I love all the talking in the room. I love all the volume that we had in the room. But it is time for the work study study session to begin. So, thank you. Welcome everyone. Welcome vision team members, welcome community. When we start a study session, we introduce ourselves and we generally introduce everyone in the room and we are not doing that part tonight, but we will introduce ourselves as board members because that is a tradition at today's sessions. I'm greet Evans Becker. I am the board chair. We'll go this way first. Caroline Long, vice chair. >> Aviva Hillenbrand, treasure. >> Renee Bowman, clerk. >> Connectto school board. >> Helen Bassid, school board. >> Kim Holmes, school board. Terry Stal, superintendent. >> All righty. Okay, let's get right to it. I'm going to turn it over to our superintendent and let's get started. >> Excellent. Uh the purpose of study sessions is for board members and the administrators to share information and prepare ultimately for decisions that are made at the board table during business meetings. Tonight as we look at the board planning document that's uh posted, the sole agenda topic falls under the board governance role of community engagement, engaging the community and the reimagine Ardale vision 2030 recommendations. And as we prepare to hear from the vision team, I'd like to provide some thoughts and just a little bit of context. The Reimagine Ardell 2030 initiative has three components, all geared toward learning from and engaging with our diverse community of stakeholders in a common effort to shape a new vision for Robbinsdale Area Schools. First of all, there was the comprehensive community survey. It was available in multiple languages. We mailed brochures to all community members to make sure that they were aware of it. Uh we made the survey available online and then we also administrated it in multiple face-to-face uh engagement events. For community engagement, we had eight district-wide community events including two virtual sessions and four sessions specifically geared to indigenous, pan-African, Somali, and Latino affinity groups. We had student meetings or activities at every school kindergarten through 12th grade including including grade level meetings for all six through 12th graders at every school. We had staff meetings at every school and in most departments. We had popup engagement events at various locations within the district and the vision 2030 team who many of whom are sitting in front of me this evening. This was an advisory group of students, parents, caregivers, staff, and community members who met for eight months, reviewed and discussed huge amounts of data, engaged in deep and challenging discussions about challenges and possibilities for Robbinsdale, and created recommendations for board consideration. All told to date, about 17,000 stakeholders provided input that informed the vision team's discussions over the course of those eight months on topics that were both weighty and oftentimes emotional. It's important to note that the vision team was advisory only. The team was fully aware that the school board is the body that holds decision-making authority and provides direction to staff regarding implementation of board decisions. Authentic community engagement requires leaders of organizations to be vulnerable. Groups may have very different views about what can and should happen on particular issues. Sometimes community engagement is really hard because it requires deep listening without trying to influence or jumping into action. According to Penn State Center for Economic and Community Development, authentic community engagement requires letting go of some of the traditional reigns of power and trusting that citizens can and will effectively engage in issues. When done well, the result is a partnership that is nearly always healthy for a community and can more effectively address the issue at hand. From my perspective, that has been the experience and the outcome of this process. I've been part of many community task forces and advisory committees throughout my career. Some of these have been facilitated by outside consultants and some by district leaders. I've served as a district leader in multiple processes and I've served as an outside consultant for school districts. I have never been a part of a process with more honest and difficult discussions. I've never seen a group so engaged and invested. I've never felt such genuine sense of working collaboratively toward a common good rather than individual interest. I've never entered a process so open to trusting that the outcome would be based on the collective. I am so proud of the work of this vision team and I want to thank you all for your work and I'm also incredibly proud of how my team set up, facilitated and organized the process to get us where we are tonight. I also want to thank them for their work and partnership. So tonight, while we have a lot of our vision team members here, three representatives from the Vision 2030 team will be sharing the team's findings and recommendations for moving toward a brighter future for Robbinsdale Area Schools. I'll invite them now to introduce themselves and start their presentation. Um, we'll have them complete the entire presentation and then they'll hand it back to me. um I can give a few more uh directions before we engage in board members comments and questions. So with that, I'm going to hand it over to the team. Thank you very much. >> Thank you very much, Dr. Stallow, for your uh kind words and uh good evening. Thank you for providing us with the opportunity to present the recommendations of the 2030 vision team. The vision team is a group of community members who have worked together for eight months with the shared goal of reimagining our school district as one our students want, need, and deserve. A detailed report of the recommendations is available for the public to access on the district website. We strongly encourage everyone listening to download it and read through it because the information that we give tonight is not enough opportunity for us to present everything tonight. Before I go into introduction of myself, I first want to say thank you to all of my teammates that have spent the last eight months diving in deep because without you, we would not be here today. So, thank you 2030 vision team. Hello everyone. My name is Willie Howard. I live right here in district 281. When I accepted the job years ago, I made it a priority to be seen, live where I work. So, I built a house in New Hope. And District 281 is where four of my children proudly graduated. I wear many hats in this community as a father, an administrator, a coach, a mentor, and a realtor that has helped staff me members find homes for the last 19 years in our district. But above all, I see myself as a servant to this community. 16 years ago, when I applied to work in District 281, I told the hiring team one thing. I am a man who runs to the fire, not away from it. Back then, the district had its share of challenges. But instead of backing down, I leaned in. And ever since, I made it my mission to be there for students and families. Whether it's long hours of support to showing up at funerals to cooking for teams or even raising well over 200,000 for a new scoreboard in a community weight room. My daughter summed it up best during her graduation speech last year when she said, "Like my father always says, "Family, forget about me. I love you." That's the heart of why I do what I do. This is why I applied to be on this vision team. I want to help put out this fire. There's work to do and I want to help save all the greatness our community has to be proud of. This isn't about me. It's about all of us. It's about making sure all of our students and families have the best and that every child in this district knows they can and should dream big and I will have and they will have support for their dreams. Good evening. I'm Brienne Foss. I'm a former student of Lakeville Lake View Elementary, Samberg Middle School, Cooper High School. We've raised two boys through the district at RSI, Meadow Lake, PMS, RMS, Fair Crystal. They both graduated from Cooper. We have a nephew who lives with us. He's a junior in the district. and we have two little ones that are elementary students in the district. I'm a former cheerleader. I'm a former booster club president. I'm a community member and above all someone who loves this district deeply. My heart has always been here through my own school years and now through my children's. I know firsthand how strong our community is, how committed our teachers are, and how much our schools provide for our kids. But the last few years, I started to feel discouraged by what I was seeing and hearing. I realized I had a choice. I could stay frustrated or I could step up and be part of shaping the solution. That's why I applied to be a part of the vision team. And I'm grateful to be here, helping ensure the future of our schools reflect the best of who we are as a community. >> Hello, my name is Kylander Nelson Shapertia. I am a junior at Cooper High School and I have been in the district my whole life. I live in New Hope. I went to C elementary. I went to Plymouth Middle School and Fair Crystal. My purpose on this vision team is to bring the student voice in perspective. In a room full of adults worrying about taxes, I make sure to advocate for the needs of my fellow peers, students, and how to support them during their development. For me, being part of this team was crucial to the process so that kids are not just heard, but actually listened to when it comes to what they want in education because what they need is so crucial to everything that we do. And it is so important that their voices are heard and that their voices are seen and that they are understood. Um, and there's been a multitude of conversations where we've had and I've just had to say, wait, hold on. A student would not agree with that. No kid would say that. and it's so important that has developed so many of our conversations. Um, we'd like to emphasize that we are just three members of this much much larger committee. Every single one of us has our own story and what this process means and what these recommendations mean to us. Um, I would like to invite everybody on the team to stand for a few seconds and identify yourselves. Thank you so much for being part of this process. [Applause] [Applause] Before we start our presentation tonight, we want to acknowledge that because our recommendations will include suggestions to school closures and programmatic changes across the district, they may laid may lead to a range of emotions from strong enthusiasm to deep apprehension. And since the report was posted to the district website last Friday, we imagine that community members may have already started reaching out to you to share their views. We know change doesn't come easily, especially when it involves our children's education and the school communities we have deep history in our district. Board members, we you will make the ultimate decisions. So as you consider these recommendations, we ask you to consider the following critical questions. Do you believe our recommendations will lead to a brighter, more equitable future for our students and a healthier financial position for the district? And if not, what is your plan to solve the changes we are facing, including our district's serious financial crisis? The choice and responsibility ultimately is yours. The challenges the district faces are serious, but they also present the district with an opportunity to make bold changes for our students, our staff, and community that they need and deserve. Today's board stands at a critical turning point, working alongside district administration and staff. The board can chart a path that strengthens our schools, supports our staff, and ensures better opportunities for every single student. So, why are we here tonight? Let's level set. If you've had any role in this district, you know there is so much good to be found here. We have fantastic teachers and staff and rich diversity. We are genuinely committed to equity and we have a long history of exceptional visual and performing arts. This just scratches the surface of all the good in our district. At the same time, our district is facing significant challenges that clearly have been growing for many years. Our test scores fall below state averages. We're experiencing declining enrollment. We've seen a lot of leadership turnover and many of our facilities are in need of major updates. Those were the challenges our district faced even before the $21 million deficit that put our