[music] [music] [music] Good evening and welcome to our regularly ly scheduled school board meeting for July 13th. At this time, please rise as you are able to join me in the pledge of allegiance. After the pledge, please remain standing for a brief moment of silence. >> I pledge algiance 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. [clears throat] At this time, I would like us to share a brief moment of silence for Jolene Delki, a District 196 early childhood special education speech language pathologist who passed away on June 29th. Thank you. [clears throat] All right. Good evening, school board. As usual, our first order of business tonight will be the approval of the agenda. We'll be working off a revised agenda which includes an addition of Apple Valley High School speech and debate top finishers and the deletion of school board member employment on the consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve the revised agenda? >> Still moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Sakoden, seconded by Leah. All those in favor of approving the agenda say I. >> Those opposed. Motion carries on a 6 vote. >> That brings us to our recognition portion of the agenda. And I'd like to start by welcoming the Egan High School speech and debate coach, Chris McDonald, to the podium. Coach McDonald will introduce the National Speech and Debate Tournament Policy Debate Team, which earned second place nationally this year. >> All right. Well, here we are again. I feel like a fairly regular here at the board meeting. Good evening, Chairperson Johnson, board member, Superintendent Bosone. I'm Chris McDonald, as you already noted, here representing Egan High School's debate and speech team. I actually brought notes this time. I don't know. While our program has been recognized many times in the past, it is my privilege to present to you the national runners up in policy debate at the National Speech and Debate Association's National Tournament. But before I introduce them, I would like to provide context for their accomplishment. The NSDA National Tournament was held in Richmond, Virginia this past June with over 7,000 competitors from around the country as well as other teams from around the world. The NSDA National Tournament is the largest academic competition in the world. In policy debate, the tournament started with 196 teams and after 16 rounds of competition, our team of Tristan Win and Josiah Shaffausen debated Taipei American from Taiwan and finished as national runners up. At the start of every season, there are approximately 4,000 high school programs competing in the various events in debate and speech. Thousands of policy teams compete at the local, state, national level, striving just to get to the national tournament, let alone the final round. In order to get there, a lot of moving parts must all fit into place to achieve at the highest level. We must first and foremost have students willing and wanting to compete in debate and speech. Second, we need a school district, school administration, school faculty, parents, and coaches working together to make all of this possible. here in District 196. I am proud to say that we have all of that and it is integral to why our program succeeds at the level that it does. I would like to thank Josiah and Tristan's parents for all that they have done to support the boys in their pursuit of national excellence. I need to thank my assistant coaches for policy debate, three of whom are here with us tonight. Two of whom could not be because they're out of town, but if they'd stand real quick to be recognized. Greg Quick, Lizzie Sable, Bob Groven, as well as Reese Peters and Claudia Livery. Without their incredible hard work and guidance, this accomplishment simply would not be possible. I also need to thank Dr. Polly Reichowski and the entire admin team as well as the faculty and staff of Egan High School for always supporting our efforts. I would thank like to thank each of the members of the school board as well as Michael Bosone, our superintendent, and Eric Hansen, our director of secondary education, for their unwavering support and appreciation of the spoken arts. Debate helps teach and hone the skills of analysis and synthesis of evidence, which allows the students to craft clear and concise arguments for and against a proposition or resolution. This year in policy debate, we debated the pros and cons of exploration and development of the Arctic. Rose Horowit writing in the Atlantic warns us of the coming of a post-literate world where reading comprehension of complex text is losing ground to the influences of social media leading us to lose the ability to achieve higher order comprehension and synthesis through debate and speech. We endeavor to help students understand and appreciate the need for this exploration exposition of complex thoughts and ideas. This year at nationals, our student our school earned top honors as a program by being awarded the school of outstanding distinction. This award is given to the top 10 schools in the country competing at the national tournament in combined debate and speech accomplishments. Each year, hundreds of programs compete at the nationals for a place in history books. Egan High School has once again reached the pinnacle of our activity by placing in the top 10 programs. It is an honor to be part of the legacy of Egan High School debate and speech as well as District 196. With that, I present to you this year's 2026 National Runners Up in Policy Debate, Tristan Wyn and Josiah Shafhausen. [applause] [applause] Amazing job. Congratulations. >> Great job. That's incredible. >> Congratulations. >> Congratulations. Incredible. Well done. >> Thanks, coach. Great job, Chris. >> Next, I'd like to welcome Dr. Scott Voss, speech and debate coach at Apple Valley High School. He will introduce the AVHS top finishers at two national speech and debate competitions. >> Good evening, Chair Pson Johnson, school board members, and superintendent Michael Bosone. Uh my name is Scott Foss. I am the director of speech and debate at Apple Valley High School. and I have the honor of introducing a few of our uh most outstanding speakers and leaders in our speech and debate community at Apple Valley High School. Um Chris did a fantastic job of outlining the NSDA tournament that was held at the end of June where uh Apple Valley was also there of the 7,000 schools. Apple Valley also was recognized on the speech side for placing in the top 20. we tied with one other public school with the most students in final rounds. And so once again, of the 7,000 people uh at that tournament, uh Apple Valley had four national finalists. Um today, I'm going to talk a little bit more about the other um national tournament we traveled to, NCFLs in uh Washington DC. It's a slightly smaller tournament, but there were over uh 422 schools, 2,000 students in Apple Valley. again took uh took top five honors there and tied with one other school again for the most uh national finalists. We had four, two of which were national champions. Um one of those that was in that final round was Henna Hussein and her dual partner Massud Hery. Uh they their piece took on the moral complexities of living in a world that is morally imperfect. And it looks specifically at some of the difficult decisions specifically um as people of color uh making decisions in this world that um are often very very difficult to make. And so the message resonated with the moment and um they did outstanding. Henna and Massud took third in the nation. Uh Henna will graduate. Massud is an 11th grader. Henna will um attend the University of St. Thomas starting this fall studying nursing. So congratulations to Henna Hussein. Um one of our two national champions is Muhammad Ma Maab Muhammad Ali. uh she was in the category of oral interpretation where um every other round she has to do uh alternate between a pros and a poetry. Uh the piece that stood out for her was a poetry program that actually personified the hijab to highlight um its cultural and religious significance and the violence and hatred that is often directed at those who wear it. um obviously a message that rings especially true at a moment when we're seeing some social media posts that are targeting our um our Muslim women in particular