Good evening. The regular meeting of the Independent School District 279 School Board is called to order at 6 PM on December 16th, 2025. This regular business meeting of the OIO School Board is being conducted in the boardroom of the Educational Service Center. This 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 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, board chair Tanya Prince, Director Keith Tate, Director Sarah Mitchell, and also present in the boardroom is Superintendent Dr. Kim Hy, members of the superintendent's cabinet, and our student school board representatives. Those of you who can please stand for the pledge of allegiance. [clears throat] Director Tate, will you please lead the pledge? >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Board members, are there any additions to the amended agenda? >> Is there a motion to accept the amended agenda as presented? >> So moved. >> So moved by Director Tate. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Seconded by Director Dawson. >> Is there any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose say eight. The motion passes six to zero. Our next standing agenda item is recognitions. There are initially two recognitions on the agenda, but unfortunately due to scheduling conflicts with winter sports activities, the Maple Grove boys soccer team is not able to be here this evening. We wish them a wholehearted congratulations on their second place finish at state. [applause] We are very happy that members of the Park Center PI adapted soccer team are here to be recognized. Board members and student board representatives will be stepping down from our dis to offer our congratulations. After the recognition, we'd like to get a group photo. All right. So, coach uh um Jonah uh Pridey, will you please step up to the microphone to introduce your team team as soon as we all set uh set come down Hello everyone. I'm Jonah Pretty. I'm the head coach of this awesome group. Um the Park Center Pirates of uh well the whole AIO district. So we rotate between the three different schools. Uh we are at Park Center for soccer in the fall. We are at Maple Grove for uh floor hockey in the winter. And then we are at AIO uh for softball in the spring. Um so yeah, it's a really uh awesome group of kids again. Um yeah, we graduated five seniors last year. So we were hoping after a high finish where we got to be here last year um to recognize our third place uh performance that we were hoping to be top three again. Um, and these kids really continue to take it upon themselves to continue to grow and improve as young people and young adults, uh, and young athletes. And, um, we just were able to continue to build and build each day like we try to do and implement each day. Um, you know, having lots of positivity and such and just lots of encouragement of one another. And um we were able to go undefeated in the season and we were able to go undefeated at the state tournament. Um and so it was quite an incredible journey and ride and it's been quite an incredible uh journey and ride over the last four years. Um and I'm just incredibly grateful, proud, blessed to coach all of these guys. Um they represent our district very well. Um we're very grateful for the district support of our team. um grateful to deliver a state championship to the district for the first time since 1998. Um so uh it's just yeah again just extremely proud of each and every single one of you. All of you have contributed greatly to the team. Uh regardless if you were a starter or didn't play much um you know everyone had a really great important part and encouraged and brought us to this state championship victory. So thank you all again very very much. greatly love and appreciate every single one of you. Um [applause] [applause] so now we will be passing out certificates. Um so yeah our first student uh Ail Fathkar Rabani. [applause] [applause] Our next student athlete, Matthew Sprout. [applause] Our next student athlete, Bennett Lisman. [applause] [applause] >> Stay right here. >> We have, [laughter] >> let's see. Um, we have some athletes that weren't able to be here, but want to recognize them, too. Charlie Brisbine, [applause] Parker Buckley, [applause] Everett Olsen, Kip Williams, [applause] and then our next student athlete in attendance here, Lincoln Cersi. [applause] We have Rashid Bea. Um [applause] then our next student athlete in attendance, Ben Feifer. [applause] And another student athlete uh that wasn't able to make it but want to be recognized, Audi Baratti. [applause] Then some student athletes here, Joshua Plameumber. >> [applause] >> Emma Johnson, [applause] then Caleb Plamer, [applause] Evan Bartlett, [applause] and then our last two that weren't able to make it, but want to recognize them too. One of our seniors, Eddie Wara, [applause] and then Edward Urick. We do have our student manager in attendance, Navaro Toliffson. [applause] And also present is our awesome assistant coaches, uh, Ben Tombard Doll [applause] and Joel Lisman. over to the side. >> Thank you all again so much. Really greatly appreciate it. [applause] >> So what? >> Oh yeah. Yeah. Let's have let's bring some step. [laughter] really big smiles. Okay, >> winners. [cheering] [applause] [applause] [applause] >> Thank you. Thanks guys. You know what? Sometimes success. >> Oh my god. Celebration continued. Okay, next on the agenda is student schoolboard representative reports. Reports from our student reps will be done a little differently this year um uh versus how they've been done in past years. So, the student reps will be attending several work sessions throughout the year to participate in discussions on identified topics. At our December 9th work session, they participated in the series 500 policies agenda item. The 500 series are the district student centered policies. I'll turn it over to the student board reps to share their report. [laughter] >> Hi, my name is Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it to the last session, but I was able to look at the policies and oh my god, I'm telling you, you might think looking policies. Not too fun. It looks like a bunch of words, but I was really into it. Oh, like this. You want You want me like this? >> Oh my gosh. Um, looking at policies might not be that fun, but I thought it was very interesting. I only see it from the student perspective and now I get to see it from the district perspective, the teacher perspective, the staff perspective. And I just want as policies grow, we grow along with the policies instead of staying back in our old ones. And I see we are growing people. So I think it'll work out well. And I hope our policies change and grow and we flourish cuz I'm not going to lie, when I looked at those um what was it? The >> what was it? The hitting one. >> Yeah, student discipline one. I was shocked cuz I thought it was a bit different cuz it was different when I was in elementary school, but we changed and I'm glad and I'm glad our district is glory. So yeah, looking at the process was very interesting and I'm glad we did that. [applause] So my name is Christian Vargas. I represent the OALC Austrial Area Learning Center and the process, this is the first year that we're doing this where students can actually give their feedback. So, I'm really glad that we're starting to do that and we can really make some changes for the students and sorry. Um, okay. I'm so sorry guys. Um, so we talked about the policies and what I really liked from the school board is that if I were to mention a policy, they would give full feedback and then they would even discuss amongst themselves. So, we're trying to get some real feedback and real progression. Um, one of my favorite things was in the policies we talked about like student discipline and we talked about like things are different now. We need to follow up with them. We need to give them more support because if someone's getting bullied, we can't just discipline them. We need to provide after support. And there's a lot of things that go into that. So, that's what I'm most excited for to help change. Thank you. [applause] Okay. Hello guys. My name is Hikma Adam and I'm representing AIO Senior High. So during this process, I loved having our open discussions while learning how policies are made and understanding why they exist. I found it especially valuable to ask questions and share the input I had based on my own experiences at OIO area schools. I also appreciated how collaborative the process was and how seriously the board members considered our feedback as well. Overall, it was very meaningful experience and it helped me understand the rules and why they are made within a area schools. Thank you. [applause] >> Thank you so much for um all of the work that you've continued to put into the things that you're helping us work through this year. We really appreciate it. And we first began board reps I think under um director Dawson as you were chair as one of your priorities and so we've continued to evolve that we're really um pleased with how we're collaborating and how you're um able to work with us. We appreciate you. >> Okay, we will um move on to our next agenda item. So um schoolboard reps, you can go ahead and um go at this time if you'd like. Okay, our next agenda item is the truth and taxation hearing. John Morset, executive director of finance and operations, will share the information. At the conclusion of John's presentation, he will call for public comment for anyone wishing to comment about the levy. >> Good evening, Chair Prince, Vice Chair Brooks, Superintendent Hy, board members, and what a great audience. I love it. Um, who knew everybody was that excited about truth [laughter] and taxation? Uh, this pres presentation is required annually and has a very specific stipulations to follow in state law. It must be held between November 25th and December 28th, even on Christmas Day if we wanted to. We are not Grinches, so I won't do that to you. Uh, must start at 6 p.m. or later, and can be part of a regular meeting, and must allow for public comment. Tonight's agenda includes background information on school funding, our district's current budget, the proposed tax levy for taxes payable in 2026, and the opportunity for public comment on that proposed levy. Minnesota Constitution