I would like to welcome you to the June 24th 2024 school board meeting if we could all rise for the Pledge of [Music] Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all and take note that we also have the new Minnesota flag over there as well so oh I didn't notice that CH rash do you want to do roll call yes thank you very much um Lisa will you please call the rooll director human here Weber here W Felton yes Claflin here and Cher rash here excellent by present and at this time I'm looking for approval of the meeting minutes and agenda um for for both this meeting as well as the May 28th 2024 work session and regular meeting minutes of the June 10th work session do I have a motion so moved second excellent and then up first um I Turn to You what need to vote oh yes we do thank you all in favor please say I I opposed with that the motion carries all right apparently I was rushing to quity Makes the Dream Work right um but for quality and action today I turn it over to you Dr zambino thank you chair rash and uh yeah it's fun to be here it's officially summer so it's I'm hoping to have it feel a little more like summer on days when I'm not working but sure feels like summer out there today but hopefully people were able to get out and splash or whatever to stay cool um last meeting I shared a a number of highlights from the school year which I mean like I said there's just too many um amazing things our staff and students did but it's always fun to celebrate that we did want to come back and just touch on um something that's not always a fun topic but super important and and something we can be really proud of and that's our Safety and Security work so you know we were just talking about me coming in a little over two years ago and right when I came in one of the first things I did is is you know meeting with different stakeholder groups uh Gathering feedback and input we started a desired daily experience work that first fall with our all of our staff so we had all staff at the secondary building had them together we did a lot of surveys around things like our referendum uh other pieces that we had gathered data on and like over and over and over again what was really clear is is that safety was a top priority and you know I think it always is that that's kind of probably a given but I think coming off of the pandemic especially everybody just you know a little bit in that heightened state um and so when I was kind of doing an audit of where we at there was some really good work underway but not necessarily A systemic and systematic approach across and so um not being able to do everything in year one we we kind of did some learning last year and then and put some plans in the place coming into this school year so really excited about what we did so we put together uh a Safety and Security committee and we were meeting weekly or monthly to kind of look at our current practices and where we wanted to go and then we started a partnership with a really great organization called I love you guys um the name is actually from the the founders daughter that was the last text she sent from school before she unfortunately met her demise at the hands of a a shooter so obviously the worst case scenario for a parent but a wonderful Story how the the couple um just went all in on school safety and it's a nonprofit so like all their materials are free so anytime we need something we can just go anybody can right on the I love you guys website click download they have videos all kinds of things and so we started with what they call their um standard response protocol at the beginning of the year and then end of the year with a training around the standard reunification method um and I'll go to the next slide to just kind of talk through so when I came in one of the things I noticed is if the high school was in a hold which is when you say you know that and the protocol is really clear if you look at the slide this is exactly what you say if you're an administrator anybody you get on the announcement you say hold stay in your classroom or area and then you say it again hold stay in your classroom or area so it's twice once to gather attention now everyone's paying attention you repeat the direction um but a lot of times a school needs to go into a hold because someone's having a medical crisis or you know sometimes we have a kid who's just you know having a breakdown and it's not safe for others so you might put a part of the building or like a classroom or a whole the whole building on a hold but my first year when I when that would happened people just were like coming to the school getting their kids and thinking it was like a major major kind of lockdown type event and so when we brought out these procedures so the hold is where you stay in your classroom area secur is there's something outside you get inside you lock the doors both of those you continue teaching so like it really should feel largely normal to those who aren't necessarily dealing with what might be going on um but again whenever the secondary building went into a hold like people were just like panicked that something horrible was happening and so we really did a an a focused effort on communication so shout out to our principes and our Communications team for helping train our our students but also staff and family so people know like we don't need to go into panic mode a hold is you continue business as usual other than you don't leave the space until you're told you're clear uh lockdown is like the traditional lockdown locks Lights Out of Sight take cover there's something really bad happening so differentiating those two I think brought the temperature down a lot cuz there's been a number of times where we've had to use hold and people kind of know like even talking to the kids I'm like what do you think when you hear hold they're like well somebody's having a little bit of a challenge but we know we're okay where we are the the teacher is in the room with them great thing with the protocol is it has every teacher has their rosters with them for if it's secondary they have multiple rosters Elementary you have your rosters with you anytime you activate one of these they ask teachers take attendance and mark the time so if something because something could escalate like a hold could escalate to a lockdown we don't know so it's again we don't want to conflate those two but you just don't know what's going to happen and so this really strict um process of taking attendance uh evacuation you can think of that like our a fire or something like that and then shelter could would be like weather and if you look at the picture you see Chris wein ftner with this new folder that they keep so every teacher has the protocols posted in the room they have that folder in the room and inside there's a help red card or an okay green card so what Miss wein ferner did she came out uh rather than the old days where the kids Spilled Out all over the building and we didn't necessarily know who was with whom anymore they're told you stay with your teacher you stay there and then they're checking their rosters to see do I have everybody I think I have and if they have just the right number they hold up that okay card so then if you're somebody doing the visual inspection to make sure we're safe or that everyone is okay you look and it's really easy to see that if they have help it either means they're missing somebody who they thought they should have or they have somebody who came with them because they were in bathroom from another teacher and then we we just are able to make that connection and so it takes a couple times of running through that to get into that you know to build the muscle memory around it but when we had an incident where the fire alarm went off and it was an actual emergency the teachers went out I mean it was incredible and and chief Wiki came up and said wow like I pulled up and every 20th person was somebody with the yellow folder and a card and he didn't necessarily know what it was cuz he hadn't done the training with us yet but it was just night and day difference around how it feels if we're doing a hold and if we go into these evacuation and now um as we and I'll talk about the reunification method in a moment but if we have to now leave we now know who's with Miss Weiner and or she can account for every kid because there's nothing I would want less than to tell a parent we don't know where your child is um and so this gives us a really good inventory of our kids really strict protocols for um how to get in and out of the building and of course um just a systematic approach across so if if our police are helping us at a secondary any building they're going to be knowing what we're doing with all this language and we're doing great partnership with our SRO and the PD on that so that was the standard response protocol or SRP again you'll see that in every building every classroom um our teachers did a fantastic job learning that helping the kids with