Lakeville Area Public Schools — Transcript
Tuesday, March 24, 2026
Student and Staff Achievements
Lakeville North Speech Team Presentation
Growing Together Referendum
Community Concerns Regarding Coach Blake Nichols' Resignation
Review and Comment on Public Hearing for Bonds
Medical and Dental Renewal
ELA Core Resource Recommendation for Grades 9-12
LTFM Bond Sale
Policy 502: Search of Student Lockers, Desks, Personal Possessions, and Student Persons
Policy 526: Hazing Prohibition
Votes (7)
Review and Comment on Public Hearing (Bond)
Moved by Amber Cameron [01:06:17] · Seconded by Tony Rickenbocker [01:06:21]
The item was initially on the agenda for review and comment. It was brought to attention that some board members might not have fully reviewed the document. To ensure a thorough discussion and allow for feedback and detailed information, it was proposed to move the item to an upcoming work session.
Medical and Dental Renewal
Moved by Kim Baker [01:09:44] · Seconded by Matt Swanson [01:09:50]
The board discussed the recommendation for medical and dental insurance renewal. Blue Cross Blue Shield was recommended for medical (with Crumdale Specialty/Express Scripts for pharmacy), projecting $2M annual savings. Delta Dental was recommended for dental. An aggregate 15% increase for medical and 3% for dental was proposed to address increased claims and rebuild the self-funded district's health insurance reserve fund, which had significantly decreased due to a high-claim outlier year. The discussion clarified the intent to cover increased costs and gradually replenish the fund, without over-compensating if the high-claim year was an anomaly.
ELA Core Resource Recommendation for Grades 9-12
Moved by Kim Baker [01:17:09] · Seconded by Tony Rickenbocker [01:17:15]
The board discussed the recommendation to adopt CommonLit 360 as the core resource for English Language Arts in grades 9-12. The resource was presented as having undergone a thorough review and field-testing process, and received recommendation from the teaching and learning advisory council. Key benefits highlighted included cross-district alignment for courses and the ability to create common or comparable assessments for tracking student performance.
LTFM Bond Sale
Moved by Tony Rickenbocker [01:23:44] · Seconded by Kim Baker [01:23:47]
Shelby McCoy from Ehlers presented the results of the $20.6 million LTFM bond sale. The district received seven bids, with TD Financial winning with a 3.5% interest rate, which was described as historically low. Discussion revolved around whether to accept the rate or delay the sale for potentially more favorable market conditions, but it was concluded that the rate was good, and delaying could disrupt planned projects and potentially negatively impact future bond sales. The sale also aligns with the tax impact proposed to voters for upcoming middle school projects.
Policy 502: Search of Student Lockers, Desks, Personal Possessions, and Student Persons
Dissent: Matt Swanson, Brian Thompson
Moved by Kim Baker [01:25:21] · Seconded by Carly Anderson [01:25:26]
The board discussed proposed edits to Policy 502, which mainly involved updating legal and cross-references. A significant point of discussion was an amendment proposed by Director Swanson, seconded by Director Thompson, to add a requirement for parental/guardian notification after a search of a student has been performed. This amendment failed (3-3). A second amendment by Director Rickenbocker, seconded by Director Swanson, narrowed the parental notification requirement to specific instances of searching a student's person (strip searches or searches where a student is made to remove clothing). This amendment also failed (3-3), with concerns about increased district liability and the impact on immediate safety assessments if parental presence was mandatory. Superintendent Baumann clarified existing practices for parental notification, though not explicitly stated in the policy, citing legal counsel advice against adding such specific procedural details to policy.
Policy 526: Hazing Prohibition
Dissent: Matt Swanson, Brian Thompson
Moved by Carly Anderson [01:35:10] · Seconded by Tony Rickenbocker [01:35:15]
The board discussed Policy 526, focusing on updating legal references and cross-references. Director Thompson proposed an amendment to include electronic or digital means in the definition of hazing, arguing that current times necessitate this specificity, but the amendment failed (3-3). A second amendment by Director Thompson, seconded by Director Swanson, aimed to require parental notification when a hazing investigation is initiated, not just when an incident is confirmed. This amendment also failed (3-3). Concerns similar to Policy 502 were raised about increased liability for the district if specific procedural steps like pre-investigation parental notification were mandated in policy, and the potential impact on student safety if investigations were delayed. Superintendent Baumann indicated that current practice involves notification after an incident is confirmed.
