploma at one of our school sites, BHS, BAS or virtual academy. 12 students were continuing through enrollment and programming through best as a transi as part of their transition program. However, half of the students who did not graduate with their four-year cohort did fall into the category of dropout. Since we know that many students continue on at one of our sites, this graph shares that ongoing graduation rates for cohorts for the five and six-year rates. After 5 years, the district rate moves to 80% and 84% after 6 years. And you can see similar trends for increases at Burnsville High School with a graduation rate of 91% and Virtual Academy of 88%. There is also great value for us as a district to examine the graduation attainment for student groups by race and ethnicity. This is looking through it with our equity lens. And we see here that Asian students, black and African-American students, and students identifying as two or more races showed gains after declines in the previous year. Latino students in the district, uh, which is one of our growing demographics, continue to lag behind their peers in graduation attainment. Each of our high schools, oh, uh, each of our high school sites serve students with different needs and provide unique environments and supports for those students. And each site has their own approach. Tonight, the principles from our three high schools, uh, Mr. Dr. Jesus Sandival from BHS and Kelly Ron from Bos and Virtual Academy are here with their staff and students to provide you with a view of the work at their sites around graduation attainment. Thank you, Mina. With that being said, I'd like to introduce um two individuals uh to my right. Um we have Lori Lori Mayment and she is our senior uh counselor uh and and Money Chase and which is a senior and Mei Chase is going to um speak a little bit about her perspective um as a senior um and then we'll have Miss Maidment follow. [Music] I'm I'm a senior at Burnsville High School. I came to Burnsville towards the end of my sophomore year. Egenuity and credit recovery have given me the strength and the ability to get the credits that I needed to graduate and where I needed to be. Me many students who have needed credit recovery just like me have progressed in Edgewinity in a short amount of time, learning lots of new things with each credit. Without credit recovery, we would not be able to succeed in completing high school and would be stressed along the years not being able to make up the credits as fast or we would have to go to summer school. I look forward to working on my credit every day. Sorry. I look forward to working on my credit every day to get better and knowing that I have the support of my teachers whenever I don't know how to answer a question on eduenuity. I know I can ask for help because I know they have what's best in mind for me and other students as well. It's because of opportunities like credit recovery and summer school that I will be able to graduate on time in June. Thank you. Um at this time, I would like um Miss May to say some few words um with her role as a counselor overseeing our seniors. So being the senior counselor is a new role to me. Um I started it in October. I was I don't know if you know anything about me. I was at Metaf as a guidance counselor and a social studies teacher for a long time. then at BOA for a period of five years and then last year I was the one of the two tenth grade counselors at the high school and this year the sole senior counselor at the high school um since October and definitely it's given me a new perspective on the needs of students at the high school and um the things that they need and their families need to get to graduation. as a counseling um cohort at the high school, we are always talking about how to get students to the end point of graduation from high school so that they can move on and achieve whether it's going out into the world of work, going into the military, or going into some type of tech school or college. Um things that as a group we try to focus on are um really the 9th grade um academy has um given the counselors um a lot of time to get in those classrooms especially in success 191 and connect with students. Um, we work really hard to make sure all of the students that need access to programs such as credit recovery and summer school are registered for them um for as early as they can be and that they understand what they're doing and why they're enrolled in those programs. Um, we work through individual meetings. That's been a big thing that I focused on this year with our seniors, especially those students who maybe need some extra support and help getting to um to their diploma, making sure that they're having individual meetings with me and that we're checking and talking about how this matters and going over grades. Um working to teach them to be self- advocates, which is really important and a lifelong skill that they will need. Um we've also as a counseling department along with our success teams started things like intervention days for our younger um students in 9th through 11th grade where several times throughout the semester we pull in those atrisisk students to um C1 180 at the high school and get teachers to come down and we are there um really trying to get through assignments, makeup tests, um redo tests if that's an option. Um and those have really been successful days. Um as I said we are all members of our success team where we are working on identifying tier one, tier 2, tier three students and interventions for them. Um we also work to meet the social and emotional needs of students. Um some things we obviously we work handinhand with Washurn making sure students are referred to that to our NOW program. Um we have a very active grief group um at the high school. And then things other things we do, we send out letters about credit recovery, where students are at, what they need to do. As a senior counselor this year, I sent out um through parent square, which is a whole learning curve for me also to understand parent square. um as soon shortly after I took over letting students know these are the credits and parents know sending to parents these are the credits that your students needs to complete in credit recovery before the end of the year to be on track for graduation. Then at the start of second semester we send out kind of handwritten letters with the same information. This is where they're at now because students are constantly finishing classes in credit recovery. And then just this past um two weeks, I've gone through all of the grades for all of the seniors on Schooly and set up individual meetings with each of the students and emailed each of them saying you're at risk like you of a D or lower in a class that you need for graduation. um sent individual meetings with the students, sent them an email, and then sent another parent square email to all of the seniors who are um at risk of needing something um or possibly needing to go to summer school. And then I presented summer school as a requirement to them, not really an option. So, thank you. In addition to many of the items that Miss May has mentioned, um being my second year here in this position, I acknowledge that um one of the things that is very obvious with having one senior counselor um with 491 students at high school and uh certainly Miss Layman is rocking it. um but to be able to reflect not only on data to be able to say is this the best model for us and so through um data dives through conversations uh through um the reflecting and planning we are going to change the model for the upcoming school year we are keeping as it's important to keep uh for our 9th grade um academy uh two counselors but we are moving to a 10 through 12 alpha split um so that way the um the work can be split up amongst four counselors um and not just the one. And so that's one of the things that we're um making a change to uh for the upcoming school year. In addition to a couple things that um that I would like to to share and mention, we have really done a lot of work with our uh tier one curriculum and alignment. Um a lot of the professional development that we've done uh this year has really um asked individuals, departments to dig deep and ensure that what is being taught in one biology class is also being taught um with with the same um content with the same rigor as the second um biology class. And so we're going to continue that work for the upcoming school year uh because that's an important piece. Um couple other things. Um attendance as we are um aware that attendance really also uh plays uh factor within as you see graduation rates as an example. And so we've actually have um a an attendance team um on site that we started um and um we have members for our districtwide attendance team. Um, I know that uh when I met with uh county um workers, county members um with Dakota um specifically last summer, uh they had mentioned to me that it's been years since um anyone from administration has met with them um as county workers. And so right from the beginning uh this school year um we've collaborated with them. They provided some u additional interventions and support. Um, and so that will eventually um catch up and and uh um I'm excited in the direction that we're going around uh the focus of attendance not only as a school but as a collective district because because every day matters and it's important. Uh and then lastly um some of the things that we're trying to um really continue to bridge and find ways to um to bridge is our family engagement. And so ensure that our uh family members truly know from the beginning in 9th grade. Here's what needs to happen when it comes to um graduation. How many credits? What is a credit? What is the systems that are in play all the way through um the senior year? And so not waiting until that last few weeks, the last month surprise. It's more of a a drip um approach. And so we're excited about what we've started this year and how that is trickling in. So, can I say one more thing? We also meet with all new student families individually, which I don't know that all schools I I don't know. I've not been in that situation, but I feel like that's an atrisisk group of students when they're moving in. Meet with them individually, make sure their families understand where they're at and also understand um our graduation requirements if they differ from their school they're coming from. Sure. Sorry. You're good. Great. Great. And um now I'd like to uh invite Kelly Ron and her uh counselor Robin to uh share for virtual academy in Boston. Good evening. Um while Lori was speaking, there was several