district into statutory operating debt and affected more than 180 staff. Even before the current financial crisis, our district needed to change. But now it's essential. That's why district administrators created Reimagine Ardale. When Dr. Stalo launched the effort, she called it a bold initiative that invites us to dream big about the future of Robbinsdale area schools. And that's exactly what the vision 2030 team has been doing during our last eight months of work together. The vision 2030 team is one part of the overall reimagine Ardell initiative which also included a comprehensive survey and robust community engagement campaign. At every meeting, we reviewed our purpose. A community group reflective of the diverse makeup of our students and community population will engage in study, learning, and analysis to develop long-term recommendations for districts priorities, financial stability, and considerations to reimagine the school district our students want, need, and deserve. The application and selection process is described in detail in our recommendations paper. In short, 46 out of 155 applicants were invited to serve on the committee. All accepted and after eight months of deep and intense work, 37 committee members remain and all sign the recommendations before you. During our time together, we studied a range of topics. We looked at student data, summary results from the vision 2030 community survey, enrollment trends and projections, facilities data, and more. And through all of this, the vision team stayed focused on equity. We imagined our own personal biases and future we had each envisioned for our own kids and identified disparities and barriers all with the goal of evaluating data and making recommendations that will have the greatest positive impact on the students in our district. Because vision team members brought varying school and life experiences to each meeting, there were occasional conflicts among perspectives. Emotions sometimes ran high, but we worked through our differences in a respectful and collaborative manner. We ultimately achieved consensus on our final recommendations, meaning we agreed on what we put forward as a whole, believing that these recommendations will make a positive impact on our district. what to expect next. We'll spend the majority of tonight sharing the insights the vision teams uncovered together and our consensus recommendations for Roenddale area schools. As we acknowledged earlier, these recommendations will include suggestions for school closures and programmatic changes in our districts. But we also want to address right from the start that our recommendations do not include exactly how many schools the district should close, which ones, and when. While we understand these are details the community wants to know and they want to know now, the vision team believes these decisions will require additional intensive effort from district staff who have the specific expertise and experience in working through school closures. Later in the presentation, we'll share more about what people can expect to happen next. As difficult as it is to hear about school closures, we want to emphasize that our recommendations are not just a plan to close schools. Throughout all of our work, our goal has been to identify ways to expand opportunities and raise academic excellence by creating learning environments where every child is inspired, supported, and safe. So, let's jump into some of the key findings and considerations that formed our recommendations. Our greatest district strength is its people. There is a strong consensus amongst survey results and in conversations that our teachers and staff are extraordinary. They bring dedication, care, and talent to students every single day. combine exceptional staff with our diverse set of academic and extracurricular programs and it's clear Robbinsdale Area Schools has a foundation to be proud of. Ask almost anyone with firsthand experience in our district and you'll soon learn that the arts and in particular visual and performing arts are the core to our district's DNA. We also heard this through the vision 2030 survey where students rank the arts among the most important areas they want to learn and participate in alongside math, reading, and hands-on learning. The arts also provide students ways to express themselves, explore culture, and celebrate diversity. In Robbinsdale, the arts and our community's diversity are deeply connected are both amongst the greatest assets that we can celebrate. The vision team also look directly at academic performance. Our state tests, Robbinsdale schools, and students consistently score below Minnesota averages in reading, math, and science. We also know that MCAs aren't the only measure of students success, but they are visible and families and community members pay attention. Thus, we cannot ignore the reality. Now, our enrollment numbers and an enrollment projection expert, Hazel Reinhardt, studied our district's enrollment trends and created projections that we reviewed in depth as a team. And this is what we've learned. Our enrollment is declining. And since 2014 2015 school year, it's declined 16% which is equal to nearly 2,000 students. Many of the reasons for declining enrollment are factors being faced by schools nationwide. lower birth rates, limited real estate for new housing developments that would attract school-aged families, and older residents staying longer in their homes. The competition for our students has also increased, and we're seeing losses of our resident students to other public school districts and charter schools. While we gain nearly the same number of students we lose to open enrollment, the trend is still concerning. Our capture rate, which is the percentage of residents, students who choose our schools over our neighborhood public option, has fallen from 70% to 62% since 2014 2015 school year. Even though there are things we can do to increase our capture rate of these resident students and even attract more open enroll students into our district, we also need to recognize the significant impact of the factors that are outside of our control. Like I talked about, birth rates and we should continue to expect our enrollment to decline. Reinhardt projects that Robbinsdale's enrollment in 203031 school year to be between 9,341 and 9,759 students. To put in perspective, last year we were at 10,253 students. >> Another key finding and considerations is that Robbinsdale operates more buildings than needed. couple our enrollment data with our facilities capacity and utilization rates. It becomes clear that Robbinsdale is operating more buildings than it needs, resulting in significant costs for the district. The written report includes capacity and utilization data for all of our school buildings. For now, we'll just note that half of our buildings have utilization rates less than 60%. Facilities are also outdated and expensive to maintain. Our current facilities were noted as a top challenge for area growth. According to the vision 2030 community survey, our review of facility assessment, which evaluated district facilities for their condition, remaining life expectancy, deferred maintenance needs, and performance, paints a serious financial picture. If the district were to address all of the identified deferred maintenance needs, it would cost 216.6 million over the next 10 years. 76.3 million of that is in urgent needs, which among other things reflect issues tied to health, safety, and system failures. The written report includes a detailed table showing the estimated deferred maintenance cost for all of our school buildings. It wasn't just numbers that demonstrated the need to address our buildings. During an all-day tour of facilities in other districts, vision team members were inspired by what could be possible of our own students. We saw bright, open, and airy communal spaces, state-of-the-art career training and art facilities, flexible learning areas, modern performance theaters, private music spaces, and safe and modern private stall bathrooms. Updated facilities don't just support effective learning. They promote pride and belonging. During our all-day tour of other metro schools, one of my student peers on the vision team said, "I would really like to go to the school." And I have to say, I would agree. Now, this is really close to my heart. It's safety and security are priorities, which they are. All of our buildings have fundamental safety and security protocols in place. We also know that there is always room for improvement, though professional audits of facilities, staff know which areas could be strengthened. Through regular student surveys, they also know where students feel the safest and most vulnerable, including the bathrooms. I personally feel strongly about the bathrooms and I think it's really important that the district remodel bathrooms to help students feel safe when using them or strongly consider student voice when evaluating them. Unfortunately, however, the funding available for safety and security is not sufficient to take on the comprehensive list of currently identified needs. Finally, we must address reputation. Robbinsdale has a lot to be proud of. dedicated staff, reach rich diversity, strong programs, and caring school communities. But reputation is shaped not just by strengths, but also by challenges. Factors that have hurt the district's reputation include concerns about the district's financial management, academic achievement, student behavior and safety related incidents, and facilities that are in need of major updates. We want to recognize the extremely difficult decisions elected board members face on a regular basis. We strongly value your service and the countless hours you put into your work. Unfortunately, our school board has been described in a less than flattering terms in local media and governance was one one of the factors tied to recent decline in the district's bond rating. We believe board members now have an opportunity to rewrite the board story by demonstrating bold action, courageous leadership, and strong collaboration. Now for the vision 2030 team's recommendations. [Music] >> Our recommendations fall into four general categories. First, the core pillars serve as a foundation on which the district can build stronger schools where each student is seen, supported, and fully prepared for life beyond graduation. Second, a new district-wide identity of arts and innovation would incorporate the most effective initiative from the school of engineering and arts and fair into every school. Third, closing excess buildings would help the district gain financial and operational efficiency that could in turn positively impact the students experience. And finally, renovating school buildings where necessary would help ensure every student at every school has access to learning spaces that foster academic excellence, innovation, and collaboration. Our recommendations for core academic pillars mean that learning pathways will provide every student with access to learning opportunities that honor their unique gifts, experiences, interests, and ambitions. These opportunities develop enthusiastic, engaged, and adaptable learning learners eager to contribute to their communities and to the world. Every student will have access to a highquality learning spaces that are safe and designed to support well-being and belonging. These environments promote effective learning, connection, and pride in school community. Every student will have access to exceptional educators and staff who are wellprepared, passionate, and supported to thrive in their roles. By investing in our staff, we strengthen the caliber of academic excellence. And finally, every student will be supported by our active and engaged community of positive or of students, staff, and residents. The community connection creates belonging and positive collaboration, helping both the district and the community thrive. We want to note that the magnet schools that are an exception to the trend of declining enrollment. Our recommendation for an arts and innovation programmatic focus would give Robbinsdale area schools a clearer identity to students, families, and community members, and more importantly would lead to expanded access to highly effective programming for all students districtwide. >> We recognize that full implementation will take time, but choosing this programmatic focus would be a monumental step forward for our district. An arts and innovation focus would mean that C and Fair would no longer operate as standalone magnet schools. Spanish Emerion would continue as a standalone magnet school due to its