call to order the November 25th, 2025 Lakeville Area School Board meeting. If you'll please rise with me to say the pledge of >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Take roll call starting from my right with our brand new member. Roll call starting with our right >> Amber Cameron. >> I'm Matt Swanson. >> Michael Bowman. >> Kim Baker. Karly Anderson. >> Brian Thompson. >> All right. Are there any additions or revisions to the agenda from anyone? If there are none, I'd entertain a motion to approve the agenda as drafted. >> Some moved. >> All right. Motion by Director Anderson. Is there a second? >> Second. >> A second by Director Rekenberger. All in favor of approval of the agenda say I. >> I. >> I. >> Any opposed? It is approved. Uh and we do want to welcome our new board member and uh we're going to administer the oath of office. >> Where do I where >> I'll call you up. >> Okay. [laughter] >> Say a few words if I may, sir. >> Sir, please do. >> Thank you. Well, welcome Director Reichenberger. I don't think your mic's on. >> Speaking right into it as loud as I can. >> Try now. >> Check. Oh, [clears throat] >> all right. Director Reikenberger, sir, congratulations. >> Thank you, sir. And uh you you know now you were elected to guide the education of our community's children. And this power puts you in the position of being legally responsible for the equitable quality education for all students in this district. And as you well know, the school board is accountable to our community. Many members are here right now. Many more are watching. administration. My administration, we will strive to work together toward fulfilling the vision we have for our Lakeville area schools, fostering excellence for every student in the areas of academic skills and knowledge, civic responsibility, and personal development. Sir, welcome to the school board and welcome to Lakeville Area Schools. Are you ready to take the oath? >> I am. Sir, if I may ask you to come forward >> and if it's okay, can I have my >> Yes, please. Please do. >> Ma'am, are you ready? >> Okay, sir. Are you ready? >> Yeah. >> Okay. All right. All right. Director Reikenberger, repeat after me, sir. I affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States and of this state. I affirm I will support the Constitution of the United States and this state >> and that I will discharge faithfully >> and I will discharge faithfully >> the duties of this office of school board member >> the duties of this office as schoolboard member >> of Independent School District 194 >> of Independent School District 194 >> to the best of my judgment and ability. >> to the best of my judgment and ability. >> Congratulations, sir. Welcome. [applause] >> [applause] >> We're gonna take a quick break. If you want to grab some pictures, >> here, let's move some chairs out of the way here. There we go. And then could you please come in for real quick? >> You want me in here? >> Yeah. Right on the end. >> Matt, you're the chair. >> All right. Again, congratulations, sir. >> Thank you. Congrats. Thank you. [applause] >> Superintendent Bowman, I'll turn it over to you for the good news. Thank you, Mr. Chair. School Staff Appreciation Week is the week of the 17th through the 21st here in Lakeville Area Schools, and we're proud to recognize the many dedicated professionals who support our students, staff, and schools each and every day. Whether guiding students, maintaining safe and welcoming spaces, or keeping our schools running smoothly behind the scenes, each plays an essential role in fulfilling our mission and ensuring the academic, social, civic, and personal readiness for every student. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for all that you do. All right, one more item, and this is a fun one, too. The Blazing Cats wrapped up their season on November 15th where they claimed third place at the 2025 adapted soccer CI tournament after a hard-fought state semifinal. They bounded back to earn the win against the Chaska Chanhassen Prior Lake Shakape squad. The Blazing Cats brings together student athletes from Lakeville area schools, Farmington, and Burnsville. Congratulations on an outstanding season. A little round of applause there. [applause] If you want to read more about the amazing things happening in our district, isd194.org/news and you can get all caught up, Mr. Chair. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Superintendent Bowman. Uh we are going to move on to public comment. So, the board will open up the floor for 30 minutes to allow the public to address the board with comments and concerns. To participate in public comment, individuals must have registered in advance using the form provided on our district website by noon on the Monday before our meeting. Uh there will be no board response during the session and public comments framed as complaints and or concerns about students andor staff are not appropriate in a public forum due to data privacy laws. These comments should be addressed to the administration outside of a public meeting. Likewise, complaints about schoolboard members should be privately directed to the board chair and or superintendent. If a comment is going that direction, uh you will be asked to stop and the microphone will be cut. Uh no formal action will be taken on any specific topic presented during public comment. As necessary, the administration will follow up with the appropriate personnel on any concerns that need to be individually addressed. Also, if necessary, the board will follow up during board communications at the next regularly scheduled board meeting. Uh individual remarks are limited to 3 minutes. The board will provide a signal when you've reached 30 seconds remaining of your time. And please try to keep audience noise to a minimum to allow everyone the opportunity to speak uninterrupted. Uh with that, uh the first individual is Justin Marshall. Then also I just ask that you try to speak into the microphone when you're up here. >> Got it. >> All right. Hey everybody. Uh I'm Justin. I have a child that's graduating from Cherry View this uh this year and slated to go to Century and then after that slated to go to Lakeville North. Um Cherry View I believe has historically been a feeder into Century. Um but I just wanted to kind of provide a little uh little aspect from me when we're going into this um potential boundary changes. So there was a previous boundary change that was I haven't seen, you know, new boundary change aspects yet, but there was a previous boundary change that grabbed kind of a bubble of neighborhoods up in the northeast and directed them down to Meguire and I think that was about 6 months ago or so and I came and mentioned um talked to you about that, but I just wanted to kind of double check on that and let you know just point out that if we do kind of like a bubble method like that um it's going to take uh my son as well as others in our neighborhood, send them down to Meuire, and then they'll spend three years at Meguire. They'll be separated from their friend groups at Cherry View, and then have to make new friendships down in Meguire. But then since Meuire is a um feeder into Lakeville South, if a boundary change like that occurs, then they would be separated from those friend groups again and they would have to go up to Lakeville North and remake all those friend um those friend groups again, severely impacting these kids when they're in these transitionary phases. So, I guess um I've just got two asks. I'm going to succinct it down for you. Um, number one, with these upcoming boundary changes, please, if you can, keep Cherry View wholesale as a feeder into Century. And if we can't do that, please make sure that there is some sort of option to open and roll for parents who it matters to and that they could have that ability to. And then secondly, if there is some sort of boundary change that's proposed that has kind of like that bubble method right there, take time and energy to make sure that if we are doing something like that, it's not kind of going against [snorts] the feeder programs that you have. So other kids aren't, you know, being separated from the friend groups in such a small order like that. That's all I've got. So thank you very much. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. Right. Next individual, Johanna Surma, now for a much shorter person. Okay. [laughter] Um, good evening, Chairman Swanson and directors of the board and superintendent Bowman. Um, my name is Johanna Surma and I teach English learners at Oak Hills Elementary School. I also represent my colleagues as the lead negotiator for EML. I'm here to thank the district for deciding to return to the bargaining table and to encourage the board to help us reach a contract settlement that fully supports teachers so that we can fully support students. The Education Minnesota Lakeville negotiations team filed our intent to bargain with the district in March 2025. Um, despite our willingness to meet as soon as possible to start the process, the district did not hold a a preliminary meeting with us until the end of June. The teacher contract then expired on July 1st. We did not meet again until the end of July to begin discussing proposals, and we have only met about once a month since then. By contrast, our neighbors in district 196 met every Tuesday and Thursday through much of the summer and settled their contract before the students walked through the door at the start of the school year. However slowly our negotiations were going, we did believe that they were progressing positively. Um, so far this fall, EML focused the bulk of our organizing efforts on supporting the levy renewal. Educators dedicated substantial time to phone banking and hostingformational tables at sports events after the workday was done. That levy ultimately passed on election day, which we consider a big win for our students and our schools and the entire community. Um, however, on November 5th, the day after the levy passed, the district declared that negotiations were at an impass and filed for mediation. We were disappointed as in our view this was premature. the school board had not even had the opportunity to review your own corrections to your own financial proposal. We appreciate that earlier this evening you met in close session. Um and so you know we continue to meet internally to discuss how to reach a settlement and we hope that you have engaged in the same discussions because we truly believe we're not that far off and that we're negotiating a lot on a lot of points of mutual interest. Um our first mediation session is scheduled for January 8th. Um, but we are really glad that the district has agreed to come back to the table on December 11th. EML remains committed to open dialogue and we continue to be ready [clears throat] and willing to excuse me and willing to work collaboratively with the district to settle a fair fair contract. And although our contract expired almost 5 months ago, our educators remain dedicated to our students and to strengthening our schools. We believe a fair and timely settlement is in the best interest of the entire Lakeville community. So, please let's get this done. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. [applause] Brian Con. Good evening, Chair Swanson, Superintendent Bowman, members of the board, our great members of the community, and our teachers who are make our schools great. I want to start by just thanking uh Director Nicholson for his work and service to the board and welcome Director Reichenberger to to it as well. But I'm here really in support of our teachers and to encourage the district and the union to negotiate and come to an agreement quickly. I think that is as a member of our community. I believe that is what is most important for us. You know, we move here for our [clears throat] schools and it is the teachers that make our schools the great ones that they are. When I signed up for this, I had this feeling of deja vu all over again. That thinking back to two years ago when we got to a very difficult mediation, the threats of strike and hope that we really do not come to that again. [cough and clears throat] Let's encourage you to get back to work. As was just noted, our teachers put in tremendous work helping pass the levy, which, as they said, is a huge win for our community to maintain that. And we've got another bond referendum coming up in the fall, and we need their support to to pass that. Also, I'm concerned that we're losing teachers uh here because other districts in the region are able to are paying more in salary and I hope that we can find a way to keep those teachers here in our district and keep that strength. So, let's work to reduce that gap, agree on a contract, and let teachers get back to focusing on teaching our kids. And reaching that agreement is in the best interest of our community. Thank you. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Jean Rutiger. Jean. Right. If there is no Gan, that will conclude our public comment session. Uh we're going to move on to the consideration of approval of the consent agenda. Are there any items that board members want to pull out for discussion? If there are none, I would entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. So moved. >> There's a motion by Director Cameron. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Second by Director Baker. Uh being first and a second. Um all in favor of approval of the consent agenda as drafted. Say I. >> I. I. >> Any opposed? It's approved. Moving on to reports and discussion. Student services department. Miss Humphrey, I believe. Well, we can get started while the uh uh presentation gets pulled up. Good evening, Chair Swanson, members of the board, Superintendent Bowman. We are here um on behalf of the student services department to give a little bit of updates um that are stemming from the October 28th um school board discussion. So, we're here to share we're here to share um just some information about the metrics that we are using for uh EEL as well as um some special education metrics that we would be adding to the to the dashboard. Um also, we want to talk about some of the current inclusive practices that we have here in Lakeville and then talk about um some of the efforts that we are doing to help retain staff. So I will I have members of my department here and I will let them introduce themselves as they go through the board or the presentation as well. >> We can skip forward to the next Where's the remote? Thank >> Thank you. >> Good evening board. I'm Alexia Puppy Finley, director of special services. Um glad to be here tonight. Chair Swanson, members, and Superintendent Bowman. Um, starting with grounding us in who we're serving in our population. Um, my understanding is some of you may have seen this before, but again, grounding us in for uh FY26, we're currently serving around 2,600 2,67 students. That is making up about 17% of our population of students with special education support. Oh boy, >> it'll bend down. There you go. [laughter] >> Um, good evening and good evening, Chair Swanson. Board members, welcome. And Superintendent Bowman. Um, my name is Karen I'm the director of student health, safety, and wellness here. And I have the privilege of talking about our English language um, services that we um, have in our district. And as a board um metric, we have access testing. So I'll be telling you a little bit about access testing, but I wanted to look at our um student our total number of students receiving EL services. Um over the past five years, you can see the trend is moving upward. Um and it's also important to note that these are numbers served throughout the year, not just at one given snapshot. Um, our EL population here tends to be a little mobile and they move in and out. They can be um, gone for an extended absence absence of up to um, anywhere from six weeks and we also have migrant students who might be here just in the fall and or in the spring. So, we look at the total number served throughout the year. Um, another, um, interesting, I guess, uh, data point that we want to always consider are how many students are recently arrived English