We need to get a table. Whoops. I would like Welcome. I would like to call this meeting of the Robin Still Area Schools School Board to order. Uh today is Monday, November 3rd, 2025. It is 7 o'clock and we are in the Education Service Center boardroom and I would like to open by reading our land acknowledgement statement. We acknowledge Robinsdale Area Schools is located on the homelands of the Dakota and Ajiway people. We rec recognize the painful history of genocide and forced assimilation of the indigenous inhabitants of this land. We honor and respect the many indigenous peoples who live on and hold sacred these lands. And we stand with members of these nations to fight injustice in all of its forms. We uphold the preservation of Dakota and Ajiway languages, land-based education, and tribal sovereignty. And now it is time to call the role. >> Thank you, uh, Director Basset. Director Bowman is here. Chair Evans Becker, >> I'm here. >> Director Hillbrand >> here. >> Director Long >> here. >> Director Wuto >> here. >> And Dr. Stallow >> here. Okay, we have a quorum. So, let's get going. Uh, first thing up on the agenda is approval of the agenda. Do I have a move to approve the agenda? >> So, move. >> Moved by Director Hillenbrand. >> Second. >> Seconded by Director Wuto. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Post say nay. We have an agenda already. First thing up after that is the comprehensive achievement and civic civic readiness and achievement and integration annual report. That was easy to say. Superintendent Dollar. >> Excellent. This evening um we have senior director of teaching and learning Becky Broadier and director of achievement and integration Beth Ter who are going to be sharing with you the results of last year's goals uh around the Keker report. We'll just do the little shorthand on that. Um so they will be sharing that this is a requirement of MDE as part of our account state accountability report. Um we're also using this as a public hearing. So at the conclusion of this presentation if there's anyone in the audience who wants to speak to this topic. I know several of you spoke to other topics earlier but if you want to speak to this topic then we'll have a space right after um the presentation is done. And with that Becky I'll go ahead and hand it to you. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good evening, Chair Evans Becker, Superintendent Stalo, members of the board. We are here tonight to present uh the annual report of the comprehensive achievement and civic readiness plan and the achievement and integration plan. We ground our work in the district's mission to inspire and educate all learners to develop their unique potential and positively contribute to their community. The report you receive tonight aligns to the district's mission and the goals are designed to help us achieve our mission. The mission is our northstar. Tonight we'll present to you an overview of the Robinsdale Area Schools System of Continuous Improvement, the Comprehensive Achievement and Civic Readiness or CACER report, achievement and integration or ANI report, and strategic plan and action showing some of the ways that Ardale responds to the data. To ensure we honor the district's mission, we operate with a rigorous datadriven system of continuous improvement. In simple terms, we plan, do, study, act. We use our mission and state requirements like KCER and ANI to set our strategic plan. We implement specific strategies that align with the plan and strategic themes. We analyze data to assess our impact. And we are adjust our plans to refine strategies. The rediscover Ardale strategic plan aligns our mission, vision, and priority outcomes that are grounded in the district's commitment to equity. The four themes help provide a roadmap for the district and highlights how the mission and strategic plan cascade through the system, informing school and department improvement plans and ultimately improving outcomes for students. The information shared tonight includes only a small portion of the data that the district collects, analyzes, and acts upon. [clears throat] We plan to bring additional data to the board in the future to share with the board in the community, as [clears throat] well as a deeper analysis of the information you see here tonight. The annual report we are sharing tonight will cover the goals and corresponding data from last school year. As Dr. Stalo said the 20242 25 school year legislation requires these reports are submitted to you each fall. The strategic plan of Robbinsdale area schools aligns with the five goal areas required by the comprehensive achievement and civic readiness plan. Those goal areas are shown here. All students are ready for school. All racial and economic achievement gaps between students are [clears throat] closed. All students are ready for career and college. All students graduate from high school. And all students are prepared to be lifelong learners. Our first goal is all students enrolled on the first day of kindergarten have completed screening before the 31st day of kindergarten. As you can see here, the district cons the district consistently achieves more than 99% in this area as we strive for the goal of 100%. The next ker goal area is achievement gap closure. This is specific to data around the reading MCAs for students in grades three through eight and grades 10. The goal is to decrease the difference between students of color and white students in regards to percent who score at proficiency levels by 10 percentage points by 2025. What you see on the slide here in the blue line is the achievement of white students. The red line is the students of color. As you can see, the achievement gap is persistent and in fact actually widened slightly in 2025. The next goal area is ready for college and career. We measure this through the number of career and technical education and college and credit bearing courses students are enrolled in. Our goal was to increase by 10 percentage points from 2023 24 to 2425. The uniqueness about this goal is we measure both those courses that are taken by students in our schools but also within postsecary enrollment options where students are taking courses at local colleges and universities. And while you can see here that we didn't quite meet our goal of 10% when you combine those two together. We do believe that this is a celebration for the district as there was a significant increase in the number of courses that students were accessing right here in Ardell. The next goal is all students graduate. This is a 10-year goal where we are striving to reach 90% by the year 2030. There was a dip in 2024 and one of the reasons for that may be the increase in the number of students new to our country who are enrolled in Robbinsdale schools. Those students simply aren't able to finish in four years. But this is an example of some future data we'd like to come back with to dive a little bit deeper and potentially look at that seven-year grad rate, which we also measure, which shows how students who need additional support are able to persist in our system and earn a diploma even beyond that four-year grad rate. The last ker goal is around lifelong learning. This is a new goal for us. In 2425, it was an implementation year. I'm sorry, a planning year. This was our project planning where we purchased Zello software. And this goal says that 100% of students in grades 6 through 12 will engage in project-based learning, goal setting, career exploration or reflective practice that supports the development of lifelong learning skills. And we will use the software Zello to achieve that goal. So implementation data will be measured this school year in 2526. So I'm going to turn it over to Beth Ter now to talk about achievement and integration. So the purpose of achievement and integration is to pursue racial and economic integration, increase student achievement, create equitable and educational opportunities, and reduce academic disparities based on students diverse racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds in Minnesota public schools. In Robbinsdale, um we are identified as a racially isolated district by the Minnesota Department of Education because we have a higher proportion of protected class students or students of color compared to our adjoining districts. We do have racially identified schools and that means a school where the percent of protected class students in a school is more than 20 percentage points above the percent of protected class students or students of color in the district in the entire district for the grades served by that school. And our two racially identified schools are Meadow Lake Elementary School and Northport Elementary School. This slide just shows a um depiction of our demographic breakdown. And what's key here is that this snapshot is of uh represents the diversity of our students. And when we think about the diversity of our students and families, it brings a call to action for us to meet the unique needs of all. So when we really think about believe, belong, become, we want to think of all of the students that are in this um slide. Next slide shows a little bit of our historical demographics. Uh it's a little bit smaller, but if you want to um take a look at the uh legend on the right, you can see the colors correspond to um the lines there. And what I found was interesting was that with our Hispanic and Latino population, we grew slightly. Um, in addition to our two or more races category, we grew um, slightly and we stayed um, about the same with our American Indian students and um, we dipped slightly with our our white students. We have goals that are in our achievement and integration plan. And one of our goals is with our licensed staff of color. The goal is to increase Robbinsdale Area Schools students access to the number of racially diverse teachers from 6% in 2022 to 10% in 2026. You can see over the years where we were at uh in 2122 we were at 6%. 22 23 we maintained. 23 24 we grew to 7.3%. 24 25 we made a slight increase to 7.55% and again our goal in 2526 is 10%. The next goal is with our protected class achievement. Robbinsdale area schools will increase the percentage of students scoring at a proficient level on our state accountability or MCA's reading assessments of the protected class students by 5% percentage points from 30.6% in 2022 to 35.6% in 2026. And as you can see in 22 we were at 30.6%. Uh we took a dip in 23 to 26.9%. And we took a gain in 24 to 29.6%. And down ever so slightly in 25 at to 28.7% and our goal in 26 is 35.6. So we have a ways to go with our graduation rates of our protected classes. We have a goal to increase the four-year graduation rate of the protected class students by 5 percentage points from 78.9% for the class of 21 to 83.9% for the class of 26. In 2122, we were at 78.9%. 22 23 82.2%. 23 24 77.2%. 24 25 75.4% 4% and again our goal is 83.9% for this class of 26. And um the asterisk I'd like to draw your attention to is that this is based on data for the prior year. The next goal for achievement integration is with protected class achievement in racially identified schools. Both Northport and Meadow Lake will increase the percentage of students scoring at proficient levels on state accountability reading assessments of the protected class students by five percentage points by 2026. Uh Northport's data shows that um we were at 26.9% in 22, Meadow Lake 28.7. In 23, Northport was at 21.7%. Meadow Lake was at 31.6. 6%. In 24, Northport was at 25.4%. Meadow Lake 28%. And in 25, Northport showed significant gain at 31% and Meadow Lake took a dip to 21.6%. And again, our overall goal uh for Northport is 31.9% and Meadow Lake 33.7%. Our next goal is with uh racial integration. So this um slide represents uh what we did with Freedom Schools. So we have um this summer program that is was held at Meadow Lake Elementary this summer. And what's uh good great to point out um there were some gains here and one one was with the number of applicants that were received. Um you'll see the number of student participants went down but that was due to funding and we had to reduce the spots for students with freedom schools. Um but we did increase the number of schools um of students that um participated from 11 to 14. And the percent of students participating from our racially identified schools was also a significant increase from 20% to 31%. And um on the other hand hand our magnet participation was at 67% and that went down to 52%. Understandable that we um targeted um spots for Northport and Metal Lake students. Um what's also key to um think about here is that uh freedom schools is really a space where our students have culturally affirming um an environment learning environment and our students also had access to equitable and high quality instruction and um Mr. Tony Patterson led our work um through um Freedom Schools this summer. So So now we're going to highlight a few of the ways the district is responding to the data. As you as you've seen tonight, the work of the district is aligned to both the comprehensive achievement and civic readiness and achievement and integration plans. The highlevel goals outlined here translate into actionable steps for every school, every department, and every classroom. They are across two primary strategic themes. First, academic achievement and secondly, student engagement and wellness. So, this list is not meant to be all-encompassing, but rather highlight a few of the programs that exist in our schools to help us improve student outcomes. As you know, the Read Act guides the district's literacy focus with professional development and curriculum implementation. The district has a continued emphasis on culturally and linguistically responsive teaching. You heard just a little about Zello and the college and career readiness software exposure in grades 6 through 12. We have math and reading interventions across the system and avid reading strategies at our secondary schools. Secondly, we know that when students are engaged and well, they do better. We have bar at our high schools and one of our elementary schools that's building assets reducing risks catalyst professional learning and strategies K12 along with restorative practices and social emotional curriculum. So in summary, the continuous improvement cycle is our process, the mission is our purpose and our strategic plan is our blueprint. Together, the elements shared tonight provide the accountability framework to ensure we fulfill the district's mission. Our next steps are to write new goals to submit to the Department of Education and come back to the board and the community with additional data as requested. So, Beth and I are available for questions and comments if you have them. >> So, first up, um, any board questions or comments? Dr. Hillbrand. >> So, one of my I don't know if it's questions, maybe more of a comment, but one of the the potential outcomes, I guess, of any school closures, which would pro which will inevitably result in um probably staff reductions is that many of our staff of color would be probably newer to the district. and with the goal of trying to increase our staff of color. Um I'm just curious if there are any thoughts on how that is going to impact that goal and if there are any ways to mitigate that. I don't know that there are um but and that's okay if [clears throat] there aren't but just planting that seed to think about that because um is a great goal and I think it's really important but I can see how that could be significantly impacted. So, one of the things we've thought about also is we have a grow your own program that we're um really hoping we'll we'll be able to maintain that to attract and retain um students or staff who want to be teachers. So, that's really important that our students see um those in front of them who look like them and um we also think it's important and um we need to continue that. Any other board questions or comments before we open it up for public? Dr. Huto. >> Yeah. Um, so I also noticed you stated that the uh graduation rate was impacted by the new students from other countries that are are joining us. Is there any of such information as far as the MCA scores? We certainly do have MCA scores with the students that with all of our students if they've taken that assessment. I don't have those percentages here for you tonight, but we can bring those back. >> Thank you, >> Dr. Long. >> So, I'm just wondering about, you know, the gap between our students of color and our white students doesn't really seem to be changing at all. So, what are we going to be changing in the plan so that we can see some growth there? So those are the next steps that we have to gather input from both the board and the community. Our district curriculum advisory committee will be engaged in that process as well. We had our first meeting of that group um just a couple weeks ago. So that's our next step in our meeting uh along with learning leaders, district uh and building administrators getting input to inform those changes so we can um try to uh impact that gap. um if the gap is is predictable, it it should be preventable. So what are the actions that we can take to reduce that gap that has persisted in in our district and in our state and country for for many many years? Thank you. I guess I kind of have a followup to that too. Um is that gap just because of academics or is there a social aspect to it? like do we have any ideas of why? So the data that pres we presented tonight was strictly MCA reading scores. Um so gaps in other areas would be information we could look at and bring back to you certainly. >> Yeah. Well, okay. I'm just wondering about Zello. How is Zello going to create lifelong learning for our students? So is a new program for Robinsdale schools. It's a platform where students engage in activities, goal planning, things like that. And so um through the engagement in those activities that will help us meet that goal of um the CAC requirement of establishing lifelong learners. >> So we don't know how really or >> maybe I'm misunderstanding your question. I'm sorry. I I just don't what is in the Zello system that's going to create lifelong learners for our students or the want to be lifelong learners. >> I think it might be beneficial if we brought back more information about the specific activities students would would we can show that to you. Maybe um Dr. Stello at a work session or something to give you some more specific information about the activities that are in that platform. There are many activities around goal setting, career exploration, um engagement in all kinds of different ways that would might be beneficial for you to view. All right, seeing no more hands at the board table. Um, if there are people in the audience who want to make a comment or have a question, this is the public forum time and so you can like line up over by the microphone. If there aren't, it's okay too, but just give you a minute to decide. I don't think I've got any of you interested in that. All right, then I'm going to close out the public forum part then if that works for you. >> Thank you very much. We look forward to hearing from you again. >> Okay, next up on our agenda, Ardale Proud School of Engineering and Arts Superintendent Salo. Excellent. Uh good evening all. This is one of the highlights of all of our school board meetings. Each month we invite uh principles of all of our schools to uh volunteer to come forward and share some of the great work that they are doing. So this evening, Dr. for Principal Hansen and her team of both staff and amazing students will be sharing a little bit of how C integrates uh learning with uh naturebased experiences. Um so with that I'll hand it over to you. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good evening Chair Evans Becker, members of the school board and superintendent Stalo. Thank you for the opportunity for us to be here this evening. My name is Heather Hansen and I'm the proud principal of the School of Engineering and Arts. I'm here tonight with a team of people, family members, parents that came tonight, but also our admin intern. Second grade teachers Martha Hubdy and Toby Kriles and our students fifth grade students Drexton Maddox Greta and Jane. Together, we're excited to share how outdoor learning is being integrated into teaching and learning at sea and [snorts] how it connects with the Robbinsdale Area Schools strategic plan and our commitment to engaging students in their learning. All right. So C is uh well the C mission statement tries to provide a stimulating and engaging atmosphere that fosters all students innate curiosity and joy of discoveries to achieve high levels of success. And uh also students will positively contribute as members of a diver diverse and global community. Okay. And um outdoor learning is an educational approach that takes learning into the be no beyond the traditional classroom and into natural or outdoor environments. Or you could also say that outdoor learning empowers students to learn through experience and see the world as a classroom filled with opportunities for discovery. The district plan has four parts. the academic achievement, student engagement, collaboration and partnership, and staff investment and impact. Outdoor learning academically honors diverse learning styles and backgrounds. Student engagement fosters creativity and curiosity and inquiry based learning. Collaboration and partnership. C has partnerships with the Jeffers Foundation, the DNR, Eagle Scouts, and parent volunteers. Staff investment and impact, staff development and planning, preparation, supported by admin and teacher leadership. Benefits of outdoor learning. Outdoor learning nutr entirety of a child academically, socially, emotionally, and physically. It engages their senses, curiosity, and creativity to deepen understanding and make learning more meaningful. Outdoor experiences improve focus, motivation, and academic performance. Being outdoors helps reduce stress and anxiety. Some more benefits of outdoor learning are taking care of outdoor learning spaces, gardens, and habitats. Instills a sense of accountability and stewardships. Outdoor learning can connect schools with local parks, nature centers, and environmental organizations. >> [snorts] >> Honors outdoor learning honors diverse cultural relation relationshipships with nature and creates inclusive learning spaces. Our outdoor learning spaces we have we have 10 outdoor learning spaces. My personal two favorites are the big rock woods and the secret woods. I'll tell you why. Number [clears throat] one, we got to observe flowers grow in the big rock woods. We got to plant trees to help the ecosystem. We also got to watch a bees nest grow. In the secret woods, we got to watch an animal decay and we had academic time to build forts out of natural resources. Some other outdoor learning spaces we have are the pollinator garden, chickity landing, and we have flood mitigation. So in flood mitigation, it's like, have you guys ever seen those theaters with the big seats almost? Amplathe. It's stone amplitheater statues or seating areas. In chickity landing, we get to watch birds feed because there is bird houses and bird feeders. In Pollinator Garden, we get to watch the ecosystem evolve around it. Some of C's learning highlights include trout, weather graphing, and science notebooks. [snorts] In fifth grade, sea students get to raise trout and then release them back into the wilderness at the end of the year. In fourth and fifth, students graph make graphs to track the weather throughout the school year. All almost all grades have science notebooks where they write down their questions and observations while doing outdoor learning. More learning highlights include gardening, poetry, and chickens. At C, we do a lot of gardening such as planting carrots, flowers, and trees. In upper elementary, we made we wrote poems based on nature and hung them up in the front woods. At sea, we own chickens that we take care of and observe. Well, I'm going to talk a little bit about how everything's integrated because when you get everything integrated across those curriculum areas, it really cementss all the learning and ties it all together. And like Jane talked about the trout presentations, as a teacher of a younger grade, when those the fifth graders come in to the younger grades and teach us all about the trout, and it is just fantastic. They make the presentations, they take the questions from the kids, they do a fantastic job. And she also talked about weather. Not only do we collect the weather, but they also write about the climate of Minnesota and compare it to other states. And we also integrate social studies at that time and they talk about the states and landmarks in those different states. Um, in gardening, we also graph what they have in the garden. Just fantastic. The listening walks were integrated with music. Our music teacher went out and did listening walks and they made instruments and heard different musical um musical sounds in nature and the ever popular pumpkin drop. We do grow pumpkins and in the pumpkin drop it is so much excitement. They design not only for like week a couple weeks before a contraption to protect the pumpkin and they have to collect recyclable item items to make that contraption just absolutely fun. the flood mitigation system. I know Maddox said it was this the amphitheater. Oh, it's more than that. If you want to see something exciting, one of the second grade standards is um following where rainwater goes. And those kids excitement as they followed where that water went just beyond belief. Number one, just being out in the rain was fun. And then when they got to follow it down to the drain, they thought this was this coolest thing ever. Um we also do force and mo motion sledding. all-time favorite and seed dispersal. How different seeds travel. They go out and they starts when they get a bur stuck on them on a forest walk. Then they wonder how that happened. And then the next thing they're designing and engineering new ways for seeds to disperse. All right. For our outdoor learning, we have a lot of collaborations and [laughter] partnerships. We work closely with the DNR. We have um part of our grounds is designated as a school forest by the DNR. So they um come out and work with us. We have a school forester that works with us on taking care of the school forest. We've worked closely um with the Jeffers Foundation. They do a lot of outdoor learning and tying it not only to science but to other content areas as well to really integrate and teach all content outside. We work um with field trips doing a lot especially with the Three Rivers Park District. Richardson Nature Center is one of those. Um Eagle Scouts and Seven Dreams Foundation have been instrumental in um supporting some of the um the infrastructure we have in our outdoor classroom spaces as well as um providing materials for students for learning outside. We work closely with district buildings and grounds to help care for our spaces um and in installing different um outdoor classroom spaces as well. And for professional development, that's been a really big piece in making outdoor learning happen at C. Um because teachers have to understand how to effectively use the outdoors as a classroom. And it's not just um being outside but really integrating that into our learning. So the science house um from the um is part of the uh science museum and they were instrumental in the initial professional development when C started. um the C steam coordinator that we had in the beginning years um really connected with teachers on um modeling lessons as well as coaching um leading PD and bringing in other organizations like the Jeffers Foundation um Hamlin University's Center for Global Environmental Education has provided a lot of resources. Uh we're currently working with the science and engineering practices in action modules that they have created and we had teachers in this photo here that participated in the teacher field school in the past and that was um a volunteer opportunity that those teachers gave up a few weekends during the year to really immerse themselves in outdoor learning. All right. And then we come to our community support. So, we've talked a lot about our partnerships, but we really really work closely with our community. Um, they really help to support and sustain our outdoor learning and our spaces. Um it's essential that we work together and we're working collaboratively not only to launch new outdoor um initiatives, but also how do we maintain everything that we've started to develop. And so we have to maintain it so it'll develop and grow over time. Um [snorts] we talked about different examples of our outdoor learning spaces, so I won't go over those. Um but the support from our community such as our PTA um our parent volunteers, our generous donations and our grants really play a vital role in how we uh nurture our outdoor learning and our initiatives getting those started. So these partnerships really allow our students to have the most authentic learning outdoor experience that we want them to have. as we've incorporated outdoor learning at the school of engineering and arts. It's been inspiring as a principal just to talk to teachers and parents within our community. Um I talked to Liz Kinville. She's a fourth grade teacher at the school of engineering arts and she told me because they all knew that we were coming here to present and she and I was asking her if she had a a quote and she said, "Well, I've taken my students outdoors every day for two years." I go, "Oh, that's a good one." So, um she she's really uh the teachers there at C are committed to um providing opportunities for our students to to be able to use the outdoors as the largest classroom that we have. and her quote is, "Outdoor learning has transformed my teaching by intentionally planning integrated lessons to use in the outdoor classroom. I've helped my students develop academically, grow their curiosity, improve self-regulation skills, and connect with nature." And our parents, they're at our do a lot of volunteering and are active in our community as well. And I connected with Katie Cervanka just asking her what her thoughts were on outdoor outdoor learning spaces and she lives in the neighborhood. So she just said that it's a meaningful way for students to connect with nature and develop that lifelong love and care for our planet. We'd also like to um thank again on behalf of C, we want to thank Chair Evans Becker, Superintendent Stalo, and members of the board for your continued support of innovation and experential learning opportunities within Robbinsdale Area Schools. Thank you for having us. Thank you for listening. [applause] Wow. Thank you everybody. Great presentation. Um, Director Long has a question, but I have a quick question for one of the students. How many chickens do you have and what do they do all winter? [laughter] >> Yeah, we um we used to have four, but now we lost two and we only have two left. >> Okay. Do they stay outside all winter? >> Oh, what? Do they stay outside all winter? >> Uh, yeah. >> Okay, Director Long, >> so I was wondering if you could give us some more details on what do you mean by um community support and how do they help maintain things and what is it that needs to be maintained around there? We have >> we have um the school forest um one of the kids mentioned planting trees. So we've done tree plantings with the help of the DNR and parent volunteers, community volunteers. Um removing buckthornne invasive buckthornne and other invasive species from the forest. um taking care of the chickens because they need regular care. Um so we have signups where our community members love to come take care of the chickens on days that we're not at school. Um we've had volunteers come in and help with weeding or planting projects depending on, you know, if they're bigger projects like when the kindergarteners plant tulips, we usually have some volunteers come in and help support that as well. >> Thank you, Director Hillbrand. I was just curious, it on the radio today, they were talking about um native um treaty rights and and trout fishing and uh it just made me think, you know, as you do these um units on things outside and connected to nature, you know, how do you integrate or do you integrate some I mean, it seems like a great opportunity to integrate learning on our native populations. I'm just curious if you intentionally do that and how you intentionally do that or if that's something that might come in the future. Um that is something that as we've had more training on it, that is something teachers are becoming more aware of and working to integrate more and recognizing that that is like you said a good opportunity to connect that. Um so that's one of the areas that we're working on growing in. Um just kind of getting started on those pieces. >> Thank you. Director Bulman, did I see a hand? >> Yes. I don't have a question as much as well I do have one question. Um I'm curious about what the current buckthornne abatement plans are being used by the state. Any updates on those? No. [laughter] It's a big issue. Um the other thing pardon >> we like to have [laughter] goats. >> You're right. >> But our next goats we just didn't know yet. I've just seen so many theories on buckthornne abatement that I thought, gosh, did you guys come up with something new? Um, and I also found it fascinating that you guys talked about the your fascination with the flow of water. Uh, because this is the only group that I've ever heard that from in my life outside of being a mayor in my city when flow of water, storm water was a really important aspect of engineering in a city. So, I would imagine somebody in this group is looking forward to uh great jobs in city government in their future. And thank you for the presentation. It was really good. >> And I have to say that the city of Golden Valley is a really strong partner. We want to thank the city of Golden Valley as well. Um because that area was it's a flooding area right around the school of engineering arts. So it was a big um undertaking and whenever you're in a school and they talk about construction and you're the you know administrator there you're like ah construction but they came out and they really explained a lot of what what what it was about what they were going to do. We got to see a lot of the equipment things that went into it and so we have a lot of le we've learned a lot from them and can incorporate that into lessons. So shout out to the city of Golden Valley, shout out to our families that showed up tonight. Thank you, Director Huto. >> Yeah. Um, I wanted to thank you guys for that great presentation. Uh, even just listening to it tells me why there has been such a pull to your school. Um, and I think as a district I can see that there is a need for this districtwide if we can make it work. Um, I feel like your students are engaged and that certainly will engage parents, right? So as the PTAs talk about how engaged they are, I think that if all students in the district get engaged as you all are, I think parents will get engaged as well. So thank you for that. >> Thank you. Okay, superintendent Stella. >> Yeah, I just want to thank you all also. Uh the joy of discovery, I love that. That is really again something that I want for every single student in our district. Um, I also just wanted to firsthand say outdoor learning is really real at sea and it doesn't matter the weather because uh, Chair Evans Becker and I last Friday were outside with all of the students and staff and families in pouring rain >> in the rain >> during the pumpkin drop which was fantastic. So, thank you very much. Thanks for being here and for everything that you do and if we could get a quick photo that'd be fantastic. This is bad clothing choices. >> You guys did a great job, by the way. >> Really good job, you guys. >> [cough] >> Good job you guys. Thank you. [applause] [applause] >> Wow. How to follow that? All righty. The next thing on our agenda is the consent agenda. Items on the consent consent agenda are routine in nature are enact enacted with a single motion uh without discussion. If there's a particular item on the agenda that consent agenda that a board member wants removed, we will vote on that separately. Um do I have a move to approve the items on the consent agenda today? Our uh administrative our meeting minutes and our draft of minutes. um the bimonthly dispersements and the licensed staff personnel report and the non-licensed staff personnel report. Is there a move to approve the consent agenda? >> Some move. >> Moved by director Hillbrand. >> Second. >> Seconded by director Wuto. This involves money. So we are going to need to have a roll call vote >> for the consent agenda. Uh, [clears throat] uh, Director Bowman votes yes. Chair Evans Becker, >> yes. >> Director Hillbrand, >> yes. >> Uh, Director Long, >> yes. >> Uh, Director Wuto, yes. >> Five in favor, none opposed. All right, we've approved the consent agenda. Now, moving on to unfinished business. Uh, this is, uh, we learned about this at our study session last time. is the application for cooperative sponsorship for Armstrong Cooper boys lacrosse and um Director Williams. >> Yes. Good evening, Chair Vince Becker, uh Superintendent Stal, members of the board. I am here requesting approval of the cooperative sponsorship application for boys lacrosse for Armstrong and Cooper um high schools. Uh as we talked about last meeting, um boys lacrosse roster numbers for both Armstrong and Cooper um have decreased over the past few years. Um these low numbers have made it difficult. You know, um we'll have limited roster opportun opportunities um for student athletes as we are unable to field um competitive levels. um entering into a cooperative sponsorship will allow for the high schools to field at least two solid teams um that can compete at the level appropriate of our enrollment. Um these boys lacrosse teams will be managed by Armstrong activities department and compete in the northwest suburban conference um with the goal of adding trimero opponents as non-conference games. >> Thank you. Um we discussed this we learned about this at our study session. Does anyone have a question that hasn't been asked or needs more information? In that case, uh, could I have a move to approve the application for cooperative sponsorship for Armstrong Cooper Boyce Lacrosse? >> So moved. >> Moved by Director Wuto. >> A second. >> Seconded by Director Hillenbrand. This is a roll call vote. >> So let's vote. >> I'm ready to take the role. [gasps] Um, Director Bowman votes yes. Chair Evans Becker, >> yes. >> Uh, Director Hillbrand, >> yes. >> Director Long, >> yes. >> And Director Wuto, >> yes. >> Five, yes. Zero, no. Um, it is approved. >> Thank you. >> We'll sign that off tonight. Okay. Next item is the school board governance procedure and the governance procedure handbook. Um, we started looking at this in June as a group. Uh Director Bowman and I worked on it for months, especially director Bowman and so um it's time for us to vote to approve it. There are uh there's a sheet of Do you want Director Roman? You want to tell them about the sheet of the >> Sure. dates? >> Sure. Um you were all given a two-page sheet of all the things that were changed since the last time we presented you with this document. Um there there's nothing substantive other than the request from director Basset which is uh on page 2728 adding the language about collaboration uh and I have included all of that in here. Uh the greater section of this uh document includes all the links that were tested uh for accuracy or uh and all of that. So, um I've got a little bit of work to do uh with Molly, but for the rest of it, uh the I now just for your own personal knowledge, I almost have this handbook completely memorized because >> because I have spent a great I became one with the handbook uh during all the edits for all the specific details. Um I I will remind the board that it is a living breathing document. Our plan is to bring this back uh to the board every year for review um and approval whatever that process is updates. Uh I believe that the policy committee is going to somewhat take ownership uh of the policy handbook from a perspective of uh collecting what needs to be changed or what updates need to happen. So um all in all this is for me it's been three years on this board and when we first came on the board three years ago we had very little in the way of orientation and with the help of our professional uh Minnesota schoolboard association they after many years decided it would be a really good idea to build a workbook for all of us and so they did. So, um, we've got the, uh, MSBA information in there and then we've customized it for the district. And the hope is that it makes it easy for everyone to, uh, learn about the role of schoolboard uh, uh, schoolboard members, the governance that uh, is required out of us and what we need to do. So, I think it is a huge step forward for uh, adding really positive structure around the business of the board. So I look I hope that we get it approved this. >> So are you moving to approve this? >> I will move approval. >> I'll say >> let me wait a minute. Let me do say the school board governance and procedure handbook. Let's be official. >> Okay. It's been moved and seconded that we approve the schoolboard governance and procedure handbook and this is a voice vote. >> I have a question. >> Uh Director Long. >> Yeah. So I'm wondering in the one column we have things that there's nothing in this link. nothing in this space. So all those things have >> been fixed. Yep. >> So they have not been fixed yet >> as at of this point. Not except today was I was going through the web page I I found our leadership chart. So I'm still finding things. So we we will have all of that done probably within the next I don't know. It's up to Molly's schedule ASAP. >> So how will we know when this that >> we'll report back. We'll report back. And also uh we are not printing this document. We are leaving this as an electronic format because it it's linked to the statutory stuff and all the other detailed information from the min Minnesota schoolboard association. So this will be an electronic uh document. Um and yeah, we'll just update you as soon as they're done. >> Okay. So if we don't get a report back, then that just means it hasn't been fixed yet. >> Correct. >> Okay. And is there any time limit on that? I would hope within two weeks. I just want it off my desk. I don't know about Molly and the rest of you. >> So, possibly the next meeting we could be getting an update on that >> and following ones depending on how many updates we need to get. Okay. Any other questions? Let's vote. This is a voice vote. We are voting to approve the school board governance and procedure handbook. