Robbinsdale Area Schools — Transcript
Monday, January 5, 2026
School Board Officer Elections
Annual Administrative and Financial Designations
Property and Liability Insurance Broker Selection
Statutory Operating Debt (SOD) Planning and Site Consolidation
Arts Integration in Education
Votes (20)
Ceremonial Oath of Office for DJ Brimson
Dissent: N/A
Director DJ Brimson was officially sworn in as a newly appointed school board director. The oath emphasizes responsibilities related to equitable quality education, vision, structure, accountability, and advocacy, empowered by the Minnesota legislature.
Election of School Board Chair for 2026
Dissent: Director Basset (Abstain), Director Long (Abstain)
Moved by Director Bowman [00:09:12] · Seconded by Director Hillenbrand [00:09:16]
The election for School Board Chair involved a nomination for current Chair Evans Becker and a declined nomination for DJ Brimson. Director Basset and Director Long voiced strong concerns about the current Chair's leadership, transparency, and decision-making authority, advocating for the board's collective purview over individual decisions with the superintendent. Director Bowman and Director Hillenbrand also expressed concerns. Director Brunson urged others to step up if they disagreed with the current leadership.
Election of School Board Vice Chair for 2026
Dissent: N/A
Moved by Director Bowman [00:19:24]
Director Wuto was nominated for the Vice Chair position. No other nominations or significant discussion occurred.
Election of School Board Clerk for 2026
Dissent: Director Long (No)
Moved by Director Bowman [00:20:58]
Director Bowman nominated herself for Clerk. Director Long nominated Director Basset, who declined. Discussion included concerns from Director Basset regarding the rotation of roll call votes to prevent undue influence on voting patterns, and concerns from Director Long about alleged 'attacks to constituents' and negative emails from a board member, implying issues with Director Bowman.
Election of School Board Treasurer for 2026
Dissent: N/A
Director Hillenbrand was nominated for Treasurer. Director Long asked about the status of the Financial Advisory Committee (FAC), which the treasurer is typically in charge of, but the Chair ruled the question out of order during the vote.
Designation of Deputy Treasurer and Assistant Clerk
Dissent: N/A
Moved by Director Hillenbrand [00:29:21] · Seconded by Director Brenen [00:29:24]
The board approved designating Kristen Hohheisle, CFO, as Deputy Treasurer and Molly Olsen as Assistant Clerk. These are routine delegations of duties to district employees.
Yearly Board Compensation Approval
Dissent: N/A
Moved by Director Basset [00:31:00] · Seconded by Director Hillenbrand [00:31:02]
The board approved the annual board compensation, which remains unchanged for directors ($7,800), vice chair ($8,400), and chair ($9,000). No discussion was noted.
Resolution Authorizing the Use of Facsimile Signatures and Security Bond
Dissent: N/A
Moved by Director Bassid [00:32:17] · Seconded by Director Brinson [00:32:21]
A resolution to authorize the use of facsimile signatures and a security bond, waiving its reading, was moved and seconded. No discussion was noted.
Resolution Designating Brokers for Investment of District Funds for 2026
Dissent: N/A
Moved by Director Bowman [00:34:02] · Seconded by Director Hillbrand [00:34:06]
A resolution designating specific brokers for district fund investments in 2026 was moved and seconded. A clarifying question confirmed these were existing banking facilities, and the change consolidates annual approvals to the organizational meeting.
Resolution Designating Depositories for the School District Funds for 2026
Dissent: N/A
Moved by Director Hillbrand [00:36:03] · Seconded by Director Basset [00:36:07]
A resolution designating depositories for district funds for 2026, waiving its reading, was moved and seconded. No discussion was noted.
Resolution Authorizing Specific Statements to be Paid in Advance for 2026
Dissent: N/A
Seconded by Director Printen [00:37:37]
A resolution authorizing advance payment for routine expenses (e.g., utility bills, transportation, travel) was moved, seconded, and approved. Director Long specifically requested the list of authorized payments be read aloud.
Appointment of Legal Counsel for 2026
Dissent: Director Long (No)
Moved by Director Bowman [00:39:55] · Seconded by Director Hillbrand [00:40:02]
The board moved to approve a list of legal firms (Ratwick, Rosac, Maloney, Squire, Wsburg, Mace, Becker Law LLC, Martin Law Firm, and Coutac Rock LLP) and authorized specific district staff to contact them. No discussion was noted.
