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May 20th, 2025 School Board Regular Meeting
Brooklyn Park City CouncilWednesday, May 21, 2025
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boardroom of the educational service center. The meeting can be monitored electronically by streaming online from the district website. An archived recording of tonight's meeting will also be available on the district's website. Seated in front of you this evening from my left and your right are director Kelsey Dawson, director Erica Foster, director Thomas Brooks, myself Tanya Prince, uh director Keith Tate, and director Sarah Mitchell. Also present in the boardroom is Superintendent Dr. Kim Hy and members of the superintendent cabinet along with our student school board representatives Gavin Chebacca, Naomi Naomi Cooper Greer for Park Center High School. Sorry, Gavinet from Maple Grove, Senior. Those of you who can please stand for the pledge of allegiance. Director Doc, would you please lead the pledge? I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Board members, are there any additions to the agenda? Seeing none, is there a motion to accept the agenda as presented? Some moved. Moved by uh Director Mitchell. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Director Dawson. Is there any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Motion passes six to zero. Our next agenda item is recognitions. For our first recognition this evening, we welcome the 2024 2025 school year retirees. Dr. Hy, will you please start us off on the recognition? Yes. Thank you, Chair Prince. It is with great pride and many thanks, it is my honor to announce the recognition of ISD279 schools retirees for the 2425 school year. For the periods of July 1st, 20 to 24 through June 30th of 25, we have 77 individuals across all classification and employee groups throughout the district have retired or will be retiring. These 77 individuals have served a cumulative total of 1,670 years of service to the scholars and families. They're tired, too. and families and families of ISD279 OIO area schools. All of the retirees for the school year weren't able to be with us this evening, but we do have a number of individuals in the boardroom that we will be recognizing. So today, as we gather to honor honor and celebrate a truly remarkable group of individuals, our retiring staff members who have given so much of themselves to our school district. To each of you, the amount of service you've given to others is nothing short of incredible. You have not only taught lessons and provided guidance, you made a lasting impact on the lives of our students, families, and our fellow colleagues. Your influence reaches far behind a classroom beyond a classroom, the office, the bus route, or the lunchroom. It lives on in the people that you've helped shape and inspire. At various points in your journey, you had the opportunity to do other things. You could have chosen a different path, but you chose to dedicate your time, your talents, and your heart to the field of education. And we thank you for that, that you chose to serve. Saying thank you feels too simple for what you've given to us. You have shared a part of your life with Oso Era Schools. And for that, we are truly deeply grateful. As you enter the next season in your life, may it be be filled with peace, good health, and many years of well-deserved joy. You have earned every bit of rest that's coming your way. Retirees, when the board secretary calls your name, please step up so that we can offer our heartfelt congratulations to each of you for a job well done. So, this time we'll ask the board members and student board representatives to join me as we step down from our seats and stand in front of the board games. A ton of reason came late. Ready? All right. We'll be calling up retirees one by one. Starting first with retirees with up to 20 years of service. First is Ruth Johnson, registered nurse, Weaver Lake Elementary. [Applause] [Laughter] [Music] Next, um, next is Brenda Stanton, teacher, special education, North View Middle School. 11 years of service. Teresa Conn, school nurse, ESC, 12 years of service. [Applause] Ruth Corin, teacher, family and consumer sciences, 13 years of service. Carol Harbinson, speech teacher, Weaver Lake Elementary, 16 years of service. April Kova Kovich, fourstar ESP, Rice Lake Elementary, 19 years of service. Right. Next, we'll be doing retirees with 21 to 30 years of service. We have Paula Friermouth, adult basic education instructor, 23 years. Barbara Ericson, ATPPS coach, the ESC, 24 years. [Laughter] Joan Waldmidt, speech teacher, ESC, 24 years. Keep up the good work. my daughter. Thank you. Vicky Bilbro, payroll specialist at the ESC, 24 years. Arlland Peterson, master electrician at the ESC, 25 years. Christine Dods, alternative delivery of specialized instructional services or ADS at the ESSE, 26 years. Jodie Kinnberg, music teacher, Edinburgh Edo Elementary, 26 years. Mona Preston, clerical volunteer program ESP at Maple Grove Senior High, 26 years. Karen Wel, nutrition manager at Rush Creek Elementary, 28 years. Jane Ruhonimi, music teacher, Birch Grow, Crest View, Rush Creek and Weaver Lake, 29 [Applause] years. Thanks. I was playing. [Laughter] You did a good job. All right. Now, with 20 or I'm sorry, with 30 plus years of service, Denise Hildebrandt, instructional clerical ESP, Rush Creek Elementary, 30 years [Applause] [Laughter] Pam Brandt, ATPPS facilitator at the ESC, 31 years. [Applause] Sherry Swanson, kindergarten teacher, Elm Creek Elementary, 31 years. Beth Tyson, due process special ed ESP, Rush Creek Elementary, 33 years. [Laughter] Derek Ward, health teacher, AIO Middle School, 34 years. Congratulations. Thanks a lot. Cheyenne Johnson, kindergarten teacher, Basswood Elementary, 35 years. Colleen Orton, grade 1 teacher, Parkbrook Elementary, 35 years. Sandra Jonison, title one teacher, Palmer Lake Elementary, 36 years. [Applause] Ruth Becker, Kids Stop lead instructor, Edinburgh Elementary, 37 years. [Applause] And final recognition is Beth Gelino, grade 1 teacher, Rush Creek Elementary, 38 years. [Applause] Congratulations, retirees. Next, we'll be recognizing the 2024 2025 school year student schoolboard representatives. OIO area schools district level principal Amy Toliffson is the mentor and liaison for our student representatives. Amy, will you please step up to the podium for this recognition? Good evening. Uh, good evening board chair Prince and Dr. Hyle, our superintendent, and our board members. I am very thrilled to say thank you to our current student school board representatives and each year they bring great perspective from the student experience and I always know that our board members are requesting for more information and opportunities to engage but we certainly do appreciate all the perspective that you're able to share throughout the year about your experiences. So with that, I would like to um celebrate Gavin Chabika who represents Maple Grove senior and next year he will be going off to the University of Wisconsin in Madison and he will be studying finance. [Applause] Oh yeah, come around. [Laughter] I would also like to say thank you to Naomi Cooper Greer who is a junior this year. So she will be continuing to join us in this capacity next year and want to say thank you to you and wish you luck in next year for all that you do for your school community and here at the ESC. Come on. Who are these people? Thank you. And also uh Reasonz Atkins representing 279 online and this is her second year as a student schoolboard representative. So we have been honored to have you a part of this opportunity as well. And next year she will be going off to Hamlin University studying psychology. So come on over. And then we will just recognize Antonet Brown who is representing AIO Senior High and she is unable to be here with us tonight. So, thank you all very much. And our final recognition is the Maple Grove boys basketball team for their third place finish uh win at state. Coach Nick Schroeder, will you please step up to the podium to introduce your team members uh who are able to join us this evening? Excuse me. Yeah. All right. Well, thank you uh Superintendent Ile and board members. Um it's an honor to come in here and and um introduce our team. Obviously, we have one player attending well represented. Not let um high school boys on a Tuesday night. It's tough to it's tough to get them out of their the things that they already have going on. So, um I'd like to just talked about the our team just for a second. Um we had an outstanding year. I'm extremely proud of what we accomplished. Um third place at Maple Grove Senior High in boys basketball is the second best finish in the history of the school. Uh so very very proud of them for that and their uh dedication to the game of basketball. What I'm even more proud about um these student athletes uh for is we we have three pillars in our program. Academics, athletics, and community. Um and we uh our team this year um superseded every expectation in those. Uh I think our our varsity team, our JV varsity team had a cumitive GPA of 3.7 uh which is outstanding. Um they did multiple hours of community service uh working with young kids um you know the youth of our community being great role models and examples for them. So not only am I extremely proud of them for what they did on the court um I'm a little even more proud of what they did in the classroom and off the court. Uh what great accomplishment for them. Uh today with me is Nathan Ramadka. Uh he was a captain of our basketball team. Uh he was a captain of the football team uh who won a state championship. Um he um was a tournament um what was it called? All state. All state tournament um MVP, we'll call it. Uh he had an outstanding season for us. He's a senior. He's going to be attending University of North Dakota next year uh full scholarship to play football. Um so thank you very much um for the recognition. Yeah. [Music] And I would love to get a perfect photo as well. Congratulations. [Applause] Probably right. Turn it backward. [Music] Are we okay? Camera. Okay. He was holding on to that one, wasn't he? [Music] All right. Thank you. All right. [Applause] [Music] [Music] teacher to keep those extra. Did they take them away? I'm tired. All right. The next agenda item is student schoolboard representative reports. Reasonz, will you please share your report with us? Oh yeah. Okay. Hello everyone. My name is Rezen Atkins representing 279 online for the final time. Um even though it saddens me, I'm super grateful for the experience I have had to share with you guys. 279 online has been doing a steady and fabulous job wrapping up the end of the school year. Tomorrow is our senior event hosted by the student leadership team as well as staff. I'd like to give a special shout out to one of our star students, Broo