learners. Um, rails, as they're um, called, rails are in their first year of enrollment in the US schools. And you can see that trend here in Lakeville is also um, [laughter] is going up. Um and this is we're almost at where we served all last year. Um and this is just data through um this month. So the board metric is our access. So what is our access test? What is what is that? Um it's an English language test. It's a proficiency assessment, not an academic test. It's required under federal law. annually it's taken and it's administer administered to all K12 students identified as English learners. Um it is it I it sorry it measures academic proficiency in four domains uh listening speaking reading and writing and you can see by that graph the writing and reading are weighted 35% while speaking and listening are 15%. So understanding the access scores what do they mean? So scores range from anywhere from one um entering into um entering the language um and six really reaching and proficient means an overall composite score of 4.5 and three other do three of the domains three of the four listening speaking reading and writing are at least 3.5. So when a student has those 4.5 and then all and three at least 3.5 they can exit services. We really look at growth over time not just one single score. A student um can actually take multiple years to meet proficiency but that doesn't mean they're not making progress over time. So we really look at that and it might even take a while for them to jump a level. They can have little incremental growth. So it's important to look over time. So putting this in action, what do we do with those scores? There are several ways that we look at the scores. And what we do um first when students demonstrate or show some low lower proficiency rates, we increase their frequency and their intensity of the EL services. We also look at those scores for student groupings to create student schedules. Um and those might those students might need co-eing or sheltered instruction. And I will define those in a later slide. um we use the data to adjust um our staffing resources and allocate um other resources as well and just an overall program model effectiveness. So beyond access, we do look at our EL subgroup when we look through our MCA data, our fastbridge results, attendance trends and graduation rates as well. chair. Um, do you want us to hold all questions till the end or do you want us to ask while you're doing it since there's three of you presenting? >> You can feel free to ask along the way. >> Okay. Um, I just had one question for Karen. Um, I was looking at the slide that you shared about um, the increase of our EL students um, since 2021 2022. um have like what ratio are you using to determine like when we need to add more staffing to specific buildings based on the fact that our numbers are increasing? >> That is a great question. Currently we use a weighted formula that equals almost about 1 to 35 but it is weighted um given more weight to a recently arrived or a newcomer. >> Yeah. Um, and then if their proficiency rate is on the higher end, they're weighted less, >> which is other districts also use weighted or a ratio. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Uh, question just so we're clear for the public too, what what do services entail? And then like how much of the day is that? And is it are the services allocated differently based on where they're at on the proficiency scale? >> They are. And I would be happy to share that at another um I can come back and share that. There's different models. There's different um times that we suggest if they're proficiency rate is a one to two bases a three to four. But um >> and I guess I'm just wondering um because I was in a class and my understanding was like one student might get 30 minutes out of the entire day and then they're just in the classroom the rest of the day. >> Yes. So it really depends on their proficiency rate. the recommended amount of services. >> Sorry, Director Anderson. >> Um, thank you. I'm sorry to interject with questions. You're fine. Shoot. Sorry. Um [clears throat] so I guess one question I have this estimate that you have through 111925 for for um ELLL as well as um that number is that higher than you anticipated for where we should be this year and do you have any projections about this seems complicated um in terms of um how to anticipate who's coming into our system and then like you're saying depending on um what level they're at and what they need and so how how are you prepared for that on a staffing level I guess is what I'm wonder >> that's that's a great question it is um there are more than we anticipated so we just did look at our staffing Karen >> can you talk into the microphone thank you uh we just did a staffing review and um allocated um additional staffing where they were understaffed Okay. >> Based on that weighted formula. >> Okay. And do you feel at this point that we have the staffing to meet the needs >> when we have those positions hired? Yes. >> Okay. So, right now we're we're trying to hire for that. >> Yes. Okay. Church Cameron >> related to that um are there standards that our district has developed of like how many minutes of service a student in EL should receive? >> Okay, great. And to what um yes, >> are we are we meeting those standards that we've set or are we how how are we doing on that? >> I would say in general, yes, we are meeting. Now, we do have those buildings that we're trying to hire staffing that may be um meeting, but it's becoming difficult a challenge to meet those minutes and scheduling them all. >> Okay. >> But I think overall we're we're able to do that. >> Okay. And then um this maybe goes back a little bit to um just the process. How are we identifying students um when they enroll in our district that they should be screened for EL services? So when they enroll, [snorts] the family takes a survey and if um English is not their first language and any of the questions, it's a longer story, but in general um they are um for lack of a better words flagged and then we do a screener. >> Okay. uh the the ELD the English language development teachers at each building then goes through and does a screener with them and if they qualify for services then they are identified as an an English learner. >> Okay, great. So like any any family that might mark a language other than English we check to see what the students English proficiency is. Okay, >> thank you >> Director Thompson. >> So So I this is fascinating. I appreciate sharing the data here. I mean, we we've got 700 almost almost 10% well 8% or so of our our students that um uh are receiving English language services, but for the for the reals like we've got a hund over a hundred of them. So, I'm trying to understand the day in the life of these students because they can't speak English at all and they only get 30 minutes. What do they do for the or is it if it's more than like what do they do for six hours because they're not like in the are they in the classroom or where are they? They get more than 30 minutes if they're if they're new. If they're new to the country, they get more. Those kids that get 30 minutes might be like on proficiency scale four. So these kids are at a one. So they will get more intensive service. Um and yes, what do they do? We're our ELD teachers, English language development teachers are working and collaborating with those general ed teachers and they're trying to teach the routines, how to be a student, how to communicate in a building, how to navigate the building, what are who do I go to? Um, it is very challenging. >> Do do we have an ELT in every single building? because I'm assuming you've got 104 scattered in all of our buildings >> at least. Yes. >> Got it. All right. >> There we go. Um, okay. We uh we were tasked in with the school board meeting in October with um coming up with student services board metrics for special education as well. Um when we were tasked with that we we sought different stakeholder input, one of them being our SEAK meeting. um to say what what would our families what makes sense um and and to our educators what makes sense to gather and report out on and what we're here to share with you today is that we are prepared to share in as part of the board metrics around fastbridge which is uh you probably know that one our general education peers are also um take the fastbridge assessment and we will that'll be able to be tracked uh fall, winter, spring and we're looking for individual growth um by student and then also focusing on our inclusion. So what is the percentage of our students in setting one, two and three and how do we ensure this they're getting the services they that they need at each of those levels. I think I have the next one too. Yes. Um and another part around inclusion is of how we have expanded our programming at each of our sites. So this year in early childhood we have a pilot of doing a co-taught class of a general education teacher and a special education teacher and then we have that throughout our different programming levels. So at the middle school um and the high school level. Um what's beautiful about that opportunity is we have a core content um licensed teacher that is co-eing in the room with a special education teacher. So you have the content knowledge and the special education knowledge in the same room supporting the students. Our English learners also have some inclusive opportunities um in elementary. um they do some pushin during their literacy block, which that means is that English language development teacher um goes into that general ed classroom and does some type of co-eing um or stations or things like that. middle schools. Um our teachers participate in that teaming model and they have some common planning time with their general ed um cohorts. And also at the high school similar to special education at Lakeville North, we have co-taught English and math which is a content specialist um along with a uh EL teacher. And we also have sheltered classes. Um at north they have social studies and English um sorry at south they have um English. So sheltered is one teacher who has a dual license ESL and that content. >> Director Baker, >> do we still have a unified PE as an option at the high school? >> Loosely. That is something though that we are working on strengthening. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Uh special education shoutouts. A way that also inclusion um and celebration for our special education staff. Um something that we started this school year is our special education uh newsletter. The audience are special education staff and building administrators. The purpose of the newsletter is uh one to be able to shout out and recognize special education staff or teams uh for what they're doing and the successes that we're having um with our programming and also um professional development. How can we dose little things around professional development within within the newsletter? um this helps support the culture of recognition and celebrating the staff for what they do every day. Um and then last we just wanted to touch on the student services content mentoring program. So last year the district was able to bring um the mentoring program into the district. Um this year we're able to expand it a little more and in partnership with the teaching and learning department um we've really been able to focus on our student services staff. So our counselors, our uh ELD teachers, occupational therapists, speech and special education teachers with matching them um up with content mentors. So we have 10 content mentors and um at this time we've had about 55 new staff that um we have matched those mentors with. So that's uh it's a start. We of course want to continue to do more um to recognize all of the the work that our teachers are putting in to support all of our students. So, um, we just wanted to highlight that and see if there's any other questions or wonderings. >> Director Anderson, >> um, sorry, I'm going to go back to the slide on the special education enrollment. Um, is that number also expected to increase across the year are or are most kids identified at this time? No, that number also fluctuates um throughout the year based on um we have students that exit services because they've met their goals. Um we also have new students coming in that have gone um that have gone through some intervention process and they're still not u making progress with those interventions. So, we would be doing initial special education evaluations, but um I would anticipate that number to to grow. >> And any thoughts about that growth or what's contributing to that? >> You know, it's I would say it's really um it's our whole system uh the stronger interventions that we can have um before students enter into special education. um that's one way to help not let students come into special education. So, um we're working real hard to continue to build um all of the interventions that we have around academics and social emotional um learning. And so, um once that I mean that's that's part of it. um for the kids that are identified, sometimes once they are identified, they need more more services um that the IEP team deems necessary and that just may be because they're not um making growth in whatever their goal area is. So, the IEP team comes back together um to uh look at services, look at the quality of those services, and potentially increase services. Um so, >> Director Cameron A question related to this um chart as well. Do we look at and we don't have defined peer districts but do we look at compared to our peers? How are our special education rates or you know like are we comparable? Are we high are we low? Is that a metric that is ever evaluated? >> Not yet. Okay. But I can share that um with within our u member district area um what we're seeing in terms of growth of special education in our neighboring districts is not anything um new or out of the ordinary. Um I would say in particular across the state of Minnesota um there's quite a few school districts w in particular with their centerbased programs that are having upwards of 10 students in a centerbased program. And that's definitely not ideal with what we want in being able to provide services to those students. But I'd say across across the state and even within our neighboring districts, um students are coming to us with uh I'd say pretty complex challenges and um we we're working really hard to try to meet what those challenges and needs are. And then relatedly, are we does our district look at and I realize it's not on this chart, but just behind the scenes, are we looking at student demographics and special education enrollment rates, tracking trends there? >> Yes. >> Okay, good. >> Absolutely. >> And then um to your last slide on the mentorship program, that's great to see. I know we've been needing a mentorship program here for quite some time. Um, of the of the approximately 55 staff who you mentioned in the um the student support roles, >> is that almost all of the the student support roles that were newly hired or Okay, so almost all have a mentor that were hired in those categories. >> Yes. Okay. >> Yes, all of the staff um have been offered a mentor um in Yes. >> Okay, great. >> Director Thompson, did you have a question? All right, Director Baker. So, same question for you that I asked for Karen. Um, given the fact that our we see quite an increase in our special education population, um, the percentage of students that are qualifying for those services, what are you using to determine, um, like the ratios for when you need more teachers in some of those areas? is I know that it's been um things that we have talked about within this district over the past several years are special ed case load numbers uh based on setting and if those numbers if there's a a limit that we need to put on that such as like when we do for an elementary class size um are those things that you're discussing or what are you using to determine if those case loads are too much for a teacher to handle? Mhm. So, we do look at uh case load numbers on a very regular basis. I mean, I would say uh bi-weekly, if not weekly, depending on the time of the year. Um there's also a lot of factors that that go into case numbers and and the minutes that students are using. We do have the guidelines that we are using that I believe believe um with that report the special education report that you guys received those are the guidelines that we that we look at. Um I can stand up here and say honestly we we do have a lot of um our teachers that are a few students above what those guidelines are. And when that happens we take a look and come together [clears throat] to assess. Um really it comes down to prioritizing the need and the need is great all over. Um but knowing that we only have a certain amount of resources. We I mean that's how we're making decisions is looking at those guidelines for case load numbers um and looking at the needs across the district in terms of um anything with student services. Um so that includes you know our EL teachers, resource teachers, occupational therapists and that and looking to see um what we can do to help support. >> Thank you. >> Where are we at roughly right now in open positions for both EL and and SPED? >> Well, for EL um I believe we have Well, Karen, you might be able to answer a little bit better, but eight >> a total of one a total of 1.0 O FTE. >> Okay. >> What does that mean when you say a total? Can you explain that >> between buildings? >> I figured >> um a 2 three different buildings and a point 4 at one building. >> Is that common? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yeah. And then >> I'm adding to it >> for special education. >> I would say 10. >> You um I would say roughly 10. And that's a combination of uh licensed staff and non-licensed staff. Are we back filling some of those positions right now with contract work or >> Yes, we um have had mixed luck with contract uh contracted employees, but uh we are absolutely if if we have an agency that that sends us a viable candidate, we are interviewing them and bringing them in if it makes sense and hoping to keep them. for the teachers that you have identified where their case loads are above um where we would like that's our target. Are they getting an overload FTE for that or are we discussing any possibilities of uh maybe adding more pair of professional support if we can't hire another teacher just to help with with some of that workload? >> All of those strategies are discussed and considered. Yes. >> Director Anderson, >> sorry, I have one more question. I'm going to stop. Um, so is there any has there been any change in terms of open enrollment with our special education across time or is that pretty stable? I guess I'm wonder are we having more people open enroll into the district specifically for special ed services? >> You know, I would say that's something that we would want to take a look into and can get back to you. Um, just within this year where we're at though, I would say we are very similar to where we were last year with open enrollments. Um, it's it's our families that live here in Lakeville that are >> All right. Any other questions? Director Thompson. >> It's probably less of a question, just more of an observation. I mean, I think for our our 25 budget, we allocated about $40 million uh roughly to special education. And and when I look at the special education percentage of students of 267, like that's roughly $19,000, which is the cost of a special education uh student. If we're anticipating um the special education enrollment percentage to increase, if that's what you're projecting, uh that that's going to obviously um impact our general fund, our jelloof fund fund balance as well as our general balance as a whole. And so we've got to think more strategically around how do we ensure that our our school district has the appropriate funding uh to ensure this is taken care of as well as our general population. And so as we think about future budgeting uh for the next school year, I mean if this number is going to continue to rise up, it's not like we can just assume the dollars that the state will provide is going to cover. It's not. And so we as a community will have to fund those additional uh uh that gap. It's if that's how I'm understanding this. So, >> thank you. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Homegrren. I think you're up. Good evening. Uh, [clears throat] excuse me. Sheriff Swanson, directors of the school board, Superintendent Bowman. I'm going to um spend a little time this evening giving you an update on our our budget, our 26 budget, where we're at, and then talk about a little bit of a future look at where we think our fund balance is going to go over the next five years. Now, um we look at this every every month. Now, um you see that the blue the blue u column there is our 26 numbers. Um these are our revenue numbers. You can see our revenue numbers are coming in a little sooner than we have in the past. We're very pleased about that. It really helps our cash flow uh position. When we switch over to the expenditures, you see that in most cases um our expenditures are fall are coming a little less than they did at this time last year except for um our purchase services and some supplies. And that's mainly our LTFM projects that are coming coming through a little faster. We're paying for those as as as we worked on them through the summer. So again, this budget's acting just like it just like it should. When we switch over to the um program level, you'll see the same thing. You see here the, you know, admin, direct support, our our regular programming and elementary and secondary education. Um nothing here is going higher than it did the year before. Um there's I always get a question this time of year is like why is advent running at 32 and we only have elementary secondary here at 18%. Uh that's because um teachers don't started getting paid until we get to September. So the admins district the do really do portion of this um they work all summer long. So that's why you're seeing a higher percentage um there. Um, one thing if you look hard at it, um, pupil support, you see in that we do have a little bit of a bump, a little bit of a higher bump there, um, at 18.8%. And that's primarily our our transportation um, contract. So, we're looking hard at that. It's probably something we're going to have to look at our revised budget and bump that up a little bit. It's run a little higher than we anticipated. Um, the other the other one that looks a little funny is you see community ed. Well, community ed, right? But um that's our summer unemployment that we have to run through the general fund for community education employees. Um there was one small payment earlier this year. Uh most of the payments are made u right now this week, the end of November. So next month, you'll see all those pop up. Okay, let's talk a little bit about uh our five-year projection. We're going to talk about the variables that we put into a into a model where we had a look at our forecasting our budget forward. So, we're kind of we look at detail on our levy variables and then our state and of course we're going to look at our expenditures um going through those years. Again, this is our newest um projection on our our enrollment. We're seeing about a 1% increase um each year. And when we look at the students that we have right now enrolled in buildings, we are up that 1%. So um this carries uh true when we look at uh our levy variables. We'll talk a lot about levy here here this next month. But um when we look at our >> Can you go back one more slide? I just want to make sure I understand that this like we we almost we added a thousand students over the past six years if that's what I'm how I'm reading this. >> That's correct. And then we're looking at another thousand students over the next 15 years. So, so our growth is we are growing but not at the speed that we have historically have been. >> Yeah, we talked about this budget wise here this past year where we really saw our growth really slow down and we've had to make some adjustments on our revenue projections and really slow it down a little bit. 2223 to 2324, you see almost a flat. And um our growth projections going back to 2020 were at a more at a steeper glide path uh up. So this revision I think uh does sound or ring true where I think you get a little bit more difficult. And as I've shared, we will continue to iteratively look at this, but 27 28 28 29 um you know, there could be some movement there. And as you've seen in other presentations, the southwest uh and northeast areas of Lakeville are growing and set conditions are set for growth. Um, so we will continue to refine uh and and make sure that the picture you see is as true as possible. When you get way out there into the seven, eight, nine years from now, um, I I'd say the fidelity is under 50% accurate >> just by my experience with this. uh taking a look at our variables and we look at our levy on a yearly basis um what we're seeing is about a 2% um increase in the inflation that happens on a yearly basis and then we we do have inflation factors um built into our operating levies so we get that small increase on a yearly basis but the rest of these things don't change the numbers that we get per pupil unit are constant so we look at their our local operating revenue $724 it's been that way for many many years um our equity dollars um is a is a formula where the state tries to match us up with other school districts. We get everybody kind of gets the same. So we get a little bump there with an extra 80 $88 per pup unit. Our safe schools money really most of this money is spent on our school resource officers. Um same number has been for many many years. Uh our lease levy, as you know, we're up at at the cap of our lease levy at $212, and it's been that way for many years from the state of Minnesota. Our operating capital, that's a formula. It's based on how old our buildings are u more than anything else. But right now, we're getting $221 to help with our capital costs. And then our capital projects levy, that's the one piece of our revenue that's based on a tax rate. The tax rate remains constant. So, as our net tax capacity grows, we get a little more dollars there on a yearly basis. Um, our achievement integration, you see, uh, there we get about 560,000 through our levy. That's about 35% of our, um, grant that we get, the state of Minnesota covers the rest, about a million dollars. And then a vocational um, also about 35% of the expenditures that we have, it's kind of like a reimbursement process where we get money back from through our levy about $500,000. we switch over to the variables that we have from the state of Minnesota. Here you see in the year we're in 2000 uh fiscal year 26, we just received two 2.74% which is $200 per pupil unit. Now that our total now is at 7,481. The other piece that we get increase um from of course is our is our enrollment. That's why I have enrollment driven. We're seeing about a 1% increase in our enrollment. Well, staffing kind of um follows that. We need staff to cover or to serve uh those particular students. So, we're seeing about 1% increase there in our formula allowance for those students. Uh pension, this is a dollar amount that we um get from the state of Minnesota um to help pay for the increases in TR that they've mandated here the last few years. Our gifted and talented, we get $13 per pupil unit. It's been that way for again for many, many years. our extended time dollars don't see those increases like we see in the in the formula allowance. Um but that's kind of locked in there at $5,000 little over $5,000 and as I said earlier the local optional revenue the the portion we get there $724 but of course part of that comes from the state of Minnesota and then our Q comp dollars again 65% comes from the state of Minnesota the other other comes from our levy. So these are the all the numbers that we use in a in a model a budgeting model uh to push this these forward. You can see here then from the state of Minnesota we get almost 70% of our director Thompson. >> Hey Bill, can you can can you u there was a lot of numbers being shown here. Can you just try to help me uh uh simplify it like on a what would be the average for every student pupil? What do we get from the state total and what would be the average for that that we get from levies for that student? Is there a way that we can just kind of simplify this >> part? Yeah. If you put all these numbers together, both the levy side and the and the state of Minnesota side, we get about $10,000 per student on on the revenue side each year. >> And then how much is that is coming from our local property taxes or or the the school levies. Is that roughly >> about 25 a.5% we get from our levy. The rest uh we get um 69% comes from the state of Minnesota and then you'll see some smaller amounts are federal. We talk a lot about federal dollars, but it's really a very small piece that we get from that. We have some special special education dollars we get from the federal government and we have some title grants that we get some dollars from. So, you can see that's only 1.6% of our revenue budget. And of course, the local these are any fees that we're collecting. Um here it's if you go to a game, you pay a gate fee to get in, that's in that 4%. >> Director Anderson, do you have a question? >> Yes. I'm sorry. Um I shouldn't apologize. I have a question. Um, so in this in terms of the I know we've talked about this before when we've considered um if we're going to go for a levy. Um, how much could we ask? Like I I am wondering [clears throat] with what we're getting total for a student, we get a set amount from the state and then we levy our community for a certain amount. How how big of a gap are we in terms of what we are able to levy and what we could levy or what we currently levy for? >> Yeah, we are not that far off of the cap. Um, but we do have room for about $400 per pup unit that we could ask for a new operating levy with and that would generate us about $5 million and then we'd be at the cap. >> And is there an exception with other districts where they're able to levy for more? >> No, the cap is the same for everybody. Um some some districts have the have the inflation factor built into the operating levies where theirs don't move up but that cap moves up with that inflation rate on a yearly basis. So every single year that cap statewide cap grows a little bit for the inflation portion. >> So what we are getting for every student is similar to some of the other districts we compare ourselves to like Minnetonka. >> Yeah. Well, M you look on the west side of the metro, Minnitonka, Yisetta, they're at the cap, right? >> They're getting that other $400 per pup unit. [clears throat] >> What happens when you hit the when you hit the cap? >> Well, then you can't go out and ask for any new operating less. I mean, there is no more revenue to get. That's that is the max. >> And this is where we have to be thoughtful around I mean, look, again, we just looked at the special education numbers and those are those are going to continue to increase, but once we once we hit the cap, like we can't ask for any more. And so if we've got a $400 uh uh you know room to bring out to the community and say, "Hey, XYZ," that's going to give us about $5 million extra dollars towards our general fund. But then we can't ask for any more money. And so that $5 million might need to be used for uh future operating expenditures like the principles of a new middle school like we had to do for High View. That was about 1.5 million. Uh so we need to be really thoughtful around whatever we if we bring anything forward we we can't spend it on it like we don't this is it like once we're done spending we we're done spending and so >> I mean unless you have growth because it's per per pupil so as you grow that yeah $400 >> but that growth should cover the addition the additional staff of teachers for those for those new students you know so >> but bond referendums are also different if you're you're building >> yeah so bonds are different but but the but the five the extra $400 are operating expenditures, which is two separate things. >> Oh, sorry. >> But I