things I thought, oh, I could have put that down, too. Um, one of the things, so I'm putting on my virtual academy principal hat cuz they're two very different programs. BOA is, you know, an alternative learning program that's on quarters with credit acceleration, whereas virtual academy is on semesters that matches what the high school with what BHS is doing. So they're they're very different programs. Um, but looking at the uh virtual academy graduation rate, when we're looking at percentages, the sample size is much smaller. So we have 35 students that that are in that um 63% column. So 13 students didn't graduate in that column and seven of them were continuing. Um five of them did drop out and one was unknown. But of those 13 students that did not graduate in 24 2024 um zero of them were there more than a year in virtual academy. Six of them were one year in virtual academy. Two of them were six months or less in virtual academy and four of them were less than three months in virtual academy. And I say that because it's good to look at that data to say how do we work on those transition plans as the seniors come as seniors into virtual academy to work on that four-year graduation rate. Um and I'll get to some of the things that we've done for 9th through 12th graders that will have an impact for students that stay in Virtual Academy and then some of the ideas we have um for that. And Robin, our counselor, will share some of that as well. Um, I asked some students. I usually do some sort of exit survey for BOS and VA students to see um what worked for them, what suggestions they have, and that's where some of the best um planning comes from, hearing their voices. Um, so the students I talked to or sorry um these are some of the comments that they said. The first one um what helped you graduate on time? So these are all students that are going to graduate um in a couple weeks. Um the students at family counselors um doing volunteer work. So that some of that pairing that goes with BHS, the volunteer credit, we don't have that separate for VA, but we're working with BHS. And you'll hear a theme of that as I present information about BOS and Virtual Academy, the connections and the partnerships we have with Burnsville High School. Um also the counselor, you'll hear constantly mentioned throughout. And this person said counselors. We have one counselor for virtual academy academy, Robin. And um she's been a fantastic addition this year to our program and really made the difference for a lot of our seniors this year. Um this student said doing thing at their own pace. There's weekly work given in virtual academy so students can work when it works best for them. We have a lot of students with full-time jobs that are doing their work in the evenings. We have a lot of some students who are training for different sports. And so that weekly work has really worked for students. Um again this person counselor and teachers checking on me. Um we do have advisors for virtual academy. We have a resource room for students to attend. So having that personal connection in an virtual academy at the high school is asynchronous which means there's no live class sessions. Um I know my team came and presented in my absence about a month ago. Um and so I know that they shared some of that information. Um, and then teachers met with me when I need extra help. Um, because it's asynchronous at the high school, teachers have they can schedule kids in whenever it works best for the kid and the student. And that really does or the student and the teacher. That really makes a big difference. Um, how did VA staff help you stay on track to graduate? My counselor helped me stay on track by updating me with everything I need to know and answering my questions. Um, again, she'll share a little bit more of that. She was constantly checking in with seniors all year long. had a senior spreadsheet, different colors, very organized. Um, supportive messages on assignment, assignments and emails kept me motivated. We really focused the virtual academy on doing some student recognition, honor role, student of the month, those kinds of things that we added this year for virtual academy. Um, lots of reminders, leniency on deadlines. We accept late work for virtual academy, but also help students make a plan when they get far behind. how are we going to get this work in so that it's not so overwhelming when you pull up schooly and see missing missing missing missing what plan can we make and teachers kind of accommodating different student needs um and then teachers always contacted me about my classes and answered my questions um we have a collaborative team for virtual academy high school that would take students and talk like say I'll talk to this student I'll talk to this student to make sure that we have um that continued communication with students about what they need barriers or challenges is um for students to stay on track for graduation. Sorry. Um a lot of students choose not a lot but there are a number of students who choose virtual academy for mental health. So that was a barrier for some students prior to being in virtual academy and then they were able to be successful in that environment. Um staying motivated, sticking to a schedule for some students that that's a big learning curve when you go into virtual academy and it's all asynchronous. you have to know there's no bell to say now work on your English, now work on your math. So, setting that schedule up. Um, my time span, I get uninterested and off topic fast. So, students work when it's best for them. Like I mentioned, we see a lot of schooly loginins in the middle of the night, 3:00 a.m., 2:00 a.m. Um, that's when students are doing some of the work. And then, um, running late to school and missing something important. In Virtual Academy, it's all there for you, so you aren't going to miss something. um suggestions students had um a couple of them had said nothing. Their experience was great. They had happiness and free time. Um some students do daily check-ins with an individual, whoever their go-to person is, they meet every single day just to say hi or check in. Um the weekly drops of assignments they liked and um they most of them gave very positive feedback for that question. Um, so some of the some of the things that we do in virtual academy, I mentioned some of them while going through those quotes. Um, we're really working on a a referral and transition process. Um, and when I get to BAS in a little bit, that's standard work for us at BOS now, the transition process. And now in Virtual Academy, we have a full-time counselor and uh we have a social worker, we have an interventionist, we have things we didn't have before that we can make that a more robust transition process for those students that are only going to spend a year, six months, two years that aren't going to be with us their whole high school career. So trying to make that transition a little bit um better for students. Um one of the things that's been very helpful is my partnership with um Jesus this year. we meet monthly and talk about things that all three high schools um are working on or how we can better work together on things and that has been very invaluable this year as well. Um you'll see that there was lots of things that are highlighted or in bold that were new this year um that we added just beginning this year. We have daily advisory for 9th through 12th grade students. It is asynchronous advisory. It's not a live session, but there is things that teachers are doing to coordinate with parents and students daily for um 9th through 12th graders. Um, and we have individual advisory plans where students are finding talking through how many credits do you have even starting obviously at the beginning of nth grade you don't have credits yet but showing here's the classes you're going to need throughout and they have an adviser dedicated to them for 9th through 12th grade and that was something new that we added this year the advisory plans um data collection was something that I've been doing at BOS for many years that I implemented in virtual academy this year where we do four learners charts at the midc quarter of each quarter to see which students are in the red, the yellow, the green, and the blue. So, we could have targeted intervention with our interventionist and counselor and our student support team to um target students that needed different tier one and tier 2 and tier three interventions. Um I have reflection meetings with each individual staff member after each grading period to go through all of their student grades and what did we try for this student? Um what do you know about this student? so that when I'm I can share that at our student support teams and um the team can talk about that. I've been doing that at BOS for years. I just started implementing this whole data collection system which has about five different components um this year in virtual academy as well. And then in virtual academy we also did unit recovery at the end of the semester. So students that were between 45 and 59% what units did they need to finish? So we gave a two-eek window and had an organization sheet with our interventionist counselor myself to to get them just over that hump so they weren't having to redo the whole class because they ended at 58.2% or whatever the case. So that really did help a lot of students make it over that and teachers were able to say this is the unit they're missing. Um and again that's new in virtual academy this year and I've been doing it at BOA for maybe four or five years and it does make a significant difference. An interventionist was new this year. Um Jill Peeper, our high school virtual academy interventionist. We also added one to middle school intervention, but we're here for high school today. But um she is she meets with students all day long, individual Google meets, helping them with assignments um throughout the day and and has teaches them how to advocate to their teachers, ask them for this. That's been a fantastic addition as well this year. Our student support team isn't new, but we meet weekly, but we added teacher voice to the meetings this year. So, we spend about an hour and a half once a week talking about individual students and their um trying to get them on track to graduate. Um I mentioned this several times now, but I creatively staffed having a virtual academy full-time counselor. Um and I believe it made all the difference to have full-time, but Robin is amazing. And so that has made a huge difference in virtual academy this year to have a full-time dedicated counselor to our 6th through 12th grade