Jackson, for keeping the consistent consistency of the student leadership team and truly showing her commitment and leadership throughout the group. At this senior event, we will have uh seniors will have opportunities to celebrate their hard work and take time to reconnect with teachers and classmates as well. There will be more time for senior photos to get done and a variety of games and community building activities as well. There will also be an elementary school event held on the last day of school with more information to be released as well. Senior commencement ceremony will be held on June 8th at the McNarara Aluminum Center in Minneapolis. Graduation info will will be and has been communicated through advisories, emails, and schoolies as well so that seniors are kept up to date. It's become so surreal how fast uh and close graduation has come. as a representative who has served not only this year but last year too and also for someone who has been attending as long as me when 279 was actually called distance learning academy. I have had the amazing opportunity to see my school grow uh go through its ups and downs and not only that you guys have seen me grown as well. I will forever be grateful for the opportunities the school board has given me. So, with that being said, once again, uh thank you for allowing me to represent 279 online for the 2000 to 2000 2024 to 2025 school year. Thank you. Thank you. Naomi, would you please share your report? Yes. Hello. So if you have for Oh. Oh, okay. Hello. If you have forgotten my name, I am Naomi Cooper. I'm so grateful to be back in the seat and share PC's final month of the 2024 to 2025 school year. Now, let's begin before summer starts. I would like to first start off this report by mentioning one of the biggest events of the year, prom. It was a golden night of renaissance and everybody dressed up as '9s rogue actors. We all had an amazing night and a great turnover of guests and dance and props to the DJ to keep us on our toes and keeping the crowd alive. I would like to thank junior class cabinet for putting on an unforgettable night. Moving on, I would like to state our honors night that was held two weeks ago had a staggering amount of people in attendance. Whether it be for academics or for sports, everybody was honored and celebrated for their individual accomplishments. And the jazz band was playing every step of the way, whether it be a pause in transition or the start and beginning. Speaking of honors, I would like to give props to the class of 2025 pirates for making this year one of the highest graduation rates since co. We have moved up 5% more than last year. And I'm extremely proud of all the hard work that our Pirates have been putting in, not only to academics, but also to sports and activities. Speaking of sports and activities, you know them, you love them. Now it's time to talk about them. I would like to mention our baseball, bat mitten, volleyball, softball, and boys golf all got to share the spotlight in our CCX news showcasing abilities shown only at PC. Everybody got highlighted in their own special way. Another sport that I would like to speak about is our OMG PC synchronized swimming team which is a combination of AIO Maple Grove and PC students. They have officially made it to state and they're going to bring home the gold with their fiery and mystical routine. The last thing I would like to talk about is our spring carnival being held. It is one of the it is the end of the school year, so why not end it off with a bang? They'll be having food trucks and activities for all. All the hype around the carnival is building up, so everybody can't wait until Friday. And all they have to do is make sure that you're passing your classes and you're all set. Thank you so much for having me in this seat. It has truly been an honor to be here once a month and sometimes even twice. And hopefully you guys have enjoyed every last second of it just like I have. And I have enjoyed the food. Thank you so much, guys. And hopefully this is not the last time you hear from me. So for now, it's Naomi Cooper signing off. Thank you, Gavin. Uh good evening everyone. My name is Gavin Shabbika and I'm honored to represent Maple Grove Senior High School for the final time tonight. Per usual, let's start off with sports. Uh the Crimson baseball varsity team is on a four- game winning streak, including a 5-0 shutout against uh Mountains View in the Baseball Day Minnesota in Wakonia. Uh the girls softball team pulled off an exciting comeback win against Weisetta, scoring three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to secure a 3-2 victory. The regular season game will be this Friday at Eden Prairie. The boys lacrosse team is preparing for an important week with game scheduled against Elk River/ Zimmerman on May 20, uh, Blaine on May 21st, and Andover on May 23rd. These match ups will help set the tone heading into section play. Our girls lacrosse team is active this week with a key match against El River on May 21st. The team continues to build momentum as they move up towards playoffs. The boys tennis team has been competing steadily throughout the season and they are wrapping up regular season play and preparing for section tournaments. Both the girls and boys golf teams have been playing very well. The girls team just played an invitation on the links at Northfor and the boys team are preparing for conference and section tournaments in the coming weeks. Our track and field team has been doing super well with a lot of uh runners scoring uh new PRs, especially in the Hamlin meet. Our boys volleyball team has a key a key game against Elk River tomorrow night and the team is also preparing for section playoffs coming up on the horizon. On the academic side, our students just wrapped up AP testing. After weeks of studying, late nights and early mornings, the halls are finally a little quieter and spirits are a little bit lighter. We also recently had prom. Prom was huge, huge success this year. Over 600 students attended, making it one of the most memorable and well attended proms Maple Grove has ever hosted. And as if all that excitement wasn't enough, we're right in the middle of spring fling week here at Maple Grove. The the energy around our school has been amazing these past days. This week we have a pickle ball tournament, a just dance danceoff, which I personally competed in in crimson today. Um, Mr. Dloff cannot dance. Uh, we have a basketball tournament. Um, and best of all, our final petfest this Friday. Spring fling is a much needed chance to unwind and celebrate the final stretch of the year. And the student council has done an amazing job organizing everything and the school spirit has been on full display except for today with the rain. It's okay. As for seniors who have been who have graduation clicker approaching, I can tell you for sure that senioritis is in full swing and many of us are soaking in the beta street moments of our last days together. I would also like to thank Principal Becker, Amy Toffson, and the entirety of the OIO school district board for the opportunity to serve as the Maple Grove students representative this year. It has been an amazing experience both personally and academically, one that has allowed me to grow as a leader, connect with students and staff, and gain a deeper understanding overall of how our district functions. I'm incredible incredibly grateful for this chance to advocate for my peers and contribute to the continued success. Also, just thank you for letting me talk as long as I normally do. Thank you. Thank you. The student representatives review the board meeting packet in advance and are prepared to answer questions from the board members on issues to seek student input related to agenda items for this evening's meeting. Board members, do you have any agenda items for which you'd like student input? So, um we have some recommendations from our deep pack committee tonight on um ways that we can consider making improvements or um programming um ideas. Was there anything that stood out to any of you or that you had input on? extended school hours. How long do you think the extended school hours? I think we're gonna find out here in a little bit. Do you think that's a good idea or is it? Any other input or feedback on anything from the packet? My only concern is that if we extended the school day, I wouldn't want it to because we're high school. Because for high school students, uh, a good majority of our juniors or even sophomores to seniors work jobs. And sometimes those jobs aren't just for like them. They're for family, too. And we have after school activities for all that stuff to get pushed back. It would be a little more harm than it would good. But that's just me. Thank you. Um, I personally have heard from a couple teachers of that being a good idea because it allows for more days off because of like the minimum times of how much time we're in school. Um, if that is the the real case, then I think that would be a good idea. However, as Naomi said, it could affect people's daily schedules and that might affect how their jobs work. Thank you. Okay. Any other final input for the final board meeting? All right. Thank you so much. Thank you for your service to the [Applause] board. Our next agenda item is the district planning advisory council's recommendations. Dr. Jill K, director of learning and achievement. Will you please share the presentation and introduce the presenters? Thank you. Good evening, school board members, Dr. Hy, cabinet members, and the members of the viewing audience. My name is Jill Khan, and I am the director of learning and achievement for Ocio Area Schools. I'm delighted to be here tonight with members of the DPAC group to share their work and their recommendations for the 2425 school year. DPAC is an acronym for the district planning advisory council and the committee is made up of very dedicated members that meet on a regular basis and then conclude the school year with recommendations and a report to the school board and superintendent for consideration. I've had the privilege of being able to work with this group in my capacity as the director of learning and achievement and it has been an amazing year of learning and growing and now we've come to you to share the recommendations. Throughout this time, I've had the opportunity to work closely with Rose Ton, who is a community member and chair of the district planning advisory council. And it is my sincere pleasure to introduce you to her you to Yeah. at this time to begin the presentation. Thanks, Joe. Good evening, members of the school board, cabinet members, and Dr. Hy. My name is Rose Ton, and it has been my pleasure to serve as chair of DAC for the 2024 through 2025 school year. I would like to start by giving those unfamiliar with DPAC a brief overview. The Minnesota state legislature