Muslim students. Uh Maab will be uh gradu has graduated this year and will attend University of Virginia studying architecture. her uh she is joined tonight by her father Babakar Muhammad Ali um who has supported her throughout the course of her career at Apple Valley. And third and finally is uh Isra Yasin, another national champion in original oratory. She her thesis this year was on the rhetoric of dehumanization. What made it unique was um she argues that actually the rhetoric of dehumanization is part of our cognitive architecture that none of us is really exempt from doing this. uh she calls out a number of uh people within our community but even directs it toward ourselves in the sense that um even when uh we are hurt and targeted by those in power, our first reaction is to try to dehumanize the dehumanizer. And uh her central to her argument is the belief that when you do that, you don't allow um the community to hold those people accountable because we see them as like monsters or evil or animals. And so to really hold people accountable, we have to start seeing everyone um as actual human beings. And so again, it's a message that rings especially true to our moment here. Uh Israel will be attending Depal University in Chicago where she has been accepted into the film school. We are extremely um we all live in service to something. Um these young people stand apart because they live in service to their message. They live in service to excellence. They live in service to leadership. They have lived in service to our school and by default district 196. And we are grateful for district 196 as well as our administration, Mr. Mans, Mr. Blatzim who have supported us immensely, who have created an architecture and fostered an environment where these young people can excel and share their message with the world. Thank you to all of those here and congratulations to our students. [applause] Amazing job. Congratulations. You're very impressed. Looking forward to keeping in touch and following your next step. Okay. Great job. Congratulations so much. >> Congratulations. So impressive. So excited for your future. Congratulations. Very welcome. Congratulations. So impressive. You got a great future. Congratulations. Thank you. Great job. Love it. >> All right. And last but not least tonight, please welcome Director of Communications Janet Switchikowski to the podium. She will introduce Cliff Dodge, who recently received two national awards from the National School Public Relations Association. and I'll ask Mr. Dodge to please join me at the podium. Good evening, Chair Johnson, board members, and Superintendent Balsani. It's my absolute pleasure today to take a moment to recognize truly exceptional storytelling and talent and a monumental achievement uh for Rosemont Apple Valley Egan public schools. I want to shine a light on video and our multimedia specialist Cliff Dodge along with all the incredible students and staff members and business partners who are the subject of his very many many videos that he has created over the past years and play an important role in bringing to life what happens in our schools on the screen. Their hard work and brilliant storytelling just earned national recognition. We recently received the notification from the National School Public Relations Association that as part of their 2026 National School Communications Awards, two projects earned awards. And it's really more than that. The projects were judged against districts of similar size from across the country. And I'm thrilled to announce that that Cliff's work and that of the team didn't just compete but set a national standard. First, the video entitled Personal Finance, which featured our personal finance staff and students, uh, earned a national award of merit. But the accolades didn't stop there. You may remember that we produced a comprehensive 12-part video series called technology in our schools to show our community how technology funding was used to help open the doors for students and prepare them for a technologydriven world. for this series. Cliff and a number of other people, easily a hundred um brought the highest honor for our district and that was a national award of excellence. To understand why the series won a top award, you have to look at the massive challenge that it solved. Ahead of the 2025 technology levy election, we needed to show our voters that the technology invent in investment was about much more than tablets. That and we needed to shift the focus from devices to our students future. Through the 12-part series, Cliff and many of our partners did exactly that. They captured the authentic vibrant sounds of a busy school day. They gave our community an openhouse look into our classrooms. They showcased everything from assistive and augmentive communication tools that gave voice to our non-speaking students and visually impaired students to the high-tech career readiness skills that local employers like Colin Aerospace are asking for. The impact was strong. The series garnered more than 169,000 views and nearly six million minutes of watchtime on social media and YouTube. It shifted the conversation from tax and tech tools to students futures. This series did more than tell a story. It helped secure the funding and give voters confidence that we were using their resources widely. To commemorate the milestone, the award-winning work will be featured and on display at the national uh NSPRA's national seminar in New Orleans beginning next week, and it remains online for other schools to emulate. The public can't get into our schools every day, and they can't see the amazing work that our staff and our students uh are engaged in in learning, but through Cliff's lens, they get a peak. So, Cliff and all of our talented actors, thank you for your dedication, storytelling, and for representing District 196 so brilliantly on the national stage. Thank you. [applause] [applause] >> Amazing job. Amazing job. >> Well deserved. >> All right. Speaking of congratulations to Cliff, he's re seeing him reminded me. Quick update for our anyone streaming at home. If the streaming at home right now is looking a little different uh different, we were having some live stream difficulties, but um the full video will be posted tomorrow morning with all the the wow that normally goes into the videos. That gives us two video awards. [laughter] With that, I will turn it over to Superintendent Bologone for recognition of students and staff. >> Okay. Thank you, Chair Johnson. Good evening. I'd like to begin by recognizing that July is National Disability Pride Month. This month celebrates the achievements, contributions, and experiences of people with disabilities while highlighting the importance of accessibility, inclusion, and belonging in our communities. District 196 is proud to support these values year round through programs such as Project Explore, Community Education, Special Education, Unified Sports, Best Buddies, Adapted Athletics, and many others. I'd especially like to highlight Project Explorer, which offers enriched enrichment classes, recreational opportunities, and community experiences for adults with disabilities. There are still summer classes available, and I encourage anyone who's interested to learn more by visiting the District 196 community education website. Next, I'd like to congratulate Eastview High School graduate Karen Rogers and the United States five gated team on earning a silver medal at the 2026 Saddle Seat World Cup. Karen concludes an outstanding high school equestrian career that included five Minnesota state championships and a reserve national championship before representing team USA on the international stage. We recognize and congratulate Karen on this remarkable achievement and wish her continued success as she begins her studies at the University of Missouri this fall. I'd also like to recognize the many construction workers, contractors, and district 196 staff who are working outdoors this summer in the extreme heat. We currently have 12 construction projects underway across the district, including new activity centers at each of our four comprehensive high schools, as well as maintenance and improvement projects at many of our schools. Their dedication and stamina is helping us create