think it's that Brian, I I agree with you that once we hit the cap, we hit the cap. But >> and and Bill and um Superintendent Bowman interject here. But >> how I would imagine if you're at the cap, you're not you're not tied to spending that money in those ways indefinitely. You just have a bigger pot of money to do more things with every year over and over and over again. And we don't have that capability right now. Director Thompson. >> But if we allocate those funding to recurring expenditures, then we really can't move it around too much. So, we got >> Yes. >> Correct. >> Got it. >> Okay. Can I switch over and talk about our um variables with our expenditures? Um staffing again is is totally driven by our enrollment. Um when we look at increases on a yearly basis, the average increase for our staff members is about 3%. We have 4% built into this model because we're seeing that 1% increase um in the number of staff that we have on hand. So that's why we have see 4% here. Benefits are running right about a 3% increase on a yearly basis and along with our purchase services. Of course, purchase services, a lot of this is driven by our our contractors and we looking at maintenance on our buildings. we look at our supplies and equipment and some other uh smaller expenses, we've built a 2% increase into that uh model. Um so this this is a little busier, but it breaks it up by program. Um but you can see that when you look at our uh elementary and secondary education along with vocational, special education, and then the the support pieces that we give our students there over 80% of our budget is directly goes to our students. And again, I guess I want to point out like administration, you see it at two at 2.3. Um, that's actually we're about the lowest when we look at our administration and in districts around us. Lots of districts running close to 4%. Now, here's some other things just to keep in mind. I mean, really are some key budget constraints over the next five years. Um, structural operating gap risk. Our revenue is growing slower than our costs. And this is this is well it's been that way in schools where very very very very many years right the state of Minnesota over the last several years our average increase is about is 2%. So over the last couple years we've seen some bigger increases and we've had a lot of inflation risk but that's really helped us um cover some of those costs. We look at special ed and E which we talked about this evening that growth will continue and it's going to pressure the general fund. Can I just ask one question um about the administration numbers that you mentioned? You said those were lower. Um and I know that administration is is that including um principles, assistant principles, deans, and all of our non-affffiliated is like is that all included in administration? >> At administration is the superintendent's office and is the principal offices. That's all. >> So not the non-affffiliated >> the well non-affffiliated they're all over. It depends what they do, okay? Um because they fit into the area of the budget that they do their work. For an example, all of the um assistant principles, deans, they're in the support service area. They're not in administration. So, you'll see them in the in the support areas, >> right? But I I do feel like there are people that are under our non-affiliated contracts that we would consider administrators based on what they're doing for their jobs. Correct. No, no. Um, when I go way back, if you if you our administrators are only administrators that are the way that the state of Minnesota wants us to code those particular employees. Okay? So, the superintendent's office, actually the board members, your pay is administration. Um, and then all the principles, their offices, >> that's what's in administration. >> So, >> when we look at the directors that work in the deal, that's that next that next one. that support service. >> So like supervisors wouldn't count. >> Supervisor depends what they do. >> Okay. Because I mean I'm just looking like at our numbers just in general. Um our non-affiliated has went up to like I think the last count was 89.43. And then when I look at principles we have what 14 and then deans like 18. So I'm just trying to figure out what the percentage what's all included in that percentage. >> Okay. Well, the the district support services where you're where a lot of those non-affiliated persons um you're talking about, that's where they they fit. Okay. >> But the administration number here is just the principles and in their offices and the superintendent's office. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Are those codings consistent across districts and state? >> Yes. Um we have we have a very large book, a EUAR's book where where we're told where they expect us to code different expenditures and it's pretty detailed. >> Yeah. Let let me just address this. The uniform finance and accounting reporting system by the state of Minnesota defines what all these categories are for the purposes of financial reporting. So that's the base uh document. Um and we do comparative analysis based on EUARS through our uh budget analysis tool that gives us all the data for all schools in the state of Minnesota. and we compare ourselves based on the EUAR standard. So that's that's what you're seeing there. So I just want to make sure everybody understands if they want to go reference it, that's the document to reference the uniform finance and accounting reporting system for state of Minnesota. >> And I'm just clarifying because when we get questions based on staffing, that's the one question that always comes back to me is why is our administration so topheavy? Like that's what I get. So, I just want to make sure that we're clear on how that is coded and so that that number makes sense to our public as well. >> Okay. Um I'm going to hit the third bullet here. Benefits and mandates create compounding cost increases. Um things happen, mandates come to us that we don't get new funding for. It happens all the time. As you know, right now the state of Minnesota just put on a family leave, paid family leave. That's a new cost for us that starts here in January that we haven't had before and we've received no revenue uh to pay for those costs. Uh fund balance constraints reduce resilience to economic or shock cost shocks. So that's one reason we've talked about needing that fund balance up where it up higher because when we get something that happens, we got to be able to take that shock and have enough money to cover. And of course increasing tension between program quality expectations and our fiscal stability. Um there's always very difficult to bring on new any type of new programming because our our funding hasn't increased anywhere. So it has to be a trade-off with a different programming area. Okay. Um you can see our our fund balance here has rebounded over the last few years which we uh we feel uh good about. But when we look at um going forward you see that we we do still have some positive pieces in the near term. We're looking at about a one one one and a half percent increase in our fund balance. I know the board wants us to get up to that 10 10% piece. So it looks like we'll hit that in about June of 28. Um but again looking at because our costs grow more faster than our revenue. That's why you're seeing that kind of top off there at 10% and start to come down. Of course the more years you get out it's it's very difficult to really have a hard number. So don't take these for gospel truth. But the next couple years, you know, are pretty close. >> So what's the strategy to deal with that then? >> Well, every year we we have to look at the re revenue we have and look at our programming. And if we are upside down in our revenues, then we've got to make some decisions on our programming, whether we can keep certain things in place. Director Thompson, >> I I appreciate this view and so because it has line of sight from where we where we were um where we were back in 23 uh and then it it it again it took us almost six years to get our fund balance where it needs to be. And for general clarity, the fund balance I would again view that I would term that as as our savings our savings account. And again, I I want to continue to reiterate that ideally, we want to have roughly 10% of our month of our yearly expenditures in our savings account. And so, when we spend about $210 million a year out of our operate out of our general fund, we generally need about $20 million in our savings account. And $20 million, while it does sound like a lot, that's only three months worth of our expenditures. So, if we don't get funding from the state for for for from the federal from for property taxes or whatever it may be, $20 million lets us survive 90 days and that's it. And so that is kind of the norm that other districts are are generally at. And so once we get here, that gives us a lot more flexibility in how we want to move forward, but also protects us where, like you said, when mandates do come down that we're not famili that we weren't anticipating or aren't funded, we've got the capital to kind of offset that, but figure out how to make those financial budget changes for the following year if if if needed to to um to recalibrate. But that's fantastic. But again, it took a long time for us to get here and it's uh so thank you. Any other questions? >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Back to facilities. >> Back to facilities. >> Okay. Uh let's see. Is the slides going to come up? What do I just click? Oh, there we got to click. Okay. So, uh good evening, Chair Swanson. I think we're in evening time. Chair Swanson, directors and superintendent of Bowman >> and the community. My name is uh Lucas Yoho. I'm the executive director of operations. I'll be giving you a facilities vision 2035 update uh and then we'll talk through some attendance area uh planning as well. So really the purpose of tonight's brief in terms of the facil's vision is really to continue the discussion and to continue to provide you information so you can make decisions, informed decisions about the future of our facilities uh through 2035. Uh since our last meeting, the staff has answered some RFIs from the school board. We've continued to refine our products and our planning. And then we also conducted an input session uh with approximately 20 of our educators uh last night in terms of uh their ideas for the facilities for the next 10 years. It was a great discussion um with our educators and we're currently collating that data and we'll provide that to you uh at the next school board meeting uh for your consideration. Okay. Okay. So, you're going to see a few slides here. Some of them will look very familiar and then I've uh highlight I'll highlight some of the more significant RFIs that we received over the last week. Uh this is the slide you saw on 11 November. I would like to highlight number six. We did come in and finish uh our review with high school stadium upgrades and that comes in at 11.4 million. And really what that's looking at is bathrooms, concessions, uh and then you know part of that process ultimately team rooms and that brings a level of equity to both North High School and South High School uh in terms of those facilities uh with some ancillary effects is those team rooms and then uh some storage that kind of moves out of that space as well. So uh we think that brings some good equity to those. >> Dr. Thompson. >> Uh c can we just make sure that we're on the same page on this facility advisory group? This facility advisory group is a a group of folks of 10 folks uh and and and some folks from the district. >> Yes, it was uh district staff. It was school principles uh selected school principles uh and then community members. >> Got it. And so I want to make sure I'm on the same page. This facility advisory group, this is what the district is recommending as well. This is what the facility advisory group recommendation has recommended coming out of that, not what the district staff is recommending. >> Okay? So, this is a facility group of 10 folks, some folks from the district. >> We haven't seen the list that the district wants. We haven't seen the list that the staff wants, and we haven't seen the list that the community wants. So far, >> well, I would say that the community was part of this group here, >> the 10 people. >> Yeah. Yes. Right. >> Okay. Um, now that's that's not the entire community, right? >> That's fair. >> And then what we're also doing is Morris Leman is conducting a survey that has a lot of this data in it to kind of get their that take as well. Again, that'll be a smaller a small pop representative population as well. >> Yeah. I mean, I I I share this because I want to make sure that we're on the same page with what we're sharing here and and when community [snorts] members watch this video that this facility advisory group >> um they are 10 folks and district folks, but the board while we have had we we saw this last week haven't had a lot of conversations on what we also think is important. Uh will the district be coming forward with your priority list without any other input from other folks? Like you've got your list. Okay. And then >> well we also had uh I think uh Lucas mentioned that we did have a meeting last night with educators and we need to synthesize that data as well. And then at our work session on the 2nd of September or correction December y >> uh we'll bring those things forward to the board as well. And that will also uh create the opportunity for board members to further uh provide input and priorities uh for you. Uh it's it's not um our intent uh is to it's not our intent to just have one set of folks provide information. However, the work that they do needs to be put in front of you >> and in front of our community, the community survey. Um, and this is not this is not marginally different than how we've done this process over a long many many iterations in the past. Um, High View got built that way. Our um, additions at uh, at our elementaryaries got built that way and before that the corridor down IP pava uh, of school buildings. So this is this is not new. Um the com review and comment requirement by the state of Minnesota um does require a public process and and so we have to be able to report on that and we are doing everything we can to meet that obligation and um I think that one of the best outcomes from last night was um we we got some very good input from our educators and I think it there's there's some similarities that uh you're seeing right now from that other group. I also think that on on nine December when Morris Leatherman comes back with the community survey information, we'll have better fidelity on how these priorities stack up. We are not standing here today saying this is the answer to the problem. Um but we are saying this is information that we have been provided and um you need to hear also how the educators piece uh dovetales into this and we want to just continue to be positive and move forward and figure out not just our well our near-term solutions and challenges along with uh longer term what is it that we need in our school community for uh the enhancement of our entire community. So that's why you see a lot of different things on here and I think uh you'll see some more. >> So I have a question just going off from Brian's question. Um are there going to be any surprise items that the district's going to bring that that are not on this list that are your recommendation as a district saying hey this is what we need to accommodate growth? >> I don't believe so. >> Okay. Uh, so I mean, do you anticipate it'll just be a a version of this list and say, "Hey, these are our priorities." >> I believe so. At this time, yes, sir. >> Okay. I I guess I'm just concerned here. We have, you know, wasting time. >> We have three weeks left. Like, why aren't we sharing it right now? >> Again, I think you have to uh go through a deliberate process. I think you have to get um broader input or um I then it becomes an exercise and we could as administrators we could do that in a vacuum and I don't think that's good for the