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. Oppose, say no. We have a handbook. Thank you, Director Bowman, for all of your work. I mean, we worked a lot together, but you really worked between all of our meetings. So, thank you. Thank you. >> You're welcome. And and the Minnesota Schoolboard Association, I sat in on an afternoon training when they first published this. So, um I've been immersed in it since uh the day it was published. >> Well, we've got our own now. Okay, we're moving on to new business. the annual comprehensive financial report and this is ex CFO Hoheisel. Thank you chair Evans Becker, superintendent Stalo schoolboard members. I am uh actually going to hand this over to Brad Faltoise and Tyler C. They are with Abdo Solutions. Um when we talk about the annual comprehensive financial report in layman's terms, that's the audit plus. So, we are looking at getting close to wrapping up uh fiscal year 25. I think we're probably the last entity in the district that's still working in the last school year, but here we are. And so, I'm going to hand it over to those gentlemen to uh give you the status of where the school is at. >> Thank you. >> I'm Brad Paul. This is Tyler C. Uh first, I just want to say this is my favorite count board meeting to because this is our second year doing it. Last year we had a skit from one of the some some students and this year you brought other students in. I think it's tremendous. I don't see other school districts doing it and it's really fun to see. So I just want to say that. Um so now getting into the audit report. So uh I what we're going to go through today tonight is the um I'll give show inform you of our auditor's opinion and our responsibility. Uh the general fund results, other governmental fund results and key performance indicators. Um, you may be wondering, you don't have the actual audit report um, in the packet. It is still, it's still, we're working on finalizing it. There's a couple reasons we're working on finalizing it. Um, you have a, uh, a single audit, which is a audit of your federal expenditures every year. Um, if you spend over $750,000, um, the Office of Management Budget at the federal level are going to issue a 20 2025 compliance supplement, which is an update on the things that they want us to test as part of that audit. They issued a draft. Um, there they were working on it. The government the federal government is in a shutdown right now, so they're not working on it right now. So um we're kind of waiting for that to be released for us to finalize that single audit portion as well as there's some other um minor things in the financial statements we're wrapping up as well. So as far as the presentation here it just gives you a highle summary of the results for the year. So nothing significant is going to change in these results though um we didn't want to issue that audit report yet until those things are finalized but you're not going to see a lot different in there compared to what you're seeing tonight. Um then our audit results. So Otto's opinion we are issuing an unmodified or we will be issuing an unmodified or clean opinion on our financials. So that's saying what we believe what's reported in the financial statements is materially accurate and in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. To arrive at that opinion we'll look at um some the higher risk areas, the high dollar areas within the district. Um state revenues, federal revenues coming in, make sure those are all um deposited in your uh school coffers and um your expenditures will audit those as well. make sure they're spent on the appropriate things. Um, part of that we do issue uh the state auditor's office requires us to issue a Minnesota lean compliance letter which they require us to look through a series of checklist related to different state statutes that you have to follow as parting being a um public entity within the state. So, we'll look at uh those um statutes and um if there's any non-compliance, we'll issue or report those in the Minnesota compliance letter and we are reporting to non-compliance um in your report this year. Single audit reports uh currently don't have any uh an instance of non-compliance in the single audit and those are the I guess those are the audits of the audit of the federal expenditures where we audit more of a compliance. Make sure you're using those um in um using those dollars in accordance with federal guidelines. Any questions on any of that? Otherwise, the results we'll go Tyler's is going to go through the the couple the few findings we have in there as well as the results. So, all [clears throat] right. So, we do have um as Brad mentioned, we do have two compliance findings this year. Uh these compliance findings were actually on last year's audit report as well, and they both relate to uh student activity accounts. Um so essentially we have we found during the a there are some accounts with deficit balance balances and also some student activity accounts without purpose summaries. This is just essentially some statutes that are you know relevant to student activity accounts and if the district is not in line with these statutes we have to issue those findings. So those two findings remain from last year. Um we also have a material audit adjustment finding which is technically an internal control finding. Essentially what this means is that during the course of the audit we did propose um adjusting journal entries that were uh deemed material to the financial statements. So that was also a finding last year. This the year it was due to a different circumstance but just consistent from last year. Um we also another note on this year is that the school was found to be in statutory operating debt. Um what statutory operating debt means is that um when your unassigned fund balance in your general fund is less than negative -2 a.5% of your operating expenditures um you are found to be in statutory operating operating debt. So one thing the district will be working on is a um SOD plan that is due to MDE and that is due at the end of January. also like to reflect on last year's audit and talk about things that were uh remedied in the current year. Um so last year there was also a finding for just having a late um financial statement audit. Uh this year the audit will not be issued late. We will be in compliance with those with those deadlines. Um so first slide here after the audit results here is we just take a glimpse at the enrollment history of the district over the last five fiscal years. So just looking at your ADM or average daily membership over that time period. So here looking at fiscal year 25, your ADM was about 10,526 which was down slightly from fiscal year 24. Next slide here we're going to be looking at your general fund fund balance. So here what we're looking at uh the black line shows your total general fund expenditures from fiscal year 21 to fiscal year 25 and then your red line shows your total fund balance and the yellow line shows your unassigned fund balance. So at the end of fiscal year 2025 you did have a total fund balance of about 2.5% of your expenditures. That's mostly made up of restricted fund balance. So you know fund balance restricted for specific purposes. Uh but your unassigned fund balance was at about 5% which is why the school is technically in statutory operating debt. Next slide here we're going to be looking at your general fund budget to actual results. So in the left column you're going to see your final fiscal year 25 [cough] for your general fund. In the middle you're going to see the actual results for the year and on the right you're going to see the variance with that final budget. So, looking at revenues, your revenues did come in about $6 million over your uh final budget, and that was mostly due to federal more revenue from federal sources than in that final budget. And then your expenditures were about $1.3 million over budget, which on a $214 million budget is very comparable, you know, to that to that final budget. Uh but your special education dollars is the main area where you did spend a little bit over the final budget. So all in all after all the activity of the year your general fund did decrease about 6.4 million and that bottom line of 5.3 million that's your total fund balance. So that's the amount that's about 2% of your total expenditures. Here we're taking a look at your general fund revenues per ADM. So this graph is showing fiscal year 25 and 24 for Robbinsdale. Uh you're going to have see comparison data throughout this presentation. Um, and that comparison data is from 2024 because that is the most recent comparison data that we have available to us. So here you're seeing your region 11, which is this region of the state for school districts as well as the statewide average for school districts. So what this graph is showing is that essentially Robbinsdale is, you know, from a per ADM basis is receiving, you know, more total source revenue than um statewide and region 11 averages. Here, another view of how you're spending your money in the general fund. Here we're looking at your general fund expenditures by object code, just broken out between salaries and wages, benefits, supplies, and purchase services, and just kind of how that's changed over the last three school years. Overall, very comparable just looking at each school year. [snorts] We're going to see a few graphs like this where we're looking at spending by the school district on a per ADM basis. Here we're just looking at your total general fund expenditures per ADM. And then we're kind of taking a percentile review of the rest of the state for school districts. So the black area is the 25th to 50th percentile. The yellow area is the 51st to 75th percentile. And then the green area is that statewide average. And again for 2025 we don't actually have that comparison data. So we're sort of just projecting um it out in for the green line there. So what this graph is showing is that on a total general fund expenditures per ADM basis the school is spending in a higher you know 80th 90th percentile in the state in this category. Moving on from the general fund we're going to be taking a look at the food service fund now. So again we're going to take a look at the budget to actual for the year. So on the left you're going to see the final budget. The middle you're going to see the actual results. On the right you're going to see the variance of that final budget. So positive budget variances here for both revenue and expense. You had more revenue than budgeted and less expense than budgeted. So overall your food service fund did increase about $850,000 and that $5.5 million is your uh food service fund ending total fund balance. And then again another review kind of percentile basis review of how you're spending your money. This time you know food service fund per ADM and just kind of how Rob Zil compares there. Um so last year you're at right about the statewide average for spending per ADM. And then this year that took a little bit of a dip on a spending basis perium. [cough] [clears throat] Moving on from the food service fund here we're going to look at the community service fund. another budget to action review here. Uh so in general in the community service fund just more activity than projected. So more revenues and more expense in the food service fund. Um overall the uh community service fund lost about $460,000. That $3 million amount at the bottom is your community service fund fund balance. [clears throat] And again, another review of kind of that community service fund spending per ADM. Kind of more of a consistent in line with the general fund where higher percentile in your spending per ADM. Um, just in general, a lot plenty of activity in that community service fund. Now, here we're just looking at your debt service fund. So this is just kind of showing your current uh your current debt outstanding on the left and on the right here we're just looking at your future debt service obligations the next 10 years here broken out between principal and interest. Uh one thing to note is that the school did issue uh one more bond in this past school year and that's 2024A bond. Um, and then this this is the building construction fund. And here is kind of where the proceeds for that 2024A bond. This is where those proceeds are accounted for. So overall in this fund, kind of the story of this fund is that the um [clears throat] a lot of capital spending was put on hold in this past year. So you did spend about $8.1 million less than in that final budget. So that bond that was issued this last year, you know, those proceeds were all spent. So, your building construction fund fund balance did increase about 12 mo 12.6 million and [clears throat] that $21.2 million is your building construction fund ending total fund balance. Uh some key performance indicators. Now, um this one is focuses on kind of your property tax levy and kind of some comparison data here. So here we're essentially looking at your property taxes in comparison again with region 11 and statewide averages and we're looking at taxes per ADM and then uh taxes per home and then kind of taxes per home value. So essentially what this is saying is like on a per ADM basis your taxes are higher than region 11 say what averages but it looks at you know per home or per value much more in line with kind of the peer groups in the state touching on that general fund fund balance again. So here we're just kind of showing how that total fund balance and that unassigned fund balance compares to the state um the statewide as well as region 11 averages. So the statewide average for total fund balance is about 30% and for you know region 11 averages it's like low 20s about 22%. Um so of course Rob is is below you know the the uh comparison there for statewide and region averages. And then a couple more of these percentile review um graphs here to end the presentation. So this is just your you know regular instruction cost per ADM um and how that compares to the statewide average. So again in a higher percentile um for the regular instruction cost per ADM. And in this next graph, we are looking at the same format, but the special education cost per ADM and kind of how that's looking. Um, so this past year, I know special education costs on a period basis um certainly rose this last year. Um, and this district's on a higher percentile here as well. So, that's what we have for our audit presentation and we'll open it up for any any questions. Board members, do you have any questions? >> Director Bowman, >> I'm just curious about um on the state averages for the fund balance. Uh see where is it? Um how many of how many I mean is is that where districts are performing at at that level of you know we're seeing 35% to 20%. Is that pretty standard across? I mean, I I I see it on here, but talk to me a little more about that. I'm interested. >> So, we do get this data from MDE, and this does compile all the school districts in the state. And as of 2024, the total fund balance average for this region of the state and say what averages, that's that's what it's at. >> And does that in that includes all of the budgets of the school district or is that only are the buildings? All the This is all the actuals from last year's audits, >> right? But are they >> and just the general fund? >> Okay. Just the general fund, not the like the building maintenance, those >> Exactly. Just the general fund. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Thank you, Director Long. >> Um, yeah. So, I have a couple questions. Did I just ask one and then put myself back on the list? >> Sure. Unless it's a followup or something. >> No, they're kind of separate issues. Okay. So the one I was wondering about was what was the decrease in spending in food service? What why was there a decrease in food service? >> I I don't know that there was a decrease in spending. It's a decrease in the based on the prrated share of the number of students that we have. I can't if you're looking for further detail as to why I don't believe the actual dollar amounts that we spent are less. I just think that I would have to go in and be able to review why there was such a swing where we were pretty much even a year ago and why now proportionately we appear to be spending less per student in costs. I will I will have to look at that. I I I'm not comfortable providing an answer now, but I will be happy to do that on the 17th. >> Thank you. >> Um Director Helen Brand and then Director Long and then someone else. >> Um I just think um and and I I'm concerned that the comparison to the statewide average and I understand why you do that. I mean it's hard but it gives a false sense because districts have wide variety of you when you compare to say rural districts you know maybe their transportation needs are a lot higher than ours so ours might look different but then their demographics are a lot different than ours right and so it it gives like a a a false >> skewed >> it's skewed comparison I guess um thank you um it might [clears throat] be better or more helpful because especially members of the public are looking at this to maybe have comparison to maybe like size or even districts with um similar demographics because I think it's giving a skewed idea of our spending per student um when I think if we looked at um districts with the same percentage of kids that qualify for title or that who have English not as a first language or have um are qualified for sped services. I think that would change a lot um where our ADM spending falls in comparison. Ours I believe looks high compared to average because of some of those higher needs that we have in our district compared to some maybe outstate districts. So I just I I would caution people who are looking at that as you're looking at to say, "Wow, you're spending so much money um per kid." But when you're comparing to the whole state, you know, we have very specific different needs. So I I I would just say that maybe I don't know how easy or hard that is for you in the future, but it creates a a false narrative, I think, um, when you look at that. So I just want to put that out. >> And something we could certainly do in our presentation is we could compare to specific districts if you're interested in that. We could add some things like that. So >> yeah, >> Judger Long circling back. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So I have some follow-up questions trying to understand um some of the audit errors that you guys found. So um like so on page 98, so I'm looking kind of at the written report that you also provided to us. >> Um it talks about the or page three. I don't know which one. It said page three and also page 98. So I'm not >> either way. Um so a materials audit adjustment to accounts payable. So what what is that and what exactly is the procedures now going to be in place to uh make sure that that audit's not or that error is not continuing to happen. >> Yeah. So the accounts payable essentially is that as of year end there's certain um expenses that the district might not have paid until after year end but that were really related to fiscal year 25 activity. So what we did is we were looking at you know invoices paid in the first few months of fiscal year 2026. So like July and August and we found some expenses that should have been booked as a liability or accounts payable at year end that weren't. So then we proposed those journal entries and because of the dollar amount of those transactions that's why we had to issue the finding. >> So it was a significant dollar amount. >> It was Yeah. It was material to the financial statements. Yep. >> Okay. And then I don't know what what procedures will be in place now so that that's not continuing to happen. >> Mail chat >> shoot >> meat. >> What is >> compose inbox 1,94? >> I have no idea how to shut [laughter] this up >> here. Want to repeat the last couple. [laughter] >> No, thank you. >> I think she knows. >> Okay. I thought that was the answer. [laughter] Um so as we move forward like with any of the findings you you take the feedback and I and again um admittedly last year was was with with getting onboarding and being behind essentially two audits at that time because we were we were stacked um with the timing of the audits. There are now things that are um maybe we can evaluate further um like with the student activity accounts that will be addressed. We will be having conversations with our sites. We will be you know process and procedure and kind of the devils in the details. when you get more into the finite information as it relates to the accounts payable component. Again, um staffing is in place. Um systems are in place, you know, mistakes or or oversightes absolutely can happen. But every year now as we work through the audit and the timeliness of the audit and the expectations of when work is to be completed, we then allow ourselves time to do an evaluation to make sure everything is included where sometimes that doesn't happen when you're I I honestly either trying to rush to get through or you're focusing on other areas to try to keep them moving to hit timelines and you're missing components. So hopefully as long as we continue to go with being ahead of ourselves with information, and that's what I continue to try to push and catch up with information, we'll actually prevent ourselves from making um errors or mistakes of missing something like that. Again, not intentional. It's just it comes down to training. It comes down to timeliness, and it comes down to an opportunity to review to make sure you don't have uh those errors that exist before our auditing firm comes in. So is that a a situation where like internal controls like another person checking or >> it very well could be. Um but I would say the answer is yes. Sometimes again that whether it be newness of staff or different process and procedures that exist. Um sometimes we it is another another lens. Um, and it's honestly you just when things slow down, you have you just have a more of an opportunity to actually review the information that's in front of you. And instead of trying to push volumes out the door, we're now able to we're now getting more fine-tuned. And with being fine-tuned, it's different sets of eyes and it's multiple opportunities to review the data from multiple people. and that we'll just get honestly I believe we'll just get better and better and better with all of the information that we're providing, the timeliness, the accuracy um and and all around it's it it's just a natural progression as as you get um back to as you get systems and processes and procedures in place and caught up and I now believe we are getting to the point where we are getting