All right. Good evening. Uh, this work session of the school board of AIO area schools is being held in the forum room of the educational service center on Tuesday, November 11th, 2025. The work session is being audio recorded. The recording will be made available on the district website within two business days after the work session has ended. With regard to the audio recording, our communication staff has asked that we share a friendly reminder that side conversations during the work session are picked up by the recorder and can affect sound quality. Also, conversations during transitions between agenda items are on the recording as well. The intent of the schoolboard work session is to allow for schoolboard discussion of topics. Work sessions do not include an opportunity for audio member audience members to address the board. To acknowledge attendance this evening, I'll ask that all present at the table state their name starting with the person to the left. >> Tanya Prince, school board member. Kelsey Vasson, school board member. >> Steve Fisk, assistant superintendent for the elementary and middle schools. >> Anthony Paris, executive director of technology. >> Ivon Church, executive director of HR. >> Yes. Anderson, workforce development, recruitment and retention coordinator. >> Brian B, assistant superintendent for equity achievement in the high schools. John Morset, executive director of finance and operations. >> Kala, executive director of community relations. >> Brian Severson Hall, executive director of community engagement. >> Erica Poster, school board member. >> Amy Moore, general counsel. >> Sarah Mitchell, school board member. Kim Hile, superintendent. >> And I, Thomas Brooks, schoolboard member and present. We also have a ton of educators in the room as well. So, just want to say welcome and glad you're here. Uh the purpose of the schoolboard work sessions is to build trust and teamwork to exchange information and when applicable to provide direction in order to facilitate efficient and effective decision-making at regular board meetings. Dr. Hy, will you please share your checking? >> Yes. Thank you very much, Vice Chair Brooks. So, welcome to everyone here. We do want to let you know that uh board member Mitchell needs to leave a little earlier this evening. So, we are moving uh the agenda up a little bit. So this discussion will be around staff retention followed by discussion on open enrollment ker results and then long range financial planning. So we'll go ahead and get started with our first presentation and uh I'll introduce Ivon Schwarz Lane, executive director of HR and you can introduce who will be presenting with you please. >> Thank you Dr. Hy. Um good good evening um chair Prince um members of the school board superintendent Dr. Kyle, cabinet, and educators in the audience. My name is Ivon Schlin. Um I meet the HR function at the district. We were asked to um provide an overview of uh exit interviews um tonight. So, and with me here tonight is Noa Anderson, uh coordinator, uh in charge of workforce retention, uh workforce development, recruitment, and retention. It's a mouthful. Um I also have a couple of um members of of our team also here um uh present with us today. Um so I want to thank them as well. Um so I'm going to start with uh presentation outcomes. Thank you. So, we were asked um by uh the board to um speak about exit interviews and the request included uh wanted to know who has access to the information, what type of data we use um in collecting exit uh in our exit interview process, what do we do with the information um from a retention standpoint and an analysis of the data. So with those questions in mind, um we put together this um shorter presentation for you tonight. The presentation outcomes are uh you'll learn about the purpose of interviews, exit interviews, how retention data is collected, analyzed, and used, and how we use data to inform or shape our retention strategies. And before um so I have a couple of slides um but before I hand it off to Elsa I want to first uh just regground us and reset us in our the district strategic priorities. So we have the strategic priorities up here for um this school year this fiscal year. There's been some revamping of those strategies. We've synthesized uh done the work to synthesize those strategies. exit interviews fall under priority D2, which is ensuring consistent systemwide implementation of evidence-based staff retention strategies. I do want to remind everyone that while exit interviews can help us identify trends and issues requiring attention, it is one tool in our retention um toolkit. Uh so you'll when NA presents you're going to hear um information not only about our exit interview process but also she's going to highlight some other metrics that we use with in regard to our retention strategies. Um some of those and I'm going to just highlight briefly and you'll say we'll do a bit um deeper dive. Some of the other strategies that we um utilize are mentorship programs, professional development, compensation benchmarking. Um in addition, we are exploring new strategies such as um state interview toolkits um for supervisors. So Nosea will walk you through the exit interview process and the data we collect. In addition, again, she'll highlight some other um highlight some other metrics. At the end of our presentation, we'll pause and process. Um, so you'll have some time to just reflect on the information today and ask some questions. Before I hand it over to Mila, I did want to just highlight the purpose of interviews. Why did the exit Why do exit interviews matter? Um, they help provide valuable insights into departures. They help us to identify patterns and challenges um that can impact retention and engagement. They can help us address concerns um which ultimately we're going to use the data to improve improve the employee experience and workplace culture. We also um want to use exit interview um we use the data to help us grow. We use the data to strengthen the experiences through feedback and to help inform or shape our strategies to help recruitment development and the support systems for current and future staff. And with that, I'm going to hand it over to Noa, who is going to start with our current data collection process. >> Thank you, Ivonne. Uh, good evening, Superintendent Dr. Kyle, uh, chair Prince, Vice Chair Brooks, and members of the board as well as our teachers here. Uh, yes. So, this, as you mentioned, this is one of our current data collection points. Uh, we are going to talk about the exit survey as well as the exit interview. I I put it some of the uh some one pages so then you can see the differences and the purposes and how we, you know, wanted to differentiate um both of them. Uh so yes this is the exit. [music] >> Uh so we start with the resignation form. We have this form is anyone who resigns or retires once when someone is ready to leave the district we ask them to complete this form is completed in droplet. Uh once the form is submitted it will it will generate a link for an exit survey. The exit survey it's voluntary, it's confidential, it's hosted by Quadrex is also one of the tools that we are using off for the stakeholder surveys. Um because it's automated, it goes to whatever email the staff who is living chose to uh chose to put it there. They prefer information. Uh [clears throat] this automated actually has been a big step forward to us. Before everything was very manual. I think we implemented two to three years ago. Uh it ensures that everyone who leaves get the same opportunity. They get the link right away. So the voices is heard and then as an HR we don't need to be sending links or tracking um manually one by one they in within the survey the last question offers them the option to for an exit interview. So then that as an interview field they will provide their names and as in HR or in my team recruitment and retention we can have something more conversational uh you know it allows to go a little bit deeper and that is not the you know it's more qualitative and versus quantitative data that will provide that um as was asked who owns this data right now HR owns it uh we partner with a business analyst she's terrific she's from the LTL and she man uh she managed for contract uh data in there. Next to it we have the exit survey reveal cycle. I want to mention that beyond collecting the data we want to make sure that our process sales m remains relevant and very healthy to the district. So we have a notice period. Uh our goal is to have those uh surveys and interviews conducted within their uh notice period. So then the the feedback is fresh is most actionable. Obviously there are times that we have to conduct that after the employee has left the district. We also have audits through the year. We monitor those rates and the data quality. So that that is allowing us to catch any gaps early on the process and then continuous improvement. We continue to adjust the timing as needed. Those insights, you know, allow us to refine language u as well how we were following up. This is an evolving process. Um we will continue to improve as we go. Uh so this one here is a quick snapshot. There are two separate things. This graphic actually is from a report from EFP. It show us everyone who has left since July 1st to present. Um I want to make sure that I mention that it's only July 1st to present because or you know this is our most data cycle. We have refined the exit survey this year. We shorten it. It was very lengthy. Uh this one is just to focus more on the improvement like we want to make sure the completion rates are higher um as well as the quality of feedback. And if anyone who wants to provide additional feedback, they have the option to talk with us via exit interview. So out of everyone who left from July to present, it was around 90 nine employees 90. Um out of those you can see here the purple and the light blue uh retirement and resignation are actually the ones who have and I apologize this I just updated this slide so it might be slightly off from your PowerPoint. Um I just want to make sure I have the most accurate. So this is from a couple weeks ago um with the ones that you have in person but this one is the most updated out of those 80 uh employees who left 24 decided to complete the exit survey. It's [clears throat] about 30% of them it is a normal number. Normally exit surveys or any surveys is anything between 30 to 50 obviously still early in the year and we will focus for more completion rate. Um [clears throat] and it is also through quad tracks and out of all of them only four have reached out to us to talk with us in person. Uh based on those we have our early findings why people are leaving. So out of the 24 who decided to complete the exit survey we have career advancement as 25% the reason why they're leaving. Uh the other one it says other is also up to 25%. Other I can mention a little bit the reasons why they said other. Um then we have compensation, personal relocation, retirement. Uh some of those reasons we can control as a district, some we can't. So I just want to touch base on the ones that we can control such as career advancement. So that's the most common reason why they're leaving for growth. So we want to make sure our leaders are prepared to discuss some career pathways, clear career pathways. Uh they also had others, one left a position in OSU to join as a nutrition assistant within OSU. So they completed that but they just moved positions around and the other one said that he was just looking to work closer with his students and we don't know exactly um what position they were at because it is anonymous. Uh I want to mention obvious compensation is here that's one of the ones that we can control is the lowest rate percentage. Uh however I want to make sure that we utilize just knowing that we utilize benchmarking and compensation studies to remain very uh competitive within our market peers. However, we do see you know opportunity for some recognition project um within those to increase those uh those rates or decrease those rates. And then we have early attrition. Everyone will complete that. Um so then we have 21% and 53%. So all of them the majority left within the first three years uh of being here within our district. So it show us that we're doing a good job attracting your talent, but we do have a huge opportunity to strength how we're keeping them. Um especially on the first three years, they're very critical. We need connection. We need growth and we also need to support them and those those will show the biggest difference. I will mention how we are using those learnings to shape uh retention strategy. Before that I want to show our demographics. That's another tool another reporting not through portraits. Um I'm using this one because this one has more of a number July to now. I couldn't pull like much of a demographic. So this one I just compared two years right now the reasons why they left in the demographics and ethnicity of the people who left force. We know that the resignation in retirements continue to be the primary drivers. ESP positions are the number one um turnover um with turnover rate positions. And if you don't know I was going to point it shows dismissed position ending. I wanted to clarify dismissed is anyone within the uh their career that were ter terminated for cost open-end is expected all the ones uh position ended they are continuous building sub and the rift is reduction of performance are the ones that were who left within the first three years operations we have uh what we're learning I'm calling emerging themes simply because we don't have yet enough data to call a trend but we see where we're going career mobility how we can better show career pathways early on uh process improvement so our continuous improvements how this is how we're going to improve if we allow them to have a voice uh and continue consistent digital and innovation with our district u and the last one is a positive culture we want to make sure we continue to using hold space model to create a space where they can feel seen, valued and supported. We are cascading this concept throughout our district. I know many leaders already exercising them on their sites. Uh we did have a great exercise today as a team in HR and it was fun. It was great to see everyone else who doesn't have the opportunity to attend the learning leaders to exercise and uh find value on the holding space. All right, just a few more. I'm almost done. Um, you're good. Where we are [laughter] next um before I'm going to just say you know what we are doing with the information, the insights of this interviews actually helping us moving from reactive to proactive. We have a few initiatives right there that we have in place. Um create clear pathways. I want to make sure that we leveraging the programs that we have in action right now as a district. We have a few uh grow is one of them. We have two different pathways. Um we target ESPs and teachers uh general education or special education. Everyone is actually welcome to apply. Uh but we do target those two positions. Uh and we welcome them to develop as they want to become educators. Uh we also have new teacher workshop week, new teacher mentorship program and teacher of color program. All of those are part of the teacher mentorship and retention grants that I currently mention uh u manage on my department. Um we also have digital survey we have showing as completed. However, this is continue to improve. We have uh digitized the survey but we are also planning to digitize the exit interview um for better tracking and then we develop and coaching your leaders. is is we plan to integrate the you know in integrate career conversations into existing structures uh through our check-ins one ones um as well as us in in human resources sharing data with our leaders and managers as well as training and the last one that I have there is mentorship and holding space it is in progress our focus is to restrain our model of holding space we want to make sure that we are creating intentional moment where staff [clears throat] are feeling that that at least being feel seen and heard especially during the times of changes or growth that we go through. Um alongside with that I want to say that the district has allocated a budget and we are developing an ESP mentorship program. It's not through grant is with the district budget. uh we are now identifying our mentors and we will be launching uh as soon as possible [clears throat] and the early focus on you know connection the attrition dated I know that if we do continue to increase those mentorship programs our staff will feel uh the sense of belonging and then we're going to see retention across the district. Um my last slide shows the next steps or learning work. Um I want to make sure that those bullet points right here we are using data to target our retention initiatives. We are in alignment with our district strategic priorities. Uh we are studying best practice as Ivonne says. We want to make sure we have estate interviews so we can complement your exit data. We are sharing a workforce insights with our leaders and managers and of course increasing enrollment uh for grow your own. So, grow your own. Um, that is a lot to share. I can do a whole presentation on those. It's technically my baby since I started here in the district. Um, I want to share that we've been fairly successful if we compare with our first year. Out of the top of my head, uh, the first year we might have a handful of participants. Only two move to the second year. We're [clears throat] in our third year and we have over 18 on our cohort and more with interested just in the application review. Uh most of them are ESP staff and we also have a few teachers. So for you know focusing on all of those uh bullet points but also in early retention focus uh make sure that we focus on the first three years. They're critical and we see that they're they're not fully embedded in our culture. Um how we can make supporting