Article 13 creates a uniform system of public schools and in doing so grants limited taxing authority to those schools. State legislature sets very specific rules that schools must follow regarding revenue. maximums are established. Districts can levy less but not more unless approved by voters in November. As a result, our funding is highly regulated. Since the 2002 2003 um school year, the state general education revenue formula has not kept pace with inflation. Uh looking at the last two fiscal years, uh the 2425 school year, an increase of 2% or $143. And for the current year, an increase of 2.75% or about $200 per pupil was previously approved. The per pupil allowance for this year of $7,481 would need to increase by another $1,420 or 19% to keep pace with inflation since the 2002 2003 school year, which would result in an allowance of $8,91 for AIO. That is this year alone, $32.2 million in lost revenue. Next, we'll take a look at the district's budget. Um, just to be aware, our tax levy is based on many state determined formulas plus voter approved referendums, but an increase in school taxes does not always correlate to an equal increase in the budget. Our budget is broken down into individual funds that you see listed here. It's important to understand that the school district budget lags the certification of the tax levy by about six months. For this presentation, we'll be looking at the budget for the current 2526 school year. The 2627 budget will be adopted by the school board in June of 2026. Here is a one-page look at our financial results from fiscal 2025. beginning with starting fund balances, revenue, expenditures, and ending fund balances in the blue columns. The budget for the current year, fiscal 26, is shown in the gray columns on the right, again with revenues, expenditures, and expected ending fund balances. This pie chart shows how revenue from each funds uh relate to each other. The general fund makes up just under 80% of all revenues received within the general fund. Here's a look at the areas where funding is received. State aid is the largest category making up almost 63% of funds and property taxes making up just over 20% of the revenue. As we switch to expenses once again in the general fund, you can see um the look at the main spending categories here. Salaries and benefits make up 83.4% of our budget. Education is a very laborintensive industry and we spend the vast vast majority of our money on our people. Here's another view of general fund expenses by uh individual program area. So now I'll take a look at some of the specifics of the proposed property tax levy. Again, schools and cities, schools versus cities and counties run on different schedules. For the district, funds received in 2026 will be part of the 2627 fiscal year, running July 1st of 26 through June 30 of 27. Every property in the district receives a proposed property tax statement like this. It contains proposed property taxes for this year compared to next last year. Um taxing by jurisdiction. Um it breaks down within the school district by voter approved and other and then also the time and place for the public meetings. >> Each school district may levy taxes in over 40 different categories. Maximum levy amounts are calculated by the Minnesota Department of Education for each category and are set in state law or by voter approval. The property tax process um has a few key steps that we'll look at here on the next slide. Um any of these steps can have an effect on taxes of an individual parcel of property, but the school district only has control of one of the steps. So, as you're looking at the six steps, city and county assessor determines estimated market value of your property. Legislature sets formulas for tax capacity and limits. The county auditor calculates tax capacity for each property. The Department of Education calculates detailed levy limits for each school district. The school board votes to set the levy and then the county auditor will divide the final levy by the district's total tax capacity to to determine which tax rate is needed. Um so this today we are in step five of the six steps. Approval of the district's levy starts in the summer. The Minnesota Department of Ed then sets a preliminary levy limitation report in September which outlines the maximum amount each district can levy with the exception of any voter approved measures. Our board approved the preliminary levy in uh on September 23rd. In mid November, the county mailed out the proposed property tax statements to each resident and today is the public hearing on the proposed levy and we will ask the board to act on this levy later in the meeting. Proposed payable 26 tax levy is an increase from 2025 of just over 6.4 million or 4.5%. Changes by levy category and reasons for major increases and decreases in the levy are included on the following slides. Here is a comprehensive list of all the changes to get to the 4.5% increase. And I'll go over the major categories individually. Our voter approved operating levy increased by about 1.8 million. The increase is primarily due to an inflation factor on the levy and an expected increase in student enrollment for the next school year. Prior year adjustments are an increase of just under $ 1.5 million. These levies are based on estimates initially and in later years they are upgraded and retroactively adjusted to the actual expenditures. Long-term facility maintenance decrease in the general fund is offset with an increase in the debt service fund. Longterm facility maintenance projects are financed through a combination of annual general fund levies, state aid, and bond issues. We coordinate these levies to try to maintain a level tax rate, including the next issuances of voter approved bonds that were part of the approval from the 2023 Build a Better Future bond referendum. Many factors can cause a change in a tax bill for an individual property. Changes in value of the individual property has the biggest impact. Changes in total value of all property within the district. increases or decreases in levy amounts caused by changes in state funding formulas, local needs and costs, voter approved referendums, enrollment changes, and other factors. So, how does this impact you as a taxpayer? Simplest way to explain this is to imagine the district's levy as a pie. Um, the district's levy makes up the entire pie, and each property owner has a slice of that pie. As your market value increases, your slice of the pie would get a little bit larger. If it decreases, your slice gets a little bit smaller. Additionally, as more property owners are added, as you see development continuing in our district, that same pie is divided divided into a larger number of slices, each a little bit smaller than before. Here's a very simplified example. Here are two identical properties, both worth $100,000. The district's levy is $500. In this case case, each property would pay $250. In this scenario, we change it a little bit. The orange house increases in value by 10% to $110,000. The blue house increases by 25% to $125,000. The levy remains the same at $500, but the orange house would see a decrease of $16 to $234, where the blue house would see that increase of 16 to 266 to still generate that same $500. Now, we'll take a look at a four-year comparison of property values and school taxes. Examples stated are for property within the city of OIO. amounts for are for 2025 are or excuse me for 26 are preliminary estimates. Final amounts can change slightly and these estimates have been prepared by Ellers which is the district's municipal adviser. The first example shows homes and property values that did not have any change in value um over the last four years. And the second example we'll show shows a 7.1 increase in property value over those same four years. So here you can see actual estimates from taxes from 2023 through 26. Again, this is the no valuation change and only accounts for the school portion of the property taxes. It does not include the county levy, city levy, or levies from other taxing jurisdictions such as the Met Council, mosquito control district, things like that. Again, this is a lot of information here, so we're going to take a look at it a little bit differently. Here's the same information in chart view. Again, no change in home value. So, the example we'd show you here is a $300,000 home would see an estimated increase of $31. $400,000 home would see $42. Here's the same information, but for a commercial or apartment property that has a million dollar value, the commercial property would actually see a decrease of a dollar and the apartment property would see an increase of $127. So now let's look at those same homes but with the 7.1% cumulative increase in property value over time. So where you end in 2026 is the 300 and the $400,000 value. So a $300,000 property would see an increase of $46. A $400,000 property an increase of $62. We do not have the same comparison for commercial and um apartment. The state does provide some relief options available to all residents. Please contact your tax professional to see if you qualify. Um the three we'll highlight are the homestead credit refund, special property tax refund, and also the senior citizen tax deferral. Oops. The next steps include public comment and then the board will be asked to take action later on the levy. At this point, I will turn it to Chair Prince for public comment. >> Okay. Yes. If there's anybody in the audience who wishes to uh comment about the levy, please step forward to the podium at this time. So, go ahead and um uh yeah, state your name and share. Hi, I'm uh Eric Vanovavan. Um sorry, I guess I'm not really good at public speaking, but I kind of came here for I guess two reasons. Um one was I got my property tax bill in the mail um for $10,000, which is quite a bit. Um I see how much is here to the school and I have two kids, one and three, so I don't think I'm too upset with paying that. I want money to spend on my kids. Um the other reason is my kids are one and three and I just don't know what I'm going to do with my kids. um what I'm going to do with them for school here for until they're 18, right? Um so I'm kind of at a crossroads and um you know I I you know I looked it up. It it sounds like we spend about