virtual academy students um for families and for students. Um and recognizing student success, I kind of mentioned we did more things this year. We enhanced it in 2425. Um Robin's going to talk about some of the individual things that she's done as the counselor. And then um like I mentioned, we meet in collaborative teams for the high school virtual academy teachers all together once a week and discuss student and student progress. And then we also do have credit recovery in virtual academy as well. Um and then one of the things it's not a bullet point on here that we're thinking about is and Robin will talk about students come into virtually virtual academy credit deficient. Um and and so how is there a way to create some of the types of ALC things that we're doing at BAS in virtual academy which would look different but those are some of the things that we're thinking about. So, so this is Robin Deneco and um she's going to kind of share a little bit about her first year as virtual academy counselor and what she's done. I think it would just be helpful to understand like who our clientele is. Um we have 82 seniors this year. Of the 82 seniors, 46 seniors transferred in at some point in the school year. Of those 46 students, 33 came credit deficient, severely credit deficient. And um some of the backgrounds like that makes virtual academy different than the other high schools. It this is what they give as a reason for coming over to the virtual academy. Um they're working full-time. They're watching their siblings, their mental or physical health concerns, safety at the high school, and flexibility. Um, so for this year, of our 82 senior 80 82 seniors, um, 13% will be returning this fall. Four of those students were originally VA students. So, four out of the 82 will of our of of the seniors will be returning this fall. Um, in terms of graduation planning, each student receives a plan of how to to attain their diploma. Um, we believe in communication, communication, communication. Can't overcommunicate both to the student and to the family just so that they always understand. So, it could be through advisory um that we're emailing families. They get those updates once a week, but also like towards the end right now where it's crunch time. You know, it's also meeting with families outside of regular hours because again, a lot of our seniors are working full-time. We have one senior in particular has two full-time jobs and we're trying to get him to the finish line because he has an apprenticeship sign like already ready to go to be an electrician. And so we we are here no matter what their pathway is going to be to make sure that they get there. Um personalized supports that we have for our students. Um Principal Ron already alluded to them, but we have teacher office hours daily. We have a resource room open daily from 12 to 1:00 staffed with a teacher that students can pop in if they just have a simple question or they can take a longer period of time. Um and then we have the interventionist. um who also meets individually with students if they don't understand the cont context. Um and then lastly, just our student support team. Um we meet weekly and there's five of us that take different points on is this an attendance concern, is this a content concern, is this uh they just need a a person in their corner. Um, so we just have a really great team and I know it's numbers-wise not not as many, but I do believe that it's going to continue to grow and grow because of the flexibility that it provides families. So that's it for [Music] me. Okay, now I'm going to put my Bos hat on. And um so for BAS, we've really since I think this is my sixth year at BOS and we've really been focusing on four-year graduation rate because we know that some of our kids are going to take longer because one of the criteria of coming to BOS is being most nearly all students are behind in credits when they come. However, we've had this shift into focusing on four-year graduation rate. And I think we've seen some results from that focus in that time. um in asking some of the students their voice. Um one of the big things that I hear from BA students. I'm sorry. I'm going to be your helper. It's okay. I'll be your assistant. And um having teachers come up to them. You know, we talk a lot about about it at BOA to check in with students, not ask how do you need any help? Because the answer might always be because I got this. So really focusing on that um that help to students and and this student did call that out. Um a lot of motivation came from family and staff here at BOS. Um for those of you that um may come to BAS graduation, you'll see just how tight the staff and students are at BOS as well as the families. Um students at Bos have to do a continuous learning plan throughout their time. When they start at BOS, they see all the credits they have. um they're highlighted in different colors. How many do I need? When will I graduate if I do this many this time? Go to credit recovery. And then they set goals in in postsecary personal goals and academic goals each quarter. And the teacher meets with them during advisory to go over those each each quarter and they stay with that same teacher throughout their time at BOS. So up to four years um if a student didn't graduate on time and start we were we started in 10th grade. Um so they this student acknowledged knowing how many credits it's some students come in not knowing how many credits do I have how many do I need um going to school every day and getting my edge annuity or credit recovery done was support that helped this student from Bos graduate on time and one of the focuses for us is creating connection um student attendance improves academics improve everything with that relationship that we build um how did b staff help you to graduate um supportive flexible [Music] Um, this person said they made me feel like a person, always made me smile at least once per in each class. I was really happy with that feedback. Um, motivating me to keep going, checking in with me daily. Every teacher caring, always helped out any way they could. They made sure that if I wanted to pass, they would help it make it happen and push me. Um, they pushed me and reminded me what I needed to do to graduate. And again, um, we have daily advisory at BOS for 45 minutes. with that um teacher barriers or challenges. Um this person's challenges at their other high school was um just big assignments and we really try to break things down for students into manageable tasks. A lot of our students at BOS are also working quite a bit. Maybe their parents or they're helping out at home. Um so trying to break that down into manageable chunks. Um attendance. I couldn't push myself to show up to something that I dread so much for seven hours a day. um we still have a full school day, but um we have block classes and for some students that really works. They only have four classes plus their advisory throughout the day. So that's less transition, less um different um classes to do homework for and we keep most of the work in the classroom. So it's classwork versus homework. Um suggestions for students to stay on track, get more comfortable with students, push them to let them know how important it is, keep staff around that create bonds with students. Um, and then make sure they're focused and off their [Laughter] phones. Um, so our strategies and actions at BOS, um, some of them are are repetitive like I mentioned. Um, but the four-year graduation rate started several years ago where I myself, my counselor, not Robin, but I have a a BOS counselor Molly Romano who, um, is instrumental in um, BA graduation as well. Um, we meet with the counselors at BHS, so Lori here and then all the other counselors four times per year and talk through each and every student that's being referred to BOS. Um, so that we have a background understanding of um what interventions they've tried at Burnsville High School, what worked, what other things we should know, what other services they're receiving. So we have um personal meetings with each counselor separately um at each quarter break right before students come to BAS. Um I mentioned the continuous learning plans already the daily strive um students work can work on credit recovery during that advisory time as well. So that's where the BOS students are doing the bulk of their credit recovery. Um the data collection process that I mentioned that's standard work at BOS. We've been doing that for um several years now. Um I we have a new position at BOS an interventionist who has a math background that's been very beneficial um this year and we will again next year. Um so that person meets individually with students or small groups or goes into classrooms and helps small groups within the room depending on the student needs and a lot of the data of who he's working with comes from the things that I mentioned when I was discussing the four learners charts earlier. um student support team at BOS. We also meet weekly and we added teachers voice to those meetings as well this year. So each week we're talking about those students that maybe aren't on track for graduation. Um we have pathways classes that students are involved in at Burnsville High School and we each year have more and more students accessing those as well as students who might need an EL class at Burnsville High School or a special education class. so that we're we're using our resources together as one district um to try to make the best individual student for or individual schedule for each student. Um the work program is something that helps students graduate because they can take a work experience class and then they can get up to four credits for their job. Um they have to do some reflection um with our work experience coordinator. that really does help a lot of students be able to get graduated in four years because a a lot of students are already working. Um our counselor does grade level meetings for juniors and seniors to focus on the skills they need for the next steps. Um we have a lot of students at BOS that go on to post-secary and she um works with their planning for that and students going out into the workforce trying to help them um do some planning through Zello which I think is mentioned perhaps later. Um she does individual meetings with every 12th grader to let them know at the beginning of the year. We also send the letters that Lori had mentioned for high school. And then for collaborative teamwork at Buzz, we focus a lot on SEAL um social emotional learning for our students. How do we make the environment so welcoming and develop those personal relationships to