mentorship and connection with stronger early bone and sharing this with our leaders so they can take action and um you know at the team level I think that's it I will pass now to phone who's going to take the next slide so [clears throat] we wanted to make sure that we had um uh some time to pause and process um the information. Obviously, this is uh data and information um high level overview of the process. Um but the two questions that we reflective questions that we have for you um are what stands out to you about the patterns and stories emerging from our exit data and how do these insights deepen our understanding of staff experience and retention across the district. Of course, we are here to answer any questions that you have about information presented today or further uh questions um perhaps things that you may may have wanted to see and and um are looking for more information on. >> Thank you. Thank you both. Uh board members, any questions? >> Yeah, I had a couple questions. Thank you for the presentation. Um, I was just curious if you can share any data with us tonight, like examples of um, those that complete the form that have resigned, you know, any of the like an example of, you know, maybe patterns or concerns you're seeing how that's addressed or if that's something you want to send us if if you don't have that tonight. And also I thought it was helpful um I was thinking more in terms of those that resigned but um the information the data collected on those that retire because I feel like that's really helpful in [clears throat] also in a positive direction of if you can share maybe some of the positive um things that were shared that we want to continue forward to maintain the best um environment for the teachers. >> Sure. So the first question was uh we did have a slide which N say I can go back um to [clears throat] one of our processes where it was broken down by um the reasons the [clears throat] reasons for um uh departures. So, you know, um career growth versus resignation versus, you know, family reasons. Um in uh again, we use multiple different um applications to gather information. And so, in our calls form, um which is online, and in our droplet form, people do have the opportunity to um uh there's a box that opens up so people can share additional details in those boxes. In addition, they have the opportunity to have uh in-person meetings as well. Um so we um we don't have any, you know, most of the data that uh Nela shared today, we're halfway through the cycle. So we do have some trends, but we want to make sure that we have the full data of this cycle um to be able to identify further, you know, what the trends are looking like and then compare that to last year in terms of those deep the deeper dive. Okay. >> I'm sorry. The second question. >> Oh, the um just looking at the data from those that retired just even how it's analyzed like some of the, you know, positive things about maintaining, you know, a healthy culture. Just curious about um if you're able to share any of those patterns or specifics or if that's something you could share with us going forward. >> Well, I apologize. I do have more details to share [clears throat] later on. >> Well, I have contracts. They do share um we ask more into depth the reasons why they're leaving, why they're staying. Uh one of the questions we also share is if they would return to our district. So, everyone who's completed the survey as of right now 65% said they would. 30% said unsure, only one said no. >> Interesting. >> So, we do have other um you know pain points that we are asking to adapt that we can share. Okay. >> I wonder director Mitchell maybe embedded in your question and it it would be mine would be [clears throat] do people have the option you kind of answered it but do they have the option to share if they're leaving because the work environment was not um was not a positive environment for them. These seem like very HR classifications which makes sense but I think what we're really trying to understand is what concerns do people have? are they leaving because we are not providing the best place to work which is what our goal is um under superintendent tile. So I think we really want to be continuing to get a context and understanding of the culture um around that goal of best place to work. So maybe with additional data and it's very helpful to know that only kind of one person said um that they would not return. So that's helpful. Well, I was kind of along those lines wondering just kind of like defining like when you say when like resignation >> I think that's kind of a broad term. So is it like and then when you look at the early findings why you know 25% said say other um so [clears throat] >> to to kind of that >> you're okay. She's so nervous. You're okay. >> You're doing great. Um I should stop if you're taking too much. So we do give the audience we do give them the option to say why. Some choose to not even though it's confidential and we don't know necessarily what person if they they're retiring and they say other than the retiring if they're leaving and they say other um it is still confidential but not many answer the reason why on a blank space. They do have always the option. And I know that a lot of them they do talk with their supervisor but we always offer them to talk with someone they trust so they feel comfortable or neutral within HR most likely will be my team but we do offer if they feel comfortable if they prefer somebody else they can certainly have an inerson interview we can say we can say in person over the phone over teams we try to give them options as well >> and what we can do board members is we can get that data and we can just share it with you we'll meet fine. We'll just share it with you on via an email. Okay. >> Right. And the thing that I would piggy back on is again some of the additional context, right? If there was, for instance, a work environment um issue, sometimes that is in that um dialogue box that opens up. Other times um it's more common that those are inerson meetings and that feedback is um informally um you know captured uh in person as opposed to in the exhibit data. Most of the time if there's a work environment issue, people really want to speak um in person. >> Is there a way to gather that? I'm sorry. Uh is there a way to gather that more informally then? Um almost like a separate bucket where you gather like culture because if we're saying it's not we're not able to really capture it in some of these surveys because it is just you checking boxes. Um, is there a way to make sure we're not letting any of that information slip through the cracks and that, um, because that's really valuable data? >> Um, yeah, and I don't quite know how you would do that, but >> really, oops, >> go ahead. >> We do have that option. >> Sorry to interrupt. We do have the option that we talk if it is management, if it is culture, if it is operational and they do. The exit survey provides a wide range of them why if they're happy or not. Uh we just made it very you know >> sorry I know you have all the backend data and we're we're like we want to see all >> we want to see them all might be helpful uh to to your question uh director Foster [clears throat] um sometimes when we present the data we show you all the items >> on the survey. So I think that might be helpful for for to include that in our update questions that are asked and yeah that might be helpful. >> But I just also wanted to say thank you for doing this. This is a huge >> huge movement for us as a district and this was something when I joined Dpack was one of the conversations that and recommendations. So, it's super cool to see it in action. And I know it's hard information to gather because people are on their way out and it's sometimes a fast exit might be that's the last thing they want to do is do paperwork. But this is so valuable for us as a district to keep improving and um make sure their voices are heard even after after they're not here. So, thank you for doing that. >> Well, and especially if you know there's action tied to it. You know, I know I like I work in an organization too. And so like when you're asked to do this and you see people leaving and like and if you can see the feedback like impacting or changing like something then that makes a difference too. Um, I also to like add another I'm just more curious because I just feel like sometime I kind of said this when we were talking about when you know uh I don't know a couple work sessions ago about just >> doing exit interviews for seniors and I was like why don't we do it with juniors because by the time you're a senior you're kind of already out the door you're like whatever. Um and kind of the same thing is just like you know and I know and I know Dr. probably just kind of answered it with um before I'm going to asses, but I know there's some staff surveys, but just even like stay surveys of just even like that pulse of like where's everyone at, you know, and if there is even if there maybe is like a bubbling up something that um before people do get to the point where they want to like leave for whatever reason that is to just, you know, have that stay. >> Do we currently have state surveys or like end of year? >> So, we don't currently that's what part of what we were calling the learning work. We are um researching the best way to create state interviews and it would be more of a toolkit for um supervisors um um could be you know site admin or the supervisor um really the people [clears throat] that are going to be closest to the employee. Um we do on occasion do climate studies as well. Um that's something that uh sometimes HR does it sometimes we do it in partnership with um uh you know EMO or another union as well. Um it just depends on the circumstances. [clears throat] Um a number of reasons, but just to to go in and just take a pulse kind of a pulse check. Yeah. >> Um so we've utilized that as well. >> Great. >> And then I did have one more question. Um the early findings and just even some of these other charts, it would be helpful if um and I don't know if it already is if we could break it out ESPs, teachers, and like other categories of staff. And I know you're just starting. >> Yeah. So we can certainly provide >> that would be really helpful to be able to see as a board member. >> Yeah. >> Um I just you want >> I [clears throat] had just a couple questions. Um one is just more of a process question thinking about our retirees. Um what's our plan to get the survey out to them before the before retirement? Um, so just I saw that the number was relatively small for retirees. Um, and I wasn't sure if you were already thinking through strategies to increase that number and sort of get that wisdom before they before they leave. And um, if you can maybe share kind of what that plan is at this point. Uh well we don't as of right now they normally have I think it Laura mentioned to me who is our benefits person like a month. Uh we we try to send all all the forms to be completed before they leave within the timeline. Um and I appreciated you saying that because we would love to hear for the ones who have the full circle cycle here with us. Um I think it's a I will because I said this is a early data we didn't have before. Uh hopefully by the end of the year we can see if there is an increase otherwise we should definitely see if we can um have those surveys early on before a few months few months ahead. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> And the other one I think is maybe less of a question and is more of a comment. Um, the number of black or African-American staff that completed the survey seems high. Um, and I would be interested in what we learned from those employees. um particularly given that this board has made it a priority to um invest and prioritize recruiting, you know, teachers of color and ultimately increasing the diversity of our staff across the district. Um so I just want to make sure that we're actually like leveraging this data to improve their experience um to help with those retention efforts. Um and so I don't necessarily need that information today. I know you said this is early data, but I'm hoping at some point we can get an update on how that's all connected. >> Yeah, we are um we have been doing a a deeper dive into the demographics by category um work category, position and also demographic data um based on identity as well. We would definitely like to have data from the full year um to look at that. We're looking for um you know trends um any anything that would look like disperate you know disproportionate departures as well um because that will help us you know uh help us to and the net an editable data right that goes with it to help us inform um and understand what are the trends in terms of those departures and can we do we need to make some more adjustments >> we'll get the data out from this information for you if And really quick, did you say that Qualrix is also our stakeholder survey for staff? >> Um, so it's completely anonymous. So we will never because I do see like the participation has like 30 to 50%. It may be it may be considered good, but we'd love [clears throat] to keep getting those numbers higher and higher participation. Um, so it sometimes I hear that folks don't feel comfortable or that it's gonna identify them. So with call tracks, we are 100% sure that there it is never identifying the person who fills it out. >> Correct. >> Great. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> All right. We'll move on next to uh we're moving up uh our open enrollment interd district transfer. So we'll John if you can key us off on that please. And that'll be joined by if needed uh general counsel m she needs to put us in order to >> All right. Thank you Dr. Kyle. Mhm. Uh so what we wanted to bring forward to the board is really a discussion just on open en or not just open enrollment but enrollment options that the district has. Um because we're going to be ultimately asking for a little bit of action that the the board take to kind of help with transparency and also steps that we'll be taking going forward. um as we're kind of incorporating this with the boundary change process together to take an overall comprehensive look at our total enrollment and how that works and how we want to manage it going forward. So one of the things that we really want to start with is grounding everyone on these three different terms because they're used interchangeably and they mean different things. So to start you I the one that's not on here that I don't mention is a resident student. Um you live in the district, you attend the district. That's that one's a pretty obvious one. An open enrolled student is a student who lives outside of Ocio Area Schools. You live in a different public school district, but you have applied to our district and been accepted to attend our schools. Open enrollment once accepted gives you the right to continue your um education through the end of your high school career with us unless you choose to go somewhere else. So, you're the only one that can take it away. We can't take it away from you with one exception, and that is truency. So if you don't come to school, we can pull your open enrollment. The second one is in district transfer. So these are students who live within our boundary and are assigned to a specific boundary site, but have applied and attend a different site than their their neighborhood school. Um, an example of this is you live in Edinburgh, but you decided to attend Woodland for some reason. And so you made that decision, you requested it from the district, and we granted it for you. And so you have that right. And the last one is is the magnet transfer. So this is a combination of both of these kind of together. You're either a outofd district student or a resident who has applied for magnet programming through Northwest Suburban Integrated School District which is what the NWSD trip over that one stands for. Um and so then you're part of one of our magnet programs. What the biggest difference with magnet transfer compared to the others is in the two other cases, the district is not obligated to transport you. With magnet, um if you're a magnet student, we do transport you to your magnet school. So, once we kind of set the stage there, we wanted to take a quick look at our our current state of enrollment and where we're at. And and how I would address our current enrollment, um especially from the open enrollment standpoint, is we have kind of an informal process today. So, our open enrollment today is available for all schools with the exception of um and I put acronyms up here, but I'll tell you what they are. Uh Maple Grove Senior High, Maple Grove Middle School, and Fernbrook Elementary. Those three are restricted or what we're currently calling a hard close um because we are either at capacity or at staff capacity and pretty much the buildings are full. We don't have the ability to go add additional students. Um both Fernbrook and Maple Grove Senior High are actually over capacity today. Maple Grove Middle School is within 20 kids of their capacity today. In district transfer currently is in a moratorum per schoolboard policy. So once we took action and asked the board to take action on um the boundary changes that enacted a moratorium on indistrict transfers through the first full year of those boundary changes. That'll take us through the next school year. So this year and the next year. So that kind of sets the stage for where we're at. Really what we want to talk about today focuses on open enrollment, but we would like to continue the conversation um as we get a little bit closer. So what I'm going to focus on first is open enrollment and then we'll kind of talk about next steps and where it goes from there. And Amy's going to help me here a little bit. So um the statute, there's state statutes that are that require that school districts offer open enrollment. Um, it's protected, but there are some limitations. And I don't