updated learning environments and improve spaces that will benefit our student, staff, and community for years to come. And finally, I'd like to invite Director Rachel Hughes, director of instruction achievement to the podium to introduce our new education development and instructional coordinator. >> Good evening, Chairperson Johnson, school board members, and superintendent Bosone. I'm excited to introduce Bethany von Ozell as our new K12 systems coordinator in the instruction and achievement team. Bethany will support our English language development program, intervention services, and specialist areas including physical education, performing arts, and visual arts. She brings 13 years of experience in a similar leadership role supporting teachers, schools, and district initiatives. We're fortunate to have someone with Bethy's experience joining our team. She has a strong background in building systems that support student learning and collaborating with educators across departments. I'm excited to have her on the instruction achievement team and look forward to the impact she'll make to district 196. Please join me in welcoming Bethany to District 196. [applause] Thank you, Rachel, for that kind introduction. It is truly a pleasure to meet all of you this evening. I'm thrilled to be joining District 196. As Rachel mentioned, over the past 20 years, I've had the privilege of working in three Minnesota school districts. I began my career in Mano as a teacher and continuous improvement coach for 13 years. Then I worked as a K8 district continuous improvement coach, worked in the teaching and learning department in district 191, Burnsville Egan Savage. Most recently, I've been in Edina public schools as the assistant director of teaching and learning. The opportunity to work in different systems ali alongside various teams and under a variety of leadership styles and school boards has been an incredible gift. Each experience has shaped how I think about leadership, learning, and the work we do for students. As I've worked in education and now as I'm raising my own two boys, I have a 13-year-old and nine-year-old. One belief has only grown stronger. Data drives everything we do. It is the wind that directs our sales. But I also believe it's extremely personal. I often say every data point has a heartbeat. I don't believe things happen by chance. And after just a short time in district 196, I can already feel like I'm in the right place. Seeing how Rachel leads, getting to know the incredible ANI team, meeting several of the principles, I can say I believe I've landed where I'm meant to be. I look forward to linking arms with you, all of you, learning and leading alongside you, and making a positive impact for every heartbeat in 196. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity. >> [applause] >> Welcome to the >> Oh, it's great to have you. >> And that concludes my report for the evening. >> Excellent. Thank you, Superintendent Bosone. That brings us to our consent portion of the agenda tonight. Board members, we have 16 items on our consent agenda. Those items include the minutes of the June 20 22nd, 2026 regular schoolboard meeting, treasures report for May 2026, revenues and expenditures report for May 2026, gifts, grants, truth and taxation hearing, appointments to the budget advisory council, long-term facilities maintenance, 10ear plan for 2027 through 2036. Personnel agreement for student teaching experience with educate pathways agreement for clinical experience with University of St. Thomas Activity Centers audiovisisual solutions refrigerated freight truck continuation on upgrade of nutrition services software read 180 and acquisition settlement agreement for permanent and temporary easements. Uh board members, are there any items on the consent agenda that a board member would like to remove tonight? Seeing none, is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Move approval. Second. >> I heard Jackie and then Catherine. All those in favor of approving the consent agenda say I. >> I. >> Those opposed. Motion carries on a six- zero vote. That brings us to our reports section of the agenda tonight. And I'd like to welcome Christopher Anyango Rav Shaw and Spencer Fischer to the podium to give us a nutrition services update. >> Good evening, Chair Johnson, members of the board and superintendent Balsson. I am Christopher Rob, director of finance and operations for the district. As you are aware, our child nutrition staff daily in and out feed our students. They nourish their hearts and minds so that they're ready for learning. The dedication is felt each day by our students. And while the partnership that this group nurtures garner them recognition across the state, we are profoundly grateful for their hard work which lays a vital foundation for our student success in the classrooms. And I'm proud to introduce Spencer Fischer who is a coordinator of nutrition services. He will present our 2025 2026 nutrition services year in review. Thank you, Christopher. Good evening, Chairperson Johnson, members of the school board, and superintendent Balsani. As Christopher mentioned, I am Spencer Fischer, coordinator of nutrition services. Before we dive in, I want to ground us in district 196 strategic roadmap, specifically the priorities of well-being, equity, and resources and emphasize how deeply nutrition services supports student achievement. Our department breathes this every day with passionate specific mission, educating, developing, and inspiring our students for lifelong healthy eating. Because when we fuel them right, they perform at their best. Let me first highlight the awards our program earned this past year. First is the statewide recognition our schools received from the Minnesota School Nutrition Association. The dual school Southview Elementary and Valley Middle School were honored with the Minnesota School Nutrition Association Heroite Award. This award goes to the nutrition the nutrition services teams that truly go the extra mile. They are rated on teamwork, creativity, and customer service. But what they really do is redefine school dining. They step far beyond the service line to become essential partners in our students daily success. By bridging the kitchen and the classroom, they have created a student first environment where every child is seen, known, and supported. This award is a testament to the team's collaborative spirit that is quite literally fueling the health and sense of belonging for our entire student body. Equally exciting, our farm to school program continues to thrive. We are celebrating our second consecutive year winning the Minnesota Department of Agriculture Golden Drumstick Award. This recognizes exceptional leadership in the farm to school initiatives. We aren't just serving meals. We're intentionally sourcing fresh foods from Minnesota growers. We're teaching students about agriculture, then connecting the cafeteria, classroom, and community. An example is through our harvest of the month program. We prioritize local ingredients because we know that fresh quality food is ultimate fuel. One of the standout events this year was our corn chucking relays at champion sites like Thomas Lake Elementary, Southview Elementary, Valley Middle School, and Emerald Trail Elementary. It was a fantastic hands-on way to connect students directly to the healthy foods they eat. You can also see in the center picture students enjoying the golden drumstick meal featuring tree range farm drumsticks and Lando Lakes Mac and Cheese, wholesome fuel for growing minds and bodies. Our passion for nutrition extends across the district with featured events including visits from local farmers including the tree range farm, Rebel Greens, and BMF Stock Farms. Even Princess K of the Milky Way visited Thomas Lake Elementary. And the students are raising their milk cartons in a dairy toast celebrating healthy fats and calcium they need. Our high our high schools are just as engaged. East View High School Fax class students develop fantastic recipes like apple empanadas and apple Asian sllo using brand farm apples. To keep our cafeteria is exciting, fresh, and aligned with our students evolving tastes. Nutrition services introduced six new breakfast entre. For breakfast, students were energized