community. Director Anderson. >> I only I think my probably my challenge with this is we have a lot of advisory councils and I feel like um I don't know I have served on several of them and I don't feel like the community input is exactly the same across advisory councils and so I think that's something for us to consider in terms of what makes it to this board um and this meeting and this consideration at this level. Um, so I I probably am in the same boat that um I would have maybe just appreciated kind of the the district filter before um we were to receive this as a as a board just because um yeah, I think we just want to think about equitable influence across >> Yeah. And I think, you know, kind of just to echo what the superintendent >> mentioned was just, you know, having a level of transparency and not giving you any filtered list or recommendation. You know, I I owed that to, you know, the advisory group that to ensure that what they put forth and agreed upon uh at that last meeting was what I showed and and I think if you ask any of them, that's that's the list um as it stands as they provide. I want to make sure you have that. So there is no unfiltered list but at some point you know the staff you know and the superintendent will provide probably a refined recommendation you know based on the totality of the information and he'll provide you with you know the ability to make an informed decision. >> So so the meeting last night was the principal or people coming together to evaluate this list? >> No it no it was no there was no list. It was basically an exercise very similar to what we did here is asking the educators what absolutely must be done in terms of facilities, what needs to be done, what should be done, what would we like to be done and they basically went through I I guess I'd call it a brainstorming list and they consolidated all they they consolidated all the information uh on some some whiteboards and now we're putting that together for you to review, you know, as as it was provided to us. And in that list, there were some things that were uh very similar uh that kind of was along these lines. There was a couple things that were maybe a little bit, you know, shades of variation. And then there were some things in there were simply maintenance items that I need to take care of and address. And so we we we will sort all that out, but I will give you the the list as it as it was provided to us. Um and then again, you know, we can kind of filter out some of the stuff that doesn't really apply, if you will. But I've I'll have the staff look at those maintenance items and and we will take corrective action as appropriate. >> Director Cameron, >> um just one comment. I think for we can't go back and do this obviously, but um for future advisories for any of our advisories, I think it's important that we consider um advisories that represent the demographics of our student body and their families. I knew almost everyone in this advisory, which means there's a lot of elementary voices. Um, and that's great, but um, I did not I hardly didn't know a person in the room. And so I think it's important for us to think about how we're recruiting um, and how we're making sure all voices are are represented in some sort of process. Um, so I'm I'm not sure how the 10 were identified um to be part of this, but I don't think it was representative of our >> We will certainly review the process and make sure it is more rigor rigorous and inclusive the next time. >> Director Baker, >> I just have one quick question because this isn't the first time we've seen this information. This was presented to us before. Um, one of the questions that I had from that previous presentation was the changes in the middle school model based on um, teachers needing to serve like multiple grade levels. Is that something that you got feedback from our teacher group on? Because I I would like to hear an educator's perspective on middle school and how that model works. So, um, that's just a question that I've continued to have. >> Okay. Um, in terms of last light, no, we kind of focused on the facilities aspect of that, but we can certainly I can pass that to teaching and learn and we can kind of provide you some feedback on that. >> Director Thompson. >> Yeah, I I I do want to acknowledge the the work that the facilities group and folks within the district that put this together. So, I totally understand it was something that you guys have created. You're presenting it. Uh we're going to do a survey uh and and the survey with the community will either validate or not the uh the things on the list because I'm assuming the survey is going to contain these kind of questions that are on this list. You'll have a district lens and you'll have a a staff lens and then that will come to us in the next two to three weeks and then we'll decide. >> Yeah. And again you guys have explained I mean there is a requirement that we go out and do some sort of advisory group in order to pursue a bond on this. So yeah, and there's probably never going to be perfect, but I guess my my concern is, you know, three meetings left before we have to make a decision. I'd like everything to be on the table so we can be pounding through it and figuring out. >> No, absolutely. When I when I get the information and it's collated and and I will I will send it to you. I'm not I will not withhold information for sure because that's you know you know if I've you know making an informed decision um and I got to provide you with that information so you can make those quality decisions and if I'm not providing the information or you need additional information please send those RFIs to us and we'll work those as as quickly as possible. Um, you know, that's kind of we've why we've done this in in terms of an iterative process uh from, you know, the 11th on and and and continue to do so tonight and then, you know, on the 7th and and then ultimately on the 9th. >> Okay. All right. So, you've seen this slide before. There's really no changes, but just in terms of completeness, just wanted to make sure that you had this here uh as part of the packet. Okay. So, I was asked to uh do a couple other things here. I was asked to kind of develop uh an ALC concept for Lakeville South High School. Uh so that's what we did in concert with World Architects and Laughler. Uh they did a pretty good job on a quick turnaround for this. Uh if you'll notice the orange box there is kind of where they have templated the best spot to build uh that alternate that uh ALC. Um, we built that just kind of based on some feedback with our ALC staff, teaching and learning. Uh, what we could put into that staff that's reasonable based on what we do now. Um, and the based on our current staffing, what could we reasonably uh, you know, an area of number of students we could support. Uh, and so that's what we came with. Um budget 15.3 million, build time is approximately 17 months. Um and it's up there, if you're familiar with South uh up there on the staff side where the staff entrance is at. uh and putting in a space there that is separate uh and you know for the most part self-contained but then also providing access you know to other curricular opportunities uh as available and needed uh for that particular student body. >> I have a question about that. So, if we were to move the ALC over to South, um, would that be more usable space for students over at Kenwood? >> Uh, well, the the current space of the ALC at Kenwood is a bit challenging, as you know, and is probably not an ideal learning environment, but there is certainly some opportunities to use that space either for learning or some type of other facility. really at the end of the day that facil that space will not be wasted or go unused. But as we kind of make decisions and we can kind of decide what what what we do with that that space. >> Would any of our lease space fit in there like any community ed offices or anything like that? >> Sure. We can we can certainly take a look at that based on the priorities of the school board and and how we want to do that. Right. It's it's open space there. there's classrooms and and other such facilities and we can kind of decide from there you know as part of the decision making uh either in the short term or long term. Absolutely. >> Director Thompson. >> This is just general comment. I I don't think I'm aligned in having an ALC building next to the school uh the high school. I I I I feel like there uh there was a desire to have them as a separate building, as a separate entity. Uh, I know that there's amenities that that they could take advantage of if they were in next to the high school, but um I don't know. That's that's where I'm at right now. >> Director Anderson, >> I I do think this and you were not here, so this is this is not your issue, of course, but like there were previous presentations that were really made to sell us about why this was a great solution for our um pathway students. And so, um, during that conversation, if I'm remembering correctly, there was discussion about how the, um, pathway students did not want to be at the high schools. And so, um, I guess I just want to, >> you were saying that this location was good or no? Previously when we kind of asked would they really want to be at Kenwood and is that really a good fit and should we be looking at the high school the messaging at that time was the pathway students did not want to be at the high school. Am I remembering this correctly? >> They didn't want to be included back into the high schools >> because we talked about like making spaces where they could be back in the high schools. But this is like a separate building. So it's kind of similar to that conversation. >> Yeah. I think it's, you know, ultimately I think it's kind of like a hybrid, right? And it's it's separated, but it's connected. And I think that provides you some flexibility uh in terms of access to other resources in the larger high school. Maybe, you know, some students will be okay with doing some things in the high school as we ease them back into doing that thing or not because it is, you know, physically kind of separated if you will. It have its own interests. It's up on the staff side. So, really not, you know, part of, you know, where the the normal students enter there. So, you know, there is a level of separation. I would offer to you sure a separate facility but you know trying to be good stewards of the resources you know the limited resources that we have at the same time. So it's kind of uh you know we got to kind of pick what what we want to do. If you go with a separate facility on a separate site I mean that the cost just goes up exponentially. So I would just you know offer that. >> Yeah. Director Cameron. So I think um Director Anderson to your comment I see this as retaining an ALC maybe a hybrid type but there's ALPS too which is maybe what you thought about before a program rather than a center. So like why is that a high school for example has an ALP where the ALP is within the high school and maybe that's what there was resistance to here. >> No >> no okay >> there I I >> No, I think Director Anderson you're exactly correct. Um the the um conversations we had in the past about this was um having a essentially a a separate um ALC building. Uh knowing I I think the conversation was around students not having to be in that environment because that's part of the challenge of their education experience. And so, uh, you know, we used to be over in the building over there next to the art center. Um, that became a situation where the cost of repairing and maintaining that facility exceeded the value of the building. Um, so I I know I think you're exactly right that that was the conversation. And so the long-term view was always about how do we get a better facility um for ALC for the long term and uh and that's a a building either a leased building that's converted that has the you know capacity to uh provide the the needs of the students um and also pathway opportunities for those students. Um that's that's the conversations that I recall. Director Baker. >> So, I had requested um for what this would look like because as part of the facilities discussion, there was um a proposal about uh Pathways Academy as an add-on. Um but there was no proposal as to what that would look like. So, it was really hard for the facilities group to figure out like is this something that's even viable because we weren't given any options as to what building it would actually work on. there were there was nothing like this. So, thank you Lucas for providing that. Um, but if we had to have the discussion about like being thoughtful and planful and thinking facility-wise what would be the best option, I completely 100% agree with Director Thompson that I would love to have a career and technical institution that would house our Pathways Academy and then also that both high schools could access to help with the high school numbers that are going to be increasing and to provide pathway opportunities. So yeah, I think that would be a great option. >> What's what's the square footage on this that we're projecting? >> I do not have that with me. So it's it's roughly nine nine classrooms and there's some other spaces in there. So it kind of a mini I don't want to call it a mini school, but that's for lack of a better term. I can get you the the square footage on that though. >> Okay, guess we're good. All right. >> Okay. So the other thing was the uh fourth middle school kind of try to do a concept comparison here. Um so the expansion option if you will that's kind of the things that we've presented previously. So those options one and two uh if you will and then if we were to do a new middle school uh what would that look like? And so just kind of kind of running down the list here. I'll just highlight a few items really on the for you know the option one and two that solves all the problems at the three middle schools in terms of capacity and also ensures that those facilities are more equitable. I would offer to the group equity among schools has been a consistent theme whether it was with the educator group or our facilities task force group. Previous iterations before this equity among buildings is always an important uh consideration. Uh a new middle school really just solves that capacity problem in that middle school. And then you would have one, you know, new middle school and then you'd have three middle schools that are, you know, we'll just say less equitable than the new middle school just by virtue of of that being a new building. Uh cost you have there. Uh we also have to remember that there's acquis land acquis. >> Um so I just want to clarify your question there. So, you're saying like when you're when you're thinking about building the new middle school that this would be like then we would have like a four middle school model. And I guess like when I was thinking about it, I was thinking that we would build like the bigger newer middle school and take one of the old middle schools offline Maguire because it doesn't have a lot of room for updates or anything like that and it's the oldest building. Um, is that not something that you were thinking about? Like I thought that was part of our discussion. >> Yeah, we we certainly we certainly considered it. And then you when you kind of you look at all of you know the square footage of Meguire Middle School and then we take that offline then what do we do with that? There's talk of putting all these other things inside Meguire Middle School. Then there's cost associated with retrofitting that middle school into something else. And so when we just try to balance the cost and the equity and all of that that again that is certain we can run down that uh course of action but it just it was just less less viable than you know kind of what we presented here or a fourth middle school. I think the discussion around that was the reason that we were talking about that because we I think that was part of it um was because when we think about our lease space and what we have coming up, the district office is one of those things. And if we're going to go out to the community and ask