comp or propay has four components. Those components being career ladder advancement options. This includes our teacher leadership positions and responsibilities, job embedded professional development, which frequently utilizes our teacher leaders and professional learning community structures, which we call collaborative teams, teacher evaluation, and performance pay. The continuous improvement cycle is followed throughout the program's implementation of the four components. and I'm here today to present to you the findings of our annual review and share recommendations we have for the 2025 2026 school year. This year we collected data from administrators, probationary and tenur staff, teacher leaders on implementation, impact on instruction and impact on student learning. So our teacher leaders play a vital role in supporting probationary staff members and driving our implementation efforts. This year, our building leadership team or BLT members supported site direction and implementation of the school improvement plan. They supported collaborative teams through re through reviewing and providing feedback on CT goals as well as ongoing guidance, resource, and support as needed. They supported staff through the mentoring of new teachers, observations of their peers, planning and facilitating professional development, and participating in educationalbased decision-m. We have 83 mentors supporting almost 120 mentees across our district. Probationary staff rely on mentors for resource, emotional, institutional, and instructional support. 82% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that their mentoring relationship enhanced their ability and confidence to carry out their job responsibilities. 71% of collaborative teams or CTS indicate that they fully implement working through the plan to study act cycle in order to identify student needs and instructional strategies. This is a 10% increase from the previous year. CTS identify common learning targets and benchmarks for core instruction. analyze data to assess individual and group student needs, adjust groupings, tailor instruction, and implement research-based strategies and interventions. This collaboration supports differentiated instruction and help students make progress towards learning targets. The district has eight continuous improvement coaches or CIC's serving around 600 licensed staff members across 18 sites. CIC's conduct observations aligned with the Danielson framework and research-based best practices to support staff in meeting students needs. Tenured staff have the option to choose a collegial conversation choice in place of one of their traditional observations with their CIC. 92.9% of staff report that this observation choice, if elected, has a moderate to high impact on their practice. Probationary staff are primarily observed and evaluated by their administrators. Around 86% of both tenured and probationary staff report that the observation process has a moderate to high impact on their instruction or practice. The CIC team continuously seeks additional ways to support professional growth and respond to the diverse needs of our staff. This year we piloted learning walks with 63 probationary classroom teachers new to the district. Most participated in two half-day sessions facilitated by CIC's focused on observing and reflecting on Danielson domains two and three of the Danielson framework. During each session session, participants visited three to five classrooms to observe veteran teachers in action. 95% of staff agreed that the learning walk process supported their professional growth, enhanced their ability to reflect on and improve their practice, and that they would recommend this experience to other probationary staff. Based on feedback from the first round, we made adjustments to enhance the learning walk experience for staff. These changes led to increased average average participant ratings in round two. One key improvement was providing participants the opportunity to ask questions about the instructional decisions of the teacher they observed. These conversations between experienced veteran teacher teachers and those new to the profession or the district created meaningful moments to honor the expertise of our teachers, support the growth of probationary staff and foster professional connections for ongoing collaboration. Staff described the experience as beneficial professional development and expressed a strong desire for more classroom visits, extended observation time, and broader access to future learning walks. While it was encouraging to hear that staff found the learning walk beneficial, we also sought to understand whether the experience led to meaningful shifts in their instructional practice. Nearly threearters of staff who participated reported making a specific change to their instruction or professional practice. The most common changes involved implementation of relationship building strategies, classroom management routines, student engagement techniques, refining instructional delivery of our curriculum, or adjusting their own behaviors such as tone or use of non-verbals. The vast majority of these staff members felt those adjustments had a moderate to high impact on student learning. As CAC's facilitated the walks, we collaborated with administrators to align the focus areas with patterns they observed in classrooms. Administrators overwhelmingly saw value in the learning walk process as a support structure for probationary teachers. About half of them also reported seeing or hearing clear evidence that participants were applying what they had learned. To better support our probationary staff, we recommend expanding and refining the learning walk experience. Building on the foundation established during the pilot year, we can now implement the process with greater flexibility and responsiveness. CIC's will continue to collaborate with administrators to identify individual and group trends and tailor support accordingly. Based on survey results from the this year's QC comp, we offer the following additional recommendations for the 2526 school year. When asked about additional support needs of probationary staff, administrators, mentors, and probationary staff themselves consistently emphasize the importance of more coaching and feedback. With the recent reduction in the number of observations for tenure staff, we recommend CIC's increasing observation and feedback opportunities for probationary teachers. In response to last year's recommendation, we updated our evaluative rubrics for specialized roles. We consolidated 12 existing rubrics into two comprehensive tools aligned with the 2022 Danielson framework and current best practices. These revised rubrics better reflect the professional practices of specialized staff and create a more sustainable and viable system for feedback and evaluation. To support successful implementation, we recommend initial training for all staff on the new rubrics and ongoing calibration opportunities for evaluators and coaches to ensure inner reliability and alignment of feedback. Finally, with momentum from our leadership team's learning at the PLC Institute this summer and in alignment with Minnesota's multi-tered systems of support, we recom we recommend an increased focus on supporting collaborative teams. Emphasizing data-informed educational decision-m through the plan study act cycle will further strengthen CT's effort to improve student outcomes. Thank you for your time this evening. Great. Thank you very much. Thank you, board members. uh questions or comments? I have any? No. Um just I guess kind of a comment with a question. Um I've noticed that interrator reliability continues to be a theme year. Can you elaborate on um maybe why and and and what we're doing to do things differently and better? It's one of um also the requirements is to ongoing inter reliability opportunities as an ongoing professional development also as we have administrators move in and out of roles or