actually caught up with all of our financial information. >> You have another one. >> I have some more. >> Some more. Okay. >> Oh, just continue. >> Yes, please. >> Okay. So, um page 99 or four. Um student account balances the the MAFA. I was wondering exactly what is that? Is that like our food accounts? Is it sports? What is it? >> So, student activity accounts are for a variety of different purposes within the district. So essentially what that finding is is those accounts shouldn't have a negative balance and there are some accounts with a negative balance in the accounting system. So the student activity accounts are for a variety of different purposes marching band you know whatever clubs you know >> and how much of a negative account do students have or >> it's the group the class >> how much of a negative >> I don't know how much of a negative it is but it's just the fact that it's just a statute thing. So the fact that there is a negative at all is technically not in compliance with the statute. >> Okay. And so you were kind of starting to answer that. So how are we solving that so that doesn't happen? >> We're solving that by I'm sorry I interrupted you. We're solving that by working with our sites directly again now that we are starting to and have caught up with our information. It's it's working with our high schools or our middle schools or I believe those are the two that are or a couple that are impacted to be out in front of it to you know again it's education. It's more detailed monitoring of what is happening and what's going on and and expecting resolve at the end of the year where again we are we are uh in we're getting to a position where afford where we are afforded a uh greater opportunity to get into the finite financial information as opposed to the big sweeps of information. Okay. So I had two more. So the what are the activity purpose summaries? You can explain that. >> Yep. So each student activity account should have a purpose summary that just says what the account is for and like what the appropriate use of the funds are for. So that's just more so a documentation thing. >> Okay. And so we're missing those in in some of our student activity things. Okay. And those will be fixed then too. Okay. And then my last one is um have there been any reporting changes or um legislation changes as far as the federal government is concerned um since last year's audit to this year's audit. >> Well, so kind of Brad touched on this essentially, but like we're waiting on that compliance supplement for the federal compliance piece of the audit. So, we had to do the audit so far based off of a draft of that compliance supplement. There weren't any substantial changes in kind of those requirements that I'm aware of, but we do have to wait until the final supplement to come out before we can, you know, finalize our testing >> and then we could we get that information so we can be aware of what those changes are from the federal government >> like do you want the compliance supplement? >> Yeah, I'd be interested in knowing. >> Sure, that's Yeah, you could. That's public. >> Okay, [clears throat] that was it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. So then the question is what where do we go from here? And I think where we go is um at our next meeting then do we accept this or approve it? >> What do we do? >> What the Yes, the plan would be that at the November 17th meeting you would adopt the audit. At that point, we would have the full financial statements available for you. And then then that would put a put a period at the end of the at the end of the year. We would submit our information um to the MDE and we would move on to living in uh 2526 and planning for 2627. I would like to circle back before I turn it over to the gentleman if they have an answer. I do want to um when I looked back quickly to director Long's question about food service and I said well I I don't believe our spending has gone down. When you look at the what was presented it appears as though our spending went down. There's about a million dollar swing but I believe in in speaking with uh executive director oh that there was some equipment purchases that had occurred that wouldn't be necessarily the day-to-day operations of us feeding the kids. It's how we spent the money. So yes, spending wise it went down, but I don't I don't know that it's true that it went down as far as our daily meal service, but I will continue to research that. I just wanted to put clarification in the room before you moved on to your next subject. So I'll turn it over to you guys. Okay, board members, are we good? All right. Anything else from from you two? >> Oh, thanks for having us. >> All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for your work on that. All right, moving on. Let's see. Next thing up under new business is the resolution accepting donations. We have $20,929 in donations to accept. Is there a move to accept these donations? >> So moved. >> Moved by Director Wuto, >> seconded by Director Bowman. >> Let's take a roll call vote since it has to do with money. >> All right. I ran out of pages. [snorts] Um, I will wing it. This is for the >> accepting donations. >> Donations. [snorts] Uh, Director Bowman votes yes. Chair Evans Becker. >> Yes. >> Uh, Director Hillbrand. >> Yes. >> Director Long, >> yes. >> Director Wuto, >> yes. >> Five to zero. Thank you everyone for all those donations. Coming up next, we have an action item. Um, due to the fact that graduation is going to be on a Friday and not a Monday, we can change our schoolboard meeting in June from Tuesday back to Monday. But we have to do that with a motion. So, is there a move to change from the uh Tuesday to back to Monday for our first meeting in June? >> I'll move approval. >> Moved by Director Bowman. Is there a second? Seconded by Director Hillenbrand. Uh seeing no hands up. All in favor of changing the the school board meeting from Tuesday back to our typical Monday in June, please say I. >> I. >> I. Oppose. Say no. Okay. We're going to be meeting on the first Monday in June instead of the Tuesday. Now, this takes us to policy uh committee report. Director WH. >> Yeah. Um so the policy committee convened on October 27th uh to continue its work on reviewing and adv advancing policies. Uh the committee remains committed to ensuring that policies are all updated. As part of this process, the cabinet is actively reviewing and providing input and engaging other relevant stakeholders as appropriate. Uh we appreciate the work of all involved in this critical work and we continue to provide updates as policies progress through the review and approval process. Um before us are a few policies that change from AP to policy and also uh the policy committee reviewed u policy 599 uh that was part of uh an engagement from a constituent and at this very moment we are proposing that there will be no changes to the policy language and it should stay as is. >> Thank you. That's 509. >> Uh 599. >> 599. Okay. So, uh we have no second reads policies. So, we're not voting on any policies tonight. However, we have several policies up for first read. Um 210, 211, 305, 515, and 709. >> Correct. >> Okay. Dr. Long. So, I'm just wondering too if um we [clears throat] could pull um the one where it talks about how to bring policy request um procedures up and pull that to a work session to discuss that just so that we all have a clear understanding of the steps there. I mean, it's not a policy, but it's just I don't know what what a procedure. Yeah, I think it it's just a request to see if we can add that to our handbook once it's completed. But yes, we can bring that for further discussion. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You have something else. >> He c Did you have your hand raised or >> Okay. And Okay. Cuz I think my brain just froze your computer. >> No, my computer did not. brain did. Sorry. Okay. I guess I'll just >> We good. >> Yeah. I'll email it later then when my brain unfreezes. Sorry. >> Okay. So then we don't have any action tonight, but at our next meeting we will be having the second reads on those policies and we'll be voting on those. Correct. >> Sounds good. >> Perfect. Thank you. We're moving on to item number 10, administrative reports. Superintendent Stalo. >> Thank you very much and good evening, Chair Evans Becker and school board director. ers at Robbinsdale Area Schools. Our mission is to inspire and educate all learners [snorts] to develop their unique potential and to positively contribute to their community. Our collective work is focused on that mission. And tonight, I'd like to share some of the work in which we have been engaged in the priority theme of academic achievement. I'm thrilled to share that Sonison Elementary was recently named the 2025 Minnesota's Future Award winner for Excellence in Literacy Instruction, a statewide honor recognizing schools that are closing gaps through evidence-based teaching. This award presented by the Minnesota Business Partnership came with a $50,000 grant to support Sonison's continued literacy work. The recognition highlighted Sonos's 10% increase in third grade reading reading proficiency since the 2223 school year driven by Bridgeto Read program and strong instructional leadership from principal Mary Jane Adams and her team. Also in the priority theme of academic achievement, I'm excited once again to congratulate the student staff and advisor uh Eric Zakola as Cooper's student newspaper. The Quill has won an all-state gold award for the nine issues released during the 2425 school year from the Minnesota High School Press Association. This is the second consecutive year that the quill has won this award. In the district priority of student engagement and wellness, Armstrong senior Moses Kamara capped an outstanding soccer career by mean being named Mr. Soccer for class 3A. Only one of only three student athletes statewide. to receive this honor. Moses also earned a spot on the all Minnesota boys soccer team for the Star Tribune for the second consecutive year. Over his four years at Armstrong, he scored an incredible 71 goals, including 26 this season alone. Beyond his athletic talent, Moses is known for his leadership and humility, always encouraging younger players to keep working hard. He also contributes to Armstrong's football team as a kicker and plans to continue his soccer career at the division one level next year. In the district priority of collaboration in partnerships on Wednesday, October 29th, Robinsdale Area Schools was one of three metro school districts invited to present at the inaugural Tribal Nations Education Committee professional development event held in the Prairie Island Indian community. We were recognized for the meaningful and authentic relationships we've built with our American Indian families and partners. Our team led a panel discussion highlighting the power of collaboration, including the development of our American Indian strategic plan, the dashboard that helps guide our progress and our reimagine Rdale initiative, which has been which has benefited from strong American Indian representation. Board chair Greed Evans Becker also reflected on our land acknowledgement resolution and the permanent display of tribal flags which were created in collaboration with our AP pack. [snorts] In the priority theme of staff development and impact, I'm proud to share that Armstrong activities director Larry Tate has been named the 2025 region 6 activities administrator of the year by the Minnesota uh interolastic activities administrators association. Larry has been part of the Robbinsdale family for 20 years and has served at Armstrong's as Armstrong's AD for the past six. He's known for his deep deep commitment to his students, his leadership, and the way he brings the community together around our activities and athletics. He often says that the most rewarding part of his work is seeing students grow through both success and challenge, and that ability to connect with students and families truly reflects who he is as a leader. We're thrilled that his peers across the state have recognized his dedication and wish him the best as he moves forward as a finalist for the statewide class. uh a of the year this spring. Um and also in the priority theme of staff investment and development, today was a powerful example of collaboration and professional growth growth happening across Robbinsdale area schools. Throughout the district, staff spent the day deepening their learning from catalyst strategies focused on aligning instructional work to targeted literacy uh training through wit and wisdom to specialized development for music staff and media educators and much more. These opportunities are about strengthening practice, sharing expertise, and ensuring consistency in how we support our students. It's been energizing to see uh the level of engagement, excitement among staff. And we're not done yet. Tomorrow, that learning continues across the district. In the realm of strategic theme of community engagement, our kindergarten information fair is coming up next Saturday, November 22nd at Fairchrist School Crystal. This event is one of the most important opportunities to connect with incoming families and grow our enrollment and show them the amazing things that are happening in our district. To promote the fair, we mailed postcards to all kindergarten eligible families in the district and to families within a onem radius just outside our borders, inviting them to attend. The [snorts] event showcases the exceptional learning experiences, supportive community, and comprehensive services Robinsdale Area Schools offers every child. Families will meet school leaders and staff, enjoy fun activities, and gather valuable information. Our goal is to create a warm, welcoming experience that builds confidence and excitement as families prepare to join our deal. Thank you very much. Great report. Thank you. All righty. Next up, item B, the Morris Leatherman survey data presentation. Do you want to introduce this or Bob? You have it. You want me to? There you go. >> Good evening, Chair Becker, board superintendent. Uh, tonight we have Peter Leman here from the Morse Leatherman Company to present our residential survey. You'll remember uh a while back we talked about the fact that we were going to do a residential survey uh to give us kind of an atmospheric view of where we are as a district in terms of perception, in terms of tax tolerance, in terms of reimagine 2030 ideas. And so tonight, uh Peter is here with us to provide the results from that survey. >> Super. It's a pleasure to be here with you this evening to go over this year's results of the survey. Um, we'll start with the methodology. Uh, we expanded the methodology. Last time I was here, we were looking at the renewal. Uh, and so that was just a communitywide survey. This time, uh, we're looking not only at the community, but because of the issues, uh, happening with the imagine 2030 and everything to get a gauge of where the parents are also. So, we spoke with 400 randomly selected residents across the community. Within that, there's approximately 25% that are parents. So there's roughly a 100 parents. We called an additional 300 parents. I pull out that 100, put that together, and then we have a representative sample to look at of parents and their attitudes and opinions. Uh the interviews were conducted between October 13th and the 24th. Average interview time was 10 minutes. Non-response rate was 4.5%. Uh both samples are projectable to plus or minus 5%. The margin of error is determined by the size of the sample, not the percent of the population. So a 400 in the school district, Henipin County or the state is always going to be plus or minus 5%. Putting up some demographics. Uh first off, cell phone only households 63%. Metro area, the landlines are hanging in there right about 10% uh 1 and 10 and then the both landlines and cell phones are down to 27%. Some demographics and now this I'm just going to put up the overall uh demographics. You can see the profile of the community. The typical resident has been in the district for just under just over 10 years at this point. Um there's a lot of uh newbies. There are a lot of newbies in the district. Uh and that is impacting uh people's familiarity and engagement in the district as you're going to see. Uh you do have 16% that have been in the district for over 30 years. Uh very young district, 29% or 18 to 34 year olds. The typical resident is right about 45 years old. 10% indicate that they have a preschooler. Uh 25% have a child attending the Robbinsdale area schools. So three out of four are empty nesters and that doesn't imply an age. You have a large number of empty nesters that are 20 to 34 year olds. They're classified as empty nesters, so it does not imply an age. But one in four are your key constituencies. And that also uh will show up in the familiarity and engagement of what's happening in the local community. We've seen a decline since the pandemic in 2020 of people engaging with local government. Continuing with demographics, almost one in three are renters. Uh the self assessed home value comes in uh just under $400,000. 44% are college graduates. That includes post-graduates, uh doctorates, master degrees. 20% are high school graduates or less. You can see the geographic distribution of the sample. Uh Crystal at 23%, New Hope at 20, Plymouth at 18, Robbinsdale at 15 or 16, Golden Valley at five, and the Brooklyn Center and Park uh at 5 and 4%. If we look at the ethnicity, uh 66% indicate that they are or 65% indicate they're white, 18% African-American, Hispanic, Latino, 6% 5% AsianPacific Islander, 5% multi-racial. Now, the de demographics of the parent sample is much more diverse. And this also is a household count. Um, so it's not the number of students that's going to impact the count. In looking at updated census information, this is reflective of the uh demographic makeup if we look at the plus or minus 5%. And then the financially stressed right in line with with what we're seeing in the second half of 2025 uh with just under four and 10. Uh go back to 2024. I was here we talked about how financially stressed uh households were going to impact a potential uh levy renewal at that point in time. It was in the high 40s. So it continues to come down. It's not the issue with all the school districts on the ballot tomorrow. Uh that it is you're going to see the issue, you have it in your district that the school districts are going to be facing and that's property taxes. So looking at the atmospherics and obviously a lot has happened since 2024 and you're going to see some major changes. Uh I don't think any of them are going to be unexpected. What do folks value most in the district? It's the teachers then the variety of programs and the broad curriculum. If you link those together that actually is a statistical tie with um with teachers the good academics at 10% sports at 10% combined excellent academics uh you have the academic component at 14%. So you have a tie who's teaching and what they're teaching is what folks value in the school district. And this varies. Some districts it's very focused on the on the staff. Some it's on the uh programs and curriculum. Others it's on the academic quality. Here in Robinsdale, you have a two-way tie for what folks are valuing. Now, if we ask what they like most, we always follow up with what's the most serious issue. This surprised me to be truthful. I thought that with everything that's happened and been discussed over the past year, there would be more of a focus uh with the deficit, the statutory operating debt. Um what leads the list is high taxes and poor spending. Um high taxes is in the range we're seeing it now. It's typically around 15%. If we combine the poor spending, the lack of funding, and the $20 million deficit, you have just over one in four people that are focused on that in the district. Uh what other things come in? Uh declining quality, that's typically somewhere between 5 and 10%. Um you do not have the other issue uh that uh at levels that we see. The lack of discipline has become a major concern in the metro area. uh that typically is in the 10 to 15% range and you can see that's half in the Robbinsdale area schools. Now what do they think about the quality of education in 2024? We saw what we saw everywhere and that's a a decline in the rating uh and overall on the quality of education. Uh this is the result of the pandemic. Before the pandemic the norm was about 90% favorable. We're now into the low the the high 70s and you are at this time at 75%. With 24% rating it only fair or poor. You also have the decline on the excellent rating that we see everywhere. Um you're right at the norm of what we see for the excellent rating. This is the macro post-pandemic concern now. Uh 5 years out. We're no longer debating about in-person masking, social distancing, any of those things. It's about the overall quality of education. If we ask folks to make a comparison to the quality to four years ago, very specific in the time frame. I don't want to do an apples to oranges comparison and ask them to think back to 2018. Uh we h uh we have this time 29% of uh the overall community saying it's better, 12% saying it's worse. So it's about a 2 1/2:1 ratio of folks saying that though they might have a concern, they have a sense that things are moving in the right direction. Uh in 20 and 21 this was actually we had more people saying it was worse than better. So there is a sense that there's momentum in the school district. There's more momentum seen by parents. 