know, Amy, do you want to kind of explain what the limitations are? >> There's lots of words up there. Um, [laughter] if a district really wants to close, um, by grade level, um, is usually what it's done at. um enrollment for people coming from outside the district. Uh you will do it by resolution and you can do it by either 1% of the total enrollment at each grade level or the number of districts uh at that grade level enrolled in a non-resident district. Right? Usually what people do is the they do the 1% they'll have that in there and then also by um a board action is you would um put kind of like any requirements like um a lot of times you'll see staff preference you know uh could come before other people who aren't staff um if you're applying for open enrollment. Um and so it provides the parameters of when we are allowed to say um we won't accept an an open enrolled student. We still get to determine um what our building capacities are. So right this is for across the district you know the 1% at each grade level and then we would make a determination of what buildings are at capacity like John identified >> and John just a reminder that the indist moratorum is for elementary and middle school levels because that's who we did boundary changes for we did not do boundary changes for the high school level so indist transfers can still take place at the high school level but not at the elementary and middle Thank you. >> So, one of the things since um in the past we've kind of done this in in our own internal process that we we felt um in the best interest of transparency that we asked the school board to take action on at your next regular business meeting would be to uh close limit, however you want to term it, open enrollment at the following buildings we have listed here. Maple Grove Senior High, Maple Grove Middle School, Fern Brook Elementary. We also listed Aspen Ridge on here. Um the reason Aspen Ridge is on there is today that is Fernbrook. Fernbrook and Aspen Ridge are the same geographic area. And so right now, just in order for us and they're also the areas where we have the most tremendous growth going, um to get into the first year, especially the first year of a brand new school that we haven't done in more than 20 years, um we're asking to kind of hold that. and so we can control it a little bit, make sure we have our systems in place, make sure we have we're capturing all our residents there, and then we would like to revisit that. So, it's really to get us from today until next October where we would then ask to be able to revisit that process. And really, the intention is to then go forward on an annual basis. And if the board needs to take action, we would make a recommendation. And if you don't, we will will recommend that we open back up. We want to be as as available at all buildings to our um both our residents and any other resident that may want to come in as long as we can manage it. And one of the concerns with that is is as I mentioned early on if you're a kindergarter and I'll just use Aspen Ridge as an example. I'm a kindergartener. I live um in Corkran and I want my child to go to Aspen Ridge. We say yes today. Your child was just given a 13-year pass to OIO area schools. So you're in now and you're going to go to Aspen Ridge and Aspen Ridge then takes you to AIO Middle School. So that's the feeder school. So that's where you go to middle school and then you would go to Maple Grove Senior. Well, if we let a hundred kids into Aspen Ridge, eventually I have a hundred more kids that we have to figure out how to fit into Maple Grove Senior. And what if the other schools that feed Maple Grove Senior as an example, Basswood has 50 kids and Rush Creek has 50 kids and Oak View has 20 kids and Cedar, all of a sudden we have this glut of kids and we can really overwhelm one of our buildings somewhere in the system. So, it's trying to be more intentional about managing that carefully so we can both offer open enrollment and in district transfer thoughtfully so that it's we stay within our capacities. Um, and the goal of staying within the capacities really comes back to taxpayers and saying, "Well, we thank you for blessing us with these building projects and the ability to make these buildings larger and to make these great improvements. We don't want to have to ask you to do it again." And if we get a little carried away, that might be exactly what would happen if suddenly we need Maple Grove Senior to have another addition. Well, I I don't feel like that's us being as as transparent and representative as we should be about it. So, it's trying to manage that process. Um, we always want to I could use the example of, you know, when an airplane you buy your ticket to go on spring break, um, that your airline wants to fill that airplane full because they make the most amount of money, they get the most revenue, they get their best bang for their buck on a full airplane. We want our buildings to be near capacity to do that, too, but to still be able to manage them appropriately so our teachers can comfortably do their job and they don't have 40 kids in a class. Um, we're staying within targets. We're doing those things so that we can again be intentional and be transparent about the process so everyone knows if I want to apply for open enrollment in Ocio area schools this is what that process is and if we choose to limit it here's why and so that you as a board members can feel confident when you're answering those questions at the [clears throat] grocery store well here's why we chose to limit so the other portion is indistrict transfer and I just want to paint a quick picture so this is our current IND district transfer amounts ends up being just under 3,200 students um at each site. The the current um we [clears throat] did offer with current boundary change the option. So if you had if we had taken any type of action on your enrollment prior to the boundary change process, you already had indist enrollment, you already were an open enrollment student, you retain those rights. So you're still going exactly where you were intended to go, what your path was when you were told before by the enrollment center. And then we're also allowing um the caveat of fifth graders and eighth graders this year can choose if they would like to eth this year. Thank you. If they would like to stay next year in their current school um just to continue that that leg before they move to the next level. So those pieces are already embedded in the process. What we're going with next steps is to we'd like to be able to come back to the school board and and and um Dr. Hy and her team need we need to have some conversations and do a little bit of research on what the proper parameters are for open enrollment in the future. We expect to be looking at that on an annual basis if not sooner depending on the needs. Um and same thing with indistrict transfer. How do we set those parameters so um in district transfer options are available and the parameters for both in district transfer and for open enrollment are equitable. So our students who want to attend different buildings can and our taxpayers who are paying for all of it have the rights to be able to have some choice there not just today the system set up that open enrollment actually has a little bit of an advantage and so how can we try to make that as equitable as possible. We still have to stay within the bounds of the law. Um so we can never truly close open enrollment but we can limit it in the 1% we pretty much cover that in every grade anyway. So it's not like if we went to that you're pretty much restricing open enrollment in those grades. But the the the heart of it is to provide equitable options and be transparent about how we're doing it. So people understand when you're asking that that we have answers for you and you can feel comfortable about it. >> And also to note that it's not just a once a year thing. So the board board you can say this you come back in two months that numbers change and switch it. Correct. >> Yeah. If there's pressure, it's something that we can return. And we um there's an enrollment committee that's always looking at primarily in district transfer, but we're also looking at open enrollment on really a every couple month basis. It's it's um a little more intense over the summer and then it spaces out to do it to go with each trimester once we get into the school year. But we're constantly looking at that and and having conversations on do we need to change, do we need to make an adjustment. A lot of times during the year it's it's based on what what we staff the building at. So we want to be again supportive of our teachers and not just keep adding people even though the staff level's set. So we try to hold to a staffing level at that point. >> I think the other piece for the board is the enrollment policy will be coming up in the 500 series. So you'll see that probably more towards June is what we talked about. So again, the goal of today was just to kind of give you a heads up that that we're going to be submitting to you requests to uh formally take action on the school board and and I believe it'll be within consent um to close those those four buildings uh for the next essentially the next year until next October. Um and we'll put that in the resolution if we have to put dates on it, but essentially we'll take an annual view of it and then make the decision at that time. We can say if we were going to open up some schools, we will do that. um if they need to continue so on. Um but then it [clears throat] also gives us that ability to come back to you, have a conversation, get your input on what you feel we should be doing for parameters um and so we can then build back to within the policy and the procedure around enrollment so we have that information going forward for next year. So I'm all yours for questions. We all >> right let's go first. Can I ask a question? Um, the thought behind the reviewing it in October, is that just to have it set for the January close of enrollment? >> We So, it's I think the intention is to to we start um accepting applications. Is it Brian? Is it is it the 15th of October? >> Yep. And then and then they have through January 15th. >> Yeah. That's the deadline. So, you need to kind of inform people to say, "Okay, this is the cycle we're working on." Um, so that's traditionally why in OC within an October board meeting is when that would happen. >> Will that be another meeting? >> Yeah, typically. >> Okay. >> It's pretty traditional. I mean, one of our neighboring school districts, they close open enrollment every year on at their October meeting is when they do it. >> So, >> thank you. are you? It's hard to sometimes make good decisions because, you know, I know later on we're going to have a fuller conversation about enrollment and um but are [clears throat] you anticipating um we're going to get an influx of outside enrollment requests for these particular schools? Yes, we are we already are receiving applications and I'll go to the um Aspen Ridge was the first application we had when the applications open. We we so we've already received some there and no um that you know especially the the schools that always see more open enrollment are the schools that are on the boundary and so we're in the process of building a brand new state-of-the-art school about three blocks from the boundary um in an area that also happens to be fairly distant for for what's just across the boundary for us in that area. Um a lot of it actually goes to Buffalo, Hanover, Montrose. So they have a long drive if you live in that area. Um, and so just the I made that decision for my family. We we actually live in the Elk River district, but but in the city of Elderville. Um, and so I could drive a long ways to Rogers to take my kids to school or I could go right across the way to the school I can almost see that's less than a mile from me. It was just proximity. [clears throat] So that happens a lot and and you plan for that. And we know the development up there is intense. I know I know just in I believe it's Fernbrook's um current area there's a thousand new homes that are just outside their border and we're Fernbrook will become the closest elementary to that area even though it's in Noah Henipin to the north of them. Um it's just just typically how it will happen. So we know those requests are going to come. The question is managing it so that it can flow through the system properly. And especially, you know, our our tightest point today might be Maple Grove Senior, but we kind of see a um the top of a mountain is coming and we see it I I can see a 10-year forecast. And so we see it trending back down after a while. And you want to be able to go, okay, well, if we can manage and keep that near its capacity, but again, control it so we don't overwhelm the system and opportunities or many as many opportunities are there as possible. Um, it's middle schools really that are going to be our choke point. Um, we've with the boundary changes, we're actually creating capacity at OIO Middle, but all the growth is in AIO Middle, so that's where most of the growth to the northwest you see, will go that way. Maple Grove metals pretty high anyways because they have a pretty large area and a little bit of growth, you know. So, it's so managing those pieces and you can manage them different ways. You can always come back and change the boundary again. No, thank you. But >> talk to us in 10 years. >> No, we will be here. But, you know, >> we will we will >> just tools in your tool checks and I think if we can be thoughtful about the enrollment, we can manage it well to keep those buildings running as as optimally as we can and still I mean open enrollment brings additional revenue into the district and we'd like to have that, but I've been in a district previously that went a little hog wild and that they had 40% open enrollment and yes, it brings in a ton of stuff, but you're doing that a bit on the back of your own taxpayers. because they're footing a bigger piece of the bill, you know. So, it's it's you have to be really careful about that and be very transparent with what you're doing and what they know you're doing. So, I think that's why if we can set it up so we can give the board some good choices, you can feel good about the decisions that you're making. >> Should we go one by one? So, the same problem that we had for years, just Maple Grove Senior High and Maple Grove Middle School, uh would the board be comfortable with continuing to have that closed? Cuz that's our bursting spot right there. Um >> yeah, even with the addition, we anticipate Maple Grove Senior will hit 3,000 students. It's it's kind of max capacity even with the addition and that stuff will go to about 2950, but we know we'll probably go over that in about 5 years. That was our goal in meeting last week for four hours to start looking at as we have open enrollment because legally they have to come in and once they follow everyone else do we need to put an amount on that cuz [snorts] that's the reason why I was at Maple Grove senior with so many and going to Maple Grove Middle because we weren't counting all those kids that were coming into open enrollment and hitting Maple Grove senior. So >> I have a clarifying question um just be crystal clear. So if we do not close Fernbrook in Aspen, that would mean that while our indist freeze is in place, other cities would have the opportunity to come in to these schools and not our own residents. >> Absolutely. It's one of the reasons why we thought it was probably prudent to add those two because they're having the largest change. So Fernbrook's going to lose 400 plus kids. Um and Aspen Ridge is going to gain these 400 plus kids. They suddenly both have capacity they've never had. You know, one didn't exist and the other one suddenly had this room. So just the first year where change is crazy, it it also made sense to say how do you level the playing field as much as you can and if we can bring in a whole bunch of people on open enrollment only, but you live in our district, you just got punished because you don't get to go to the new school where somebody who lives just outside can't. So it just made sense and especially with it's new, we haven't done it in a while. there's a different learning model. Let's a year is not a not a big ask I don't think in that to say let's just take our time so we can also then in that meantime study and make sure we're thoughtful like we've done with so many other things with Cresview going for its rebuild to make sure we're intentional and we have a long runway so we can do it right when we get there. I think that's really the goal. >> It really just allow also too those collective staff new staff and bird book staff and the admin to really catch their breath a bit makes a lot of sense. How many uh open enrolled students did we plan for? >> For which one? >> For Aspen Ridge. >> Uh right now we haven't included that at all. We're just focused on uh the current students who would move based on the boundary change and the projected growth. >> And then same with indistrict transfers. There's no forecasts. >> Well, there's all the in district transfers in that area transfer out to somewhere else because that school didn't exist. So, what we're we're going on the assumption that they're going to continue to the school they want to, but we did are building staffing capacity just in case they don't um because that can happen there. There's a handful of them that go to Basswood as an example. Well, suddenly there's a school that's a whole lot closer to you, you may choose to switch. But if next year's fifth grade for you and all your friends are at Fastwood, you may want to stay there. Um part of the the trick in that area is um Aspen Ridge and Fernbrook go to one middle school where say Rush Creek and Basswood, they go to a different middle school. >> So you're you're going to have people there where they may want I'm assuming [cough] you're going to want to go where you're going to follow