requires each school board to establish an advisory committee to participate in the planning and improving instruction and curriculum for the district. AU area schools has established DPAC for that purpose. DAC membership consists of interested parents, guardians, scholars, community members, district staff, and schoolboard liaison. Each member serves a one-year term. The purpose of DPAC is to provide a space for members to work in collaboration to evaluate current district programs and initiatives and to make recommendations where opportunities for improvement are observed. Over the course of the school year, DPACK meets as a full council and in subcommittees once or twice each month to discuss topics of interest, gather information, formulate recommendations and strategies for improvement, and produce the annual report for presentation to the school board. This year, DPAC consisted of one committee, the program assessment and review committee. As a group, we identified areas of focus and gathered information to form specific recommendations for the school board. DPAC has prepared a report based on those findings and recommendations. Tonight, we will share our high priority recommendations with you. And as we share those recommendations, you'll hear us focus on the 2023 through 2024 family stakeholder survey results, world's best workforce goals, and the district's strategic directions. This year, our work focused not only on improving learning outcomes for all scholars, but also improving future stakeholder survey scores and aligning with world's best workforce goals and the district's strategic directions. But before we mo move into our high priority recommendations, u Dr. Dr. Kind will share an update on the progress of last year's recommendations. Thank you, Rose. The first recommendation from DPAC last year was to the recommendation to expand extracurricular opportunities across middle schools to include a common set of offerings across all of the middle schools. That is something that the middle schools are continuing to explore at this time. The second recommendation was that the district lay the foundation for AI integration in the classroom and provide staff and students with the resources to develop the knowledge, skills, and confidence to leverage technology. The recommendation was an integration delivered through a multi-year plan. The department of I2T2 conucted a work group last year to develop an AI guidance principle document for AI use in AIO area schools along with the digital equity plan. This year, professional learning focused on district and site leadership. The department of learning and achievement will begin a program improvement process with teachers in the fall around using AI for deeper learning. The third recommendation also had to do with AI and it was to leverage the power of AI enabled data analytics to effect more effectively identify data correlations as well as the predictive analytics capabilities. The Department of Learning Achievement uses AI enabled data analytics to analyze the open-ended responses on our stakeholder surveys. And we're continuing to explore how AI enabled technologies or can help us on a case-byase basis. The fourth recommendation was that the district implement a credit-based standalone college and career readiness course required for graduation to ensure scholars in college are college and career ready after high school. This year, all high schools and middle schools have implemented the advancement via individual determination program or AVID, which focuses on college and career readiness. AVID has an elective class as well as a schoolwide focus that provides students opportunities to learn more about college and career readiness knowledge and skills. In partnership with counselors, the college and career readiness coordinators at sites, and teachers, the department of learning and achievement began a program improvement process to examine our advisory curriculum, which all students participate in in grades 6 through 12 to be more more focused on college and career readiness. The last recommendation was from the student services subcommittee uh was to recommend the district pursue a partnership with mental health agencies that specializes in training practitioners to become culturally sensitive in their practice. This would include training for all school psychologists, school counselors, and school social workers. The district partnered with Kenty Circle for the 2425 school year to provide culturally responsive professional learning for school psychologists, counselors, and school social workers. We offered three sessions this year and in the process of determining that what follow-up and additional learning opportunities will be offered next year. The sessions for this year have provided strategies and tools for school-based mental health practitioners that they are able to put into practice immediately. Practitioners have also had the opportunity to learn from each other, collaborate, and ask questions of facilitators and learn about additional learning opportunities. Moving on to the upcoming recommendations, DEPAC chose to do things a little bit differently this year. At our after our initial brainstorm meeting, the committee as a whole wanted to do a deep dive into the family stakeholder survey before solidifying its focus for the year. Once we did that, it was determined that the committee operated as a whole rather than dividing into its subcommittees as a head in previous years. I'm thrilled to have Rose Ton back at the mic and Dr. Brit Ducey to share those recommendations. Our first recommendation examines the number of instructional minutes in the school day and the potential impact of increasing the number of instructional minutes districtwide. The key statements of priority work for ASO area schools that were a focus for this recommendation are creating a system of operational innovation, excellence, accountability, and sustainability. addressing, acknowledging, and reducing systemic barriers and inequities as we lead, develop, and align our district towards continuous improvement. Building and nurturing a culture of achievement by providing contentrich, rigorous, equitable, and individualized pathways. Limited instructional time within this the school day forces educators to make difficult decisions on how to allocate instructional time. In addition to satisfying minim minimum instructional standards that are required by the state, the district must also evaluate worthwhile re initiative proposed by parents, scholars, and other stakeholders like our group that hold potential for improving student outcomes. Integrating these valuable additions without compromising the time allocated to the core curriculum presents a significant challenge. And one way to alleviate those challenges are to increase the number of instructional minutes across all grade levels districtwide. Adding instructional minutes to the school day provides additional opportunities to work for towards the following world's best workforce goals. Closing all racial and economic achievement gaps between students, all students being career ready for career in college and all students graduating from high school. Potential family stakeholder survey item scores that could positively be influenced by increasing the number of instructional minutes include um staff being able to address needs of scholars, scholars seeing how their learning connects to the real world and scholars being able to use their strengths in additional ways. Um during our research, we gathered um information from seven area districts and we've compared our district to seven area districts to find that our school days are shorter than most districts. um at all levels including elementary, middle, and high school. So um in other words, AIO area schools lags behind in instructional minutes. By adding as little as 10 minutes a day, scholars have the opportunity to gain approximately 373 hours of instruction over the course of their K through 12 educational career in AIO area schools. Adding instructional minutes has the potential to improve a student outcomes academically and beyond, including improved core subject proficiency um in reading, math, and science, targeted support and intervention intervention for scholars who are struggling and scholars who need enrichment opportunities. enhanced learning in specific areas like STEM, arts, and the world languages, deeper engagement and exploration in the form of project-based learning, collaborative activities, and in-depth exploration of topics. Um, enhancing social and emotional learning opportunities, and increased meaningful connections between students and teachers. At this time, I would like to introduce Dr. Brit Stousy to share information regarding our final high priority item. Thank you, Rose. Good evening, schoolboard members, Dr. Hy, and cabinet members. My name is Dr. Britt Stusy. I'm a community member and parent of two children not enrolled in the district. Our recommendation this year ties into strategic direction plans A, C, and D. Create self create safe, welcoming, and inclusive learning environments that foster global curiosity, belonging, innovation, and engagement. promote inclusive participation of all of our communities and provide timely, relevant, and easily accessible communication, and create a system of operational innovation, excellence, accountability, and sustainability. We recommend that the district implement a strength-based approach similar to the bar program in all middle schools districtwide. First, let me provide some background context on how we arrived at this recommendation. We heard feedback from DPAC members with middle school students about the difficulties in transitioning from elementary school to middle school. To identify areas of opportunity at the middle school level, we reviewed the 2023 through 2024 family stakeholder survey. Survey items that had satisfaction scores less than 70% were flagged as areas of focus. themes that emerged of areas of focus were staff relationships between scholars and parents and guardians, belonging, communication, and learning that connects to the real world. Now, I will discuss the rationale for this recommendation. Research has shown that students transitioning into middle school and high school frequently experience stress, behavioral problems, declines in attendance, decreased academic performance, and lower self-esteem. The developers of building assets reducing risk or bar for short recognize the impact of school climate on student belonging, attendance, academic progress, disciplinary issues, teacher effectiveness and retention. BAR focuses on building relationships between teachers, students, and families to improve the school experience and academic achievement. A favorable feature of BAR is it plugs into the existing school structure and does not require a