get the attendance to improve? A lot of students come to BAS because of attendance um from either their traditional high school or wherever they're coming from. They're just not attending. So, we really focus on building relationships. And I think that's the conclusion of my two schools. Thank you. and and thank you to um the folks from VHS Virtual Academy and BOA for sharing just really some of the really intensive things that they're doing to focus on um that graduation rates. In addition to graduation rates, the comprehensive achievement and career readiness goals also focus on um education, our education on preparing students for rigorous demands of post-secary study and work. Um one school board dashboard indicator around is around the enrollment and completion of rigorous coursework. And for the purposes of this data and the charts that you'll be seeing, a rigorous course is defined as a course that is eligible to earn college credit. Um, here we see the uh three-year enrollment enrollment trends of some gains in and you can see the gains in enrollment in grades 10 and 11 and some declines in grades 9 and 12. The achievement integration plan goal is around rigorous coursework and focuses on the equity and access with the goal of reducing the under reppresentation of black, indigenous, and other students of color. While the enrollment of at least one rigorous course for white students remained the same, there was a decline in enrollment for students of color, which then continued our disproportionality. Students may engage in rigorous coursework in multiple ways. advanced placement, concurrent enrollment, which includes college in the schools and our Inenver Hills programming, and post-secary enrollment options or PSO, where students attend school outside of our own campus at the at the uh college university that they choose. Here you see that students are enrolling in college credit eligible courses in advanced placement and concurrent enrollment at similar rates while post-secary enrollment options or PSO is significantly smaller. But enrollment doesn't tell the whole story. Um the enrollment rate might be similar for AP and concurrent enrollment courses, but the college credit attainment differs greatly with 132 credits earned in AP and 918 credits earned through concurrent enroll enrollment which really reflects about 33 34% of our students who engage in an AP course are earning credit where almost 98% of our students who are enrolled in concurrent enrollment are earning their college credits. And finally, one other indicator of college readiness is um the percentage of students who do enroll in postsecary education who are required to take developmental courses because they are not fully prepared for the college level coursework. for Burnsville High School. That is only 9% of our students and 11% of our students districtwide who uh were uh required to enroll in developmental courses in their post-secary option enrollments. There are many different indicators for achievement uh comprehensive achievement and career readiness and I appreciate you taking the time to let us share the information around graduation, rigorous coursework and developmental courses. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, do board members have any questions or comments? Director Alt. Oh, sorry. I'm sorry. Thank you all. Um, this is a really great report. Um, I'm going to try to limit myself because I have lots of questions. Um, so comment in a statement in terms of credit recovery. Um, and I I'm not sure if this is um safe to say for both BAS and BHS, but our goal would clearly be um for us to be so successful that we put credit recovery out of business, right? Um, what are we doing to track that success specifically by cohort? Are you asking like how many credits people are earning or are you asking like how do we how do we know that where it's possible to get ahead? We are understanding that there are going to be students that come into credit recovery for a variety of reasons. the ones that are there, I guess. How how would you how would you reassure us that we're getting ahead with credit recovery to a point hopefully where it's the need for credit recovery is relatively minimal? Well, I know for my two programs, the the the discussions that we have when I meet with teachers is their course completion rate and that is growing in to to look at data in in virtual academy. Um, you know, it was when I started in virtual academy, we were at 54% of course completion. So then all the people who didn't theoretically would do credit recovery and semester 1 of this year is at 74%. So we've we're tracking that and seeing how it goes up. And some of that is like I mentioned the unit recovery catching those ones so you don't have to do the full unit recovery. And in BAS our um we've gone up continuously each year too because that's the data we're looking at to try to not turn those courses into credit recovery but to catch them sometimes at BOS the students are taking it for the second time. However, we're trying not to have it go into credit recovery. Exactly what you're trying to say. That's the data that we look at at BOS and VA specifically, how to not have it be credit recovered and to reduce that number. Yeah, Director All I I think um you have a great question and a comment. Um I think the um for us to say that we will always have credit recovery. We really would want us to at some point um minimize that. Um I know um certainly credit recovery is um reactive instead of a proactive approach. And so as I mentioned um earlier uh really focusing on that tier one um curriculum and alignment really is going to help us um year after year that foundation to ensure that we're not just simply being that reactive that proactive you know that all teachers within every department with every uh course alike has the foundation uh that they need. Um, so I'm excited about uh what the future looks like. And I think also um Kelly in your report I could hear and visualize that small school culture that you're building in terms of the academic and social emotional supports that really give um our BAS students the enrichment and um supports that they need to be successful. And that just came through really loud and clear which I which I appreciated. Um appreciated hearing um Principal Sandoval about um the 10 through 12 alpha grade change, you know, with the counselors. It'll be interesting to hear in future reports, you know, how that's how that's uh working out. Um in terms of so you had mentioned also in terms of grading you know you talked about making sure that every you know the the content is aligned and regardless of which teacher a student may have we know that it's going to be very comparable. Um what have we done to has there been need for um an alignment with attendance? How are we defining um you know um how are we defining an an an absence um and is it consistent across the board? Mhm. Yeah. No, I think that's a great question. Um so yes um it is defined um from uh from our state um in regards to what what does it look like um for um a student that would be I believe it's 90% um and I I'm looking excuse me I was asking Amy if she wanted to come since she does the attendance pilot too if she can help. Go ahead. Sure Principal Sandival. Yep. Um and so um what I what I know I don't want to miss misspeak on percentage-wise but I know from a state um there's a a clear um level that that um allows us to mark when students um are um whether they're at risk or not um given that particular level and and we certainly um abide by that uh within um within each school within the district. Um but in regards to uh what we're specifically um doing, we are um one of the nice things that we've uh done as a district is um we've brought in um Educ Climber um as a as a resource. Um it's a platform that allows us to um see many things that we weren't able to see. Um and so uh nothing um with some of the other uh platforms that we have, but um that has allowed us to u be really intentional on um some of our uh tier 2 and tier three supports uh when it comes to the interventions um anything from uh um a simple phone call um home um to more rigorous um where we have some students that have are on an attendance plan. Um I mentioned before the um the need to continue to collaborate with our with our county partners and so um they really um have helped um and stepped up with um with their um their work um and collaboration and so that's been helpful. So yeah, it starts with um us being obviously out of the gate for ninth grade and and setting the tone and really ninth grade academy has provided that um at some point you know bringing in um perhaps some ninth grade teachers that would be able to speak about the academy in itself and as we look at the data um within our nth grade uh specifically um students um there there are successes that are that are happening because of the intentionality of taking um a large idea and really focusing in uh on um intentional support uh with um teachers that are um that you have within a cohort. Um and so um speaking of the academy uh we are um currently have uh four teams and we're moving to um u two teams next year uh for the simple fact that um based on the feedback based on some other things that we recognize we're we're have another level um of of support. Um and it's been really um amazing to see um with our first year of implementation uh the amount of work that we're doing and how that is going to trickle through uh the next four years. And so yeah um certainly if Amy wants to come up and and share a little bit more perspective can offer that. So, so director Al just to clarify, were you asking about the consistent attendance or the technical piece? I think the technical piece if I'm a student and I show up, you know, 30, 25 minutes into a class, do I know that I'll be marked absent? Yeah. The it's the technical piece for I appreciate I appreciate the other information, too. That's awesome. Yeah. Um, so certainly the technical piece. Um, yes. um our staff um is aware of um absences and tardies and what the differences are and um one of the things that we've done uh that this is our full our first year of implementation as well is brought on a uh platform um it's called securely um and so uh before there was um five seven uh different uh pass systems paper passes etc and so this was our first year of implementing fully Um and that's been really helpful because that's provided us uh with data and that's also provided um students with visual of what um green means go. Uh red means you don't have a pass and you really can't go anywhere, right? And so there's other things