Good evening. Uh the time is 6 o'clock and it is March 26, 2025 and this evening we have our regular meeting of the school board. First I'd like to ask uh clerk Milner to please take attendance. Melissa Milner here. Director Bruns present. Director Zuzac here. Director Dresley here. Chair Tate here. Thank you. Uh and Director Brun or sorry, Director Beerm is absent. So we'll make sure that we note that. Um could I please ask all who are able to please stand and remove your headwear for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, and with liberty and justice for all. Excuse me. All right. Next, I am looking for motion to approve the agenda, please. I make a motion to approve the agenda. Can you get a second? I second that motion. Any discussion? All right. Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the agenda say I. I. All those opposed say nay. Uh motion approved. Uh motion passes to approve the agenda. Next, I'm looking for approval of the minutes from the February 26th, 2025 regular school board meeting. Bruns makes a motion to approve the minutes from the uh February 26, 2025 meeting. Can I get a second, please? Milner second. Any discussion? All right. All those in favor of approving the meeting minutes say I. I. All those opposed say nay. Motion passes unanimously to approve the meeting minutes from the February 26, 2025 meeting. Uh at this time, I'd like to welcome all of our visitors both in the room and online and also those watching in the future. Uh thank you for your involvement in Hastings Public Schools. I am going to ask that our guests remain respectful this evening. Um if you have to have a conversation or take a phone call, I do ask that you please leave the room. We've had some issues with um conversations being distracting up here for board members. So if you do not comply with this request, you may be asked to leave the meeting. So appreciate your cooperation with that. Um next we have our Raider spotlight. Superintendent Champa. All right. Always my favorite. So excited. Tonight we have Haley Strain and Lucas Foss and they are being recognized tonight for the Athena and Apollo awards. Are you here? [Applause] Yeah. We're going to ask you to speak but um before that these annual awards are given to outstanding athletes, one male Apollo and one female Athena in the senior class. Consideration is given based on the excellence and accomplishments in both individual and team sports throughout the duration of the student athletes career. Consideration is given to both one sport and multiport athletes. The award is an athletic award with other accomplishments like leadership, character, and GPA included, but secondary. Lucas and Haley were selected by a vote of all high school head coaches. Congratulations. So now we want you to tell us a little about your accomplishments. Okay. Well, my name is Haley Strain. I play softball, basketball, and volleyball, and I've been playing through Hastings since I was about eight years old. So, it's exciting to see all the hard work paying off. But yeah, I've been on varsity softball for four years, basketball for four years as well, and then volleyball for three. So, yeah, I have a longer list in front of me. You're not talking about all of your accomplishments. A thousand career points and Yeah. Um, this year I achieved 1,000 career points in basketball and then a thousand career rebounds as well. And then and then softball, I've received a couple of awards including all section last year. Then volleyball, I've been MVP a couple of times. So yeah. Well, we're very proud of you. So congratulations. And then what what are you doing after school? Um I'm going to attend the University of Southern Illinois Edwardsville to play division one softball and study nursing. Congrats. Thank you. Congratulations. Amazing. All right. Next we have Trey Tavanir. Trey won the t-shirt design and we have that up on the screen for you to see and so we are so proud of the work that you did and we are asking that you tell us a little bit about your design and your artistic background and anything else you want to tell us. So push that button and tell us. I'd probably say that it's mainly just I draw for fun and then if there's a contest or anything, I kind of just join in and see what I can do to win or or just to have fun and do it with my friends. So, have you won other contest, too? Not really. This is kind of the first contest I've had in a while, but I don't think I've really had any other ones. Well, this one's pretty darn amazing and it looks awesome. So, it's on a t-shirt and you can go on and purchase the t-shirt. I tried to and it got stuck in my cart. So, I will still get one though. So, we are very proud of you. Other questions? What grade are you in? Fifth grade. Fifth grade. How's middle school going? Pretty good. I think I like it a little more than elementary. Yeah. Awesome. Who are the artistic talents from? Probably my dad. I have seen some of his work too in your mom's office. So, pretty amazing. Well, we're very proud of you. We have a Raider spotlight award for you [Applause] tonight. Great. Moving on, we have Kitty Matsick. Kitty [Applause] Is she coming? Oh, there she is. Come on up. Come to the table. Katie was recognized this year as the chamber educator of the year. And so we are so proud of your accomplishments. Do you want to just tell us a little bit about your teaching career and um how you received the award? There we go. Okay. I have been teaching for 24 years. Kindergarten. I've done a couple loopings. So, I've done first grade a couple times. So, that's been exciting. Um, I work with amazing people and they have got me where I am and without them I would have not I wouldn't have accomplished this. So, I thank my all my friends. I thank the parents I've worked with, the students I worked with, my colleagues that I've worked with. Without them, I would not be here. I have learned so much from absolutely everybody I've worked with. So, thank you and very humble. Um, so how many years in kindergarten? 22. I taught kindergarten one and then fifth grade. Yeah. So we are so proud of you. Any other questions for Katie? So why Hastings? You have huge capacity. You're incredible. Why here? Um, my family is from here. So my grandma lives lived here. So when I was student teaching in Prescott, Wisconsin, I lived with my grandma Burr right on town. So that with that then my aunt taught here, Mary Burr, Mary Risinger, and so I was doing a lot of work in her room and kind of got me in the door. Well, congrats. We have a radio spotlight for you as well. Oh, thank you. [Applause] All right. And finally, we have Juliana Brandt with [Applause] us. Juliana has the four books that are um presented on the screen has written those and is the last one the exit nowhere. Yes. And so those four and uh just a note, the monsters in the mist was a finalist for the 23 Minnesota Book Award. So what a privilege to have you. Can tell us a little bit about your writing and what inspired you? I've always wanted to write a book, but Okay. Um yeah, so I I love teaching. I adore being a teacher. This is my 10th year teaching. Kindergarten I did for seven years. This is my third year in second grade. Um, but writing is the thing that I really do for myself on the side. Um, where I put all of my inventiveness and my creativity. So, I do that in the summertime and on the weekends. And then that allows me to be a more full uh a better teacher, I really think. Um, because that's what I do with my like introverted energy. And then I can come to school and be the best teacher I can. Uh, and I uh I really love writing and it's fun to be able to share with um students at school too. That is like one of the best things I get. What was your first inspiration to write a book? Oh, oh my gosh. I have been writing and telling stories since I was very very young. I remember doing that in elementary school of telling stories to myself. So, I think I always have. And then as I got older, I realized, oh, the stories I was writing, you could actually try to publish those. And it took a lot of work. Um, probably a decade of trying and and trying books and writing and rewriting. So, we see four books, but I have probably written 25. You just see in the background. So, a lot of work. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we're very proud. Other questions? Thank you. If you don't mind, I'll post the same one. Again, tremendous skill. Yeah. It's amazing. Thank you. Thank you. And what how that shows up for kids in the classroom. So, why our community? Ya stands um honestly the staff. Uh when I decided to be a teacher and started looking at schools like there there are so many incredible districts around incredible places but when I started here the teachers and the community that surrounded me and the amount of support and passion that the teachers had like I don't know that I could ever see myself leaving because of the support network with all of the teachers that are here. Yeah, I concur. Well, congratulations. We have a Raider spotlight award for you as well. Thank you. Congratulations to all of our Raider Spotlight winners. Um, awesome accomplishments. Uh, next up we have our public comment session. And sorry, switch documents here. Um, so we'll hear public uh comments. Like I said, we have five speakers uh tonight who will be recognized and allotted three minutes of time. We have a 30 second sign uh to alert you to the time remaining, as well as a timer to signal the end of your time. We ask that speakers state their name for the record and refrain from using this time to criticize or complain about any specific employee by name. Uh please be aware that the school board is interested in hearing comments from the public and will listen carefully, but we are not obligated to respond or debate in this setting. We do ask that all speakers be respectful and comments by any others may be ruled out of orders and those abiding not abiding by this may potentially be asked to leave. Uh so first up we have uh Lisa Haden. [Applause] Welcome. Thank you. My name is Lisa Hidein. I'm a resident of Denmark Township and a non-contract employee with the Hastings District. I'm honored to use my time today to read into the record a letter that was written by teachers of the district and signed by 104 teachers of the district. I know this has been sent to the board, but I think it's important that the public hear this message. We, the educators in district 200, are concerned about the future of our district. We request that you trust us as professional educators. Your confidence in our expertise will not only save the district time and resources, but also advance the goal of hiring and retaining quality staff. For example, when the elementary educators came to you with to approve their choice of wit and wisdom as the reading curriculum, they presented extensive experience, datadriven evidence, and thousands of hours of review. Instead of thanking them for their diligent work or asking them questions about their process, you doubted their expertise and voted to have them redo much of the review process. The result was that our district adopted witten wisdom. The consequences are that our district spent unnecessary funds and educators felt disrespected. Likewise, we urge you to trust our superintendent, Dr. Dr. Tammy Champa to guide you toward issues facing our district that you must address in order for us to be successful and competitive school district. Hastings has been blessed to have Tammy, one of the best superintendent in the state. She works tirelessly for our district. She cares about our kids, families, and community. She gets work done and she moves quickly. She cannot effectively lead if her efforts are hindered by distrust and micromanagement. We can't expect her to stay in ISD 200 if she's not empowered to do her job. Tammy could lead you through the real issues facing our school children. The real challenges do not stem from library books, tribal nation flags, empowered student clubs, or policies that uphold the dignity and worth of all students. If you trust her, Tammy can direct you on finding solutions for our declining enrollment, retaining quality staff, serving the mental health of our students, refining discipline policies, addressing the places where we are out of compliance, and making our district attractive to young families. Tammy can help you do the necessary work, which isn't political and puts kids at the heart of all that we do. Please work to address declining enrollment. Most of you ran for school board with a promise of addressing declining enrollment. Yet, our enrollment continues to decline, and we are facing more staff and budget cuts. Additionally, you're voting on removing removing policy 100, a measure that strengthens our district's appeal to new families. We urge you to trust Superintendent Champa and her employees so that we can all focus on the critical issues that will help our school district thrive. And again, that was signed by 104 teaching staff currently in the Hastings District. Thank you for the time. Thank you, Dr. Champa, for all that you've done to make our district stronger. Thank you. Thank [Applause] you. Please don't disrupt the meeting, folks. I need to ask our next speaker to come up. His name is Mark Matik. Welcome. First off, I want to thank the board for allowing me to speak tonight. I am a resident of Hastings. Uh I have two re two sons that recently graduated from high school and I graduated myself back in the mid 80s. Um and this is about policy 100. In preparing um for this, I read and reread and read again the h the the policy and I I was just trying to see where there could be issues that the board might be opposed to and I just really don't get it. Everything I read in that policy is a positive. It's about bringing the needed support and resources to students that deeply need it need it. And um you know it is it's about creating equity, reducing bias, lifting students who traditionally face challenges and obstacles that a lot of us don't even think about. And it's been said before, this policy is the only one that's currently on our on our books um addressing these specific issues and the with these particular groups of people and um if it goes then we don't have that and replacing it with some verbiage on the um strategic plan and stuff that we haven't seen yet even um it just doesn't it it doesn't work for me. Um, you know, I think it sends a clear message if we were to cut this that, um, the students that would benefit from this, um, just aren't important enough to, um, keep this three-page document that could really help them. And um uh and and finally I guess um you know last month you cherate you shared that your daughter um benefits from some of the programs and resources that fall under policy 100. Um mine did too. Um he's graduated now. But uh you stated actually you showed some emotion when you u made the statement. um quote, "I would never think of making their lives more difficult by removing programming or resources for them." And I can relate to that completely. Uh your sentiment and your emotion just as I suspect all the parents do who have children, students who need these resources. Um so I just ask you to think about them as well when it comes time to vote tonight. Thanks. Thank you. Next up, we have Trevor [Applause] Johnson. Folks, please don't disrupt the meeting. This is going to be long enough. Next, I'd like to invite Trevor Johnson up. Is he here? All right. Welcome, Sir, it came from the back 40 there. Good evening. I am Trevor Johnson. I'm a resident here in town. I have kids that attend our schools. And I'm here also on the topic of policy 100. I want to speak on a little bit of a boring but I think important angle on this. Uh there was some discussion last week about replacing the policy with some verbiage in the strategic plan. And I want to just remind everybody the differences between a policy and a strategic plan. They're two very different tools with two very different um purposes. Policies are intended to provide clarity and specific guidelines to align an organization's behavior with its vision and values. Vision and values are long term. They're generally unchanging or little changing and they define that organization's identity and direction year after year. In this specific case, policy 100 directly supports and provides guidance with executing the we care and students pillars of the ISD 200 vision statement. Strategic plans in contrast are short-term documents intended to provide direction and a roadmap for an organization to achieve its goals. These plans are by definition short-term and intended for regular review and modification as progress towards a goal occurs or external realities require the shifting of those goals. Given these above