dramatic transformation to the existing school environment. It should be noted that in 2018, BAR was implemented as an opt-in program at Park Center Senior High School for 9th and tth grade students. At PCSH, bar students have shown increased academic performance and higher attendance rates compared to non-bar students. This data from PCSH closely aligns with the American Institutes of Research Scale Up Evaluation results. This recommendation addresses three specific areas of focus from the 2023 through 2024 family stakeholder survey at the middle school level districtwide. One, relationships between teachers, scholars, and families. Students would attend a set of core classes together to build and facilitate student connections. In these core classes, students will participate in eye time activities. These eye time activities allow for students to interact with each other and their teacher. Eye time activities allow for students strengths to be observed and identified by peers, teachers, and families. Feedback from eye time activities is used in development plans to better engage, support, and challenge students. Additionally, teachers of the core classes have a common planning period. This period is intended for teachers to build connections with each other and support peer-to-peer collaboration and learning. Two, student belonging plus learning relevancy. Building foundational relationships between student student, student teacher, and teacher teacher will enhance levels of engagement, belonging, and connection to the school. Through a bar-like program, teachers will have the opportunity to get to know students better, help them set personal goals, identify career interests, and show them how their learning connects to the real world. Three, communication. Teachers in the same bar cohort hold weekly check-in meetings to discuss student success, opportunity areas, and plan interventions. Teachers also have weekly check-ins with their students to discuss academic progress, individual plans, celebrations, or concerns. These weekly check-ins permit student stronger relationships to be formed between teacher teacher and student teacher. Most importantly, the bar model seeks to engage families in student learning, ensuring families are continuously engaged with their child's education, can freely communicate their child's needs, and can be involved in check-in meetings. Finally, some of the recommended next steps we propose include setting up a working group, conducting a cost analysis, connecting with middle school bar coordinators in neighboring districts, facilitating listening sessions with AIO area school communities, OIO area school community, and evaluating implementation needs at each site. Thank you for your consideration on this recommendation. We will now hear from Rose on the mission of this district. Over the past year, our committee has diligently focused on supporting the district's mission to inspire and prepare all scholars with the confidence, courage, and competence to achieve their dreams, contribute to the community, and engage in a lifetime of learning. We prioritize the district's mission and strategic plan throughout our work. Every decision and discussion centered on how our efforts could best inspire and empower scholars to reach their full potential and become active contributing members of the community. Our committee members were highly engaged, actively participating in discussions and asking thought-provoking questions along the way. This thoughtful exploration ensured that all perspectives were considered, leading to well-rounded solutions in support of the district's strategic directions. We are confident that our committee's work this year has significantly contributed to the district's mission and strategic plan. We look forward to continuing our efforts and fostering a learning environment where every student can achieve their dreams. On behalf of DPAC, thank you for your continued support of our work. And at this time, I invite questions from the board members. Great. Thank you so much. Board members, do you have any questions or comments? Yes. Uh so uh first I know we always say it but thank you so much for the presentation and all of the work that went into um this report today. Um it was also cool to hear that you kind of switched things around this year and decided to work as one committee instead of the subcommittees. Um so I think one of the big questions that I have um is of course the extended school day. Um, I was wondering if you could maybe speak to the research um that you maybe learned or leaned into that really gets at what that 10-minute increase would actually look like in a typical school day. Sure. We didn't we didn't explore um how that would kind of fit into the the school day itself. um we we kind of in what what we have learned throughout the DPAC process is that different um different sites and different schools um have control over their schedules and how that time is used. Um I think the way that we most envisioned that being used was maybe being added to like an advisory um period to offer um additional you know goal setting or intervention work during that time. Thank you. Yeah, I um I the comment that hit home was I think the emphasis on um AIO schools lags behind other school districts. Um so I think it's hard not to look past that comment. Um but I would also be hesitant to extend the school day just because other school districts are 10 minutes longer or 15 minutes longer, whatever that is. Um so yeah, I would love to explore this more. I would love to hear more from staff and um particularly those in our classrooms on you know what that additional time would mean um to them and their students. Um but I appreciated the recommendation and the the data that came along with it and that's exactly the process that as the recommendations come forward the DPAT committee isn't responsible for like the implementation kind of plan but we take it and then can explore those with more information from our staff. So thank you and just a question I was curious if you could clarify I think um Dr. Brit, you were talking about um at Park Center High School, the bar being um was it in ninth and tth grade, like all ninth and tth graders or can you just clarify who at Park Center has experienced that? Yes, it was just an opt-in program for 9th and tth graders. So, bar is a program that's nationwide was actually developed in um St. Louis Park probably more than like 30 years ago. So, in 2018, 9th and 10th grade students could opt in to help them with the transition from middle school into high school. um it has eight interlocking strategies all all of those in the in the full report but we've seen um similar to the American Institutes of Research there data has shown that for bar students there's a 6% increase in academic performance compared to non-bar students and attendance rates for bar students are about 3% higher compared to non-bar students so this would be a nice plug into the middle school since we already have this program implemented be able to draw on the leverage of Angie Vatson who's the bar coordinator at Park Center High School. It cost about $19,000 per site and including the middle school mile model, it' be an additional million dollars, but we have the institutional knowledge already embedded in. And in the report, there are multiple middle schools already implementing this model as well. So, we have neighboring districts that'll be able to help talk about what are some strategies for implementation and what are the some pain points. Okay, that's great. And do you know approximately how many students that is right now that have opted in at Park Center? I do not know but we could get back to you on that one. Thank you. I was just kind of curious with bar what what would you say is like the way that it's being described like the difference between that and like like AVID or just like kind of you know giving students kind of that the check-in the kind of like um opportunity to explore beyond you know um you know after high school you know all those kind of it seems like similar just in that like positive like trying to just or or just addressing what the issues are and kind of like um I I don't know I'm just kind curious what the so making sure that they're not the same program. Absolutely. So AVID is more of the tech is more of like the career the technology and actually would play really nicely into the bar program. So bar is really focused on building relationships and connections. When we go when students go into high school or any of those trajectory points if they don't feel connected, belonging, have relationships, know where the resources are, they start withdrawing, they start pulling back, you see academic decreases. So bar is more of like a triage to where it's building those connections with students that they have that social support. They also have those connections with teachers. So if they're experiencing some, you know, stress in their life, they don't know where to go, they have those relationships built in. They also have parents knowing who they can talk to, where they can direct their students needs, not feeling lost once they get into the larger schools of middle school and high school to where elementary school you have that connection with your teacher. Middle school, high school, you're moving around. So programs like AVID actually plug very nicely into the bar. We're not just adding another program for the sake of a program. I can because I'm on the committee. Perfect. My kids went to St. Louis Park and so in ninth grade at St. Louis Park for bar. It's kind of like a middle school model. So my kids, they're twins, but they were in like a family. So it's like implementing going back to kind of that middle school model. So for me as a parent, I had just a smaller group of teachers and then they meet and talk about the kids. So like it was like a so it felt like when my kids went to ninth grade that they had like this smaller community. So I think similar like sixth grade, right? They go from a home room, they would have like almost going back to that middle school model where you have a family of teachers. So that was part of I think our conversation. Thank you. Thank you. So, while we're talking about bar, the only question I had, were there other models or other systems that you looked at um before landing on on bar? We did not look at other models besides bar. Why we really lean towards bar is since it's already implemented in the district, we thought why add another program and have you know extra cost and lack of institutional knowledge when we have bar in this when we already have bar in the district we've already seen proven success in the bar so it just made sense to then roll it out to the middle school models potentially also extending it to other high schools as well. Thank you. You're welcome. Um