by our fresh baked croissants, schoolmade breakfast sandwiches, and scratch baked muffins. For lunch, we diversified our offerings with shredded chipotle chicken sandwiches, ramen bowls, and turkey avocado melts. Every new item is crafted with a singular goal, providing delicious, highquality meals. Switching to our impact scale. Our size is incredible. We have 27 kitchens with 217 staff. Last year, we served 1.3 million breakfast and 3.4 million lunches. That's over That's about 27,500 meals per day. Our team makes the difference. Despite the national staffing challenges, we have continued to increase staffing while our turnover has dropped. Our staff enjoys their critical role in fueling district 196 students. They know they are shaping lifelong healthy eating habits. With the state of Minnesota free school meals for kids program or universal meals uh for all schools, our meal participation continues to climb, meaning more students are receiving the vital nutrition they need to succeed in the classroom. Which relates to our meals per labor hour. The plan decline in our meals per labor hour reflects a shift towards more complex made from scratch menus. And this is an intentional investment. We are putting in the effort to create appetizing, wholesome foods because our students deserve the absolute best fuel we can provide. Nutri nutrition is also about sustaining our environment for these students futures. We are thrilled that our kitchens will compost food scraps, diver diverting organic waste from landfills and reducing methane emissions. This sustainable practice reduces refuge costs while modeling lifelong environmental stewardship alongside healthy eating. Thanks to the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025, we are adding 2% milk as a choice. This provides a creamier texture, better seat, and optimal vitamin absorption. Research shows that the healthy fats in 2% milk aid in brain development, preserves fullness, and reduces the overeating of low nutrient snacks. It is a perfect fuel to support student growth, top academic performance, and lifelong wellness. Looking ahead to the 2026 2027, we're going flavor forward. With the everchanging pallets of our students, it is our responsibility and our passion to meet them where they are. We are actively collab or we actively collaborate with student focused kitchen cabinets to discover trending flavors. This fall we are excited to introduce breakfast egg rolls, chicken tikki masala, and our special harvest meal featuring Ferndale roasted turkey breast, wild rice, and seasonal vegetables who are setting the table for adventurous eating. Thank [clears throat] you for your time, your support, and the shared commitment to fueling our incredible students for lifelong success. I am ready for questions or comments. >> Thank you very much. Now that everyone is very hungry, are there any questions or comments from the audience? Seeing none, questions or comments from the board? Leah? >> Well, um, just to assert, uh, I am your biggest fan. Um, so if anyone wants to challenge me on that, we can figure that out. But, um, I I know how hard you work. I know how much that goes into figuring out the menus, doing the local sourcing, all of that. Um, and I'm sitting here just thinking about, do parents know? And you know, anything that we can do to better help them know, especially I was thinking about do they know when when the sort of harvest days are or you know, when we're when we're featuring the the local foods because I think more of them should come visit maybe and and maybe don't know that they even that they can um join their students at lunch, but but maybe you can share how we do um get the word out about our menus and in some of the local sourcing we're doing. You know, are there any things that are already underway where we're talking it up a little bit about the quality of of what we're doing? >> Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for the question, Leah. Um the um outreach that we have is um basically through parent volunteers. um especially at those champion sites, the farm to school, um there, you know, for example, like Thomas Lake Elementary, um they have a very strong um committed parent group that um collaborates with these farm-to-school initiatives with um like the kindergarten teachers and also with the nutrition services staff um not only in that school but also in um in my office as well. Um, you know, one of the tools that, um, we have that's, um, you know, being rolled out is Parent Square, and I think that'll be a excellent tool for us to get more of the word out, especially around the harvest meal, um, inviting those uh, families in to, you know, try a truly all Minnesota um, menu. So, and you know, with Cliff's excellent videography work and everything like that, we can tap him on the shoulder to um promote that out as well. >> So, >> yeah, just wanted to uh echo what Leah said. >> I'm the biggest. >> No, you said you're the biggest fan. I agree with that. [laughter] >> I I'm agreeing with that part. >> Me second. [laughter] No just thank you for the work that you guys do. I really appreciate whenever you come in you give us this reports. uh nutrition services performs you know a lot good work and is very important integral to student achievement just alone I mean outreach but I'm interested with the data right you presented a good data 28,000 per day on average that's a lot and it's really impressive how what are we doing and maybe or what can we do uh to use those trends the performance keep performance trends right to father stren strengthen um student participation, meal to meal participation and engagement similar to like the outreach but what are we doing with the data that we have for to plan future like next year. >> Yeah. So thank you for the question. uh the data that we have um helps us work with our um with our farmers and our manufacturing friends that allow us to project and let them know how many meals we will be serving. So for example, we're uh currently working with Hafa Farms for our um fall menus and sourcing um produce from them. And so we have to give them, you know, with 27,500 meals a day, that's quite a bit of produce that we'd be tapping their shoulder. So we partner with them, give them those projections and um are able to um source those ingredients for our menus. >> Thank you. >> Other questions or comments? you know, >> um, you know, I think back to the food that I had growing up, >> completely different. >> I so envy the food that we're able to offer students. And I go back to, you know, our vision of honoring the diverse needs and cultures of our students. Um, and I think about even the food that we're able to offer and how we are infusing honoring some of the the cultural foods that we have and honoring the diversity of of our students. And I >> I'm just um I'm really proud of the ability and of of your vision and how you're doing that for our students. Um, and I appreciate that a lot, Spencer. So, thank you for that and finding healthy ways to do that. I think as a kid, you know, it's something when you can share something from your home and you're excited about that. Um, that's something special. So, I appreciate that. >> Yeah, you're welcome. And it's um one of those things that we strive for, Anna, is that diversity. And that's why we have those kitchen cabinets where we bring a group of students together and talk with them and figure out what they do eat at home so that we can build those recipes and build those menus to represent our student population. >> And the other thing in the work that I do is one of the um one of the I don't want to say easiest ways but most comfortable ways to introduce others to different cultures is through food. Um, and so, uh, that's another great thing that we can do and and have other students participate in a way that's easy to do, right? They can, we call them no thank you bites in my home. >> Just try a no thank you bite. If you don't like it, that's fine. >> That's a key word in our elementary schools. [laughter] Just try a no thank you bite. >> Oh, is it a really thing? Oh my gosh, you thought I was doing my own amazing thing, but >> looks like I bit it off from district 186. That's That's fine. >> [laughter] >> Don't sue me. Uh, that's great. I