descriptions, I feel that the strategic plan should not be the document we rely on to ensure the survival of policy 100's intent, given that it supports our district's long-term vision. When the next revision of the strategic plan occurs, the language around equity and diversity could be significantly altered or omitted, even if it's unintentional. This is why policies are so critical in maintaining consistent long-term values. If there are specific portions of the policy that are causing concern, I would encourage the board to discuss those in detail and address each of those concerns uh with revisions to the to the uh policy. Given that the board has generally voiced uh support of those vision statements of we care and students, it seems that this policy still has strong merit and serves a very valuable purpose. If the policy is removed, I'm concerned it will leave the district employees without clear guidelines for executing those two key values, which will greatly diminish their ability to execute them. The strategic plan will not have adequate detail or longevity to effectively serve in place of the policy. So, I just ask you carefully consider the use of the tools that you want to implement tonight to support um that long-term vision and values for the district. I just want to thank you for the time and that consideration. Thank [Applause] you. All right. Next, I would like to invite our final speaker up. I'd like to invite our final speaker up, Adam. And I am not going to try to butcher your last name. I apologize. You're good. All right. I'm sorry. I I'm sorry. This is our fourth one. Welcome, Adam. Oh, okay. All right. I'm going to try to do this at Louis speed. All right. Hello. My name is Adam Kaji. I am a resident of Hastings. I've been a resident off and on 27 of the last 34 years. I am a 2009 graduate of Hastings High School. I am a high school social studies teacher at a small public charter school. and I felt it necessary to speak to you uh about the potential removal of policy 100 because of my own work with and educational experience. So I thank all of you for giving me the time to speak in this platform. So as a social studies teacher I am constantly fighting an uphill battle trying to teach and promote critical thinking skills proper academic research and navigating an offline and online world where it is increasingly more difficult to find objective wellressearched information and facts. Chairperson Tate, I appreciate your approach to issues and that analyzing problems and looking at the facts is your focus in decision-making. Based on what I've read from the Minnesota Department of Education, watching your last February meeting and reading from credible sources at the US Department of Education, I wanted to lay out some facts about the situation at hand from the for the school board. MDA's follow-up to the dear colleague letter stated that this letter is just that, a letter which does not carry the full force of or effect of law. This letter from the Trump administration even states in its own footnotes that the DCL does not have the force and effect of law and does not bind the public to create uh new legal standards. Superintendent Champa mentioned the school district's legal team reiterated that this letter was not a directive or an order and that the district's declaration of equity was not a violation of law. MDE Commissioner Willie Jet March 20th said, "In Minnesota, we know strong public education relies on policy decisions that are based on the real experiences of students, families, and educators." The district's strengths and needs report from 2021, a report you had done, even said that families from multiple education levels were worried their unique and diverse kids needed more. Now, this policy 100 is supposed to be reviewed on a cycle, and it is true that the president has spoken out against these policies. the the diversity, equity, and inclusion and threatening to withhold funding to districts that contain these policies. But these facts don't line up with what his administration can legally do. And I'd hate for the school district and the students in the district to be without this policy in place or at the very least have the district strategic plan, have this inclusive language found in the policy, which um I did not see more than two or three words containing it. So that's why I was worried and wanted to speak up tonight. Uh the conversation about diversity, equity, and inclusion annoys the hell out of me because if you walk into a school or class and saw what students were learning, I think you all of you would be very impressed. Um in my classroom, DEI doesn't mean I'm spreading hate or creating or or a setting of guilt for white students. And I'm not placing anyone race or group above another. What DEI means is that my students are learning the entirety of American and world history and politics and economics, their history. They're learning about European immigration through Ellis Island. And they're learning about immigration for Latin American and East Asian um immigrants through Angel Island in San Francisco. They're learning about the triumphs and the failures of Abraham Lincoln. Um it's not about my kid doesn't fit into one of 17 buckets of different diversity. It's saying don't forget about these 17 buckets. Sorry sir, your time is up. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much. [Applause] And then finally, and I apologize for introducing uh Adam as our final speaker, but tonight it is uh Kerry Amenson. Welcome. Do I have to hit a button or is this okay? Hello. Um, my name is Kari Amenson and I was born and raised in Hastings. I'm a proud 2005 graduate and am now raising, excuse me, my own family here. Thank you for the opportunity and time to speak. During my time in school through both academics, art, and athletics, I learned that leadership isn't about having all the answers. It's about creating space for diverse talents and voices to shine. And while I felt safe, encouraged, and supported, I came to recognize that many equally capable qualif and qualified classmates did not and faced barriers that I did not have to. This didn't diminish my own hard work, accomplishments, or minimize personal struggles. Instead, it taught me that true excellence comes when everyone has access to the specific resources they need to develop their unique potential. Another important lesson that repeatedly came up during my academic and professional career following is through the lens of history and social studies and that understanding the past is essential to making wise decisions about the future. History isn't just dates and facts. It is a lens through which we can understand human experience and all its complexity. When we studied historical moments like the civil rights movement or women's suffrage, we examined how expanding opportunities for marginalized groups strengthened our entire society. how policies that deliberately excluded certain voices ultimately impoverished our collective wisdom and led to flawed decisions. Educational institutions have played a pivotal role in either perpetuating inequality or dismantling it. And in both arenas, those who resisted inclusion found themselves on the wrong side of history. So, as you make your decision about policy 100, I offer two perspectives for your consideration. The first is that you have an opportunity tonight to demonstrate true educational leadership by maintaining policies that prepare and support our students for the complex world they will inherit. You said the strategic plan covers it. It doesn't. You have an opportunity to exemplify that as leaders, it's okay to come with their perspective, reflect on input and feedback and feedback, excuse me, and pivot if needed. that as adults we know being uncomfortable with something new or someone different from our own experience does not make it wrong and being part of a community and part of being a community member is to invite diverse perspectives to grow and achieve the best possible outcome. Alternatively, history has shown us that educational policies that narrow and homogenize students experiences ultimately fail to prepare them for the world they will enter. History also shows us future generations will look back and judge whether we chose to equip our students to become engaged citizens. That words, actions, and motivations will be analyzed, dissected, and understood for what they are without the cushion of coded excuses and rationale. As someone who benefited from Hastings's commitment to excellence in athletics, arts, academics, and citizenship, and who has chosen to raise my own family here, I hope you'll choose the path that ensures every student knows they're not just a face in the crowd, but a valued member of our community with the support they need to contribute their unique strengths to our collective success. Your time is up, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you. All [Applause] right, next [Applause] up. Come on, folks. We have business to do this evening. You can't interrupt all the time. All right. Next up, we have our superintendent report. All right. Just a couple of things. So, uh, welcome back from spring break. Hopefully everyone had an opportunity to recharge a little bit now with our final stretch and um at hand. Just a note that radar updates will resume again this Sunday and they will be coming out at 400 p.m. every Sunday except for the two Sundays that um outside of spring break. And then just also a reminder that we have the community collaboration series um coming up. So April 8th we will be looking at the strategic plan. April 15th it's the budget adjustment. um just going through the um 1.5 million adjustments that the district is making and then April 22nd uh a deep dive into the current strategic anchors into the um strategic plan. And so that's what I have for that tonight. We do not have a leadership um person going over their individual goals. However, you have the cadence of greater responsibility in front of you um showing collectively where all of our leadership uh members are in each of the strategic anchors. Any questions? Thank you. All right. Next up, we have our student school board representative uh reports. And first up, we have student representative Banky. All right. So, starting with Kennedy this month, um their PTA announced that they will be hosting a tree planting event in May. However, this month they had an event to learn about trees, the importance of trees and their importance in the environment. And then Kennedy is having their steam night tomorrow. Steam nights have been kind of popular throughout the elementary schools in the past couple of weeks. So, we're excited to see how this one will turn out. And then March had some featured artists at Kennedy whose artwork you can see up there. Very talented. Okay. And then a little districtwide elementary school thing. So, I'm stealing a bit from Representative Suarez Garcia here, but kids kids campus, camp resins, and big shots have all opened up registration for the summer and all that. So exciting for them. I've heard very good things about all of those services. And then moving on to Pinerest, Pinerest hosted their Steam nights at the beginning of the month and they were a success. Um, their PTA has announced that they are hosting a fun run in May with more info to come about that. And then as for the music corner, this month students have been diligently working on musical talents with some music demonstration days on the calendar for parents to go see what's going on there. And then Pine students also have some very fun artwork and they've been focusing on the color wheel this month. Awesome. Any questions? Thank you. Uh next up we have student representative Rosnako. Uh, yes, I can back up Jen that steam night was very fun and I hope to see you guys and your kids tomorrow um at it. And so for to start off with Hastings High School, a lot of things happened and are happening with sports. So, first boys and girls basketball ended their seasons with boys ending with 20 wins. Um, Riverside Company and Dynamic Edition ended both of their seasons and Riverside got third place in their final competition. Ultimate Frisbee, boys baseball, girls softball, boys tennis, golf, and track are all starting up here very soon or have already started. Not fully sure all the dates. And in February, backtracking a little bit, Julia Rody was our Hastings Rotary Club senior student of the month, being nominated by Miss Welch. Congrats to her. And um over spring break, the Hastings High School band and orchestra classes went on a trip to Greece over spring break. And from what I saw, and there's some pictures coming up later, that um it all seemed like a blast. Now, for upcoming events at the high school, Empty Bowls is on April 9th from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. And it's a fundraiser event hosted by the ceramic/art department. It's full of fun times with our community, and we get to support our students in the process, raise money for a good cause, and eat some great food along the way. And um April 25th, I'll probably highlight on this next month's report more too, but the Polar Plunge will open to the community and proceeds will benefit our inclusion efforts in association with the Special Olympics Minnesota. Then at Tilden, so this month, preschoolers had fun celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday and learning to rhyme. Miss Mary Ellen Fox came in to play her violin, and they all talked about V being for violin. and they had New Art of Dentistry come to visit to teach them about their teeth. And so, first, here are all the grease pictures that I got from Representative Banky. Yeah. I was wondering if you'd like to comment on what's going on in these pictures. Okay. Yeah. So to start at the top, um this was a day where we were in Naflio, I believe in Greece, and there was the option while we were, you know, going around the town shopping or sightseeing, we were able to climb up to this big castle and get a beautiful panoramic view of the city and the ocean and all that. So there's a bunch of students doing that. I did opt out. I did go shopping and had a very good sandwich. All right. And then next picture, this is our first concert that we performed. This is no this is our second concert that we performed and in this picture you can see many of the orchestra and some of the band and some directors in the back. All right, next picture. Um there is all of us on the hill of the muses. I believe we got a great view of the parthonon from here and we watched a beautiful Greek sunset in the city of Athens. And then the last picture this was at the Oracle of Delelfi. We were at the Oracle of Delelfi and we got to walk up the whole beautiful ancient ruins and we got beautiful views of mountains and we got to learn a lot about the history and it was very fun. Overall, it was a very fun trip. Um, commending to all of our chaperrons and our directors and there with you and I'm sure you had fun as well. I did. Um, and I have to say that picture of all the kids hoofing it up the hill. I am the old lady in pink that had to step aside and let them all go by because I was wondering if I was going to die before I got to the top, but I made it eventually. So, yeah, it was a great trip and the students had three three concerts um in total and it was they were amazing. So, great job. And then uh there's I'm pretty sure like three pictures of the kids. So, this is them with the violinist and listening them celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday. So cute. And then teeth. Oh, there's actually two of the teeth ones. Do they glow in the dark? They look like they do. But yeah, thank you. All right. Thank you. Any questions, comments? All right. Uh, next we have uh student representative Suarez Garcia. So for McAuliffe this month um although McAlliff incredibly busy uh because of spring break there are a couple of exciting things. Firstly the 2024 and 25 McAuliff yearbook is available for purchase online March 21st through April 11th. Also thanks to the overwhelming support from McCulliff families. The McCulliff readathon was a tremendous success. The event raised a total of $20,360 for the McAuliff PTC and our students collectively read an impressive $270,537 minutes. These funds will go a long way in supporting events and activities from a students, teachers, and families. Some incentives that helped achieve these stats are dying Mr. Estrey's hair, silly string, silly stringing Mr. Estri, and pying mi Mrs. Ferguson and Mrs. Glazier. So, those are some of the photos. I didn't put the photo of them dying his hair, but his uh his hair is very colorful. Now, for the ALC, over the past few weeks, our students have shown strong participation, especially during the testing day