I had a question on the hours. Um, so you know, looking at other districts, it looks like there's some variance between elementary and high school. Did you have any kind of sense of of, you know, what's right there, whether, you know, it's across the board, we're keeping the same time and not putting them all 20 minutes or or whatever. I think one thing that our committee members are very sensitive to is we're a very large district. Um, and any change in a daily schedule does affect busing schedules as well. So what you do at high school, you probably need to do at middle school and elementary school as well. So that is why the recommendation is for districtwide um to alleviate some of the transportation burden on that effect. One thing that we did talk about for elementary school um whe you know if it's an additional 10, 15 or 20 minutes um you know extra time um for recess to have kids um being able to go out and play and and get out energy is is always a good thing. Um and then adding maybe back in some music and um more fiad time um as as a way to um supplement their learning. Any other questions or comments? I just want to say I really like kind of just this thinking around, you know, what can we do? I mean, we can't, you know, what can we do differently to move the dial for all of our kids and like I know just like even knocking on doors. People would talk about extending hours, but then also like the notion of like year- round school and just things to really start to break that mold of like, you know, we continuously every single year we have the world's best workforce. It's very similar, you know, the the results year after year. You can see the racial disparities. I mean, it's it's almost you could predict them, you know, as you move forward. And like so I just appreciate kind of that um thinking beyond um the box here so we can start to really you know really look into some things that can um really impact our young people, our scholars. So thank you. I I kind of want to echo that too and I I guess my own personal experience. I went to school overseas uh for a while in high school um and we did uh six days a week uh for 13 hours. So, um, we did get off half a day on Saturday, so that was kind of cool. But, um, so when I see these numbers, it kind of just, you know, blows my mind. I'm going to give a hard time to my kids about how much rougher I had it. So, well, and I I I do think it's to me it's not just about time, you know, it's about impact. And so, you know, what can we like I really appreciate their research too to start to dive, excuse me, dive into like what actually is going to be impactful um to get the results that we want, which is what we want young people to thrive and that's our mission and our vision for our district. So, I um so again, thank you. Um I always look forward to this report at the end of the school year. Um I don't know if it's possible or worth considering, but always feel like it would be nice if we had these in a work session instead of a board meeting just to be able to sit with DPAC members and actually dive in a little bit deeper um than a formal presentation um but uh still valuable and and still grateful. Thank you. And I um also really appreciated um the approach of kind of starting with the data and saying like what do we um need, what's the problem we're trying to solve or what's the opportunity we're trying to um address. So I really appreciated that and I think the report um was also very well done, very well researched um uh also uh in comparison to prior years. So thank you so much to all of the committee members and all of the meetings and the work efforts uh that were put into this. Thank you. Thanks. The next agenda item is audience opportunity to address the school board. Tonight we do not have any individuals who are seeking to address the school board. So our next agenda item is the superintendence report. Dr. Hy. Thank you. Good evening, Chair Prince and Vice Chair Brooks and school board members. It often feels like the world is just moving faster than ever and many of us are simply trying just to keep pace. So in this constant motion, uh we need to take time to recognize that what may be a new beginning for some can also represent an ending for others. So tonight, we want to pause and reflect on these transitions and what that means for our school community. Uh from our youngest learners who are graduating from preK to our high school seniors preparing to walk across the stage, we're witnessing powerful moments of transformation. These students are stepping into the next phase of their educational journeys and for some the beginning of their careers. We also want to take time to celebrate our adult basic ed students whose perseverance and hard work have brought them to their own moment of graduation and renewal. So these milestones all remind us of the circle of life we all take part in whether at home in careers in school or in our broader communities. We are all engaged in a continuous process of growth, learning and development. And we are con which just like our students, our district is committed to evolving as well. We are constantly assessing and re-evaluating how we can better serve the needs of our students, staff, and families. This ongoing work is not just something we do in isolation. We rely on the voices of our community combined with data and outcomes to guide our decisions. Sometimes we hit that mark perfectly and other times we must adjust our strategies on our focus to ensure success. But in the end, our target is clear. Success for every student, every graduate and every family that we serve. So that will always be our aim. Success for all in a district that serves all. Thank you. So tonight, as a regular part of our superintendent report is to share points of pride. By sharing our points of pride, we're taking time to recognize and celebrate our staff, our scholars, and our community members who are contributing to accomplishments of our mission. So this evening, I have members of our district cabinet here to assist in sharing some examples from last month. In the area of achieving dreams, many artists from Maple Grove Senior High School, AIO Senior High School, and Park Center Senior High recently competed in the Minnesota State High School League Art Festival at the Purpage Center for Arts Education on April 12th and 26th. Each school submitted 18 different works from 12 different categories. Student students works then judged and awarded as superior, excellent or achievement. Students whose works were considered best in show by one of the judges were awarded spotlight on scholarship awards and were represented at the Minnesota High School League state art festival on May 10th at Perpich Art Center. Congratulations to all of these talented students. The Park Center senior high school library media center um saw a steady stream of visitors coming through April 18th as the school's fine arts international balorate or IB students open the space for an IB art exhibition. The exhibition featured nine artists, three of whom are pursuing their full IB diploma and others who took the IB visual arts course due to personal interest or for future career aspirations. The exhibition's artwork was clustered by artists and included a wide variety of mediums such as painting, charcoal sculpture, photography, wood sculpture, and more. Each artist displayed between five and 11 of their works of art, art, which they carefully curated as if they were going to the museum. In the area of contributing to community, the students at OIO Education Center have been hard at work for weeks building green houses, planting seeds, watering, growing, and nurturing the plants for their greenhouse sale. The sale kicked off May 8th through 9th and continues May 22nd through the 23rd, as well as May 30 29th through the 30th from 9:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the OEC. Flowers, vegetables, hanging baskets, and mixed pots as well as iced coffee and handmade soap are available for sale via cash or check. In the area of lifelong learning, AIO area schools American Indian Education hosted the 28th annual POW Wipi at Oika at at OIO Middle School on April 26. one of the largest education-based powells in the state. During the day, um during a day of singing, dancing, storytelling, the powell brought together hundreds of people from across the Midwest for a celebration of culture and history. Superintendent Dr. Kim Hy shared at the Powell. We have increased programming so much over the years. We have language classes going on and we are going to offer even more. It is an honor today to let you know that in the fall of 2027, we are going to be opening up our first indigenous prek. As part of the Ordways Theater commitment to keeping performances accessible and affordable, the organization recently partnered with Zaywood Community, a steam school, to bring a performance from Atu Fati, Dance, Music, and Arts to the school May 9th. The energetic performance had all students on their feet dancing along as performer to Jenny St. Juice and her mom uh entertained and informed about Haitian music and instruments. Students and even staff had a chance to participate in multiple different ways during the show which served as a kickoff event for a new partnership between the ordain. Fifth graders from Basswood Elementary School recently participated in a career fair. The fair was held in the library media center on May 9th. The career fair included over 35 volunteers from a variety of fields including police officers, firefighter, nurses, physician assistant, a lineman, a pilot, a video producer and editor, veterinarians, a pharmacist, a photojournalist, a golf professional, a realtor, an attorney, a musician, an aerospace recruiting manager, and last but not certainly not least, the principal from Maple Grove Middle School. In the area of missiondriven employees, on April 10th, the city of AIO was recognized on the floor of the House of Representatives at its meeting by Representative Halda Omani Hiltsley. They shared that AIO is celebrating its 150th celebration and that AIO Senior High School has been a big part of that history. As many of you know, AIO Senior High is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Principal Vernig took part in the celebration as well as a former principal. Gail Huggin, a resource education service professional or ESP at Woodland Elementary School, has been named ESP of the year by AIO ESP's local 7325 Union Group. The award recognizes the contributions of ESPs to their schools, communities, and profession. Congratulations, Gail. This evening, we just have a few final notes and reminders. Graduation ceremonies will be taking place from May 30th through June 9th for the OIE Area Learning Center, AIO Education Center, Adult Basic Ed, 279 online, and Park Center, Ocio and Maple Grove Senior High Schools. To