that we're doing within that uh platform that allows us to um not only track and monitor but then put in that next level of what is the plan, what is the action and and see forth. So awesome. Yeah. I think one thought um Amina um that popped into my mind as you were presenting the rigorous courses and you know the percentage of students that attend PSO would it make sense to take into account in that same calculation just the AA degree itself because that's going to compete with PSO theoretically, right? any actually all of our rigorous courses should be able to compete with the attractiveness of PSO. Um and the AA degree students are wrapped into the concurrent enrollment. And so um we can really look at the next report how we might separate those out and see what that might look like. That'd be awesome. Thank you. Sure. Thank you. Y Director Saxi, thank you. Um, first, thanks for the great information and all the great work you're doing to drive each and every student towards graduation. Um, I was just a little curious about the numbers on the AP um, slide. Um, have we identified any barriers to kids actually going and registering and taking the exam? It was kind of interesting that, you know, a very solid majority of the kids who took the exam earned the credit, but we had more kids not take the exam than got the credit. So, is it something to do with not thinking they're going to pass or the registration and setup process to get set up for the exam or anything else that's at play there? Yeah, I think there's multiple variables. One of the things that uh our administrative team has um talked about and reflected on is that um I'm not sure if students are aware that they they can choose to take the AP exam even without taking the course. Um as an example, um students are familiar with um that option if they sign up for the AP course uh that they don't necessarily need to. it's not required to um take the AP um exam. Um but I but I know that there's other students within our system that their schedule doesn't allow um the uh taking of the AP course or there might be conflict with um a CIS course uh in Hills being a part of social arts. And so one of the things that we're reflecting on is how do we get that message out that any student can take in AP um course and so um I think there's work that we need to do in terms of the communication and education of our of our students. And I think we've also examined whether or not there's financial barriers, registration barriers, all of those particular pieces. And so we've done our best, especially at the high school, uh staff has really done a nice job of making sure that students know that none of those uh financial barriers or time barriers um will prevent them from engaging with the with the exam. Anderson, director Anderson, do you have I was just pointing Okay. Um thank you for your presentations. that's very um informational. So I just I had a couple of questions. Um so I found the story very interesting of the information about the students coming into virtual academy and how they're already credit deficit. Um, and it just makes me wonder because if that's affecting that graduation rate, if they're already coming in, um, needing so much assistance, um, how are we evaluating those students as far as is the virtual academy the right fit for them? I mean, and I mean, I guess it depends on each student, but if we're still having a struggle with those students then actually graduating, if you know, that's the amount of those students that come to us and then they end up not graduating. Um, what are we looking at as far as is this the right place for them if they're having a struggle? Um, I mean, they may seem like the virtual academy is something that, you know, might be right for them, but if they're having a lot of struggle, maybe in person is better, maybe the alternative high school is better. Um, what what are we doing as far as like trying to I I see like you're looking like you want to answer or do you have an answer? Well, for students that are coming from outside the district that are transferring in, um, those conversations are happening from the get- go. Okay. Because I require them to have a meeting with me before they can even register for classes. Mhm. Um, and so that's that's a conversation that's had just right at the beginning. Is this the best place for you? Um, we've had students that transfer in literally this year four out of 46 credits. And so, is this the as seniors, so is this the place for you? would Bos be a better fit, but it's always that in person that kind of trips them up that they would have to come in person for a period of time and so they choose to stay in the virtual academy. Um, and then we we've talked about developing a better process like with BHS to say whether or not this is a great fit because, you know, just that partnership of um, you know, sometimes they're sent to us because they are attendance problems up at the high school. And so maybe this might solve that problem because maybe they are working full-time as well and so they're just making it to the high school a couple days a week. And so I think when we're looking at individual students, we do meet with the families and it is a family choice of which program um that they're going to choose. But we now at the end of the year we'll look at virtual academy students who haven't been successful in virtual academy and say to the families maybe in person at BHS would be a better fit or maybe boss is a better fit or what supports can we offer you in virtual academy next year to have more success. Um but we do give parents all those options and sometimes their child this might be something that their child really wants to try and has convinced this is going to be work for me and sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. So we're constantly meeting with families and saying here's the options um for you to choose as a family which program you see best best because it is ultimately their choice. I know for students going from 8th to 9th grade now as they begin high school next year. Robin and I are um going to get information to families, 8th grade is synchronous. So students are in class all day. 9th grade is asynchronous. What skills do you need as an online asynchronous learner to be successful? Creating time schedules, organization, like those kinds of things or how can we help you develop those? So um we definitely some students come in for two or three months to virtual academy and then leave. they come and try it, it doesn't work, they go back to Burnsville High School or to the middle schools if they're in middle school or they come to BAS after a semester is unsuccessful. So, we're because of our numbers, we have about 250 students, 612 in virtual academy, we're able to, you know, know each student and what they need. So, we are continually having those conversations. Okay. So even if like they don't graduate at like the time they're supposed to, are we following them, it's to just to track them to say, "Okay, are you are you still on track to ex at least try to still get your diploma?" Yes. Um Robin mentioned that what number were coming back next year we there from our virtual academy that are going to stay in virtual academy to graduate and I think it was slide six of the slideshow that showed our 5-year graduation rate in virtual academy was very high. I believe it was 88%. So there is some students actually come into virtual academy their second senior year because they don't want to go back to either BOS or BHS. So they're going to finish in virtual academy. So that is another group of students who come that do finish by that data did show that that fifth year they did do. Okay. So so how does I mean that maybe this is a question for you Amina. So if if students don't graduate on time but they still graduate how does that impact graduation rates? Sure. So uh the state tracks four-year graduation rates. So if they don't meet that four-year milestone they're considered not graduating. And then if you remember on slide four we talked about the outcome. So, some students are continuing, some are eventual graduates. So, um this last past summer, the class of uh 2024, we had 25 students who didn't hit that that milestone, but did graduate then with credit recovery or summer school over the time. And then the ones that are were continuing, we had probably I I think we had um another 40 students who were continuing on at one of our other three sites. And so we do track them and then they show up in the five and sixyear graduation rates. Okay. All right. Um I just, you know, I want to ensure that we're still like I mean considering that students don't always graduate on time but they still graduate and that's Yep. And we track and we track four year, 5 year, six year and sevenyear graduation. Okay. Okay. Great. Thank you. Um I don't have any other questions but thank you very much. Great. Thank you. Okay. Moving on, we will now receive a report about an update to voluntary prek from Jason Sers, director of community services, and Amy Petroski, director of student support services. Welcome. I don't [Music] care. Bring one of these over. Chair Worb, Superintendent Battle, and members of the board. Pleased to be here tonight to offer you an update around voluntary prek uh scheduling uh for the upcoming school year. I'm Jason Sers, director of communic uh community education, and I'm glad to be here with Amy Petroski, director of student support services. All right. Uh there are four learning goals from this presentation. We want to talk to you about some of the adjustments we've made. Uh we want to talk about some of the alignment that ECSSE has done to support some of our most at risk students in early childhood. There's a little bit of history at the end of the PowerPoint should you want to to look at that. Uh and there's also some statutory requirements that we put in there because sometimes they answer the the questions that you may have. First and foremost, um we're adjusting the amount of student contact days next year for VPK students in elementary buildings. Uh this is primarily uh because we are seeing great results with VPK. We have parent feedback that's difficult to find child care for just Mondays in a month, right? Some nods up there. Uh we also know that if we're getting pretty darn good results with VPK, as you discovered a couple of weeks ago when Allison and I were here, um that more school could equal even better results. Uh the third piece is that it also increases average daily membership which would mean we would have a result net increase of um uh budget year-over-year and maximize the