unique requirement for staff who are proficient in Spanish. Children would be assigned to their neighborhood school using new boundaries unless they opt into Spanish immersion. Teaching staff would undergo professional development to effectively implement a robust arts and innovation infused curriculum. Key community partnerships like those that already exist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Stages Theater Company would be expanded across the district to provide a greater access to educational opportunities some students in our district are already receiving. We would also expect that arts and innovation programming would be delivered across the district at a high standard. We believe that if Robbinsdale is truly committed to equity, all students should have the opportunity to participate in arts innovation programming. We recommend that Robinsdale create one high school, preferably as a new build in a new location to provide a unified high school experience. The school would offer specialized learning communities. sometimes calledmies and would enroll about 2800 to 2900 students. Planning and constructing a new high school would take years, so it would likely not affect any current high school students. We also recognize that research would be needed to determine the feasibility of new construction versus remodeling of an existing school. And I do just have to go off script here to say that I was completely against one high school. Um, I had a lot of concerns about safety, about how my child would flourish in this huge school, uh, and also what sports and extracurricular activities might look like for them. Um, and then we as a group talked a lot about it and there are these pathways and smaller communities that our children would be able to have that small school within a big school feel and not feel like they don't have that community connection. Um, also to be able to build a building with the technology and the architecture for safety. Uh, to be able at a click of a button, you know, lock down a corridor. Um, those were things that I was impacted by and thought this would be really great. And we'll talk more about the sports, but back to the script here. Um, data reviewed by the vision team indicate that fewer middle schools are needed to serve current and projected enrollment. The exact number of middle schools needed would become clear over time as additional variables play out. for example, whether the Spanish immersion program is preK to fifth grade or preK to 8th grade. This is something we weighed as a committee but didn't reach consensus on. We recommend further study of pros and cons. We currently estimate two to three middle schools would be needed. We recommend that the retained middle schools be strategically located to balance enrollment and access. The data clearly show that fewer elementary schools are needed to serve our current and projected enrollment. Considering enrollment capacity and utilization data, the vision team estimates that six to nine elementary schools could serve our enrollment over the next decade. Additional research would be needed to determine exactly how many and which schools would be retained. We recommend that each elementary school have space for prek. As we have shared already, decision-making around how many and which schools to close requires that expertise that is beyond the scope of any advisory committee. That is a staff's role. Staff would also create comprehensive transition plans to support students, families, and staff moving from one school to another. We know a voter approved bond would be needed to pay for significant facilities improvements, and we'll talk more about that a little bit later. We do not recommend increasing class size maximums from what already exists today. And we believe there are meaningful benefits both financially and educationally that could be achieved through our recommendations. Our recommendations also include specific physical requirements for every school building, which range from flexible learning spaces and dedicated art and music spaces to reliable HVAC systems and private single stall bathrooms. We believe these are necessary aspects of any highquality school building. They support effective teaching and learning and provide learning environments where students feel safe, secure, and ready to learn. The vision team has identified intended outcomes and potential challenges associated with the recommendation. A critical intended outcome is that the district would operate within its financial means. Financial responsibility is a duty of administration. The board has another level of fiduciary responsibility which is the duty to care to ensure proper use of all the district assets. The slide shows estimated annual savings that could be achieved by reducing the number of schools we operate. The numbers are compelling. The transformations the vision team is recommending would require upfront investment in order to achieve significant reductions in ongoing operating expenses. To create modernized, future ready schools with enhanced security, the district would need to need the community support through a bond initiative. The bond would ensure that every student, regardless of which Robinsville school they attend, learns in a safe, high-quality environment designed for the future. It has been at least 45 years since our schools have been able to benefit from a voter-approved bond to improve school buildings. The reality is that meeting those needs requires community support. Robbinsdale would not be unique in this need. Other metro districts are investing heavily in their facilities via community supported bond referendums. Here's a sampling of some of those recent bonds, and we list more in the report. If Robbinsdale chooses to move forward with a bond referendum to invest in facilities, building trust will be essential. That means more consistent collaboration, clear communication, and visible action on the priorities families care most about. Some might wonder what happened to the funding provided through the 2024 technology levy. That renewed levy extended the 2014 voter approved technology levy at the same tax rate. Beginning this school year, it is providing about seven million annually with nearly twothirds of funds dedicated to technology and one-third to safety and security upgrades across our schools. This levy provides critical support, but it does not address the major facility needs across the district. We are recommending that the district double down on exactly what has made its magnet program so desirable, hands-on and project-based learning. outdoor learning spaces, arts integration, and more. Sharpening the district's curricular focus delivered in this hands-on, innovation-minded and artsinfused way would allow the district to offer more opportunities to more of its students. When it comes to athletics and activities, we anticipate a positive net impact. Many of our sports programs already operate as co-ops between Armstrong and Cooper and in some cases with other districts because there's not enough participation for each school to sustain its own team. Even at the club level, Armstrong and Cooper share several activities. In this way, combining schools is a natural extension of what is already happening, and it would allow the district to expand offerings rather than cut them. And for example, we might be able to add more levels to existing sports teams. While combining schools creates new opportunities, it could also become more competitive for students to earn a spot on certain teams and groups. Undoubtedly, this would require the district to hold triyouts, and some students might not might not make the team. The upside of this would be the district's ability to compete at a higher more competitive competitive level and still offer athletes who may have been cut many other options for activities and clubs. >> Robbinsdale area schools span seven cities including parts of or all of Robbinsdale, Crystal, New Hope, Golden Valley, Plymouth, Brooklyn Center, and Brooklyn Park. It is not an easy feat to build a unified identity across multiple cities, each with their own individual sense of community. Implementing a focused vision districtwide creates an opportunity to change that. Fostering greater unity as students, families, and staff rally around one vision instead of being divided across competing schools or programs. A key part of this shift draws from our recommendation to combine our existing high schools into one. This means every student beginning in preK would start their educational journey connected to the same brand. The new high school would carry a new name, mascot, and colors, creating a powerful district-wide identity. From the earliest grades through graduation, every student would share the same school pride, wearing the same colors, cheering for the same teams, and belonging to the same Robbinsdale Area Schools community. And while we recommend a new identity, we also recommend providing space to highlight and preserve the history of the schools that would close. We believe this change represents a profound opportunity to unify a diverse district around core identity, strengthen community pride, and build a sense of belonging that spans all seven cities. Equity has guided the development of our recommendation and we believed increased equity would be a key outcome of this process. By moving to one high school, we eliminate the division between the current two high schools and ensure that every student has access to the same teachers, extracurricular programs, advanced learning opportunities, and highquality facilities. This unified approach also prevents disparities in offerings by expanding arts and innovation programs districtwide rather than only allowing such access to programmings via lottery. Consolidating into fewer, better supported schools may also strengthen collaboration and camaraderie among staff. teachers could gain more time and support to focus on what matters the most, their students, their instruction. In addition, reducing the need for teachers who are currently assigned to multiple sites to travel between buildings would likely give them more time in the classroom directly supporting student learning. These recommendations will also require significant amount of staff work and one of the most important outputs of that work is the timeline for change. We are urging prompt board action of these recommendations because our district does not have the luxury of time. The reality is that the district has pressing financial problems and is now in statutory operating debt. A schoolboard SOD plan must be submitted to the Minnesota Department of Education by January 31st, 2026, outlining how the district will get out of debt. The vision team is not engaged in the development of that plan, but we would anticipate that some of the cost-saving measures recommended in our paper would lead to some implementation sooner than later in order to make aggressive progress towards a healthier financial position. While we are aware that many in our community may desire more concrete details about what will occur and when, we would encourage all to consider the district's current situation has many interrelated variables and any action taken will likely cause an impact at other areas. We trust the board and administration to determine how to best move forward knowing that these recommendations and the SOD plan may have to go hand in hand. We also recommend communicating as transparently and proactively as possible with the community and implementation details become clearer. The vision team recognizes potential challenges related to our recommendations. First, we understand the grief and loss associated with school closures. Those feelings come from a wonderful place. people who love their school, their friends, and the gifted staff who transform physical buildings into beautiful, caring communities. Fortunately, for many other districts have paved similar transition paths following school closures, so we can learn from them. Everyone is deeply rooted in their individual school community, but this provides for an opportunity to become a larger community and form the identity of Ardell through the students. We are also aware that today's uncertain economy may have an impact in our residents willingness to pay additional taxes, but again it is for the benefit of the students. We've also identified factors that could help navigate those challenges and we would frame them as expectations. Strong alignment between between and among leadership and key stakeholders, a clear vision of responsibility and possibility, transparency, empathy, and