Appointing a Financial Advisor for 2026
Dissent: N/A
Moved by Director Brenten [00:41:40]
The board moved to appoint PMA as the district's financial advisor. A clarifying question confirmed PMA had been used for about three years. No further discussion was noted.
Designation of Identified Official with Authority (OWA) for MDE System
Dissent: N/A
Moved by Director Hillenbrand [00:43:08] · Seconded by Director Basset [00:43:11]
The board designated Dr. Bob McDall, Assistant Superintendent, as the OWA and Dr. Talo, Superintendent, as the proxy for the Minnesota Department of Education's external user re-certification system. No discussion was noted.
Designation of Official Newspaper for 2026
Dissent: Director Basset (Abstain)
Moved by Director Brinsen [00:44:40] · Seconded by Director Bowman [00:44:44]
The board moved to designate ECM Publishers Incorporated (Sun Post and Sun Sailor Homes Horn Source) as the district's official newspaper for 2026. No discussion was noted.
Designation of Official Television Producer for 2026
Dissent: N/A
Moved by Director Basset [00:45:51] · Seconded by Director Brinsen [00:45:54]
The board moved to designate CCX as the official television producer for 2026. No discussion was noted.
Review of Policy 209, Code of Ethics, Statement of Compliance
Dissent: N/A
Board members were instructed to review and sign the annual statement of compliance for Policy 209 (Code of Ethics). Several directors (Hillenbrand, Brunson, Wuto) disclosed potential conflicts of interest related to family members' employment or student status within the district.
Fair Pilgrim Lane Elementary Arts Integration Presentation
Dissent: N/A
Principal Jennifer Smith and Stages Theater Company representatives, along with students, presented on the arts integration program at Fair Pilgrim Lane. The presentation highlighted various art forms integrated into the curriculum, partnerships with Stages, and the benefits for student development. The principal clarified that her presence was pre-scheduled and not related to the evening's closure vote.
Property and Liability Insurance Broker: USI Services LLC
Dissent: Director Long (Abstain)
Moved by Director Bowman [01:08:48] · Seconded by Director Long [01:09:12]
CFO Kristen Hohheisle presented the administration's recommendation to switch to USI for property and liability insurance for a five-year period, citing an annual savings of $70,000 and a targeted risk management program. She clarified that the district could terminate the agreement if dissatisfied and explained the benefits of USI's risk management approach. Questions were raised about contract review frequency.
Continued Statutory Operating Debt (SOD) Planning Site Consolidation
Dissent: Significant board member disagreement and public disruption during discussion phases.
Superintendent Stalo and CFO Hohheisle detailed the district's SOD status, the need for a balanced budget by January 31st, 2026, and the process leading to site consolidation options. The Superintendent addressed concerns about last-minute agenda changes, financial crisis causes, administrative cuts/bonuses, and personal attacks against staff (specifically the CFO regarding bond sales). The board discussed the discontinuation of Fair Crystal Middle School programming and potential repurposing of its building. Director Basset questioned the clarity of past votes and advocated for a hybrid approach for Fair Crystal, mixing neighborhood students with open enrollment for arts-focused students, leveraging the facility's unique features. Concerns about the capacity of other middle schools were also raised.
Notable Quotes (16)
As you recite the oath of office, you assume a tremendous responsibility as a director of our school district with duties empowered by the Minnesota legislature. This power puts you and the other members of our school board in the position of being both morally and legally responsible for equitable quality education of every student in this district.
It's imperative that we have a chair for our board who ensures that the board is in the decision makingaking position that the legislature placed us to be in. It is not the duty or the responsibility or the honor of the chair and the certainly not the responsibility to make decisions solely that really are in the purview of the board.
I also feel like there is a lot of conversations that are happening between you and the superintendent that the rest of us aren't privy to. And that was one thing that I found out when I asked some questions about what was happening in the engineering um department and asked if we could have a closed session about it so we could find out. And you gave me some information that you had heard from the superintendent that the rest of us did not get.
One of the things that was really apparent to me long before I even got onto this board was the lack of formal formalization uh to board roles and responsibilities to the roles and responsibilities of the chair and the clerk and and the other people and it was left up sort of lacadasical all these years never really being formalized.