your your friends to middle school. >> So you may want to stay there. So, so that's where you could get Basswood in district transfers who live in the Aspen Ridge area who do switch to Aspen Ridge because it gives them a year sooner with their peers that they would go to middle school with. So, those are all decisions families need to make to say what's right for you. Um, and we're trying to leave it as flexible as we can. and say we limited the number of open enrolled students um versus completely closing [cough] um [clears throat] open enrollment. What are the in terms of process? What are the issues that you are foreseeing? >> Um >> Thomas, can I say for that two elementary schools you're speaking of? Two elementary schools. >> Just for those two. Yeah. >> I thought we decided on the other. >> Yeah. I didn't know. I didn't want to be bossy. That is [laughter] >> so just just to clarify, you're saying if if you set a number x number of kids can go to Fernbrook and Aspen Ridge on open enrollment >> um for this next start of this next school year, right? Because we'd want to address it every year to see um probably the biggest thing is could we limit it? Yes. Could we do that? That is a possibility. But it is a possibility again that you're not allowing to your current industry transfers for this one year. It's one of the reasons why we thought perhaps just sitting on it for a year was a good idea because then the next year we can say okay here's what we're going to allow this many open enrolled and this many in district transfers and we're going to manage them that way. So I get that part, but in terms of process of enrolling those students and integrating them into the school environment, what are the issues that you're seeing that would come up that would make things harder either on teachers, on admin, on the enrollment center, like what are the issues that >> the the enrollment process isn't hard. It's typically what where you see an issue is it's hard to predict how many applications you're going to get. If you if you just open the door and you suddenly get 150 um that's a staffing concern is my first question is a staffing concern. Um the other side is we're not transporting those kids which which means there's their vehicles are coming to the site. So we have to manage admin has to manage how do we flow those kids in and flow those kids out. So >> my original question was if we limited it so say 20 students we know what that number is coming in. We know that's 20 students. >> Yeah. >> What I'm hearing is that there are no particular issues with enrollment. Um so we're making this decision based off of principle is what it sounds like. Okay. Just wanted to be clear >> and I guess my kind of curiosity is like we didn't like this wasn't part of the conversation like when we were talking about these boundary changes. I just feel like we're asked to make this decision and it does feel a little like jarring. I mean I I can understand what you you know why like it makes sense but um I I'm just like processing it I guess you know cuz I I mean boundary changes are it's it's a huge undertaking as it is and it's our you know I think in our district like even the there wasn't like you know just you know we had we pivoted a little bit when you know folks were kind of like wait I already started the process and now you're saying I can't do it and so we pivoted that way and like let the pe the folks that had already started the process process kind of keep going which is great and now it's kind of you know this piece and um so I don't know and then I you know I it's hard because I look at these schools and they are they are the schools when I look at kind of what we're about to hear on this world's best workforce report they're also the schools that have the they are our bucket of schools that have the highest percentage of the concentration of our white students and so um kind of there's that connection that I'm kind of thinking too and then I feel like we were kind of shutting them these schools off. Um so I don't know I don't have a question. I'm just kind of I don't know processing it I think. And so according to statute Amy um 1% of the total enrollment at each grade level in the district like what what does that equate to? John, sorry. I know you're not the mathematician, but >> so today we have about 1390 kindergartens. So that means 139 kindergartens is 1%. So we can we can stop once there are 139 kindergarten open enrollies across the entire district. That's typically intended for the I'm going to stop a grade level. >> Yeah. >> Um and say no more in first grade for all of Ocio area schools. I don't because of just the unique nature of our demographics. I don't ever see us making that decision on a grade level basis. I think our decision is much more to do with capacity. [cough and clears throat] Um and then just you know the the Aspen Ridge thing to me is almost like here's your your probationary year. That's not the right word but but your practice year to kind of get settled and get in. And since we're I mean I don't remember what our rough staffing estimate of how many teachers we're going to be positions will be come come out of Fernbrook but it's a pretty big number 135 >> that's just classroom teachers not however the the ratio >> like a total of roughly total roughly 40. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's going to so it's it's a huge move and a huge shift like the culture of that building is going to change and and we're we're worried about that and we're also trying to figure out how do we navigate that right with the team the teachers the building leaders so they can all handle it >> and just to speak to more we needed the information from the board because we had to get information out to open enrollment by >> well so the the deadline started on the 15th so people can start coming in so by taking action Now you're still allowing people choice to go, "Oh, I was going to apply for open enrollment, but you're going to limit it, so I'm going to wait and see what next year brings, you know, but so then I I want to open enroll. Maybe I live in Minneapolis and say, okay, okay, I'm not going to be able to go to AIO. Maybe I'll go ask Ridley if they have openings." So So you're not waiting that person wait till August or till even in the, you know, the spring to say, "Okay, now we're going to make a decision." You're trying to be a little bit more thoughtful to give them some choices. So, what would be the impact if the board needed more time to make a decision in December? >> Um, you'd still be fine in December cuz frankly, even though the window is October 15 through January 15th, as long as you turn in your application in that time frame, the decision gets made by January 15th. So, it's not like we're um denying people on October 20th. Now, if the board had taken action, we would let folks know, you know, hey, you're applying, but the board's already take taken action. There's a close at Maple Grove Senior High. So, I think I'm answering that question correctly. There wouldn't be >> it wouldn't impact the um acceptance or denial of applications and it wouldn't impact our staffing, which doesn't take place until the spring. I'm just talking out loud. If anyone thinks differently >> people like after seeing the boundary change happen, people might want to be able to pivot if they were selecting one of those schools that may be a concern if we wait too long. >> Well, one of the reason >> they would have an answer until >> Yeah. >> Well, we got to remember it's not in district or resident students. >> That's what I'm saying. Like if they're selecting Bernburg or the Aspen Ridge, they might go, "Oh, never mind. I'm going to pick this other school." >> That's true. It gives them the opportunity is is can I go up and roll? Mhm. >> We're not limiting that to >> So on the application, it's option one, option two, option three that parents put down. And then there's also a and you can list more, right? So within the application, [cough and clears throat] it's anticipated that you may not get your number one choice. >> Would it help the board at all to make a decision at the board meeting next week on maybe senior maybe middle to [snorts] open enrollment? I didn't have more time, I think, on the for the December. >> Well, I don't know. I don't need more time, honestly. We Maple Grove um senior and Maple Grove Middle have been closed. It makes sense to continue to keep them closed. >> Um I do think, you know, and then the other two, it makes sense to me because I don't think it's right that we would have our schools open to non-residents and not make them available as one district for our residents and all of our folks. Um, I can't support having schools open to non-residents that are not open to our own district just on principal. >> I don't see more time back on that. Um, we it does say on our website that we're currently not accepting open enrollment or district transfer specifically for Fern Brook and Maple Grove Senior High. That's how we've been acting. >> That was from this past year. >> Seven years. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I wouldn't need more time. I would vote for all four to be closed for similar reasons. But I also feel like this is a really flexible approach and gives people time to make their decisions, but also our district time. Like we have a full year. It's not like we're locked into this for multiple years, which I really appreciate. And we can analyze data and even come back to it mid year if we need to. So, I appreciate that a lot. >> And and to be very frank, we need to develop the process. We haven't had to do in the past. We just kind of said, "Okay, well, if this building's open, we'll accept open enrollment." and we didn't really look at the consequences to what other buildings that that student would eventually go to. >> Um, we're doing that a little bit more thoughtfully now, but we need to develop a process which once we can work together and figure out the process, then we can go probably come up with a number as you had recommended, Thomas, to say, okay, we're going to recommend this many at these schools that feed this way and this many at these schools that feed this way and however that works. Um so so that we're really intentional and then we know okay we're always managing a certain number of kids in open enrollment that are making their way through and a certain number of kids in new district transfer that are making their way through to this building to this building so that again we can manage it. We can make sure there's plenty of space for the residents and we're keeping the plane mostly full so that we're maximizing and um and and just it's kind of the best bang for your buck. But, and trust me, it's hard for me as a I mean, I see them. I know the money that comes in from an open enrolled student. That's that's today that's like 22,000 bucks per kid. Um, that's a big chunk of money. You know, it takes five kids and we haven't we just paid a teacher for the year. >> Um, >> and we have 1,600 kids open enrolled, >> right? So, we have 21,000 students. So, we're not quite to 10% of our kids are open enrolled kids, but they're about 8% of our population is open enrolled. So, we're kind of used to quite a bit of movement in this district, you know, and John put up the numbers for in district transfer. So, um you know, I can't speak to how the calls you guys get, but at the enrollment center, there's a lot of calls coming in, right? Because folks aren't used to indistrict transfer being having a moratorum and then also almost 10% of the people doing open enrollment as well. So this little um not little but this year and a half of resetting with boundary changes is a big deal. People in the community and families are experiencing it. Um you know without going too far down the rabbit hole we've actually added an additional once a month meeting for the enrollment capacity team because we're getting we're already getting a number of requests for people to not have to follow the boundary changes. Right. So people now are emailing with us, emailing us on why they believe they should have an exemption to not have to do the boundary change, right? So we're adding some meetings with that and I think that's only going to um >> increase as go next month. We said yeah. Is it next week? >> Maybe late this week. >> So potentially this week people will >> going out to families that their address is changing this week. >> Yeah. they'll get notification just in case you haven't in case you already didn't know >> this is the school your child will be attending next year. So there will be a a number of families that for whatever reason didn't realize there was boundary changes happening right now that will happen. So we think these things are going to ratchet up and some of this moratorum in my opinion allows us to ensure that we get all the students at the right school next year and see where everyone settles and then we get to relook at capacity and I would add we've typically handled this um administratively um and so I think this is an effort to make the school board more aware of the amount of work that we do around movement in this school district uh and how we look at uh building capacity, staffing capacity, open enrollment. You know, you're already surfacing some things like I don't think it's fair that people outside of the district can get to a school when in district transfer. Well, we're going to get to do some work sessions where you get to learn all about state statutes and what takes precedent and how all these all this movement happens, right? So, those are just a couple of that's why we're bringing it to you now to say these are things we've we've typically done administratively, right? But we want it to come to the board to say no, it needs board approval when we're going to literally close a school to open enrollment. So, those are just from my perspective and someone who's overseen the enrollment center for 15 years, this is a this is a different scenario and um they're difficult decisions, right? because this is where a young person is going to go to school and the families have a lot of different reasons. There's not a single school um that doesn't have kids leave that school and go to a different school in our system and vice versa. Every one of our schools has kids leave it and every one of our schools has kids come to it in district transfers, right? And our right now our lowest open enrollment school well besides Burbrook because that's been closed. >> Uh is Rice Lake only has 23 kids that open enroll into it. But um Park Center has 350. So there's 350 kids that open enroll in Park Center, right? So there's a wide range of people that make these choices. So I think you get what I'm coming from. We want this is a part of the boundary change. We think it's a good opportunity to reset with the board and say, "Here's how we manage all of this movement because this is a high movement school district, >> right? Some schools don't take open enrollment. Some districts don't take open enrollment, right? Or allowing district transfers, but that was somehow I think Kelsey was bringing up. >> Well, yeah. I mean, I I really appreciate you guys bringing this to the board. I think it speaks to I think we need to have these healthy dialogues and and um and by no means I mean I I think that you know my questions it's it's hard to isolate to this when as a board member when we're not in it dayto-day to isolate and to simplify it to distill it to like >> kind of just like are we taking in people outside or not when there's a lot that I'm thinking right like I look at what's coming next what we're hearing about and like balancing around equity I think about we have under you know capacity schools right I mean we've had these conversations and like and and then this whole you know the boundary changes it's a complex process and I I don't know the ins and outs of every you know part of it and it impacts so many and and I also think it's um you know as this discussions happen I mean there's been some clarifications and confusion just around some of the how it's being like talked about or even like so I feel like if it's confusing for us it's probably confusing for >> everyone else you know that's not in a day-to-day so I appreciate you know you bringing this to us and and having this discussion and being, you know, so open um open with it and um I look forward to our future discussions around our enrollment and um especially around that in district transfer um piece because I think it's something that I know I've had personal experience and my family around and it's been frustrating and so um and I also see the value of having open enrollments um and I think that just adds so much also value to our district as well. Um, so, um, and I I trust the team and I know you take great care in this. So, um, I do think it's a really big deal though to to do this. Like, I don't take it lightly and that's why I'm like I'm a little like I, you know, I think I can I as you've laid it out, it just it seems like going forward. I mean, this is the right decision. Um, because it's not final, but I do have hesitation in that like it is a big decision and it feels heavy. It feels big. Um, and um, but again, I will say I do I trust I trust the process and um, I do look forward to our spring conversation around this >> and I appreciate your guys's um, vulnerability and transparency around this and bringing it to us like that's a um, much appreciated on my end just being able to see some of the backend conversations that happen and so that doesn't go unnoticed. Thanks for sharing that. We talked about enrollment maybe more than we [laughter] should >> dream about enrollment. >> And the nice thing with this is is you know one of the one of the side benefits that when you do make the decision to formally close a school is we're required to track every kid that applied and didn't get into that school because we have to report it back to the state. So we also have that information going forward. Um and you know I'm I'm excited to see we know what the boundary changes and and I not going to say I wrapped up enrollment but we're really close. uh we're not showing under capacity anyway, not a single bill >> based on on our enrollment rejection for next year. So that's a good thing. Now we've got to be >> careful as we and and take you know the measured approach that that the HR's team especially working with DTL to make sure that we get the staff appropriately moved in a timely fashion and that's a long process. So that's one of the reasons why we're doing a moment early is to try to again make the longest runway possible so people can have some time because it takes time. It's change. It's a ton of change. >> And just looking at our number of residents in Maple Grove is amazing. So, it was at the point where Fern Brook kept growing and growing and growing and I'm like, where are they coming? It's actually single family homes. It's not like the people are going to be there two years and then leave. So, and they're constantly building more. >> So, we're looking at inner district and we're looking at open enrollment. We have just residents. We got to think about are just straight up residents that live in those areas. of course they're going to get it. So, um, yeah, Fernbrook took my breath away this year. So, yeah. How many kindergarten sections have we added? >> Firm Brook. Yeah. This year, we added two. >> We added two >> today. Fbrook has 1,876 new housing units that are currently >> that are coming in that are coming in Fernbrook's area. >> Yeah. >> That doesn't include the >> 1100 that are right outside it >> because we can't count them. So, let me keep track of them. All right, Director Mitch, are you good? >> I'm good. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> So, keep reaching out to us. You You all know how to find us and have more conversations. But, uh, sorry to put that heavy weight on you, but we wanted to share share share the joy. It's a good thing. It's a good problem to have. But, um, all right. So, our next group is here. So, um, Dr. best I'll have you introduce on the keker uh comprehensive achievement in civic readiness uh which in the old days was called world's best workforce. So >> thank you Dr. Hy, good evening chair Prince, vice chair Brooks, members of the board, distinguished guests in the audience. Um so um tonight's presentation brings forward two key areas of statewide accountability. Dr. Kyle said the comprehensive assessment and civic readiness uh report formerly known as world's best workforce and our achievement integration annual reports. The data shared tonight will highlight not only where we see are seeing positive movement but also where we must continue to focus our in our attention to ensure that all students have equitable access to rigorous highquality learning experiences. So I want to extend um my uh sincere gratitude to Dr. Pine and Dr. Walker for their partnership, enthusiasm, and intentional collaboration in co-presenting tonight's update. So, their approach reflects the spirit of alignment we're striving for as a system. One that does not silo the work of achievement, integration, and readiness, but instead weaves them together in service of student success. So, with that, I'll turn it over to Dr. K. Dr. Walker. Thank you. >> Good evening. Thank you. Uh, tonight we have two outcomes. We're going to look at some data points for both the comprehensive assessments for the readiness and for achievement and integration and really talk about what are we doing in the name of continuous improvement to continue to improve. Um just our connection to our priorities for the comprehensive assessment civic readiness. We're really focusing on that priority B2 to build and nurture a culture of achievement by providing content rich rigorous and equitable and individualized pathways particularly B1 with high quality core instruction and interventions. So, as Dr. Kyle said, CACER or comprehensive assessment of civic readiness replaces world's best workforce. The goal that came off from world's best workforce is that all students are ready to read by third grade. And what replaced it [laughter] is all students are prepared to be lifelong learners. So, there's still five goals that go. >> Good evening everyone. U Michael Walker uh here to talk about the achievement in immigration and we also have four goals. There has to be an achievement goal, an integration goal, and then a teacher equity goal. And so our first goal is um we will provide support for specialized programming to seek racial integration gap reduction by 1% each year. Uh the second goal that we have is achievement gap between students of color and Minnesota state goal of 85% as measured by proficiency on the NCA test will reduce um by 2% each year for identified groups. Goal three is around the percentage of staff of color working in Ocio area schools will increase by 1% each year and the baseline at that time was about 14.9%. And so we're going to increase that uh 2% each year over the course of those three years. And then the final goal that we have is increase graduation rates for American Indian students uh by 4%. And so you'll see us talk about those goals throughout. >> Can I ask a really quick question? This is bad for superintendent actually this year. So, one of the khak goals are all racial and economic gaps between students. How do we know what students have an economic gap? >> That is a great question >> because that's private information. >> Yes. >> Oh, okay. I was curious. Okay. >> Yeah. So, we can't measure any improvement there. >> Not an economic. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Uh, so the first goal is all children are ready for school in AIO. We use our uh TS goal or teaching strategies goal with our BPK students and our goal for the 2425 school year was to grow from 30% in the fall spring to 81% in the spring. We fell short of that goal. The reason there's not a baseline score for this year, which is data we previous shared, is because we have extended the testing window to ensure that we are screening more students in the fall. The other goal that we're using is our kindergarten and first grade readiness. Uh the readact requires us to give certain subtests within passbridge to look at uh in this case word segmenting and as a high school social studies teacher I had to look at what word segmenting was and learn it. >> Yep. And so it is really knowing the the word right away. >> I did really quickly uh the letter sounds. So you can see the example in the lower right hand corner. We have fish and cat and those are the sounds. So, uh, identifying letter sounds is a really important foundational reading skill. And this is our fall data. This is the first year we've isolated just this subtest. Uh, and that both kindergarten and first grade are above the national average in the skill area for this year, which is really exciting data for us. >> So, now we're going to step into the uh, racial and economic gap. We're really focusing more on racial gaps around students. And so the first one is again connected to our um our goal of rounding decreasing um the reading proficiency for MGA test. And as you can see our data shows a persistent racial gap in reading proficiency for our black students. And so uh it also shows it for American Indian students. And so we know that there's an area that we need to grow in and that is one of our top priorities. But as we get down later in the presentation, you'll hear some of the strategies that we're using to uh try to address address the issues that we see around this um this gap here. efficiency. >> Did you state what the grade levels were for this >> taking combined? What grades? >> It would be three through 10. >> 3 through 10 everyone. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Same for math proficiency, right? So math proficiency saying is one of our bigger gaps that we have. Um so it's really significant as you can see um less than half of our students meeting or exceeding the grade level. And so um we definitely know that there's an issue that we have to address here but there is that we are um aware of that we we know that we need to address. And so this is again what are we trying to do? There's some strategies that we're using to try to get through this um to get this change, but it's a work in progress, right? So make sure that we know that it's a work in progress. This is the areas that we're focusing on to try to reduce these. But these are the as our system. And then next we have our four year graduation rate. And so here in this uh document or on this graph, it really shows the gap between um our our specific groups. So you see uh here that one of the bigger gaps is our American Indian students um with their racial equity gap around trying to re graduate at 90%. And so that becomes an issue for that. We still see some of our specialized groups as well that has a a large gap. look at our multilingual learners also have a 21% gap and then one of the larger gaps is for our students who are um experiencing homelessness and so you see a 31% gap in their graduation rates and so this is the um issue that we see um again I know that we've had some good data around our graduation rates as a system but when we look at some of our specialized groups we still see some gaps that persist so there's some areas that we can work Our third goal is all students are ready for college and career. And our first measure is our NCA proficiency from last spring. Uh so reading and math are both taken in third, fourth, and fifth grade. Science is only taken in fifth grade. Uh for reading, uh elementary, [clears throat] we're approximately 4% below the state average. And I think one of the things to really think about here is that we asked our teachers to implement two new literacy curriculums last year. And typically when that happens, we would see a larger dip because of that implementation dip, right? So 4% I think is a pretty solid continuation of where we were. It is actually 2% lower than what we were last last year. So [snorts] it what didn't drop as much as maybe what research would predict. And you can see that in math we are the same as a state and in science we are 3% below the state average. Uh this is middle school, 2% [clears throat] below the state average in reading, uh 3% in math, and 3% in science. Um last year we were 7% below in science. And so we made a huge gain in that science area in middle school. And lastly, at high school, uh reading is taken at 10th grade, math at 11th grade, and science after they take live science. AIO was below in reading by 2% math and 5% and 4% in science. And last year we were 3% below in reading. So we made some progress on the state this year. 4% in math. So we stayed uh we went down one and then 5% in science. So we actually narrowed that gap between the AIO average and the state average. This is uh another goal within comprehensive [clears throat] assessment and civic readiness is our ACT composite scores. So the dark purple is our ACT composite over the last five school years. Um that ACTs we provide funding for every 11th grader to take it during the school day and our uh deposit score is 19.3 for this past year. Uh it we're growing going back up. The yellow or the gold is preac. We also pay for every 10th grader to take the preac. It's a paper test. Uh the reason we deliver it on paper is because students get to take the test booklet and the answers once they're scored back and look at what they've done how they've done. And so what we are noticing is when we started that so the 2223 uh the 18.3 those were the students who took the ACT in purple and 19.1. So what we hope to see is that that trend of our composite score in purple will start to trend upwards because what the research shows is once you've [snorts] taken a practice standardized test you know the formula you know the tricks. So we're [snorts] hoping to see that we're working with our college and career readiness counselors on what does that look like? How does that work? What are we doing intentionally in schools to continue on this trend? [clears throat] Our next goal is all students graduate from high school. This is data for the TW class of 2024. So remember, we won't get the class of 2025 data until next May. So we're really looking about back about 18 months. But for the class of 2024, our graduation rates increased by 3%. Um, so we're getting really close back to that 2018 level. And in addition to that, we also have had a decrease in our dropout rate. And so really thinking about how do we continue to uh address our dropout prevention work. This next graph is the graduation and continuation rates. So some students uh may not meet the requirements for graduation by the time their the rest some of their classmates do, but they may choose to continue on whether it is in an alternative setting in a credit recovery program or in our transition center. And so these numbers uh combine those two pieces and look at who's continuing on. And for the class of 2024, all groups exceeded the state identified benchmark of 80% except for American Indian students. Dr. the walkers mention the graduation rates. >> Yep. And so as you see in this graph, for the last couple years, we have done well with our American Indian students. And when I talk with Ethan, he is very um aware to say we have to be very mindful about our graduation rates for our American Indian students based on the small end of the small number size. So one student not graduating can have a huge impact on what that percentage looks like. And so we just have to be very mindful of that. And so it be one or two students uh that have an issue and then that can have a huge impact on what the um the percentage looks like. But what I will say is that they have been very intentional about connecting with some of the students when they see them on a list. They created a list of students who are maybe behind or need some support in graduation or towards credit um accumulation. And so they are meeting with those students individually to help get them on that path towards on time graduation. So again, we're doing better than what we have in the past, but again, just want to be mindful that um the small end can have a huge impact on graduation. >> So before we talk about our fifth flow, we're going to talk about some next steps in this area. Uh one of the things that I uh mentioned was our dropout prevention and that really includes an early warning system. And so what does that look like? There are three components to that. One of them is attendance. So looking at period attendance and parties uh academics looking at uh so going back up attendance uh our benchmarks benchmarks are really high for attendance uh to be considered not in danger of uh being at risk for dropout. It you have to be above the 90th percentile attendance. So you're attending class frequently and at high school that looks at period attendance as well as daily attendance. academics. We are looking at students who uh are failing one or more classes at uh on a daily basis. So uh we have a a new system called RTI store uh that does that. It pulls in grades nightly from schooly and has a dashboard that leaders and counselors can look at and say, "Oh, these students uh need some attention and we need to talk about that." And then behavior for students who've had uh referrals for discipline that go into the system. Um any student who has more than three is considered to be at risk of dropping out and that code stays the entire year. So if I mess up in let's say October, Jill kind of makes a bunch of mistakes and is foolish because she's a ninth grader which is what I taught for a long time, right? Which hap you know what happens. Um, I will always be coded as red because that signals to the people looking at that data, hey, we need to just be mindful that this student had some issues in the past. How are we making sure that we're still paying attention and not forgetting about them? Additionally, we are working with our college and career readiness coordinators at each of the high schools on the implementation and use of Zello. So, Zello replaces the Minnesota Career Information System that we've been using for an eternity. Um, and it has a bunch of different features. Uh, students can take career interest inventories. Uh, they can look at potential careers and research what what classes should I be taking, what colleges have this information. Um, and it has a bunch of analytics that we are just digging into. We are doing a soft roll out with it at high schools this year and really getting into it 612 next year as we think about the CTE strands that will be opening at each of our high schools. How do we sort of backwards map out what the possibilities are for students? >> And Jill, doesn't Zalo uh [snorts] Zello eventually has it for the babies to elementary? >> Yes. >> Yeah, that's what I thought. >> Uh and continue professional learning on high quality core instruction, standards based instruction and grading. We're partnering with the University of Minnesota and our leaders on on learning walks and walkthroughs to look at what are students experiencing each and every day in our classrooms and how do we make sure that we are uh ensuring that all students are receiving standardsbased instruction at the grade level and RTI store is part of what we're incorporating into our PLT process when we [snorts] look at our fastbridge data and we say okay I know that I need to go from point A to point Z by the end of the here. Uh what are those steps along the way that we need to take as instructors to move us to move students and who are the students that we need to move? Really thinking about how do we humanize people uh in a system that sometimes with data doesn't feel super humanizing. And lastly, >> yeah, I'll tell. So last we have a site uh excite use of the equity transformation cycle. You all heard us talk about this several times. Uh we are fortunate enough this year to have in the next couple years