on March 11th, which saw very high attendance in the alternative school setting. Many students are making solid progress towards graduation, and as quarter 4 near, they are excited to start new classes. Additionally, there has been a noticeable increase in students interest in college and career opportunities signaling growing motivation. With quarter 3 ending in on April 4th, they are working with students to finish strong as they look ahead to the next quarter. And then just some photos of more just in-class work and them collaborating. All right, thank you. Any questions? Great job. And then finally, we have student representative Stanky. Okay, so not too busy at the middle school this month, but there are still plenty of things to get excited about. So like the high school, the middle school is transitioning into spring sports such as swim and dive, track and field, tennis, so you can look forward to those seasons starting up really quickly. Um, as for the very talented arts department, the six fifth and sixth graders had their choir concerts on March 4th, followed by the seventh and eighth graders choir concerts on the 6th. Um, tomorrow the middle school jazz band students will have a concert at the high school and the theater students at HMS have been working really hard rehearsing for their upcoming play titled Sally Carter and the Quest We Follow, which will be held in the Hastings Middle School auditorium on April 10th and 11th. The entire student body has been working really hard demonstrating the Raider Way with the continuation of Rockstar Award winners this month. Additionally, they have started their hallway heroes challenge. Uh this challenge is meant to reinforce hallway expectations as well as promote safety, respect, and responsibility. Students who exemplify these qualities will receive tickets which they will put into their grade level bins at lunch. And Mr. Wyn reluctantly gave me the information that as these students earn tickets and reach goals, they will earn rewards such as Chromebooks at lunch or the opportunity to pie their grade level principal. Uh to sum this up, some other student events. The Scholastic Book Fair was at the middle school from March 4th to the 6th. On the 11th and 12th, the students had the opportunity to play trivia at lunch. The outdoor club had an exciting vertical endeavors trip, which is a rock climbing experience. And finally, I can't go without mentioning the students getting the opportunity to relax and enjoy spring break this month. And then Oh, thank you. Any questions on that or anything? All right. And then uh student representative Sanki had requested since she can't stay until the end of the meeting, she had some input for policy 100. Yes, I just have a couple comments for the board to consider. So, as a student at the high school, um the possible threat of loss of funding is obviously a concern. Um however, what is more concerning to me and seemingly to my peers is the message that sunsetting a policy such as policy 100 would send. Um, many students have expressed to me and expressed in general that they feel uneasy about attending school in a district that considers sunsetting this policy. Um, many of these students were unaware of any opportunity to bring these concerns to the board themselves. So, um, I will be doing it on their behalf as well as briefly express some of my concerns. Um, this policy discusses equitable treatment for all students. It does not focus specifically on race and gender, although those are a large part of it. It is way more broad than that. It covers way more. Having the understanding about how I and many of my peers feel about this policy, I have additional concerns. Hastings is already shrinking in terms of number of students. Um, and this obviously means losing money. I don't believe that uh sunsetting a policy such as policy 100 will promote growth for our school district. Um in fact it may do the opposite. I feel that in the long run keeping policy 100 uh will better promote growth for our schools and more importantly better satisfy and benefit the students in Hastings. Thank you. [Applause] Next, I'd like to welcome our guest, Cassie Podin, uh, with a presentation on the Minnesota State Student Survey. I don't think we have Cassie tonight, but we do have representatives from Dakota County. So, welcome. Sorry about that. Welcome. You have a clicker for your presentation there, too. Hello and good evening. Thank you so much for having us tonight. My name is Alexander Groden and I am uh a supervisor at Dakota County Public Health Department. Uh with me, my colleague Melanie Countryman, also another public health supervisor. Uh we've been pleased to accept the invitation uh by Dr. Champa tonight to um talk about the Minnesota student survey, some background. Uh we also acknowledge that we received some questions this afternoon from you, which we are happy to answer. Um so with that, we'll just kick the presentation off. So just a few characteristics to start off of. Uh it's conducted every 3 years in the spring. It is anonymous by nature. Schools and school districts can choose to participate. Students and parents can opt out even if schools and districts are participating. And it's administered at four grade levels, fifth, 8th, 9th, and 11th. uh districts can administer to fewer or additional grades uh if they would like. Again, uh the four grades that are represented here, uh they do receive different questions with age appropriate um prompts. Uh although the eighth and 9th grade surveys are the same, there is a new survey format uh in this year. It does limit questions students see related to non-applicable topics. So for example uh if a student is asked if they use alcohol uh and that student replies no there are no more questions on alcohol. Uh that would be the same for any kind of response that they're giving related to a certain topic. It is self-administered online. Questions can be skipped at any point and students can stop at any time. I wanted to provide a little bit of background on the goals of the survey. Uh and we did just take a look at the strategic plan uh for the Hastings district. So I just wanted to note that everything that is bolded here is in alignment with the Hastings School District plan strategic plan, excuse me. So creating anonymous and confidential platform uh for students specifically uh to discuss what they're seeing happening. It allows you as a district to know what your students value. It provides real feedback versus a perceived knowledge. It equips parents, families, communities to with information to set goals and priorities for the future. Uh as of note, we also do get a lot of feedback that parents have appreciated the anonymity uh that it's involved in the process. And then it establishes a framework for tailoring interventions um and appropriate allocating resources. Additionally, uh we know that student voice is important and so empowering students is a part of this uh giving them a a choice to be heard uh within their districts. It allows students to be at the center of discussions uh and fosters caring and inclusive environments. Um, we do also know that the data uh can be pivotal in receiving funds and grants. And I know that was a question that was asked, so we're happy to talk about that specifically, what that looks like for Hastings and in the local area. Uh, but I'm going to turn it over to Melanie here first. So these are some of the types of questions that are asked and what kind of percentage of the survey is includes the questions. So about 5% is demographic information. Much of the survey um is health behaviors and that's about 56%. And then there's 22% that are around school and learning type um activities and then 17% around home and community. Some of the valuable information that we learn about through this survey um is related to nutrition, physical activity, mental health, reasons for school absenteeism, safe driving habits, healthy relationships both in and out of school, the impact of chronic health conditions such as diabetes and asthma, and then commercial tobacco, e and ecigarette use. So this is just some examples of recent MSS data from the um this district and this I think is from 2022. So some of the things that we ask about are related to how um students feel about their teachers and about other students and how well they're um feeling cared about in their um school in the community. Um, we also act ask them about um school and how they feel about school and how they feel about um what they're going to do in their future. There's some leadership type of um uh questions as well and then some questions about extracurricular activities. So, Hastings um as a school district has participated in this survey since 1992 and consistently since 2004. So that um the district has been very um consistent in participating in this survey. Between um 2013 in 2019, hundreds of students participated each year. Um we do um have um districts that ask about whether or not they can do an opt into the survey versus an opt out um consent process. So, Minnesota Student Survey has always used an op opt- out consent um which means that parents um can um opt their student out of the survey. If they don't opt out, the students will automatically be given the survey. Um we also know that some districts have chosen to do an optin, which means that the parents have to say the student can participate before they can actually take the survey. Some of the advantages of the opt-in um approach are that it empowers parents, it builds trust and it can protect against unwanted data collection. Um disadvantages are lower participation rates. Um there's less representative data and it increases the administrative burden. And one thing that I would just caution you about since the district has always taken the survey on an opt out basis, if you did um change to an opt in, you would not be able to use the data for trending um with previous year's data. So, some things to consider as far as um participating in the survey. Um, you'd want to decide what your approach is and whether you're going to participate. What factors are going to impact your schools or district's choice regarding participation? How can we in um Dakota County Public Health Health help you address those factors? And if you choose NAD to participate, how are you going to engage your student um centered approach in future planning? So I think we can move on to um try to answer some of the questions that were um at were provided to us earlier today. I'm just going to jump in uh with the question about uh the question was is there a rationale for asking students to specify their gender identity and sexual orientation in the survey? Uh so uh we'll just start out gender identity is a protected class. Uh but we know off of 2022 MSS data that only 68% of trans students feel safe at school. Also having this data ensures that all students regardless of gender or sexual orientation have the mental and phys their mental and physical needs met uh to the best of uh the district's ability. These are the students that are most often uh are not the ones excuse me these are the students that more often than not are the ones that need the help and we can't offer help if we don't know uh via the data. So that is the rationale behind that. Um, I'm also just going to jump ahead. The next question is, why are students asked to provide protected information about their mental health? So, just a couple of points here. In 2019, uh, the state of Minnesota did increase funding for school linked mental health grants by about a mill 1 million um, $200,000 specifically based off the results of the MSS in Minnesota. Uh and then in 2024, there was research supported by the data showing that implementing school-based mental health care led to fewer suicide attempts in Henipin County. Uh again, those were both based off of MSS data. Uh I also do just want to mention because I know funding has been asked about specifically. I believe the question was if the survey is not given um or sorry excuse me thank you Melanie um the question was how is the data how does the data aid in receiving funds and grants uh there's a couple of specific examples I can give uh actually district 200 used MSS data to apply for a safe routes to school grant and received $50,000 uh because of that grant funding. Um our our close neighbor here in the region in Grove Heights recently received a million dollars using um MSS data uh for their positive community norms grant. So there is some significant funding out there. Uh but the importance of having um consistent and reliable data is really important in receiving those funds from local, state, and federal sources. So I'm going to respond to a couple of uh the other questions. One of them having to do with um why do only five of the seven ethnicities have subcategories? So race and ethnicity are intended to reflect groups who may have a common culture, identity, or geographic origin. And that's why some of them are broken down further. The subcategories are also included to help people figure out where they fit into um those categories. So, um I think it was the only two that don't have breakdowns are Native Hawaiian and um Pacific Islanders, which are pretty specific already, and then white, which um it would really not be super helpful to break down white as um separate subcategories because a lot of people don't know their ancestral origins and the majority have ancestral origins going back many years in the United States. So their really only cultural identity is American or citizen of the United States. Um and then um a question about since the survey is anonymous, how do you know if the information is accurate and how are you able to administer services as a result? So just the fact that the survey is anonymous is not necessarily mean that it's going to be inaccurate. We do frequently um hear concerns that the students are not being truthful in their answers on the survey. And what I will say about that is that um most of the students exhibit patterns of responses to questions that are reasonable for the given question and are consistent across similar questions. We also see over the course of the survey being um done since 1989, we have you enough iterations that we can see that the trends are reasonable um enough that you wouldn't have had um widespread student um students lying across those questions across those years. They also trend very um closely with other states and with the United States. So those things make us feel pretty confident that the data is as credible as it can be and it can be used to inform activities. Thank you. Do you have one more? The next question was how does the state use the data to tailor interventions? Uh so as uh was mentioned previously, the state looks at the data and then will increase or allocate resources specifically. So the $1.2 million example um for extra school mental health supports uh based on the MSS 2022 data that was um directly related off of that uh data set. Um, I guess I'll also just mention that um, one of the main goals for this is for local use. Like we understand that local communities know what they need most and how to support uh, the individuals and families in their community. So, this is really a tool that's designed to be used at the local level uh, to apply interventions as helpful or necessary. Um, and then I'll also just address the question was if the survey is not given, how does that change county actions? Um, I know I can say on behalf of myself and Melanie and the entire Dakota County Public Health Department, um, we are here to serve everyone. Um, that is that is our goal. um we do need to use credible data when we're tailoring interventions and allocating resources at the county level. And so if we don't have that data, um it's it becomes much more difficult for us to know how to allocate the resources appropriately. Um and really the Minnesota student survey is the only data set we have on this ad on this adolescent population. uh which which is why it's been a valuable tool in the past. We think that's it, but if you have any other questions, we're we're happy to answer. So I still the part that hangs me up is the anonymity part of it. And so how if if you have say you identify 10% of kids you know say give some certain response in the survey how do you go about allocating resources because it's anonymous this is where I struggle like how do you connect the dots to be like okay we need to focus on this group um to do something to help them the the demographic questions that we ask um so that we can identify specific populations. We aren't trying to identify specific students um when we're doing interventions. We really we work with populations. So um that's that's the primary reason that we ask the demographic