that our parents got videos and education on it um one other piece about that photo that I really like is look at the students in that photo and how calm they are there is no Panic there is no disorder like they're on their phones it's another day like they're just like like um I appreciate that lowering of the temperature temperature came down a lot yes so really great work that people did there but then um like that's the the E the immediate response sometimes something may require us to reunify kids with their parents and it could happen at the site or it could happen offsite and I know um director Felton mentioned she shared my highlight at the foundation meeting CU I couldn't be there with our policy committee going on but one of the questions I had is why is the location in Gro versus in South St Paul we are really lucky uh we were able to get the Veterans Memorial Community Center and the Army National Guard to sign anou with us to allow us to come anytime we would have a major emergency to use their facility uh it's a great location because it's just off of 52 so it's super easy to get to tons of parking within the facility on the on the right side which would be the West Side there's a gym that has a kitchen there's bathrooms there's it's a great space if if we needed to bust kids we could bust them right into the back bring them in the back so it's a really good safe space to H to have the kids be and to orderly have a really orderly process for parents to come and pick them up so that's why it's an Inver grve Heights not here cuz if something horrible you know God forbid happened you don't want to be right in the space where that happened you do need some distance and also frankly we didn't really have a great space like that within South St Paul so we're really excited about that Mark Fenton and our sro's worked on that and and Lisa from comms to help us get this partnership in place um and so then what we did is on June 11th we brought teams from each of our sites in the district so we had about 70 of us inclusive of our SRO Chief Wiki couldn't attend because that was the day of the service uh for the Minneapolis officer but um Commander running uh Commander Sal me came and then a number of Chief jelfs and some staff from South Metro Fire came so all of our building clerical our security staff uh all of our administrators counselors social workers SES everyone was invited and it was all Hands-On deck training on this method which allows us to really again we take that inventory to the kids in a really orderly process for kids uh to be returned to their families and so what you see here is as the team's practicing and they have the different color smoks for different roles so someone might be a greeter I'm here to get my my son Leo what's your name checking ID to make sure I am who I say I am checking in the computer to make sure that that's a the the proper adult and even when you the kids are out of sight so that parents don't go right to the kids it's not it just keeps it calmer but then we can bring the kid and even as you're bringing the kid you're like is this the person you want to go home with so it's like super tight super safe and then we have a really accurate record of where we would be not going to lie pretty cool to have the National Guard right there they said they would drop everything and help us as well um and so for those who don't know there's like Hummers and stuff back behind there's like feels like a pretty secure space if we ever had to bring the kids so what I keep saying is is you know I wanted to have this and never need it but before we didn't have it and so now U we were able to train that so now we you know this isn't something we would run through with the kids because the kids will get direction at the time so it's not this one doesn't require that level of communication but it would be something that if we had to make sure parents knew and we'd work with transportation and others to get our kids to that space reunify with families and then if we needed to bust some kids home later it's it's something a lot of districts have gone through and you know like I said I hope we never need it uh but we we definitely have it so again really great work with I love you guys there so some next steps uh the best way you know to prevent things is through relationship so a lot of times people would ask me about school safety when I was a principal and I'll will say the number one thing we can do to have a safe school or safe environment is to have relationships because as a principal I can't tell you how many times somebody would tell me or another trusted adult something that they thought wasn't right and so that's that's why we need to do some of the prevention work which teaching kids about healthy choices promoting safety and well-being but also building relationship we also launched the help me app which we've shared before but that's a an anonymous app uh you can choose to put your information in but if you want to remain anonymous you can but if somebody says I think someone has a weapon or something like that they can report that anonymously and that comes right to the staff so it's assigned to building administrators as well as myself and Dr Burkhart um and so and they they also have resources and things available for families on that app but we're hoping that could be a a good proactive tool um so that we can head off some of the challenges that that just bubble up when we don't know what's going on but again relationships above all else so that's the kind of prevention side um helping kids make those healthy choices then there's what we call postvention which is the supports after so I should say Dr Burkhart did a lot of work with our social work psych counseling team this year to work on Clarity around like threat assessments and risk assessments sometimes kids are frustrated and they use big words is that what they did or is there a real threat behind that and there's a very specific process protocols to of best practices to follow through so um Dr Burkhart worked hard with the team on that and then now we're looking at like the postvention work again if something happens how are we supporting our student staff and families after a crisis situation and then we'll continue in the cycle of the annual training for students and staff so they know the protocols and are uh again comfortable and familiar with it I think it'll a breeze because already when I see like we saw the picture like you said um Cher rash the the temperature just you can see it and as the kids get used to that more and more at elementary into our middle and high school grades uh you know they the kids are always the easiest part because they're so resilient and and our kids are the best so anyway really excited and proud of that work but more work to do in that regard happy to answer any questions about that or where we're heading I'm just also excited to see like prior um anytime there was an incident in the school that required the a lockdown a hold there was you know at one point some confusion about what was what and inside of our community rightly so it is something that is every parent's worst fear or anxiety and having some clarity on what we can do with this because like a hold is a really useful tool and rarely actually a crisis right and um the fact that we've got some clarity on this and have this in our tool set I think is really remarkable I also just like the fact that things are clear and they're posted so if you were a substitute teacher or if you were you know someone who's not normal in the building you would know kind of what was going on um also I know we had the time when like I think the building was having an incident that people didn't know if they should evacuate or if they should shelter in place and was some confusion about you know what's the what's the protocol um what's the protocol there um and I'm also just extremely thankful to to you to Inver Grove Heights to the National Guard because obviously if an incident happens you need to get away from the site and be able to have a plan for unification so I remember after another school incident like calling and saying what's the plan like obviously we don't want to use it but what is the plan and to now know that we have those steps and those plans it's just I think people can just rest a lot easier knowing that challenges in our environment will never go away but that if we have a plan to deal with them that everyone can at least feel a little bit better about what tomorrow could bring so I would just like to applaud you for that it's it's a team effort it's I was kind of joking a minute ago but teamwork does make the dream work and it is a team effort so I am so thankful for like I said our building leaders our teachers everyone who took that that worked hard and and you saw that I think um some of what I like with I love you guys is they've been doing it for a while and they reflected like we used to have different types of