have new administrators new coaches. Um the coach term is about 3 to 5 years. So that itself needs more iterator reliability um opportunities and just to ensure that our teachers are hearing feedback and that we're giving feedback aligned that no matter who's giving that teacher feedback, the feedback's very similar. I know. I really appreciated um kind of the the picture that you painted on the um the learning walks. Um, and great to hear that that's something that's expanding because um, just hearing over time um, that staff both appreciate it and benefit from it and by consequence our students um, that was really helpful as well. So um, thank you for this report. It was very informative and uh, appreciate you you presenting that tonight. Thank you. Uh we turn next to uh an update uh with Amina Oftall, director of curriculum instruction and assessment uh on the read act implementation report. Welcome Amina. Thank you uh Vice Chair Al Superintendent Battle members of the board. Uh thank you for the opportunity to update you this evening on the progress of the district's implementation of the state read act. The readact is a statewide initiative that is mandated by the state legislator uh legislature in 2023 um and has gone through a variety of updates each year. Um its purpose is to impact reading instruction across the state and align it with the science of reading and the legislation carries with it specific mandates uh and is supported with reserved funding. The read has three main components um screening and assessment uh curriculum and instruction and professional development. And I'll give you a brief update in each of those areas. The ReadAct has updated the requirements for literacy screening in this last year um since the initial adoption in 2023. Uh since then, the Minnesota Department of Education has been providing guidance and clarification around these requirements. Along with the fall and spring universal screening um using the state required assessments, a winter screening window was also added. Um as part of this change uh there was also a change in scoring that is now required for a subtest entitled nonsense word flex uh fluency and it is part of the requirement uh for screening all students for indicators of possible dyslexia. MDE has also mandated that in addition to submitting district summary data, which we have done for many years as part of the local literacy plan, um that districts are also required to have the student level test data information sent directly from the testing vendor to the department of education. How that data is being used has not been made clear to us. An individual oral reading fluency assessment has also been added to grades two and three three times a year, fall, winter, and spring. Students who do not meet grade level benchmarks for this fluency assessment are also required to then be screened with the nonsense word fluency test um for indicators of dyslexia. Recent guidance from the Department of Education um is uh requiring a yearly two-step screening process for all students in grades 4 through 12. School districts may select any standardized assessment for step one for all students. Um, and students who do not meet grade level benchmarks in reading are required to take an additional screener selected by the Department of Education known as CAPY Read Basic in order to screen for indicators of dyslexia. Students in grades 4 through 9 in our district are already screened with the state approved FastBridge A reading and that will be expanded to grade 10 for the 2526 school year for all students. um and um only those not meeting benchmark will also be required to take the CAPD read basic. We are waiting further clarification from MDE on options for screening step one for students in grades 11 and 12 before we move forward. The school district receives designated funds for the implementation of the screening and assessment each year. And the cost to meeting these screening requirements for this school district is estimated to grow from the 68,000 that we spent this year to about a h 100,000 for next year. The read act also seeks to guide school districts to use instructional materials aligned to the science of reading. This includes foundational literacy focused on phmic awareness, phonics, and fluency. Um we've shared with the board for many uh the last few years on how we've moved forward with many of those um um curriculum implementations and this year all elementary sites expanded the implementation of foundational literacy to grades 3, four and five. Um in grades K3 we are using the Hagerty Bridge to reading and functional phonics and morphology is what we're using in grades four and five. The cost for curriculum materials, training, and online resources for this year was just under $135,000. The annual renewal cost for next year will be $99,000. In November, MDE will release an approved list of intervention tools and programs that can be used for grades K through 12. Once we have that information, we can begin to examine these tools and see which ones are going to fit the needs of our different levels and programs, and then we can purchase accordingly. As part of the district curriculum review cycle, core literacy materials for grade 5 will begin review in 2026. There are currently two core curriculums approved by the Department of Education as highly aligned and the exploration and learning work around these two curriculums will begin next year in anticipation for a full district review the following year and this will be used in addition to the foundational literacy curriculum already in place. The read act component. Uh third one is professional development and this year we had 370 individuals enrolled in one of the state required literacy courses. The coursework is extensive and required all available professional development time in the calendar and more. Staff worked very hard to make this a focus and they were committed to the learning. As of June 6th, 123 teachers completed the required training at the mastery level. 101 teachers are in progress and on track to complete by June 20th. We have some teachers who have already completed in the prior year and we have some who started midyear. So we have 94 teachers that are continuing and will be supported to complete the training before the start of the next school year. Depending on new hires, we do anticipate 60 staff to be completing the phase one training next year. In addition, the ReadAct training includes a requirement that all educational assistants who may support students in literacy be trained as well. Our district literacy coaches will be trained over the summer and then provide the state required literacy professional development for approximately 140 educational assistants in preK through 12. MDE has delayed the secondary training to 2627 for phase 2. At that time, we anticipate around 65 of our secondary staff participating. The current planning is that staff participating in readact training will do so during the contract hours whenever possible. The extensive scope of the training means that staff next year who need to complete phase one will participate in readact training rather than other professional development activities occurring at their site or in the district. In addition to meeting these key requirements in assessment, curriculum and professional development, we are also supporting teachers and classrooms with two literacy coaches across the district. We are exploring pilots with intervention programs. We are collaborating with special education, multilingual programming, and general educational literacy instruction. And the development of site administrators continues in their work to observe, provide feedback, and evaluate highquality liter literacy instruction in the daily classroom. That will take us to next year's implementation to the read. Great. Thank you very much, Amina. I'll open it up for questions. No, director Hume. Um, so much one on the slide where you talked about the