um $18,000 per kid per year it costs the H County School District. So that's about almost I'm an accountant so that's about half a million dollars just shy of that in today's money that's going to be spent on my kids here and you guys are going to spend that on my kids. Um, I guess what I'm not happy about is I don't really have any control over how that money is spent. Um, I mean, if I want my kids to go to public school, I have to go to the school that you're assigning to us, which right now looks like it's Friendbrook, but maybe you're building a new school that they go to. And there's no credits for me to no vouchers to go to private school if I want to, and there's no credits if I were to homeschool my my child. Um, so either I have to both me and my wife can both go to work and you'll spend almost half a million dollars here on my kids over their 12-ear time in school at teaching them what you tell them to teach. And I don't have any control over that. I don't have any control over any of what you do with my kids while they're there. I don't have any other options. either that or I have to um pay for private school which is expensive on top of the half a million dollars that you guys are gonna keep of mine, right? Um my third option is that we just homeschool the kids and I again my wife then probably has to stay home and I don't you know you guys still keep the half a million dollars for my kids that were allocated for them either way. So, you know, I'm just not in favor of spending on anything that doesn't allow the parents to have control over where their kids go to school or how they're taught. And I just I'm just hoping I'd come here tonight and see, you know, what you guys are going to do with the money allocated to it and how responsible you are, if I'm going to see if I'm willing to send my kids to to private school or not. And I mean, it's easiest thing for us to do. We can both work and they go there the whole day. Um, but I just don't know if I if I trust you all frankly. So that that's that's all I got. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Is there anybody else here to speak about the truth and taxation and the levy? Okay. Um, I don't see anybody else. So we will move on to our next agenda item. So, the next agenda item is a presentation to provide an update on our long-term facilities maintenance. The presentation will be shared by Dale Carstrom, Jeff Arthurs, and Colin O'Brien. >> Good evening. Good evening, board chair and school board members. Um my name is Dale Carlstrom. I'm the director of facilities um operations and um sharing in the presentation tonight um on long-term facility maintenance update are Jeff Arthur's our assistant director of facilities operations and Colin O'Brien who's our project management coordinator. Uh before I get started, it was uh with our presentation, I'd like to acknowledge the hundreds of people in our system and our professional partners outside of our system who have worked tirelessly to make AU area schools build a better future and longterm facility maintenance uh vision a reality. Unfortunately, there isn't uh enough time to mention all the extremely talented and self-giving people who have contributed to this unprecedented effort. Um we have the honor and the responsibility of of representing their work and it's our hope that you will uh leave this um leave here this evening uh with the confidence that we're meeting our promises and obligations to our community. All these professional partners work together to improve our facilities and share in the facility operations department commitment to stewardship um of our facilities and resources. I'd like to express my gratitude to these people who make our facilities improvements possible. Our outcomes for the presentation are to inform the board and the community regarding the role LTFM plays in the restoration and re revitalization of the school district's facilities and site assets. Construction results for our summer 2025 work. the the financial and operational results for the work that we've been completing uh since the inception of the build a better future initiative and then the construction planning for the 2026 summer. Our LTFM work started in 2016 when we identified significant deferred maintenance throughout the system. I'm happy to report this that since u year one of the first 10-year plan, we've completed over $200 million in restoration and renovations. Our systems are more reliable and efficient. Our learning environments are becoming studentfriendly, welcoming, and next generation learning spaces that will serve our community for years to come. Comfort and safety are essential factors in transforming these learning spaces. We have focused our efforts to renovate our heating, cooling, and ventilation systems to improve occupant comfort. We have renovated the entrances and door systems at all our facilities to improve occupant safety and emergency preparedness. Our LTFM efforts have in the past and will continue to contribute to our strategic initiatives while supporting our AI area school's mission and core values. The build a better future initiative was identified through extensive community and user group work vision and transform visions and for transforming our facilities. To make uh this vision a reality required unprecedented work to renovate our current facilities and create new spaces. The work required both LTFM dollars and build a better future referendum dollars to make this $490 million vision a reality. Next, I'd like to uh turn it over to Colin O'Brien and he'll share some of the financial results for the long-term facility maintenance build a better future work as well as a progress report on the pro the projects that he's been managing. Good evening. As Dale mentioned, my name is Colin O'Brien, project management coordinator for the district. And uh I'll be presenting on the financial reporting for long-term facilities maintenance and build a better future project work. I'll also cover the elementary media center renovations, middle school science renovations, and the district-wide furniture refresh. You're looking at the spend totals for both our long-term facilities maintenance spends in blue and our build a better future spends in gray. Our anticipated budget for all projects since the start of 2024 through 2028 is $495 million. Between both categories, as noted here, since FY24, our current spend is at $212 million. Roughly 70% of all LTFM dollars are supporting build a better future scope projects, meaning bringing our systems up to date to match the new construction. While the remaining 30% of our uh LTFM process is going to owner manage projects like concrete, roof work, and other maintenance with our mechanical systems. We've completed renovations to help our redesigned uh buildings with our partners at ATSR Architects for media centers, flex rooms, and maker spaces at the sites of Basswood, Cedar Island, Fair Oaks, Oak View, Palmer Lake, Rush Creek, and Woodland Elementary. All projects are substantially complete. Right now, you're looking at the front the new front doors of the Rush Creek media center. The focus of the renovation was to create next generation of media centers where students would come for formal teaching, relaxed reading, and group conversations. Rush Creek had chosen to use the square design carried out throughout the media center noted in the floor, ceiling drops, and lighting elements. On the screen, you'll see in the top right the before image of the media center and the exact same position of the newly renovated media centers. We [clears throat] dedicated our efforts to raising the ceilings in the space to make more spacious fields while offering some small areas with soft seating for where students could come and be comfortable while reading or receiving individualized learning supports. Woodland Elementary followed the same basic core models of the renovation guidance. [clears throat] Uh they've chose a round method in their space as noted in the same elements of flooring, ceiling, and lighting fixtures. Above and then the top left is the old picture from the summer of 2025 and the below picture is the finished product in September of 2025. >> [clears throat] >> We again focused on the learning environment within the media center to attempt to bring interesting colors, patterns to the space to engage our students with new and exciting spaces and remaining stable enough to not distract from the learning happening within the building. Cedar Island is our small footprint media center and offered several challenges to our base designs for larger ceilings and spacious concepts. In this image, you'll see the before image of the media center on the left and the after image of the media center newly renovated on the right. Cedar Island had chose to lean into their round shapes while focusing on their nature play aspects and their lowleading area here. This area provides a learning space for our youngest learners while focusing on their nature focused elements within the building. Within these project, elementary maker spaces were used at the sites as opportunities for students to engage with more messy materials and a space built for hands-on learning. Power drops are provided from above for whatever curriculum power needs might become, and the furniture and floors within the rooms are more rugged than the standard classrooms. Elementary outdoor classrooms offer an opportunity to give staff and students the outside link to their learning and to the environment, keep students engaged in their day, and bring new areas for collaboration. Each main learning space is supplied with power and voice amplification systems to assist with the teaching efforts while outdoors. [snorts] The middle school science renovations occurred over the summer as well at OIO Middle and Maple Grove Middle. This included updates to the science rooms on the first and second floors, science storage spaces to include new cabinets, as well as new furniture for these science rooms. This is an image of Maple Grove Middle's new science room. The district-wide furniture refresh uh is completed halfway through the district sites. The remaining standard classrooms will be completed this summer with other rooms being furnished as construction is finished. This furniture