Move to Closed Meeting
Moved by Tony Rickenbocker [02:05:08] · Seconded by Matt Swanson [02:05:13]
A motion was made to move to a closed meeting pursuant to Minnesota Statute 13D.05 subdivision 3A to evaluate the performance of Superintendent Baumann.
Notable Quotes (10)
It's been brought to my attention that every board member may not have read the review and comment document, and I want to make sure that you have an opportunity to do that and to get any feedback, further detailed information, and I think the work session's the best opportunity to do that.
If we're only going to collect $35 million and our expenditures are going to be $35 million again, if the outlier continues, then we're not really saving any money in the savings account. And for whatever reason if our expenditures of $35 million is no longer an outlier but becomes the baseline and it ends up being $37 million, now the savings account that we have has now gone gone even more negative.
I think part of it was we don't exactly know if we're seeing a trend in a certain direction yet or not. So, if we start to see like another big year like we did last year, we're going to have to make another decision next year to cover that. So, I I think was it an anomaly or was it is there a trend that we need to be following and making adjustments accordingly.
Just want to confirm that this resource does allow for cross-district alignment, for these courses at both high schools and then also provides for either common assessment or comparable assessment tracking across both schools so we can track student performance, you know, equally or so we can compare it across both schools or any classes that it applies to.
Is there due to market conditions of where we're at today, do we have to approve this? And I'm just cuz cuz I just don't know. Could we say no? And can we go back, let's say a month later when maybe market conditions might be a bit more favorable?
You do have the ability to say no. That's not going to look favorable to the markets when you take that money when you take this bond out again in a little bit or whenever you you would foresee the market being more favorable. The interest rate the district received was a 3.5%. So, these are tax-exempt rates and that's a very historically low interest rate still.
As a parent, and because we do have policies or other internal practices to call parents, I don't I don't know why we wouldn't just put it in the policy itself.
Well, I I would just like to say with regard to what counsel advises, once you put it into policy, if there is any point of failure with regard to that, then your liability exposure comes into play. Um you know, is that is that uh enough of a concern for the board members? Policies your your uh purview, of course. Uh we have to execute on that. So um that's what I understand counsel's concern would be with putting it in there.
I think for me is as as again, these policies are also to provide guidance for the district, but also informative uh context for for our communities community stakeholders. And so, when they've got an incident... I'm not saying that we need to make this super super uh you know, in a way where it's not uh for educational purposes, but how do we make it also very clear that this is what it entails and this is what it does not.
My preference would be uh, in the event of activity that could be deemed criminal, the student is not questioned outside of the presence of their parent. The minor student, I should say... I think our district is and our personnel are smart enough to identify when a situation may rise to the level of criminality. And so, I would move to amend the proposed policy to add a requirement where an accused student is to be investigated by district personnel or an SRO, that students that student parent is allowed parent or guardian is allowed to be present for that questioning.
Ordinances & Resolutions (23)
Athletic event where Lakeville North and South gymnasts competed.
Athletic event where Lakeville North and South wrestlers competed.
Athletic event where Lakeville North and South swim and dive teams competed.
Athletic event where the Blazing Cats Adapted Floor Hockey team competed.
Athletic event where the Lakeville boys curling team competed and took first place in Section 4.
Athletic event where the Lakeville South boys hockey team competed in the quarterfinals.
Book by Kurt Warner (2025) referenced in a speech about idolization.
Referenced by Dr. Marcus Peter in a speech about idolization and young boys.
Event for top DECA students to compete in business-related events.
Award received by Lakeville Area Schools from the Association of School Business Officials International for its annual comprehensive financial report.
Conference where Lakeville Area Schools received an Award of Excellence for ClassLink implementation.
Upcoming referendum for middle school space needs in Lakeville Area Schools.
The report for which the district received the Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting.
Policy concerning the search of student lockers, desks, personal possessions, and student persons.
Another governance policy related to student searches, cross-referenced during discussion.
Policy related to 504 plans, referenced during discussion on student searches.
Policy concerning hazing prohibition.
Policy concerning bullying prevention, cross-referenced during discussion on hazing.
Policy concerning appropriate use of electronics and technology, cross-referenced during discussion on hazing.
Recommendation for the English Language Arts curriculum resource.
The recommended core resource for English Language Arts in grades 9-12.
The sale of $20.6 million in bonds for Long-Term Facilities Maintenance projects.
Statute cited for moving to a closed meeting to evaluate an individual's performance.