screening slide and the required dyslexia screening for students in grades 4 through 12 who are not at grade level. That's correct. We've talked at other meetings about how I'm not going to put out a number because I don't remember the number, but some number of students who are not reading at grade level could be due to them being say recent immigrants who aren't speaking a lot of English just yet. So, I'm curious how that looks if they're being screened for dyslexia while also being an English language learner. I think that's an excellent question, director. Thank you. Um, and it is one that we have posed to the department of education as well. Students who are um still developing their proficiency for English language um would fall under the basic requirements for a dyslexia indicators of dyslexia screening. And uh we have asked the Department of Education and we have stated it in our assessment plan that we will continue to exempt those students from the dyslexia screening um until they have reached uh what our multilingual program has identified as the appropriate level. And so we will continue to honor the um needs of our students um in developing their their English language proficiency before we identify them for future needs in reading. Thank you. Um, the other is more of a probably more of a comment at this point because it wasn't really what you were here to talk about, but I will be curious when we get the inevitable next update on how our reading scores are doing and if we're starting to see hopefully the intended impacts of the read Act. I know you mentioned that it's changed every year since it was passed and um the deadlines have been extended. So, I realize I guess we just don't know yet what the impact will be, but I I think we're all hopeful that the impact will be what we want it to be. Um, and I think that I know there's not a real question there, but I will respond to that comment is that people have worked very very hard at um ensuring that we have strong implementation of those foundational literacy skills. And so what we are see seeing is um I think really some definitive growth for our students that uh both typical and more aggressive growth for our students who may be coming to us. Um we know that uh about 40% to 50% of our students who enter kindergarten don't really have that benchmark skill of preparedness. And so, uh, really working hard with our kindergarten students on that foundational literacy and then using that time in K1 and two to hopefully be able to see some of that proficiency in or more growth and faster growth in those areas. So, and we've definitely seen some encouraging signs of some of the other reports we've had this year. So, I remain hopeful and as we begin to look at our spring data and do that analysis, which we're doing right now, I think um when we bring that report, we will be able to really highlight some areas where we have seen um real impacts and growth. Great. Thank you. Any other question? Yes, Dr. Anderson. Uh on that same slide, um when we're looking at the cost of assessments, um can you explain uh is that the cost of the fast programming? Is is there more cost right outside the actual software? Right. So um last year we spent about $53,000 on fastbridge assessments. We've been asked to with these mandates add some additional pieces to that and then expand it into grade nine. And so that's where the $68,000 figure comes from. Um, next year we'll expand into grade 10 for our fastbridge. And then um because the CAPD read basic is required from the state of Minnesota, we'll also be able also be required to purchase that as an individual license for each student. That is um and we won't know that until we finish our first level of screening. So and um right now uh MDE is working on statewide purchasing agreement. So, we would be able to purchase under a statewide agreement. Um, at this time, Capy Reed Basic is um kind of an expensive assessment um for a school district our size and so we'll be leaning on the state purchasing agreement for that. Great. Thanks. Any other questions? Oh. Um, dovetailing on director Hume's first question on multilingual learners and dyslexia identification and kind of broadening it to understanding dyslexia as this focus. I have to imagine that while the students may be exempt from the screening um where we we are supporting them should they be dyslexic. I mean right and so um just to clarify we are not able to I to diagnose students with dyslexia. We are screening them for characteristics of dyslexia and then using instructional strategies and interventions that are focused on those particular characteristics. Got it. Thank you. And students who are multilingual students um as part of our collaboration, we will be piloting two different interventions with um literacy interventions with our students um in order to kind of provide that additional support to see which one is the most effective for language learners. Awesome. Thank you. That's helpful. Um, and I guess there's also a question about, uh, new hires coming into the district. Uh, some of them may arrive with some of this training already, some may not. Can you elaborate on what that might look like? Sure. So uh in collaboration with um the human resources department, we have added that as a question on our applications so that folks are able to identify uh immediately whether or not they have completed um one of the required trainings and they can upload their certificate. So um all certificates then whether they're completed here or people bring them in become part of the HR personnel file. So that helps us track as well. Um, and because this is a phase one push across the state, we do anticipate some of our new hires, if they're coming to us from another uh another district in the state, will come to us with some of that particular training. Um, for new hires that come to us without that training, there are a couple of pathways. one, if they come to us with um as a straight out of school um with a a recent degree, we can submit their transcripts to MDE and if the MDE reviews it and identifies that their coursework meets those requirements for the science of reading, they can be um identified as completed. Um otherwise, uh MDE continues to pay the cost of one license for one of the required training for each licensed teacher. So if a teacher comes to us has never tried attempted the training or taken the training anywhere, MDE still will will um until 2027 um pay for a license for them to um obtain the training. And this may be beyond the scope of the conversation, but you just got me thinking about, you know, our partners um in um higher education, right? Um, thinking about newly graduated teachers, are they also being coached in terms of the ReadAct? And here are some courses that you may want to take because it'll, you know, it'll kind of fasttrack you through this this training that we know you're going to need. Don't know if I can answer that question. That's fine. Thank you. Um, appreciate the report, Arena. Um, always informative. Thank you. All right. Next, uh, we will turn to Dr. Battle. um on a report about fundraising. Thank you. Um chair for the evening, all vice chair and directors of the board. Policy 511 student fundraising requires a report to the board of education once a year. We ran reports from our Skyward financial system from May 1st, 2024 to May 31st, 2025, as well as included all school reported fundraisers. Donation reports have also been regularly provided to the board throughout the year. Um, we have compiled the list uh that includes the activity, type of fundraisers, timing, purpose, and results. Um you see via the lengthy report. Um according to policies, the building administrator shall be responsible for developing recommendations to the superintendent or designate that will deem the activity as acceptable by employees, parents, and students. All fundraising activities must be approved in advance by an administrator. the superintendent or designate