questions um related to the students. Um, and then another question that I had, I understand that there are a lot of schools, actually a lot of districts that are opting out of of administering this this year. Um, and just wondering if you know how many in Dakota County are are doing it versus not doing it this year. We have nine districts in the county, nine regular districts. Um, and six of those have already um said they will be doing the survey. Um we have two other districts that um like yourselves are um still undecided. Okay. Um any other questions? Yeah, it's not a question. It's a comment. I I can't I I'm sorry that you had to ask answer all those questions. Um it before I sat in this chair, I sat in several other chairs. A as a middle school principal, I wrote dozens of grants totaling millions of dollars. The biggest of which was $647,000 for an afterchool program that we called Oasis. The key data for that survey was Minnesota student survey data. Period. I I I went on to be a superintendent of 917, which is of course in Dakota County, and we wrote grants all the time for the atrisisk populations that we worked with in our in our uh decals programs. And because of the Minnesota student survey, we received a lot of money and and that wouldn't have happened had we not done the survey. And and we talked about this when we talked about the the survey policy. If you do an opt-in, the data is inconsequential. It is meaningless. It it it you can't project any, as you said, you can't project any trend data and you certainly can't even understand what the entirety of the population is because you're you can run the risk of surveying such a small number of people. If your goal is to survey a large number of people and do an optin, then we have to put several more days on the calendar for our secretaries and our administrators. I I I this is very important and and we've made staffing decisions both while we were increasing budgets and while we were decreasing budgets about who we hire and what positions they hold and whether we retain counselors or social workers or school sites because of this data. This is incredibly important. questions. Folks, you have to let us do our business here. We hold our meetings in the public, but you are not allowed to interrupt. So, Director Jessie, I just have one question. Um, for the survey, is there would would we be allowed to um share with parents online to be able to determine if they're able to opt out or not? What is the recommendation from MDE? I can't push this. Um, you can just push it once. Okay, thanks. That that's good to know. Um, currently the all um three survey instruments are available online on the U. Minnesota Department of Health's website. So you could just um provide that link with parents and they could look it up themselves. Thank you. Yeah, I guess my my biggest concern I read I I read through all of the questions in the surveys and my biggest concern is um frankly trust. Uh some of these questions are incredibly personal. again. I mean, it was it was mentioned earlier um with uh health diagnoses, mental health diagnoses, this kind of stuff. And um my other concern that I have with some of these questions, there's there's questions for the older kids on if they um have either thought about suicide or attempted suicide. And I'm thinking to myself, like if I'm a if if I'm a kid that has had these things and they fill in that B little bubble that says yes, to me that is crying out for help. Um, and knowing that this is anonymous and that truly doesn't go anywhere that is bene truly beneficial to them because you can't tie that back to getting services back to that child. It concerns me because I think about this there's there's actually a lot of questions like that in here. Um where I'd be very concerned that they they see that as a as a possible attempt at getting help, but really there's not specific help coming for them. Um so that that's my that is part of my reluctance. The other part of my reluctance on this is um is just the time. I understand this takes about an hour to um to admit and this would be every single fifth grader, every single eighth grader, every single ninth grader, every single 11th grader. So that's a that's a that's a lot of time um taken away from classroom instruction. Um so those are those are my thoughts. Um, and then I know there are some questions in here even asking um if you live with someone who drinks too much, who does drugs, who does this kind of stuff. And I'm like that that's really personal. And um again, for me it's a it's a trust thing with parents with what kind of questions are you asking my kid type of a thing. Um so I I do I struggle with this um after reading all of these questions. Any other thoughts, Dr. Bruns? Yeah, I would say the organizations that we belong to rely on this data too. In the AMSD position paper on student mental health, this survey data is cited pretty heavily. So, I think that makes us a good partner in that dance. And I would say that the instrument itself is designed to acquire those materials and services and supports to address some of the issues that you raised about that crying out for help. So, it's more of that long range play and allows administrators to write those grants to get those resources in their setting. and something else like the sabers attached to fast bridge or other pieces could be used to get to that student that is crying out for some support so that there would be something more immediate like maybe in the MTSS tier 2 model where they can get a an easy referral for additional mental health supports through their counselors or other members of that team. So, so like what I mean I'm thinking about this right it's an online survey so you're you're literally giving it to hundreds of kids at a time. So, how in the world do you quickly get it narrowed down to be able to understand you can't? Right. Well, this this survey isn't intended to to target individual interventions. As mentioned, this survey deals with populations. We have other remember su suicide screeners that are specifically designed and we use them at the middle school and the high high school to find students that are in need of immediate imminent intervention and mo and those kids are identified and they are seen before the days out. So I guess that's my when is that given though? How often is that given? Is that an annual thing and when is it given in relation to this? I'm not going to answer it because I I don't trust my own memory of which grade levels we do it in, but we do it during health and we do it in in multiple grades and if and when there's a concern. So oftentimes a a counselor will identify a student for a screener. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? All right. Thank you very much. Appreciate your time. All right, next up we have a budget update from Miss Subert. Thank you. So, at the February 19th work session, we worked through the financial forecast and the assumptions for the 2526 budget. So, tonight I'm going to provide a summary of that um process and discussion. As far as our financial cycle goes, there's four key components. The first one is the financial forecast, and that's what we did at our February work session. So, the prior year revised budget um or I'm sorry, the revised budget for the current fiscal year is used as the foundation to build that forecast. And then we use assumptions to project future outcomes. The assumptions are based on the available data at the time, professional judgment, and historical trends. Understanding and measuring the risks are critical when determining what estimates are used. The next component is the adopted budget and that is approved by the board at the June um board meeting. So the assumptions established which within the financial forecast are used to create the adopted budget and then as new or updated information becomes available, it's also incorporated into the adopted budget. The district's audit is presented at the November board meeting. So audited financial re results are shared with the board and our community from the previous year. And then our revised budget is the fourth uh component and that's done at the December board meeting. Um, the budget is updated based on prior year audited financial results, the October one actual enrollment figures, the actual staffing data, and then any legislative changes that need to be incorporated. So, our district's current financial situation, um, we're focusing on the general fund and our unassigned fund balance. Um, we have a a board policy that states the school district will strive to maintain a minimum fund balance of two months operating expenses or 16%. So, our fiscal year 23 24 concluded with a 27% unassigned fund balance and fiscal year 2425 is expected to conclude with a 26% unassigned fund balance. As far as the um assumptions go, the first key assumption that we always look at is the enrollment projection. So for the 2526 fiscal year, there's a projected decrease of 88.9 weighted pupil units, which is approximately 75 students. Um elementary enrollment is declining slightly. Middle school is expected to have a small increase and then the high school will see the largest decline. The district has been experiencing declining enrollment for the past 10 plus years and that is a trend that is expected to continue. The enrollment projection model that we use incorporates the county birth rates. So as those rates are declining that's um what's projected forward into our enrollment projection. Next we look at the revenue assumptions. So we had used a 2.4% 4% increase in the basic per pupil funding. And this is a perfect example of we use the information we have at the time, but we update it as more information becomes available. So since the February work session, we've learned that the um percent increase will be 2.74%. So there's an about an additional $100,000 there that the district will um take in. Uh the revenue inflationary increases we use an average of 2%. Um for special education funding we use a 3% and then federal funding uh remained unchanged. Compensatory revenue is declining based on the new base calculation that utilizes the direct certification eligible students only and then the activity and athletic fees and participation levels remained unchanged. So for 2526 revenue is projected to increase by 0.1%. Um and that's reflecting the declining enrollment the expiration of uh one of the grants that we have right now sometime funding in 2425 for the read act and then there is an increase in the student support personnel aid. As we move to the expenditure assumptions, u for salaries, we use a 2% salary schedule increased for all the um to be negotiated contracts, so the ones that aren't settled yet. A 3% salary increase was used for the contracts that were already settled. And then step increases for all groups and teacher lane changes are included or incorporated. As far as the benefits go, a 10% health insurance district contribution increase, TRA or teachers retirement association, the employer contribution is increasing from 8.75% to 9.5%. And then the new paid family medical leave tax um was included with a 50% employer contribution. The staffing ratios is also a a key um component and we call them like right sizing adjustments because as our students change the enrollment numbers change the staffing ratios are recalculated each year. So initially the um model that was shown at the work session had the ratios unchanged from the prior year. However, at the February board meeting, there were updated ratios approved by the board that had an increase of one to the ratios for grades 5 through 8 and that equated to about $228,000. The transportation contract uh has a 3% increase and then building and department budgets remained unchanged. So the financial projection and recommendation. So based on those assumptions, the district would be overspending by about 2.4 million in fiscal year 2526. The recommendation is to make budget adjustments totaling 1.5 million. And then after making those adjustments, the ending unassigned fan fund balance is projected to be at 24% of operating expenses. As far as next steps, administration is working on budget adjustments in the amount of 1.5 million. The assumptions are updated as information becomes available. The proposed budget adjustments will be shared at the April 9th board work session and then at the community collaboration meeting on April 15th. And then in between there, um, we'll be scheduling meetings at each building. Um, that will be optional for staff to attend if they'd like to learn more about the proposed adjustments. I'll just add that we're working extremely hard to not have those adjustments impact the student experience. We're looking for other ways of, you know, saving money that aren't directly tied to the student experience. So, Dr. Champa, if you want to add anything, feel free. Yeah, I just wanted to do a shout out to all of our cabinet members who have just really rolled up their sleeves and thought uh creatively of how they might be able to help um with this to exactly what director Subert said on anything we do at this point is impacting people and that's always difficult but really trying to um not impact the student experience. So one example is in our early childhood um we have a lot of bus routes a lot and so by condensing some of those and the student experience will still be the same but that was a tune of $250,000 and so those are the things that people have really um been thinking creatively for with and we're grateful for that. Yes. Thank thank you for everyone who's putting this under a microscope. That is appreciated for sure. Um, I do have one question. Um, for anyone paying attention to what's going on at the capital, uh, things are not looking good for budget-wise for the state. Obviously, um, they're looking at cuts and there have been mentions of cutting, um, certain things from education and this kind of stuff. Um, at what point uh, do you reflect that in in your model? I mean, I mean, obviously the session gets over in May. when do you start to really um look at that piece of it? Well, a couple things. So, one, I would say if at any point I find out for sure that there's going to be some reductions, I would update the model right away. Um, I'll also say that, you know, while we said we would be overspending by 2.4, we're doing cuts of 1.5. We do have a healthy fund balance, and that's what a fund balance is intended to be. Um, what I don't want to do is to start cutting things that we maybe don't necessarily need to. So, there's a pro and con of, you know, how fast you react to those um, potential changes. Um, but if we needed to, yeah, we would have to use some fund balance in a year and then we would adjust right away for the next year. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? All right. Thank you very much. And next up, uh, we have the building construction fund project update again from Miss Subert. Okay. So, um, each month we give an update of the building construction fund. Currently, there is about 938,000 remaining in this account. And these were the voter approved bonds that we have used for for building renovations and improvements. Um, we have a a large number of projects that are complete, but we are down to seven projects that are still in process and many of them are in the closeout stage. We're just waiting for final paperwork, making final payments. Um, but it is a process and it does take some time. So, we have those seven projects and then we have like two miscellaneous projects. Uh the radio replacement has a small amount of funds left and then there's about $50,000 left in flexible learning furniture. So we're just working to close out those final projects. Any questions? Thank you again. And then do you have the legal data or the data legal update or No, I don't. That will be next month. Okay, sounds good. Thank you. So we're skipping that agenda item. Uh, next up we have the special election polling location discussion. Um, so we will have a special election. Is it November 4th? I believe November 3rd. Sorry, November 4th. Tuesday, November 4th. Uh, for the open school board seat and we need to decide um how many polling locations we are going to have open. Um, Lindy is our resident expert on polling locations. You have no idea how nervous I am right now. I'm usually behind the scenes. Um, okay. So, the discussion has been we typically have five polling locations in the um district and you'll kind of see up on the board um we kind of broke out what the costs are um each year and whether it's an odd year or even year. Um when it's an off-year election, the district has to manage and fund um all the expenses that comes with that. Um and with us having our board did vote to go to evenyear elections but unfortunately this year we do have to hold a special election. Um so this is the cost and the management of that is all by the school district. Um so just a few things of like some benefits of going from five locations to one. Um it's it's a lot of it the administrative management of it. um the hiring, the managing, scheduling, providing meals to judges. Um the last one we had 55 judges and we we estimate we could probably do 12 to 15 judges if we went to one location. Um and then all the work prior setting up five locations, all of the machines, all of the requirements, um they all need to have flags, they um the f voting signs and all of that is done ultimately by the district mainly it I've learned it will be my position um taking care of that. Um if you scroll down just a little bit just cost comparison um moneywise it's a um it's about it was about $21,000 um in 2023 um versus the estimate for 25 this year would be about 8,000. Um I know that I had spoken to South St. Paul who did this a couple years ago. I know that their size is a little different than ours. Um, and they didn't have any issues with um, going to one polling location. Um, but I know there's a little bit of concern. Um, so that I just wanted to show kind of the the dollar amount and then it going from managing five locations to one kind of that overview. So, have we identified a polling place that can um that can take 7,000 voters in one polling place at one time? I believe at the work session it was discussed um St. Phillips with the large parking lot, right? I think that's the right one. Um with the large parking lot and the access that they have there. Um that was one that was spoken to. I think that's my biggest concern. Um, so South St. Paul is, I believe it's like five or six square miles and we are 170 square miles. Um, and putting all of those. So, first of all, I know that there have been discussions at this table before when we've gone from just just talking about going from 27 to the five talking about voter suppression and the challenges especially during harvest time to come into town um on election day uh and how much time that is when you're coming in from the outskirts of the district area. Um, but I think looking at one loc I mean, so yes, we've had conversations 27 to 5. I'm I'm fine with five for sure. Um, my concern with one is the heavy traffic times like before people go to work and when they get off of work, if there would be long long lines for people to get in to vote that they that may discourage them from voting at all. Um, so I guess that's the one kind of reassurance I'm looking for that we're not anticipating those super long lines. And I think you had um mentioned last meeting that we are we would not be allowing any early voting. So the options would be so absentee ballots would be available but not early voting at the district office, which I'm totally in favor of that. Um, so yeah, so absentee ballots or voting in person on election day only. Um, so I guess the question that we have and we are voting on this later tonight is what our board members comfortable with. I think um if if we go to one, this has to go in front of a judge uh to be approved. Um but if we decide to go to a smaller number, does that have to be approved or is it just a one? So if we go to five or Oh, anything. So even if we go to anything that is outside of what the resolution is goes before a judge. Yeah. Go ahead. So, the resolution currently says we have eight polling places that we voted on in January. So, that will have to go to before a judge no matter what we decide here. Correct. Thank you, Director Miller. Director Subbert, can you scroll back up again to the chart? Why the big difference between um 2021 and 2023 and the number of judges? Um when I asked about that, it sounds like the 35 judges in 2021 was barely enough. They for managing um covering the shifts and all of that. Um, so my understanding is then they increased it for the 2023. Okay. It was still the same number of locations, but they needed more people. So, are we truly thinking 12 is going to be enough for um Yeah, I was told today that we would probably have to increase that possibly to at least 15. and I quoted it high already ratewise. So for the dollar amount, Vice Dling, so I just have to bring up two points that about South St. Paul. South St. Paul is 5.5 square miles where 170 square miles and South St. Paul when they moved to this to have one election, they went from having 7,000 um voters vote to having 1,400 voters vote. So I think that's two things to consider when we're thinking about this. It's we have a very large geographical district like our we're very widely spread out there and I don't think that one polling place is going to be able to accommodate 7,000 voters and I don't think that we should put barriers in the way of voters for being able to vote for this election. Other considerations, other opinions? Director Bruns. Um, Miss Humble, if you'd be so kind, administrative capacity to carry out at just the district operating five locations. What would that look like for the lived experience of district staff and supporting that and their regular job duties on top of that as well? Yep. So, obviously, I haven't gone through this quite yet, but I have asked a lot of questions. Um, my understanding is this is a full-time job on top of what my responsibilities are. Um, yes, there's other people also in the district office that will be assisting with things, but when it gets down to, you know, that September to November time, it's going to be pretty much this. So, is there any way that we can get additional supports um volunteers to help with any of this at all or I mean I just I have to ask a question. Yep. Um, again, I'm still learning this, but I know that there's a lot of train there's some election clerk training that I need to go through. So, I would assume that adding anybody else, that's going to be an added expense of cost of training those people as well. I mean, it's a question we could ask, but that's I don't know for sure. Vice Resley, do we have the ability to hire um or to hire people who are already election judges? Like will you send out a call for action to people who are already election judges because like for instance I'm an election judge in Vermillion Township. I mean are you then they wouldn't have to go through the training because they've already been through it this year. I don't know how that would work with it's it's a lot of the pre-work too that I'm not sure. Yeah. It's not so much it's not so much the election judges themselves. It's the prep that goes into it and then u monitoring the sites. Thank you, Lindy. Anything else? All right. Thank you. All right. Uh, next on our list, we have the board vacancy discussion and review um of our candidates. Um, so, uh, first of all, I have to ask I or I just want to make sure, uh, Director Beer Meyer obviously is not here because he is feeling ill. Um, are we all okay with, uh, allowing his input to be included in the tallies of who we interview? Absolutely should be. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Okay. All right. Um and then with one moment please. Thank you. All right. With that we have um a list of seven candidates in total who we've identified as someone that we would like to identif or interview I should say. And then I guess I'd like to ask the board are we do we want to um do we want to interview seven candidates? We have one candidate on this list who has received only one tally and then the next the next level is two tallies and there are three of those candidates. So the question is how many how many candidates do we want to interview? We had talked earlier about interviewing next week and um allowing I think it was tops like 20 minutes per interview. So if we're looking at seven, we're talking about tops, you know, two and a half hours of interviews. Vice address, since I don't know the names yet, I'm going to recommend whoever has the one tally that we eliminate and shorten this list up so that we don't have as much time going on with interviewing. I don't know what other people think of that, but that's just my suggestion. Any other thoughts, Director Bruns? I would recommend interviewing all seven. That's not an enormous lift on our part. I agree with that. I think we should interview who we think some of us see something in someone. So, let's let's interview all of them. All right. So, we'll interview all seven. Um, we will be voting on this later this evening. So, I will um unless anybody else wants to share anything or has any questions or anything. Um, I believe Oh, hang on. We need to talk questions. Sorry. Um, we all uh were invited to submit our questions that we wanted to ask uh to Miss Humble. Um, and so I guess the question is, do we want to how do we want to manage the questions that we want to ask? Do we want these to become public so that people can prepare? Do we want to um have her uh try to combine because I'm sure there are similar questions that we've all submitted. Um, have her try to combine the questions into uh a reduced number. I guess what number do we have right now? We have 10 questions right now. 10 questions, two minutes a piece. That's 20 minute interview. Um Drew, do we want to just keep stick the 10 that have been submitted? Director Zusk, I I think that two minutes per question isn't enough for the questions that that we're looking at. So I I think we're not going to end up with 10 questions. Yeah. And we think that we can condense. So that that makes me feel good. Um, I think the goal should be if it's a half hour interview, it should be like six questions, seven questions. That that would be my only thought. And I'd prefer that the questions not be public um but rather provided to the candidate like 10 minutes prior to the interview. I like that model. Okay. Um, I can go with that. Uh since you are the only person who knows these questions at this moment, are you do you think that you could condense enough to get to seven questions? Yes. Okay. All right. Fantastic. Thank you for doing that. Um and then the I guess the I would assume um that we are going to try to get these in on the same night as much as we possibly can. uh and then um look at uh the dates on those and kind of rearrange our schedules a bit and then we will not be televising this because obviously we don't want the questions necessarily to get out to the candidates who may not fall on that same night. Um so all right I think we're setley. So are we able to voice record it? But I know we had discussed it last time cuz I don't know that I can make it to every one of those evenings Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday next week. So I just want to confirm if we have a decision on that as well before the interviews. I think the question too um would be yeah if any one of us is not able to attend if we can voice record that to share with um someone who is not able to attend but still give their input. I think that's fair if everyone agrees. Yes. I think as long as the candidate agrees to that, sure. Should probably ask them if they can be recorded. All right. Any other comments? All right. Good. Okay. We have a plan. Sweet. All right. Thank you for that. What? Yes. Should we talk about how we're going to assess those questions to determine who the I think that the more laid out that we have it, the better it's going to be. Um, so the suggestion from MSBA was to basically have a a does not meet meet exceeds expectations type of a tally that we keep. Um but they did say however that you know some people you may just gravitate toward a candidate and it may not mathematically add up um based on that. So I think that you know this so you have an objective way to keep track but then ultimately each board member would um obviously have their vote on who they choose. So that was kind of the input that I had read. Um all right, does that sound okay? So, we'll just get a tally sheet with the seven questions and times seven candidates and go from there. Okay. All right. Um, next on our agenda, uh, really don't want to be having this conversation, but we are. We, uh, will be conducting a superintendent search. Um, and I don't know, Dr. Champa, if you'd like to say a few words just in general to kick us off. I I will have a statement when I have my resignation. It's been a tough day because the people here are unbelievable. And so I am I will leave this district incredibly proud of the work that we have done and uh just know my drive will be to the very last day. Um so I won't be leaving lightly. Let's just say that. Um we still have a lot of work to do and um I am again so proud of the staff and everything that you do each and every day. So with that just gratitude for the district. Thank you. And we are [Applause] I put out a statement every year that tells you what to expect from your superintendent and there is a line that says expect to see her cry at least once. So there you go. Thank you. So, as you know, we are extremely appreciative of all the work that you have put into this district and will continue to do so for the next couple months here at least. Um, right, three months. Um, so, uh, we wish you the best obviously, but, uh, Owatana, uh, has great fortune here. So um so with that I did reach out uh we have have in our um hand our school me board member handbook that we will use a search firm uh to for all superintendent searches and I did reach out to MSBA. Um so tonight we need to decide if we want to use MSBA for the search um or if we would want to go with a different search firm. Uh the information that I received uh from Barb Doran this morning um is that uh I had mentioned the three dates that we had set aside next week for the interviews that we could slot her in there at some point. She said that yes, that would work for her on Thursday, March 3rd, anytime after 400 p.m. and to expect about a 2hour uh meeting to start the process. Um, so first I want to ask board members, does that work for everyone? March 3rd, the evening of March 3rd, sorry, April 3rd. Yeah, thank you. She has March in her email. Look, it spelled spring break, right? Um, so yeah, it'll be April 3rd um anytime after 4. So go ahead. Sorry, tape. That is the night of the regularly scheduled NAPEC um meeting. And what time is that at? That'll begin at 6 p.m. at the Pleasant Hill Library. Okay. Uh would we want to have the meeting here? And is that is that an hourlong meeting typically or about two hours? Two hours. So, do we want to are we able to have uh Barb join us at 400 p.m. Exactly. Would that work for folks? Your schedules. Where's my phone? I lost my phone. April 3rd, right? April 3rd. Thursday, April 3rd, 4 PM. That works for everyone. All right. So, let's um I will let Barb know. And then um what she shared with me regarding cost. Well, I should have said this first, but what she said is um that the search fee would be $13,900. However, she could deduct $1,500 if the board feels that another stakeholder survey would not be necessary. If if folks recall, we had a stakeholder survey um two years ago uh when we did the search and um I I basically told her I said, "I don't think we need to have this. I think we just need a clone of Tammy and that's all we need." And she told me that that would not be probably possible, but she would do her best. So, um, so I guess that's the question. If if folks are okay with not doing another survey, um, but just kind of identifying the characteristics that we want to see in our next superintendent, um, it would be the $1,500 off of the 139. So that is, um, 124. I think that the data that we had from the last survey for a higher in addition to the school perception data directs us very well because that was both you know families, students and staff. Yep. I agree. Is everyone in agreement with that? Okay, sounds good. Um and then uh just one thing that she did want to share and I also want to share this too. you know, uh it feels like we may be getting going on the search a little bit late in the process. Um but she did want to reassure us that um they have definitely found um they've had planning meetings in March, April, and May before with 15 boards in the last two years, and 12 of those districts have successfully found a new superintendent. Um and we were one of them. uh uh Superintendent Champa was hired in I believe it was the last week of May or the the second to the last week of May. It was late May. Uh and so that obviously worked out very well for us. Um so she did say that if um we are unable to find a superintendent this year uh they would help us find an interim and then we would begin a new search in the winter uh for the permanent um superintendency and that would be at no additional cost. So that is what they provide for services. Um, and then she said if selected