for money, >> that's not usually something that they want to approve right away is something for administrators when they can they would much rather like approve something new for our students that they're going to use. So our thought was that we would build the new middle school bigger to so that all of the middle schools then would be there'd be three online taking Meguire offline and then putting the DO as part of Meuire so that we are kind of taking some money off the plate but then also solving an issue because that's just an ask that it's hard for the community to to approve. >> Was was this part of I don't recall this discussion was this years ago? Yeah, we were talking about it. It was on the same lines of Lakeville United Academy. [laughter] >> Well, so I would just like to offer a couple things with that because that that's um that's a an interesting idea. The leases that you would um I think you could actually put an ALC. Um you could put community ed, which is across the street in an leased facility. the district office. The challenge you would run into in terms of costs would be land acquisition for a new school, 36-month build time, maybe longer, uh for a new school, and then how do you deal with the 28 um uh surge in in students that will be in our middle school um while you're while you're doing that? I'm not saying no. I'm just saying those are some of the things that that you would want to do because you want to get the leases off of the books, so to speak. Um, and there so ALC is in in Kenwood Trail now. Um, and that's not a lease facility. So, you could get two leases of the three that we three major leases that we have. The other one's track two in the maintenance facility out there. Um, I don't know that you could fit those three in there. The conversation around a southside, and it I know this is controversial for some folks, uh, early childhood on the southside could maybe even fit in there as well as another another solution. But that I don't know if we could actually fit all that in, but those are some things that have been talked about. Well, and then my thought process around it as well is that if we move pathways over there, would there still be some options for career classes or career pathways that some of our other students could access? Um, I think we have a fantastic chamber of commerce and business community that's been looking for opportunities to provide for our students and that's something that we haven't been able to do because we don't have career pathways. But then I think about the options of for example like our special ed students would use like a pays lab that that's trains them on how to do certain work tasks but we have no room in our high schools to put anything like that in. But if we had space at Meguire that could be something that um our special ed students could access as well. And I would love to reach out to the business community and see if they would be willing to sponsor like a pays lab or something. But I'm just saying like I I had just those were conversations that we've had before and I would like to be thoughtful and planful and maybe creative about some of these things that take care of some of our issues further down the road instead of being like this will take care of this right now but it's still a lot of money. So just I don't know that's just my thought process around it. >> Thompson >> um I don't think I'm I'm not aligned to a new middle school buildout yet. Uh when we look at the enrollment projections, yes, we're adding a thousand additional students, but that's like in the next 1015 years. Um we've got an immediate need. I don't want to wait three years. We it costs more money to buy land. And then if we end up uh you know re uh re retrofitting Meguire Middle School, we have a lot of football fields, parking lots. This is a lot of added space that what do we what are we going to do that with with that for? Uh, I would be more in favor of of making sure we've got a plan for the three middle school expansions or or the incoming kids. Uh, I would be in favor of maybe considering um uh something where it's three, fourtory building where you could do community ad, you could do ALC in that particular building and the district services. You're not we don't need to buy this massive land size for a middle school or a high school. And so that that might be the probably in my mind the most optimal way. Now in in addition, I mean, we could just scrap all of this and and do the Lakeville United campus, which is one high school that fits all 5,000 students in one, and convert the two high schools into middle schools, but that's for another day, maybe. Um, >> five middle schools. >> Yeah. Um, so that again, that's where I'm that's where I'm leaning towards is the three three middle school expansion. Uh and then some sort of roadmap, not sure how soon or or how quickly of can we just buy land or an existing building where we can add three four stories or has the capacity for district district services community ad um ALC and and maybe a tech center in some capacity. So that's that's where I'm leaning towards. There is some land I think on the southwest side that uh is 54 acres of property that I think the uh UCA uh has uh up for sale. I I maybe uh Director Rekenberger, you didn't know about that, so I'm just uh I think everybody else kind of has a sense for that. Um, we also have the 27 acres of property that we wouldn't have to do any land acquisition with. That's across from uh Trinity Lutheran and South High School there on the other side of the road. Um, that used to have some cautiles on there that have expired. That kind of made that a little difficult for us because we had to get consent from the business areas around there. Um, the I believe those have expired. I can double check with uh with the city administrator, but um that's 27 acres. Um I think for a middle school and I know there's some W folks here and Laughler folks here that >> 60 acres >> 60 acres uh is is what I think the standard is. So >> couldn't fit a middle school over in that area by um Trinity, but you could do something else uh to your point, Director Thompson. So, I just want to make sure everybody's kind of aware of that as well. Director Anderson, >> I I think that's just what it feels like a little bit is missing with this is just how can like a work session I think would have been helpful for and various people involved in the district just to you know what are the 10 to 12 things right now that we feel like are either a cost issue for us like the lease space or what the needs are and how do we accomplish something big in the with the least amount of ask for the community. Um and so that's probably what I'm me personally am challenged with is having kind of one presentation that some of it is driven by um the facilities task force which I appreciate but also just not having kind of various heads at the table to to kind of evaluate that. of different options. But so I like some of these ideas, but I also know we're approaching a time when we have to vote on this and that feels like we don't have enough time. >> Thanks. >> Sorry. >> Okay. Uh and then the last thing I would I would highlight on this slide is just to keep in in mind uh the tax burden that we are going to assume. Uh and then when we do that and making sure that as we make these decisions with all of these ideas that we know that sometime in the future we may have to do something else and making sure that we have that capability uh to do so in the future. >> Ask one more clarifying question. Yep. Yeah. >> With the performing arts center at the middle school that you're that the sorry this is going backward but um >> the facility advisor >> where where from the yes from the facilities advisory group where is there a proposal for which middle school that that would be at? >> Century. >> Okay. And do we are we concerned at all about equity with regard to that? >> Well I you were trying to re improve the equity with the performing arts center. So I mean that's was the whole intent of doing that. Um having that one there kind of centrally located and century is the best location just you know engineering wise and to to make that happen there. >> Yeah. Director Cameron, >> as we percolate on this with the ALC um Lakeville South concept, how has the principal or staff there been consulted given what I've learned from previous conversations about the ALC? >> Oh, they they've been involved. They they've provided all Yeah, we're we're tied in with with Margaret and her team. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Absolutely. Margaret's been part of all the conversations. >> Okay. just for the board. Uh so we will be back next week. I can't remember. Do we have a conflict with 917? >> No, we're coming back on the second for a special meeting hopefully to get more into the details on this and just discuss, you know, what our opinions are on the different aspects and we'll have some more information from the district on their recommendations um so we can get a better idea of whether we're in alignment or not. So >> December 9th is 9:17. >> Okay. >> Yeah, that's that's >> okay. >> Okay. So last slide on the um the the facilities vision. Again, we were asked about, you know, what are the future leveies, votings, you know, renewals that need to happen. Bottom line, the next required voter approval is 2033 and 2035. If you look over there to the extreme right, you know, the board can renew uh two levies in 27 and 29. Uh but then as we get into 2033 and 35, those will require uh voter approval. And so as we sequence our future potential bond referendums and things of that nature, we just needed to keep that in mind. >> Director Thompson. So, this is one of those unique scenarios where the state two years ago gave school boards the authority to renew an existing levy for another 10 years through a voice voice vote. It does not need go does not need to go to the public. Um, this is one that uh it doesn't add more. It doesn't there's no additional writers or whatever. It's just like whatever you got, you get to continue it for the next 10 for the next 10 more years, which is the length of a of a operating levy renewal. Um, this upcoming one uh for next year is 11.2 million, which is more than the 3.5 of the technology budget, but also significantly greater than the 1.5 that the board did a voice vote earlier this year. Uh and so uh this is one of those where you know you we've got to decide next year. Are we going to do a voice vote again or are we going to bring this to the public and let them decide since it's a very large number compared to previous operating levies? Uh, we've got an extra $400 per pupil capacity. Where do we consider adding more, letting this expire, and then doing a newer one with a higher dollar number amount so that we've got some flexibility for additional things? Um, and if we end up going with a middle school or other things, we got to fund the the operations of the middle school. And so then we'd have to save some of that four 500 4 million for the operation expenditures when that middle school comes online. if we build a new one. So, uh, good to know. And so I appreciate that in regards to, you know, when we do the levies, 2027 and then 2029. So, >> not not really a great time because it's just levy levy levy. >> Yeah. But >> and I think this goes back to like do we just do one big one and and not coming back every two years, three years, and the community is like, "Oh, we just we're doing another levy and another levy and and then if we end up, you know, doing a voice vote, you know, we while the community members did vote for us and and you know, for us to make the decisions that's in the best interest of our school district, but again, these are also $11 million that we're going to get continue to hit for the next 10 years and and u so things to think about. Thank you. >> Okay, so we're going to transition to attendance area alignment and the purpose of this is to inform the school board and the community on the process and to communicate the objectives and criteria uh for this effort. We're not making any recommendations uh tonight um nor will we ask for any decisions merely some information to inform the board of what we are doing and how we are approaching the process uh for attendance area alignment. Okay. So really the process here just like to illuminate and ensure that we understand that this is really a continuation of previous work. We've looked at the previous uh attendance area discussions and the work that's been done in the past year and previous years. Uh and all that is still relevant and valid and considered. Uh and this current group consists of 17 district staff and school leaders which is really a similar composition to what was used previously uh to make recommendations to the board. uh previous community input is we believe is still valid and considered um you know during this effort attendance areas will be be developed against written criteria and objectives that I will brief here in the next few slides and then here is the timeline that we've been working uh on. So we've established uh criteria and objectives uh for acceptable attendance areas for this district. We reviewed uh some first draft of attendance area recommendations. We did that um last week um and you know continue to work through the staffing of that. Um we will again look at another solution um uh on the 2nd of December based on some RFIs and some work that needed to be done on the first draft. Uh and then be prepared to uh present that to the school board on 16 December for consideration not decision. um we believe that decision needs to come in January as it's really tied to our staffing levels and organization uh meeting that we do in January. So that's kind of how we were sequencing uh that uh this effort. Okay. So attendance area alignment objectives. So really again you know being a continuation of previous efforts we looked back at everything that was done. We, you know, I reviewed all of the attendance area discussion, schoolboard meetings, etc. Looked at previous objectives and really distilled it down to really three things uh that we believe we should be focusing on in terms of our attendance areas. One, ensure room for long-term growth. Uh mitigating future attendance area changes by aligning initial occupancy of our schools with expected rates of growth. uh you know the the superintendent previously mentioned northeast southwest as you know significant areas of future growth. Uh number two maintain a diverse and balanced student body ensure populations meet all statutory requirements for diversity and balance. Uh so going through that calculus to make sure that we have uh schools that are diverse and and well balanced in terms of the student body. And then lastly, we want to maintain the daily desired experiences for both uh our students, staff and teachers uh so they can achieve uh academic excellence and and part of that is making sure that we have schools that are are well balanced in terms of occupancy uh in each school. Okay. So we broke uh so based on those objectives we have some attendance area alignment criteria. uh we really focused on the elementary and the middle school level there there is a variation for the middle school level and I'll get to that in a second but in terms of the elementary we want to establish um an initial occupancy between 65 70% of school capacity in areas that have growth potential northeast southwest establish initial occupancy between 75 and 80% of school compare uh school capacity in areas that have minimal growth potential so really kind of maybe the the middle of our district, if you will. We want to maintain that that racial, social, economic diversity, special education to the maximum extent possible. Um, maintain integrity of our neighborhoods. And I put parentheses housing clusters. Really difficult in terms of, you know, how you identify a neighborhood and a subdivision and things like that. But, you know, based on our, you know, knowledge of the school district and our neighborhoods, uh, I think we're pretty attuned to that. So, trying to maintain that to the greatest extent possible. And