shall be responsible providing coordination of student fundraising throughout the school district as deemed appropriate. Um we do have a process in place that calls for a uh completion of a request for fundraiser form. Um it must be approved and signed by the site or department supervisor and forwarded to the office of the assistant superintendent for review and approval. Um once approval is received, the fundraiser may proceed with communications with the public. Um the administrative assistant to the assistant superintendent um can establish an ecommerce link for the receipt of credit card contributions to the fundraisers which are deposited into the appropriate fundraiser account code. Um and provides a link to the electronic communications with families and our public. Um we appreciate the finance department um making the ecommerce uh available because it allows the ease of electronic contribution and eliminates the handling of cash and checks within our schools. Um we do encourage the uh the use of electronic means. That concludes my report. Thank you very much Dr. Battle. Any questions or comments? All right. Thank you. Uh, next we turn to a report about the proposed FY26 adopted budget with Tyler Dy, director of finance. Welcome, Tyler. [Music] Good evening, chair chair or chair alt, sorry, superintendent Dr. Battle, members of the board. I'm here to present the proposed budget for 2526. [Music] The timeline of the budget process included approving the FY25 revised budget, discussion on assumptions, parameters, and recommendations, and staff and community feedback. Tonight is the presentation of the budget information and a recommendation for approval will happen at the next meeting in June. The assumptions used in the FY26 revenue budget include 7,021 K12 enrollment, 2.74% or $200 per pupil increase to the general education formula, 2.06 06 million decrease in compensatory after formula changes and a $5.5 million general tax levy decrease. A quick legislative update. These items are not included in the budget and have officially passed since creating this presentation. A compensatory hold harmless formula change will increase funding by 1.67 million. We are expecting $375,000 in summer unemployment costs which will now be fully reimbursed. Special education transportation reimbured was reimbursement was reduced from 100% of costs to 95% in FY26 and 90% in FY27. Reductions in the per pupil allowance for student support personnel and school library aid result in a reduction in funding of 150,000 and 45,000. [Music] The assumptions used in the expenditure budget are 2 and a.5% increase to sales on salary schedules and 5% increase to health insurance premiums, transportation contract, and other areas such as utilities, supplies, and contracted services. [Music] This slide includes a link to the current budget adjustments document, which includes a couple of changes. The adjustment to increase the walking distance for secondary students has been removed and added a Somali community engagement specialist and two FTE at the high school. [Music] Here's an updated list of the grants supporting our priorities. We were awarded a third grow your own adult grant that will begin FY26 for $400,000. [Music] The proposed budget for all funds revenue is approximately 216 million and expenses are approximately 228 million which is about a $12 million reduction in the total fund balance. [Music] So what what restrictions are there? Capital is used for approved equipment based on state statute. Title funds are designated for specific purposes such as needs associated with high poverty rates. Um the technology levy is specifically for technology personnel and equipment. And then there are the other funds such as food and nutrition services and community education. [Music] Q comp or PRPay state statutes changed in 2024 to require a restricted reserved fund balance for the allowable expenses and revenue. So, a resolution will be brought to the next meeting to uncommit the propay balance so we can use the new restricted fund balance process for 2025. General fund revenues total 158.6 6 million with the largest source of revenue coming from the state. Next largest is local property taxes. And the chart on the right shows a 5-year trend. [Music] General fund expenditures total 169.5 million. 77% relates to the salaries and benefits for employees. The same expenditure is broken out by program area. 71% is related to the instruction of students. [Music] General fund staff by bargaining group. 69% of staffing costs are for teachers. The food and nutrition services fund revenues total 6.8 million. There are very little sales anymore with free meals. So 81% of the revenue is federal money. [Music] Food service expenditures total 7.5 million. The largest cost in the in this fund relates to food, milk, and supplies. Staffing costs are a close second. And the chart on the right shows the last couple years have had substantial increase in capital costs as we upgrade kitchen equipment and cafeteria tables. Community service fund revenues total 7.5 million with 41% coming from tuition and fees to participate in the programs. Community service expenditures total 7.9 million with 77% related to staff salaries and benefits. [Music] This slide shows the fund balance history for each fund including three years of actual history and three years of future forecasts. [Music] Then this slide takes that same information and presents it in chart form and shows 2425 may be the peak in the total and we start seeing the fund balance get spent down. [Music] The general fund current reality so shows the expenditures over revenue variance of approximately $11 million brings the total general fund balance to 45.35 million. The unassigned fund balance falls to 30.24 million or 17.84% of expenditures. and other documents are linked here and include the general fund expenditures by budget unit and the staffing list by site and budget unit. Thank you. Great. Thank you, Tyler, Dr. Battle. Thank you, Chair Al, members of the board. Uh, thank you, Tyler, for your presentation. I do want to make a note on the general fund current reality. If you can pull that slide back up. The board um did direct me um to not go below 18% for our fund balance. Um with the changes that I made with removing the uh walk distance and then adding staffing, I am slightly under. So for your consideration is if I may have just a little bit more of the fund balance. Anything else, Tyler? we missed. Okay. Right. Thank you for that additional highlight uh questions or comments. Board members. Director Hume get to go first again. Um first, maybe not the biggest ticket item, but it's one I've talked about a couple of times. So, thank you for finding a way to not increase the walking distance for our secondary students. I think that's a very important thing. I've gotten feedback from a handful of community members that were very concerned about that. So, I really appreciate that. I think that's a good headline that we are not changing that after considering it earlier in the cycle. And I think it shows that we listen to the community when they give us that feedback. So, thank you. Um, then the other thing that you said this very explicitly, but I think it's worth pointing out is there is a $12 million shortfall basically between our revenue and expenditures this coming year. So, yes, we've got a budget that we can that we can deal with. Um, but the future something's going to have to change in the future in order for us to continue to have a healthy fund balance. So, storm clouds on the horizon, I suppose. So, I guess I have no actual questions, just those two comments. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions? Um, yes, thank you, Tyler. Um, and the the book, you know, I always rave about the the budget book. It's just for um budget wonks, it's a great read. Um, and it also provides some some great context for our community uh in terms of the school district and and our operations. So, I appreciate all the time and and effort that goes into that. Um, I guess just a one question and a comment. I'll make the comment first. I have to say the I I appreciate um the consideration that our legislators give to education. Um, at the same time, it's it's disappointing to see the the give and give and then take. Um, as it relates to special ed was the was the first thing that I noticed. You know, the transportation uh reduction. Um, and of course, uh, staff will continue to kind of dig through the ramifications of other um, changes whether it's financial or or policy and and what that how that translates into budget. So, um, just stay connected with our legislators and help them understand that, you know, uh, the the the funding is is well used. It's going to our students and reductions have um have a negative impact. Uh, I have one question and I was trying to look this up myself before the meeting. Um, one thing that popped out when I looked at uh the spending per student within each school site, um, I noticed that, uh, virtual academy was much much higher in spending per student. And if you don't have the answer, Tyler or Dr. Battle, um, I'm wondering if maybe it's related to title funds and grants. Uh, I mean, that's that's certainly possible. Um, is was it elementary or secondary? Do you remember? It was it was elementary and the difference was uh anywhere from 21,000 to 30 21,000 in FY24, 33,6 in FY25 compared to the other elementaryaries where it was anywhere from 13 15 to 17,000 per student. Maybe it's something to come back with an answer on. I certainly could dig into it further to get, you know, a more precise answer. Um, a lot of that has to do. I think the virtual academy elementary is is declining in enrollment. Um, and we still have to have a certain number of staff to to, you know, run the program and I didn't want to hop there. That's what it is. Because we we like the concept of virtual academy and and it still needs to be a fiscally sound venture. Yeah. And one of the things that you know the virtual academy is a it's a you know a win for us when we don't have to pay the transportation and transportation costs are not allocated to those other buildings too. So that's you know it doesn't it's not apples to apples there. I think you heard in the VA report the additional staff I added this year. So I'm continuing that. Yeah. Yeah. is we have a standard for the elementary experience and I guess so yeah it's something we'll have to think about because that that significant of a difference in spending per student um it just it jumped out at me. Thank you. Thank you Tyler. Appreciate your time and and the effort with this budget report. Uh next we'll turn to Dr. Battle with our superintendent report. Thank you, Chair Al and members of the board. Um, three items uh topics for my report tonight. First, I want to thank the uh teachers, staff, and administrators who engaged in the read act statement uh training. It's an understatement to say it was intense. It was much more complex and intense that than we had anticipated. So, I really want to thank the staff for engaging um and getting through to your certification. Secondly, I would like to comment on our wonderful class of 2025. Uh Friday evening, we had 610 graduates participate in the ceremony. Even though the graduation class is a little bit bigger, it was a joyous occasion for students, families, and uh staff members and community. I am so proud of your accomplishments. I want to thank my staff, Burnsville Police Department, Unparalleled Security, and all the first responders for your quick response to the horrible incidents that happened after our graduations. We are Burnsville Egan Savage 191 and we are community strong. We will not let outsiders diminish the accomplishments of our wonderful students. This this board meeting started off with the Costco award winners. Those students, community members, all volunteers represent who we are. And so to the class of 2025, always and forever will be your very proud superintendent. Last topic, tonight will be my last superintendent's report as my tenure as superintendent will end June 30th. My heart is filled with gratitude for the honor of serving as superintendent for 191 for the last six years. After 40.5 years as an educator and educational leader, it is time for me to retire from working and embark on the next chapter of my life. I am truly blessed and have lived a blessed life. From my childhood upbringing, surrounded by my loving family, especially my greatg grandmother, Lily, my family loved and nurtured me and made sure I knew who I am and whose I am. They emphasized faith, family, and education. I'm blessed for the great friendships, the great teachers I have from kindergarten through graduate school and my wonderful colleagues. I am my ancestors wildest dreams. In my first all staff welcome to open the 2019 2020 school year. I shared pictures of my and my memories of my beloved parents Horus and Teresa Howell and my GG Lily. Lily was born in 1882 and died in 1994 and never finished elementary school. Her grandparents were enslaved in our beloved country and she did not become a full citizen until the Voting Rights Act of 1965. My family and his family were sharecroppers. I call them farmers. And my father only finished the fourth grade because his parents needed him to farm. My mother finished high school. They probably never imagined that I would be a first generation college student, earn a doctorate, and become the first black woman superintendent of Burnsville Egan Savage District 191. I said my heart is full of gratitude and I want to thank some people. Thanks to the 191 Board of Education for giving me the opportunity to serve these three wonderful communities, all the students, families, and the best staff ever and being great partners in leading this district. I want to recognize past and present board members for your faith in me. Abigail Alt, Amarie Anderson, Tony Connor, Leslie Chester, Dee Courier, Jen Hullwigger, Scott Hume, Eric Miller, Rachel Mikkelson, Safio Marcel, Sue Sed, Darcy Shatz, Tyler Saxi, and Anna Wor. to my past and present executive leadership team for your dedication and commitment to work to achieve our district mission. Each student future ready community strong. Brian Gersuch, Lisa Ryder, Stephanie White, Chris Belmont, Isis Buchanan, Stacy Sovine, Amina Oftdog, Jason Sers, Amy Potrosski, and Aaron Tinklinberg. I'm grateful to elected officials for your partnership, especially Burnsville Mayor Elizabeth Couts and former Savage Mayor Williams and current mayor Christine Kelly. The Burnsville Savage and Egan city councils and my city counterparts, Burnsville City Manager Greg Lindberg, Egan City Manager Diane Miller and Savage City Administrator Brad Larson. our wonderful police and fire departments. A shout out to Police Chief Tanya Schwarz and Fire Chief BJ Youngman and all the police and fire personnel who supported me and our district. To my superintendent colleagues, your professionalism, competency, and friendship have made have meant the world to me. My colleagues from Hampton Public Schools, where I started as a junior high teacher, St. Paul public schools where I worked for 28 years, AIO area schools, Minneapolis public schools, and the University of Minnesota. I am a better person because you have been in my life. I thank my friends and sorority sisters for your friendship and support. I'm grateful to the community partners such as the Burnsville Chamber of Commerce, Savage Chamber of Commerce, the Lions, Burnsville Education Network, and my fellow noon Rotary members. I could not have asked for better 191 board members and colleagues. We have had to navigate the day-to-day management and governance of the district. We passed an operating levy with strong community support. We passed the technology levy. We enhanced pathways, broadening it to elementary and middle schools. We launched the associate of arts degree program. We closed three schools and we redrew