compassion, and a strong transition plan for students moving to a new school. We understand how big truly transformative change is. So, while phased implementation may make sense, phased decision-making will only slow progress. We ask the school board to lead with bold action, courage, and a unified voice, positively collaborating in district with district administration to build a stronger, more unified district for all students. As we close, we would like to share a select few quotes from vision team members. The quotes provide a glimpse of what being part of this vision team meant to those team members and how they hope that their work would lead to positive impact. We want to thank you for your time and your attention on this matter. We will now turn things back to our superintendent, Dr. Stallow. [Applause] Kylander, Brienne, and Willie, thank you for your courageous presentation. Thank you for representing um over 2,000 hours of work from these amazing individuals and those who aren't able to be here tonight. Um and thank you for showing your passion and your commitment and the honesty about how hard the work was, how hard the recommendations were to come to consensus with and how hard and challenging the path forward is. Thanks for also setting a vision of possibility, of potential, and of the school district that our kids want, need, and deserve. Uh before uh chairman, before I turn it uh over to you um and have you open up for board comments and questions, um I'll request board members that as you're thinking about what you might want to comment on or ask about, you'd consider the following. If you have questions or comments about the team's recommendations and process over the last eight months, please feel free to ask them directly. Uh presenters, if you get a question that you can't answer um because you'd have to speculate about it. Don't feel pressured to answer. Just turn it back over to me. I likely can't answer it either, but then you won't be put on the spot. Okay. Um board members, if you have questions about the data, the what the implementation will look like or any on any of the specific recommendations or any of the operational aspects, um please hold those for after this part of the presentation. Um we administratively, um have had time to look through the final recommendations as well and we believe we really have a solid draft phasing plan for both the the statutory operating debt work as well as the future planning. We know the board has been wondering and asking about a timeline um and what phasing could look like. So, we want to be sure to share that after the presentation. We obviously um could not provide some of that before the recommendations this evening. So, at this time, I'll hand it back to you, Chair Becker. Thank you. >> Thank you. First of all, I want to thank the team and the writers of the the people that did their writing and presenting. Uh it's thorough, it's thoughtful. I read it and it's like, whoa, did not see that coming, but it's like, oh, that really makes sense. And so, thank you very much for the work that you've done. And it presents us with not fear about 21 million, but exciting opportunities. is like, oh, it's it's it's like opened up hope and excitement about the future for our our schools. So, thank you. Thank you for what you did. Okay, board members, just raise your hands if you have questions or comments. And um Director Long will make a list. Anyone? Director Long, I mean, Oops, I did it again. Director Holmes, >> can you just quantify the process because I think some of us might have more questions. What kind of time expectation are we on? Um, this is so the board has just received this information as of Friday. So, you just saw the volume of work that went into it and information. So, there might be a lot of questions and um reflection for us. So, I'm just trying to quantify what our expectation is >> right now. Just if you have a question about the recommendations or about the process, but not about the timelines that are coming or see what you got and we'll see if if we can do it. Director Basset. >> Well, I I want to thank the uh entire committee. I want to thank our presenters. you did an excellent job and we really appreciate uh the time and care you took and your presentation you did and particularly enjoy having one of our students here uh helping to lead this. So you did a great job. Thank you. And to the entire committee, I extend my thanks to you uh for the time and dedication that you put in. I will say that um I was one of the people who thought have been used to having the board be involved in the process itself. Um, and I still have a little bit of a bias toward that, but I will tell you that you have you have modified my strong opinions about that with your presentation uh tonight. Uh, that doesn't mean that we don't have a a great deal of work to do ahead of us. And, uh, you haven't seen it, but we've got this big fat thick thing about how much it, you know, 108 p I like to say that 108 pages of um, you know, some of the full scope of different kinds of changes that need to happen. And so um to my colleagueu's point uh right now we have just got this and it will take some thoughtful contemplation. So, um it it perhaps might have been um wise of us to actually schedule a follow-up meeting for the board to kind of go through this. Um because I think that um anything worth doing well is worth taking the time you need understanding we've got a hard stop at January 31st. So, I don't think anybody's into dragging their feet, but I think uh you know, rushed decisions are often not the best decisions. And um so within the time frame that we have, I think that I certainly want to be mindful. I don't think that anybody else doesn't want to be mindful about moving as quickly as we can. That's not an issue. However, I do think that there's a lot to contemplate and the kinds of questions that might come forward. Um are just unfolding. So, um, and if we're having this meeting tonight and given the impression that all of our questions are on the table, we've asked all our questions. Well, that's I think that's a little naive quite frankly. And, uh, for for something of this scope that will end up going to taxpayers potentially for money. Uh, and so I, uh, those are the comments that I have to make at this moment. I have a page full of different kinds of questions and I'm not quite sure till I hear from the superintendent about what the path forward. I don't know what the path forward is. We we don't know what the time frame is. We don't know what the process is has been envisioned. So without all of that knowledge, then I can maybe route my questions in a better way. So I'm I'm interested in hearing what that is. >> There is another presentation tonight that will be helpful with that information. >> Okay. I'm just sh Thank you for that. I appreciate that, but I'm just, you know, kind of these are my comments to the community right now. >> Thank you, Director Long. >> Yeah, mine were the same as what Director Basset was just sharing. I was just wondering if maybe there would be, you know, more about the process. There'd be like a work session that some of the vision team members could come to to answer some of our questions after we've had time to process all of this information. Um it is a lot to process and think through and um you know just have gotten it on Friday started my wheels spinning and then I wanted to hear what the presentation was going to say and which is spinning my wheels more and now I need my brain to settle so I can figure out what those questions are so I'm not just spewing you know stuff out. So, um, would like to have some time to process and would like them to come back to like a work session so that we could ask them the follow-up questions that we have if that's a possibility. >> Okay, Director Bowman. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, it left me speechless. Um I really felt that the report was comprehensive in a way that I haven't seen uh that type of compre comprehensive subject matter pulled together and then knowing that you all discussed that is amazing to me. Um uh it also for me it checked every one of my boxes that I ran for when I ran for this office in 2022. And I ran across some of my literature today and I went, "Oh my god, this report reflects all of my questions uh that I had and my concerns from this district." Um and I've been in the district for a long time, having been a graduate of the district. um my assumption I don't have any questions right now about the report because it was so clear and it was so comprehensive and it was um it was just so very clear. I really understand the pathway that was laid out in front of us. So I don't have specific questions from this group but I hope that the group stays open to answering questions uh if we uh if those present themselves. But kudos to you guys for putting that clarity into the report. My questions will be uh most likely as the administration and Dr. Stalo bring forth the actual plans because it's like if if um making sure that equity exists across the program as was discussed in this uh in every place in all of our buildings in the report. It sounds rather lofty and really nice and all the things we want to agree to, but the rubber is going to meet the road when Dr. Stallow presents that stuff to us because that's going to give us the opportunity to take a look at possibility, feasibility, accountabilities, and all the other things that go with it. So, um, I will be asking many questions, I'm sure, between now and final decisions being made, but it won't be around the comprehensive and credible nature of this report. I think you've given us a pathway to follow. So I will turn it back and and look and also say that I really look forward to the information that will be brought to us from the administration team. So thank you very much. Applaud your work. Really do. >> Thank you, Director Hillbrand. >> Well, let me echo the thank yous. This is really amazing. I just had I don't even know if there really questions or thoughts but one one thing was about you know having the the arts and um innovation all across the district you know one thing about magnet schools of course they feel special right so one question I thought I had is you know how how do you make parents feel like if they're not getting in by lottery how does it feel special right and so how do people feel like they're getting something I think that's a big part of it, right? And so, how do we how do we build that? And I think we can. It's just something a thought that occurred to me as we were listening. And the other thing is, you know, and I appreciate what you said about the one high school. One thing I think a lot about is because, you know, we have a giant high school in a district next door. And I definitely did not want my kids to go to that giant high school. And so, um, and it it does, you know, what other than sports opportunities, it's also arts opportunities. is there's only so many parts in a play. There's only so many spots in the in the jazz band, right? There's only so many spots in the, you know, in the choir, right? And so, you know, how how do we make sure kids get those opportunities? And then it makes me think about all the different programs we have, right? IB, AP, you know, all those things, too. How do we make sure that we have those broad per and I think there's an answer. Those are the things that are in my head and I I think that's been answered for you guys and that's why you guys feel good about it. Um, and that's the question that I have and I think that as parents who are hearing this who haven't been part of this process, I think that's because nobody wants their kid to get lost, right? And when you hear a high school of 2900, right, that's what you that's I think as a parent what you wonder is is my kid going to get lost and is my kid going to have the opportunities that they have now, right? when you have four soccer teams in a high school, I don't know how many kids are at Armstrong right now or or at Cooper, but there the chances of my kids being on that team when there's two schools with four teams or whatever are a lot higher than if if it's one school that has four, you know, levels of teams. So, I think um I think like you said, the communication is going to be really big and helping people understand these things um is going to be a huge part of it. So I think this is tremendous work and I think the next step too is the teaching and and the teaching the community >> um the value of this including me. So but I I'm sure it's there. I believe it. Um I'm just looking forward to learning. So