was selected to offer students choices in seating between standard chairs, rocking stools, and high beastro chairs. The furniture in this picture and presentation are all part of the furniture refresh happening preK through 12 in our district. Lastly, we'll begin um media renovations at AIO Middle and Maple Grove Middle. Uh and this is a picture of the new uh rendering for Maple Grove Middle School, as well as media renovations, flex rooms renovations, and maker space renovations for Fernbrook, Edinburgh, and outdoor classrooms for Fernbrook, Edinburgh, Cedar Island, Palmer Lake, and Fair Oaks. All with substantial completion dates set for September of 2026. Next, I'd like to bring up Jeff Arthur's, assistant director of operations to continue the presentation and share more about his projects. Good evening, Chair Prince, board members, Superintendent Dr. Hy, and cabinet. For my portion of the presentation, I'll be focusing on the five projects I've been mostly involved in, starting with Brooklyn Middle School. So, Brooklyn Middle School, if you recall, in the spring of 24, uh, we completed renovations to the second and third floor, as well as the media center. In summer of 25, the focus was the first floor. The recent scope included major renovations to the science classrooms, food and consumer science, the creation of clean and dirty labs, uh for maker spaces, flexible classroom spaces, restroom renovations, and improvements to the north gym to also serve as an auditorium. This project also included a full mechanical system replacement um with restroom renovations, LED lighting, casework, tile, and other finishes. This project was covered almost entirely by LTFM funds and is considered substantially complete. Here are a couple images of the renovated classrooms from this summer. These classrooms were completely gutted and right sized to make better use of the available square footage. These are outfitted with furniture similar to what you'd find at a high school experience. As mentioned previously, there are now multiple flexible learning spaces for students to gather or work on group assignments. Part of the area on the right used to be the nurse's office, which was relocated to the main office admin area. The north gym received new finishes, including acoustical panels, blackout shades, paint, and other finishes. The stage was revived with accent panels, new stage lights, curtains, and a sound system. It now has the features you'd typically find in an auditorium. This was the only portion of the project not funded by LTFM. The site is very excited to start using this space for numerous planned events starting in January. AIO Senior High in the summer of 25. The art and ceramics classrooms, nursing lab, athletic locker room, forum spaces were all reconstructed. We also completed a secure front entry that now directs traffic through the main office. The auto shop addition and the FIAD locker room renovation is currently in progress. We'll continue to work through the winter on these and other numerous spaces. We're in close communication with the OIO senior admin teams through this project to coordinate our and our work and limit disruptions to their operation. This project is funded through LTFM [snorts] and BBF and is approximately 45% complete. This is a progress photo of the OIO senior auto shop edition which will also ser serve as the storm shelter. As you can see in the images here, our contractors are making great progress. We anticipate being able to turn this space over sooner than expected, likely early this spring. >> [clears throat] >> The media center will begin construction in the summer of 26. Here's a rendering of what you can expect to see in the coming coming into the main entrance. The renovated space will have multiple zones with within the current footprint, including open classroom space, soft seating areas, book stack area, and multiple small group and conference rooms. This rendering shows the entrance to the new CTE space. This gallery area shown here will be used as flexible breakout space for CTE business and art. The space behind the large glass wall that you can see here will be the autoshop classroom which is adjacent to the CTE edition. These areas will be completed in summer 26. Here's a rendering of the new cafeteria expansion. This will be taking place in the wrestling the current wrestling room. The expansion will give the site approximately 30% more room to relieve overcrowding of the existing cafeteria space. This work is expected to start in early spring with completion by August of 26. The wrestling room will then be relocated to the current CTE auto shop space across the hall. This is one of the many examples of space reorganizing happening at OIO Senior High that will better serve the building and the students for years to come. Last summer, we also completed a full buildingwide renovation at Arborview Early Childhood. The main priority was to replace the original HVAC heating and cooling system. However, included as part of the project was this new secure front entry, LED lighting, ceilings, flooring, painting, and other finishes. This project was substantially complete in August and was fully funded by LTFM. Here are a couple images of the completed work. With this building being an early childhood center, more colors and architectural features were introduced to create a warm and welcoming environment for our families and youngest learners at the ESC. In addition, was built to store grounds maintenance equipment. Much of this equipment used to be stored in the OIO senior original 12style garage in the back of the building. The garage was in need of being replaced and the relocation opened up additional staff parking space for an already very tight site. This project was substantially complete in September and was fully funded by BBF. At Northview Middle School, the pool space is being converted to a multi-purpose room and the cardio room will now be a dance studio. With this pool space not currently used, we had an opportunity to complete this scope during the winter months. This project was started in in November and is being funded by BBF. So, here's an image of the current construction project progress and a larger rendering of what this finished space will look like. The multi-purpose room will be entirely turf and features a batting cage, gaga ball pit, climbing ropes, a lou interactive display, and many other activities for students. This space is expected to be ready for use in spring of 26. Here's an image of the current progress of the dance studio within the previous cardio room. As you can see on the rendering, this room you will feature a new dance floor, glass on three sides, and a ballet bar. This area is being completed now and will be available for use later this week. I'll now turn it back over to Mr. Carlstrom to share some additional updates. Thanks, Jeff and Colin. Um, I'm going to start with [clears throat] Maple Grove Senior High School. Our next update is for the Maple Grove Senior High School addition and renovation project in an effort to address our enrollment and capacity management concerns. This extensive three-year construction project adds approximately 65,000 square feet to 22 new classroom spaces. And there will be a one uh 10,000 square foot addition to the cafeteria as well as a total renovation of the cafeteria, servy, and kitchen. The media cent's main level, commons, front office, and auditorium fine arts areas will be re renovated in phase three. This is a $103 million project and is 40 40% long-term facility maintenance and the the total project is uh 25% complete. The the major three-story addition of 21 classrooms also serves as a storm shelter for the entire building. Pictured here is the rendering of the addition alongside a progress photo of the storm shelter structure. The structure is now enclosed and the work will continue for an August 2026 occupancy. During the spring and summer of 2025, the Maple Grove Senior High project teams worked closely to develop operational strategies to maintain student safety while allowing construction work to to move forward. Pictured here is a temporary bus lot, walkway, and tunnel used to provide safe access to the school bus drop off and loading areas. Many thanks to Dr. Becker and the Maple Grove senior high leadership team who make who worked closely with the s with the system and construction teams to make this work possible. In February of 2026, we intend to turn over the new PE strength and conditioning space. The space provides an additional teaching station to address the increase in enrollment. In March of 2026, we will be turning over the PE locker room space with additional square footage and re renovated restrooms and changing spaces. During the spring and summer of 2026, the work on the three-story edition and the cafeteria edition and the renovations will be completed for the September 2026 start of school. The addition that will open in the fall of 2026 includes the career and technical education labs and teaching spaces to support the CTE strands at Maple Grove Senior High School. Here's a rendering of the cafeteria servery that students will see on the first day of school in September of 2026. The Aspen Ridge Elementary building is well on its way. Pictured here is a rendering of the main entrance next to the picture of the actual building taking shape. The project is on time and the budget on budget and will be opening in September of 2026. Pictured here is a rendering of the media center and the actual space taking shape. The building is enclosed and protected from the elements and there are hundreds of trades people pulling together to keep this project moving toward the ontime completion. I've enclosed this aerial picture of Aspen Ridge to to show the extended nature of the work that we have taken on and the great progress toward the finish line in September. For this for the past several months, the design team has been working with Park Center senior high leadership team and the Park Center user groups to develop a comprehensive renovation to the three-story tower, cafeteria common, CTE spaces, wrestling, speed and strength training, student entrance, main entrance, and front office. This project will renovate 45,000 square feet of classroom space and 35,000 square