attendance boundaries. And we not only survived but thrived a pandemic. It is not lost on me that my great grandmother and I survived the pandemic. she the 1918 pandemic and me the corona virus pandemic. To the families who trusted 191 to care for your beloved children and teenagers, I'm grateful that you chose our district. Lastly, I'm truly blessed and grateful for my fabulous husband, Robert, and my children, Khil and Dominique. I cherish your love, support, patience, and understanding as I have had a career that kept me away from you nights and weekends. I could not have done my best without your love and support. I love you madly. In conclusion, you may ask, what's next? In a recent visit to Vist Elementary second grade teacher Jen Gandrew's class, she explained to her students that I was retiring to help them understand what retirement meant. She shared, "Dr. Battle is going on a permanent summer vacation and she will not be back in September. She is done." So that's what's next, a vacation. I have no plans to work again. Even though people want me to teach college courses, they want me to sub as a principal. You want to tell him I'm approving for superintendency positions. Um, Robert and I will embark on our first cruise in August that was organized by my first, second, and third cousins in Philadelphia. And then I plan to continue my family history research and find out how my ancestors made it from Nigeria to Virginia. I have applied for my Library of Congress card uh where I plan to spend some time uh researching in their genealogy section. I also have a girlfriend's trip planned with my three girlfriends I met in ninth grade and now I'm the last to retire. So they said, "What took you so long?" So I wish you all farewell, but never goodbye. And that concludes my report. Thank you very much, Dr. Battle. [Music] Any comments or questions, board members? Thank you. We appreciate you. We wish you well. We know we'll see you for the rest of the month and we'll continue to see you. So, thank you, Dr. Battle. Thank you. Uh, next we'll turn to board member reports. Um, remember that committee and school reports are scheduled for the next regular board meeting. All right, seeing none, now we will turn to the business portion of our meeting. Although board action is required, it is generally unnecessary to hold discussion on these items. Uh turning to the consent agenda, in the event a board member wishes to discuss an item, that item will be moved for separate consideration. Uh is there anything that uh board members would like to separate? Seeing none, do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Moved by Director Anderson. Second. Seconded by Director Chester. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Oppose. Nay. The motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Uh, next we will turn to new business. Uh we're being asked to adopt a resolution to accept donations with Dr. Battle. Yes. Thank you, chair and members of the board. Before I present the formal resolution, I wanted to say thank you to the many community partners and organizations that support education and district 191. Included in this month's report are donations from local companies and individuals to support our brain power in a backpack program, the Burnsville High School choir program, and our student support services program. You have a list of those uh partners who were instrumental. So, it is my recommendation that the board of education adopt a resolution to approve and accept donations in accordance with our schoolboard policy and Minnesota statutes and to permit their use as designated by donors. Did I read the correct one? Did I read the correct one? Okay. Uh, do I have a motion? So moved. Moved by Director Hume. seconded by Director Mickelson. Uh is there any discussion? All right. Uh tonight we're being asked to adopt a resolution to approve and accept donations as presented. Uh whereas they follow school board policy 706 and Minnesota statute 123B and 465.03. This um the resolution will require a roll call vote. though in just a second I will ask Sarah to call the role and when she calls your name please respond um by I saying either an I if you're 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. Acting Chair Alt I. Director Mickelson I. Director I. This resolution is declared duly passed and adopted. Uh next we will turn to uh being asked to approve joint powers agreement with um Minnesota Office of Higher Education with Dr. Belmont. Thanks for having me back, chair, members of the board, uh Superintendent Battle. Uh the direct admission program is new to um Burnsville High School and Burnsville Alternative High School and Virtual Academy um high school. Uh the it's not new to the state. I I believe it's it debuted 3 years ago. Um the program is free to promote college application attendance for enrolled high school seniors. actually begins, I believe, with 11th graders and then um leads them into 12th grade. The goal is to lead on the 50 plus colleges and universities who choose to participate um and help get those students that direct access and confidence and opportunity to um take that step and apply for school. Um, it also, so the terms of the agreement are July 1st, uh, 2025 to June 30th, 2030. The estimated annual payment is $2,000 not to exceed $10,000 for 5 years. Again, that's um that's at no cost to the school district. I'm sorry, there's no at no cost to the students that are participating. Um we spent last year working with principal Sandovval um principal Ron just looking at the feasibility and the impact of of staff energy and capacity on this program. So they felt um good enough to apply this spring. Um my understanding is it's close to 200 if not more than 200 high schools currently participating in Minnesota. Okay. So, I'm just uh asking the board approve the joint powers agreement with the Minnesota Office of Higher Education. Thank you, Dr. Belmont. Uh do I have a motion? So, moved by Director Chester. Second. Second. Seconded by Director Anderson. Uh any discussion? Uh I just have one clarifying question more so for the community. It's really uh any junior or senior at either the high school or virtual academy high school or alternative high school regardless of whether they've taken um any college in the school's classes or correct. Yeah, thank you. Thank you for that question. That's correct. Awesome. Thank you. Uh all right. Um all those in favor of approving um this recommendation, please signify by saying I. I oppose. Nay. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Uh next we are being asked to approve changes to the Burnsville High School athletic and activities fees for FY26. Staying with Dr. Belmont. Thank you. The board may recall uh May 22nd um director Kleiner do director Kleiner and associate principal Heim were here presenting some of their work around um fee restructuring and increase um to to athletics and activities the fee schedule um in general fees were raised by an average of 15%. Um the athletic activities part participation fees have not increased in several several years while expenses continue to rise every year. Um uh the leadership and support staff does believe that they took that the through the reorganization they will see increased efficiencies um and better supports for things like equipment costs programs and transportations uh transportation as well as less confusion for um registering families. the um uh AD Kleiner and um APheim also did um share about uh discounted access for um students and families who qualify with educational benefits. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Belmont. Thank you. Uh do we have a motion to approve? So moved. Moved by Director Hume. Second. Second. Seconded by Director Sagy. Uh any discussion or questions? Dr. Battle, thank you. Can I highlight one of the other proposals? Um athletics and activities family cat for those families who have several students in activities. Thank you. Well, one very active student. Yes, you took the words out of my my mouth. Thank you, Dr. B. Thank you, Dr. It's a new feature in community. It's so not seeing any other questions. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I oppose. Nay. And the motion carries unanimously. Uh staying with Dr. Belmont, we are next being asked to approve uh the district 917 itinerantou agreement. Yes. So the board heard a a report tonight on the ISD97 itinerary uh memorandum of understanding agreement. So I'm um formally requesting that the board approve theou with the uh intermediate school district 97. Thank you. Do I have a motion? So moved by director Chester. Second. Second. Seconded by director Anderson. Questions or discussion? Seeing none. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I. Oppos? Nay. And the motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Um, moving right along to policies. Uh, staying with Dr. Belmont, we're being asked to approve on a first reading basis new policy 524, personal electronic communication devices and cell phone. So, somewhat of a novelty for the board, a new policy to present to you for first uh reading approval. Um the um policy 524, personal electronic communication devices and cell phone. Believe we discussed it at multiple policy review committees, uh including most recently on May 20th, 2025. Um, board members may also um recall that in last spring 2024 legislative session requiring school districts to formally adopt uh a policy around cell phones. We currently have that embedded in policy 634, an adjacent policy or electronic technologies. our review committee went into more detail um and discussion and ended up um creating this new policy that you see before you. Um if approved and and gone through, then our review committee will work to um make sure that there are proper um that we properly vet through policy 634. So, we clean that up and have the kind of have the clean new policy as well as looking at um a regulation that can support um this current policy 524 with more with more details and direction for school administrators and school support staff around navigating that legislation and cell phones and uh cell phones and electronic devices in general. Thank you, Dr. Belmont. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Moved by Director Hume, seconded by Director Anderson. Questions or comments? Director Hume, you look like you have something. The wheels are trying from a couple weeks ago. Um, I think one of the things that we talked about, you kind of touched on it, I think just now, was with the regulations that would be coming to us at a future meeting. Was that also to further define on the response to violation sections, the level one, level two, level three? I think that was also part of the conversation. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, thank you for that question. I mean, I think what the the board can anticipate in the in the coming meetings is just role clarity around how um both proactive and reactive responses to the topics of cell phones or individual electronic devices in the classroom um parcel by level K5 middle school and high school too. So yes, this is definitely an improvement on what we had before. Okay, thank you. Any other questions or comments? Um, I think my only comment, Dr. Belmont, would be out of respect for families and staff and students that we try to have the regulations um come coming to policy and then the full board before the start of of the new school year. Um, so that folks can know that they can go to the policy and easily find information about cell phones and then also the supporting regulations and we're all on the same page. Sounds good. And um thank you for that feedback. We can also make sure it's um embedded in the student handbook when it comes out in August. Good point. Yep. Absolutely. Awesome. Uh all those in favor of approving policy 524, please signify by saying I. I oppose. Nay. And the motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Belmont. Thank you all. Uh next we're being asked to approve on a first reading basis changes to policy 206 public participation in schoolboard meetings complaints about persons at schoolboard meetings and data privacy considerations and I will be presenting um just pulling it up uh information. The policy was reviewed uh by the policy review committee on May 20th, 2025 and was approved to move forward with a formal recommendation to the board. Uh changes include adding the following reference information to the listening session registration card um city and state of residence and the context around that. um really is um the goal is to ensure that listening session participant participants have a relationship with the 191 community uh while at the same time mitigating concerns um speakers might have on sharing their full address. Um, additionally, knowing that sometimes our broader community shows up to share their perspectives, sometimes in large numbers, we would hope that adding the city and state of residents to the registration card would ease the involvement of staff in vetting our speakers and their relationship to the district. Um, so with that, um, is there a motion to approve? So moved. Moved by Director Anderson. Second. Seconded. Seconded by Director Mickelson. Questions or comments? [Music] Seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Nay. And the motion carries unanimously. Uh, next we're being asked to approve on a first reading basis changes to policy 902 regulation fee schedule with Jason Sers, uh, director of community services. Welcome Jason. Thank you chair all uh superintendent battle and directors of the board. Um on the first reading basis changes to policy 902R uh were recommended uh on May 20th at the PRC meeting. Those changes include uh the inclusion of nonprofit groups and non-residents who live outside the district boundaries in the fee schedule for those groups. increased equitable access to community groups in terms of rates and increased rental opportunities based upon the new fee structures. Uh I recommend that changes to 902R uh be uh passed by by you. Great. Thank you. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Moved by Director Saxi, seconded by Director Hume. Any discussion? Nope. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I oppose. Nay. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Thank you. Uh and then finally, uh final item on the new business section. Uh we're being asked to approve the 2425 collective bargaining agreement with 191 liaison association and independent school district 191 uh with Ariel Osen Olsen, excuse me. human resources coordinator. Welcome, Ariel. Thank you. Good evening, Vice Chair Alt, Superintendent Battle, and members of the board. Be before you tonight is the collective bargaining agreement between district between the district and the 191 liaison association representing the district's cultural liaison for the 2425 school year. The parties began negotiating in October of 2024 and reached a tenative agreement on June 2nd, 2025 after seven meetings. This one-year agreement was negotiated with the intent of their future 2-year agreements aligning with those of other groups in the district. I will highlight the terms of this agreement for you. Um the first one, medical insurance is a flat rate and not a percentage. The second projected one-year cost of the package to the district will be 138,000 reflecting an MSBA of 7.32% increase. This amount includes scheduled improvements, career steps, educational training lane changes, and insurance premium increases. Number three, the average salary and benefit increase over the 22 23 year per FTE is approximately $8,18. It is my recommendation that the board approves the agreement before you. Great. Thank you very much. Uh do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Moved by Director Anderson. Second. Second. Seconded by Director Hume. Uh, questions or comments? I just have one. Yes, Director Hume. So, you said