love that. So, yeah, I just I love that. So, thank you, Michael, and thank you, Spencer, for that. That's great. That's so phenomenal. >> Thank you. >> Congratulations. >> Other questions or comments. >> Go ahead. >> Just a quick comment. I get a chance to visit schools every week and I always try to visit the cafeteria. Uh, and I just a few observations I've made over the year. It always is such a joyful time um with the students during lunchtime. They love the food and uh it's just a fun time to be with them. I'm always so impressed at the number of choices that they have. Um also visiting staff, this is a very joyful, happy staff >> who really like and enjoy providing this food. And so it's just a great environment in the kitchen, but also in the cafeterias uh every time I visit. So, thank you for helping to create that. You're >> welcome, Superintendent Balsani. it. I am very uh fortunate to have the teams that I do and uh I feel very blessed to uh be working for district 196 and leading the teams to provide meals for our students. >> I just wanted to um end by saying I've I've I know some other districts and other schools and I think there's a lot of nutrition programs out there that you know operate because we have to provide school lunches, right? And then that's what they do. But what I always see from you in your department is that there is a mission and a vision. And I even heard it in your presentation tonight. It's not just about giving school lunches or breakfast. It is about the community. It is about the collaboration. It is about giving filling their bellies so that they're ready to learn which is and supporting that vision. And I hear that every single time and it just makes me really proud um of our nutrition um department here. It really does. >> Thank you, Chairperson Johnson. Yeah, that is uh one of those things that I learned as a youth. I um I grew up on a farm and so I was too young to be out in the fields with my parents. So I was in the kitchen making sandwiches uh for the workers that were in our fields. And at that moment I knew that the work I was doing in the kitchen would allow someone else to be successful in their work. So I carried that through today to to today. >> I love it. You can tell. Although next time I think we need free samples for the board for the next. >> I'll remember that. >> 365. [laughter] >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next, I'd like to welcome Janet Switchikowski back to the podium to go over our 2026 District 196 family survey. Good evening again, Chairperson Johnson, school board members, Superintendent Balsani. I'll wait for my slide deck to please come up. Just one moment. Uh during May and June, our school district launched our FA 2026 family survey. The family survey was the first opportunity that we have done as a system that people can remember where we invited all members of our community to complete an online survey. Now in the past the district has collected a lot of feedback and done surveys. Uh the most recent would have been the Morris Lethman survey that included both community survey and a subset of parent survey as well. um that is usually a random sample survey. In this survey, I'm going to catch up with my slide deck now. Um in this survey, we had the opportunity to ask parents specifically about the opportunity for uh that they had to engage with their schools and their staff. um particularly looking at the daily desired experiences that our um schools outlined in conjunction with our strategic roadmap work in 2023. So during that roadmap work, we hope that students we wrote down statements that hoped that students, families, and staff would experience being part of our community. The inaugural family survey provides us a benchmark and a feedback point on the perceptions of parents and guardians have of our school, our culture, and the educational experience their child is getting. The survey really serves three purposes. Um, one to evaluate sentiment about our school system. Two, to measure progress toward living our values and strategic priorities as measured by our daily experiences. and three to gain insights into issues or concerns that may need to be addressed. As a reminder, our daily desired experiences fall into three categories. First is feeling welcomed, respected, and valued as a partner in their child's learning. Second is that their child is progressing and successful at school and they are getting information about their child's learning and progress. Third is that parents are engaged in partnership in a partnership of trust and shared responsibility with staff for student learning. And under each one of those buckets, there was five or six more bullet points, but those are the general theme areas. In the 2026 family survey, we garnered about 5,778 responses representing 6,82 students or about 23% of our student population. Because participation was voluntary. The results represent directional data for us. Really feedback from our customers, our clients, our community, and our most engaged respondents rather than being a statistically random sample like the Lethman survey would have been. While the findings cannot be generalized to the entire population, they highlight highly valuable themes and sentiments that we can act on. This surveys was administered, as I said, in May and June. I want to note that that was the same time that we were communicating a lot with families about transportation and about signing up for the Plan My Ride program. It's also May and June is an incredibly busy time for families. We would have liked to do the survey earlier and in the future we will plan it earlier in the school year. Um many families were overwhelmed with the volume of information coming about school events and reminders and end of the year planning and the transportation planning as well during the month of May. So, in the future, we would recommend um administering it in April, which we would like to do um shortly after spring break each year. I'd also like to remind you that and the public um that the survey tool is one feedback tool and represents a snapshot in time. While the survey is our broadest single source of feedback, it's not the only tool used. Throughout the year, our schools and districts have a robust year-round engagement effort, including parent teacher conferences, school site councils, uh PTO's, advisory councils, emails, and questions from um the general public for a variety of topics. We've also heard community listening sessions on v various topics. And this year, in support of your board goal to engage underrepresented communities, the superintendent also hosted listening sessions with Spanish-sp speakaking families specifically to learn about their lived experiences in our schools. Those listening sessions will continue to be to be expanded with other communities in the coming years. encouraging is that the data collected in the family survey aligns closely with the feedback we receive throughout other channels throughout the year. So, while it is fair to say um there were not really any surprises um but many areas of concern that did come up already have actions plans in place to begin addressing issues. So, with that preface, let's get into the results. In line with the Morris Lethamman survey, the first question that you are nor you normally receive is what um the evaluation of um the quality of education. And that's rated on a four-point scale, excellent, good, fair, and poor. And on this survey we had a very high rating with 90% rating our uh quality of education as excellent or good and 52% relate rating it as excellent. So majority rated are um their child's education and the provided by the school districts as excellent. We also have a breakdown by um subgroups or demographic groups. Um, among all respondents, you see the 90% excellent or good rating on the board. Among our American Indian community, uh, that was at 86%. Among families that identified as Asian Asian, we're at 95%. Among families or respondents that identified as black or African-American, the rating was 93%. Among white was 92%. Multi-racial families were at 86% and our Hispanic or Latino identified families were at 94% excellent or good rating. As I talked about the uh demographic breakdown, um the survey skewed slightly toward our white um pan population at 65% and 45% among our families of color overall in the responses in the three areas that we talk about for the um daily desired experiences. The first is welcoming. Do families feel welcomed and valued? In this group, we've got four questions. One is that um children feel safe at school. Second is that the school fosters a positive and inclusive learning environment for all students that um families feel part of the school and have opportunities to participate in various school events. And then we also included in this our evaluation of our language access plan at 84% um families said they are aware of language services interpretation and translation. So all of these areas under welcoming fell between the 84% and 89% positive agreement response rating. The second bucket is that children are happy and progressing in school. Overall, 82% of parents reported their children their child enjoy school. 