feet of cafeteria common space. This estimated total budget is $43.5 million. We have finished the design development and plan to plan our plans are out to prospective biders for a December 22nd bid opening. Uh the bid award recommendation will be brought to the board at our regular January 26 meeting and during that meeting there will be an in-depth presentation of the park center development plan. Since 2023, we have been working with the community and user organiza organizations to develop vision a vision for the Crest View uh site. On December 5th, we finalized the design development for the rebuild of Crest View. The new facility will have an early childhood focus with preK and early childhood family education classrooms, common spaces, outdoor play and learning spaces. The new facility will also serve as a home base for the Indian education program, the FACE, family and community engagement services program. The upper level of the facility will have a staff development large meeting space with additional classrooms and small meeting rooms. The the Crest View project bid opening will be on January 8th, 2026, and the bid award is scheduled for the January regular board meeting. During the January board meeting, there will also be a more in-depth presentation of the Crest View project. Our 10-year LTFB plan uh committed to an annual $600,000 budget for playground restoration and development. Rachel Kohler, our health safety coordinator, is the project manager for this work. Rachel is a certified playground designer and inspector and works closely with our elementary site leadership teams to assess the condition of our playgrounds and create plans for age appropriate designs that are accessible, safe, and fun for elementary students. This past summer, we completed playground renovations at Woodland, Palmer Lake, Garden City, and Garden City elementaryaries. In the summer of 2026, we will be replacing playgrounds at Birch Grove, Fair Oaks, and Zaynwood elementaryaries. An integrative an integral part of our LTFM plan is our health safety work. We spent approximately $1.8 million during the this fiscal year on a wide variety of areas to include to ensure our students and staff are safe while in our facilities. As we enter into the construction on our older facilities built prior to 1980s, asbestous abatement is the first step before we enter into any large-scale demolitions. The health safety team manages work and any other uh environmental hazards that may exist and the health safety team was the first in at OIO Senior High, Brooklyn Middle School, Northview [clears throat] Middle School, Cedar Island, Palmer Lake, and Fair Oaks. Along with environmental work, Rachel Kohler developed a and launched a new aware program, a work accident and injury reduction program to help prepare the and protect our staff. Throughout our 10-year LTFM plan, health safety has been replacing and aging fire alarm systems. And for the past summer, we replaced the fire panels at Garden City and Wever Lake. At this point, I'm happy to report that the fire alarm systems throughout our school district have been updated and are more reliable and have fewer alarms and service calls. To wrap up, the role of LTFM funding is to protect our system assets and to ensure occupant comfort, operational efficiency, and the removal of obstacles to successful learning. LTFM funding works together with the BBF referendum and health safety initiatives to align our work and to create the best possible outcomes for our students. We have entered into the big work of the build a better future plan and have completed 25% of the work. We continue to work on projects during the work year with close cooperation and collaboration with the site leadership teams. Our projects are tracking on schedule and we will be opening bids soon for two major projects at Park Center in Crest View. Thank you for this opportunity to share the progress and the and the plans for BBF and long-term facilities. Finally, I I would like to thank the Ouras Schools community for your support for this work to protect and grow our school district facilities. >> Thank you. Board members, do you have any questions or comments? >> Yeah, >> go for it. [laughter] >> I mean, I'm mind blown by the amount of work that's happening in the district right now. um and even more so how far along Aspen Ridge has come along. Um I it can't be easy managing uh this volume of projects at once. So just a huge thank you to uh you and your team uh for making these dreams become a reality. Um it's it's kind of cool to see I know one of our values is innovation um and excellence. So to kind of see that sort of come to life in these buildings and to further see how that's going to inspire hopefully our educators and and scholars, um it's it's cool to see our tax dollars um actually um coming to life and in a way that um elevates, you know, our school community and our community at large. So thank you for the work. >> Well, thank you on part of all the people that contribute to that. Um we're just three of a a huge array of folks that are making this happen. >> Others. >> Yeah, I just want to echo what uh Director Brook said. I just you know our it really matters what our buildings look like and well-maintained buildings um really reflect the value of of what we believe in our district which is excellence and um and they tell students that they matter um in our staff. And so it's so so exciting to see. And I know some of my girls go my kids go to some of these schools and they're just they they know there's a lot of construction right now, but they they really are looking forward to to the end product. So that's super exciting. >> Anybody else? >> Yeah, thank you so much. This is always a fun presentation um to see each year for for one thing because we are continually maintaining and updating all of our sites. But um now with this volume and um seeing the building the better future come to life and um I believe all of our building a better future information is still on the website. So if anybody has questions about what we have done leading up to today, what we're doing now and what's yet to come, um that's a great resource to go check out and to see um how every single site in our district is being uh touched and updated. And that's really important to us as director Dawson said um ensuring that we've got all of our sites um really at the top level of maintenance and quality and excellence. Um so thank you to you and your team for all that you do um to bring that same excellence to this work. [snorts] >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. The next agenda item is audience opportunity to address the school board. So, I'm going to read uh some short instructions to that end. So, as a board, we welcome all voices and we strive for public engagement and transparency in our board. Audience opportunity to address the board is one of many avenues to achieve this. To ensure all voices are heard, welcomed, and respected in the boardroom, we ask that audience members withhold applause and verbal response to all speakers. Speakers will be called to the podium in this order. Student, parent, staff, community member, and others. Please keep your comments to three minutes. Comment should be directed to the entire board, not to any individual board member. If you have a handout for the board, please place it on the information table or hand it to the board secretary Sherry. The board secretary will provide copies to board members. The board and audience will listen and not respond back at this time. If you would like someone to follow up with you on your questions and or comments, please let the board secretary know. Personnel concern concerns should be directed to individuals in the following order. Building principal, executive director for human resources, assistant superintendent, superintendent, and finally in writing to the school board. The complete guidelines for public participation are provided on the meeting materials table and on the schoolboard section of the district website. when I call your name, please come to the microphone and state your name and your topic and whether or not you are a district resident. Um, so first we have uh Noel Raph. I am a district resident. Good evening, Dr. Hy and school board members. My name is Nol Raph and tonight I speak before you as a person who wears many hats as most of us do. First and foremost, I'm very active father and a parent of four children in the district. Two that have graduated from Maple Grove Senior High, two current students, one at OIO Middle School and one at Fernbrook Elementary. Happy birthday, Aya. I am also a very active member of my community, a district 279 foundation trustee, an esports coach, a special education teacher at Park Center Senior High, and a very proud member of local 122 Education Minnesota. AIO as we support our local brothers and sisters across the river as they move into their next phase of contract negotiations. We are very excited to continue to focus on our negotiations within OU area schools. I was very encouraged to hear at last month's schoolboard meeting during the financial presentation that we have a very sustainable fund balance. This made me believe our very reasonable contract offer would be very easy to agree with. I think we can all agree that teachers work very hard to help our scholars within OSU area schools and it should be very easy to focus on a contract that supports those very dedicated and very deserving teachers who only want what is best for our students. Let's focus on that very reasonable proposal and pull comfort from that very sustainable fund balance as we support our very dedicated group of teachers who always deserve your support. I am very excited to support Ocuary Schools and Local 1212. Thank you very much for your time. >> Thank you. >> Uh next, Jenny Winters. [clears throat] >> I'm very nervous. Very well done. Good evening, school board members, Dr. Hiles, and colleagues. My name is Jenny Winters. I'm a second grade teacher at Rush Creek Elementary. Lately, all I've been doing is speaking at funerals, so this is really fun tonight. So, my name I already told you my name, but I'm here speaking on behalf of teachers. This is my 36th and final year in the classroom. Unlike many of my