this, but just to say it again out loud, this is for the school year that just ended basically. So, this contract that we're approving tonight expires in 18 days. That's correct. So, we'll be restarting so that they're synced up with all the other bargaining units. That's correct. Thank you. Okay. Yep. Any other questions? I had one uh on page 24. I think it's like the last page of the agreement. Um would you mind elaborating further on thisou what is it issue specifically uh there's a line meet and clarify the differences nuances and ethical conflicts between performing the role of a cultural liaison and the role of an interpreter's translator. Yeah. Let me see if I can find it on the Yes. Page 24, number two. Page 24. And it is number two on that page. Mhm. I know. I might need to get clearance and get back to you by Monday morning. Director Buchanan, do you want to join us? I have some you can explain a little bit more. [Music] Director Isis Buchanan, director of educational equity. Thank you. I'll add on if you after your comments if I need to. So, one of the things that um cuz I was reading over this myself recently too since I like overseeons. Um but item two is really about the concept of being a liaison is about being there you know to honor and support the families in the system that bridge from school to home. Whereas when you're there as an interpreter you're really listening to a conversation and just translating. And so best practice is not to have someone who is a liaison also interpreting. And so the language there is just meant to bring um even though there are times where life happens and it's urgent and someone may feel both of those but really being intentional about making sure that you know like best practice we are making sure that our liaison are there as the liaison not as the interpreter and essentially just reflecting back. Yes. It's an ethical issue in a way because the way you're listening um it just takes a lot and allowing allowing each adult in the system to own their conversations appropriately. Exactly. Okay. Thank you for that. I appreciate it. All right. Um all those in favor of approving this agreement, please signify by saying I. I oppose. Nay. And the motion carries unanimously. Um we are I'm going to um declare us in recess. Uh it is now 8:03 uh 8:03 uh let's say at um 8:13 we'll be back at the DAS for a work session um to conduct a to review a final list of board priorities with Dr. Battle and we're journed. Thank you. Um with uh Dr. Battle leading um we'll be uh reviewing programming and staff staffing retention priorities for the 2026 2027 school year. Um, of course, we've already approved the priorities for FY26. We want to be in place for the following school year. Dr. Battle, thank you. So, Stacy Sovine, our executive director of administrative services, the designate for negotiations. And so, I asked Director Hume if he has some comments to add context uh for the work session tonight. Um the board priorities are a part of the negotiated agreement with the Burnsville Education Association. Um it is related to unrequested leaves of leave of absences ulas and only if we initiate the un request requested leave of absence does this apply. Um directors and principles have reviewed the current list as um cheer als shared. you've already approved a previous uh the upcoming year. This is for the following year and offered a couple of other suggestions. Um the my executive leadership team also reviewed it. Um any suggestions and whether to add them at this time and uh no additions are recommended. um my review of it um as I've shared with you there will under uh Dr. Daniel's leadership be a deep dive into our pathways because the national career fields have changed and Minnesota has adopted those and so um that's part of the reason not to add anymore for 2026 I think at that time Dr. Daniels, if they need to revise it based on any changes, she may bring you a recommendation. Um, and so it's article 13 in the um, BEA agreement that you would approve the board priorities on annual basis. Um, staffing retention priorities in August of the current fiscal year. Um, and the identified priority shall not be subject to the unrequested leave process. Awesome. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Um so work session um little little less formal if there's conversation or dialogue to have around this. Any questions? I don't really have any. You said I could add additional context. I don't have any additional context cuz this did such a fine overview. Um I guess the one thing that I will mention and I think you did touch on this is that I believe I believe all of the priorities are directly related to pathways and maintaining our our pathways programming. So that definitely that's something I think this board consistently identifies each year anytime it comes up is one of our high priorities whether it's through this or through other conversations. Um so I just think that's worth saying explicitly and loudly. I would say there are two items that aren't directly related to pathways but really are essential. Well, one is essential and that's our concurrent enrollment courses. Sure. So that's really about our early college model. Um and then also retaining the deans that are approved. Yep, good point. But everything else is related to career technical and the pathways. Great question. And you said there were no changes being recommended. No, not at this time cuz I think because with the transition and then with things kind of way possible. I agree. It's very interesting. I spent uh professional development this morning in our south metro re uh Dakota County Soups and I sponsor a professional development and the topic was AI and so one of those new careers is prompt engineers. Yeah. So yeah, we don't know if there'll be a certification in that business. Probably jobs that will exist 10 years from now that we don't even know about yet. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. I I couldn't aspire to be a web designer cuz the web designer didn't exist. Web didn't exist when I was in high school. I think only the military knew about it. So, you just never know, right? Well, I remember um leading up to the creation of Pathways um meeting with members of I believe it was Inenver Hills and they talked about cyber security being the latest greatest and this was back in you know 2014 2015 and now right and they talked about government jobs and you know so it just keeps changing and evolving. Mhm. I think that's one of the important things to keep in mind. You mentioned that Dr. Daniels will be looking at that next year because yeah, things do change and something that was relevant in 2014 or 2015. There might be other things that we could decide are more priority or more in demand than what we've been doing. So, I think it's important to always have that flexibility and that willingness to change and adapt with the times. Stay on the pulse. But not for this year, apparently. Yeah. And and I think you know it'll be interesting to see because you know anal looking at the new structure right um looking at the the local or regional workforce demand environment and what does that how does that translate into what we offer as a as a how can we anticipate that future as well. Yep. Yeah. To the extent possible. So, just as an aside, you know, I was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Governor announced yesterday they're having several Amazon data hubs. Billion dollar investment. Mhm. And they also built a gaming e- gaming stadium in Philadelphia. An e- gaming stad my fellow Pennsylvania. So, who knows what will be on this list? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Forget professional football. We want to be a professional I want to be a professional video game football player. Mhm. All right. I think we're good. Good. Okay. I'm going to declare adjourned. It is 8:20 p.m. All right. Uh let's see. We're pretty close. thought they were being overly optimistic. [Music]