to have Shane Seir, one of the authors of Street Data, do some work with our um equity teams. And the reason why this is really important is that each school is supposed to have an equity challenge that they're focusing on. And the equity challenge is really about them naming what areas can they do better at when they see students not performing at whatever rate that we want to see them performing at. So they're looking at the data. So that could be MCA reading data or math proficiencies proficiency data, whatever they're having at their school site, right? their issues that they want to address and they understand they're saying we're going to have our equity challenge based on that and they have to be very specific on who they're targeting what is the thing that they want to address and then how they want to address that and one of the key components of that I think you've heard me talk about this is really about going out and listening to the students experiences so then we can take that information and do something different with it within our system to support our students and so this is really uh key and important to that work that we're talking about around the data that we're trying to address that you're going heard speak about up And then the last goal for the comprehensive assessment and civic readiness is all students are prepared to be lifelong learners. And this is a goal that's not mandated to us from the state of Minnesota. We have some flexibility and and so for this year we selected uh lifelong all students will be lifelong learners from our student survey. Sort of pairs very nicely. Uh this is data that you've seen before through the vision card work. uh it's from our 2425 student stakeholder survey and it's each of the five questions and the percent of students responding yes always or mostly yes to each of those five questions. So since the student stakeholder survey is under revision uh I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about this piece and we'll spend some more time looking at it and really talk about how it weaves into the rest of our continuous improvement work with sites at the next comprehensive assess civic readiness presentation. So, we wanted to break uh at at this point uh for [cough] awesome process moment uh because gotten feedback that sometimes we have so much data, it's nice to be able to pause along the way to be able to reflect and and offer some perspective. Um two questions that we we toss out here is from your perspectives what do you see um that that could be strengthened and then in terms of the things that are that you recognize as strong um how might we further amplify those things. [clears throat] So those are two prompts and then of course whatever you would like to ask >> for members. I mean, I just would say I just want to say I mean, I feel like we said this, but thank you so much because I feel like I mean, when I was on my um well, I know the names changed from this, but the world's best workforce, but in the past when I've seen this report, it has been really um coming kind of from a place of like I don't know, it just always felt like it put a lot of um onus on the students and like it was almost felt like what they were doing wrong or I mean just it just is coming from that kind of a place and I what I've seen coming back and like hearing what you guys say um have been talking about is it's very um like really strength-based like there's this solution like when what are we doing as a system to really be held accountable for their success and I really see this through the data and I just and also I really appreciate just what you said just really humanizing the data and making it really about you can just feel that and as hard as it is I mean there's conversations all the time about whether we use MCAs or not and there's a huge push for opt outs and regardless of all that and like there's some merit to that. Um I just really appreciate just the just what you guys you I feel like this is just proved like leaps and bounds and I think you you can really feel it. So I just more wanted to just say I think it's great like I don't even um yeah >> jazz hands. [laughter] Well, I think to your right >> to your [clears throat] point, um, while we're not necessarily seeing the test score movement, the the nature of what we're talking about, we've, you know, over the past two years spent quite a number of work sessions on specific strategies. um we had the deep dive into um math um and into reading and we know that's still going to come through and we know that's the first ju just the um it's we're going to have to see that influence younger grade levels to see it come through all the way up um and it takes time um [clears throat] but I think you've been bringing to us the strategies that you want us to be supporting and approving um so I feel very close to what's kind of happening behind the numbers. Um, even though they're we know they're not where we want them to be quite yet. >> Um, I so beyond what's already been said, um, I think what stuck out to me were the graduation rates. um one just the big question mark of like what are the five year sixear graduation rates but um also particularly looking at I kind of circled or pointed at a few of them American Indian uh Hispanic um are ill and homeless and special >> ed um so I wanted to kind of connect that to um the other slide that was on dropout rates >> um and I appreciated that you kind of talked about the early warning signs. Um I was kind of wondering beyond that like what are like the interventions that we have in place um for those students when we look at past students that have dropped out are the early warning signs like is that consistent? Is that accurate with what we're seeing with past drop uh students that have dropped out? Um, and then how are we offering like alternatives early enough for them? So whether that's OALC or C79 online, like what are what's happening kind of behind the scenes once we have um those early warning indicators? >> Yeah, that's a great question. Uh, so there's a few things. Uh, we have a very robust after school credit recovery program uh that students uh are are in and succeeding. We are offering standards based options. [snorts] So instead of having to repeat the entire course, we can look at which standards students didn't aren't proficient in yet and just target that learning that they need to uh redo. So that's one piece. Uh I think an additional piece is uh we have uh data digs with each of the high schools. Uh we just had finished one today. um where we look at the what which students are currently at risk by advisor and then uh are they in any programming? So are they spending an AVID? Do are they in real talk and for students who are we alert their the people who run those programs to say hey this student has these indicators of uh dropout. Additionally, if they're not in a program then we work with the counselors and the administrators to make a connection with them because what's going on? is anyone talking to the student? Uh I think the other piece that we're actually just talked about as a learning achievement [snorts] leadership group is is your point about what have we seen in the past and is it holding up in in the present in terms of indicators. So that's a study that we're undertaking right now to look at that. Um I think I got all of your question. >> Yeah, you did. Thank you. Um, and I think beyond the three, and I know this is like harder data for us, but um, also just thinking about these students and what's going on outside of school, that is probably as important if not more. So whether that is family or they're working a lot or pregnancy or whatever that might be, just thinking going back to my high school, um like if we know that those things are coming up and are a part of their impacting their experience as students, that should be in there as well um to kind of steer them in a direction that maybe a little more customized for their learning. Well, and that points to two things, right? Uh belong, that sense of belonging, but also the use of street data and how are we getting to those stories and uh we can't get to those stories if the student isn't connected with someone. So, how are we making sure that each and every student has an adult in their in the building? So, yes, we we agree with that. >> Thank you. Yeah. >> Um, I had a couple questions and maybe it's just how this is my first sit through with all this. Um, so, and I know this is specific to the racial and economic disparities, but the reduce the reading proficiency gap. >> I do see we're well below that 85%. But then when we go to um for the state of Minnesota goal, where was it? There was another Oh, here we go. the proficiency where it says state is like 50 for math and 46 for reading. What's the difference? What's the 85 come from? >> So the 85 is the goal that we expect each and every student to meet. >> Um and then the what you're looking at there is by grade level, right? So this the uh graph on the screen combines all of the grade levels and that breaks it out into elementary, middle school, and high school and just their level of proficiency overall. [snorts] >> Um and then it would be I think it's really vital to um and I know this might be a really hard ask, but being able to figure out how we can help our socioeconomically disadvantaged students and collecting data around that and the impact it has on them. and we see it show up in that um homeless population graduation rates. So, I think that would be a really vital piece that we could work on. I know that's hard, but important. Thanks for doing all this work. It's super helpful and I feel like it's presented in a really easy to digest way aside from my misunderstanding. So we'll just move on to achieving integration goals and a couple of items you want to share on that. Um so these are for achieving integration plan there's we have to have a list a lot of strategies that we're undertaking to try to accomplish those core goals and I'll just talk about one or two of them in each one of the columns but like so as we're talking about the MCA reading um gap that we're talking about. So one of our strategies that we're using for that is high operational practices which up here on the screen it says NUA programming and site orientation work. It's really around uh Dr. Jack's work uh Evette Jackson's work around high operational practice and how are we um working with our students to have positive or asset based conversations and how are we making sure they feel belonged. [snorts] So this year we are focusing on two of those um high operational practice. One is situating the learning and lives of students and amplifying student voice, right? And as Dr. Khan said earlier, we know that when students feel like they belong, they feel like they're connected, it makes education and learning a little bit more easier when the stories relate to them and in their own uh community and their culture. And so we're being intentional about how we ensuring that is happening in the classrooms, right? And so that's one other strategy that we're using at our sites to support the increase in that reading literacy rates. And then if we look in the second column, we look at one of the things we you heard me talk about around comprehensive districtwide equity training and support. Right? So it's really important that we are really working with our leaders to say how are you leading this work? How are you being intentional about focusing on the data of the marginalized and those that are furthest from justice within our system, right? How are we being mindful to look at the data? How are we addressing that data? And then what strategies are we using to do that? Again, we want to make sure that we're doing this with community and not to community. So part of that is how am I asking the right questions? How am I bringing those voices to the table that are typically not brought to the table to hear and learn? What can we do differently from that? And then the last one I'll just say, you know, the the acronym you kept getting tripped up on I do too. NWSSD. Um, did I get it right? What one of those? But our partnership with them, right, that's one of our partnerships where again it's connected to the magnet schools, but it's also connected to other districts who are doing this work. and how do we partner with them to learn from a collective of other folks who are addressing some of the same issues that we're um facing as well. So, it kind of brings us together to support and work with each other. So, those are just a few of the strategies, but as you can see, there's a list uh that kind of goes on, but we're working through those strategies in each of our sites. And this is really about uh the dollars and cents. So, as part of the achieving integration, um there's a formula that you have to use in order to spend the dollars, right? So, 80% has to be focused on uh direct student services. uh no more than 20% can be used for professional development and then again no more than 10% can be used for administrative costs and [snorts] so we have um met that goal and I mean I know those numbers up there are pretty small but we are definitely higher in student services so we're usually around 83 84% that we spend in that area and then a little bit less in um administrative cost we're usually around 7 to 8% in that area so we're staying within what uh ND wants us to focus on in that regard but obviously open a little bit more to direct student uh services. Here is something that I think we we talked about. You know, we had the uh conversation earlier around um staff retention. And so, as we know, one of our goals is uh is again staff retention. And it's not just about retaining staff. We have to also realize that having um a diverse staff population is really important and key to our students, right? The mirror, I mean, I know we may not talk about it enough, but the mirror, they see people who look like them. that is very important that they see those folks in the classroom in the buildings that that that are serving them so that they can see that hey there's an opportunity for me to be in education or that I see someone that looks like me and can connect with me that also brings brings that sense of belonging. So if you look at the data very small up here but for the last few years we have done a really good job of retaining uh our staff of color and so in this uh trajectory we have actually met this goal um based on MD's um definition and so we have done a great job but that doesn't mean we get to stop and relax right what things are we doing intentionally to build those uh connections and that trust and that sense of belonging for our staff right so we do have affinity spaces for our staff we do have groups that they can connect with again to bridge that uh connection in that community. Next we have uh what we call racially isolated schools. So as part of uh achieving immigration um in order for us to so as we receive those dollars we have designated I want to say it's 10 schools in our system who are considered racially isolated. And what that means is that if your school is 20% more of students of color in it than what the district average is, then you will be considered racially isolated. So in our uh situation, we have 60% of our district is students of color. And so then these 10 sites have a percentage higher than that 63% more than 20%. So they would have to be above 60 or 83% in order to get that designation. So these are the sites that are designated as racially isolated. So we got H first Grove, Edinburgh, Fair Oaks, Darn City, Palmer Lake, Parkbrook, Zanewood, Brooklyn Middle School, Northview Middle School, Park Center High School. >> Nice. >> Trying to get these accurate good in. So I should have known them all by heart, right? I got I got it right there. Right. So those are the ones that are considered racially isolated. Now this next slide um is is a slide that you all asked for last year when we came and that was about what does it look like in the inverse of that. So what about our schools [snorts] that are more white right? And so when we look at that data so we use the same kind of format. So our district average for white students is 37%. And these are the schools that would be considered [snorts] MD doesn't use that term. So it's hard for me to say racially isolated because that's not the term that they used in this in this case. But these would be considered racially isolated if we did it for white students. Right? So our schools that would be racially isolated on this graph would be Fernbrook, Basswood, Maple Grove Senior High, Rush Creek, Maple Grove Middle, and MRI. Did I get one right? >> Okay. So those would be the sites that would be uh considered racial isolated if we did it in the inverse of what we do what uh ND was. Um so just wanted to bring that to your attention that that was um kind of something that you all have asked for. So I wanted to make sure I brought that to you so you can see that percentage as well. And then uh as you all may be aware the achievement integration program um dollars that we received is on a three-year cycle. And so this year we are up for renewal. And so as part of that we have to put together a committee to do some uh digging in to looking at the goals adjusting goals they may be the same but we have a timeline of what we need to do in that space. So first we have to engage some stakeholders and we've got to get a committee that is [snorts] comprised of many different groups uh teachers at administrators community members and students um on that committee to see what our our goals are and how we need to readjust our goals if we need to do that. uh we'll review that, bring that uh to you all because you all have to approve that. So we'll do that by February and the deadline to submit this to the state is uh March 15th. So that's when we have to have a finalized submitted plan. And so we're in the process of putting those stakeholders together to bring have those meetings to decide on what