amount of ADM that each student could generate at this point. If you're in an elementary school and you're in BPK, we generate about 041. That difference between 041 and 6 is large when it comes to finance. We are moving from 140 student contact days to 162. Of course, BPK Diamond Head has always been full day. Uh and we expanded to three sections last year based upon uh family need uh and uh requests to have more all day programming. So, we try to increase that instructional time. We also want to align as much as possible given that there are statutory requirements that make VPK different with the K12 schedule. All right. So there's a lot of um really good um opportunities here for early learners who have unique abilities as well. Um adjusting the student contact days from four to 5 days per week ensures that all kindergarten eligible students regardless of the setting receiving are receiving consistent and equitable access to early learning opportunities. By increasing the instructional time the average daily membership weight increases from 38 to49 in special education. He may have a different one in BPK. we have a little bit different um things in um in our ECSE but the adjustment will result in a significant increase to the general education revenue and directly is tied to the number of students that are in that we are currently serving so a 5-day model promotes stronger routines deeper skill development and more continuous learning particularly in literacy numeracy and social emotional development this expansion supports a stronger transition to kindergarten reducing the need for early interventions The proposed schedule change will not increase the contact days or workload for our ECSE teachers related and related service providers. Licensed staff will remain current uh responsibilities while students benefit from the increased instructional time. Our level four EAS will increase from four to 5 days work days per week to ensure adequate support for students across all five days are had. This adjustment aligns with support staff schedules with students needs without altering any licensed staff contracts. The shift to five-day model is projected to generate an additional $87,000 in special education revenue reimbured at 65% in eligible costs. These funds will help offset the increased cost for support staff while reinforcing the commitment to early intervention and equitable access. Enhancing instructional time increases the average daily membership with direct directly generates more special education revenue and general education funding. Students benefit from more consistent and frequent access to essential uh to essential supports such as speech, occupational therapy, physical therapy, leading to stronger progress towards their IEP goals and objectives. A 5-day work week provides greater consistency and appeal to potential staff members seeking a full-time position. supporting stronger hiring and retentioning practices. Increased staff time allows for more intentional training and coaching opportunities for our educational assistants and um and other team members. More instructional days enable improvement of coordination between our ECSE teachers and related service providers support staff enhancing the quality of service for each of the students. and a 5-day work schedule allows for increased adaptability in aligning services to individual student needs for piloting innovative supports and processes within our structures. Um, as you can see, uh, our our partnership with our, uh, ECSC staff and director Petroski is really important. You know, we have nine ECSE teachers, 10 ECSE assistants that in any given day are in classrooms with students all day, both AM PM and uh here at Diamond Head. We also have other building supports in our system, including of course principles, social workers, and the infrastructure that exists there. In addition to that, Dr. or soon to be Dr. Petroski uh and uh director of curriculum and instruction uh Mina Oftall led uh the PK through3 partnership in which the board received outcomes that we've aligned our work to uh increasing instructional time and the quality of that instructional time was one of those outcomes. Uh little bit of history. Uh uh and I know you some of you have seen this before. Uh BPK started in 201718. When it started, we had four classrooms across four schools. It was 144 students. In uh this school year, uh we have uh three approximately 340 students currently enrolled. You can see the breakdown of teacher and program assistance. Uh we have 390 total seats. So we have 50 seats that we don't have enrolled yet at this point in time. um because we don't have those students. History of prek um community education has led uh early childhood programming outside of ECSE um in the district. Uh and you can see a little bit of a history how there's been some name changes and some other pieces, but VPK was really the game changer in 2017. Uh that pre kindergarten program and those seats awarded by the state along with the associated funding has been a gamecher for students and for families. and you remember the data from a couple of weeks ago. There are other statutory requirements. There are actually a lot of new statutory requirements. I'm not going to go into detail on this. The big piece though to know is that the legislature decided to apply new eligibility criteria. I mentioned this when we came a couple of weeks ago. The new eligibility criteria essentially indicates that students have to qualify based upon a number of specific identifiable um factors and if they don't then uh parents would have to pay a fee. We've developed that fee structure so that it would keep uh the fees low while still providing the same opportunity for equitable access for all families in our district whether it's free or whether there is a sliding fee scale. Uh there have been other statutory requirements. Last year, as some of you may remember, our entire VPK uh instructional team uh underwent uh the readact training uh led by Mina Oftall and uh uh Allison Jordan, our supervisor of education. Um of course, Propay with new legislature, uh early childhood educators are now part of the BEA contract. Um there have been changes and clarifications in ADM generation, hence budget implications for voluntary pre kindergarten students. Uh this year, last year we piloted he which is a literacy based instructional um program that is in our K12 our K5 system. This year we are fully implementing that. So we're looking forward to seeing the explicit finance instruction outcomes after we collect that data from this year's students for next year. Last uh VPK curriculum is different in many ways than K5 curriculum and one of the reasons why it's different is because we are required by statute to incorporate certain elements uh in the daily instruction and it has to be playbased. So you'll often people will go by VPK classrooms and why are those students they look like they're playing in there? Well, yes, yes they are. They are. and it's really uh targeted uh uh uh instructional playbased um and when you get used to it and you get into the classroom, you start to see what those things actually manifest as uh for students. Thank you. Thank you. Um do any board members have questions or comments? Director Al to give others a chance. go first. Thank you both. Um, couple of questions. So, just to clarify, districtwide, um, VPK for ECSE will be 5 days regardless of location. Yes, we're going to be moving to 5 days a week for some students. So, our three and four year olds may not be able to handle a five-day routine. And so, um, we we don't have a shortage of special education students in our ECSE programs. And so, the, um, opportunity that we have by going 5 days is that we can think outside the box to make sure that students are able to come in and get that instruction over 5 days rather than try to squeeze everything in 4 days. And so, we're able to bring in students that might receive speech services at a at their location. we're able to bring them into our buildings and do that during some of those days because of that opportunity for that fifth day. So, a lot of our students that are in birth to three, when they turn three, they turn to what in the special education world a different kind of IEP. And so, when that happens, they don't necessarily receive those inhome services like they have in the past. And so, we have to have time for them to come in and continue their services. So, um, that 5 days a week increases that opportunity for us to really think outside the box and how we're going to best meet their needs and have access to all of their related services in one place. I must be confused. I thought this was specific to VPK. Yep. So, VPK, the three the three and fouryear-old program is different from VPK. No, it Yes. No, it is different, but our ECSC still runs on that is going to continue to run on that 5-day program. So all of our kindergarten eligible students, if they're here in ECSE at Diamond Head, are going to have access to the same number of minutes as any other kindergarten eligible student, no matter of their abilities. So that is just aligning to what our our all of our students. So they all have the same access to time. So then the three and fouryear-old program, as you said, is different. It's going to be different. Yeah. Yeah, 5 days of that it it may not be easy for our three and some of our four-year-olds to have that. So, well, that was going to be my next question cuz I um I hear a lot of benefits that are adult- centric understanding also increased access to learning benefits students developmentally and emotionally. Um, do we know that moving moving this to a 5-day offering that the students are ready for that? That we have the necessary supports in place to ensure that, you know, we just went through a round of interviews where candidates were very clear that we needed to make sure that um that we support the special needs of our students and also make sure that all students can access learning. Correct. Um, so yes, I think that this will much better align and prepare them for kindergarten. So when they're only here like 4 days a week and with that routine for 2 and 1/2 hours and then we put them into 5 days a week without that really good transition. I do think that this will benefit all of our students to prepare them more appropriately for their transition into kindergarten. And I think that that 5day will also increase a lot of their um a lot of their academics that they're going to possibly need in kindergarten. and as well as that social emotional. I also believe that with the increase of um our VPK in downstairs, it