tonight, MSBA would begin gathering the updated information this week for a new vacancy brochure. That's something obviously they need to put out and they would send the planning meeting packet to the board a day or two before the meeting for review. Um, make sure I'm not missing anything. So, she all she did say is for the timeline um if we're able to meet on Thursday, they would be able to post the position on Friday and the application deadline could then be the last week of April with interviews being held in early to midmay, which is pretty much the timeline we had uh a couple years ago. So, all right, does that work for everyone? Okay, I will reach out to Barb and let her know the date and that we will not be needing the survey and um make sure we get everything set for next week then. All right. So then um going back to our last topic, that would mean that um with the NAPAC meeting and this going on, we will not be doing um schoolboard member interviews on Thursday. So we are reserving interviews for strictly Monday and Wednesday um evening. All right. And next we have our school board representatives and our committee updates. first is um ISD 917 with uh director Zuzi. So the board notes that I sent to the board and and to the public uh don't capture the biggest news for 917. So I wanted to talk a bit about this. 917 serves nine member districts with high needs, low incident special ed services and that part of the business portfolio is doing really well and and is balanced and is successful. The other part of the portfolio for 917 is we do services for career and teched and we operate two different ALC's or decals we call it at 917. Two different decals programs. Uh the north campus which is operated on Marie Avenue in West St. Paul is healthy and strong and has good a good population and is financially doing great. the main campus at DCTC isn't doing as well financially and so we are right sizing which of course means budget reductions at 917 significant budget reductions that uh the staff has done a great job of and and staff and leadership have done a great job of toiling through and then also the career teched programs have been declining over time in the population of students that you know raise their hand and register ister to be in the nursing program or raise their hand to be in the the chef program or in the construction and trades programs. And I I just want to be clear that that's not all bad because really what's happening is member districts are picking up and and developing their own CTE programs like Hastings is. And so we're making reductions in those programs, but it's not inappropriate. It's not it's not horrifying. It really has to do with the interest in those programs being I believe in part superseded by local districts building their own capacity for CTE programs and frankly I think it was inevitable. So and that that's all I would have to share. Thank you. Any questions? Okay. Um, moving on to the AMSD update from Director Bruns. Yeah, at this particular meeting they we had representation from two state senators and two house reps, notably Steve Switzinski and House Rep Sydney Jordan. And one of the takeaways from that is that despite what you might think about the state budget and you might feel more inclined to go to them about policy changes or sorry statute changes that don't require budgetary action or any financial component to it that because it is a budget year they're still just take that information and because the late start to the session that many of the procedural changes that we might want will not get hurt in committee. They were just being quite frank and honest about it which was appreciated. Um, same language was used about unfunded mandates in those pieces, but the best guidance was that continued to advocate for the financial components that you feel need to be addressed because those are things that people are actually interested in talking about. Um, other statutory components are not getting as much attention because of the budget year in front of us despite what the projections look like. Also included is their approved student mental health paper. uh just excellent position from AMSD about the work that especially school linked mental health can provide for students. there's some really particularly strong data points and there's some citing of the MSS data that we've talked about but when you think about um SPMH the schoolbased mental health component I just want to direct you to that uh schools that do adopt that version of programming what you would identify through MSS data and then secure resource resources for it by using those those data points to get grant funding and other components they saw um uh sorry attempted suicide rates declined by 15%. So that those programs do have an identified um purpose and strong function in our schools. All right, any questions? Thank you. Uh next up we have the community collaboration committee update from Director Milner. We met on March 13th and more or less came up with um a series of three events that we're going to be hosting. So, April 8th will be um the topic of strategic plan. Uh April 15th will be the 202526 budget adjustments and April 22nd will be the deep dive into the district strategic anchors with roundt discussions. All three of these events will be held at the Hastings High School lecture hall from 6:00 to 7:30 and everyone is welcome. We would love your input. Thank you. All right. Uh next we have our facilities finance and joint powers committee update from director Zuzi. We have had no meetings since the last time and we have two uh joint powers meetings that are scheduled and the first one is April 4th at 7:30 a.m. in at Tilden. So uh I don't know if I have the other one handy. I do. uh June 20th uh also at 7:30 a.m. at Tilden if anyone wants to join us bright and early in the morning. Um all right and next we have the NAPAC committee update from Director Bruns. Yeah, we started with some old business reviewing things that had happened um going back to the storytelling event from February, but then also reviewing the flag ceremony and one of the pieces that we find really important is to enhance that representation across sites. So, right now it's great that things exist at Hastings High School, but to have students feel seen across our sites in the district and what that might look like. So, um participating in meaningful action around that. um the the purpose of NAPEC itself to looking at how that might shift from planning events and building community to how do we really truly address what Native American students need in our spaces and to be more active in those spaces. So that is really exciting work um that's going on. We reviewed some of the budget proposals that will that were from director Hajes um looking at access funding proposals for fiscal year 26 and then achievement and integration grant proposals for 50 fiscal year 26 as well. And I would elaborate on Alyssa Cherry's incredible work, but if you ever look at what she provides at those meetings, she's busy all the time. She is insanely um in tune with our populations and supporting that work and the work that she's doing will actually unlock funding for our district. So, it's going to be really rad and for our students. All right. Thank you. Any questions? All right. And then next up, we have our student schoolboard committee update from Director Bruns. No meeting, but we did discuss informally how we would treat applicants that are currently on the board and are juniors and would be seniors in the next year because there is a grant available to those that are seniors serving on a school board. And those that are juniors that do apply will be seated automatically as seniors as student reps to our school board. And I know applications are open right now. Do you happen to know how many applicants we have to date? I could pull that really quickly. Appreciate that. Uh, and that that survey u survey application will close next Friday. So students have another week and change to get that stuff in. And I'm guessing that wasn't their top priority over spring break. Would have been mine. Ah, three. Magic number three. And and I was just going to say our one new applicant with their two juniors who love this so much that they want to do it again. Awesome. All right. So application closes Friday, next Friday. You said, right? Okay. Um and then I am wondering it's 7:52. Before we get into the lengthy list of policies in the policy committee update, would we don't want to take a 8m minute break here until 8:00? Call break. All right. Recess for eight minutes. All right, it is 8:00 PM, so we will continue on with our meeting here. If everyone could please uh quiet down and get seated. So, next up, we have our policy committee update with uh Vice Chair Dressley. Hey folks, could I could I please ask everyone to be quiet and get seated so we can continue? The policy committee met on March 7th. Um I'm just going to go over high level the policies that we're recommending for first reading policy 101.1 and it's just the naming of the school district. We're recommending that we adopt MSBA's model policy, but we added section four logos um to this policy that was not in the model policy. Any questions? Okay, policy 101.2 is not an MSBA model policy, but what it is is it's the district's two official logos um that are registered trademarks as well as the approved logos that are not registered trademarks, the school song and I believe the school mascot is what's in that. So, it's just an pretty much like an addendum to policy 101.1. Um policy 413, harassment and violence. Um the MSA model policy newsletter updated this but there are a lot of changes that we made as the comm or that we're recommending as a policy committee to include that um we don't allow harassment or violence of any students any staff anyone for any reason. Does anybody have any questions about the changes that were made to that? No. Awesome. Policy 704, development and maintenance um of an inventory and fixed assets and fixed assets accounting system. This was again an MSBA policy service newsletter update. Um we did keep our capitalization level in there that we had voted on in January, which was $10,000. Um policy 902, use of school district facilities and equipments. We just updated it with the legal references and no other changes. There will be a 902.1 that comes forward. Um probably next meeting. Community education is currently working on that fee [Music] schedule. Um there were no changes to pol to any of our second reading or third or second reading policies, but we will be discussing during the vote um second reading to sunset pol um policy 100. Okay. And then third reading 610 field trips. Um the policy committee is we cleaned up the language. Other than that, there are no other changes. Any questions on any of the first, second, or third reading policies tonight? Awesome. We have one that's a little bit um 621 lit literacy and read act is in the consent agenda. Um, those changes were just made to the numbering, so that's why they're in the consent [Music] agenda. All right, good deal. Uh, next we are moving on to our action items and first up is the consent agenda. Could I please get a motion on this item or on these items, I should say? Zusk motions to approve the consent agenda. Could I get a second? Dressley seconds. All right. Uh any um any discussion? All right. Seeing none, all those in favor of the approving the consent agenda say I. I. All those opposed say nay. Motion passes unanimously to approve the consent agenda. Next we are on to our items for individual action. Uh first up is the superintendent search and that is uh I just need well how about I just make the motion. Um I don't normally don't make motions but I'm going to pull this up. Um, all right. So, the motion is that we I move to use MSBA for the search firm for our superintendent search. Uh, that we will pay we agree to pay MSBA the designated fee of $12,400. Um, and that we will be meeting on April 3rd at 4M with Barb Dorne and we will not be doing a community survey. Zuzix seconds that motion. Thank you. Any discussion? All right. All those in favor say I. I. I. All those opposed say nay. Motion passes unanimously. And I am sorry I am not going to repeat all of that. So Lindy, I hope you got it. Um, all right. Next up, we have our personnel report. And we need to do a roll call vote on this. Director Milner, I'm going to start with you. Chair Tate, yes. Vice Chair Dresley, yes. Director Zuzac, Director Bruns, yes. And Director Milner, yes. Thank you. And next up, we have our policy 100, equity and diversity. Could I please get a motion on this item? I move that we remove policy 100, equity and diversity from the policy manual and replace it with the current strategic plan with the understanding that once the new strategic plan is adopted, it would automatically replace the current plan as policy 100. All right. Can I get a second? Milner second. All right. Any discussion, folks? You will be asked to leave if you interrupt the meeting. I do have something written up because I don't want to get my mouth ahead of my brain. Over the last month, I spent a lot of time meeting in person or talking on the phone to people from both sides on this policy 100 issue. I talked with teachers and admins from five other school districts to gain even more perspective. I asked hard questions and so did they. I first of all want to say how much I appreciate all of the willingness and heartfelt sincerity I experienced meeting with those that I did. I learned a lot and I'm thankful you all took the time to give me your input. So the first thing I'd like to address is in some of the emails we've re received, it has been suggested that we are not listening to our constituents. We are indeed listening to our constituents. And because this is such a politically sensitive topic, we obviously have been getting an abundance of pleas from both sides. One thing I'd like to share with you all is that in our community, there are quite a few people who are literally scared to speak up or put anything in writing against something like this simply because they are worried about what that would do to themselves in their work environment. Some of those people being people who work in this very district, but other local businesses as well, as well as what speaking up might do to their kids' grades in school. Yeah, I I I know. I was surprised to hear that, too. The divisiveness of this policy and topic is very real. to be blunt and please don't blame the messenger. Although I know I will be, but for years I've heard that our students learn quite quickly that they can't actually answer questions or write a paper that contains their own beliefs or values. They answer or write a paper expressing what they know the teacher values to get the grade they're desiring, even if that's not what's in their heart. Unfortunately, this continues on to this day. If our diversity and equity policy is doing all it says it should be, these things should not be happening. Our students should truly feel safe to express their own perspectives and beliefs, and we should value diversity of opinion as much as we value physical diversity. This doesn't appear to be the case. I searched up a draft of our equity, diversity, inclusion framework. One of the questions listed is, is it safe to disagree? After this month of talking to people on both sides, and I feel like I actually even need to insert more detail, I have spoken to people who fall in the diverse categories, not just whites. I know I have to clarify that because that will come back at me. So after this month of talking to people on both sides, I would say the answer to that is a resounding no. Not only for the students in our buildings, but unfortunately for some of our staff as well. This is not okay with me and choose shows proof that our policy 100 is not working. One of our constituents wrote us to say that they have already encountered families looking to move to southern to the southern metro who have heard that the Hastings School District struggles with inclusivity and does not foster a welcoming atmosphere. This reputation is alarming and should not be ignored. If that's true and if this policy has been in place since 2021, would you agree that it appears this policy is not doing what so many had hoped it would do? If it was working, you wouldn't hear that type of feedback. So, do we dig our heels in and keep doing what hasn't been working, or do we try a new approach? I'd also like to point out that over the years, we've lost quite a few families to Randolph School District. They do not have a DEI policy which caused me to look further and I'm sure you'd be surprised to find out that neither does Farmington Grove Heights, Lakeville, Rosemont, Apple Valley