thank you. Are we allowed to talk? >> Yeah, please if you want to answer. I just didn't want to put you on the spot. Oh, like please answer because um the things that are going through your head went through our head three months ago and there were a lot of discussion and tears and anger, you know, respectfully, but there was a lot of emotions and so I think it's really important for you to ask questions so that everyone can understand the process that we went through. So, thank you for bringing those questions and just keep shooting them. Um, but as far as the magnet question, um, that was another thing I was really strong about. I, you know, I wanted to really keep the magnets as standalone, but the more we talked through it, it was like, we have so many things in this district that divide us. Two high schools that are rivals. We've got these magnet schools that only a certain select people can go to. Why are we not bringing those things to everybody and becoming a magnet district? You know, that is what makes us special. We're not losing it because only three schools get it. We're a magnet district now. Um that and that is our brand and we can feel good about that as a whole. >> What were the other thing was >> can you go to the mic microphone? >> I'm just trying to remember what the next question was. >> Oh the large high school and I kind of touched on that a little bit but do you want to talk about it? I just want to touch briefly on the last point is the importance of like the special schools and having the attraction of certain schools is that the entire district becomes special and that the only thing that you decide between um which school your kids should go to is whichever school their friends are going to. So that's really what's important is we want all kids to have the same opportunities. Touching on the larger high school, I was also very against it. um just coming from my experience within the district between Cooper and Armstrong, but having those similarities and connections between students um and having them and like we mentioned in our report, there'd be opportunities for smaller um learning facilities within that learning facility, giving opportunities for them to connect and within like you mentioned IBS and APs. um touch on athletics, but um in my experience that would be more opportunities for teachers to come to the district and staff and students to get more involved because in my AP US history class last year at Cooper, there were 15 kids in my class and it would be so beautiful if the um 21 students who are in this this year to again multiply. Um so yeah there's just more opportunity for growth and that's the beauty of the recommendations is that there's so many ways to reimagine and like you mentioned having just one musical why do we have to have one musical only so so many parts in a play multiple plays there's that opportunity for growth and there's opportunity if there's not enough room for plays in the school we can go to the community theater I've seen that happen many times um yeah do you want to touch on Sure. Well, being vulnerable, right? Um, got it tatted on my arm as coach in Cooper Colors. So, the team will tell you that I started off and one high school was never an option to start off with. But being part of a team that helped you to understand that it's forget about me, I love you. It's not what's best for what I think, it's what's best for what we all think. and the opportunity to go on the tour and see the possibilities. I just so happen to have my son who's here and knowing that I've had four kids go through our high school program to think about had they had the experience of what we toured, what that experience could have been. I won't get that opportunity for any of my kids anymore because they've all graduated, but doesn't mean that everybody else that has prek and growing up doesn't get the opportunity that we have. And so for that reason, being able to explore what it looks like, what it means to be able to her point allow for us to have one act at both schools now turns into one school of a bigger one act. Having the opportunity for multiple levels where we're not having to co-op every single sports program because they're already participating. So we have opportunities to grow the things that we offer and then offer more that our neighborhood schools are offering that we can't based on our participation what people have. So that's the vulnerability of me and being honest and just being able to say that it took a group of us coming together to talk through those things and being able to see what's possible. >> Okay. Um ensuring that each board member gets to talk once before others do. Director. >> Yeah. Um I do want to use the opportunity to thank all of you. Um I started in this group. Um and I given the few meetings that I attended, I could sense the load that was coming. The work that you guys have presented to us is amazing. Um maybe like some of the other community members, I was a little disappointed that you were not naming schools that we should close, >> right? But I also see why you didn't do that or why you shouldn't do that. Um, you're leaving the work to the experts and us to make those decisions. So, uh, thank you guys for all you've done. Uh, the work now belongs to us and let's see what we can do with it. >> I'm proud to be part of it. >> Thank you. Uh, Director Holmes. >> Yeah. Um, so I'll just get into kind of some of the specifics of the report. Um it's noted in there better supporting the staff. Can you expand on that and how you think these recommendations will strengthen in your the reports words collaboration and camaraderie amongst staff gaining more time because we're talking about new facilities and combining. So can you elaborate on how you think that would benefit staff fighting over the mic here? Um, I can think of a lot of ways, but some of the things that we talked some of the things we talked about is we currently have some staff that are divided between multiple schools. So, they're starting at one school one day and then driving another day. So, it would be nice for them to have one solid home that they can build and grow and flourish in. Um, also when you combine the schools you are putting more students in there, that doesn't necessarily mean we have to get rid of, you know, a bunch of staff. we can actually have more staff in the building to help support each other. Um, al also we think it's really important that we stick to a curriculum, an idea, an identity, and don't keep changing it up on our staff. I think that's a mistake that we've made in the past where our teachers and support staff just get comfortable with a curriculum and then we're rolling something else out and they're having to learn something new to teach to our students. So, a consistent curriculum that they can really feel like they become professionals and um what's the word? Experts in in the subject matter and the in the curriculum. >> So, I guess I just want to ask and maybe this will be an operational piece because when you talk about staff moving from building to building, you're looking at a lot of arts or band or orchestra that kind of those natures where they're breaking down instead of a you'll hear a lot of things. Instead of a 1.0 O position you look at point8s or point fours or point sixes and that's when the moving comes into play and they're servicing different buildings. So is that a service model conversation where we're going to have where we would be assigning full-time art teachers to one school? Is that the operational piece? >> That'll be an operational staffing. >> So I just want to see there are a lot of pieces that go with these. And so you guys were given you know dream big I think is how you were you were introducing it and boy did you you know and now the details are going to come in in terms of the FTEES and so I'm going to echo what director Basset said early on is the details are going to be really really critical and that's where we get into the feasibility of it and I know you alluded like I don't know where that came in the feasibility piece um or when the bond started coming up into play in the process. So, I don't know if you can um elaborate on that at all because I'll I'll give you an example. We all go well some of us do parade of homes and you go and you tour these big beautiful homes and you're like, "Oh, gee, I would really like to live in this house." And then it for me at least, it doesn't occur. Um and so you have to balance what what is happening and what you're dreaming to be. And you can still shoot for it. I can still shoot for you know whatever a hot tub in my backyard or whatever that is. But where did the feasibility proponent because I'm seeing it's kind of um you're asking for this big bold plan and so I'm interpreting it an all or nothing. Was there any room in there because you're you're advising against a phased approach? Um so where is that feasibility component come in and how was that are you following what I'm saying? How was that brought into? >> So, um there's going to have to be phases in building, right? Because we're going to have to figure out what buildings we can build upon, what buildings we um need to, you know, just start a new with. Um so, there's going to have to be phases in the plan, but I don't think we can phase making a decision now that this is our dream and this is what we're going to do. And I just I guess my counter to that would build on what director Long was saying when you're living and breathing in this and going through the sweat and the tears and there's clearly a lot of emotion in the report too. Um and we do it as a board up here, right? that's trying to get into these conversations. And so I think now recognizing that this is going to be hard for a lot of people to hear and you did acknowledge that. But that's a process and that's how we I'm looking for a lot of input on does the community get behind this because not only do first and foremost one of my concerns I'm kind of jumping here is the tax component because we know we are living in unstable times and we know so many families are paycheck to paycheck and you know um permanent costs are escalating so there's not a lot of room for that and to make this big of a vision happen we're going to have to have buy in on this And I don't want to break the backs of our community. I don't want it to become a litmus test of loving this district if people are really looking at their financials because that is the reality of our current climate. So there are a lot of things for me and like I said, I hope I alluded to that and processing it and um this is a really good starting point and I think what you gave us is commonality is here. the pride in this community, the seven communities that make up this district is amazing. And I think that's what I've seen living here for 25 years. And I think that is something a lot of us share and we've got a lot to work on and build on. So I think I was really happy to see that that what's going to bring us together and we've got work to get into and details to discuss. So thank you all for the effort and time you put into this. It is it is something you guys pulled together. So, you're appreciated. >> I just want to say that we the vision team believe that this big dream is feasible. We would not have presented it to you if we did not believe it was feasible. And so as you have as you have heard um there has been a lot of work and a lot of effort and a lot of hours and a lot of conversations that have gone into this. And of course not all of the details are for us to figure out. It is for you the experts um to hash those. But we believe that all of these big ideas and all these big dreams and all of these um things all at once because it's true that we don't want it to happen in phases or to pick and choose what happens when. Um that these are all recommendations from across our district within our community that need to happen that are so necessary and so crucial to our community members, to our students, to our staff, um to our parents that these are they're so important and they've been voiced over and over and over again. But now a group has got together and done all this work and actually given it to you and we can learn from projects that we've done like going to visit other schools. We can learn from looking at graphs, looking at data, test results, all things like that. And we have produced this big dream that we believe is feasible. >> And I wasn't I wasn't saying it's not I'm saying the details of when it comes in because you're talking about cost savings and the different buckets that funding come into. Those are the details