93% stated that teachers and school care about their child and 87% believe their child will be wellprepared to advance to the next level. The third bucket is as trusted partners in education. 91% of the adults um felt like adults at school respect customs and traditions that are important to their family. 91% reported the school provides them with information that's easy to understand. 80% believe they have the information they need to support their child's learning at home. and 91% say that when they're visiting school, they feel welcomed as and valued as partners in their child's education. We also had a few questions related to technology use. And I should mention if you're looking at the uh attachment that was included in the board packet, um the full document and the full report of the survey are included in the board packet and it breaks it down by grade level. Um so there's a page or two for preschool, page or two for elementary, middle, and high school. And I've condensed that into a composite number for tonight's presentation. So in technology we ask three questions. One is whether technology provides um personalized learning experiences for their child and that 81% of parents felt that like technology did provide that one-to-one um opportunity for personalized learning. Next was that 91% say that the school provides adequate technology support for student devices. And finally, 90% believe that technology skills and digital literacy are essential for the future. We also asked about whether iPads um should be sent home and are needed at home. Among the elementary, 66% of parents said they did not need the iPad at home and that really supported our decision to keep the iPad at school um unless there is an intentional lesson or reason to send it home and it has been we also collected them for summer use. Again, that was in response to earlier parent feedback that we heard uh way back in October and November. that policy or that practice was changed at the middle and high school. However, 70% of parents said they're using the they need the iPad at home and they are using it at least a few days a week or daily use. And at the high school, that was um a majority at the daily use. We also asked if parents knew how to monitor and limit iPad use at home. That is a topic that we heard um through a number of listening sessions. They wanted more control over screen time. 75% of respondents know how to limit um the iPad use at home. That was interesting that it started in 82% at the elementary level and dropped down to a 73% at the high school level. So, as the high school students are getting more savvy, um parents may feel like they have less control. So this is an opportunity for us to provide additional education um about how we what filters and monitoring tools we have available and direct people to some very um well-developed information and resources on our website. We also had open-ended questions. There were five open-ended questions on the survey. Two at the district level and then two at the uh uh school level and then a technology open-ended question. So one of the question asked at the school and district level was what do you like at the district level it was about 196 and at the school was about their child's particular school. Uh number one and this is consistent with our Morris Leatherman survey uh staff and teachers being caring and caring about students um was by far the most commented what people like about our school. They also talked about the AAA philosophy and the variety of opportunities available to students. Others were some targeted interventions and specialized program specific mentions of special education win time and opportunities for career choices. These were followed closely by the concept of a strong sense of community inclusion and belonging. And finally, communication and community trust. And you will notice on this one that communication comes up as both a like and a problem to be improved. So we'll get get to that next. So what needs to be improved um on the quantitative responses. So if we looked at the surveyed tools, the survey responses, these are really the things that fell at less than 80% agreement and support. Uh so when you've got 90% feeling like things are going pretty well on this survey, um we're looking for where do we want to move the needle on the things that are maybe only three quarters or so. So communication from my child's teacher is an opportunity and the district has not historically set guidance or expectations for frequency or type of communication from teachers. teachers have taken that on naturally. So this is an opportunity for us to get a workg group together and decide what are some of the best practices for communication without overwhelming parents. Next is information to support learning at home. Uh and this is again very closely related. Parents want to be involved. They want to be partners in their child's learning. We also have perceptions about school rules not consistently being enforced. Um and this sometimes is mentioned as behavior or discipline or um in those types of comments. So that perception is challenging uh because disciplinary data is private data. And so while families may see something that they think should be disciplined, they are not privy or they may hear about it. they are not privy to the actual discipline that is put in place for an individual students. So while uh others may come home and report nothing happened, that's highly unlikely. So this is an opportunity for us to do some education around rights and responsibilities and consequences that are outlined that would be happening but we can't speak individually uh to student behavior. So this is an opportunity again for more information also from the open-ended responses. So those were three of the qual quantitative responses. From the open-ended responses, we asked what is the biggest issue facing district 196. Surprise. Uh that was transportation reliability and the transportation changes coming forward. you are well aware of those changes coming forward to address the concerns also behavior and discipline uh screen time and tech limits and we have heard from a uh number of parents that have talked about wanting uh more guidance around when screens are used in school particularly at the um primary level at the K3 level. this more timely communication from teachers comes up frequently. Um there were also comments about cultural dynamics um and the polarization of society and some terms that people used about um either being too far one way or too far another way. Um and a realization that we have a broad community with very different opinions among the breadth and spectrum of of the political spectrum in our community. So next steps uh before I get into some of the actions uh the first thing we're doing is taking a deep dive into this data. So we have uh crosstabbed it by demographic groups by students involved in special education or gifted and talented or other programs. We are also have school level reports that will go to every principal so they can add them into their school improvement plan if there are issues to address. Um but and then even today cabinet took a deep dive into some of the comments uh and understanding the qualitative data in addition to the quantitative data. Um looking forward at some of the specifics