Egan, nor South St. Paul. How do all of these other districts survive without having a diversity and equity policy? We were told in some of these emails that families won't look to move here if we don't have a diversity and equity policy. It looks like that's not the way it's working out in other districts. So, how about we get back to basics, start living our life with nothing but true compassion for other human beings in this world. We give a hand up where a hand up is needed. We help those in need. And we continue to put our students first. All of our students first. And I feel like all of us up here saying the word all has fallen on deaf ears over and over and over. None of us up here want any group or student treated any worse than another group or student. And we have made that very clear. But yet, we continue to get emails saying that we are not representing all students. During the campaign, signs started popping up claiming the teacher and union candidates trusted teachers, leaving the insinuation that other candidates didn't. When I look at this scenario right now, I can't help but ask myself, who is trusting teachers? Now, at the February 19th meeting, I stated that I was certain if this policy was taken away, that our teachers and staff in the district would keep doing exactly what they've always done, which is putting their students at the heart of all they do, working very hard for each and every one of them. If this policy gets removed, I will continue to believe that each and every employee in our district will continue to give their all for our students. I don't think it takes a policy for that to happen. I believe in our teachers and I know they got into teaching due to their huge hearts, deep compassion and big vision for kids and their future possibilities. That will remain with or without policy 100. I also want to clarify that no programs will be cut, no funding is shifted around due to this policy being sunset. For some reason, people are under the understanding things will be cut and that is simply not the case. All of us up here want to continue all of the program we we currently have. We want each and every student to feel supported and feel valued. The truth of the matter is there is a certain percentage of our constituents that are very turned off by policy 100 for each of their own reasons. I also took this last month to hear some of their reasons rather than just dismiss their concerns. I listen to them too. I urge all of you who simply cannot see anything wrong with a policy like this. We got a lot of emails that said that. I urge you to find people to truly listen to as well. Hear both sides without judgment. Search out different perspectives and opinions to learn why this policy is not for everyone. And as far as the kids over politics, that is what we're trying to do is to remove a politically divisive bunch of terms. And I get it. There's some of you who absolutely do not understand how it's political. But maybe I'll urge you to try and ask the people who do feel it's political why instead of just dismissing them. I had a former coach tell me that luck is when preparation meets opportunity. In my eyes, we have the opportunity before us to prepare and create a new way forward that fits and supports all of our students and staff without the political division. There is looming concern about federal funding being cut in schools who keep DEI policies. For the time being, we're in a waiting pattern to see what happens. I'd rather be proactive and create our own quote unquote luck and keep the 2.6 million that could be lost if we're reported. With the level of news attention that has been created regarding this, now we are definitely in the spotlight should the federal government decide to move forward with the removal of precious funds. Personally, I'd also feel more comfortable not gambling with any of our staff's jobs or important programming that is necessary for our students achievement. In the end, both sides want what's best for our students. We just need common ground to move forward together and not with this constant political divide. Thank you. Uh other comments? I think we've Go ahead, Director Zuzac. Thank you. Um, I just feel really strongly that there are some values expressed in policy 100 that are not expressed anywhere else. I know that beyond what is expressed in the value statement, I I really believe that everybody at this table believes in those values. I think that we concur about those values and I don't see why we're going to ignore our values as a board to comply in advance of something that may or may not happen. I particularly in light of the uh commissioner's letter on 225 that clearly described that for anything to happen with federal funding, there would be several steps along the way. The dear colleague letter has no force. Federal regulations dictate that there's 15 steps that have to be done before um holding back federal funding. the Minnesota state law, including the Minnesota Human Rights Act, clearly would be enforced. Uh, and maybe more importantly, our own legal consult has said that there's nothing in this policy that breaks the law. Nothing that that goes against the law. If we thought that we could do away with policy 100 and somehow tuck it in or or shoehorn it into the strategic plan, I would just comment that I I think that's an impossible task. I I truly don't believe it's even reasonable. Um, I appreciated one of the speakers tonight that talked about the distinct differences between policy and strategic plan. I believe that equity and diversity are so important that it should be held at the district level, at the district policy level. My opinion hasn't changed. And um as of late today, and I know that there were um in addition to the people that wrote emails, there were significant to both sides credit um there were significant numbers of of people that commented um in a in a petition. Um and and that happened on on both sides. We received a large number of people in mass but right now my tally is 92 to 22 people saying hey this policy is important please keep it to people saying please get rid of the policy it doesn't make sense for us in our in our day and time right now. And I I've really looked at every every single email that came across and there's one that I want to read from. I think it was only sent to me and maybe it was sent to everybody, but it's it's worth reading and I'm not going to read it all. I'm going to read excerpts from it. It's Molly Cerillo. Uh, Miss Cerillo is a is a school social worker and um deals with kids that uh one of the one of her tasks is that she deals with students that qualify for McKini Vento help which means that they are officially homeless. They might be in a hotel. They might be coach hopping from one friend's house to their uncle's house to their aunt's house, but they are significantly at risk kids. And I'm I'm only going to read a few ex excerpts. Today I'm writing as a concerned staff member to urge the school board to preserve our district's equity policy. As a staff member who was involved in the inception of the policy, I understand the details that went into it and how it was developed per the students at the heart of all we do. As a social work, the principles of in the policy are in practice dayto-day, including meeting my LICSSW license expectations. I feel knowing the policy is in place supports me in my daily work. So, we're a backs stop for some of the most important things that happen in the district. The equity policy reflects commitment to ensuring every student regardless of race, background, disability, has opportunity to thrive. It serves as a guidepost for inclusive learning environ environments and addressing disparities that too often impact student success. Eliminating this policy undermines the progra the progress we've made in supporting all students and staff equitably. Schoolboard policy sets the tone and gives legal backing to how we operate. It shows how the district leadership and staff are govern are governing to operate the district. I'm skipping a couple of other comments that I was going to read just to end with this one. She says, "On my in my day-to-day work, this is how it impacts what I do. Without this policy, my role as a licensed social worker becomes even more challenging. I become more vulnerable without the support of a district policy. While I naturally advocate for students without framework, and I I appreciate your comment earlier about staff, I I think that that's accurate. My guidelines rely solely on my license standards versus being built into the school policy. As in the case of five other social workers in the district, social justice is a core value of our profession, requiring us to work on behalf of vulnerable and marginalized groups without a clear expectation that all staff share this responsibility. The work would would potentially risk falling solely on social workers and those that are willing to step up. Number two, this is how it affects her daily work. Additionally, when considering my job opportunities, many staff, myself included, look for or organizations that clearly state their commitment to equity and diversity. Without the policy front and center, we risk losing candidates who value and prioritize the same beliefs, and there are not many applicants in in the first place for jobs like social workers. And finally, on a day-to-day basis, as a leader of our crisis team and threat assessment team, I rely on board approved language, including the bullying policy, the district's diversity and equity policy, and the recent chemical health policy when navigating complex situations involving equity and diversity. Without it, we lose critical tools to guide our response in the most challenging moments. The reason I selected Ms. Cerillo's perspective is there were a lot of brilliant people that wrote really very well, but but she has a glimpse into the community that not everybody does. And I this is the perfect example of where experts should lead the way. And what she's suggesting is so key to what we need to do. I am um deeply passionate about this and strongly believe that we should retain policy 100 and we should do it the same dignity that we've done every other policy and send it through the process of evaluating the the policy and looking for ways to word it to make it better or to make it stronger or to make it more adapted for our uses. is to to eliminate the policy without even considering any changes to it I think is absolutely absurd. I I think that that it why did we pick this one policy to do that with? Um and no no please please please um it I and I know that you will um yeah but and and we didn't I I should say we didn't pick it out of the blue. it came up on the re on the rotation. Um, so that's important for people to know. But, uh, with that, I I I just I want to express my gratitude to everybody that's chimed in on both sides. It was a remarkable show of, um, of sincere uh, comments that really were meaningful and people took the time to reach out to us and I really appreciated that. Um I would like to make one point of clarification. Um when you said the the numbers of people who have contacted us by my count we had over 200 from each side. In total including the petition signatures along with the signatures on the teacher email. Sure. In total we had over 200 from each side. I'm going to say it was about evenly split between number of people who reached out. So, one thing that I want to say is if that doesn't show you that this is divisive, I don't know what does or important, pardon me. Well, exactly. I'm talking about being people dividing over the the topic. Um, in general, um, and I will say the reason that this one was chosen to sunset is we had two other policies last year that we actually sunset for the exact same reasons this one is being suggested. and that is that there are no legal references, no law, no case law, no nothing um aligning them. So that is one clarification also there we we typically don't have um policies in place without any legal references whatsoever. And one of the reasons is because um we don't want to get into trouble with legal issues potentially. So, we do have a handful of of policies that we have in place that don't have legal references, but they are um based out of need, and these are nothing that we would ever get sued for. One of them is a student school board representative policy, aligning what we do there. Another one is um our naming policy for facilities, just saying that we will not name things, name structures, name land, whatever it is, after people. Um that's nothing we would get sued for. Um, so I just want to be clear on that. The other argument that's come up several times is that a strategic plan comes and goes. And I thoroughly disagree with that thought. Um, strategic plans are typically written to be in place for anywhere from 3 to 10 years. Um, and that is the guiding document for the district. Whereas policies, they all are on a three-year review cycle. So they definitely are touched every three years, possibly more uh depending on um what's in them and what may need to be reviewed. Um so I just wanted to make those clarifications. Um and the other thing I think uh Director Milner, you said it very well. Um, I think that people and and I even I I said this to the Stars Review um reporter that it's it's really unfortunate. We all are fully and completely committed to serving each and every student in this district. And the fact is that we live in a time when people are automatically jumping to the worst possible most divisive conclusion you could possibly come to and running with that as the reason for something that happens. So people are making the assumption that because we are talking about replacing this with our actual guiding document of the district that will reinforce that we are committed to every single student. um that we you know somehow we we don't care about kids. We only care about kids of certain rate. I I can't even think of all the all the names that we've been called in these emails is absolutely insane. And I have to tell you the irony of the fact that we have a group of people who are telling us we have to keep this policy because so that we are welcoming and these people are disrespectful, rude, name calling, unbelievable to me. I'm sorry, but if you firmly believe that we need to be welcoming and kind and respectful to each other, then we need to do it to each other, including elected officials. Um, frankly, so I firmly believe that politics have absolutely no place in our schools and that our schools need to be politically neutral. And the fact is that this policy is political. It is dividing. I mean, if if this this room doesn't tell you how much people are have different viewpoints on this, I don't know what tells you that this is dividing. Um, and again, I I want to say this might be I mean, I've been on the board for over three years now. I want to say this I think this is the top number of emails we've ever received. Um, maybe maybe when the strike was going on that one was more, but but but this one is it. Um, so I I it is my goal and the whole kids over politics. Absolutely. This is the entire point. We want to get rid of the political statements, the political policies, the the politics in the school so that truly every single family feels welcome here. Um, so I I I don't have anything else to say. So that's my thoughts. I we I launched into a whole bunch of stuff in our other conversations and I'm not going to repeat it again. So, any other comments before we vote? Director Bruns, I would say that it's disingenuous to present it as suns setting because suns setting implies that it's a temporary policy as a stop gap to fix something in the immediate. It's a it's elimination like that. That's the word we're toying around. I'm wondering, it's been brought up that it's divisive or political and I've seen in like 196 I believe this policy is framed around something more like acceptance and belonging, but it's a lot of the same language that's embedded in here. Um, so it's a wondering to me that if it had a different title or striking that may not I was looking at a bunch of districts, so I apologize if it's not falling directly in 196 um in their 100 series. Um my other wondering outside of the naming is that people are pointing at these 17 18 buckets and the reason they're highlighted is that I office civil rights pro probably has highlighted classes that historically we have and we I say we because we often look like the people that have done the oppressing the marginalizing that's why it exists. So, it's a magnifier to be mindful about our decision- making. I think about this policy as a guidebook for us. And when people cite its ineffectiveness or that something else could replace