that I'm talking about and that's the work I think that was referenced in beginning. So, this is a good point and now I think most of mine are operational questions. >> Okay. >> Thank you for your comments. We have a couple more board members. Uh, Director Long, >> I was wondering could we get that PowerPoint that was not in our packet at all? >> Yeah, I would like to be able to refer back. Yeah, I I think I said to the board in my update when I sent on Friday that this would be um this would be posted to board book at the meeting start time. >> You just finished it yesterday. So >> So that's what the board the board members received that information on Friday in my weekly update to them that that's when it would be available. >> Thank you. Uh are you on? >> Yep, that was it. >> Dr. Basset. Well, I I have a question uh for the committee and uh and then I I think I have a it kind of points to the administration too and one is that um the identity of arts and innovation if um now I'm not a brand person you know there's marketing people kind of brand stuff and so they can package this in a way that says that may not use the exact birds. So, and I say that very deliberately because just because I didn't see I math, AI, and technology in that title makes me have to imagine that innovation encompasses that. imagining that something's encompassed and the substance that really does anchor it can be two different things. So for me is there is it is the vision expansive enough that when we really massage it we can get to that through innovation? Because when I think about the academic status of our district at this moment and I think about the future which is one of the things we had to do when we thought about bringing C into fruition from nothing C imagining a future that encompasses the where the future we we have no idea where the future's going you know it's moving at warp speed however innovation in the in a random comment about innovation without a substantive anchor may leave us floundering. And so uh I think that substance I would ask the committee to think about that because what does that substance look like? What does that innovation mean for the children who will have to go out and make a living? So we have to they have to have substance so they can get those jobs, secure those careers and move forward. So how the substance get embedded into the innovation will be critical to me you know so I mean the terminology I'm I'm cool with it but I want my my my thought behind it to to to come out clearly and I and I and we're the public setting I don't want it to be a surprise you know and and so one last thing because for this because the cheer always says well breakfast you got enough but anyway um I really I just say I'm trying to get it all in. That's that's the point, Gita. So, the other thing I would say too, and I asked you to think about this, is that I really like the part in this report where we talk about the uh facilities and we there's a lot of information about that and the capacity. Excellent job. I do wonder because when we the section that talks about our academics and the comparison between where we are academically as compared to the state average and so on and so forth and the work we have to do. I didn't see a comparable chart or focus and to uh director Holmes's point the substance of how we get there. I'm believing that that will come. I'm just saying I I'm just you're here. you did all this work. I'm being honest with you. That is a concern of mine because the same amount of substance in that area is critical. They have to be married. You know, you have to have the innovation has to marry what we need to do academically to move it because to the point of losing enrollment, people move for a variety of things. Chief among them is climate, but chief among them is academic. And if they don't think that we're producing the academics that the students need, we can be as flowery and as excited as we want to be because I tend to kind of lean that way really. That's the kind of person I am. But I'm just as serious when it comes to what are we getting? What's the product? You know, and if we don't have a product, meaning our students aren't achieving. I love it when I go to the farmers market and all these places and people tell me, "Oh, my kids went through here and what are they doing now? Oh, they're engineer, they're science major, they're, you know, splicing stuff. They're a doctor." I hear it all. That's been the history. And we're at a critical place in this country, you know, and if we bring all these children together, we've got 30% white, 30% black, the rest of them are a mixture of other demographics that matters. How are we addressing those things? We're going to prepare our teachers and prepare our families. We've got to prepare them all the way. That's the reality of Robbinsdale area schools with seven communities that we live in right now. It is extremely diverse. How does that all come together? So, this is kind of rhetorical. I don't really, you know, it's rhetorical, but it's real. >> Agreed. >> Okay. Thank you. >> As far as who will be making the decisions on our curriculum and what we teach our kids, >> my husband's in the room. You don't want me doing that. Okay. I >> No, no, I didn't. >> I'm just saying that's why it's not in the report because we're not the experts. That's where we're going to have to bring in our teachers to make those decisions because I trust them and I see what they do with our kids every day and I think they'll be able to make a really great product for you. >> You're going to need it. Um, and we thought long and hard about how we were going to help students graduate and become, you know, these functional human beings, you know, great, caring people that can maybe they want to go to college, but maybe they don't. Maybe they want to do a trade. May maybe they want to be a stay-at-home mom. Doesn't matter as long as they're productive, loving people in this community. If we invest in our children now and we start creating children who can have careers, who can be a good neighbor, who can be good people, we're all going to benefit from it when we're in the nursing homes. So, I I said me, I didn't say you, but >> I'm closer than you are. But we got to do something because what we've been doing isn't working and we've got it's time to start investing in our kids. >> Thank you. >> Okay, here's a surprise. No more board members have comments. I'm turning >> I have one more. >> I just wanted to add quick. I'll be quick. Um part of our re because we have had conversations about that. Believe it. Um we've had conversation about virtually everything about um the academ like academics test scores um how it looks in actual classrooms was a big big huge point for me is how was this actual going to translate in a classroom if I were to picture what's happening in our conversation happening in an actual school what would my first reaction be what would it look like to me um but part of our recommendation was the safety and security of students in schools will attribute to test scores >> and the um belief that students have in their school system and belief that they have in their administration and in their staff and in um the functionality of the school and their belonging within that school um will also attribute to them academically. >> Okay, board members have finished their questions. I'm turning it back over to you, Superintendent Stala. >> Excellent. Again, I want to thank the three presenters who are representing the other almost 40 community members uh who represent every geographic region area of our school district as well as demographically aligning with our student population. Um so the makeup of this community or committee was absolutely amazing. So I just want to thank you again. I'd like to once again recognize the full team. Um and again, thank you So at this time and I think uh go ahead. I >> just want to do a special shout out to our writers who put in a lot a lot of effort. We have we have um Katie and Barb. Barb is not in the room right now, but we have Katie. Thank you so so so much for all the effort you put in. All >> the writers stand up. >> Katie, you're being asked if you could stand up, please. and Barb Olson was the other uh major writer uh who was unable to be here today and I know this five member team I don't even want to think about the hours in on top of everything else that you've put in preparation of tonight so thank you very much um so now uh we are going to take a look at and again board members I want you to know um these are drafts we just knew where your questions would come because these are the questions that you've had. So, we wanted to be sure to be able to follow up um immediately so that we now have time to think about um what is next. So, again, these are draft uh timelines phasing. Um >> I don't know. >> Sorry, just for timing point of clarification still a part of the >> Oh, no. I think I've got I think I've got another 20 minutes here before questions. I I think overall we're hoping to be done. >> Yeah. Overall, I think we're hoping to be done by 10 o'clock tonight. Okay. >> So, Bob and I just have a presentation here. Yeah. >> Okay. Because it wasn't. >> So, um You got it. Do you have the clicker? >> Okay. >> She wants 20. Go with the 40s. >> Okay. So, the next slide showcases a slide that y'all have seen a million times, I hope. And if not, you will. Um our students and our mission is certainly central to our work. And while we are in statutory operating debt uh and we have significant challenges in front of us, our promise to our students, to our staff, to our families and community stays the same. We exist to inspire and educate and that's exactly what the work has to be going forward. I appreciate the comments and the questions about academics. Regardless of what our statutory operating plan is, regardless of what clo buildings get consolidated, regardless of which of these vision recommendations the board accepts, that's work we have to do and we're on a path to doing it because we simply are not um doing as well by students right now as we need to. So, I just wanted to put that out. So again as we thank the team with the next slide you can see this team again it wasn't just their vision recommendations they used data from 17,000 input and different people. So in terms of community engagement, this entire effort was far larger than the 37 people who made up this committee um in terms of all of the surveys, all of the community meetings, all of the grade level meetings, that's the input that helped refine the vision. So again, looking at these statistics in terms of hours and meetings and um all of the data that you looked at, I think it just uh highlights the amazing work that you all did. Um so thank you for that. So in brief, here are some of the things that we heard. Again, having an opportunity to unify the district um around who we are. We talked so much, the team talked so much about what is our identity, who are we? So again, some of the things that you just heard in summary, right sizing the district, what does that mean in terms of where our enrollment trends are looking at this districtwide identity and notion around arts and innovation? And certainly um Director Basset and all of you, those are detailed and operationalized uh ways that will define and bring that to life should the board move forward with these recommendations. Ensuring the environments and learning spaces and work spaces for our staff are contemporary, safe and secure. Maintaining Spanish immersion. Again, we heard about the specialty area of staff. Maintaining that. Narrowing the focus, expanding the opportunities. Um, I think for a lot of districts, including Robbinsdale Area Schools, we try to be everything to everyone. What do we want to do? What do we need to do really, really well? based on what our community says they want for our kids and our kids say that they want and then obviously that that bonding question comes into play. Um though the question wasn't asked of me of me. It was asked of at what point in the process did the notion of bonding come. Um, and I I'll be really honest, and I don't I don't know that I can pinpoint a spot, but I don't think there's ever been, as we look at where this district is, the question that there wouldn't need to be some investment into facilities. Um, so again, I don't know that I can pinpoint it, but I know probably since my interview or shortly after here, as we look at the current status of our facilities and what it takes to rightsize a district, um, I can't imagine being able to do that at the scope that we need to without additional funding