lockdowns and that was one of the main sources of confusion I think that's part of why hold was still carrying that confusion CU I know when I was a principal I was trained on there's a Code Yellow lock down and there's a code red lock down and a lock down hard there was all these different things and I was sitting in my office one day and one of my custodial staff he came running in my office he said the police just chased the person who was fleeing them into the building and I got on the PA system and I said we're in a lockdown didn't have time to think is this a code red or a code yellow so it's like this is the pragmatic like if you know you need to go into lockdown there's no other word for it's lockdown like take shelter be safe um but it clarifies a lot of those pieces over time so and again a great organization the nonprofit and yeah in those pieces so yeah excited about that something else we're excited about is work we've been doing in partnership with our city so excited to share this as well so you get a two for one uh quality and action here tonight but uh we've been talking about this a little bit excited to really bring it out this week uh front and center in front of our amazing community at kosia day so um you know another thing I'd heard coming in was you know that that that there's just an EB and flow and it's natural when you have elected officials and different superintendent over time about the relationship between the the city and the school district and I was like this is the coolest thing ever we're a special district it's one in the same like we got to be lock step tight and so was really excited when I reached out to Mayor Francis and our city manager Ryan Garcia to say Hey you know do you want to check with the council and I talk to you all as a board would would people be interested in coming forward and putting together uh a set of common core values and everyone was really excited about it and it took us you know a little bit of time to kind of find way with it uh we started the work back in September but U we really want these to serve as a foundational set of core values that reflects the aspiration and priorities and our shared vision for our community and so um for those who hadn't heard that yet the city and and the school board have been working in collaboration and came up with a really great set of core values uh so the first one being pride of course we have to have pride in South St Paul but I'd love that there was so much talk about how do we make Pride inclusive because we know there's a rich history but we also know the communities changed over time so you know respecting the old history the Traditions but also collectively Building New Traditions especially as the face of the city changes uh respect um just celebrating the goodness in in oneself and others you know I think um one of the things that we learned in the pandemic is we need to give each other a little Grace and I think that's another way of saying let's just be respectful to one another knowing that everybody's uh doing their best uh Equity was another one so stating that as you we want a supportive environment that provides opportunities for all to be seen heard and valued that was the same language we heard in the uh desired daily experience that people want to feel seen and heard for who they are and valued for who they are and so that showed up there resilience of course the town like this couldn't uh be where it is if it weren't for the resilience in the community so uh but here again adaptive um adapting changing and persevering when challenges come our way so that fits great for the city and the district in rity being thoughtful honest and transparent in our words and actions and then accountable for our decisions that was really strong with both the board and the um city council and then I think this uh last one just is so fitting collaboration working together and so we'll be out at kosia days um sharing some of this information we've got some neat little handouts that we'll give you bracelets and things like that for those who want to sign on for that but our goal is to build the the South s where everybody wants to be to live work play and grow together and so really excited we had a great meeting our last meeting with the city council where there's just a lot of enthusiasm uh for the shared work and so we'll be at the composure days right in uh parade right back to back with our city council which is going to be really fun and then we're going to look to how do we sustain this so one of our goals is to think about who out in the community is is exemplifying one of these values and how do we Elevate that think you know Tommy at the crow or Karen at the Cooper whomever right the people who are giving back the foundation there's so many people who live these values and so we'll we'll find really fun ways to celebrate these values as we uh move forward um yeah just really excited about it we should have seen some of this in our six times as well as some of our other Pathways there's just again really fun to end the year and go wow we did a lot of great things even though there's bumps along the way lots of great work done by our staff students families and then of course this Brader collaboration with the community absolutely all right just super excited yeah yeah yeah we got our shirts ready right hot off the presses City council's just getting theirs now so we got our our shirts going and we'll have some swag and what I think was incredibly fun is so at the last meeting city council had a very busy night they did ribbon cuttings they did their meeting they also joined us so uh I mean they kept their legs moving all of that that night um making their way through but I really reflected on that meeting seeing the products of the work that we had cuz the very first time we met together um I mean I don't think we had an end goal totally in mind um and not everyone on the school board knows everyone on the city council and in a lot of ways We Were Strangers as we sort of joined in that room made some new friends and uh some new Partnerships and um it's really great to see this growing and kind of building on itself as we kind of proceed forward so yeah it's exciting excellent well thank you two quality in actions tonight um up next we have a couple other reports um so we uh stakeholder uh comments and submissions to the board we had um one submission in person last uh week um uh concerned about um access to some spaces for staff members um and I think there's been a little bit of followup with that um there was one submission online as well um just looking for a little bit of um further Clarity and insight on an issue inside of our school um if you ever want to make comment to the board um at 6:30 at our first uh meeting of the month is held at district office and you are welcome to come and address the board um with any comments or concerns uh there's also a form on the website that people can use um and then next I will return to Vice chair and Claflin um to highlight some of uh our elements from our work session thank you um most of what we had done at our last work session it's already been discussed uh having the city council come and join us to discuss our plans with these core values uh was a great opportunity for us to get together and get to know each other a bit more uh and you'll see more of the rolling out there was an article in the local paper as well um we also had a lot of information given to us by Dr burkart about some updates to the student handbook uh making sure that that is up to dat and meets our values of equity and inclusivity um and clarifies a lot of the rights and responsibilities that our students have um we'll be hearing more about that later this evening we finalized our budget for the upcoming year and we'll have that presentation later tonight as well and then at our work session just previous to this uh we mostly talked about other public relations um events that we have going on around the community um all the other committees that we are part of and how we are out representing the school board in our communities um yeah for being so busy we'll hear a lot of the results of all of our work uh later in the agenda excellent thank you and turning back to Dr Z bro uh some highlights from around the district all the end of the year stuff i' imagine thank you uh well we shared this before but want to make sure everyone is uh aware we do have uh some summer meal opportunities so we're partnering with open door to serve students in the community free meals in designated spots around the city and you can go to our website to find out more I know they've done things like when the weather's nice putting out a blanket and inviting people to come for a picnic things like that uh at our sites that are open we have the free breakfast and lunch for anyone 18 and under so that's at kosan the secondary where we have our summer programming but again all uh opportunities are listed on our