34% say better, 8% say worse. So the parents are a 4:1 ratio indicating things are getting better to worse. Do they think the Robbinsdale Area School District is a highquality district that its reputation is so good families seek to buy homes in the district and prefer it to other school districts? Uh 51% of the community says yes, parents 65% say yes. This I think is something to think about moving forward is more of a strategic look at communication and reaching out to the community to start uh focusing on the reputation. You're going to see we called out the district's reputation specifically because it was part of the vision plan that came out and there is agreement amongst the community and parents overall about focusing on the district's reputation. How does the district do in meeting the learning needs of all most only some or very few students? Um we have a decline. You were actually high in 2024. This this has gone down post pandemic. You're right at the norm we're seeing with about 40% saying the learning needs of all are being met and all students is a stringent standard. Um if we look then we have 46 40% saying most. We have uh 17% saying only some or very few. Now we follow up with the most only some or very few and ask is there a type of student whose learning needs are not being met. That's what's arrayed in the bottom right hand corner of the chart and it is the concern everywhere. Okay? It's the struggling student, it's underachievers, it's the average student, it's special education. Um, when I started doing this 30 years ago, gifted and talented was at the top of the list and then everybody focused on gifted and talented and then the average was at the top of the list for the next decade. Now we're in the in the area and it's consistent over the last 10 years. This was the same before the pandemic as post pandemic. It's just heightened because we have less people saying all student learning needs are being met right now. Some specific perceptions. First off, does the district spend taxpayers money effectively and efficiently? This time around it's 50 to 41 and you can see a statistically significant drop from 2024. Parents are have more agreement with 2/3. Does the district consider all alternatives before asking uh uh residents for a property tax increase? Well, part of this is impacted because you had a renewal. So, that obviously is going to impact because you were just out. So, you it does it heightens people's uh focus on district operations. You have a 10-point drop. [clears throat] Is the school district a good value for the investment? This is a concern across the state also. And this is not so much driven by what's happened in this district. It's been driven by the growing concern across the state on property taxes because what goes into the value proposition is not only the quality of the product but the price people are paying. Um and so the community overall you're right at the norm uh parents they obviously see more value. They're the key constituents on this. Do they believe that uh the quality of schools increase the home values of of residents? Um that's a statistically significant drop. This is driven also by taxes. And you do have a certain number of people at this point in time time saying I don't want my home values to go up anymore because all that's doing is creating a higher property tax rate at this point in time. Do they trust the district to do what's right for the children? I think this is encouraging with everything that's happened is that there's been no erosion in the trust factor of making the right decisions in the best interest. The past being the past and how to move forward. 74% of the community over 80% of parents. Does the district do a good job of involving the community? That is stable. That means they they believe that they that you will involve them. They have a sense of empowerment. Um that's right at the norm that we see. Um the honest about spending that obviously is going to take a hit. Um and it did 71 to 58. And then the schools are a good investment and I would support a property tax increase to protect that investment. Uh the shift we see and the key on this is always the disagree because as the question is uh asked of the respondent, we don't talk about an operating levy. We don't talk about a bond referendum. We don't talk about $5 a month or $5 a year. It's simply they're against a property tax increase. That's the core no. And that has grown 11 points since 2024. You are right at the norm of every client I have on the ballot tomorrow at a third in every district saying I'm against any property tax increase. Um so that is something that is going to impact not only your future but the future of many school districts parents uh we always want the parent disagreement to be under 20%. You need 80% of parents to support uh any sort of operating levy. Um where we see the highest rate of growth in the disagree is amongst parents though because they have the higher economic stress uh than non-parents. And so we do have a growing number of parents now across the state saying it's not that I obviously don't support education. I can't simply afford it. And that's a key factor also in play. the governance and the administration um with everything that's happened really no surprise. It's a divide in the community. Uh the school board 5244, the superintendent and administration 5047. Um amongst parents uh 5939 5742. So the district does see the governance and the administration as one unit. Um there are districts that are in complete dysfunction uh where the superintendent's high and the board is low or vice versa. Everything that the public sees is one entity coming from the district. Um and then the teachers are actually going up uh 88%. And that's actually about 10 points higher than the norm. The rating on teachers over the past three years across the state has taken a hit. Um it took a hit. The biggest impact was the strike in Minneapolis. Had nothing to do with what happened in any other school district, but it spilled across borders. Um what happens in Minneapolis potentially will also uh impact this amongst parents 91 to 8. Overall assessment then on the financial management um obviously a very statistically large uh drop uh at this point in time 31% favorable uh to 66% unfavorable amongst parents 43 to 47. In 2024, 46% the dark red thought their total taxes were high. This time around, a year later, 60% think they're high. Amongst parents, it went from 42% to 58%. And this is why I'm flagging this. This is now the concern. And unfortunately what's happened for districts this time around and [snorts] well and it it's occurred now in 23 24 and now 25 every district going out this year in the middle of September the city and county came out and said how much they're raising property taxes. One district has a very large operating levy and residents found out September 15th that between city and county their taxes were going up 25%. Okay. Right. When people are going to start early voting, if we look at the difference between the school, the total tax and the school tax, it's a little bit lower. And that's what we see everywhere. Okay? There was a time where the perception of school taxes was actually higher. Folks know what the cities and counties are doing. The problem is is they really can't do anything about it. and school districts are left with. That's where the Solomon's decision comes into play on whether to take the third property tax increase. Is the school district adequately funded? Folks don't know. You actually have more people now saying you're adequately funded. Uh I think part of it is goes back to the whole perception uh and how the deficit was reported, how it's been interpreted. Um and you're going to see there's limited knowledge and engagement. You already saw it up front on what's the most serious issue with only one in four residents pointing to that as the most serious issue facing the district. Um, so there is a lack of awareness at this point in time of the true scope of the financial situation of the school district. If residents heard that the district [clears throat] was going to ask for a property tax increase, are they for all, against all, or are they persuadable? You're right at the norm of what we see in 2025. You're starting out three points behind. You have 26% saying they're against anything, 23% for anything. The key is obviously going to be the persuadables. Um, amongst parents, it's about 2 to one more for all versus the against all. Um, you know, the flag on the parents though, and it's it's what we're seeing everywhere is now that against all for parents that was in the high single digits is now in the middle teens. And once again, that has nothing to do with the school district. That has everything to do with the financial situation of the household and how property taxes are hitting parent households very very hard. Our let's make a deal question. All right. We we flesh out the 26% against all you have 6% Minnesota nice in Robbinsdale area school districts because we asked for a dollar amount that nothing goes to 32%. That's under 35%. That's the really the the threshold I'm looking at to start with. Um then we have 15% at $5 a month, 23% at 10, and then we have 22% at 15 or more. So the typical resident comes in roughly at about say 150 bucks a month. 1250, not 150 bucks a month. Good lord, 150 bucks a year. About $12.50 a month. Um and always is that number set in stone? No, it's not set in stone. It is highly dependent on what the components of the package are made up of. But to realize the further you go from that number, you need a lot of support for the individual components of a property potential property tax increase. Now, do folks feel that the school district buildings meet the needs of educating today's children? Yes, they do very softly. You can see there's not a lot of intensity. 10% say strongly yes. 9% of parents say strongly yes. It's a soft yes. Uh those that say no, 11% of the community, 14% of parents. So the discussion that the buildings don't meet the needs would be gaslighting the community. That's not what they believe. Now, keep in mind, especially in the overall, 75% are empty nesters. Many of them haven't been in a school district since we had chalkboards and erasers. Um, so there is an awareness level, an education piece to this and what facilities actually mean today for meeting the needs of educating children. This is concerning. And this is where I talk about a lack of engagement in the community. And but you're not unique. I actually did what I call a brushfire survey for a district in the metro area. Uh they started voting the week before we did the survey. At that point in time, only 37% knew that they were there was even an election. and people were already voting. There is a disengagement. The familiarity overall of vision 2030, 36% of the community said that they were aware. We follow up with the yes and asked, would you classify yourself as very, somewhat, or not too familiar? Only 10% said they were very familiar. So, in the community as a whole, less than 5% would classify themselves as very familiar. on vision 30. Now, of the 36%, do they have a positive or negative impression? And that's positive. You have 41% that are neutral. You saw the limited amount of they're they're honest enough to say, I'm not familiar. I'm neutral on it. But those willing to take a position, it was 4 to one positive to negative on vision 2030 at this point in time. Now even parents only 62% said that they had heard of vision 2030 at this point in time. 14% of parents said they were very familiar. So with that level less than 10% about 8 to 9% of parents are classifying themselves as very familiar with vision 2030. What is those that are have heard of it? what is their perception? They're actually more positive a 5:1 ratio. Uh 50 to 10 51 to 9 with 36% neutral. So on both of those fundamental, you know, are you have what's your impression of it? The concern is not so much the impression, the concern is the lack of familiarity at this point in time. It's also safe to say though that as familiarity grows, I would not expect negativity to grow because everything negative that's been talked about with vision 30 is already out there and it did not catch on. So more education, more awareness should drive more support for what the district is thinking about for vision 2030. Now, the district overall, we talked about this is to this process specifically of reimagining Robbinsdale. Do they think the district is doing a good job of involving the community? Yes, 61%. Parents, 81%. Do they trust the district's going to find a plan that benefits students and staff? Yes, 74 overall 85% of parents. And importantly, this always goes down no matter if it's we're having talking about a bond referendum or whatever. Do they believe the district's going to have a plan that's fair to local taxpayers? Yes. 63% of the community, uh 70% of parents. So, the foundational trust has not been eroded. The concern though is raising awareness and familiarity with the plan. Okay. Now, we went through and we pulled out the eight key findings of vision 2030 and they were read as statements uh to the to the uh respondent and we asked do you simply agree or disagree with the key finding. What led the list at 89% is the belief that arts are foundational in the district followed by as I mentioned earlier the reputation deserves attention at 88%. Safety and security are priorities 85%. The district staff is the strength 80%. The district lags behind on state test 74%. 73% agree that enrollment is declining. It's not an education piece. They're aware. Uh they believe the facilities are outdated and expensive. 62% agree with that. The district operates more buildings than needed. 60% agree with that. So you can see why people who are familiar with the plan net out positive because when everybody has read the findings of the plan, they there's broad agreement on the positive and the negative findings of the plan. Now how do parents split on this? Very similar. There's some little bit higher levels of agreement, but there's agreement across the board. Uh the community and parents agree on arts being foundational in the school district. 95%. You can't get 95% to agree on the color of the sky. Uh but that is a belief in the school district. 93% safety and security. That's not surprising. Annunciation just has doubled down as every single tragedy has doubled down. Going back to New Town, Connecticut, uh 90% each the staff, the district staff are a strength and the reputation deserves attention amongst parents. The lagging on state tests and enrollment declining. Parents agree with that. The facilities are outdated and expensive and more buildings uh the district operates more buildings than are needed. Twothirds of parents agree with those statements. We then asked four points. I'm going to just read it so everybody's clear. We said, "Let me ask you a few of the recommendations from the committee. For each one, please tell me if you think it is very important for the school district to do, somewhat important, not too important, or not at all important. The green is the very and somewhat important combine. The red is the not to or not at all important to combine. The first question at the top is adopt a new identity as the district of arts and innovation pro by providing educ educational opportunities currently offered at the school of engineering and arts or c and fair to all students. 82% say that that's either very or somewhat important for the district to do to undertake. Then create one district high school campus to provide all students equal access to secondary school opportunities. 71% think that's very or somewhat important. Operate fewer middle schools, 63% say that's very important and operate fewer elementary schools, 59%. How do parents feel the same? There is agreement between the community and parents on this issue. Uh the arts uh adopt a new identity as a district of arts and innovation. 87% of parents say either various somewhat important. Create one high school campus. 68% operate fewer middle schools. 66% operate fewer elementary schools. 61%. There is consensus and I have to say I was surprised at the consensus on this. I think the community realizes that difficult decisions have to be made. Um they agree with the under the under the underlying fundamental statements that the district does operate too many buildings, the buildings are outdated. Um all of those things lead into to this support and it'll be difficult obviously. Um but there is a support and an understanding in the community that this is probably a have to. Finally, where are folks getting their information? And I think that this is part of this this is a part of the problem across the state of Minnesota that there's not one relied source of information about anything. Now everybody has their own source of information. So and basically the top four are statistical tie. The district website, the district newsletter, the word of mouth in the metro area now is as high as it is in outstate Minnesota. uh one in five people relying on informal discussions with friends and neighbors. Local newspaper, throw in social media as a as a digital word of mouth. Then you have three uh 30% of folks relying on social media mailings uh than teachers local news. Um if we look at how they prefer to receive information, it be it gives the district really a clear indication of the best way to do it. It is print. It is the discussion and this is the tension and we see this in districts that rely this is a value judgments on mine but I'll have the data to back it up too much on electronic because electronic is a pull communication source. It requires the user if you're a 75year-old that doesn't have kids in the district what need do you have to go on the website? You don't have any need unless there's a school board race. print gets it in the hands of folks if it's in the mailbox. So, if we combine mailings, the district newsletter, and local newspaper, it's a flat majority that want to hold something in their hands. Uh we have uh 19% the website, 12% social media. Most people didn't want to don't want to admit that social media is their preferred source of uh information, but one in eight in the district do. um and one in 12 really prefer talking to folks uh as their primary source of information. Um so I think a concentrated effort on communication to get it out there. There is consensus in the community on what needs to be done. There's consensus on why it needs to be done. I think the issue is getting the communication effort out there at this point in time in order to have broader awareness of the situation facing the district. The reasons that the district uh is has to make these decisions will be fundamental in the success uh of uh implementing vision 2030. So I'd be happy to answer any questions you have. It's a lot of information. Does anyone have a question? Dr. Long, >> can you go back and explain um page 200? >> I don't have the page number. >> It says uh buildings u meet needs today. >> Oh, what the specific question is? Sure. Thinking about district school buildings and facilities, do you think they meet the needs of educating uh children today is the specific question. >> Okay. And then I because I feel like you gave us some conflicting information when you talked about this slide versus when you talked about slide 208 which was about >> Oh, the school the is that I I'll guess the school buildings are outdated. >> Yeah. >> Yes. So the so the district facilities are outdated and expensive to maintain. That's the caveat. Of what? >> Of >> so of 208. You're thinking the key findings of the >> Yes. of the key findings >> the facility. Okay. And so that one that talks about sorry the slide buildings meeting today's needs. So that doesn't encompass the outdated part of the facilities. It doesn't. We have the caveat of it's expensive to maintain at this point in time. So that's just about meeting the learning needs. This is about being outdated and expensive to maintain. >> Okay. I guess I'm going to have to go back and watch the tapes about what you said at that part in the slide cuz it was Yeah, it conflicted for me versus what you said later on about the slides and buildings. The the the first slide is looking at do they fulfill educating the children today. The second one is they're outdated, deferred maintenance, all of those things that make them expensive to maintain. Does that help? >> No. >> No. >> No. Still conflicting information in my brain. Brand um this is an interesting thing to note. So when you on side six when you ask people what they like the most. So that was open-ended questions, right? Arts was not mentioned at all. Um it was only when arts was and innovation or engineering or any of that or unless it was under the scattered or >> it it would be in they could mention it we'll collapse them down into categories. So, a variety of programs and broad curriculum. It could they could say the arts. Um they could say other programs and we'll collapse them down. >> But it didn't come out to be big enough to be its own category. I'm just noting that because it wasn't until the end when it was >> when it was cued that it became a a big thing. I just think that's interesting to note. Um, it was also interesting to note that class size was something that was brought up by as a right was brought up by also an open-ended question as slide seven as one of the most serious issues. That's an open-ended question as well, right? >> Yes. Most serious. Yes. So 10 10% said large class sizes. >> So that's also something I think we should really note. Um, yeah. So, I thought those were two interesting things that um I just wanted to note and point out. I just thought that was interesting that you see sports coming out as one of the the open-ended questions uh in addition to curriculum, you know, academics but not arts. I >> it's a something to noodle on. Just pointing it out. >> Yeah. No, I one in 10 of motans sports for what they like most. Yeah. Dr. Long. >> Yeah. So, I guess another thing that I noticed in there, the importance of teachers to the community. And um I know that is something that I brought up before about my initial reaction to that was, you know, we're going to be closing buildings. That means laying off teachers or decreasing that. I'm just wondering how that's how that that's going to go over for the community. Um, I mean I guess I'm not answer asking you for that question answer to [clears throat] that question, but I guess that's a really big concern of mine because the individual teacher is what is impactful for that individual family and when that individual teacher is no longer there. I just, you know, I I I just I don't know. I guess I I wish we would look more at cutting administration versus the people who are making that individual contact with those children. Any other board comments related to Morris Leatherman survey? Seeing none, thank you very much. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Peter. very much. >> All right. This brings us to the vision 2030 statuate statutory operating debt SOD plan work finalization of phase one take it updated options and SOD items. Superintendent Stall. >> All right, I'll go ahead and kick things off again. Thank you, Peter, for your presentation um for pro providing us data from our community that will help inform our next steps. uh board members. Again, much of this information in Peter's presentation tonight was to help us understand the pulse of the community around the reimagine our deal work. Um and this information now will start helping us merge the short-term SOD plan with some of the vision work for facilities and programming after we get that SOD plan up and running. [snorts] Um this next slide you've seen multiple times. the short-term timeline uh is a reminder of where we are in now early November. Um as you'll note, we've spent the last couple of meetings focused on that site consolidation portion of phase one of the phase one SOD plan. Tonight we learned about the survey results uh which also provided information to the board regarding community perception on elements of that vision recommendation. Um, additionally tonight, uh, CFO Hisel will also provide greater context regarding additional reductions that are going to be needed in the development of the SOD plan beyond site consolidation. Um, assistant superintendent Dr. McDow will be sharing information about that site consolidation plan. um we have several years of reductions that we must make and the majority of those reductions are in addition to site consolidation and you'll see some of those numbers tonight. Um, as we review this extended timeline, I I want to just share a little bit um of information that the board and administration have received uh several emails um from from families, from staff on all facets of the vision recommendations and the phase approach to getting us to a better fiscal place of fiscal sustainability. I want to acknowledge those emails and I want to remind the board and community that we are currently in the initial stages in decision-m for the 2627 school year which also provides the groundwork for the SOD plan. So again this slide we got a ways to go on this entire slide but you can see the focus of where we are in phase one reducing the footprint through initial building closure consolidations um remaining then the plan remaining uh with the building configuration related to bond worth create initial boundary adjustments finalize initial operating changes um in some of the information that we've gotten from uh community members and staff and families, they're asking for information and plans that are far later in the phase. And I just wanted to point that out and remind people this is where we are right now. And just because we don't have some of those plans that are going to happen well down the road doesn't mean we won't when that time comes. So, I just I just wanted to to mention that. Um, I also wanted to clarify a couple other things. Um, based on some of the input and the feedback just to set context um, as we get started tonight. This is difficult, emotional, and incredibly complex work. Those of you who were here during listening time, um, you heard some amazing people talk about this school district. Uh, and that's one of the things that I um am so proud of is just the engagement and the pride that folks have in all of their buildings, right? That's what we want. We want people to love their schools. I want to recognize that our current school board, um, our current administration, our current families did not create this budget crisis in the current state of our school district. That being said, we are the ones now responsible for navigating these changes and in doing so creating something better for our students and our families. We will create the district our students want, need, and deserve. As we do this, I'm also asking us to lean in to the greatest asset we have. And I know I have only been here 15 months, but I felt immediately the strength in this community of pride and commitment to being a member of the Ardale community. I am so proud to serve in a community that doesn't have some of the divisiveness that other school districts have. Last [snorts] Wednesday when we were at that tribal consultation um presentation [clears throat] um we got a question asking well what was the push back that you got when you did the land acknowledgement resolution and the tribal flags and our chair was able to say no push back at all and people in the room couldn't believe that and I think that speaks so much to who we are. [snorts] One of my goals since joining District 281 has been to co-create our future with this community. That's why we engaged the most robust community engagement I've ever been a part of, even though a lot of people apparently haven't heard of it. That's why we sent postcards to all residents living in our school district, mailed postcards, um not only those with school age children uh to request input on that survey last year. Um that's why we held multiple community building meetings for input. That's why we met with staff in every building with students in every grade level 612. The promise to co-create with our community is why we invited our community to be part of the Reimagine Ardale Vision team. I'm reminding you of things that I know many of you in this room and on listening remember, but I think it's important to restate some of it. We had 158 people apply to be a part of that vision team. We formed the 46 member team representing every demographic and the geographic region of our district. The commitment of my team to co-create with the community is why we facilitated without outside consultants a process for eight months to support the community vision to study to analyze to have access to information and ultimately make the recommendations. This transparent community engaged process is why everything is on our website. Everything's been discussed at public meetings with the school board and our community. And I know that as we work through this process, it is going to be impossible to make everyone happy. I know that families, staff, and students will advocate for what they love and what they believe is right. We have great schools across the district, and I'm continuously reminded of how much people love their schools, and I'm really proud of that, grateful for it. It's good news. However, ultimately I am responsible for bringing forward recommendations to the board that meets the needs to the best degree possible of 10,000 students. I'm asking our community to stay engaged as we work through the process, the timeline, and the complexity of this work. Here's what I noted to be true right now. We have decisions that we have to make for the 2627 school year and we have to complete a statutory operating debt plan by January. That's our immediate action. Beyond that, as we look to the next phase, we have recommendations from the vision team and we need to determine what of those recommendation ma recommendations makes the most sense to implement and then how do we do that best. We don't have all those answers today, but as we work through each phase, I hope we have earned the trust around intentionality and planning and ensuring that we are well prepared and working with our community to do this. I also believe it's important for you to understand my confidence in us navigating this work. I am surrounded by a leadership team who will deliver on both the short-term and the long-term vision work. We have a dedicated staff, board, and community members. Ultimately, the board and the community will have some important decisions to make. And although there is nothing easy about this work, I'm excited about today and I'm excited about the future of Robbinsdale Area Schools. So with that, I'm going to hand this off to Dr. McDow uh to um go ahead and take us through some of the site consolidation work and setting context. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh we put this slide up here while Dr. Stala was talking just as an awareness and anticipation. This slide is not new. It was one [snorts] of the slides that we had at the beginning because as the superintendent stated, the work is complex and it's clunky and all of those bullet statements are starting to come true right now, right? And it's leading to the last one, which is to get us to where where are the possibilities? Where are the opportunities that'll be created? And really the the work now is how do we do this first part? How do we do it in such a way that we can reduce our footprint and we can push things through that are efficient, they're effective and maintain equity, they're desirable, they're feasible, and they're sustainable. And how do we do it in such a way that we follow guiding change? Right? How do we stay true to what we said? here's how we're going to do this short-term movement, the short-term change, and put us in what we believe to be is the best decision of all the worst decisions, right? That's that's really where we are there. There's not a perfect decision in this. There's not really a great decision in this. There are real decisions that have to be made and we have to figure out what do we believe is the best one that again is desirable in that context is feasible we can pull it off and is sustainable regardless of what happens with a referendum. So to do that in the short term, we've talked about this before, we start with some primary decision points, right? We focus on building capacities, utilization, enrollments, and enrollment doesn't mean just total enrollment, but individual school enrollment, projected enrollments, um operational costs, what can be saved, what needs to still be spent, building conditions, the locations of buildings, the communities that they serve, and then all the secondary decision points to try to get us to something that is a decision that seems to make sense. again across not great options. So on October 20th, we shared considerations for elementaryaries. We shared considerations for middle schools. We talked about that there's a need for five to six non-magnet elementary schools. There's several elementary schools that have low enrollment. Um they're all built around the same time. They have facility needs. There's a need for non-magnet elementary schools to support in that southeast corner. And we have Sonos and Neil and Noble that have sites that are all conducive to future sustainability. Um, and the fact that Lake View because of its footprint is not as conducive to that. Middle school, we ran through the same process, we really think we need one to two middle schools that are non-magnet. Uh we went through the capacities. We went through uh Spanish immersion. How many students are in that program at Plymouth Middle School. The facility builds are about the same. We noted that RMS Robinville Middle School has the most facility needs of all the buildings right now. Significant more. Significantly more. Um and then we went on to talk a little bit about Fair Crystal. We do need to have a mag or a middle school that is somewhat centrally located and we talked about a Robbinsdale middle school having a site that has future options for configuration. Right? So now we kind of start getting into that 2030 what could be that said we now are moving into what truly are our constraints and limitations based on our guiding change based on those filters and they really boil they just are what they are right so from for elementaryaries if we're not going to include magnet schools in an option for the first year as a reduction or a movement away from and that's part of that guiding change, then that puts a constraint on what can we do because it takes elementary schools out of the mix to do that. We know that Robin Middle School needs um option for for movement in that when we move those kids out of there and we take that building offline, we we restrict everything else that we can do. Right? So if if Robinville Middle School comes off now, we're left with limited choices if we don't do anything else with Fair Crystal, if we just use Plymouth Middle School as an option or we just use Samberg as an option. All of our schools have differing capacities, so that changes things. Some buildings can hold a lot, some buildings can hold less. Our buildings have different configurations. We need to take into account special education programming. We need to pay attention to multiple moves and what that might mean. We want to minimize disruption until we know more about what a referendum might be able to help us do. We have to pay attention to specific transportation needs. And that's not just buses running, but parking at buildings, traffic flow at buildings, things that are already in process that we would otherwise have to maybe spend money on to try and change if we made certain decisions. We need access for our enrollment center. We need to pay attention to our racially isolated schools. We have unique and building specific programming. We're some of that tonight, right? We need to pay attention to that. It's not just magnet school programming. It's programming that takes place in all of our schools. So, what's the impact? What can we keep even if even if a a school moves and consolidates with another school, what can stay? We need to pay attention to what the impacts may be to students and families due to any type of a change. We have to pay attention to the ability to sustain the function with or without a referendum. So the moves we make for 26 27 we've got to make sure that we can sustain those even if we don't have a referendum come into play and at the same time they work to our advantage if a referendum is able to be realized. We pay attention to cost of deferred maintenance over time. We know that High View um and Robbinsdale Virtual Academy have specific needs. So, we make a move uh to Sanberg and we we got to figure something out there. And then space requirements for non-instructional staff. So, we we also have staff that aren't directly engaging with students and we need to account for that space. And then we need to pay attention to equitable learning opportunities and not get in our own way with that. try to make decisions that are going to keep that balance not just with efficiency and effectiveness but also equity. So our general recommendations presented on oc October 20th were when reducing elementary footprint to five or six, a middle school to one or two, remove Robinsdale Middle School from the portfolio, remove this current this building, current ESC building from the portfolio and move staff to a different site or multiple sites and relocate community education offices to Crystal Learning Center. Our specific recommendations are this. Close Robbinsdale Middle School and move students to Sandberg Middle School. Close Lake View Elementary and repurpose it. Close Sonos Elementary and consolidate it with Neil. Close the Educational Services Center and move to Lake View Elementary. move High View and Robinsdale Virtual Academy to Lake View and relocate community education office spaces to Crystal Learning Center. So, what I want to walk through now are some of the rationale and reasons for each one of the sites. Um, and it it's a lengthy list, but I think it's important for people to understand. Once again, this is complex. It's clunky. [snorts] This is this is the most desired choice out of all the bad choices that are so Robbinsdale Middle School. It's one of two schools in the city of Robbinsdale. We need to acknowledge that the building, however, has the most significant short-term and long-term facility needs at approximately $30 million. not even close to to to other buildings. It does house community gym space. While the turf field is not full-sized, it's at replacement status. However, the grass fields could continue to be used regardless of whether the building was in um was being operated. It does operate the international balorate middle years program. It has a enrollment of 571 currently out of 1,600 that it could have a capacity for. The current anticipated enrollment of Robbinsdale Middle School can be sufficiently consolidated with Samberg Middle School because Samberg Middle School currently operates at an enrollment of 306 and has a capacity of 1500. So both of those can fit in there. The consolidation of those two middle schools will increase efficiencies and staffing costs, programming costs, building operational costs, and potentially transportation costs. This consolidation will cause High View to have to move. >> Okay. >> Samber Middle School has a significant amount of land. It also has a pool. and the district can retain the Robinsdale Middle School site in anticipation of a bond referendum. That allows for a ton of options. We don't know what those are yet, but we can retain that for options. The location also creates an opportunity for partnership with the community in Robbinsdale and the option depending upon what would go in that site, an opportunity for revenue generation. This move is sustainable without a referendum and the move impacts the SOD strategy. Lake View Elementary, it also is one of two schools in the city of Robbinsdale. It's the third lowest facility cost. You've heard that earlier tonight. The building is in relatively good shape. That's one of the reasons why we believe that it shouldn't be closed. It needs to be repurposed and still be in use. While it's not a magnet school, it does operate the international balorate primary years program. It does have low enrollment. It's located on a small parcel of land that does limit future expansion for instructional purposes. It can be repurposed to house the enrollment center, ESC staff, high view programming, and it will keep Ardale facilities and programming in the city of Robbinsdale. Other considerations, the entrance and front parking are suitable for that enrollment center. Multiple options are there for dual entrances with having the high view programming, RVA programming programming, and the ESC there. There is enough space to add additional parking if if that should be needed. It's located to the bus line and consolidation of Lake View with other ele schools will again create efficiencies in staffing costs, programming costs, building operational costs, and potentially transportation costs. It's also sustainable without a referendum and it impacts the SOD strategy. Like before, we've we've lumped the South Central elementary schools together because they are unlike the northern portions of the district where they are relatively close in proximity to one another. That's a big difference geographically from the north side of the district and the south side of the district. It also complicates things because of the close proximity and all the great things that each one of these schools are doing with kids. They also have low enrollment rates and that minimizes disruption. It won't feel like that to buildings, but from a a student number standpoint, that is something to to consider. RSI does not have the capacity to effective hold to effectively hold more students. Sonison and Neil have enough capacity to consolidate and function effectively. Sonison does have more conditional needs than RSI and Neil. RSI and Neil however are very close in their condition. Noble as we know geographically is really the only school that serves that far southeast corner of the district and Noble has the capacity to absorb students from other schools. All of the schools have the ability for future expansion and land land use. Consolidating Neil and Sonos will create efficiencies in staffing costs, programming costs, building operational costs, and potential transportation costs. Keeping Noble maintains an elementary school in that southeast corner until future decisions are made. Keeping Neil or Sonos allows for space need created by that magnet constraint that I talked about. The move is sustainable without a referendum and it does impact the SOD strategy. an additional slide to that just to show the tenure forecast of facility needs because I think this becomes an important piece for people to see as we're thinking both short-term and long-term [sighs] you can see in when we're talking from our perspective when we're talking about Neil and Sonos in the first two years there's almost $5 million of need that need to go into Sonos versus one and a half for Neil it isn't until we get out 3 to 10 years that that starts to level out. And so what that tells us is we've got to make a a financial decision from a a facilities perspective within one or two years. We don't know what the outcome of a referendum is going to be. So this plays into that type of a decision. Moving on to High View and Robinville Virtual Academy. They both will need to move uh out of Samberg Middle School if we move students into in from Robbinsdale Middle School. There's not an option. We've played around with all the different configurations. There's not a way to keep High View and Robinsdale Virtual Academy along with the consolidation