will allow us to do a lot more innovation and inclusion for a lot of our students that right now don't have access to general education el kindergarten eligible students at this time because we are at a location that is only special education. So we will also have opportunities for that. So, more opportunities for inclusion, more opportunities to get their skills and to um transition into kindergarten. But the ECSE students are in VPK. No, not all of them. No, we have kindergarten eligible students that are here at Diamond Head Education Center 4 days a week, same as they are in the general ed or in the buildings. But yes, we do have uh several kindergarten eligible students that are accessing their um special education services here only. Got it. So then with the expansion, you're saying we will and the additional revenue funding that's generated, we will be able to enhance the supports for those students to actually be in those classrooms. Well, the I mean, yes, like you wouldn't you wouldn't just put add add a number of students into a classroom without an adult to go with them who's trained to go to to help students. Correct. And so we have um we've already been working with all of our educational assistants that are here 4 days a week because in special education they're only here four days a week. So they are willing to come in that fifth day a week because a lot of them do want to work five days a week. And so, um, they were all excited. Mo, a lot of our educational assistants that are working in that 4 day a week, um, have offered themselves out that fifth day to go and support out in our elementary buildings if we happen to have an educational assistant that is out sick and away. So, we're already some of them are already supporting wherever they can. And then that Tuesday through Friday, they're here at Diamond Head Education Center. Gotcha. Um and then turning to one last question. Um in terms of going back to the statement about the VPK that's um in the school sites versus Diamond Head. I remember when my kids were um were at elementary and you know VPK had just been added. Um the kids had the same the kids in our school sites had the same access to those specialists, the art, the fied um and the media center. What kind of equity do we have for our students here at Diamond Head in terms of that access? Yeah, I think the program you referring to, I don't know if that was VPK. I think that might have been Tiny Tots and that was preschool. It wasn't Tiny Tots. Um, I have no uh information. Uh, I I even called Tom and Cindy Czech. To my knowledge, VPK students in buildings have not had access to specialists, per se. Like, they're not on a specialist schedule because they're only there for 3 hours. Not anymore. To my knowledge, we haven't had in the program to my knowledge as a volunteer in the schools. Nope. Um, uh, the way the program is set up for half-day models in the schools, we, if we were going to add a specialist to the schedule, it would have to add time. Mhm. Um, and then we wouldn't be able to do AM and PM. And what that would result in is an all day program everywhere, which would more than triple the cost of the program. Sure. So, I understand what you're saying. And media center as well. Yeah. Beyond beyond the adults, our Yep. Our current VPK students do access media centers. Uh I did an observation about a month and a half ago and the teacher brought after the observation, my part of the observation was over, they then went to the media center and and they do those sorts of things. Um they also get so the curriculum is different, right? And so the playbased piece plus the recess piece is included in there. So but they don't get formal specialist uh the way that uh the way that you're asking. At Diamond Head, they don't have formal specialists either. They used to, I think, you know, from what Cindy said, um, Cindy Czech, the former coordinator of early childhood, she indicated that, uh, they brought in special like a special music group, paid additional money to bring them in. There was a special there was something else. I forget what it was, but it wasn't specialist per se. At least not here at Diamond Head. Got it. I I guess my only thought is wherever we can, we want to be mindful of what we're offering students in our schools that are in the half-day programs versus um and and the resources of a of an elementary site versus what's here at Diamond Head and and and they are different. Yeah. Thank you. Yep. You're welcome. Uh thank you both. [Music] Lastly, are there any reports from board members regarding board committees, appointments, and school assignments? [Music] Any committee work? Yeah. Okay. Legislative policy. Okay. Sure. Legislative committee um did not meet um and so I have nothing to report there. Um 917 had its meeting on um May 6th and um I mean they approved policies, but what was really great was meeting the ITRA registered teacher apprentices in the program and so hearing based on them their experiences in um working to get their teachers license while being in the classroom and being advised. And I thought that was um really great. They had nothing but wonderful things to to say and and I think the district's looking forward to that expansion. So I think there will be licensed some are going to get their lensure by next year. I think uh policy uh committee met uh this past Tuesday and uh we have a number um of policies coming forward with no change. Uh wanted to highlight that the new policy covering cell phones will also be coming forward. Um and there was a recommendation from the policy committee to bring that policy forward with the understanding that uh additional regulations will come forward after that to provide additional detail and clarity and the next time we meet is June 17th at 5:00 here at Diamond Head. Okay. Um thank you. This incl this concludes the information portion of our meeting. We will now move to the business portion of our meeting. We will start by approving the consent agenda. Although board action is required, it is generally unnecessary to hold a discussion on these items. In the event a board member wishes to discuss an item, that item will be moved for separate consideration. Do board members wish to remove any items from the consent items? Is there a motion to approve tonight's consent agenda? So moved. Moved by Director Hume. Second. Second by Director Anderson. All those in favor say I. I. All oppose say nay. The motion carries unanimously. In the first item under new business, we are being asked to adopt a resolution for membership in the Minnesota State High School League. Presenting this resolution will be athletic director Kevin Kleiner. Welcome, Director Kleiner. Thank you, board chair, uh, Superintendent Battle, and members of the board. Uh, yes, it's just the annual renewal of our Minnesota State High School League membership. Um, answer any questions you have. Obviously, being a member of the State High School League is the requirement to be in our conference to really play just about any school in our state. So not doing it would uh prevent us from having competition. So hopefully uh you are in favor of approving. Thank you for your time. Is there a motion to adopt the resolution to join the Minnesota State High School League for the next school year? So moved. Moved by Director Anderson. Second. Seconded by Director Chester. Is there any discussion? Having been moved and seconded, this resolution will require a roll call vote. So, in just a second, I will ask Sarah to call the role. And when she calls your name, please respond with either an I if you are in favor of the resolution or nay if you are opposed. Sarah, will you please make the roll call? Director Saxi, I. Director Anderson, I. Director Chester, I. Director Chair Bur I. Director Al I. Director Hume I. This resolution was declared duly passed and adopted. Next item we are being asked to adopt is the resolution of ISD 917 long-term facility maintenance plan. Once again presenting this resolution will be David Lake, director of operations. You skipped 191 191. Oh, sorry. Sorry. Next, we are being asked to adopt the resolution to approve the long-term facility maintenance program budget for FY26 for ISD 191. Presenting this resolution will be David Lake, director of operations. Good evening, board chair Worb, Dr. Battle, members of the board. Uh, each year we come to you seeking approval for our long-term facility maintenance plan. This is a 10-year comprehensive outlook. We put many items on the schedule that are approximately $100,000 or more. Uh but we do do uh well over 50 other smaller projects throughout the year. We do need to get this approved prior to August so that we can submit this information to the state of M Minnesota. They will then use this information to develop our tax levy that will come up in September for your final approval in December. The amount we are looking at now is taxable in the upcoming year and is payable in the following fiscal year. This is a 10-year map where we make adjustments based on the given priorities at each given time. The intent is to give the board and our community the flexibility to move things around as needed to best suit the needs of the district. It is my recommendation that the board of education adopts a resolution approving the revised long-term facility maintenance program budget for fiscal year 2027. Is there a motion to adopt the resolution to approve the long-term facility maintenance plans and budget for ISD 191? So moved. Moved by Director Alt. Second. Seconded by Director Hume. Is there any discussion? It is Whoops. It is time to make the roll call vote. Sarah, will you please make the roll call? Director Hume I Director Al I Chair Word I Director Chester I Director Anderson I Director S I This resolution was declared duly passed and adopted. The next item we are being asked to adopt is the resolution of ISD 917 long-term facility maintenance plan. Once again, presenting this resolution will be Dave Blake, director of operations. Thank you. Uh the explanation for approve approval is very much the same for this long term facility maintenance plan. We're doing this at the same time so that it'll be reflected in our local levy. Intermediate district 917 is a district that serves some of our students with unique and special needs. We are a member of that district and as a member, we help to cover some of the costs. District 917 is not able to levy directly. So, they go back to their members. Our portion of their long-term facility needs comes back to our district. We approve it and it becomes reflected on our levy. It is my recommendation that the board of education