again, no, uh, non-ontiguous, uh, attendance areas that we had previously. Uh, and then minimize movement of students from current schools to the greatest extent possible. So, no wholesale changes, if you will. So really just trying to modify what we have to make sure it fits all of this criteria to the greatest extent possible. Um and so we've we've been doing that diligently uh over the past couple of weeks. >> Georgia Thompson, >> I I appreciate number five. I just want to get some feedback from the uh from the group here. uh if we're going to rip the band-aid and and hate to use that term, but it's like like if we're going to do this, let's do it so that we don't have to make changes 5 10 years from now. And and again, we're adding a thousand students over the next 10 15 years. Uh if there are places that are landlocked like Orchard Lake, why I I'd like to see it at higher capacity than 75. I mean, if we can fit 85% capacity at Orchard Lake, let's let's have that higher. um like the southwest area or southwest or southeast lake view elementary should be way lower like 60% so that when the growth comes from Elco New Market area we've got capacity capacity there same with high view or cherry view that totally makes sense I just I want to be I I get that 75 80% is uh uh for areas that have minimal growth but that doesn't allow us to maximize our building capacity and also maximize the resources that we have there and So if if it makes sense and this is from my point of view if it makes sense to let's put in let's fill it up let's let's make sure that those kids feel like there's people in those like you walk in Orchard Lake right now it's compared to go to East View it's much different from where it was before. So let's make it uh in my mind livelier have the students there we've got a principal there we've and and uh take advantage uh of of the the maximization potential. So that's those are my thoughts. >> [clears throat] >> Yeah. So that's that's exactly what we're doing sir. Um you know we picked 80% really there as a target just to to work the math and then we've gone down to the level where you know 80% you know or whatever percentage that school came out to. How many student space is that for really that unexpected growth? You know we get additional students in. So we want to have a little bit of space there. Full but not too full. Right. to your point because we're bringing that we want that space down there in areas where there is we know there's going to be a lot of growth and then that will also prevent us from having to make a lot of changes yeartoear. We will still review the attendance areas every year but if we do this correctly and we're very precise about it I believe we can kind of minimize those movements to the greatest extent possible. leaving a little room in each school, not too much to your point and then leaving a lot of room in those schools where we know High View is an example. We walk outside of High View, there are buildings, houses going up as we speak, and so that will have a little bit lower um, you know, initial occupancy than it does now. Okay. So, we'll and we will provide all that data, you know, at uh on the 16th of December. >> Sounds good. >> Well, High View, I don't think we could fit any more in there. just to say there's only one direction we can go there. >> There's always room for one more, right, sir? >> Okay. Um All right, we're good here. Yes. Okay. All right. So, really the change here, we kind of just adjusted the numbers a little bit um as as initial start points for our analyst and our team to kind of work in that. Uh a couple additional items. Number three there, we wanted to provide some relief to Century Middle School. That was requested by the principal. uh and we're honoring that as a recommendation to kind of do an what we call a two-step. So, let's um let's give some relief to Century Middle School and then based on uh the options that you choose here in the near future, we will have a kind of a second step that is uh supplements the first step if you will to minimize uh movement where we kind of then you know adjust those attendance areas. So, in the 2029 school year, we're we're we're looking good in terms of enrollment. >> Do you know just from a a transportation standpoint, is it easier to access, you know, for that those southwest developments, is it easier to access um Maguire over Kenwood Trail? >> I wouldn't say it's easier. Um it's just a long trip, you know, down to the southwest. Uh we have we have Schmid and Sons in the meeting with us and they are they're they're taking a look at how that transportation, you know, will occur and and there's no significant challenges at this time because we're again we're not making wholesale changes to attendance areas. >> Yeah. I'm just thinking about for future, you know, expansion and and adding capacity at Meuire if that's the recommendation. So everyone on the southwest side, I'm assuming will go to Magguire, right? Right. >> Yeah. I mean that's Yeah. >> Okay. And then the other the other bottom three there um remain the same from from the elementary schools um criteria. >> Director Thompson. >> All right. And so this is th this boundary thing is close to my heart because two years >> I wouldn't have expected that. Um I would want to say so the one thing that I would ask is and again I don't know if this is the right uh methodology in how you kind of put this together but uh I felt like we got a lot of emails from parents that say I'm driving past the middle school to get to the next middle school and so if there is a way and I don't and I don't know if this is possible where you put a pin dot in century if you are within a onem radius or a one and a half mile radius north southwest whatever that's your school like it doesn't matter. And so that you're zoned to go there. Uh but um because I I feel like I think in the in some previous models, you were like maybe a half a mile away from the school, but now you're going to a different middle school. If that now I get there are instances where uh the the the blob or the boundary design is going to look kind of funky with with that approach, but what it does is >> if you can walk to the middle school within a mile, like you should be able to go to that school. So that that's just one thing. >> Can I make one recommendation that >> I mean we're going to get a presentation on this at some point in time. Should we >> I'm assuming they're not going to change their models that they're designing designing it now. You should >> No. Yes sir. So that's that's certain that is a consideration and and something that is kind of you know kind of part of really kind of number four I guess. um that is and I think when you look at the boundaries are going to be a little bit more palatable to what you're saying where kind of the folks around that school go to that school but we also have to recognize that we kind of at some judge we built all these schools kind of in odd places probably at the time it was it was the right place at the right at that time but now it's kind of not so we got to we got to kind of work through that um but I think you will see that they are a lot more palatable in terms of that what you're talking about. >> I'm I'm just thinking there's probably going to be questions and comments we have probably these same things that we bring up again. But Director Cameron, >> I appreciate what you're saying, but I'm also going to offer just as you're thinking about the designs, I I actually disagree with [laughter] um my fellow director Thompson. >> Um I think lines should just be drawn where it's the most efficient and practical. There are many people who drive past schools right now that are closest to them. I'm I'm one of those and that's just how it is in a district this size with this many buildings and this kind of growth. Um I know that sounds kind of harsh, but I think that that you can't privilege where a home location is to their school necessarily, >> right? >> The other thing I'm going to say is, and we heard it in public comment tonight, and I appreciate this perspective, >> um about people wanting to have feeder schools, right? Elementaryaries feed to a middle and middle to a high school. We do not have that model right now. So, just to be clear, some schools have that, right? Um maybe Cherry View like the the the presenter spoke to has that right now, but for many elementaryaries, there's not one middle school where where kids are going. And similarly, there's not one middle school to high school. And so, we don't have a feeder system. And that should not be in my opinion one of the things that we are considering when designing boundaries. um because it should be based on what's what's affordable and equitable for all students, not privileging certain schools over others to stay with their peers, >> right? It is it is certainly a consideration, but is on the lower end and is kind of the first thing that falls away when we can't meet some of this other criteria. And then to the busing question, um, yes, in Schmidian, sometimes the road is just where the road is and you can't get around that and the way the school and the boundaries are currently laid out. And but again, we are kind of definitely, you know, I just want to make it clear that we are definitely kind of considering all that to the greatest extent possible where possible. But again, the criteria is the criteria here and we want to make sure that's first because we want our, you know, in terms of the objectives, we want our schools to be, you know, have the right level of enrollment in them so that we all have the daily desired experience and we're not, you know, taking away from that. And so we're we're definitely um, you know, staying focused on the important stuff, but also trying to consider those things where we can uh because we understand that it's important to the community and we want to try to honor that to the the best of our ability. I appreciate that. It is important to the community. However, I think the community doesn't understand that a lot of things they're arguing against are things that currently exist. So, it's [laughter] it's just on what you get used to. >> Yep. >> Yep. I appreciate that, ma'am. Thank you. >> Okay. And >> anything else? >> Thank you. >> That's it. That's all I got. All right. Thank you. Appreciate it. [clears throat] >> Thank you. policy committee second reading of policy 213. Director Cameron, did you have anything that you wanted to note or discuss? Nothing new from since our last meeting, but just to update um Director Reichenberger, we are recommending changes to policy 213, which would eliminate the open meeting um uh following open meeting for our committees in order to help us um expedite work. This came up with the policy committee in particular. Um, we had an audit from, um, the Minnesota School Board Association with significant, like a three-year project to get all of our policies up to snuff. And it would be great if we could work in Google Docs and update um, documents um, online. And right now, we're not able to do things like that, knowing that any changes that would ever come to policy are just recommendations to the full board and they would be then reviewed by the full board for two readings if there are significant edits such as the one we're talking about tonight. Any other comments or questions? All right. Any board member reports? Dr. Baker. So, last week we met for um 9:17 and there were some updates um that I wanted to share. Uh first of all, we had settled our educator contract um and we were just happy that uh we could provide um something that the teachers and the district were both um agreeable to. So that's completed. Um, another thing that we are working on was staffing. Um, as director Bowman has also talked with or director, I'm sorry, superintendent um with uh superintendent Favor about, uh, one of the things that 917 has been doing is recruiting international teachers to fill some of our um, hard to fill special education spots. Um, by doing this, we were using um the J1 visa that um is currently having um there's questions about being able to continue to do that. Um that process allows us to hire international teachers and they're working towards their green card, the J1 visa. Um the issue with that right now is the current price on that will be over $100,000 which will make it um impossible for the district to continue with that process. Um, one of the things that they are work looking at is the H-1V visa. Um, that one is $8,000. So, that would be um obviously more affordable for us to be able to continue to hire international staff. Um, the problem with that one is that they cannot work towards a green card with that particular visa. Um, it's called like a cultural exchange visa and they would have like four to five years where they could work um within the United States. Um the part that we liked about the J1 is that they could work and obtain their visa and then they bring their families over when they come. So um it's just one of those things that we're working with right now. Um and some of the current things that have changed within our legislation. Um one of the things that we discuss and every 917 meeting is just what the current um list is like for students that Lakeville or all of the districts are sending for um 917. So right now an update on that is that Lakeville has 13 students on the active weight list. Um there are 89 total students on that weight list. Um so Lakeville has 15% of this total students on the weight list. Um and then I'd say within they've had six setting uh four referrals out of 50 total referrals for setting 4. Six of those were Lakeville. Um so that's 12% of the total referrals received. So again, when you know that we still have 89 students on the wait list and the wait list happens all year long, you can see why hiring international teachers is so important um as those positions are difficult to fill. Um so that's all I have from 917. Do you have any questions on that or Amber? Director Cameron, >> are you able to share what the 917 settlement was or is that not public yet? Like >> it's it's public. It was like two and two. >> Two and two. Okay. Thank you. Any other board reports? >> Um, yes. >> Go right ahead. >> Sorry. Um, [clears throat] so we um because I had the 917 meeting that was rescheduled um due to um Veterans Day. Uh that was the day it was rescheduled the day that um the public engagement committee was supposed to meet. So we did not meet that day because I couldn't be two places at once. Um, so we didn't plan anything new um, as far as engagement opportunities go for the board, but we do still have some that are coming up. Um, two that are that are um, building visits um, next week. So, one of those would be there's a a tour of Crystal Lake Education Center at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, December 4th, and then a tour of Pathways at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, December 5th. Um, and those will kind of conclude the the tours of buildings that board members had um suggested or had wanted to tour. If there's other buildings that um you would like us to set up tours for, we can most certainly do that. Um, knowing that we visited an elementary school, a middle school pathways, and now the early childhood center, maybe a high school would be something that people are interested in. Just let us know that's something we can set up um when we do these tours. Dr. McDonald is the one that we work with and she helps us um set those up and then works with the building principal so that the board is has a tour. Um we do ask that you um say in advance whether you're going so you'll get those calendar invites from Kim Ellson uh because we try to keep that where we make sure we don't have a quorum there at any one time. So um that's the only thing that we um do with that. And then um Director Anderson, I did have a question um given recent um the the recent negotiations update um and with the district moving into um a mediation situation with um our current contract negotiations. One of the things that we had um discussed was having a um a meeting with teachers where we could discuss, you