of the middle schools. We originally thought we'd come back and maybe we could figure out how to do that. It's it's not going to work. And the reason for that is H High View has a potential need for at least 13 instructional spaces and two common spaces. They also need access to a lunchroom and offices. And if we put all those kids in the building, we end up having to do things like create four lunches and figure out how we maintain right now we separate out High View students from the middle school students that are there for things like lunchtime and things like things like that. and with all of the students in the building, we wouldn't be able to create that happening. Also, because of the way the classrooms are set up, High View does need to use a couple classrooms on the Sandberg side during the course of the day uh for some of the things that that students need. And currently with the minimum amount of middle school students there, we can do that by the way that they have the doors set up in that school. RVA, however, as it's run currently, it needs space just for walk-in Wednesdays. So, if they kept that going, we would just need to figure out space for Wednesdays. But beyond Wednesdays, there's no physical space requirement for the instructional part for RVA at this point in time. And the initial information that we have is that High View could occupy one floor of Lake View and ESC could occupy the other floor. This move is sustainable without a referendum. We've talked already a little bit about ESC, this building. It has significant needs, uh, significant needs. Um, any different location has to allow for an enrollment center and it is not a requirement that all ESC staff end up in the same location, right? it just we we can make things work so that that we can still get done what we need to get done and and not everybody has to fit perfectly in one building if that were the case. However, the initial information suggests like I said that the ESC departments could for the most part utilize one floor of Lake View. The move is sustainable. It impacts SOD strategy and because moving this staff isn't contingent upon someone moving into this building or moving out of a of another space, we can stagger that. We don't have to all move at the same time out of this space. Community education offices currently are at Fair Pilgrim. Those vacated spaces can provide additional special education space. Crystal Learning Center has available space right now. So the community education offices could utilize that space. The move is sustainable until the Crystal Learning Center lease expires. So that gives us some time with that one. So kind of wrapping it back up into the why, the rationale, the moves that I've shared in the previous slides, they adhere to the guiding change document that I've shared with people. They balance efficiency, effectiveness, and equity to the best we think we can get a balance out of that. They're most desirable of again the not great options, and they're feasible for 2026. They're sustainable regardless of a bond referendum. They do minimize disruption across the entire district. They continue to allow spaces for special education needs as we move students around. They allow for early learning and adventure programming needs to be accounted for. They provide opportunities for future referendum and reimagine 2030 options. They do allow for more efficient use of existing buildings. They mitigate the potential number of students leaving the district based on our in our estimation due to school closure and they balance the need for the SOD plan resizing and reimagine 2030. All of that said, these moves would get us approximately 2.5 million in the first year of the SOD plan. >> That's out of order. >> And that with that, I'm going to turn it over to Kristen. [clears throat] So when we talk about you know you have the the facility component um and then we have the SOD and we've said all along that we would be marrying you know what needs to happen with facilities or at least the trajectory of facilities decision- making along with the SOD plan. Um this is kind of the first phase of where you start looking at the two combined if you will. Um when we were in reductions a year ago for 2526 at that time the projection was 19 to 21 million deficit and we cut just short of 16 million. That left about a $5 million unbalanced budget for a particular year. When you look at 2425, you heard tonight that we are um well, you didn't get an exact number, but we are going to our unassigned fund balance is going to be approximately $11 million deficit. That carries over that deficit that fund balance carries over into this year into 2526. And then you take into account what wasn't um reduced based on projections. And again I'd like to clarify these are general numbers. We are currently working on the revised budget which will adjust other numbers but just for uh illustration understanding purposes and and probably not significant deviation. We didn't cut 5 million. That means by the time that we finish this year and there's we're at a point where there's nothing more we can really do for 2526 will be instead of that a negative 11 million we'll be at a negative 7 uh 16 million. Where it becomes important um to have a the visualization of a balanced an annual balanced budget is [snorts] the compounding effect. You can see if had we had been able to um cut the $5 million out of this year, uh it would have changed the trajectory of we don't need to now cut the $5 million next year plus what that plus what the the growth um in in expenditures over revenue is creating. So when considerations as far as what we need to cut and when we cut them, it actually serves us better to cut more in advance because it doesn't compound itself as the years go on. So, when we're looking at 2627 and you say have $5 million that carry over from this year and potentially an up to $4 million um of inflationary factors, loss of enrollment, those sorts of things, it's a combined $9 million. Now, should we not do anything? You can see as that roll or that $9 million as it rolls forward, it just uh expounds on itself. it just gets worse. And so when Dr. McDow had said we get 2.5 the estimate is $2.5 million in savings that's of a 8 to9 um million just to balance us out. It does not help get us out of deficit but it certainly [snorts] prevents us from going farther into deficit. some of the options. Administrative recommendation to close uh Robindale Middle School, Sonos Elementary, ESC, and repurpose Lake View. That's the $2.5 million. We have um IB that would include the primary years program, the middle years program, and would be the reductions. Yet, Cooper uh high school would run through 26 27. Again, this is not this is something that was discussed um late winter last spring. And you can see the savings uh that we would re that we would recognize from not having those programs other than what's at Cooper of $300,000. We have the option to do a middle school sixth period day. If we went that direction, we would save $1.2 million estimate. We have the option to do a high school six period day. If we went that direction, we'd save an estimated $2.4 million. We have the option to eliminate magnet transportation. If we did that, we would save $1.723 million. We have the option to uh reduce magnet transportation specifically to uh Plymouth Middle School, which would be $270,000. We had talked about a year ago um Minneapolis zip codes. If we eliminated all Minneapolis transportation, it'd be $363,000. And then additional building closures. Um we could do above what is the administration recommendation for 2627 and we could potentially get another $2 million, but it would require us to deviate from the guiding principles. One thing I would like to point out at the top of this slide, it says we need to reach $8 million. Again, I said we're in generalization of numbers right now. The other slide said 9 million, 8 to 9 million without a revised budget. But to stay balanced, I think the baseline we're it's not probably going to be less than 8 million. It might be more, but that gets us um that gets us in the uh neighborhood of the number that we need to reach just to be balanced for next year. There are other options um that we could use, other levers that we could pull. We could explore elementary music. We could explore middle school athletics and activities, additional programs, our software subscriptions, our uh additional non-instructional staff reductions, employment contract efficiencies, early retirement incentives, specialist scheduling, and daily schedules, and general transportation changes. The reason why these don't have numbers is quite honestly it would be uh this information at least to some degree was vetted a year ago when we were looking at reductions on the first slide. Um and we can come up with those numbers relative with uh relative ease. This would require a deeper dive into what is the board's uh interest andor pallet as far as exploring particular options on this schedule. But nonetheless, um they can be levers that we need to uh that we use to pull to get us into the 8 million plus range. Now, again, I'm never going to say to you, I've always said we can't cut our way out of this. But I'm not going to say to you, stop at 8 million because again, the more we do now, the less we have to do later. we turn a corner to start building the district um into what we need it to be as opposed to reducing the district which is hard and painful um every time you do it. So, so the other piece we want to add in here is we have an adjusted timeline uh that we want to put out there as we're working through all the the details and I put that other slide up there. This is clunky and it's messy and it's imperfect at best. Uh, one of those imperfections comes in when we have a statutory two week two week posting requirement we've talked about in our original plan. And when you put together the timing days of the board meetings on Mondays and then publication deadlines that are Thursdays and have to be in greater detail the Thursday before your two weeks actually takes you needing or requires you to have four weeks between submission and an actual hearing date for any closures. So, what basically that means as we're looking at our recommendations, the the the place we're at now is not in a place we didn't think we were going to be. Our original plan had us giving the first round of final options on tonight to really set us up for a final decision or final recommendation by the 17th and the board making a decision by the 24th. What we really need to do if we are going to have a hearing in December is the board needs to take action on recommendations for publication. Different than closure recommendations for publication. So the board is going to need to approve. Here's what we think we're going to close so that that can go into the paper. Has to be in the paper and it has to meet two requirements. It has to be two cycles of posting and the second posting has to be at least seven days prior to when the hearing is. So, back to this is why our two weeks grew into four weeks real quick as we were doing this is you can't make that work and get to a December 8th all at the same time. The other option, however, would be the board continues down the path we're on, which would mean recommendations for publication happen on the November 24th. It just means that we'd have to add a meeting that could be no sooner than December 22nd because you got to meet that 7day requirement. So, another way of looking at this is what I have on the screen now. either the board on the 17th, November 17th, would take up for approval final facility recommendations for publication. So the board says, "Yes, this is what we're put this is this is what we're going to put in the paper that we anticipate making a decision on." that then goes into the paper for two cycles. The second cycle not being any closer than 7 days to the hearing date. That means that it will take us all the way out to December 15th, which actually gives us one more week. It also um doesn't conflict with concerts and such that were taking place on December 8th um if there's any benefit to that. But that would mean that the decision of having a hearing and the board voting on school closure would happen December 15th rather than December 8th. The additional option that I shared was that you move everything back a week, which means that we stay on the schedule of the board on the 24th making [snorts] a facility recommendation for publication as planned on the 24th. But we have to add a December 22nd date in there to actually have the hearing and the vote for any school closure. Other than that, we are on the exact timeline that we've planned to be on. It's it's just like I said, it's a between the publication and the um deadline and the way we have the board meeting set up, it didn't work out exactly the way we early anticipated that it would. So, our next steps for you would be one, we recommend that you adjust the current schedule. Um, and we would recommend November 17th is when we take action on the recommendations for publication and the 15th be the public hearing. You heard tonight what our recommendation is. Uh, I don't anticipate that being changed at this point uh for all the reasons that uh we shared. Uh and the second thing is is we based on the additional information need the board to be prepared to share reactions and further questions regarding additional reductions because as we pointed out the recommendation that we have currently that fits with the guiding change with the parameters that we've set gets us 2.5 of the expected eight. So, we still have a bit of work to do on that for the SOD plan for 2627. And with all of that information, I will turn it over to the superintendent or board for questions. board. [clears throat] >> Just a clarifying on the um for the virtual academy. Uh you said that no no physical space was needed and I just had a question as to where the teachers are when they are providing online instruction or their office space or any of that kind of thing. >> So currently they have spaces that they can work out of. They have shared classroom spaces. Um the the idea is that we wouldn't have to have dedicated spaces for them that you would think of in a teacher teaching a class in a classroom. And so we would be able to build in some flexibility with that. As I talked with um principal wear and trying to plan forward what what are the minimum things we absolutely need to do and I'm sure as I say that right now I've got some teachers watching going or watching going no way no way no way. Um, so I want to be careful about making any definitive answers, but in our conversations with principal wear, um, it would be very feasible for us to figure out solutions for teachers who are teaching primarily or 100% online. Thank you, >> Dr. Hillbrand. >> Yeah. So, I've been hearing from some staff um concerns about um the buildings between Sonos and Neil in that Sonos has more of the large has two gyms, has a multi-purpose room, and they were concerned about Neil just not having the right spaces to have a big to have the two schools combined. Um, and so I just wanted I just I assume that you guys have considered those parameters as well. Um, but just wanted to put that out [music] there that that was a concern that staff have expressed. Um, in terms of the spaces and I don't know, but this is just something that has been brought to me. So, I wanted to put it out there. >> I was wondering that too. >> It it is there is a concern with that, right? That's one of those trade-offs um in terms of what what a building has currently and what the future of combining buildings together will be. What does that look like? So when we look at when we look at capacity as we've talked about before when we look at utilization it it's can the number of students fit with fit fit within that facility based on the programming. Now, that said, again, just like I said with the with the teachers of RVA, right, with all of our Sonos folks sitting here, they're going to they're going, "Well, wait a minute. We've got this, this, and that's true. I mean, it it's what you're used to. It's what you have set up. It's how you have programmed. It's the balance of does that make sense to figure have to figure out how to do that over keeping a building that has a significant amount of facility need in the first two years. Back to they're both not great choices. when you combine everything and layer everything, what seems to be the best choice for what we're trying to do moving forward. >> Um, and then I just have one more question if that's um just something to think about. You know, as we're talking about racially isolated schools, you know, one thing in this this plan as you're talking about magnifying everything, this plan doesn't touch either of the racially isolated schools and so they continue to be racially isolated schools. Um just you know as we think about as we move forward um in the planning how we could address and maybe um help alleviate that so that we can make um more balanced schools um instead of having two schools be racially isolated especially you know Northport's kind of in a weird corner but Meadow Lake isn't an area where we could possibly really address that. Um, I know there's so many things in play right now, but as we move forward, I'd like to keep that in in mind as we continue the process. >> And I appreciate that and you are it's accurate. Um, the intent right now again in to the the guiding principles is to limit the amount of transition for students. Um, so until the district um, essentially has a vision or it's a declared vision of what we're going to look like moving forward, we're trying to trying to mitigate as many um, as much movement as possible to like even to reboundry to reboundry again. Um, and so it is a recognition that that is what we have and it is a recognition that it needs to be addressed, but we're trying to allow for the vision to play out a little bit more before we we reboundry the district. I think executive director had something to say with the last >> I did. I wanted to add something to the space about the gym. Um, so, uh, Neil Elementary has a dedicated gym space. You are correct. It also has a luxury of having a very large cafeteria. And with that large cafeteria, there is a wall that you can pull and you still can have um lunchroom on one side and a gym on the other side. But then it gives you an opportunity to open the wall and have a giant um multi-purpose room for all staff assemblies. Long I I don't know. I just feel bamboozled. I mean, here we are again where now we're going to be voting on something and we're talking about getting rid of IB, getting rid of other things that before really upset families and parents and now you want to change the timeline and that wasn't thought of before and yeah, no, this is this is not something that I like to be pushed up against. So, what ideas do you have? And it sounds to me like you'd like to delay the timeline to that second option, but we've we've had multiple conversations. Um, we've known what this timeline is, but we are open to ideas and suggestions of what's what's a better solution to get us to using the factors that we have um to get us to that cost savings. We're open to your ideas if you've got some that you've been thinking about that you'd like to share. >> Yeah, I would just like to stick to whatever our original timeline is. I mean, you know, if there was a mess up on your counting, then there was. >> Well, a couple things. We're not asking you to vote on IB or any programming like that. It's about the facilities. Secondly, the overall timeline hasn't changed. If you look back in your um documents, the overall timeline is exactly what we said it was going to be. Tonight was going to be when we would present our final options. It says that in there the 17th was going to be final recommendations. So both nights were going to be final options and recommendations. So that is correct. We are right on time with that. >> So and then what happened to the option of being presented something, being able to talk about it at work session and then being able to vote on it like we keep stepping away from these procedural things that we've talked about before. And yes, we are getting a rid of IB that was clearly stated in these slides. >> We are not making Sorry, Bob. We are We are not making We are not asking the board to make any decisions of anything in the year one SOD options right now other than talking about the site closures. We needed tonight to bring forward to the board and the community the notion that the site consolidation is going to get us a fraction of what we need. But we wanted to be sure that everyone was well aware that there are going to have to be other decisions. None of these decisions need to be made right now. If you look at the timeline, we have multiple dates for the discussion of all of those ideas and to provide more information that the board will need in decision making around those. >> Thank you. I have a question. Um, can you remind me, I looked in the folder, but I didn't see which of the schools, Neil and Sonison, has more square foot, more of a square footage. >> I think it's Sonison. >> Is it by a lot? Um, off the top of my head, Marine will have it. She's in the back. She'll have exact numbers for you. >> Okay. You can get back to me on that and we can go to a different question then. >> Um, Helen, >> so just I just want to understand. So, what you're asking for us to do tonight is to make a or to vote on when we're going to take action. In other words, we need to know if we're having we're going to have stick with the board meeting on the 15th or if we're going to add one on the 22nd. >> That's correct. And just to and to point out, I don't believe we took a vote on timelines. I think when I presented