website so we know uh that sometimes food is is a need for uh families so we appreciative to partner in this work I know I've shared before I love that I I donate to Second Harvest and a lot of the food goes right through Central Square so it's really fun to see that connection with where you're donating to and getting to the right people uh in our community also want to make sure folks know this summer we're trying something new we're going to do enrollment our Enrollment Center at uh Central Square Community Center so the hope is to be uh a One-Stop shop for any new to District families or anyone needing assistance with enrollment and then we have our uh support there for interpreting Services while it's open so that's 7:30 to 4:30 however anyone can pop in anytime Central squares open to get the information if they want to get moving on enrollment so don't want people feel like they're limited to that time but that's when we're staffed to make sure we have interpreting available uh and then more information on our website at the enroll section of our website and then I mentioned it before the summer six times was uh mailed out last week and man that looks fantastic so shout out to our comm's team Lisa and dette for your work on that um we talked a lot about the Packer pathway so excited that was a little challenging in the sense that it was kind of wrapping up right as we were wrapping up so we'll kick off with that as well next year at the start of the year uh some great work going on around really developing Pathways that are responsive again to the feedback and surveys we've uh gotten information we've got through our surveys The Help Me app was highlighted in there we talked about that earlier and then just lots of programming opportunities through Community ad at Central Square we do take great pride in serving our community from birth uh through whenever they decide to be done with sou St Paul and sometimes uh they're with us for a long time we I know we just talked about the senior uh Center social and the ice cream social so a lot of uh lot of people at that Community Center as well so hope that people know we take take it very seriously and we take great pride in serving everyone in our community and then yes end of year you mentioned there chash uh congratulations to our class of 2024 I mean what a great night we had other than the wind and I cannot remember what the red white and blue things are called that hang on the uh um on the uh bleachers there but that aside what a beautiful night we had and um a really special group for me cuz as I came in and did some of that entry work these are some of the kids that I got to know right away so was it was a all the all the graduations are beautiful and they're all fun but it was really fun to see some of the kids that I've gotten and know it's a little selfish in that but uh I can only imagine what that feels like for families and teachers and people who've been there with these kids all along so shout out to 2024 make sure you stay in touch and forget us you never forget your roots you got to come back and and Pay It Forward here to us as well so keep it keep that tradition Rich uh summer Learning Academy like I said we were offering meals where those are happening but we got uh a lot of kids in the building still you know it's fun to be in the schools and still see the learning happening so Elementary began last week and the students there are going into first through fifth grade um and it was really neat on the first day I mean the kids were only apart from each other for a week and they were all like seeking each other out in the cafeteria to give each other hugs and welcome each other so that was really fun for me to just watch that happen uh but kids get a free breakfast and lunch and have a lot of uh you know fun activities there is no class during the week of the 4th though so just make sure that people know we do want our staff to get a little break in there and celebrate the 4th of July with family and friends and then we have the Packer preview and there's one session going now and there is still room for the next session which starts July 8th that is for incoming sixth graders so if you are transitioning over to the secondary building the Packer preview helps kids we talked about navigating those locks and the lockers learning how to read their schedule and just switching classes and and getting a feel uh for that I know having been a middle school principal for eight years I often ask the incoming uh folks like who's more nervous is it Mom and Dad or family or is it the kid usually it was the parents um but the kids have a little nerves too I think this is good for both groups because parents can kind of know your kids get a chance to get into the building and and learn the lay of the land and of course for the kids to to get into the school is a a great you know start and then Middle School summer learning that's for our students going into grade seventh and eighth grade so last grade sixth and seventh seventh and eighth grade next year they're doing a lot of uh Hands-On fun learning again they get fed so that's great and then they're going to end the trip or the end the session with a trip to Valley Fair so I might have to reach out and see if they need any chaperon for that event or maybe um M Mrs winter needs to go to that one since yeah she actually worked there so she's got a place in her heart for Valley Fair she gets very excited about that so maybe I'll give my spot up and let her take that one but space still open for that as well so if you're interested check out our website uh and you can enroll there again uh no uh learning happening the week of the 4th so want to again give people a chance to celebrate with family and friends uh the fourth and fifth are District holidays so the buildings are actually officially closed for those no matter what um I mentioned it before July 8th is the second session of Packer preview so if you haven't signed up up for those incoming sixth graders get that going uh and then the Middle School summer learning begins with the seventh and eighth graders and then we're doing some cleaning we got to do that work over the summer so Central Square does take a pause uh seldom but this is one the July 8th to 13th to make sure that that building stays in the tiptop shape that our community deserves as always you can track Us online and keep up with our board and all the great things going on there our team does a again fantastic job I think our website looks as good as anybody's I I haven't gone on to any school website yet where thought we need to do that one of the things that I think is really special about our graduation is you go to a lot of other High School graduations it's a really informal ceremony it's held offsite it's somewhere else um we graduate our students here at home and when you watch them walk across the road and then uh enter the stadium and surrounded by the community that they grew up in I think is pretty special moment um that's a that's a good tail end of the year it's incredible all right um up next we have our consent agenda items which are uh Financial claims and Staffing and Personnel in nature and I've have been a part of the board packet um and they have been presented and discussed with the board already um do I have a motion to approve our consent agenda so moved second all in favor please say I I I opposed with that the motion carries um tonight we have have a whole host of policies that are up for their uh second of three readings it is policy 506 student discipline 507 corporal punishment and prone restraint 605 alternative programs 607 organization of grade levels and 610 field trips and 5075 um school resource officers um these will be available for three readings on um prior to board approval um and is the product of our policy committee's work um so far after that we have our business items and buckle up we have a whole bunch of business items up um for tonight up first um I am looking for approval for the South St Paul school board to approve the 20242 resolution for membership to the Minnesota state High School league do I have a motion so moved second and for discussion I'm going to turn over to Brady Krueger hi there thanks for having me here uh that one's pretty easy that's an annual resolution that is required um essentially all you're doing is that you're agreeing to uh be a part of the me Minnesota State High School league and abide by the Minnesota State High School league rules laws handbook policies and so on um which you probably aren't very familiar with but that's something that I live in and deal with that's why we have Brady yes that is your your SP um are there any changes in terms of where we sit with other schools or anything else this year have they determined that yet like in terms of like section placement so on um no that will be that's a two-year thing so that'll be next year that we'll have additional section placement based on excellent our