those bills will be for the next uh the next threeear cycle. That's it. Oh, >> yeah. there any uh questions? I we posed the same questions as the first box. Um wanted to make sure again we we uh broke out the presentation besiz [snorts] chunks so that we could um hold um a smaller chunk of data for each. Any questions on the achievement integration those additional pieces? Um on this upcoming plan for merge, uh who are the stakeholders involved in that process? >> We don't have a specific name yet, but we know what positions that we want. Like I said, we want to have a principal, assistant principal, we want to have teachers, we're going to have students, and we also want to have some folks from the um Department of Educational Equity. We we need to have a member from Apac, right? So, we have the actual folks who we need to have on that um committee. We just haven't got the actual name yet. >> Okay. to the process of recruiting that commission. >> It makes me think of like rise and a you know that what we talked about at the session [snorts] really leveraging when we talk about leveraging those committees like engage in different things >> and that's our hope is those members of those committees. I liked what you said about um this being done in collaboration with communities, not to communities. So really wanting to hear voices um on what um what what communities desire from us um what solutions and improvements they'd like to see from us um with with them. Um [snorts] I think that's really important especially representation amongst um different um levels of language um different levels of economics um really different you know not the same set of students or the same set of parents coming and talking every single time too and making sure that we just have um diversity and thought and representation as we keep coming up with um supports and partnerships. >> Thank you for acknowledging that. And I'll just say like sometimes it's not as easy as we think because we sometimes have to rebuild trust or our schools have to rebuild trust with those communities that do feel like they haven't been heard and listened to. Um and so that takes a little bit of time. So our team the D team is really working closely with the leaders to say help you through that process of life and think through what is best possible because it can be difficult and sometimes you know it's a daunting task sometimes. So I have a question maybe I'm sorry if you answered this but when you look at the uh racially the inte the racial integration gap what do they what what does MD expect like what do they want [snorts] because a lot of it is like where people live and I mean that's that's where the socioeconomics I mean that's where you just how far down the rabbit hole do you want to go I mean like you the schools only have so much control so what What do they what do what do you feel like they expect? >> I'm just curious. >> You're curious. I'm curious, too. >> What I can say is their philosophy is based on Brown versus Board of Education 1954 philosophy, [snorts] which is that integration will be best for those brown kids, right? It will be better if we have them sit next to white students. That is the >> basic foundational >> that's the foundation of it, >> which is why it's good to see the inverse. Mhm. >> You know, >> yes, >> that conversation too. >> And there is still the lawsuit against the state going on. >> Yes. Yeah. We'll see. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Sorry. Yeah. Oh, yeah. They would like us to decrease. >> And I think it's uh another way to offer that is proportionality. So, if your district's demographics are that you have 60 um 3% students of color that that more of your schools will fall within like within 3 to five points of that than outside of 15 to 20 points of that, right? Um and we know that um that's very difficult. Could we could we take the um kind of bouncing off what you're saying as it varies based on location um how kids are sent funneled to each school the boundaries basically could we pull at the data based on that and look within there and see are we comparable to neighboring boundaries within our district like are I don't know is there a different way we could look at it rather than just across the district >> well we're not the only district that has isolated schools, right? >> Which is why our district, right? So, we're not about the only district that has it. [snorts] >> I guess we can look at other districts, but they they same. >> Oh, no. I mean, within our district, like does is it representative of the population within that boundary? Is it representative versus like does that make sense? >> Because I was just writing down like what other schools are left. It's not. So, you got a middle, a senior. So, how are we immersing our babies there? Right. you know, Palmer wasn't there, Woodland wasn't there, Rice Lake wasn't there. So, >> which is that just reflective of the population that lives around those schools, >> which we want our schools to reflect [clears throat] our communities. >> Yes. >> Right. >> So, then that's the that's the rub that you have, right? Which is why one of the strategies to try to reduce racial isolation in these schools is really around magnet programming, right? So, how do you get folks from other communities to come into these community schools? But then >> if they want to move. >> Well, well, I was going to say, but then there's a whole racialized component to that, right? Like we know the the history of that. Typically only brown students have went to other schools. White communities do not come into the brown communities to attend those schools. So now you have a issue again. So or like our system, we have we relate which [snorts] is one of our magnet schools. Well, they are meeting the um the proportion. So they have 61% students of color. So they're [clears throat] right where they should be at as a magnet school. But again, that's more in one of more of our regular communities versus one of our um schools that are more brown communities on the same which is not seeing that type of support that folks are coming in to select that school to attend. So again, it's that it's a historical piece to it. You got red line, you got all these different other aspects that um >> Thank you for unpacking that. >> Yeah. No, no problem. >> Appreciate it. I mean, I think when we had this conversation, the most important thing we can do is ensure that all students are succeeding at the highest level at every school in our district. Um, because I don't I don't foresee us being able to shift the makeup of our schools overnight. Absolutely. >> But I think that's why this conversation about our enrollment like all of that it's like that's why I think this all matters you know as we're making informed decisions and directions and kind of giving that because it does matter and like you want we want all of our schools to be excellent. We want AVID in all of our schools like stuff like that you know like we want [laughter] you know >> what that's the first time I heard that [laughter] grandma I just say it >> and I don't want to at risk of causing more work for K. [laughter] >> K's like why me? >> Like I'm even curious. Do we have the data on we know that 30% of our kids choose different schools? >> Like do we know their racial identity, >> right? And how does that impact >> our demographics? Because you know we we've got 30% of our students choosing to go elsewhere. I don't know. Maybe it does fall along the same lines. I don't know. I think something that Erica asked maybe >> think of that too. >> That would be interesting. >> I don't know what it is, but >> understanding the why. >> The why is huge. >> Definitely been trying to understand the why. I would say um we did a school [snorts] um survey like a kind of like it's not like an exit survey, but like families that are choosing other options. It's I mean it's been four years now since we did that though. Um but something definitely worth diving into, but didn't it didn't settle so much on the demographic piece of it. So, I mean, that would definitely be interesting. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. [snorts] All right, we'll move over um and we'll bring in John Mor's team to go over uh long range financial planning. Okay. All right, we're just getting stuff pulled up here. So, thank you, Dr. Hiles. Um, this is the next step in the long range financial planning process. And so, we're going to kind of walk through um the most recent version and installing more. >> So, >> it's a beautiful picture. >> I just click there. All right. So, so as always with with all of our um long-range financial planning, we always start with the strategic priorities to make sure that the long range financial plan supports all the priorities that are established here. Um, it's important [snorts] to know that when we set parameters and we we brought this up earlier in October and then carried that information to budget managers, um, those parameters included that no additional funds for strategic priorities would be assigned for fiscal 27. And so we're recommending that all requests going forward for the fiscal 27 budget should be a net zero change. Um, we'll take a quick look at the long-range financial planning model. Again, this is you've seen this uh a number of times before. We'll just kind of give you the quick highlights. This is a very thorough and well- vetted budget process. Important timelines um of [snorts] change to understand the discipline of a solid financial budget planning process. Um in here you'll find the mission is at the center. Our budget managers areas are the gray ovals. [snorts] We're currently um in number four develop annual budget recommendations based on board budget [snorts] targets. The school board um is responsible for the teal areas. Uh guiding principles connect um and align the missions. Excuse me. [snorts] Um guiding principles are list. I'm not going to try to read them off. You can't see them. Um >> we know them by heart. >> You know them by heart. [laughter] So, it's it's the the idea is to make sure that this is a datadriven collaborative collaborative decision-making process to measure that we're we're putting our money where it needs to be and and so we want to make sure we're having that conversation routinely. I'm going [snorts] to turn over to Kelly for next steps. >> Thanks, John. So, the next item is our pair narrative, and that stands for again program efficiency, advancement, and redirection narrative. So again, the pair asks six key questions that are the same as they were in previous years. So first, it's asking what resources are being requested. What's the summary? What's the description of that proposal that's being requested? And then it also identifies in response to culture in the development of that request, which again there's a connection to our mission, strategic plan, and also to those guiding principles. [snorts] Um and then the fourth question is what data is going to be used to measure those results and then how does the request support equitable student achievement? So again it's a process connection to our guiding principles. And then the fifth question is [snorts] what's the proposal's impact or the rationale for that request? And then the last one which is always important or the change of work policy so that we're still in compiance with that. So the parent narrative is going to be used for completing that analysis. Um, and our January 3rd when we bring our team together and again this is a continuous improvement process which is built into the process and we utilize surveys and then also budget [snorts] manager debriefs gather feedback and then implement potential changes. So, this next document is getting quite tiny and long. Um, so it's just for reference up [snorts] on the screen. Your package is a little bit bigger. Um, but again, these are our adjustments that were approved by the board for fiscal years 22 and fiscal year 27. [clears throat] So, the document shows both our revenue expenditure adjustments for the past four years, the current year, and then projects out next year. So, possible we keep those reductions as far away from our direct instruction as possible. So since co and the passage of the operating referendum in November of 22, we've had a lot of movement within those expenditures and to retain our financial position, we use an intentional use of expenditure. So some of those examples are um onetime costs that are added and then the following year such as our carry contract which we did in 2025. We've done it with strategic investments in 25 and 26. We've done permanent strategic investments where we added in fiscal years 22 and 23. [snorts] We are purposeful about our alignment of enrollment that occurs on an annual basis um with our early projections and then our actual enrollment accounts. We also um sustained 9.7 million in programs and services for two years when we were using those federal funds for children for 23 and 24 which then allowed us to add those costs back from just 25. We also reduce programs when needed in this process. We address legislative impacts from specifically 23. So, we continue to address our medical leaveback changes along with our additional staff and then we pay tax um that's coming in the 26. We create capacity for operating startup cost for the new elementary. And then we also have our transportation contract. So, The next document is a historical budget trend and this document shows 10 years of data. So again, we manage our funds. So within that 5% minimum, which is within our board policy, so that's the red line document. For fiscal year 26, the current budget 99 years of prior year actually. So for fiscal year 26, our adopted budget has a operating deficit of 22.79. That's the green bar being um less than the blue bar. And then actual results show that the revenue was raised in expenditures in seven of the last nine years. However, the two years expenditure were raised and revenues in fiscal years 22 and 23. Fiscal year 24 was the first year of our new operating plan. So you can see that slide there, the green mark, which was then included in our budget. She can't hear you. >> So this next document is the organizational compliment [snorts] which is a budget summary by division. So again, it provides details for our general nutrition and community service and capital funds and we utilize a long range financial community process for our budgeting and our documents then show those changes from year to year and [snorts] it also shows what we're buying in fiscal year 26 including our fulltime equivalents for FTE division and also by just page through that document. So the document that's not display is the benchmark comparison. So [snorts] that would be the one that looks like this in your And so we have now eight financial districts. We used to have seven plus eight plus districts. >> I might be a projective voice a little bit more >> this last year. So um just to to point out a few items that you see on that document if I could display it. Um [snorts] it's got our fiscal year 25 our students and then it's got the demographics on those students for fiscal year 24 because the information isn't quite available for 25. So what it would show you is of the districts that are reporting at this time their revenue range is between 2 to 4% with ours being three and it shows our expenditure range is 3 to 8% depending on the category and again ours is 3%. We have two districts that are reducing expenditures this year's 27 and our fund balance is the healthiest of all the districts at this point. So now we can go to the next document that is um showing on the screen and this is our estimate cost spreadsheet. So what this spreadsheet does is it takes our expenditures for the general fund in those four broad categories salaries, benefits, services, supplies and others and then it multiplies it by that factor of 3%. So it says that we can grow our expenditure by about 10.2 million within that. And now what we do is we start to fill in this document with mill items. So when we have contract settlements, we actually know what our expenses are going to be for fiscal year 27. We put that in this document. when we also have items that are coming out of the budget. For instance, the compensatory council time list we're taking out of the budget then fiscal 27. So, we walk through all of those categories for health insurance and then um all the other benefits [snorts] that are associated to our payable. And then we move down into our purchase services. And we can see the transportation again is an outlier um with the contract that was implemented for year one, a particular contract. And then we use the CPI to determine our utilities and other costs. And so at this point in time we are now having no increases of 2.37% and our remaining capacity of 63. So at this point in time we look at previous years we are have more of those expenditures identified than we would. So now as we move on to our timeline for our budget process. Um so this document again it shows our key dates in our budget process and the items that are highlighted in blue. That's when the takes action. And so tonight we're about a third of the way down the sheet um where we're asking the board to affirm our direction for budget managers. that this coming Friday. And then on November 18th, next week at the board meeting, we'll have the auditors present the final results, this will be 25. And then in December, we'll ask the board to approve the 27 levy for um that fiscal year. And in February, we'll bring the recommendations for session. and then ask the board to approve those recommendations in favor. And then the final step in this process is that June 23rd board meeting for the board will approve the 27. So this next document is the fiscal year budget for all the funds that we budget for. So we like the financial process for all of these funds with session of the debt service fund. So this pie pie chart shows all of those funds in relation to each other and at the