colleagues, I'm able to retire early and I'm ready. I've witnessed many changes throughout my career, but none as significant as those of the past few years. While moments of joy still exist, teaching no longer brings the fulfillment it once did, and that reality is becoming increasingly common. We are facing a crisis in education. The system, as it currently stands, is unsustainable. The workload is heavier, the classrooms overcrowded, and inadequate resources make it increasingly difficult to meet the diverse needs of our students. At the same time, extreme and escalating behavioral challenges have reached a breaking point, requiring more emotional energy and regulation from staff than ever before. Two years ago, I was tried to teach in a classroom where behaviors were becoming increasingly volatile while also supporting my sister during her time in hospice care, and I simply could not do both. I was emotionally and physically depleted. I'm not alone in feeling the strain of this profession or the toll it takes on our mental health. Yet teachers are expected to manage these realities with larger class sizes, little to no additional support and then feel unappreciated and devalued through inadequate compensation. How can we expect new teachers to enter and remain in this profession under these conditions? At this rate, things are not going to get easier. A pay raise is not merely a reward. It is an investment in stability. It is a retention tool that tells current educators their tireless efforts amid constant challenges are seen and valued while also serving as an incentive for those who may one day step into our classrooms. Teachers are in direct contact with students every single day. We see firsthand what they need and we carry the responsibility of meeting those needs. We must provide teachers with a substantial pay raise that also considers the rising cost of healthcare. Over my three decades of service to AIO public schools, I struggled through hard times when the fund balance was low and the staff had to accept 0% increase in our salaries. Currently, AIO has one of the best fund balances in the state. >> 30 seconds remaining. >> AIO can afford a better proposal than the one currently being offered. Show teachers that you see us, you hear us, and you support us. You see us, you hear us, and you support us. Thank you. >> Thank you. Eric Vandenovven. >> Hi, I already spoke, but I guess I just want to echo my uh what I said earlier about the the tax proposals. I'm not in favor. It seems like there's a lot of good teachers here. Um, and I think, you know, you should get, you know, paid well, but I I can't uh be in favor of voting for any pay raise or anything like that unless I have control or I can pick the school that my kid goes to. I don't think that's fair to me that I can't pick what school my kid goes to or get a voucher to go to the school I want to. But, and then the teachers just get paid, you know, for going to the school that I I didn't pick for my kids. It's my kids, my money. I want to be able to choose where they go. And I I you know, if you can pick, you can pay yourselves a lot more than I think what what they proposed to. I It doesn't bother me, but I want to pick because I might not I might have to hold them homeschool my kids now because I don't like the school that mine that is chosen for me. Um and I don't think that's fair. I can't spend it on the private school. I should be able to get a private go to a private school and the teachers at that school get get the the money. And it's my money and that's kind of how I feel about it. It's as simple as that is we could just make it so I can pick the school my kids go to. I'd be more than happy to, you know, pay the teachers what they want at that school. So, or I'd even be willing to pay, you know, extra for a different school if I got a voucher that paid for part of it or or even a kickback where we could get um homeschool and I could have a private teacher. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Uh our last speaker, Jill Budzinski. Thank you. Good evening and thank you board members and superintendent [clears throat] Hy. I'm Jill Bzinski, a grandmother and volunteer to the district. And I'm also volunteer among a force of thousands of Twin Cians working to protect the rights of immigrants under attack by ICE, to document the ongoing raids, and to support those who have lost loved ones to ICE detention and deportation. I'm here to share with you the gravity of the moment as I am on the front line. I do volunteer a lot at Park Center. I love it. uh and as a result I'm more familiar with that area uh than any place else in the school system and I feel like right now Park Center is a huge target for ICE. What we have seen over the last four months is incredible. Um, and it's stepping up in brutality, in frequency, in the number of agents that are on the streets looking for people that they can uh detain and deport. I just want to share a couple of uh anecdotal pieces of information because every single day the situation changes. Minnesota public, private, and charter schools have been raided by ICE agents already who lie about their intentions. There was a team of ICE agents who went to Long Curry Elementary, entered without a problem, and then asked the Brown kids to call their parents so that they would come and pick their kids up and be vulnerable to a raid. Does that sound like above board operations? ICE is impersonating church authorities to gain entry into facilities. They are faking emergencies through bomb threats and other means to entice children and adults out of buildings so that they can apprehend them. Yesterday, agents dragged a pregnant mother by her arm across a frozen parking lot to detain her. Observer's car windows have been broken out. They've been tased. They've been pepper-sprayed. They've been pepper balled. and they've had their limbs slammed in car doors. They've been followed home, threatened, arrested, and their belongings seized. These are people who have been trained as constitutional observers, and what they are doing is recording the facts and reporting them to the ACLU >> and to authorities. Okay. ICE has arrested many US citizens, usually released four to six hours later, but ICE refuses to recognize their citizenship documents as they are arrested. Now, they are requiring wrong person detained to post $2,000 bail. Innocent US citizens who have to post bail to get out of detention. We are very worried about the potential of your immigrant students and staff being forcibly grabbed in school parking lots. in car lines, at athletic events, kids playing outside or sledding on neighborhood p uh hills. It's coming. We have ideas for helping you to protect the students in that vast park center parking lot. And all we need is to have you sit down with us and talk through those because there are ways, legal ways, ways that where you don't have to take on any more liability to protect these valuable and valued students. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Our next agenda item is the superintendent report. Dr. Hy, >> sorry, I was taking notes from our conversation. So, uh, good evening, Chair Prince, Vice Chair Brooks, uh, board members, staff, family, students, and our community partners. Uh, as we come together tonight, I just want to take the time to begin sharing by what I've had the privilege of witnessing across our schools recently. So, at every level, I've seen students helping other students, demonstrating kindness, patience, and leadership in the ways that remind us learning is both academic, but at the same time, deeply human. I've seen our students learning about one another's lived experiences, expanding their understanding, and strengthening a sense of belonging in our district. I've watched classrooms come alive as students engage in new concepts, asking thoughtful questions, and taking ownership of their own learning. This is what authentic learning in action is, where students help to shape systems that matter. Equally important is the tremendous pride of our AIO area schools family. It may not always be heard loudly enough, but it is lived every day. We model the values of learning, sharing, and caring in our classrooms, our hallways, and our community partnerships. Our teachers and staff continually reach out, problem solve, and meet the needs of students and families with compassion and commitment. Our school board provides essential governance and oversight, ensuring that there's accountability and alignment as we continue to work to reach our goal of becoming the best place to learn and the best place to work. So, we are AIO area schools and we will continue to get better as we move toward our vision to unleash and enhance the brilliance of each and every one of our scholars so they can thrive and change our world for the better. So when we believe in what is possible, when we work together and support each other, no one will be able to stop us and I truly look forward to our future accomplishments. Thank you. >> Thank you. So a regular part of our superintendent's report is to share points of pride. These points of pride uh we take time to recognize and celebrate not just our scholars but as well as our staff and our community members who are contributing to our accomplishments of our mission. So this evening, we have members of our district cabinet here to assist in sharing some examples from last month. >> In the area of achieving dreams, student athletes from Maple Grove Senior High, AIO Senior High, and Park Center Senior High took part in various state uh tournaments through the Minnesota State High School League for the fall of 2025. Congratulations to all of our athletes on successful seasons. The Park Center Pirates adapted soccer PI team comprised of athletes from all district high schools took home the state championship title November 15th, the team's first championship title since 1998. The Maple Grove Senior High boys soccer team took second place in the AAA state tournament. Maple Grove Senior High senior Ellis Andrew placed second in diving. Maple Grove Senior High senior Mattie Hetland placed 11th in the 100yard butterfly and AIO Senior High Junior Paige Kings placed 12th in the 200yard individual medley at the girls swim and dive state tournament. Maple