enrollment numbers thank you so much all right as this is resolution uh Lisa will you call a roll vote director Weber Yes W Felton yes Claflin yes human yes and chair Rush yes that's five y motion passes uh stick around Brady uh cuz up next we are looking for approval for the South St Paul school board to approve the girls swimming Cooperative agreement with minihaha Academy and Christo Ray beginning for the 2425 school year do I have a motion still moved second and for discussion I turn it back to you Brady again um as I mentioned at a previous work session our swim program on the girl side and on the boy side we've just at a point now with numbers that we're not able to sustain our own program um so I reached out to some schools uh in the area mini haa Academy responded several other schools responded but as we kind of went through that process of is it going to work for us in terms of numbers because depending on the number of students that you have number of schools that could bump up your classifications so we were trying to find and like thread that needle to find a school that had an appropriate Siz numbers but also allowed us to stay in an appropriate classification um and that's where why we landed with uh minihaha Academy and Crystal Ray um this would be a two-year agreement um that would come back to the board for I I guess a approval a review um just to see how the process is working um ideally I hope it's a short-term solution to our current numbers problem um but if it needs to be extended longer I think this gives us a opportunity to have a solid partner school we do work with Min haa Academy um on our boy lacrosse um side as well so there is some familiarity there with working with those two schools um and then there are I know this is not necessarily for formal approval but we as we've been moving forward there probably will be some more discussions about cooperatives um coming before the board um we talked about boy swimming that's another program that's in need um we also talk Ted about at the work session uh we have some families of South St Paul students that don't necessarily attend school in South St Paul but are seeking to participate in athletics here um and so those will probably be coming before the board here shortly uh maybe August September somewhere around there excellent and then obviously is if other sports get into this situation we will be looking at that co-ops again provide us an opportunity to continue to offer programs um for all of our students to be able to compete in education based Athletics and activities excellent any discussion or further questions you did get like a formal packet so you basically see the whole application for you so it's a pretty it's a pretty exhaustive process yes uh that requires approval from multiple different people before it comes to comes to you excellent all right all in favor please say I hi hi oppose with that the motion carries thank you all right thank you have a good night you too all right up next are looking for approval for the South St Paul school board to approve the 2425 student teaching agreement between beiji State University and South St Paul schools do I have a motion so Mo second and for discussion I turn that over to Joel Miler good evening a student teacher placement has been coordinated with beiji State University and South St Paul beginning September of 2024 to finalize a student teacher placement approval of the agreement between bichi State University and South St Paul schools is necessary this agreement and placement aligns with South St Paul school student teaching policy number 437 excellent any further discussion or questions what subject is it I do not know the subject as of right now all right all in favor please say I I I oppos with that the motion carries all right and up next we are looking for approval for the South St Paul school board to approve the independent contractor agreement for the time period of July 1st 2024 to June 30th 2025 do I have a motion so moved second and for discussion I come back to Joel miltier thank you very much Administration recommends the following changes for independent employee agreements for the 2425 school year that are all within the parameters established by the school board independent employees include staff in the following employee groups administrators coordinators administrative support District support technology student support nutrition services and part-time custodial the components of the agreement have been provided to the school board the independent group agreements include a base salary increase of 4% for all independent employee groups Market adjustments for the nutrition services assistant position and two director positions and the addition of a step to the nutrition services assistant position to align wages with median Market salaries adjustments to the vacation AC cruel and Longevity structures allowance for vacation and personal leave sell back adjustment to the 403p matching contribution structure and an increase to the administrator Insurance contribution to better align with other leadership positions language changes including alignment of holidays with board approved District holidays and various title changes these recommended changes are all within the salary and benefit parameters established by the school board excellent all in favor please say I I I I post that the motion carries okay thank you thank you Joel and next we are looking for approval for the South St Paul school board to approve the 2425 students rights and responsibilities handbook do I have a motion I'd like to make a motion to amend the section with regard um of the 2024 25 student rights and responsibilities handbook um the failure to follow instructions should be a level two category thing it was missing which category it fell under excellent is yes and for discussion I'll turn that over to um C great yeah so in front of you is the new student rights and responsibilities handbook for 2425 so district and building administrators have undertaken a comprehensive process to update that handbook in light of recent legislative changes and new non-exclusionary discipline practices in the state um the process involved a discipline self-inventory reviewing discipline definitions from the Minnesota a Department of Education and really streamlining the handbook to make it more user friendly for students families and our staff um some of the other key updates included a re-emphasis on our core values new level discipline system adding some specific infractions around dangerous weapons um physical aggression and ensuring that all of our other sections were updated to meet statutory complaints excellent any other discussion just thank you for putting in the work in kind of overhauling it and making it up to standard that we want I think a lot of effort went into it I read all of it and I think all of our emphasis around safety and our procedures I think we're really building a a very strong structure for us going forward excellent and more to come um with the um apply motion made by Kim human um all in favor please say I I opposed with that the motion carries thank you thank you up next we are looking for approval for the South St Paul school board to approve the resolution establishing dates for filing Affidavit of candidacy do I have a motion so move second and um this is something that fulfills for discussion uh this fulfills um our ability to um kind of carry on with our election we will have three available seats um that are up for election at our candidacy and the opening day is July 30 July 30th to August 13th um candidates will file down at City Hall with a city clerk um down there and we have all the information on our website on the school board page of our website and um also want to thank you for your work as those who file candidacy will also get a packet of information about process of serving on the board and what that would look like and when they file their affidavit and their $2 filing fee um as they sort of um Carry On as this is our resolution Lisa will you please call a roll call vote director W Felton yes Claflin yes human yes Weber yes chair Rush yes that's 5A motion pass thank you up next we are looking for approval for the South St Paul school board to approve a gifts report do I have a motion so moved second and for discussion I'll turn that over to Brady Hoff good evening we have several donations on this evening's agenda for the school board to accept uh we have donations from Bender heating and air conditioning and the B Boulevard Tavern for the allight senior party Gloria AO sales for the cdlu affinity group heras Dam Charities for capos education center and the South St Paul secondary all night senior party I local 724 made a donation for the all night senior party the Capia PTA made donations for the fifth grade party as well as the Ninja Warrior uh program krb Services UHA AO care for the all night senior party ma Chev for the all night senior party the self St