requests. So again, I can't answer specifically of when the team came to that, but um, I think there were pieces of that that were uh, inferred maybe from the beginning at points. I would say that the other thing that I just want to before I hand this over to assistant superintendent actually Bob you can go to the next slide. Thanks. Um I just want to reiterate some of the things that the team said as we as we really talk about this notion of of where we are based on what I just said. I think from the beginning of my time here um whether I was with PTA or PTO's or with Rotary clubs or with our staff or with any other civic organization or wherever I was as I came into the district. Um I shared broad broadly and honestly with where our current reality is. Um, our financial reality before November was incredibly bleak. Uh, and even if our financials were healthy and we were sitting with a fund balance aligned to our board policy, if we look at the other metrics that we also use to measure schools, we know that we're not where we need to be. We've already talked about the academics of where our students are. Um, we take a look at student opportunities for pathways and some of the other career, trades, college programming that other students have advantage of that we just aren't offering at that same level. Um, years of declining enrollment that's been supported by that demographic study for a lot of reasons as our presenters pointed out. Um, and the facility needs as outlined in that comprehensive facility assessment. We simply don't have funds and deferred maintenance to take care of year over year after year after year of old buildings and what they need first of all to stay up to date with safety codes and things like that and also what they need to have some of the 21st century learning um spaces that we would want for our kids if we want learning to be more collaborative and hands-on um as all of our student or all of our survey said. So, I think it's really important because as much as this community loves our schools, as much as the people sitting at this table and sitting in this room love our schools as much as I love this school district, we have to do better. And we've got some options in front of us. You all heard me say a lot of times during the 21 million, we have to cut 21 million, we get to reimagine. And that's what prompted the work that you heard tonight. So, we still are in a position right now where we have to create a statutory operating debt plan. We have to figure out a way to get us back to financial security. And the other truth of that is we've got some options in front of us. We can reduce and rightsize and continue to work on our academics and or we can really take a look at that bold vision of a future for what our kids want, need, and deserve and what we're willing to do to invest in that. And ultimately, that'll be something that this board decides and our community decides. Um but the community who came together around data and around hours of meeting have set forth a vision for us um to see what that might look like. So again, thanks for all of that. I'm now going to turn this over to assistant superintendent Dr. Bob McDow who's going to share the timeline the p the draft timeline path forward. >> Draft. >> Yeah, draft. I know I've said it 18 times. I should maybe say it again. It's in draft form right now. Chair Evans Becker. It's in draft form currently >> going to be a draft. How we're hearing that? >> Thank you. Thank you. Good evening board and community that's here. So, as the board has kind of articulated already, uh the anticipation was all right. So, what? Now what? Right. Um what seems pretty simple in trying to figure that out. I think people have articulated there's a enormous amount of layers to how you end up pulling off a small dream, a big dream, any dream within a school district that is going to cut across buildings, that's going to cut across grade levels, that's going to cut across cities. But what we do know is that by January 31st of 2026, we have to have a statutory operating debt plan. And so to kind of set the stage for what is involved in that on this slide you'll see there's really four parts to that. So the work that we have to do is we need to put together clear financial projections. So these include realistic enrollment assumptions, revenue assumptions, really everything that would be included to get us on a path back to structural balance. Meaning revenues are more than expenditures. Right? The second piece is you have to dig into the specific strategies. What are you going to do? The actions you're going to take, whether that's regarding staffing adjustments, programming changes, budget realignments, anything that directly addresses that operating debt issue. And it's not just a single year. It is a multi-year, multi-stage plan. >> Right? We need to find ways every year essentially showing how we are going to steadily move out of statutory operating debt. And then we finally have to include a monitoring and accountability piece to it. What does it look like to track the implementation of what we're doing, the progress of what we're doing? How do we present that and report that to the board? How do we present that and report that to the Department of Education? to get there. I'm going to say this word a hundred times. Draft. Draft. Draft. That's how we get there. We start with a concept. So, some of the questions and I know the board has already alluded to their their question. Your questions are around how do we do this? What we know is the first task is really by January 20th. Notice it doesn't say the 31st, says the 20th because right now the board's last meeting in January is January 20th. So at this point in time, January 20th is the date that we need the board to finalize the statutory operating debt plan. That means it's going to include initial reduction of facilities footprints and all the related items that go with it. So for people that like to see that in graphic form, this is the next four and a half months. The board hopefully starting tonight will give administration direction. go forth, get this statutory operating debt plan figured out and bring it back to us so we can chew on it, so we can provide input to it so that we can figure it out so that we can meet that January 20th benchmark. You'll notice that October and November that's where we are going to be presenting, coming up with considering options, having conversations with the board, having conversations with other people, maybe coming back to this re-imagine group, all of the inputs that need to go into options and considerations for what does you'll see in green the final facility recommendation for 2627 seven that has to happen and you're going to see it in a different format in a minute by the end of November because when we get into the conversation around closing schools there is a sequence and timing that starts with the board saying this is what we're proposing as a board a written document that has to go into the paper for a period of two weeks and after that the ability for the community to provide input on that and only after all that takes place, can the board take a vote on closing shuttering a building, even if it's repurposed for a different reason. So, we have to back into that. So you'll see in the purple the SOD planning and refinement process really is from before today, but we'll just call it today for now through December because we have to have that public import and input and board approval by December. So that remember anything that's the closure piece is only a piece of the SOD plan. So, we got to have that done so that we can spend January working with the board to finalize the statutory operating debt plan by the magical 20th date, unless the board decides we need more time and we got to add another date in there to look at stuff so that we can have it submitted by the 31st of January. For people who like to see chronological, this is the exact same information, but it's detailed out by board meeting starting today and it includes the three additional dates. noted by asterric that were added tonight getting us all the way to January 20th. What I will have you notice is that November 24th, so the people that were trying to track what I meant by the two weeks, if you can imagine, November 24th is when we make final facility recommendations simply for the 2627 school year. That gives us a two-eek run so that the board can hold a public hearing on December 8th and then potentially vote. It also allows for uh the ability to move backwards into December, but for planning purposes for the 2627 school year, we really don't want to go any later than before winter break to get this done because the minute that decision is made, the rest of things start falling into place really quickly and it impacts a lot of people. And I'm going to get into that in an extended draft draft draft plan and timeline. So here's what it looks like conceptually at this point in time as of the 23rd of September based on all the information. If we divide up this into a phased approach, five phases getting us to 2030, it looks something like this. Phase one, September of right now through next fall. We I just talked through our SOD plan. We got to do that. We would need to be doing things like how do we reduce our footprint? We'd see the initial things come out in the next few weeks and months about what building closures, consolidations, reconfiguration, what does that plan really look like? Board is going to have to weigh in on what does that look like? What's our tolerance? What more information do you need? all of that stuff uh comes into it. Administratively, we're also then having to plan the remaining building configuration as soon as we start getting an inkling what the board's tolerance is because this starts to become a giant domino effect. One decision of a domino sets us in this direction or this direction because we're not just talking about single buildings and single levels. We're talking about elementary schools. We're talking about neighborhoods. The reimagine team brought up magnets and changes there. Any one of those dominoes puts us in to a giant landscape of different decision makingaking that has to take place. So we would be working on that. You'll also notice that we would already start any related bond work because what's going to happen is as decisions start to be made, new ideas of whatever this reimagined plan ends up being are going to start coming to the surface. And that starts to fill in the answers to what do we need to check for a tax tolerance for as far as what the community is going to be willing to support because we have to balance all of that out. So information will be our friend with our community, with the school board, so that people see transparently how we're working through this process and understand the why behind a lot of it. You'll also see boundary adjustments. That's going to be a tough one. It's always a tough one, right? But it's going to be part of the process. And so that happens all in this first phase. As we get ready for the fall of 2026 and you start looking at phase 2, you'll notice that it doesn't start in September of 2026. Phase 2 starts this January. You'll notice that in order for us to conceptually pull off and operationalize what's going to happen, we will be in multiple phases at the same time. We will be implementing the parts of phase one. We will be designing and working with teams and with the schoolboard for phase two because as you read through that, what you're noticing is we're initi we're implementing the initial reconfiguration as part of that August 26. At the same time, we're finalizing longerterm building configurations and related bonding needs. November of 26 is our first chance. really we'll have enough information potentially to put something out for a building bond. So that really becomes that next big benchmark to backwards map from if the board so desires, right? And so this is going to take lots of conversation with the board to decide what do we want to do while we're implementing the first phase of the SOD plan regardless of whether we do a bonding piece. You'll also notice that in phase two, you start seeing the word programmatic. We have to start designing what the programs will look like for future years because as we change buildings, it is going to be the stepping process between we might move into one physical plant that is not yet ready for all the programming we want until we can address the facility needs for that building. So again now we're back to visioning and visioning gets us back to operational the operational and boundary