Grove Senior High Junior Lucas Capistron placed 28th in the boys cross country state race and senior April Watson placed 28th in the girls cross country state race. Congratulations to the 70 student students at AIO Senior High School who earned a 30 or higher on one or more sections of the ACT or writing score of nine or higher. Those students are now a part of the AIO senior high 30 club. >> In the area of contributing to community, high school students from across the district recently visited elementary schools to read books to students. Cheerleaders from Maple Grove Senior High's competition cheer team visited students at Rush Creek Elementary to read to them on November 20th. The cheerleaders visited many classes reading books such as If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and Elmer's Walk. Students from Park Center Senior High Leaders Gr uh Leader AC Academy group spent time at Birch Grove um School of the Arts. The high school students gave a copy of the book Dolphins by Emma Bossier to the afternoon prek, kindergarten, and first grade students as part of the 1 million book giveaway program. The high school leaders also read the book aloud to the classes they visited. And in the area of lifelong learning, November is Native American Heritage Month, a time to celebrate the rich and diverse cultures and histories, as well as the essential contributions of native people in the over 90 tribal nations represented and AIO area schools. The dedicated staff members in the American Indian Education Department worked throughout the year to provide culture-based educational programming both in and out of the classroom. In November, activities included classroom lessons, beating club, and lacrosse practice. Students at Rice Lake Elementary had the opportunity to make fry bread with Principal Begley. The students also learned about the importance of fried bread in Native American culture and experienced what went into making the bread. At Palmer Lake Elementary, students were able to walk through a Native American museum exhibit and the school's library media center which featured cultural attire such as headdress along with books, musical instruments, and photographs from Native American cultures. Students and staff at Garden City and Woodland Elementary Schools celebrated Mung New Year at the end of November with festivities in classrooms and the school's library media centers. At Garden City, classes took turns visiting the media center throughout the day where they watched a video about mung culture and the new year celebration, heard a presentation from district employee Haley Bang, and looked at different M cultural items at Woodland. Students dressed in Mung cultural clothing or their own cultural clothing. The school's library media center displayed student artwork related to Mung New Year. Weaver Lake, a science, math, and technology school, hosted their annual STEM, and action fair the evening of November 20th where students and their family caregivers spent time at the school to show what they have done in their science, technology, engineering, and math units throughout the first trimester. Parkbrook Elementary School's focus on fitness encompasses all kinds of wide-ranging opportunities for its students to move their bodies. One recent example of this is the school's cardio drumming class taking place once per week after school for six weeks and taught by one of the school's prek teachers, Michelle Biscoff. During cardio drumming, students drum in a variety of active ways that include taking turns leading the beat at the front of the room, dancing to songs while they drum, drumming while walking in circles around their drum, and more. In the area of missiondriven employees, the Sun Post recently featured Park Center senior high school student assistant counselor Emmy Emily Jer for her work helping students in need during the holiday season. The city of Brooklyn Park officially declared November 24th to be Emily Jer day throughout the city in recognition of her efforts to help local young people. Thank you, Brian. And we're very proud of Emily and our students. So, just a few notes and reminders. There will be no school, most everyone in our knows this, from December 24th through January 2nd. So, we really wish for everyone to enjoy their winter break and relax. So also if you are available you could please join us on February 6 for our district 279 foundation uh night out winter wonderland. So I guess that's diamonds according to Mr. Brooks said the last time. So tickets are now on sale at the district 279 Foundation website and are expected sell out quickly. We would love to see you there. Thank you. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Um and uh I I do want to mention I was remiss in this uh after public comment um I do want to highlight that we have many teachers here with us tonight I think in the overflow as well who so while we had a couple speakers um we have really um strong representation and turnout here. So thank you for being with us tonight. Uh so the next item is our schoolboard reports. Director Dawson, do you have a reporter update? >> Uh yeah I do. I also like I've never heard of cardio drumming before so that sounded pretty interesting. >> [laughter] >> Um, all right. So, for the Association of Metropolitan School Districts, the big thing is just passing the legislative platform, really focusing on school safety and stabilizing education funding. Um, our RISE committee, you know, we're still recruiting members. Um, we're really trying to engage, you know, all the things that we do in our district. We with our staff, our teachers, educators, our students. Um, you know, we can't do it without our families and caregivers. And it's so important um that we continue to engage um to talk about things that like the goals in this group right now. We talked about culture and climate and how to strengthen that partnership. Um and then you know just recruitment and being engaged and there's a couple events coming up the community building events which are really important snow tubing bowling black history month event. So um I just would love more participation in that. Um we'll keep pushing that. And then lastly, I serve on our um as the APEC rep uh rep representative um for the board, but unfortunately their meeting was actually happening right now, so I couldn't go. So um I will hopefully have an update next month. >> Director Foster, do you have an update? >> I do not have one this time. >> Director Brooks, >> no updates. >> Okay. Director Tate, >> uh yeah, just a quick one. So um at DPACK they kind of focused on strategy B kind of building and nurturing that culture of achievement. There was a lot of conversations about MCA results and how we measure growth and it was you know really cool to see kind of uh the community engaged in that. Um yeah you know there's a real appreciation for the teachers the demand we place on our educators. Um really expressed appreciation for their resilience and dedication. So, uh, the community is behind us. Um, and then ECMAC. Um, I won't go too much in ECMAC. We've had a lot of ECMAC tonight, so I think we're I think we're good. >> Uh, Director Mitchell. >> Yes. Along those same lines, I was on the ECMAC call. Um, I had my notes just last night. It seems like it was a long time ago. That was just last night, [laughter] right? Um, so yeah, but always forward thinking, looking at um, preliminary enrollment um, by building grade into 2027. So, um, always very thorough and, um, planning ahead. So, >> great. Uh, and I do have a few reports. So, for, uh, the Brooklyn Bridge Alliance for Youth Joint Powers Board, uh, I think I sent during the meeting to the board members, uh, some of the information because it was actually really interesting and exciting. um specifically um on an organization uh regarding uh communities that care um regarding mitigating risk factors um for problem behaviors and developing uh support for positive and healthy behaviors. So is really focused on how um leaders across many segments can um be of influence and um there was a particular um pledge to be um supportive of uh of the work um and to step up to um be leaders who support um specifically the initiatives that contribute to the positive and healthy behaviors. And a lot of the work that we do and a lot of the programming that we have here is in um direct alignment with that. And the key element of it is that it's um really focused on accountability, metrics, and measurement. Um so that it moves the dial. Um we look to see what initiatives are actually um promoting uh healthy behaviors and healthy and positive outcomes for young people. So take a look at that if you didn't already. Uh Northwest Suburban Integration uh Board, um we actually had a work session during our work session, which is uh the first time I've ever seen them have a work session. So, we're focusing on uh tightening up governance and oversight. Um uh so, as we serve on joint power boards, we our responsibilities are twofold and you heard from some of the board members on the joint powers that they serve on. Um but it's to represent the interests of our district as well as to have governance um of those organizations as well. So, uh just ensuring that we're tightening things up there. And then lastly, um I'm sharing out the report for the property committee which is comprised of all of the board. We met on November 18th to review options for the lease site at 7600 Boone Avenue, Brooklyn Park, home to the CB VAT program. Originally slated to relay Originally slated to relocate to the OSU Education Center. Legislative changes in 2023 expanded usage by the district's transition program, leaving insufficient space for uh CB VAT. Since the current site is leased, the district faces restrictions on modifications and any investments would default to the landlord upon lease termination. The property committee, which consists of all school members, was asked to permit administration to explore alternative locations both within and outside of the district. Okay. Uh so that concludes the board reports. The next agenda item is the consent agenda. Board members, our consent agenda items this evening include meeting minutes, financial reports, fundraisers, extended educational trips, personnel items, grants, investment report, combined [snorts] polling place resolution, and construction project agreements. Are there any items that you would like to remove for [snorts] separate consideration? All right. So, seeing uh none, is there a motion to approve the consent agenda as printed? >> So, move. >> Moved by um Director Brooks. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Seconded by Director Foster. Uh is there any discussion? >> All in favor say I. >> I. Oppose. Nay. Motion passes six to zero. Okay. So then our first action item is the 2025 payable 2026 levy limit limitation certification. John Morid. >> Thank you, Chair Prince. Uh, as we've already gone through all the information at this point, I would uh just let you know that the district recommends the school board approve the levy for $148,688,56560 for the pay 2026 levy. >> Okay. So, I will go ahead and make the motion to certify the 2025 payable 2026 final levy as presented. Percent change payable 2026 to 2025 of 4.5%. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Seconded by director Brooks. Is there any discussion? >> All right. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Nay. >> The motion passes six to zero. >> The next action item is the resolution to approve the superintendent contract. Amy Moore will share information about the contract for the period July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2029. Uh, and a second amendment to the superintendent contract for the current term. Amy, >> thank you. Uh, board members, as you know, one of the most important jobs you have is selecting and retaining a superintendent. One of the ways you do that is through contracts. Um, so the first item you have before you is the second amendment to the superintendent's current contract. Um, it's a one-time payment in recognition of the work that Dr. Hy has done throughout these past three years um with build a better future with uh boundary changes with holding space among many other accomplments and achievements represents $5,000 per year. And so that is the second amendment to the superintendent's current contract that will end June 30, 2025, 2026. Then the second item is the contract for 2026 through 2029. And uh what we have is we have um some increase to vacation and sick leave time days to be um competitive with what you will see with other superintendent. Um we have made the language parallel between the vacation and sick time. We have uh salary increases of 2% uh for those three years for the superintendent. And we have um a longevity incentive um that is payable at the end of each year so long as the superintendent is employed $5,000 a year. um the superintendent doesn't have a performance pay piece that you will see in other superintendent contracts or that you see in uh collective bargaining agreements within the district as well. So, it's recognizing um that uh in there. Those are the um changes that we see to the contract. Um and if there are any questions, u let me know. >> Okay. All right. So we'll start with the motion. Is there a motion to approve the superintendent contract by and between the ISD279 school board and Dr. Kim Hy for the period of July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2029 and the second amendment to the superintendent contract for the term of July 1st, 2023 through June 30th, 2026. >> So moved. >> Moved by Director Brooks. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Seconded uh by Director Mitchell. Okay. Is there any discussion? Uh, so thank you Amy for the that update. Um, and the clarifications and consistency is important to us and making those modifications as always like with policy and everything else. Um, appreciate the efforts there. Um, and of course um, echo the list of the accomplishments of Dr. how um really since just we're barely into the third year, but within two years the accomplishments have been significant and foundational um it's accelerated our district forward um with a number of those uh things with holding space um with the the work around the three C's um with the leadership um with the uh elevation of accountability with the focus on culture um there's just been so much that's been done in two short years. Um it's really tremendous and seeing that work accelerate in this year. Um and we're so lucky to be able to have Dr. Hy as our leader um in looking ahead into the next uh three years ahead. Um we're going to continue to have just um great things in this district um under Dr. how's leadership um and ultimately um with your work with your leadership um as well. So, thank you so much. Any other discussion? >> Okay. Um you know, I until I served on a school board, I don't think I understood um the weight and and what it takes to lead a district of our size as a superintendent um with so many competing needs and priorities and complexities um and cities. We have eight cities that Dr. Hy is building relationships with. And you know, it's a lot. And I've witnessed firsthand um Dr. Hy's leadership and intentionality and care for not only our students, but our staff um and our families and caregivers. Um and you know, as a board, as Amy said, this is our most important decision. And it's it's personal. It means a lot, you know, because this is who's guiding the vision of our district. And um I don't think any of us take that lightly at all. um we all very much believe in excellence and these values that Dr. Hy brings forth um of integrity um and commitment um to this district the school district community and so it's so impressive and I um so I there's just no question of um I have full confidence in Dr. Hy and I am so happy to support this contract exception >> others. >> I agree and I just I always love to find things that we have great unity as a board and u Dr. Hy is one of the things that we have great unity. So she is exceptional and we're very grateful to have you here >> in 2029. Thank you. We have [laughter] all of Mikey like >> Yeah. I I mean you all took my words already. I could not be more excited to support this contract. Um, you know, Chair Prince said it, but we are very lucky to have you in our district, Dr. Um, the way that you have shown up for our students and staff. Um, the way that you hold space. Um, and even just having a front row seat to the change and transformation that I've seen in such a short period of time. Um, you know, like I'm hesitant to say it, but I feel like you've made our jobs easier. Um, and so I, yeah, I [clears throat] couldn't be more excited uh to move this one forward and uh, thank you for giving us even more of your time over the next few years. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um, thanks everyone. It's is so interesting. I'm an extrovert but yet humble right now. But, um, thank you. And and literally all of our work, and I'm just not saying that, but all of our work from our leadership team and all of our staff that helps to make it happen makes it easier. and just we continue focus on human centric and valuing everyone and hearing everyone. We got this. So we got it for our staff and our scholars. So thank you very much for the recognition. >> Okay, we'll move it to the official vote. So all in favor say I. I >> oppos. Nate. Motion passes six to zero. Okay. Our next action item is the second reading of policies presented by Amy Moore, general counsel. Amy, >> thank you. Um, so the policies we went through last month in detail have been posted for the past month and there have been no comments, additions, anything. So they are before you today for a vote. No changes. >> Is there a motion to approve second reading of all of the following policies? 312 policy, which is assignment and transfer principles. 502 policy which is search of student lockers, desks, personal possessions and students person. 507 policy corporal punishment and prone restraint. 512 policy school sponsored student publications and activities. 544 school meals. 556 policy released release time for religious instruction. Um okay. So is there a motion? >> So moved by director Foster. Is there a second? Second >> second by director Dawson. Uh is there any discussion? So as was mentioned um the students uh had the opportunity to participate in weigh-in at the work session. Um so it was really good. I think there's a lot of that feedback that's going to be going into more of the procedure um or handbooks or the way that we work um versus a specific policy change. The one comment I do have to make is I the participation thing and I would really ask community to get involved in reviewing these policies with us and um speaking into it because so much is so many of our decisions are shaped purely by the policies and we can't do anything aside from what the policy states. So if you have concerns or questions there's a email on the website and Amy gets it and we read it and talk about it in our policy committee. So that's a really vital part of the process. And to that end, the policy committee meetings are open to the public as well. Okay. Any other discussion? All in favor say I. I. >> Oppos. Nate. Motion passes six to zero. Our final action item is gifts to the district. Is there a motion to approve gifts to the district totaling $58,458.85? >> So moved. >> Moved by Director Tate. Is there a second? >> Second. seconded by Director Mitchell. Oh, yes. Is there any discussion? As always, um thank you so much to um all of those who contribute. Um we do approve every single item and inind item and it's a quite a comprehensive list to see um every single month. So, thank you to um everybody at each site um and to all of our community members. Okay. So, all in favor say I. I. >> Oppos? Nay. Motion passes six to zero. Okay. At this time, the board will take a brief recess and then reconvene in the forum room for a close session. The session will be closed pursuant to Minnesota statute 13D.03 for labor negotiations with teachers. Is there a motion to recess the regular meeting for 10 minutes and reconvene in the forum room for a close session? >> So moved. >> Moved by Director Foster. Is there a second? >> Second by Director Mitchell. Um all in favor say I. >> I oppose. Nay. Motion passes six to zero. >> So the meeting is recessed at 7:39 p.m. The schoolboard meeting will adjourn at the conclusion of the close session. teacher said yes.