Paul Education Foundation for deor El's clay program and then the sou St Paul open foundation made donations for the baseball and track and field coaching salaries so quite a few rolling through this month that's an incredible amount of support from our community all right I think that must have been some party and it was all night for the seniors all right all in favor please say I I opposed that the motion carries thank you to them yes and thank you to all who continually support our students over and over over and over again is really remarkable um up next we are looking for approval for the South St Paul school board to approve the long-term facilities maintenance and uh for the South St Paul Public Schools do I have a motion so moved second and for discussion Brady Hoffman EST stayed in place good evening uh so the long-term facility maintenance funding is a a revenue stream that school districts can access to help uh take care of some of the Deferred maintenance needs needs and repairs and maintenance on our buildings in order to access this funding the school board does need to approve a 10-year Revenue projection and expenditure plan um as um scripted by mde and then there's also a statement of assurances that we sign off on saying we're going to follow the rules and guidelines uh related to this funding um so in the board packet is that 10-year projection it is a big spreadsheet that's MD templated but it does Trend out based on our enrollment and our building age what that Revenue looks like for the district so right now we're a little over a million dollars a year for ltfm funding but but declining enrollment it is projected to get a little bit under a million um but it is an aid Levy combination um so some state aid as well as some Levy dollars flow through with this and then also included is that tenure projection of our um how we kind of intend to spend those uh deferred maintenance dollars so um in order to access this and get it into the levy this fall the school board does need to approve this and then we have to submit all these documents to mde by the end of July so I can open it up for any questions or turn it over to you for approval looks like no discussions this is something that's done annually it's been it's not not new it's an annual recurring piece and we did review this at the committee the whole earlier this month as well yes and we're spending a lot of time sort of talking about our facility needs and in that place and that's a source of discussion that is an ongoing thing that we are all working through and engaging with our community with our U facilities committee um that is U meeting as well all right all in favor please say I I I opposed with that the motion carries um stick around Brady uh because up next this is the big one um we are looking for approval for the South St Paul school board to approve the FY 25 budget do I have a motion so moved second and for discussion I come back to Brady Hoffman good evening once again uh so we are at the point in the year where a lot of work has gone into developing the fy2 2425 budget so we're at that point of presenting to the school board for formal adoption uh this does need to be adopted by the end of June to allow us to have an operating budget to work within next year um I do have a PowerPoint I was going to run through quick um but yeah this process starts back in the fall and and we'll touch on that here but in January we initially meet with the school board and walk through kind of high Lev projections um and get the school board's input on um kind of areas of focus or things to priori um so we use that as our starting point as we move along so jumping into the process uh so we have four main funds that we have a budget for so we have our general fund which is like our main operating checkbook of the district we have our food food service fund which accounts for our um breakfast and lunch and after school snack programming we have our community service fund which is all of our early learning um before after school act um enrichment activities as well as our senior programming and then we have our debt service fund which um is to account for uh Levy dollars to pay debt that's outstanding so it's really Levy dollars in debt payments out so it's a pretty small um amount of transactions there so with the process uh we build up some budget projections back in the fall and then we review that with the board uh in the January February time frame uh Administration works on developing recommendations in February March we review those initial adjustments with the school board in the March April window uh and then as Finance staff we really dig in and make sure that all these Det details come together as we're expecting and anticipating which then brings us to June uh where we went through this at the work session at the beginning of the month and then now it's um there have been no changes since then but now it's the formal um 2425 budget presentation um overall assumptions that we're working within for Revenue So within the general fund um the basic formula loans so that's a little over half of our Revenue uh is an increase of 2% over last year so this is known this was already established by the state that this is what our funding increase would be um as we projected out into the future as well uh the state did um attach the general formula to inflation in the last legislative session a year ago um where they did put in a floor and a cap so at a minimum the funding formula will go up 2% but up to three depending on where inflation comes in so that's for FY 26 um so that's something that's been advocated for for a while um to help um offset those growing um inflationary expenses Co relief funding uh was uh funding made available with covid-19 and this past school year is the last year that that funding was available to us so that's been a significant piece of funding that we've been leveraging over time so when we do look at the budget that is the big reason why our revenue is going down we have declining enrollment as well as this covid relief funding um expiring enrollment is the main driver of District revenues so most funding streams are based on the number of students rep pupil served each student generates a little over $10,000 in Revenue um and this declining in um we've been experienced in declining enrollment for several years and it is expected to continue here for um several more mainly due to declining birth rates uh the state has provided significant funding in FY 24 so last year uh we did receive a 4% increase um while we're grateful for that that still is not enough to continue to keep Pace with inflation um and sustain some of the pieces within um the requirements that comes from the state if we shift over to expenses um on the expenditure side salaries and benefits which is the biggest piece of our budget uh we factor in all of the known contract settlements so when we um our contracts are on different cycle so some of our employee contracts aren't known at this time we're negotiating them now or in the near future um so we only use estimates for those contracts where it's not known we kind of project out what um a parameter to work within uh as well as um like I said all the contracts that are settled we build in those changes uh we also incorporate any changes to any benefits as well if we know that there's some benefit rate changes uh class siiz Norms um have remained unchanged for from the 23 24 school year and then for our non-salary items a lot of them are held constant to the extent possible uh but there are things like Transportation utilities things that we just can't control the market on so we do build in some Market inflation adjustments there there are a couple variables that we don't have accounted for in the budget because I don't typically like to recommend putting them in until we have all the details around them and two of those are related to the read act uh so there is um language and and uh dollars attached to curriculum and material reimbursement around $ 39.94 per student or about 116,000 for us so this will go to offset the cost of the Wht and wisdom curriculum um we're still waiting on the full timeline and process of when these dollars will be made available to us and what that reimbursement process looks like so that would be additional funding coming in that's not yet accounted for in this budget then there's also some professional development teacher compensation dollars 3606 a pupil or about 105,000 for South St Paul um there may be additional costs associated with these so if we build in this Revenue there may be cost to come as well so this these two pieces will most likely come through in that fall revision time frame um as we know more information looking at our enrollment projection um we have uh several years of information here so those solid bars are actual enrollment results that we've had the grade out column is the 23 24 budget number so the year that just ended we don't have those