know, have like a back and forth with the board. That is scheduled on Tuesday, December 16th at 5 before our board meeting. But we are wondering what the board feels about that at this time given that they're still in negotiations and that we've moved into mediation because we would have to be very careful about what is discussed at that session given the current situation. Any thoughts on that? How how is this how is this different from um meet and confer that the district leads? Is this what is the intent of this? >> So our thought process was that um one of the things that we always talk about is that we don't get an opportunity to really hear from teachers um for meet and confer. It's during the day which makes it really difficult for board members to attend. Um, so when we discussed it, um, it was just something where teachers could come and and kind of share like what their day is about or talk about anything that they have within the district. Um, and then board members like in meet and confer can ask questions if they want to. Obviously, [clears throat] none of those conversations can be related to contracts because that's not the purpose of that um, session, but yeah, it would be very similar to meet and convert. And in fact, like the district did used to host um like sessions like this that were similar to meet and confer where the whole board was present. Um it is a past practice. So it's not something that we haven't done before. >> It's just we would have to make sure we have certain parameters around the conversation um to not conflict with negotiations. >> Would we do this with all union groups as well and non-union groups? >> We could. Yeah. I think I've already shared my my thoughts with you privately, but yeah, I think it I think it's problematic given the state that we're in negotiations right now. Um, everything the teachers do are are kind of tied back to their contract in one way or another. Um, and again, are we going to be stopping people if they start to stray into those areas? So, I I just think it it creates a problem. I'd love to do it after the contract is done or we can do it in smaller groups privately. But, you know, if the idea is here we're going to have it here in the boardroom um and discuss matters that could pertain to the contract and I think we're possibly running a foul of some legal issues. So, and I think our district would probably agree with that. So, anyone else have any thoughts? I would support director. >> Yeah. Um I am all in favor of increasing the dialogue between the teachers in the in the board. I think it's a really good thing. Um as director Swanson indicates um given the timing of it, it might be an issue. Um but I still think it's a really great idea that um we should probably engage with um at some point or another. Director Anderson. >> Yeah, I was just going to say I don't I don't want to feel like we have a bunch of um parameters on the discussion. Um when we meet with the teachers and potentially other unions or non-UN unions, I want to feel like we can have open dialogue. So, I would support moving it until we have uh finished negotiations. >> So, are we saying this would be a reschedule [clears throat] >> or are we saying that it's completely off the table? I want consensus on that. >> I I'd like to see it scheduled probably after the new year. >> Okay. >> I think it's scheduled after a contract is >> okay. Confirmed. >> Yeah. I would just say once we've resolved the contract and have agreement there, we bring it back to the board and we can talk about it more. >> Okay. I mean, it's not an item on the agenda right now for discussion and vote, but uh again, I do think it's a conversation we should have. >> No, but I would like to know like Yes. >> You're asking for an informal vote. not really informal, but I just I just need to know that like when we're looking for things to find for engagement opportunities for the board that people are interested and if we're going to take the time to schedule with the teachers and and hold this type of dialogue that we're going to have board present >> like so I mean if I reschedule it and only two of us come I don't know if that's exactly what we were looking for. So yeah, and then if there are other groups that you would like to meet with or um if like I said there's buildings that the board would like to tour, we are more than happy to set that up so that way it's on the calendar. If you want to do it, you can. If you don't, again, like you don't have to, but we just need to know in advance so that there's not more than a quorum there. Um and then also there are two chamber things coming up this week with um the holiday dinner at Porter House. One day I think it's the north choir and then the next day they do it so the south choir can perform. So those are just chamber events there this week too. And we try to make sure that everyone's aware of those types of things as well. >> I'd like to think about it more. I I'll be candid like I I don't know if it's part of the role that we would want to play and have these meetings with teachers directly. I I see teachers uh you know with with my kids when they go to school. Uh if you're a board of director member and I'm just I'm just trying to bear with me as I kind of talk this out. If you're a board of director of Tesla, I don't know if if they would be going to go meet with the employees of of of Tesla. I mean that is why we have a superintendent. His his role is to manage the district. I as a board member, I would assume we should be getting employee experience surveys uh pref preferably twice a year to say how are the employees feeling of of working for our district and and as a board member, I'd want to look at that metric and say, "Hey, it looks like they're enjoying working here or they're not enjoying working here and establish a score that I would want him to make sure that my the the employees of the district uh hit." So, I'm making a number up. Let's say if it's 90% and then and the score comes up at 60%. I could, you know, I like, hey, what are you going to do to get it get it to 90 and look to him to provide recommendations on how to get there and and then as a board either we sign off on it, give them the additional funding, uh, whatever it may be. Um, and not that we couldn't do it and if individual board members want to go uh visit the schools or or talk to various teachers and and and so forth. I I don't know. I'm I don't want to just think through this. That's all. >> I I guess I'm So you are wanting to think through the whole public engagement committee in general because you mentioned schools and visiting all of those things too, like you don't want us to set things up for other board members. You just want us to do it individually. >> No, I think we I mean, as a board, if you guys want to if we want to go visit schools, you can do that at your at uh we can schedule meetings and we can do that at your discretion. Uh or you can do it individually. Um I I don't know. I mean, it's like if I want to go visit a school, I'd contact Superintendent Bowman, say, "Hey, I want to go visit a school. If we've got something planned then and and if it's within my work schedule or I can plan it and take time off or or do whatever to go, then maybe I can." Uh but I I don't know from from a public engagement perspective, it's like we we've been elected by the community to make a decision to manage and provide governance of how the school district is operating and we've got one employee and that is the superintendent. Like he's the only person that we are supposed to manage and and and establish performance metrics for. Now, we are we are establishing an executive dashboard so that we as a governing body can ask is is the school district actually working well with the 25 key metrics that we're looking at. And so, >> yeah, I I mean, I think the goal here is to get, you know, hear the unfiltered voice of the teachers so it's not coming through the district. Um, which again, I'm in support of. I guess my only concern would be just making sure that we're not bypassing any any protocols that are already in place with the meet and conferers um and we're not overstepping on our you know district's responsibilities and what they're already doing. So again the idea is >> yeah I I don't feel like we're overstepping because we've done it in the past. Um, I guess when I think about um it's it's hard to know what's going on in your building if you don't go and see it. >> Um, and then it's hard to know like I don't know what every teacher does during the day, but I would sure love to hear about some things that maybe um, you know, that are going on in their classroom. we can't have like every teacher come and present to us and say these are the great things that I'm doing as far as like enhancing my curriculum and learning opportunities that I've set up for kids and um I I would just love to hear about some of those things. So, like I like the opportunity of meeting with the teachers and then I also like visiting the buildings because it's one thing to sit here and listen to someone present to me and tell me um how packed High View is, but it's a whole another thing to go and walk through the building and see a DAPE class happening in the hallway or um you know the small little like tech room that they're having a second grade classroom in right now. I think those to me help me understand our job as board members better because when I'm sitting here listening to Lucas talk about capacity, I know that 85% capacity now means that at least one space in that building that wasn't intended to be a classroom is a classroom. And I don't know what if I really envisioned that that way until I went to see it and it was explained to me because I mean 85% on a slide sounds like we've got all this other room that we could use but that's not necessarily the case like that would be space that would be then the commons area or and I don't think people want their kids in other spaces other than their classroom. So, I think like for me to understand my role, like I I appreciate the visits, the opportunities to talk with principles, and I also want to be mindful of the fact that they're taking time out of their day um to help board members see that perspective. So it is hard for them to schedule for seven different people. But if we have the engagement committee that's setting up an opportunity that three board members can take advantage of, then that's also saves their time. But that's also gives them an opportunity to show us what's going on in your building. Like let me see what's what's happening. And they're facilitated meetings. It's not like we're just walking into the building unannounced and and wanting, you know, it's it's more [clears throat] I think it just gives us a lens of what's actually going on in our district. But that's just my opinion. >> Yeah. No, and I think that's the point of the engagement committee is to bring opportunities forward and the board members can decide whether or not they want to attend. So, um, >> Director Cameron, >> um, I was [clears throat] say I appreciate the opportunities being set up. I think what I'm struggling a little bit with is, and a lot of this has to do with work schedule potentially. Yeah. Um, but I do feel like the work or or not the work but the visits are falling on some people more than others substantially >> and most of us have nineto-fives. Um, and so it it you know I have to take time off to do this and doing that multiple times a week gets hard, right? And so I think if we can more equally distribute it, it would be nice. Um, I'm also I think as a board member I appreciate seeing the circumstances, but I also am in a place where if I'm if I'm being told that there's an issue like with capacity, let's say, I need to like just trust that that the due diligence has been done and that I don't need to see everything myself to make a decision on it. And I'm not saying it's bad to see it, of course, like it is a different feeling when you see it, but I think just given like that most of us are parents on this board with with with kids in the district and with and we all work um just the ability to to visit during the day all the time is is challenging. And I know like a lot of them have been set up where well yeah just I know a lot of people just can't have very little flexibility in their job and cannot attend. So >> any other board member reports? >> Director Anderson. >> Um just wanted to share that um Superintendent Bowman and assistant superintendent Dr. Emily McDonald and I went to the um leadership Lakeville event. Um and that was really great. But what I wanted to highlight was um the [clears throat] work that the chamber is doing with our students. And so prior to our part of the meeting, a couple of the students were talking about the capstone projects that they're working on. Um just really impressive work and these students were presenting and they were just such great leaders. So I just wanted to thank the chamber for all the work that they're doing. >> Superintendent Bowman. >> Thank you uh Mr. Chair and board members. Um, in the spirit of the season of thankfulness, I want to uh I think uh Carrie Pop is still in here. Um, I wanted to say thank you for uh the opportunity to negotiate again on the 11th of December. Um, also I want to say thank you for the facilities meeting uh that we were able to do last night. I appreciate that. Um, and I was going to say as well, thank you, Director Anderson, for coming to that uh event. And I agree with you. Our students uh definitely shine there. And I do appreciate our relationship with uh chamber leadership. And then finally, I just want to say to all of our staff and uh to our educators, um a heartfelt thank you for everything that you do. And we appreciate you. And um this is the season to say thank you. And so I just want to say that out loud. But all of our staff that sacrifice every day uh for the benefit of our kids. And I just ask our whole community to just rally uh with us as a school district to find the right solutions and to help our young people become capable leaders in our society for the future. So thank you and thank you board members. Hope you all have a wonderful little break here. Uh I know our staff and team need it. Um and we're going to take advantage of it. So bless you all and thank you. >> All right. Recommended actions. Um with the departure of Director Nicholson, who was our treasurer, um we're in need of a new treasurer for the next month and a half until we have elections for all positions again. Um, so with that, I'd ask if there's anyone who would like to volunteer or nominate someone. >> Director Anderson. >> I would like to nominate Director Reichenberger. >> All right, Director Reichenberger has been nominated. Are there any other nominations? Any other nominations? If there are none, all in favor of appointing Director Reichenberger as the treasurer say I. >> I. >> I. Any opposed? Congratulations. >> Uh so you can meet with um Bill Homegrren right after this. I think you'll have a big packet of information for you to review. And uh yeah, >> just to share, he already has by the way. Just want to say that. Uh other issue for uh recommended vote is vote to approve amended policy 213 as set forth in the agenda. Um I'll just move it along. I would uh move to approve the amended policy 213. Is there a second? There's a second by director Cameron. Any discussion on the vote to approve the amended policy? If there's no discussion, I would uh there being a first and a second, all those in favor of approval of the amended policy 213 say I. >> I. Any opposed? None opposed. >> And before we adjurnn, I just want to remind everyone looking at a special meeting next week 6 pm uh to discuss a number of issues, but uh facilities >> is it at 7th? >> Uh six. >> Okay. The ninth will be at 7 and then 16th back at six. So, the first of four in a row here. Um, but with that, uh, I'd entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> First by director Anderson. Is there a second? >> Second. >> All right. All second by Director Reenberger. All in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed? We are adjourned.