My point is that if it nobody else is stepping up and so um it's very easy to point fingers and say that people are doing it wrong but rather come in support um or step up if you'd like to be the chair happy to you know but I don't hear anybody else stepping up to to fill that void and so rather than in a public setting here tearing people down why don't you step up if you want to be chair then run then put your name in the hat and and we can vote.
Past practice has been that the chair would rotate when they call the role for any vote. They rotate through the whole roster of board members. That then allows every board director to have the first time to be the first vote and it rotates normally. If it's always left to the last person to make the vote, they often can be in a position where they can shape the vote.
This is another nomination that I'm having a really hard time with um with there being a direct um attack to constituents here at the board table. Also, uh the emails haven't stopped or other um things to our constituents that are negative and harmful to them.
I guess I would like to know what happened with the FAC cuz that's something that the treasurer is supposed to be in charge of. I know we put that aside, but then it seemed to never come back up in our agenda. And so I'm asking that cuz you're the treasurer and the treasurer is usually responsible for that. So what are you going to do to ensure that we get the FAC back up and working again?
ME being here tonight has absolutely nothing to do with the proposal and the board vote today. And I just need that out there. So rumors and assumptions are not made. This was done what you asked us in like August, September to sign up and so I signed up around I think it was September. So um it is just coincidence that I happen to be here tonight.
Fairfield Lane has helped me feel more comfortable sharing my ideas and being more confident, especially when I have to speak in front of others. I think this is because over the years I've had many performance opportunities.
what they do is they focus on things that the district can control and how we can get better to limit our exposure and liability and therefore ultimately that ends up in uh better rates. So it's not just a broker out there uh doing the work of essentially shopping our insurance package. uh their targeted risk management program does the work by coming internally and focusing on areas where there's maybe a higher exposure for underwriters and and everything that's happening.
I want to begin with some comments that I believe need to be put into the public record. First of all, I want to provide facts about the agenda for this meeting. We have received emails with concerns of a lastminute agenda change and there is information on social media post including from school board members that the agenda and recommendations for tonight's for tonight were changed last minute. That's not true.
Unfounded personal attacks against public officials have real life consequences. Individuals do not want to work in public education when they're the subject of baseless attacks. In addition, the victims of these types of attacks are forced to make difficult decisions about whether they will spend their own funds pursuing legal action against the individuals making defamatory comments. I'm disappointed and discouraged by the number of people who are engaging in divisive rhetoric and personal attacks simply to advance agendas.
For a plan creation, the district must develop a detailed plan approved by the school board and submitted to the Department of Education outlining how it will recover financially by the end of January. There will be increased state monitoring. The state closely monitors the district finances and may require regular progress updates to ensure the district follows the recovery plan and the potential consequences. If the district doesn't make adequate prog progress, it could face additional state imposed restrictions which might impact local decision-making flexibility.
So, I my vote was because we we want to be transparent and publish this document that says we motion to remove it and all of those things. We've not actually taken the the final formal vote to remove those things. That that language really should be clarified.
The whole idea about Fair Crystal and the facility that it is, the availability to of that facility for middle school students across this district has high value to relegate it to one particular community. Now, I'm thinking there's some merit to having it be uh maybe a hybrid where you have a neighborhood boundary uh kind of a bifurcated thing. baby is trigated because if you have students coming from C, if you have a percentage of students that are able to open enroll there uh because they live in our school district of Robbinsdale and they are arts focused and a middle school boundary that's three opportunities for kids in our community to participate in that building.
Ordinances & Resolutions (13)
Statement read at the beginning of the meeting recognizing indigenous homelands.
Ceremonial oath taken by newly appointed school board director DJ Brimson.
Annual review and signing of compliance by board members.
Document signed annually by board members affirming adherence to the Code of Ethics.
Annual resolution for district operations.
Annual resolution for district financial management.
Annual resolution for district financial management.
Annual resolution for district financial operations.
District plan required by the Minnesota Department of Education to address financial deficit, due January 31st, 2026.
Relates to districts operating underutilized buildings.
Outlines requirements for districts in SOD, including submission of a special operating plan.
A long-term vision for the school district.
A plan started in 2022 that was never fully developed or implemented.