adopt the resolution of ISD 917 long-term facility maintenance program budget. Is there a motion to adopt the resolution of the ISD 917 long-term facility maintenance plan? So moved. Moved by Director Chester, second. Second by Director Saxi. Having been moved and seconded, this resolution also requires a roll call vote. Sarah, will you please make the roll call? Director Saxi, I. Director Anderson, I. Director Chester, I. Chair Word, I. Director Al I. Director H. I. This resolution was declared duly passed and adopted. Up next on our agenda is to approve the employment contract for the new superintendent of schools. On May 7th, the board unanimously voted to offer the superintendent position to Dr. Latana Daniels, which she accepted. Following her acceptance, negotiations began surrounding her contract. A copy of the contract has been included in the board materials for everyone for everyone's review. And tonight I am pleased to be bringing forward a formal recommendation to the board of approval to approve Dr. Daniels employment contract for the superintendent of schools for the Burnsville Egan Savage School District. Is there a motion to approve the proposed contract for Dr. Daniels? Second. Moved by Director Alt, seconded by Director Hume. All All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed say nay. The motion carries unanimously. The next item we are being asked to approve is the propay memorandum of understanding with Burnsville Education Association. Presenting this recommendation tonight will be Stacy Sovine, executive director of administrative services. Good evening, Chair Worb, Dr. Battle, members of the board. Each year uh we need to go through the process to approve anou with the burnsville education association for our uh qount program. Locally it locally it's identified as propay. Uh this was established in the early 2000s under the tempente uh governorship and is continued now for almost 20 20 plus years. Um the Q comp presentation I believe you'll have at our next board meeting which they'll kind of go through some more information how it's been running. Um they're also required to do that annually. We are making a couple of adjustments to the propayou uh updating dates but um primarily uh re uh reducing the number of observations and the total payout amount. um with declining enrollment and the increased amount of teachers that now fall under propay specifically are ready to grow our VPK programs uh the cost has gone up. So part of this is for budgetary uh reasons to stay within their budget for for the propay allocations. So with that, it is my recommendation that the board of education approve the proposed revisions and readopt the unchanged language in the 2025 2026 propay memorandum of understanding with the Burnsville Education Association. Is there a motion to approve the recommendation? So moved. Moved by Director Hume. Second. Seconded by Director Anderson. Is there any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Nay. The motion carries unanimously. Next on our agenda is a cost sharing agreement with Dakota County for election hardware software and related services. Presenting this recommendation will be Stacy Silvine, executive director of administrative services. Okay. Uh this recommendation addresses election hardware. Uh it is a shared responsibility with the different municipalities in Dakota County. Uh Dakota County is looking to update that equipment. It's been now a little over a decade since the last time it was updated. uh the bulk of the expense will be uh coming from the county then the townships and the cities and finally the smallest amount will actually be distributed amongst the school districts based upon the number of citizens within each boundary. So, uh, that cost is being, uh, distributed over 5 years. Um, and with that, it is my recommendation that the board of education approved cost sharing agreement with Dakota County for election hardware, software, and related services. Is there a motion to approve the cost sharing agreement with Dakota County for election equipment and services? So, move. Oh, moved by Director Anderson. Second. Second. Second by director Chester. Is there any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Nay. The motion carries unanimously. Thank you. In our next item on the agenda, we are being asked to adopt a resolution ratifying the issuance and sale of general obligation refunding bonds series 2025A. Presenting the resolution this evening will be Stacy Zelvine, executive director of administrative services, and Aaron Bushberger from Ellers. Welcome. Thank you. Uh before I provide the resolution, I will ask Aaron to just give you a little bit of the details how the whole uh process occurred. Um the very successful um bids and well, I'm not going to steal your thunder, so I'll be guarant. Thank you, Stacy. Good evening, school board members and Dr. Battle. Uh, as Stacy mentioned, we're very excited to be in front of you tonight. We had a very successful bond sale. Um, in your board materials is what's known as a sale day report. So, I'm just going to cover a couple of those items within the sale day report. Uh, that that just provides an overview of of how the sale went. So, again, we sold these bonds a week ago. Um, we received 13 bids, which is fantastic. It really shows strong interest in the district in your bonds. Typically, we like to see at least three bids. So, to have 13, uh, I think is just a real good showing on behalf of the district. Uh, the low bidder was UBS Financial Services out of New York. Uh, their bid was at 3.21%. And so, to put that into perspective, uh, my colleague Matthew Hammer was here a month ago. Uh, he, uh, at that point we were estimating, um, an interest rate a little bit higher than that. So, a month ago, we were um estimating savings of about $1.8 million and we ended up with savings of almost $3 million. So, over $2.9 million. So, again, uh really strong results. Um I will mention a couple of other things. Um so, uh the district receives what's known as a bond rating. So, think of it like a credit score when you're applying for a mortgage or a loan, right? Typically, the higher the bond rating, the lower the interest cost. So part of that process, you receive the state's uh credit enhancement rating. So the state guarantees your payments. So you get uh that state rating and then you also receive an underlying rating. And so that's uh currently at a double A3 uh for Burnsville. So um I will mention that um as part of that rating process, we go through about an hour call, hourlong call with the rating agency. Just wanted to give kudos to uh Stacy and Tyler and and their team. they did a fantastic job um and really represented the district well and I think that came through uh on the rating as well. So uh that just kind of gives you a highle overview um as a reminder uh back in March the board approved uh what's known as a parameters resolution meaning that if the savings was over $500,000 then that granted authority to the superintendent and I think the board clerk signed it a week ago at that point. And so just to be clear, the resolution tonight is ratifying uh that agreement that was put in place a week ago. So So with that, it is my recommendation that the board of education approved the resolution ratifying the issuance and sale of general obligation refunding bond series 2025A in the original aggregate principal amount of 33,325,000. fixing their form and specifications, directing their execution and delivery, providing for their payment, providing for the escrowing and investment of the proceeds thereof, and providing for the refunding of bonds refunded thereby. Is there a motion to adopt the resolution ratifying the insurance and sale of general obligation refunding bond series 2025A? So moved. Moved by director Saxi. Second. seconded by Director Anderson. Is there any discussion? Director Alt, just a clarifying question um for the sake of our community. The the the impact of um this bond sale is essentially we're we're allowing to we're returning money to our taxpayers. Yeah. And and I think it's important to note that um part of this refunding is we're paying off some of that debt faster, right? and that's why we're seeing uh that significant interest savings. So, it may not be an impact immediately uh but that is uh definitely in place uh a little bit further down the road long term. Thank you. Yep. Um having been moved and seconded, this resolution also requires a roll call vote. Sarah, will you please make the roll call? Director Hume, I. Director Alt I. Chair Bird I. Director Chester I. Director Anderson I. Director Sassy I. This resolution was declared dually passed and adopted. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. We really appreciate the continued partnership with the district and with Stacy and and Tyler and their team as well. So, thank you. Thank you. You Thanks. For our final agenda item this evening, I am asking the board to appro approve the smart goals for the ISD 191 board of education for 202526 that we prepared and planned out during a work session held on May 8th. Included in the board materials is a redline draft of the proposed changes which include the most significant changes to supporting and onboarding the new superintendent and outline special projects for the year the next year. Is there a motion to approve the board of education goals for the upcoming year? So moved. Moved by director al second. Seconded by director Anderson. Is there any discussion? have a question since I missed that meeting. Oh. Um, under the the first goal. Yeah. Goal one, one of the measures of progress is board members will engage with our district's cultural, parent, and family groups. Was there discussion about what that might look like? There was some discussion about that. Yes, there was. Sure, there was. Yeah. Yeah, it was. Yes, it was. um engaging in uh well receiving reports um also acknowledging that there are multiple uh parent groups throughout the district and a variety of ways to connect with them. Um in addition uh specifically someone mentioned uh among some of the other groups the APAC um family group sure that you know we've been collaborating with. Okay, cool. Thanks. Do you have other questions or I think that was the only one. I think everything else looked fine and made sense to me as I was going through it. Just that one just maybe what does that mean? Thank you. Sure. Um all those in favor say I. I I opposed. Nay. The motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Having no further agenda items, I now call to adjourn this meeting of the board of education. Thank you. [Music]