actual numbers yet and then that steps into the projection where we see from the 2324 budget to the 24 25 adoption we have a drop from 2836 down to 26.99 and as you can see that continues to decline year-over-year and the biggest piece of this is the declining enrollment so we're graduating more seniors every year than we have incoming kindergarteners that next year so it becomes a natural step down um in our enrollment so this is a piece we're continuing to just um prepare for and plan for strategically so we can do the best we can with the resources we have to serve our students uh once the revenues are in expenses are in what's left over is called fund balance so typically we like to have positive fund balance which we do here which which is great so a fund balance is that a total accumulation of operating surpluses and deficits since the district was formed many years ago that fund balance gets broken down into a few different categories so there's some restricted fund balance components and those are um restricted by external entities so the state will restrict some of those dollars like ltfm which we just heard about um staff development operating Capital um pieces like that have specific uses that we can't change how we use those uh resources there's a signed fund balance which is internally um imposed constraints so dollars have been earmarked for certain pieces or certain projects or certain initiatives we have going on and then what's left over is unassigned uh which is anything remaining the school board policy around fund balance is for a minimum unassigned fund balance of 8% of our annual budget when we look at our fund balance projection um or our general fund Revenue expense budget projection the center column there in the middle is the projected budget for 2425 this walkth through starts with where we ended 2223 what our budget revision or revised budget was for the year that just ended 23 24 and then it moves forward so we're projected to start this year with the unassigned fund balance of 15.5% the current budget being proposed uh is pretty much break even with a surplus of $1,133 so there's total revenues of just under 51 million and total expenses just under 51 million looking at the graphic you can see how our revenues did drop from 53 million uh 161 down to 50, 96 67 so big chunk of that is enrollment decline the other big chunk is those Federal Co dollars that have expired that are no longer part of that budget so at the end of the day for FY 2425 we're maintaining a um pretty much a balanced budget with a unassigned fund balance of 155% when we look at the projection to the Future years the biggest thing here is the declining enrollment coming into place that's where you can see those deficits show up um so those are all things that as we work through every budget process we figure out how to best navigate those deficits it's not saying any decisions are made it's just we do nothing here's what happens so this is just the reality of what declining enrollment looks like for a school district and this isn't unique to South St Paul this is Statewide projections are looking like this we look at the breakdown of the fund balances uh our unassigned fund balance uh is that top row so that's where that does grow slightly to 7.9 million that's that 15 a. half% then you can see we have our assigned fund balance and then all of our restricted categories um so ranging from as like I mentioned before you got ltfm and operating capital on there we have gift and talented we have some um staff development safe School dollars as well so all of these are those restricted components um that we are strategically spending down and utilizing for within those specific purposes looking at where our revenues come from um I mentioned earlier that the general state aid is a little over half a revenue so 55% of our revenues come from the state in that General category the next largest bucket is our local taxes and Then followed by that is our categorical State AIDS so categorical State AIDS are things like special education dollars compensatory dollars State AIDs that have a specific funding source uh funding use to them and then we end up with just 2% for federal and 2% for local revenues um if you looked at this slide a year ago that Federal bucket was at 6% and just in the way that Co money went away it went from six to two so the two is more normal with what we saw pre-co um so this is very similar to the same breakdown we had previously on where our dollars go um the largest piece of the pie is salaries and benefits so 80% of the dollars that we spend go towards paying for our people and the related benefits the next largest group is purchase services and within that the biggest piece is Transportation uh we also have repairs and maintenance and some other professional fees that we have to follow through on but transportation is that biggest bucket within there and after those two buckets we're really left with 4% for Capital and 3% for supplies and materials so like I said 80% is our people uh and that's the biggest um the biggest piece of our budget shifting over to fund to our Child Nutrition or our nutrition services program uh we once again have the free uh School meals for kids that the state's going to continue to provide reimbursement for breakfast and lunch in the future um how that works is it's a combination of state aid and federal funding depending on how students qualify for those uh free or reduced meals so what those rates are for 20 fy2 aren't known yet so we built this budget based on those rates for fy2 24 we did factor in declining enrollment in that meal serve projection to take that into consideration on the expense side there's uh the impacts of inflation food costs continue to Rise um and then as we heard we do have some Wes that are lagging the market so we're trying to make some adjustments there uh the other piece that we are doing as well um and we'll see the slide later but um our fund balance is pretty healthy in food service and it's something that that gets too large that's a there's a a limit to how much we can technically carry with MD so we're actually strategically spending some of that down on redoing some of the serving lines at the secondary building so um there's a deficit spend that's strategic in that way that you'll see later for the Community Education fund uh we do have our a lot of those programs are fee based so there are some routine um adjustments to those fees uh for fee based programs the biggest thing you'll see um that creates a deficit within the community budget is related to the school Age Care disabled Levy so during Co um let me take a step back this is a a revenue Street where the way the levy processes works we Levy like a year and a half before we actually start incurring those costs so we're levying based on what we anticipate spending we get the revenue and then it gets treed up at the end did you spend everything you expected or not so whenever we made um projections and levies we got the revenue Co happened the programming didn't happen so we've brought in the revenue didn't have any expense so then what the levy process does is it takes that away from the district in the levy process and gives it back to the taxpayers so there is a negative Levy adjustment coming through for fy2 as a result of that for FY 24 MD did a waiver and let districts retain those dollars to help grow out of covid and then we have a negative adjustment of about 135,000 coming through so we we've received the revenue in the past basically so we're not leving the taxpayers again so the levy for the taxpayers goes down and we're anticipating another negative Levy adjustment for FY 26 of about 71,000 so you'll see that shows the deficit spend down but in reality the deficit spending is those dollars were already sitting in our fund balance so it's we already have those in hand to give back does that make sense yes um this is one of those where we live in like multiple years and it's yeah kind of fun um looking at our debt service programming uh or or fund um this is once again where um There are rules and requirements around it so whenever we have outstanding debt we are required to Levy 105% of what those principal and interest payments are and this is in the event that there's Delinquent Tax collections we still collect enough to be good on our debt payments whenever we've have High collection rates which we have that debt service fund balance grows there's a calculation within the levy process that if that fund balance gets too large they actually do a negative a debt excess reduction and it becomes a negative in our Levy to basically give the dollars back to the taxpayers again through the levy process um so whenever we see this budget we'll see there isn't the 5% Surplus because we've had good collections in the past so we're basically break even with the debt service fund so on our next summary so here is that same fund balance submarine but now we factor in those different