it, I think that's a mark against us that we're not aligning ourselves to this when we make decisions as a board. And I I think when we put it down, we're putting ourselves down and it's not the flex that we think that it is. special education, born and raised. Uh the playground is where I spent most of my days. But what I would say is that equity is is everything and we all access it. We all get the thing that we need to do better. Um I the political roots of some of the words that when they people hear equity and diversity, I think some of that is fear and rage based around the idea that equity means that some people are going to get more than somebody else. So, we're not talking about equality and diversity means that we might be diminishing white voices in spaces when truly we're just amplifying the experiences of everyone who walks through and allowing them to have a touch point in our academic and career focused and every environment that we build for them to step through. So, I believe wholeheartedly that a policy like this needs to maintain and stay. This supports our staff. It supports our work. The strategic plans are as they've been defined for us tonight by public comment. They're they're temporary like they can last for 10 years. Sure. Policy is much f more firmly written and in stone and a guiding point for us to lean back on. And so I 100 has got to stay or as um treasurer has put it given the same treatment through the policy committee for revisions that make it applicable to the work that we're trying to do. Okay. So, my position hasn't changed on this policy. Um, and I just want to reiterate that when we come across a policy that doesn't have any legal ties to it, there's no MSBA model policy. We did the same exact thing with policy 428 and 429 last year. It was ethical behavior and conflict of interest for this exact same reason. So, it's not something new that we're doing just to this policy. Um, all of the cross references in the policy do not tie to the policies that are cross referenced there. There's no legal requirements or um references in this policy. So from a policy committee standpoint, I would say h how would you um review this and make sure that there there is no way to do so. I just have So from that standpoint, I mean that's how this whole thing came about. It wasn't about there wasn't even the executive orders out yet stating that um there was funding in jeopardy. All of this started because we were reviewing the policy as we do with all of our policies. And I'm I just feel very strongly that we shouldn't hang on to something just because just because. So, so just one more thing I just wanted to add the the motion on the table is to replace it with the current strategic plan and then the one that replaces it when it's finalized. So right now the current strategic plan talks about a caring and inclusive culture for all. Safe, accepting and respectful schools where individual uniqueness, talents and interests are nurtured, one voices expressed, heard and valued, a united and resilient culture of family and community. Um it talks about the students being at the heart of all we do and that we are student centered. We have compassion and respect, agility, innovation, voice and choice, partnership, and empathy. And I don't disagree with one single thing that is on here as far as making sure that we do value all of our students and that we are respectful for all of them and to make sure that they are all um feeling valued and that like I said that we absolutely support every single one of them. Um, that's all I have. All right. Yes, Director Z. Thank you for allowing me an additional comment. Where in that strategic plan does it talk about the district is committed to advancing equity equitable participation in contribution to and benefit benefit from the enjoyment of learning and work experiences by diverse students, parents, staff, and community. where in that statement is this one and it and it isn't anywhere so don't spend a lot of time looking. But the but the second one is that the district is committed to promoting and providing equitable dis distribution of resources, opportunities, facilities and support even when it means differentiating allocations on the basis of student needs. Or where where is this one? The district is committed to the recruitment and retention of highly qualified, diverse staff. The the district is committed to fostering a learning environment where diversity is encouraged and recruiting and retaining workforce at a minimum. Those things are are not in there. And frankly, if we try to shoehorn them, then it's going to become the district strategic plan and equity policy. I mean it I I I think that there's a far better choice and and I would choose the third path and um we're open for discussion. So I I would propose that we give this policy the same dignity that other policies have done and we look at the language of the policy. We align it with the language of other policies and we look at the language that works and if there's language that doesn't work, we evaluate that and take a scalpel to to remove it. For us to use a an axe or a chainsaw is inappropriate at this point. Not not to mention there's a lot of stuff in in here about um it the the third page of the policy and again it's only three pages long so look for yourselves but look at the things that we said were responsibilities and I don't think that the board's done these I don't think that the district necessarily has done these all that well but that's no reason to get rid of it. These are still appropriate and not lofty. These are attainable goals. The third policy. Thanks for getting that up, Lindy. So, I don't see any of that any of it illustrated in in the strategic plan. And I can't imagine what this strategic plan's going to look like if we try to shoehorn all this into it. And again, I will say two things. Number one, this is important enough to be held at a policy level. And number two, who does it hurt to retain this policy? I just simply don't get it. And that's because you're not listening to the other side. I have I have I have I have I absolutely have. I call the question. That means we are going to a vote. Um all right. The motion on the table was Can you re restate it please? I move that we remove policy 100 equity and diversity from our policy manual and replace it with the current strategic plan with the understanding that once the new strategic plan is adopted it would automatically replace the current polic or the current plan as policy 100. Thank you. All those in favor of removing policy 100 and replacing it with the strategic plan say I. I. All those opposed say nay. Nay. Motion passes 3 to two. We will be removing it. [Music] We have the next uh solar. All right. I'm going to call a recess for two minutes while we wait for everyone to clear out of the room here. All right, let's move on. Uh, next we have a solar contract that is a large dollar amount. Um, and Superintendent Champa, I don't know if you want to give us an overview or Miss Subert. Perfect. Thank you. Okay. So, I have included in board book a one-page summary, but the solar contract is something that the district has been working on for quite some time, and part of it is just that we really wanted to work through all the details. We worked with legal counsel. We've gone back and revised the contracts um many times to meet our needs, but just some of the highlights. So, there are no upfront project costs for the district. We were awarded a um solar for schools grant through Minnesota's Department of Commerce up to se $675,000. Um the scheduled completion of the project is 2025. Uh there is a 20-year operation and maintenance um agreement as part of it. And then the projected system life is 40 years. So there's two projects. There's a high school roof mount project and then Kennedy Elementary ground mount. And um you can see the savings there. So between the two projects, the first year it's anticipated to be $60,000 and then cumulative by year 20 it would be approximately 1.6 million and then by year 40 um it would be 5.5 million. And that's in um utility expense savings. as part of Minnesota Department of Commerce's solar for schools program. There is also an educational component of the grant. Um and then Ideal Energies will work with that, work with us on that. They provide some of the educational materials and then we also will um have a live online monitoring platform that will display the solar arrays performance. So, we'll add that to our website and if there's any questions, I can take them. No, thank you for that. Or Oh, sorry. M dressing. I was just going to say thank you. Thank you. Yes. Yes. I know this has been a long time coming. So, thank you for the efforts that have gone into this. Yep. And I if I'll just note that there was a lot of extra work done by Director Subert just to really make sure the district was protected and so the language was changed in the contract numerous times in order to protect the district to the greatest extent. Fantastic. Thank you. Uh all right with that I am looking for a motion on this item. Go ahead. I make a motion to approve the proposal for both projects, the one at Kennedy and the one at the high school. I second that. All right. Any discussion? All right. All those in favor of moving forward uh say I. I. I. All those opposed say nay. Motion passes unanimously to approve the projects both at uh Kennedy and the high school. Uh resolution. Sorry. Yeah, resolution. There's a resolution. Oh, yeah. Or do we? Okay. Yes, please. Director Milner, sorry. Then we have to do roll call vote. Sorry about that. Whereas the ISD 200 school board makes provision for its superintendent to sign the guaranteed energy savings contracts for the installation of two solar arrays. And now there therefore be it resolved that the school board authorizes its superintendent to sign the guaranteed energy savings contracts with Ideal Energies LLC and Ideal Energies Solar Leasing LLC. Um and do the roll call now before saying adopted. Um Director Milner, yes. Uh Director Bruns, yes. Director Zuzac, yes. Vice Chair Dresley, yes. Chair Tate, yes. uh adopted by the school board at the regular school meeting held on March 26, 2025. Thank you. I apologize for that mistake. That's okay. Um all right. Next up, we have our special election polling decision. Do we want to have further discussion before we make a motion on this item? I'll I'll try to make a motion, see how this goes. I recommend that we go to five sites for the for the special election in November of this year. I I second that motion. All right. Any discussion? Nope. All right. All those in favor of going to five and I I I presume it would be so I just want to clarify here one thing. So it would be the same five that were used in the last two elections. Correct. So that reduce voter confusion. Thank you for that clarification. All right. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed say nay. All right. Motion passes unanimously to have five polling locations for the November election. Uh next up we have the board member appointment um process that we are in. So, we are voting on um the seven um candidates who we are going to interview next week and those names are William Beck, Elaine Michael Moulder, Lisa Hadine, Katherine Oh, does anyone know how to say your last name? Sorry, it's SEAC, I think. Zapiniac. Okay, thank you. Mariah Ring, Chad Newharth, and Teresa Auggie. Um so I am looking at a motion to approve moving forward with interviews for those the seven um the seven individuals as read. I make the motion to go forward with those interviews those 20 minute interviews. Milner second. All right. Any discussion? All right. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed say nay. Motion passes unanimously to um interview the seven individuals as read. And then finally, we have an item on the Minnesota State student survey. Um again, I'm going to offer do we want any discussion before we vote on this item. I frankly am very conflicted after seeing these questions on how to frame a motion. Um in that again, I'm concerned about parent trust. Um and as they had mentioned that we could share this uh electronically with parents in advance to make sure that they understand what is being asked of their students. I guess I would appreciate the opportunity that that parents receive it digitally um as they are given the option to opt out. I understand that that is the same process. Was it Farmington that did that this year as well? Do you think that a link is sufficient to receiving it? Yes. Then I would second that motion. Um it use an opt out procedure and ask that our administration use a link when communicating with families if they want to see the questions. Okay. I don't know that I made an official motion. Pardon me. So I'll make I'll make a motion. I I'll I'll make the mo I can make the motion. Uh Lindy, are you doing okay on that motion? Two thumbs up. I'll second the motion. All right. Thank you. Any discussion? Dr. Milner, I appreciate your comment about if a student is considering suicide, like how could we help that child because no one's going to know who that is. I don't know what the procedure is for when the test is submitted, you know, given in the classroom. Is that something that can be made clear? Whether the kids are listening or not is another thing. But is that something that could be made clear that there will be questions, sensitive questions on here, if it brings forth, you know, feelings or something serious like you need to contact one of us, you won't be contacted through this survey. Could that be made known somehow? because I do see how a student might rely on thinking this is going to get me the help I'm looking for. Yes, but I would just um I would be concerned. I feel like we're putting a few constraints on it and so either we do it or we don't uh type thing. I just want to be careful with that. Do the students find out about it through schooly the survey? Yeah. Um I'm not exactly sure on that. So it would be we can certainly do communication through announcements that type of thing. I don't think it would be in schooly. Okay. It'll be it's just a very valid question because we might miss someone that we shouldn't miss. So, any other discussion? All right. So, the motion on the table is to um give this Minnesota student survey, but email a link to the full survey to parents with the option to opt out. I think I got that. Yeah. All right. Uh all those in favor say I. I. All those opposed say nay. Nay. All right. Motion passes four to one. And then finally, we have future meetings. Um, pull this up. We have um on, as was mentioned earlier in the evening, we have a joint powers meeting on April 4th at 7:30 a.m. at Tilden. We have a policy meeting that same day at noon in the district office. We have our comm our first community engagement series number one on April 8th at 6 p.m. in the lecture hall at the high school. We have our work session on April 9th uh at 6:00 p.m. And then we have uh the second community engagement series on April 15th at 6 p.m. And then we have another policy meeting at noon on April 17th. And then we have a special meeting, this is new, uh special meeting with the Hastings City Council on April 21st, 2025. And that's where I'll stop for now. And I will just mention in addition that is not the things that are not on the calendar necessarily yet are we are looking at booking our interviews with board members on the 31st, which I believe that needs to be posted as soon as possible to comply with open meeting law. And also on um April 2nd um one thing we did not talk about folks was time. Are we going to look at what works for the candidates and go with that? Are we going to say we need to start it at six o'clock after the dinner hour type of thing? vice work around me. So figure it out and if I can make it I can okay so that 6:00 to 8:30 whatever time slot it falls into. Okay. Does that work Mark? Yeah. Okay. Um and and then so again that is March 31st and April 2nd. And then on the 3d we are meeting with Barb Dorne from MSBA about our superintendent search from 4 to 6:00 p.m. I assume that will be here or in the we will find a place for that. Um all right and that's what I've got for future meetings. So with that I am looking for a motion to adjurnn. Oh, one more thing. We are having student school board committee meetings on April 9th at 5:00 p.m. Where is it? District office. Okay. District office. All right. One addition. Anything else? Okay. Now we're good. Now I'm looking for a motion to adjurnn. I make a motion to adjurnn. Second, Dresley. All right. Any discussion? All those in favor to adjurnn say I. I. I. All those opposed say nay. Motion to adjurnn passes unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 8:53 p.m.