changes are happening and then we might even depending upon what happens at the end of phase two you start seeing the initial facility improvements. So you can imagine if you do a bond if you get a bond for whatever it it it is then we can start making those first facility improvements during that August of 2027. You'll notice that we move into phase three. Phase three starts in March. We can start a little later because we're not at that, at least right now, draft. We're assuming that November 26 is a bonding thing. As an example, if that's not and it moves a year out, phase three has to start in January because we really need to have our ducks in a row in January if we're going out for a bond in November. There's a whole ton of stuff that's got to happen and be in place. So we we make the right decisions, we have the right input uh from from a variety of people and the right information and data. However, you'll notice phase three looks a lot like phase two and that we're implementing additional reconfiguration moves. So what what will potentially be part of this process as we balance SOD because remember we're still working through SOD planning as we're reimagining here. there's potentially going to need to be reconfiguration plans to get even more efficiencies and that's all dependent upon some of those dominoes that first happen um because we might have to even get a smaller footprint depending upon what decisions are made. You'll also notice in phase uh phase three that not only are we planning for programmatic changes, we are actually prepping. So you'll notice that the reimagine team talked about we need to get teachers ready to go. We need to transition. So as we hit March of 2728 draft timeline, we have to actually put into place the academic side of the house, which is all of the prep work. So now we're talking about who do we have to hire? Who if I'm a if I'm an elementary teacher, but I'm moving to a different building. I'm teaching a different subject. We land on a different curriculum. What is all the programmatic work that has to happen behind the scenes that has to happen during summer that has all that goes into it? If we have a high school that wants to domies, we could have a multi-year lensure piece that we've got to get people licensed in order to do things. So, we need to be thinking about all of that stuff that goes into this, which is why it's so crucial to have expedient decisions being made very, very soon in direction. We hit phase four. It's it's the same process as phase three. We start in March of that year. And that is simply because now we're on a staffing schedule sta. So typically if we can get our curriculum and our staffing uh pieces aligned by December, January, then March is when we do all the hiring, we do all the focus direction setting for that year and finalize that process. You'll also see that um we would be in in process of getting the final facility moves in place. So on the one extreme, if we do nothing, there's going to be final facility moves, right? We're going to have to figure out as part of our statutory operating debt plan, what are some more final reductions we can make? What are some efficiencies? That is going to involve facilities. And it's probably not just going to involve academic facilities, it's going to involve all of our facility sets. Um, if it's on the other extreme of what the reimagine team focused on tonight or something like that, we should be in a spot between March of 28 and August of 29 where we are actually planning for any final construction to be in process and getting the plans set for any of those final moves into new facilities or updated facilities. which then leads us to the final phase, phase five, which coincidentally ends August of 2030. I could not have planned that better. Um, but what it does do in a five in a five-year plan, as you work through all the stuff that I've explained so far, what it does allow you to do is conceptually, you can have all of your building construction completed or in process of being completed in that 2930 school year. And that would be the final year of the 5-year SOD plan, moving through that 20 school 2030 school year. so that in the fall of 2030, you would be in a position to realize the full implementation of Reimagine Ardell 2030 and be successfully out of statutory operating debt. >> Woohoo. So that's a whole lot between the presentation that we heard between the timeline and you know I keep coming back to the first question I think that we asked when we convened the vision team in January was who are we what's our identity and as I listen tonight to the recommend recommendations that came forward. I think those pieces of identity that I heard from this represented community group for eight months was who are we? Community. Who are we? We're about inclusion, belonging. All means all. Equity and diversity are our strengths. Who are we? this strong sense of pride and I think that's the first thing I noticed as I met people and the folks sitting in this room who grew up here graduated from our schools chose to come back and live here raised their families here be employed here that's unique to this community and I think that as we think about all of that what I felt tonight. What I felt probably the first week that I was here and what I feel in both the optimism and the hope behind the strategy and the clear plans that we need is a whole lot of love because this is about our future. This is about what our kids deserve, not what our kids currently have. And I think those are where some of the decision points um for the board and for this community will lie. Um so board members, tonight um I'm seeking direction. We are seeking direction to begin working on this really complex and urgent timeline. Um that means we want to be sure that you signify with a vote that you support us moving forward to take the next steps. um you're not making decisions. I'm not asking for decisions tonight on this piece of a recommendation from the vision team, but when you looked at what assistant superintendent uh McDow just laid out, we need some direction in terms of being able to get to work and continue the work so that we can come back on October 6th with the next step uh in our planning journey so that we can hear from you, figure out what other information and data and questions you have as we collaborate and work together over the next couple of months. >> So that's what we're can that's what I'm seeking right now. >> Which one do you want? >> The timeline. >> This one >> either >> or this one or this one. >> Not that one. >> I can do any one of them. >> Can we >> I have the clicker. >> Can we get the electronic? >> Yeah, this slide deck will get shared. >> Thank you. But >> yeah, I can director Holmes, I can go back to whichever one you want. And >> if you're looking for something specific, I do have a single print of the cave if that's easier. >> Did you have a question? Well, mine was just when we when are we going to get this PowerPoint because we haven't >> as I said in my update that I gave to the board on Friday that this presentation would be available and then I think I also emailed today that this presentation would be available at the end of the meeting tonight. Okay. So, having listened to all of this, I I move to direct the administration to begin action on the draft timelines outlined for both SOD planning and reimagine 2030. >> I'll second that. >> Okay, we have a move and a second to direct the administration to begin. Uh, Director Holmes, can you go one slide forward? >> One more. Sorry. >> Yes. Thank you. So you're going to create a variety of scenarios if this then that if this then that falls in this timeline. Is am I understanding that right? >> Yeah. I think what we would do is well I know what we would do is the first step is part of the 26 20 for the 26 27 year the first focus is on addressing the statutory operating debt plan. So, we're going to need to come back to you as a board with some options of here's what the first year looks like, the second year looks like, the third year looks like, regardless of the reimagine work, right? Not regardless of your work, regardless regardless of what the decision is about that we have to do the SOD plan. So, yes, we're going to be coming back for sure with that because we have to get we meaning you as a board and us as administration, we've got to get this thing nailed down. um as far as what the draft of that looks like and I will turn it over to executive director. >> Thank you. And I'd just like to piggyback because it came from a comment uh director Holmes that or a request that you had made um during the business meeting about the finance advisory and the SOD plan as a board as a collective there is a significant amount of work um as it relates to the discussion I'll say the expenditure side of the house right like as it relates to buildings what that looks like what that looks like for 2627 this fall the finance advisory committee will be focusing on truly just uh budget assumptions and I know Dr. McDow had addressed that as far as you know what what is our current revenue and whatever that committee's work is going to be very concentrated it's going to be in October and November and they're just going to establish like they would in any budget year's assumptions so while you guys are doing the exceptional heavy lifting of designing essentially our expenditure side of the house they will be working on you know here are like the day-to-day operations of how many students do we think we estimate um what do we think compensatory dollars will look like kind of the things we've talked about in the past that will be coming that will be available to you do they need to participate in the expenditure side of design which is ultimately going to be a budget reduction no will their work part uh contribute to the information that's presented um as far as it relates to the SOD plan of course it will because that's the you know just establishing assumptions on what the next three years could look like without taking into account reductions, realignment, and all of that. If that makes sense. >> It does. And I why I'm asking them to be there is because obviously if they're going to be looking at assumptions for student enrollment and the report had its own assumption of their line. So I'm trying to where the points are going to come together and what we're going to actually move forward with. That's why I'm saying because I knew they would have different assumptions just based on their role. They may or may not. >> Correct. >> Yeah. But that commit >> but understanding the mindset of what got there because I don't even understand how the team landed on their assumption other than maybe it looked like a mid line >> but yes the method to it. >> So again just keep in mind that we wanted to keep the the direction of the board um when we had this conversation last year with the finance advisory committee was let their work is going to be their work. they're going to come with um with recommendations and and guidance towards you. We're going to focus on an area of that because your lift is pretty significant in another way. We would have done it annually anyway as part of the budget process. Um and so we'll make sure that the two are overlapping and crossing, but just so the group, the community, everybody knows that's kind of the work that we have in front of us. That group is a very intentional uh concentrated time as well. >> Thank you. I don't see any more board hands up. Okay. So, we have a motion on the floor. The motion is to uh direct the administration to begin action on the draft timeline uh timelines outlined for both SOD planning and reimagine 2030. All in favor, please say I. >> I. Oppose. Opposed, please say nay. >> No. >> Motion carries. You've got a direction from the board. >> Thank you. >> Thank you for your work on this and you have a lot of work that you'll be doing and so do we. Okay. How's our agenda looking? >> I think that is the end of our agenda and it seems a little antilimatic right now. No, I know it's not. >> Okay. So, if this is the end, I want one more round of applause for our Thank you. Thank you. Um, when work sessions end, we don't have a move to adjourn. I just say we're done. So, thank you everybody. Thank you. Oh, yes. >> I just wanted to say to the members of our Jewish community, a happy and healthy new year and thank you to those on I know there's at least one member of the committee who came here tonight on on the holiday. So, thank you so much. >> Thank you. Thanks y'all. Thank you very much. We are done and this is a new record for this board. >> Oh my god. >> Before 9:00