beginning of the fiscal year July 1st fiscal year 26 we had a budget 42.5 million. Next we'll transition into our 5year projections. And the first projection that we're going to look at is the general fund. So the other funds that are presented tonight will also use the same format. Again, it's a high level visual organizer for our financial forecast. It allows us to have multiple opportunities to view the information. So there are three sections to this projection. The top section shows our revenue expenditures differences our fund balance amounts and the percentage for a sevenyear window that begins with our actual results for fiscal year 24 and 25. The adopted budget for fiscal year 26 and then projections for fiscal years 27 through 30. There are $6 million in operational adjustments under this chart. Those adjustments are projected to start in fiscal year 28. The assumption section shows the revenue expenditure assumptions that are going to be used for 27 to 20 30 at this time. So we've increased our revenue based on current law. So revenue is beginning to fluctuate to 2% on the general or basic formula allowance. And then our expenditures that have already stated are going to stay at 3% which is consistent with previous year tactics and is not being changed at this time. So therefore we spend more than that 3% we're going to be deficit spending at a greater rate than what our projection shows around. Then the middle section shows the budget projections for revenues in blue and expenditures in red. And those trend lines of those same colors show the annual actual budget or projection for each of those items. So as you can see our expenditures are projected to outpace those revenues beginning in fiscal year 26 by 19.7 million. And then the final section looks at our fund balance projection for that same time period. And the green bar represents our actual and projected fund balances for each year. The orange bar then shows the minimum required fund balance of 5%. That's set in board policy. And again, those trend lines show the annual projected fund balances related to the minimum. And as you can see, fund balance is starting to decline. [snorts] So it's important to remember that in fiscal year 24 that was the year included the first year of the voter approved operating referendum which was increased in November of 22 and we're currently close to the cap on our authority and therefore we can't use that operating referendum as a lever again to increase revenue in the near future. So, as I mentioned earlier when reviewing those 22 to 27 board approved adjustments impacting programs and services, um the expenditure tactics continue to improve the new elementary school as well as other revenue expenditure tactics. Um again, business services is going to continue to work with those departments directly that are impacted by those adjustments to make sure that they're brought forward. So as John shared, we will not be creating any strategic investments this year due to our current financial projection. We're going to continue to monitor our financial projection to maintain that board required minimum fund balance of 5%. So the good news that is good news um under this model we are not planning for operational reductions for this year. So again, we'd like to caution the board, however, that that funding plan that we talked about in education is projected for this year 2030 and we'll likely need to address um that short fall earlier so that we maintain that 5%. Um and have a softer financial rating. That's why we're projecting reduction is already starting in 2018. So again, included in the model right now are current enrollment data, which includes a 15-day drop as of November 1st, and then our preliminary enrollment projections for future. When the enrollment data becomes updated, we'll update all those projections again. So that's the general fund from the Fed to Jeff. >> Good evening, Jeff Anor, food nutrition services director. Um so nutrition services is fund too. It's just to recap it's separate from the general fund. So the revenue that we produce is um from sales of food. Um and we provide breakfast and lunch uh during the school year to all students uh free as of 2023 July. And uh we also have after school snack programs. Um we've got after school supper programs. We have uh kids stop um before and after school programs that we support as well. And uh we have partnerships with Brooklyn uh park and Brooklyn center with the rec on the road go programs. And those partnerships extend through the school year um for park and rec sites um when the weather permits. We provide supper and snacks. during the summer as well. We provide um uh probably 160,000 meals roughly over the summer with the various partners and our uh within our school district as well. So, um, thinking about, uh, participation in general, since, uh, 2023, July, when the Minnesota free school meals was enacted, um, we saw a significant increase in participation in breakfast and lunch. And then last year as well as this year, we continue to see increase increases year-over-year in that in that participation. So, uh, that's encouraging. It tells me that uh our staff out there are doing a great job uh preparing the meals well and their team here in the office is doing a great job of creating menus and helping to manage the program. So big thank you to them. Um and it's looking at this chart. Uh so actual 2025 uh our fund balance we increased by 683,000 um to leave us a current fund balance of uh just under 6.5 million. Um the adopted budget for 2026 uh and moving forward through 2030. At this time, uh we're not projecting any operational reductions uh in the next five years. Uh from a revenue perspective, we assume that we're going to have an increase of 2.75% year-over-year from our increases from uh USDA uh funding. And we've seen that pretty much historically over the past 5 years, anywhere from 2.75 to like 3 and 12%. So, we're being a little bit um cautious with the 2.75% [snorts] increase. And this also includes an assumption of 3% um increase in expenditures yearly. And our minimum fund balance goal is 12%. uh and that 12% um that we're looking at of the fund balance would be ultimately MDE allows us to have 3 months maximum of 3 months worth of expenditures um on hand. So, um, basically right now when we're looking at 2026, we're right at that cusp. Um, and the purpose of that fund balance is really to put back into the program, improve food, uh, go towards increased labor, uh, and also take care of the facilities, whether it's replacing walk-in coolers. Um, this summer coming up, we're doing an additional project as a senior just to make it more functional environment for the staff. So uh overall we see in this chart in the middle our expenditures outpacing our revenues over the next uh 5 years. Um but as I said when I started um that we're not expecting any operational reductions in the next [snorts] 5 years. So 12% threshold. Thanks Jeff. All right. So, I'm going to uh cover the community service fund and I'll keep my comments relatively brief, but probably just um four main things. Uh the first one you can see um we've moved out of the volatility that we had from 2020 to 2024. So, now you see a more steady uh incline in our revenue and our expenditures, which is fantastic. Um, also our trend line to get our fund balance between 7 and 15% is being actualized this upcoming year. So we had a pretty high fund balance coming through 23 and 24. Um, but that is stabilizing and again uh while not required by the state to have a fund balance between 7 and 15%. That's more in my opinion for us to since we're self-funded have enough in reserves in case we have a bad year or something else comes [snorts] up and uh but also not have that fund balance so high since 70% of our revenue is through participation fees. We want to make sure that it's affordable. So that's kind of where I come with that. I will say um one thing of note that we're considering and and Mike Huer helped myself and Carrie came with last year. We do have uh a slight change upcoming next year. Um two things. One, we have a new elementary school coming online. So, we're going to be adding programming at a school that we hadn't had before. So, on a on another page, you'd see we've estimated between 3/4 to a million dollars difference in revenue expenditures in the next year. Not just because of the new elementary school, but also because of the boundary changes. a [snorts] couple of our schools, primarily Fernbrook, uh, which has been above capacity, and Steve mentioned this earlier when we added like a couple kindergarten sections. Well, when we did that, we removed community ed programming out of those schools that were over capacity. So, we're going to also be bringing back um a minimum of two classrooms of four-year-old programming out of community ed back to Fernbrook. So, we've got a little bit of a um increase in programming for us coming. It's not just shifting kids. Not I shouldn't say just there's a lot that happens with boundary changes, but we're going to be bringing on bringing back programming and bringing on new programming. So, we'll see a year from now um how close our projections are, but I think those will be pretty accurate because we typically uh about 20% of the kids at elementary schools participate in our community programs on average. So we can kind of guesstimate how many kids we think are going to participate uh once those schools come back online. And then last I would say oh and then two years from now we'll also be looking at uh what it [snorts] might look like for ECNFE to increase their programming at our CRES repurpose site. Right. So we we've kind of got two years of potential growth here for community ad and programming that I anticipate. And um you know I would say not as big on the concern list for us but um you know this last school year a number of school districts had federal funding delayed by about a month. Uh that included us in AB you know so we still want to keep a mindful eye on that because um we don't we have to make adjustments if we should lose that funding uh and that impacts staff. So that's I just add it out there. It's not I'm not I'm calm and confident with our budget overall, but it that is something to be mindful of. So, long story short, feeling really good. We're [snorts] we're way back remember way, you know, we dropped well below $1 million in revenue in 2020 and we're over 20 million in revenue again. Right. So, we're back steady trend line, feeling good about it, but bringing on some more programming based on reopening one school and starting a new school. So, those would I would say would be kind of the four primary things to think about with the community at budget [snorts] >> and I'll bring us back to the last document which is the capital 5year protection. So again just a awareness that this budget this is a zerobased budget approach and that every request um needs to be made in the dollar amount that's under this fun next year. And then uh the top section of this document shows [snorts] operational adjustments under the chart. The goal for all those years is $800,000 and it's listed on the right. And [snorts] the the assumption section for both revenues and expenditures is set at 0% for those outline years. This year is 2730. And the next section shows the budget projections for revenues again in blue and expenditures in red. And as planned, expenditures are projected to continue to outpace revenues. So in the final section, those are our fund balance projections for that same time period. The green bars represent our actual projected fund balances for each year. And in the orange bar shows the required fund balance of 10% for this month. Again, those trend lines show the annual projected fund balances related to that minimum amount. And as you can see, we're managing this fund to maintain that minimum fund balance of 10%. So included in this projection was the projected special assessment for the challenge. So that concludes the presentation questions. >> Look at a really small spreadsheet. [cough] Board members, any any questions? >> Um, [clears throat] no questions. I mean, we see the trend. We see the flip where our expenditures are now greater than our revenue. And so, by definition, the math on um increasing at 3% a year no longer works with what we expect for the state. um and we've talked at length about some of the impacts that different mandates have had and um revenue that did and did not cover those things. So um so I think continuing to stay close to our legislative platform and our legislators will be important. One thing that we haven't spent time in the past talking about that I want us to begin to think about or consider going forward. So while we do have the budgets that are year-over-year [snorts] in all of these documents, um what we don't have as much visibility to is what's happening inside of it. So when we talk about making investments aligned to our strategic plan, >> um more clarity like for example the growth of AVID, which we support. So as we talk about things leaving the system, new things coming into the system, where are we investing in different types of supports before we get to the point of approving the budget? Um I think that's the conversation that we need to have is how do we have visibility to things that are inside these budgets and what that means from programmatic changes investing in different programmatic changes or how do we have more visibility so that um we know uh if we're investing in one area in um teaching and learning what is coming out what's the tradeoff so that we can be more intentional >> or be brought along more with that as well. So we because we've spent so much time the last couple years talking about how we are getting more of that consistency, how we are um looking at the different supports that are more effective and the strategies that are tied to the outcomes. Um I would like to see more visibility inside of that for those investments >> and we do have that. Uh Dr. B, you want to talk about like because people want to go home real briefly of what? >> Yeah. No, not not to dive into tonight. >> Not tonight. Okay. We'll see. Okay. Hey, go ahead, Kelsey. Another day. Another day. [laughter] >> Welcome. >> Actually, Brian, can you do the presentation right now? >> Yes. [clears throat] Um, well, kind of along those lines. Um, I've said it before and Brian, I really liked how you laid it out, you know, to kind of explain like what was going on, give the lay of lay of the land. Um, and I and I've said this before, but I mean I would I'm really interested in the community [snorts] ed and um supporting you in just being able to ensure that all of our students can access the wonderful amazing programming that are coming out of that. And like I want to be able to explore like maybe like what you do like you know what other partnerships with the cities like with the you know the wreck on the go or like what local foundations you know how can we tap into more so we ensure that each and every one of our sites each and every one of our students has access to these like enrichments you know that go beyond the academics because I just believe that that is just really encompasses a full educational experience and if we can provide that access to every all of our students as much as possible. I mean, how I mean, you're we're going to see the impact in like graduation rates and senses of, you know, belonging and all those things. And so, I'm really committed and I feel really passionate about that. And I know I think we've I don't know if I quite put in the spreadsheet yet for the work session, but um you know, I would like you know, really like to talk about that. And one other thing is like what you said, what else we need to be advocating for at the legislature because I I've talked to legislators and I do think like I feel like there's there's just like this disconnect between like what's happening in our districts and like what they're seeing cuz I talked to them and they're like we've already given you like all this money and I'm like I know but you know and so um yeah whatever we need to do legislatively to be able to explain it and probably it's what you're talking you know just like the ins and outs of it. That's awesome. Thank you. >> Well, and to Kelsey's point too, we know we've talked about some of this in the past where it's >> do we have an understanding what percent of our students are doing something after school like whether it like with the partnerships um with community ad with the onsite in summers. Yeah. Like how do we how do summers is huge. Yeah. >> So how do we paint the full picture? >> We certainly have robust activities programs at the high schools, right? like the theater, band, sports, all you know because those are to me those are all a part of the high school time experience right throughout the great band. So yeah, those it'd be you know not there's a lot of stuff that goes on in our school that people don't know about that is really excellent stuff, right? That that happens in those hours that connect young people who aren't always fully connected to the academic part of the day that keeps them engaged to maybe increase their >> Yeah. How do we like >> they'll keep building that, you know? It's awesome. No. >> Yeah. No. My only comment is the, you know, where we're expenditures and our revenues are going and just the concern for them. Um, deficit spending is always concerning to hear. Um, but I look forward to hearing what adjustments and plans we've got in store. Mhm. >> All right. Um I don't have any additional questions, so just a huge thank you. Um thank you, Kelly, as always for getting us through these presentations. Um [clears throat] so that's all we got, right? >> I think that's it. I did want to just let the board know that uh a few of us will be speaking at the Brooklyn Park City Council meeting on November 24th. I'll put that in my update, but I wanted people. >> Thank you. All right. Meeting uh is adjourned at 8:31. Great.