that we think are are certainly works in the way and projects action plans already underway. Uh one is simplifying some of the communication tools. When we brought parent square on last year we needed to first train our staff. It was also another new tool at the time and it is intended to replace a number of tools. So we are replacing things like remind private text messaging from teachers, sign up genius, some various forms. So as we roll out over, it was originally planned for a three-year roll out. As we roll over, it will become the communications platform. We will also be um providing more information for parents on how they can make the tool work best for them, notification settings, language settings, etc. Um, we also want to review guidance and expectations for teachers. Is it appropriate to send 16 messages in one day or one week? Um, we have lots of data to show how the tool was used during this year. Um, identify and bring a working group together to identify some common uh, agreements on best practices as we move forward. Uh but one of the things we certainly heard when everything is in one place it seems like a lot. Um and so those messages that maybe used to be on texts or in group or in different apps we are bringing into one place and there is a lot of communication happening and we need to set some guidance um to minimize the information overload and message fatigue for parents. Uh next is information for supporting learning at home. Uh we have seen this already with one of the sessions we had on supporting literacy at home that the um instruction and achievement team offered at parent teacher conferences. Parents are very hungry for knowing what their children are learning um and having materials to be able to spark conversation to reinforce that learning. So we do have a team that's uh coming together and beginning to look at what does family engagement look like in 2026 to 2030. It's very different than it looked like 20 years ago um when we let relied primarily on um events and involvement. Parent engagement today with busy parents is very different. So we'll be redefining what that might look like so they have the information and can support learning at home as a partner. Um, and then some of the information and concerns, the discipline consistency, how we're communicating about our positive behavioral intervention strategies, PBIS, um, what our expectations are, um, some guidance on technology monitoring and support that's already available on our website, and then school specific concerns. So as we look at individual individual schools and levels um one of the things we saw was a cluster of concern about growth in class sizes primarily in the Rosemont area. You know the middle school we are all anxiously awaiting the opening of the new school. Um so there were a number of individual school specific concerns uh that we will share with principles and can begin to address. Next, we have the screen time and technology use that we're providing guidance for. And of course, our transportation system changes. Parents, we have heard you. We understand that the problems last year were not acceptable. Um, we've moved to the opt-in plan my ride. We've done excellent recruiting and staffing for next year to beef that up. We have a new routing system that will be coming in um software system that you approved at the June board meeting last week or last month. Um and then of course we've got the start time changes that will be needed in TW fall of 27 to roll out the whole package for reliability. With that I would entertain any questions. >> Thank you very much. At this time are there any questions or comments from the audience? Seeing none questions or comments from board members. Jackie, >> this was excellent. I would like and it's a good reminder for us that this is only one of our tools. This is one of our tools and and the survey is a good measure, but we do have other tools that we use all all through the year. It's interesting how close it relies it goes on to the Morris letterman information that we have that teachers and our staff get the highest ratings and that just doesn't surprise anybody but that that continues to what we saw in the Mortis Letterman stuff carries through to this survey. Um, and the things that you brought forward that you found out of this that you're going to be working on. There's quite a few of them, but the parent education, we're always involving our parents. What are we doing? How are what is the best way to help your child with reading or all the other things that go on in a school day? And really the one that struck me and we've dealt with this for years is what is the best practices for teachers for communicating? Now you've got Square. How much how much communication do we expect from teachers? 17 emails or texts a day is excessive, but what is that sweet spot about how much I'm information is am I putting forward as a teacher >> or how much am I expected to put forward and when is it when have I jumped the shark and just gotten too too crazy. So, I think you've done a really nice job of identifying those and it'll be fun to see next year when we do this where those or the improvements and if we still if we still get those which we probably will because you know some people you can never get enough information. So, but thank you very very thoughtful very nice report. Thank you. >> Excellent. Other questions or comments from board members? Katherine, >> thanks. Um, I just wanted to thank you for a great presentation and it's really great to see how responsive the district is to the information that we're gathering from parents. Um, you know, everyone seems to have survey fatigue and so it's great to see that the information is really being used. Um, and there are immediate changes that are being made and we're agile enough to make those changes um, to be responsive to parents and families in the best interest of the students. So, I just appreciate that. Thank you, >> Anna. >> I I had a question about um I think I know the answer to this >> and the uh different ways that we are engaging families um under the different groups. Uh those monthly community forums, are those the community listening sessions? >> The monthly we do offer the monthly community listening sessions. So in that um situation, transportation came forward over the last year. >> Okay. >> Um iPad time and screen time came over the last year were two issues brought to >> I just wanted to make sure that's what we're talking about. Okay. I just wanted to make sure. Perfect. Thank you. >> Yeah. Excellent. Other questions or comments? >> Um I just wanted to say I love that you highlighted all the the ways that um we can get feedback. I know survey is only one way to get feedback and they have pros and cons with it, but I absolutely love that we're adding an annual survey one point in time to all of our families. Something we've never done before. It always kind of surprised me that we never had like that one point in time to try to collect that before. Uh love that we started it this year and I'm really happy to hear that it's going to become an annual event as well. So, thank you. Yeah, I do want to give credit because individual schools have surveyed and they have rich data over decades. Um, but this is the SIS first systemwide. >> Excellent. It's great to see. Awesome. All right. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. That brings us to our other action um portion of our agenda tonight. I'd like to welcome Joel Miltier to the podium to go to present the collective bargaining agreement with nutrition services. Good evening, chairperson Johnson, school board members, superintendent Balsson. I am Joel Miltier, director of human resources for district 196. It's my pleasure this evening to share with you that the negotiations towards a collective bargaining agreement between the school district and Minnesota Teamsters Public and Law Enforcement Employees Union Local number 320 representing the district's nutrition services employees have resulted in a tenative agreement. The terms are for a two-year agreement effective July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2028. On July 3rd, 2026, members of the bargaining unit approved the contract terms. Under compensation, the schedule, salary schedule, and longevity differentials are in the board exhibit this evening and demonstrate the changes in both of those areas. There's also an increase to the double school differential. Under benefit provisions, there's an increase of 12% in the first year to the district's insurance contribution and 9% uh increase in the second year to the district's insurance contribution and also some minor language changes in this particular contract. I'd like to recognize, as we did in our presentation tonight, the nutrition employees for their outstanding service in district 196 on a daily basis. As Spencer mentioned, they fuel the energy of our students to be here and learn and grow and develop in our school district, and we can't do this work without them. So, I just wanted to say thank you to them and express my gratitude for all of their hard work and dedication to our our students and our families. And it is our recommendation that you approve their agreement for the 26 28 school years. >> Excellent. Thank you very much. This is an action item for the board tonight. So, before I move into the questions, is there a motion to approve the collective bargaining agreement with nutrition services as presented? >> So, move second. >> Motion by Leah, seconded by Jackie. At this time, are there any questions or comments from the audience? >> Seeing none, questions or comments from board members? >> Just one more time from the biggest fan of the nutrition department. I um I'm just really happy when I'm looking at some of these and for me, I'm looking for are we are we getting to livable wages for staff, right? And that's a hard benchmark to achieve um in all [snorts] facets of our work. and and I'm just I'm so happy to see how far we're coming and and how much we are recognizing the hard work of of that team. So that's all I want to say. Thank you. >> Absolutely. Thank you. >> Other questions or comments? >> All right, we have a motion to approve by Leah, seconded by Jackie. At this time, all those in favor of approval say I. >> I. >> Those opposed. Motion carries on a 6-0 vote. Thank you very much. Joel, don't go too far though because you're up next to present the collective bargaining agreement with vehicle technicians. >> Excellent. Thank you. So again, it's my pleasure to uh share with you that negotiations toward a collective bargaining agreement between the school district and the Minnesota Teamsters public and law enforcement employees union local number 320 representing the district's vehicle technicians have resulted in a tenative agreement. The terms are for a two-year agreement effective July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2028. On June 23rd, 2026, members of the bargaining unit approved the terms of the contract. Under compensation, again, the salary and differentials are listed in the board exhibit and the changes in both of those areas. Benefit provisions again were a 12% increase to the district contribution for health insurance in year one and a 9% in year two. Again, other minor language changes for this group as well. another group that we cannot do without in this district. These are the folks that keep our buses on the road every single day and provide transportation for our students. Not only that, it's also about the safety of our students and our bus drivers and chaperones while they're on the road. So, impeccable work by this group of individuals to maintain that for us here in the district and ensure that transportation is a key priority for us. So, thank you to all of them for the work that they do. >> Thank you very much. This is another action item for the board tonight. So before I move into questions, is there a motion to approve the collective bargaining agreement with vehicle technicians as presented? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Jackie, seconded by Katherine. At this time, are there any questions or comments from the audience? Seeing none questions or comments from board members. >> Jackie, just a quick comment. Both of these, the nutrition and the vehicle services are I think we can be really, we should be really proud in our district that these are our people. other school districts you go to in their there's nutrition services are provided by companies their vehicle techs and their vehicle and their drivers are farmed out to other >> people and these are our people. So I agree with what you said Leah about wages and I think >> we just need to really celebrate the fact that these are our our employees. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you. >> Other questions or comments? Seeing none, we have a motion to approve by Jackie, seconded by Katherine. All those in favor of approval say I. >> I. >> I. >> Those opposed. Motion carries on a 6 vote. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> All right. Next, I'd like to welcome Christopher and Yango Robcha back to the podium to present the resolution for sale of general obligation facility maintenance and school building bonds. >> Good evening, Chair Johnson, school board member, superintendent Balsson. I am Christopher Younger Rob, director of finance and operations, and I'm here to summarize the resolution for the sale of general obligation facilities maintenance and school building bonds. Uh, this board action represents a required step in the debt issuance process which aligns with the payable 2027 property tax levy certification cycle. Uh specifically, the request this evening seeks authorization to issue and sell the remaining 35 million in general obligation long-term facilities maintenance bonds and 113,745,000 of school building bonds. Uh this will be a total of 148 million750,000 um dollars. Approval of this resolution will authorize the district's financial adviserss and associates to solicit and proposals for bonds with the final sales to be awarded uh to the lowest bidder at a future board meeting. Uh currently we anticipate that the sale of these bonds will be done uh in the early part of calendar year 2027. I'm happy to address any uh questions that may have come up as you are reviewing the additional material. >> Excellent. This is another action item for the board tonight. So before we move into the questions, is there a motion to approve resolution for sale of general obligation facility maintenance and school building bonds as presented? >> Some moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Anna, seconded by Sakoden. At this time, are there any questions or comments from the audience? Seeing none, questions or comments from board members? Is this the last um sale of the issuance from the bond referendum we had? So this is the final one. >> This will be. So we did the first one in 2023 for 300 uh million and then the last one last year 100 million. So this will be the last of the three sets. Yes. >> Perfect. Final step of the biggest bond referendum in the state history at the time. So love it. Um we have a motion to approve by Anna, seconded by Sakoden. At this time are there or at this time it's been a long night. [laughter] If you approve, please say I. >> I. All those opposed. Motion carries on a 6-0 vote. Thank you very much. All right. Next, I will turn it over to Superintendent Bos Sony for district updates. Okay. Thank you, Chair Johnson. We are already preparing for the 202627 school year. And to help families get ready, we have launched a back to school resources hub on our website. It brings together important information in one place along with a helpful checklist that includes updating contact information, finding school supply lists, submitting immunization records, and completing athletic forms. Registration for fall sports opens this week. And we encourage families to register early and check out that hub. And that concludes my report for this evening. >> Excellent. Thank you very much, Superintendent Boszone. At this time, are there any board members with updates they'd like to share? Seeing none, that brings us to the end of our agenda tonight. Is there a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Anna, seconded by Saken. All those in All those in favor of adjourning, please say I. >> I. I. >> Those opposed. Motion carries on our six on a 6 vote. Our next regular schoolboard meeting will be Monday, August 10th. We stand adjourned.