learn more about each graduation, they can be found at district279.org/graduation. We are very proud to say as Crestview shifts to a new role as a community learning for future years, plans are underway to celebrate Crestview with an alumni event Tuesday, June 3rd from 4 to 6:00 p.m. at the school. All Cresfield alumni along with staff, students, families, and the community are warmly invited to attend the festivities, which will include old memorabilia and photographs, food trucks, school tours, and community building. And just as a reminder, the last day of school for students will be June 6th. Thank you. Thank you. Our next agenda item is schoolboard reports. Before we begin the board reports, I have a report to share from the school board closed meeting on May 6 for the superintendent's annual evaluation. On May 6, 2025, the OIO area school board met in close session to evaluate the performance of Superintendent Dr. Kim Hy after her second year of service. The board came to unanimous agreement that Dr. Hy continues to perform at the highest levels of excellence and effectiveness in her role as superintendent. All six board members agreed that Dr. Hyle was highly effective in achieving the board approved goals for the 2024 2025 school year. The board recognizes Dr. Hy's outstanding leadership to drive systems change and improvement across every level of the organization. The board recognizes the outstanding work in key district priorities, including an inclusive, datadriven, and responsive boundary change process, innovative practices to drive leadership accountability, instill a collaborative culture, and ensure alignment in strategies and priorities throughout the district, implementation of enhanced measures to ensure we achieve the mission and strategic directions of the district. Dr. Hile's commitment to the mission of the district and ensuring every priority and action results in improved outcomes for our scholars, staff, and community is evident in her leadership and in each decision she makes. The board is grateful to have Dr. Hy, and we thank her for continued leadership. We hope to see many more years of that leadership continue. Thank you, Dr. Hy. Thank you, board members. It means a lot. Thank you. Okay, Director Dawson, do you have a reporter update? Yeah. Um, just AMSD, um, just to no great surprise, uh, a special session is will be needed. Um, the legislature adjourned yesterday, the 2025 session last night, but, um, a special session will be needed to pass the education and several other bills. And so, um, the plan is to identify work groups, um, to finish by tomorrow, which we don't know if we'll be done or not. But once that happens, the governor will call a special session. So, more to more to come and follow on that as we await to see what happens. And the last thing I wanted to say is and I'd be remiss not to acknowledge that um this upcoming week marks five years since the murder of George Floyd. Um sparked a powerful movement on our world and in our backyard. And I will never forget um the next day after um his murder, we had a board meeting and it was probably one of the hardest board meetings I had ever had to be part of um because it touched it was in our backyard. And so that July um 2020, our school board um passed a resolution to commit to change and uh call on us to address systemic disparities in our education system. Um and I want to acknowledge that today is because a board member and author of the resolution and I know we'll be talking about it. um in future sessions, but I just want to take the time to acknowledge the intent of that resolution, which is to ensure that each and every one of our students feels um safe, seen, and supported in our school district. And I um so wanted to to say that in my Thank you. Thank you. Director Foster, do you have a reporter update? I don't have any updates. No. Director Brooks, do you have a reporter update? No reports. Right. Director Tate, do you have any reports? Uh none for me. Director Mitchell, no reports, but I just want to say doing the evaluation for Dr. Hy, it was just fun to have a lot of unity as board member. So, thank you for that summary. Thank you. All right. And I do not have any reports or updates either. So, wrapping things up here in May. Uh, okay. The next agenda item is the consent agenda. Board members, our consent agenda items this evening include meeting minutes, extended educational trips, personnel items, reimbursement resolutions, termination of probationary teachers, software renewals, and other business matters. Are there any items that you would like to remove for separate consideration? Seeing none, is there a motion to approve the consent agenda as printed? So move. Motioned by Director Dawson. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by uh director Foster. Is there any discussion? All in favor say I. I. All oppose. Nay. Motion passes six to zero. Our first action item of the evening is the attendance boundaries proposal. Information will be shared by K. Bela, executive director of community relations, and John Morstead, executive director of finance and operations. Good evening school board members. Our presentation tonight, we will share the process done for attendance boundary changes and the final recommendation scenarios. Before K and John shares this, I want to note that the scenario you're seeing tonight is the final recommended one. It's unanimously supported by the core team that worked on the change process and our cabinet team. And I'm proud to say that the work to get here has been done alongside our community. There were three sets of times community feedback was sought on the parameters and proposals shared. All thoughts and ideas were considered and a lot of cases made to create this final recommendation. What you see tonight is very much a community-based solution and our need to change attendance boundaries, one that does its best to meet our parameters and can last for the foreseeable future. So, at this time, I'll turn it over to Kay and John for more. Thank you, Kay. Thank you, Superintendent Hyle. So, let's take a moment to rewind just a tiny bit to look at why attendance boundaries needed changing in the first place. In the simplest way, it had to do with where our students are going and what schools can hold. This can obviously change from year to year or even decade to decade. The enrollment and capacity management advisory team, also known as ECMAC, has been monitoring enrollment shifts in conjunction with our school building capacities for the last several years now. Their most recent reports have detailed that a significant enrollment imbalance exists and it's to the point that it should be addressed. Specifically, there is significant growth in the northwest portions of our district. Future in housing and redevelopment are expected in these same areas. And there are also some district schools that are under capacity. ECMAX worked helped to form two 2023's building a better future referendum. Building a better futures oversight task force agreed with ECMAX suggestions and additional facility space became a part of the 2023 referendum. As a result, again, thanks to our community support of building a better future in 2023, a new elementary school in additions to Maple Rose Senior High School were approved and these will help address those space constraints that we talked about. Um, during the 2023 Building a Better Future referendum, it was additionally noted that attendance boundaries would need to be changed no matter the outcome of the election. With the additional facility space being added with the community's referendum support, attendance boundary changes are being limited to elementary and middle schools, thus impacting fewer families as promised. Just to be clear, that means there are no changes being made at the high school level. This is the timeline of all the steps that were taken as part of the attendance boundary change process. It started last summer with the establishment of the core team, included three community engagement opportunities, and is concluding this month with today's board vote. And I know we've looked at this a little bit, but just wanted to show um a little bit of the numbers in on our engagements. This first one was very much about the parameters. So, what the core team um should consider as as they're diving into the scenarios possibilities. And then the next uh couple of ones talk about the January uh community informational meetings. Um people have uh we watched the recordings were live streaming during the meeting um and then also attended and then that was for four proposed scenarios. Um those were whittleled down to two in March and we did a similar uh reach out with community meetings. Um the big number on here is the website views. We had over 60,000 views on our boundaries website. Um so we it's definitely clear that um people were informed about this and were accessing the information. Um our hotlines were um big at the email level and then we also had some phone calls to our hotline as well and I know schools um received communications and questions too and they had um a list of FAQs to help answer any questions that did come across. These are the community built parameters. Then from that first thought exchange numbers that you saw, they guided the scenario creation process starting with the four presented in January. Two updates in March and then tonight's final recommended scenario. As shown on the slide, the parameters included centering our core values, ensuring scenarios can function in our system, ensuring scenarios have longevity, following established class targets, considering numbers of students impacted, considering demographics, considering connecting schools level to level, keeping neighborhoods intact, uh minimizing non-adjoining areas, maintaining current walk zones, maintaining safety standards, avoiding lengthy travel, time and complying with laws, policies, and agreements. At this time, I'm going to turn it to John to talk about the amended U final recommendation here. Thank you, K. Based on community feedback from the February and March um meetings, scenario 2A was the final scenario chosen by both the core team and cabinet. Two edits were discussed and have been incorporated into the final recommended scenario that is being called amended scenario 2A. The final recommendation. The two tweaks included are the very northwestern part of Edinbrook's boundary will switch to OIO Middle School and all of the Sundance Woods neighborhood will remain with Fernbrook Elementary School. Approximately 2,000 elementary and middle school students would be impacted by the scenario, which is about 320 fewer than the January proposal and 120 fewer than the March proposal. Some of the strengths of this scenario are its low number of changes, functionality in our system, including efficiencies with