funds so the second R there food service has just over 2 million of revenues projected and then 2.3 million of expense so a deficit spend down of 238,000 that does bring the fund balance down to 538 th000 which is within the acceptable limits at mde within Community Education we have a deficit spend of 139,000 and that's where 135 of that is related to that negative Levy adjustment so we're working within those funding streams there and then debt Services basically Break Even because the amount of fund balance we have covers that 5% requirement um within that Levy process so across all funds we have total revenues of 58.3 million compared to expenses of 58.6 so overall a slight deficit but that's all intentional within the fund balance we have and the use of those funds so that walks through the proposed budget for FY 2425 I will open it up for any questions um or turn it over to the school board to consider for approval for those who don't know we have seen this presentation three four times or so and so we're excited and in the spirit of transparency happy to present it to everyone who will watch this live stream but none of these numbers are a surprise to us um and would also like to thank Brady and the whole Finance staff for just such a clear and excellent way that they walk us through from September through November all the way through um it really is um just a wonderfully professional and transparent way to put together a 50 million dollar budget so thank you for that agreed excellent um and I mean you know I think the elephant in the room every time we have these discussions is addressing our declining enrollment and making sure we are best serving our community and also capturing as many of the students as we would potentially have within our community as well and that's a major focus of the board and um I think you've done a really remarkable job of just sort of capturing those pieces for us as we navigate through and a little more certainty as we're at the end as we're kind of resolving all of our open contracts as well as we're kind of hitting the very tail end of this thank I want to thank you and appreciate that your um estimates and assumptions that we make are fairly conservative so we don't show up on the front page of the Pioneer Press um I appreciate that thank you cool all right um with that um all in favor of approval of the 25 uh school year budget please say I I opposed with that the motion carries thank you next excellent thank you all right I said we had a lot of items uh for our business items tonight did not disappoint um a wealth of content there um up next I will turn to our board members um for where they um have seen a passion and some of the end of the Year celebrations and all of those pieces I will turn first to Kim human all right um well I guess I have to say it was my first South St Paul graduation that I got to be a part of and it was amazing to be there it was amazing to see the community I loved hearing the speakers especially the two student speakers and the familiarity they have with the teachers in the building that they can publicly joke with them even in that setting it was just a really amazing opportunity I also the CLC graduation was a little more intimate but also just really exciting to see the families and community members there celebrating the successes of our kids it was fabulous to be a part of that so thank you excellent uh Wendy Fon yes I too also want to say a huge congratulations to all of our graduate students Community Learning Center and the secondary building always wonderful program so happy and congratulate to them and their families looking forward to that few things that I'm looking forward to myself coming up this Friday as as we know for kosia days as our school board will be in the parade we are unit number five so we look forward to seeing everyone looking forward to giving out some treats and waving and and thanking everyone for that and also coming up at the end of July the last weekend of July our community theater presentation is doing the musical prom looking forward to that it should be wonderful definitely plan on being there looking forward to it a lot and also as I serve on the Education Foundation committee we are starting also in July to be planning our Gala event which we know is in November which is a major fundraiser for the Educational Foundation so that's going to be starting coming up in just a couple weeks and then I also just want to wish everyone a happy 4th of July which is next week so have fun and be safe thank you excellent and Claflin uh thank you uh I loved that photo from graduation that was shown in the superintendent update that was taken from the stage because it showed uh the pride and excitement all those students have going forward to the next steps in their lives and recognizing the achievements there were sashes and cords and medals that students were wearing as well as sashes that identified uh students um Affinity with different groups and you could even see in uh one of the students was wrapped in a quilt that was given to all of our Native American students um it was really just a wonderful ceremony and you could tell that everyone was excited to celebrate with our students and moving to the other end of our educational Spectrum um I have to uh commend our facilities Department um and director Mark Fenton over the weekend we got a um a few of us received a note from a neighbor who had gone to the kosia playground the Teeter Totter had teetered its last totter and busted out and this morning it had already been taken out of service um that sort of respon resp to um problems often goes unnoticed because we don't see the problems and um I have to thank uh director Felton for or Fenton for being able to respond so quickly to that um there were also many opportunities to meet with parents and other community members um the American Indian parent advisory Council invited us to join one of their meetings uh we hosted the ice cream social for seniors and heard about um just what an opportunity it is for our community members to use the swimming pool facilities in Central Square and what to draw that is um and the building's task force continues to meet and uh at our last meeting we had really great discussions from a really broad cross-section of our community about how to best use what funds we have available to us you heard that long-term Finance or long-term ltfm longterm Facilities Management plan um it's very difficult to prioritize all of the decisions that a school board has to make about those budgetary items and it's interesting to hear what the community thinks about these debates that we go through as well uh lots of opportun needs for our school district to shine excellent all right Monica wber similar to everyone else I also um was able to attend both the um the CLC graduation which is a wonderful ceremony that we have in the High School auditorium it's very intimate and you can really see the accomplishment um in the eyes of all the families and the students that they really have achieved something that I'm sure at some point during their educational Journey they didn't think they would be able to achieve so the fact that they were able to walk across that stage and get that diploma um it's just always a very um motivating um ceremony to be able to be able to attend um the the weather for the High School ceremony was fantastic it was not 100° and it was not raining which are two things that like we haven't had a lot of this summer so I was joking with someone the other day that we got graduation and the rest of June is going to rain and pretty much that has been how the rest of June is going to go um and so was just very excited it is a very moving ceremony um and would just encourage anyone in the community to come to graduation next year cuz it really is a a sight to be seen to see all the students kind of processed I walk onto the hill and onto the newly manicured um you know grass and everything it's just a an amazing an amazing time and um also the student speakers were fantastic the um the te the featured teacher speaker I thought was great and just how this really was a class that were freshman during 2020 and so they really got to see the full cycle of being being freshman doing online learning and then all the kind of fits and restarts that happened you know as we went forward and they're here and they're resilient to quote one of our um shared values and so very excited um for them to go off on their own Journey wherever that may take them excellent thank you well if you said it's going to rain for the rest of June I am hoping for no rain at the parade I remember walking very wet last year so um and look forward to seeing our community showing out for support uh for kosia days with no further items on our agenda I am looking to adjourn the June 24th 2024 meeting so moved a second all in favor please say I I opposed that the motion carries and the meeting is adjourned at 7113 thank you