building use and transportation services, elimination of non-adjoining geographic areas, and an improved feeder-like structure as students would move with classmates from elementary to middle school. This scenario would last for the foreseeable future. Um, at the elementary school level, neighborhoods would remain mostly intact as more natural barriers, major roadways, parks, creeks, and lakes are utilized. All but one school would be within their own attendance boundary. Oak View will be adjacent to their boundary. This means students closest to each school would be able to attend and potentially walk there. At the middle school level, the non-adjoining geographic areas that currently exist near North View Middle School would be eliminated. All but one school building would be within its own attendance boundary. Brooklyn Middle School will be adjacent to their boundary. Again, meaning that students closest to each school would be able to attend and potentially walk to that location. Please see the appendix portion of the report for more details on how each individual school is impacted by this amended scenario 2A recommendation. So, uh, next steps. Once approved, an update will be shared with families, staff, and community members. Some of these audiences will hear further updates as fine-tuning work will be needed to take place with special education, school assignments, and transportation routing. One elementary school in particular will likely move to an earlier start and end time to better accommodate busing. Our elementary schools currently operate on tier three and tier four of our busing structure. With the proposed movement of students, we would need to move the new elementary and one additional to tier three to balance both tiers and keep costs contained. A school staffing process will also kick off. School staff are still needed to service our students throughout the districts, but they too will need to be balanced. This means some staff will be transferring to other schools, other district schools to address the students educational needs and support alongside the new attendance boundaries. The district will follow the processes set forth in our labor contracts to do this. Please know our goal is to ensure families and staff are informed and warmly welcomed as they start their new journeys in the fall of 2026. Every effort will be made to help make this possible. Final thoughts. Changing attendance boundaries is one of the most challenging projects a school district typically undertakes. The participation numbers show that our community strongly engaged in this process and appreciated the opportunity to share their ideas and thoughts. Several community comments were received through out the process about how well this change process was organized and how they genuinely felt heard and valued. In conclusion, the final recommended scenario has been built in partnership with our community and is thus unanimously supported by both the core team and cabinet. Thank you. And I will turn it back to you, Chair Prince. Great. Is there a motion to approve the final recommended attendance boundary scenario, which is scenario 2A with two adjustments as presented? So move. Mo motion by Director Brooks, seconded by Director Tate. Is there any discussion? Um, my first comments were I um wanted to really thank the community for being so involved. I think it's not easy to step out of your day-to-day life and speak into um other things um that are going on. But I really appreciated the people that showed up to meetings, the emails, the phone calls. Seeing all those numbers is really amazing. um and just that it was a true community process and that also speaks so highly to the staff and leadership. Um so thank you to everybody who worked on this and made this a really transparent process and one where the community felt heard in the process. So I really appreciate all the effort that went into it. Yeah. Uh DD um I I feel like this is one of the biggest decisions like a school board can make and barely anybody here. Um, which I think speaks to uh the amount of communication um that the intentionality from the communications team and and leadership in the district. Um, thank you all for all the work uh that went into this day after day uh for such a long period. Um I particularly appreciated the um the parameters that were set um and the considerations that went into drawing this map. Um as I heard from community, I heard a lot of the same sort of pain points come up um with the way that our system works and um particularly the biggest one being that first bullet point which was the leveltole transition. Um so happy to see a lot of that uh begin to be addressed through this new map. Um and um I know there's still more work to come after this, but thank you for everything to this point. Yes, I um concur and uh just uh we spoke at this at length in the work session in prior work sessions and for the community members watching um there's a wealth of information in the packet and online links and on the website and very detailed very thorough school by school um kind of what's changing and why and what that means. um and really appreciate the entire process, the effort, the engagement, the leadership, the contributions of everybody's ideas um and effort to be out in the community uh making sure that everybody had a good understanding. So um and also thank you to the community members for engaging and participating as well and of course for uh the funding that helped us to be able to continue the building a better future work and this um associated work with it. So thank you team. Can I say thank you? I want to uh make sure to give a shout out to Kay and our team. Kay, you did an extraordinary job and John and I thank you for that and all of the people that worked on our core team and our community members and our staff members that helped out each evening and our principles that helped out. So, it was literally a community built solution. So, thank you for all of your work that you did. So, okay. Uh we will take a vote. Uh, all in favor say I. I. Oppose. Nay. The motion passes six to zero. Big one. All right. Um. All right. The next action item are two employee contracts. The first recommendation for contract approval is confidential support specialists. Information will be shared by Yvon Shores Lind, executive director of human resources. Yvon. Thank you, Chair Prince. I wanted to first off uh say with regard to both contracts that we are um seeking approval for tonight, I wanted to thank the bargaining teams for um in in both contracts. Um also our labor relations director Lisa Ching and the bargaining teams for um AIO as well. They all spent several months to to reach a um reach a final contract in both cases. So, the first contract that I'm going to review, and of course the board uh has uh the redline version and the full memo and the board materials, but I'll highlight uh hit the highlights today. And the contract is for July 1st, 2024 through um June 30th, 2026. And this is for the confidential support specialists or CSS group. And that's a group comprised of 10 employees working in confidential um positions such as human resources and payroll. And uh what we have for the final contract um over that 2-year period is a 5% increase uh to um the contract in year 1, fiscal year 1, a 1.8 base increase in fiscal year 2, which is the 202526 year. We also uh had made changes to um the paid time off schedule. the district uh 403 match and also of course um cost share uh increases. The total package for the CSS contract is an 8.87% total increase and the total financial investment is $94,11 um over the term of the agreement. Uh these are um these terms are within the financial parameters set by the board. And so with the ratification of the contract tonight, human resources and payroll would begin the implementation process. Thank you. Is there a motion to approve the agreement on the terms and conditions of employment between the ISD279 school board and confidential support specialist July 1st, 2024 through June 30th, 2026. Motion by director Brooks. Is there a second? Second. Second by director Mitchell. Is there any discussion? All in favor say I. I oppos. Nay. The motion passes six to zero. The next recommendation for approval is the contract with OIO administrative professionals. Yvon, will you please share the information? Sure. Thank you. Um this contract um again for uh the OIO administrative professionals or OAP group it is the same term which is um July 1st 2024 through June of uh through June 30th 2026. The OAP group is comprised of 118 employees who work in various administrative positions in the district. So and they support departments, programs and schools across our system. The results of this contract are a 5% base increase in year fiscal year 1 and a 2% base increase in fiscal year 2. And employees who were eligible and there's um eligibility criteria that was agreed upon. So eligible employees would also receive a one-time stipen um of $1,000. And then uh there are also additional terms relative to um the district match um and district uh uh cost sharing provisions related to benefits. This uh the bargaining teams also agreed to um uh add memoranda of understanding um which includes the formation of two labor management com committees on two specific um topics and so those LMC committees have begun already. The total financial investment for the OAP contract is 6.54, excuse me, 6.51 increase. The total dollar amount is $760,000 uh $760,556 over the term of the 2-year agreement. And again, uh this falls within the financial parameters set by the board. With ratification tonight, payroll and HR would begin implementation. Thank you. Is there a motion to approve the agreement on the terms and conditions of employment between the ISD279 schoolboard and OIO administrative professionals July 1st, 2024 through June 30th, 2026? So move. Motion by director Dawson. Is there a second? Second. Second by director Tate. So again, I would like to uh Sorry. Is there any discussion? All in favor say I. I I'll oppose nay. And which passes six to zero. So um again, thank you to everybody involved in um the effort and the work to come together on an agreement and um you know with every contract, every single staff member um plays a critical role in our district whether it is um supporting staff um in operations or whether it's student facing or supporting administrators in different ways. So, um, every single person is so essential to the work that we do to serve students. So, thank you to everybody who serves, um, in these particular contracts tonight. Our final action item this evening is gifts to the district. Is there a motion to approve gifts to the district totaling $45,6843? So, moved. Moved by Director Foster. Is there a second? Second. Second by Director Tate. Is there any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Oppose. Nay. Motion passes six to zero. And um again, thank you to every single month, everybody who contributes uh to this number um and for your dedication to the district in doing so. Okay. Ourformational items this evening are the first reading of many policies. The policies are policy 707 transportation of students, policy 725, establishing school attendance boundaries, policy 727, closing schools. Policy 806, crisis management, policy 807, health and safety. Policy 921, non-use of tobacco on school property. Policy 922, non-use of chemicals on school premises. Policy 925, web and internet publishing. Policy 926, possession of dangerous weapons on school property. Information will be shared by Amy Moore, general counsel. Amy, thank you. The good news is is we're on schedule for a three-year cycle of review for all of our policies. Um, so this is our first reading uh and the policies will be published up for comment and then we'll come back to you next month for vote. Um, so we'll start with policy 707. Um, I'm sorry, I have them I have them in a different order. Let me get this. Apologize for that. Uh, transportation of students for this policy. You will see that there is just a title change from the director of facilities transportation operations to what it is currently the director of transportation security and emergency operations. Policy 707 appendix A bus transportation scheduling and bus stop assignment. Um again you will see that change in the title. Um and then in B2 you will just see a slight change that uh takes out that provide educational component for care and treatment facilities that just reflects what the current law is. Um and then you will see clarification um on the next page um on F2 regarding requests for bus stop safety changes. Um, we found it necessary to remind folks that all requests actually must have a safety concern and that at the beginning of each school year, no bus stop changes will be made or reviewed until later or made uh late or mid October. Those are the changes proposed to that. And then policy 707, appendix B, school bus safety training roles of parents. Um, that policy was good. We don't propose any updates or changes to that policy 707 appendix C student conduct uh student discipline on school buses at school bus stops. This one as well we felt was good and with no changes needed. And then policy 707, appendix D, school bus driver responsibilities, reporting school bus incidents and accidents, operating rules and procedures, emergency procedures, maintain and inspecting equipment use of type three. Maybe we should have proposed a smaller or less wordy title, but um we just updated the name of the um director of transportation security management with that one as well. Uh and then policy 707 cameras on school buses. Similarly with this we found that the um uh policy as it was was good and that no changes were needed. Um there were some questions that came up regarding cameras on school buses. You know how many have cameras? I believe board directors got information on that rather lengthy uh in depth. Uh if there's any questions on that, you can let us know. And then also the transportation guidelines of um how far our students have to walk before they get buses. And in preK5, that's uh greater than.8 miles. And in 612, it's greater than one mile, which exceeds what's required by Minnesota statute. Um and then there are exceptions when there are hazardous roadways. um that would cause some safety concerns. That's where transportation has made uh provisions for those students as well. So policy 725 is establishing school attendance areas. Um for that what we did is um in section B we changed it from school board to superintendent. um you as a school board are setting your direction. That was more of an operationalization um matter. So, we changed it to superintendent will determine the process and timeline for the boundaries because then in section C that's where the school board will approve it just like you've done tonight. Um for section two, um we did have some um comments and suggestions. We changed the words overcrowding to over capacity to make it more precise. Um, and then we included the last sentence that talked about we removed census areas as well as something that's not terribly useful. You'll see that in the next policy as well. Then added the last sentence that these adjustments are meant to address short-term capacity concerns. So that's uh more the superintendent and a committee get together to review the and maybe there are some short-term changes that are needed per grade level because of overcrowding. it's not meant to address a district-wide concern. Um, so those are the changes to that policy. Policy 727 on closing schools. Um, we did take add the section two that whenever possible and considering the district's financial status, the building will be maintained by the district and will be repurposed for other district needs. for procedure 727. That's where we also took out census as um not relevant to the work that we do these days. For policy 806, crisis management, um we updated the wording about maintaining an emergency response plan. And then at the end of the uh that policy, we just changed uh five lockdown drills and instead of two severe weather drills, it's one a severe weather drill. That just reflects what we currently do. Uh with the procedure, you'll see a lot of strikeouts. The reason for this is you notice the policy is titled crisis management and then the pre procedure had been titled health and safety. Um, we wanted to maintain the focus on crisis management. In the next policy, you'll see it's focused on health and safety. So, that's what all of those crossouts are for. Those are all the health and safety. Um, on the next page, uh, you'll see crisis management. Um, as being outlined here, it's, um, it's focused just on that. They did take out the um last two, eight and nine conducting the shelter in place and also changing one tornado um the two tornado drills to one that just reflects everything that we're currently doing. And then you'll see more crossouts because that's all health and safety. And at the very end, you'll see that the district will review written plans at least annually. As I said, the next policy, policy 807 is focused on health and safety. The policy was good. We don't propose any changes to that, but again with the safety, we took out the um crisis management and just focused on the health and safety aspects. Um with this we also did include section D that the district uh aware which is a workplace accident and injury reduction uh plan committee will uh and talks about what it will be comprised of. Um as of September of this fall school districts are going to be required to have an aware program. So we are ahead of schedule. OSHA has reviewed and approved our uh plan and we are already starting to roll out um those meetings with our unions. Um so we're in good shape there. In fact, we may provide a template um for other districts as they um develop their programs. And then you will see in on page 274 um taking out the crisis management section F uh because that's was reflected in the prior page 275 under food safety. Um that's covered under the employee right to know section G on the prior page. Um so that was just repetitive. And then under forkless safety, we took out um the uh stuff regarding conduct quarterly air monitoring for carbon monoxide and carbon monoxide testing. And that's because we don't have propane um forklifts anymore. They're all battery operated. Just a fun fact for you. Uh on page 277, um I just noticed that I didn't catch the um uh the numbering or not the numbering, the alphabetizing. So I will be fixing that. That's just missed that. So policy 921, non-use of tobacco on school property. This was updated in 2023 uh with the changes. The big change there was that um adults may utilize tobacco on school district parity as a part of a traditional indigenous spiritual or cultural ceremony. Um there aren't any other updates that are needed from what we could see from that time. So we're proposing no updates. Um similarly policy 922 non-use of chemicals on school premises. Again, this was updated in 2023 to add um cannabis and non- intoxinating non- intoxicating cannabonoids to the policy. Just to be clear that those were not allowed and we don't uh propose any changes at this time because those updates are still good. Um policy 925 um was updated to bring some precision and concise wording um regarding website editing versus internet publishing. So you'll see that kind of throughout the policy. And then um in section A uh a more concise recitation that reflects our current purposes of what we expect on our websites. Um, in section four we added uh data privacy as something that need to be considered and we just took out the last sentence and stuck it in as accessibility. Um and then in the last se section uh six we reference the community relations team really as the one who will um oversee and provide that guidance and telling folks that if they fail to adhere to the um standards that we establish that they may lose their editing privileges. Um, for the procedure for policy 925, we're uh suggesting that we actually remove those procedures because communications has a um guidance document called best practices for schools programs guide book. Um that will allow the communications department to be more agile in updating and um responding to kind of what the district's needs are as well as focusing kind of our staff who do websites on that document. Policy 926, the possession of dangerous weapons on school properties. We are just removing two sections in section five regarding firearm safety markman marksmanship courses and gun and knife shows. We're removing those because um we don't do those. That's it. Any questions? No questions. Okay. Thank you so much, Amy, for walking us through all of that and we will review that again at our next board meeting um for action. And of course, as always, our policies um have the opportunity for feedback on the web and our policy committee meetings are open to the public. At this time, the board will take a brief recess and then reconvene in room N22 for a closed session. The session will be closed pursuant to Minnesota statute 13D.03 in regard to the following bargaining groups. Directors and confidential managers, licensed coordinators, student management specialists, princip principles, management I through M and teachers. Is there a motion to recess the regular meeting for 10 minutes and reconvene in the forum room for a closed session? So moved. Moved by Director Brooks. Is there a second? Second. Second by Director Mitchell. All in favor say I. I. All oppose. Nate. Motion passes 6 to zero. The meeting is recessed at 7:50 p.m. The schoolboard meeting will adjourn at the conclusion of the closed session.