originally, I said maybe six to 10 to 12 times. These are draft timelines. >> Yeah. >> Um >> just a question one. >> Yeah. And so to your question, um, what we're what we're trying to do is let you know that the from our perspective, what we presented tonight is what we would be presenting on the 17th, right? Uh, that's what we believe to be the case. Um, if that is still something the board is willing to take up as a recommendation for publication, then we would be able to do the public hearing on December 15th. However, you're correct that if the board wants to stay on the November 24th schedule because that was the original day, the 24th was, all that that means is we would need to add the 22nd as a board meeting because that's the soonest date that we could do the hearing and the vote. So, do we need to make a motion >> based on that or >> we will I will uh to go back to the square footage question. Neil is 72,774 square ft. Sonathan Sonison is 76,03. So, you're looking at 3500 give or take in square footage. question. >> Director Bowman, thank you. >> My question is if we push it out to the 22nd, do we interfere with uh any of the public that want to be here because it's so close to the the holidays where people make travel reservations months to a year in advance. I I'm a little uncomfortable with the 22nd because of its proximity to a major religious holiday. >> That's a school day. >> We are still in school. >> When do when are we out of school? >> You know, sorry. >> Yeah, I was going to say I think it's >> right. I don't know why you'd ask your superintendent what the calendar [laughter] of the school year is. It's still a work day for >> I apologize. >> So we're not in school. >> Know your lane. Must needs to know her lane. >> So we're [clears throat] not in school that day. Okay. >> That' be a problem. >> Can I just add especially since it's asking for input? >> Yeah. Go ahead. That was my That was my addition. It's a problem if we're expecting input from the public. >> Thank you. >> That's not to say that we can't I mean, we have a lot of dates up here. That's not to say the board obviously we'd have to have the official hearing aligned to um statute aligned to all the requirements. It's not to say we couldn't have other opportunities for input from the community. I have a clarification question about the work that needs to be done in the buildings that doesn't come under out of the same funds that we're trying to I mean that's LTFM and that's different right >> correct I just feel like it's a setup. But whatever. >> I guess I'd like to hear I guess I'd like to hear more about that because I think what we say at the board table as we have been working in an incredibly transparent way to build trust We need to be really clear on that. So again, the board does not have to move anything. I want to be clear on that. Also, if there are questions or additional information that the board would like us to go back, prepare, and present on November 17th, we're happy to do that. >> Great. >> Oh, thank you, >> Director Helen. Yeah. And I I just want to say that I know that at the work session I because I brought it up, I clearly asked and we talked about IB with RMS and Lake View closing um potentially and that or with RMS closing and how that couldn't be maintained then and that that program would then naturally wind up going away. So, we did talk about it. Um it wasn't like a main bullet point, but it we did talk about it. So, um, you may not remember, we're all human, but that was brought up. Um, I would like to suggest or propose, I don't know you need to move it or whatever, but that we have the final recommendations come on November 17th so we can have the meeting on the 15th rather than adding um a meeting on the 22nd because I agree that's a very hard time of year for a lot of people. Um, and so rather than trying to add one in then that we stick with the December 15th um, for the public input and voting on on whatever plan we wind up with. >> Are you going to do that in the form of a motion? >> Sure. I I move whatever I just said. >> Okay. >> I'll second that. >> There's a motion to make the final decision on the 17th so we can have the public hearing on December 15th. It was seconded by Director Bowman. Superintendent, >> I just want to state again that if the board has questions, if there's more information that you'd like us to bring forward regarding this current recommendation, we can do that on the 17th. >> Share that with you and and still would be requesting that you take action. >> Okay. I I would like a little more information related to Neil and Son and um in my head I would choose the larger school even if it needed um more work to give us flexibility. And so I just if you can provide more information about why the recommended choice is the best choice for us because I mean you're the ones that are in in it every day and really and I'm just like want to know a little more. >> We can [snorts] do that. We'll bring in >> I would appreciate that with that. She will >> I just a little more information about why that's why Neil is so much better than Sonis and >> I want to be clear so much better is not the wording at all. This >> more appropriate. >> Well, and again I think I I appreciate the um the points brought up tonight about the square footage, about the makeup of the gyms, all of that. At the end of the day, we have talked about these two buildings a lot and I think the slide as we look at that 10-year forecast and that's something we'll continue to work with Marine on, but as we look at what would have to be done in the next two years, um that was an important factor as we're coming forward tonight. >> Thank you. Okay. So, board members, we have a motion on the floor to make a big decision in two weeks. Are you ready to vote? I don't see any more hands. All in favor of doing the vote on November 17th so we can have the hearing on December 15th, please say I. >> I. I. >> Oppose. Say no. >> No. >> We are going to take a vote on November 17th. And any questions that you have, get them to the superintendent. And if you need more information, clarifications of any kind, we are going to need to be prepared to vote on the 17th. It's not going to be fun, going to be difficult, funky, chunky. >> Can I just add to that just so that just to drive home the point of clarity? It's while it is earlier, it's one week earlier. This was the the the ask would have been for you to make that decision on the 24th instead of the 7. So, just want to >> Thank you. >> putting that into context. >> And no matter when it is, it's not going to be fun. It's not going to be easy. It's going to be hard. >> And I'd also add that the actual hearing and your vote is delayed a week. >> I was just going to say that this is the vote for publication. This is to post it as such. You will still have a public hearing which is a week later and a final decision which is actually a week later than what was posted. >> So the final decision will be December 22nd. Is that correct? >> Wait after the public hearing. >> Yep. That night. >> That night. >> Okay. >> And that's the >> after the public hearing we do the final decision and that there's there's no extra meeting on the 22nd then. >> Correct. And that and that was the original from the beginning. The night of the hearing is the night of the vote. >> Okay. All right. Is everybody clear? Does anybody have a question right now? >> We got it. All right. Thank you. >> Wow. [sighs] Okay. See what's coming up next. Board committee reports. Normally we do the report on listening time first, but since I was facilitating and I'm I'm going to go last on my board report. So, Director Bowman, can you take us down board reports? >> Yeah. Um I actually after months of not having any board reports, I do have a board report to share. Um my personal goal of visiting schools as part of my one-on- ons with Dr. Stallow has begun. Uh I visited Noble, Northport, uh Forest and Meadow Lake. Uh uh to say I was an impressed is an understatement. Uh I listened to the principles and observed teachers and students go on about the business of creating achievement. Uh I want to thank the principles and the teachers and the students for allowing us the time to uh watch and learn the important work uh that happens within our district. Um, I attended the FAC meeting. I attended a policy meeting. Uh, I attended as with other board members two separate three-hour professional development sessions through the MSBA titled building a high performance schoolboard team. It was parts A and B. Um, I attended this Cooper Marching Hawks indoor concert on Saturday night and wow. Uh, it was amazing. It's hard to feel sad when you're hanging around with a marching band. Uh it was a lot of energy. All of our booster groups are so important and it was fascinating to hear uh how expensive a music program is to any sort of budget. Uh so please I I will just throw a plug in for them. Please take the time to donate to the Hawk Marching Band program. Um uh they had a silent auction that evening and it was uh quite a wonderful event. Um, I also attended an MSBA event in Farmington, Minnesota titled the uh school uh student schoolboard representation event. One of the things that we've talked to a lot talked a lot about uh here at this board over the last three years is uh engagement of student voice. I was really really proud uh of the amount of student voice that our superintendent was able to [laughter] bring in to the vision 2030 process and the continued ongoing um ex I don't want to say exposure but engagement and involvement with students. Uh it's a wonderful uh thing for the superintendent to be doing but I really believe at this point it is time uh for this board to take some action. Uh there were 18 different school districts in attendance. 17 of them were with their student representatives. I represented W uh Robbinsdale and I had no student representatives to take with me that day. Uh it was amazing to learn what I learned. Uh such as the Proctor School District has included student voice for almost 20 years. Uh and in Waconia uh the mayor, the local mayor isn't involved and meets with students at the school once a week. Uh I learned so much and tonight I uh one of the things that I also learned there that day in talking with the wonderful students uh we were talking about student voice. What does it mean? What does it mean to have student voice and the desire to be heard as student voice? So I became very you know I wanted clarity on what that really means and I asked them uh for you what does it mean to say that you felt that your voice has been heard and it was unanimous among these students that they agreed that action demonstrates that they were heard. So, uh, with that, I am prepared this evening. I'm going to give this to the, um, uh, board chair because I am asking the agenda, uh, committee to, uh, place the topic of student voice in the board on a study session, uh, for January 2, 2026. Uh, focus of the conversation should be on grounding and identifying barriers and identifying action items to move forward. Um, and then I listed 15 things and I won't read them here tonight for uh, Brevity, but there was uh, just so many wonderful resources that were shared with us that day of things that we have not been exposed to as the board like the young people's leadership group or the good trouble group that are there to help facilitate moving student voice into the boardroom. So, um I'm hoping that we can find some time in January as a board to seriously take some time, craft a plan, and look towards gaining uh greater student involvement uh in the board process because uh as was aptly uh pointed out throughout the entire day, everything we do up here affects the daily lives of our students. So, it's important to have them here. Um and there was one more thing I want to bring up. It's really kind of unpleasant, but I'm just going to bring it up. We've heard lots of uh over the course of all my years of being an elected official and then over the course of the last year with our economic problems, uh we hear from many different people. We get wonderful emails that uh speak to us about difficult situations and uh they're always respectful and they're always heartfelt. But over the weekend, um, I, uh, the entire board received, uh, an email from an angry community member, and it was specifically aimed at me. Um, and included in that email was a statement saying that Director Bowman will receive appropriate consequences one way or another. Um, and I perceive this as a direct threat against me, my husband, and my dog. Uh it was not only threat uh threatening email that I have received from this resident. Um the resident went on to state >> director Bowman. Is this in order? I >> Yeah, it is. I'm going to bring this up because you know what? >> No, I'm thinking it's out of order. >> It's not out of order because you know what? We are experiencing this and I'm asking the community to uh let me just finish please because this is important. it. Um uh I've also we were also told that uh she this person plans >> to place it across all the platforms to make sure >> I think this is out of order. >> It's excuse me. Let's ask Liz because I've been threatened. >> I've been threatened. >> Once it's been ruled >> once there's been a decision that it's out of order, the speaker needs to stop. The speaker can appeal the decision of the chair. um that it's out of order, but that would be the the remedy to allow it. >> Okay. And so if the speaker would like to appeal the decision of the chair, how does appeal go? >> The majority of the board can overrule the decision of the chair or majority of the >> Okay, I've ruled it out of order. Um >> and I'll appeal it. >> It's been appealed. Um >> you know what? I'll withdraw except for my last statement. Finally, I need to be in front of this for my own safety. I understand there are always going to be disagreements, but threats either physical or psychological cannot be tolerated. >> She's still talking too. >> I'm done. >> You should have been in sooner. >> Please, let's not that have this happen again. >> Dr. Heling, do you have a report? >> Um, yeah. So briefly, I um went to Armstrong with Dr. Stalo and it was a wonderful visit as I'm sure you um all can expect and uh the most interesting lots of great things, but we went into the library and it was really great to see all the supports there. And if any of you've been to the library uh or the media center, it's not a library, media center. um they're you know it's a big space and often times when you go into media centers they're kind of empty and really quiet and we went in there and in one section the PSO and um you know college credit students were doing their work on one in one area and then there were AVID students with their teacher in another area and I for going on in the third area but there were kids and and staff in another area and then there was a room where kids were waiting to get in for their their supports that they were setting and it was so busy and so um lively and so well used and kids were checking out books and it was just really great to see um how you can take a space that can be really underutilized and ignored and turned it into the space which was it was like a three- ring circus but in the best way possible because everybody was engaged and and um doing things and using the space in the way that it should be used. So it was fantastic. Um other than that uh financial advisory committee is working on assumptions for next year. Um so that work is going really well and the policy committee has been meeting as you see the policies coming up and then as um director Bowman mentioned several of us have been going to or went to these MSBA trainings which were very um enlightening and I enjoyed the learning. So that is my report. >> Thank you Georgia Long. >> Um so I'm bringing um some information from district 287. I asked um that the LTFM report from the last meeting be placed in board books so people can go through and they can look at that. Um where it talks about uh since we do we voted on the LTFM for their we pay a portion of their LTFM along with the other member districts that are part of 287. So I thought that our community should see what our uh tax dollars kind of went to pay for their LTFM. Um and then also they shared some information with us about their nexus team which is a service that they provide to all their member districts where they will come out to the member districts if they are having um difficulties with students and um need some extra assistance about what to do as far as behavior changes or support or coaching or classroom management or positive behavior intervention supports. on and on and on. Um it's um right now a part of what we already pay for being a member of district 287, but we can also um have this service and try and keep more of our students in district through this service versus having them be sent to district 287. And so I'll pass that along to Dr. Stylo to, you know, um she can pass that along to whoever needs that information about that service and support. And that's it. Thank you. Um, director Huto. >> Yeah, I already gave report on the uh policy uh meetings that we've been part of. Uh, also attended the MSBA trainings. Uh, I attended my first uh community education uh meeting. Uh, the discussions were about the impact from the last year 2024 25 um and they were all wonderful information and I think we need to continue that. >> Thank you. Okay. Um first of all we had listening time tonight and we had 12 speakers. Um one was from seven dreams. Uh one was from uh one set of speakers represented the sea school and magnet schools. Three represented Sison. Three represented Lake View. There was a parent from Neo. Uh one parent wanted to talk about sibling enrollment and um another one was R spoke about the RMS auditorium. And then the last one was a speaker for the supporting the vision teams, support for the vision team, visioning team. And now my my board report is going to take a little bit of a twist. Uh it's going to be more of an interactive board report because I'm going to need input from you. As everybody knows, we have a vacancy on our school board and um application process for people who are interested is going on now and it closes November 6th. And the process that we thought we had for onboarding, for interviewing is not um particularly legal right now. There was an administrative what's it called? >> An advisory advisory opinion this year. So what we've done in the past and what other school districts have done in the past doesn't work. Everything we do needs to be in the public. So that means we're not going to be able to discuss the questions at a works at a study session we be because um if [snorts] we do that all of the questions in the interview will be public for the people who are interviewing and so I'm working I asked board members for input for questions. I took what I got from board members what I got from other school districts and MSBA and I'm compiling some questions. We only need seven at the most probably. Um, and then director Long will edit with me and that will come up to be the questions for our interview candidates. Now, here's where we get to the tricky part, though. We were thinking we would bring a candidate in, interview the candidate, have the other ones waiting out there, and we can't. We could do that, but if there's someone in the room that can text the questions to the people in the other room and it it just gets messy. So, I got this idea. How about if we interview our candidates League of Women Voters style? >> Everybody, you get the first question. You're first on the first question. Everybody answers. You are first on the second question. Everybody answers. You are first on the third question. Everybody answers. And so in our heads, we know exactly how all of them feel about that question before we move on to the next one. It seems to me it's more open. Everybody gets the question at the same time. It seems to be fair. And then um we move on to the decision-m process. H can I get like a thumbs up or like that could work doing it legal women because we have another thing we have to discuss. Okay. Would that work? Okay. Work. Work. Okay. That's more than usual. I'll take it. [laughter] All right. Then when the interview process is over, the candidates are allowed to stay in the room. It's a public meeting. So then we have to decide who we are choosing. And it cannot be by secret ballot. It has to all be out in the open as an open meeting law. So, how about if each of us say the top two candidates that we think could be board members and why why these two rose to the top for us. Each person speaks about their top two and then we see where the connection where like maybe four of them will be the same for some of us or and then we work our way through it together. that way. That way we don't say anything negative about any candidates. We're talking about the positives and what we think. That's the best I've got. Anybody else? What are you thinking? >> Can I say first of all just thank you because it's really challenging and I appreciate your creative problem solving. >> Thank Thank you. Thank you. It took me a while. >> So, do you think that can work for us? It's going to be a little messy when we get to the top two for each of us, but then maybe not. Also, backing up just a second, we have another decision we have to make. We have when all the candidates have filed their applications. I went online yesterday to apply just to make sure how it works. I worked all the way through it. I filled in all the answers and everything till I got to the submit and then I erased everything. But that way I knew what they were going through. I mean I answered the questions. So after they answer the questions the next day we are all getting all of their applications blind. We won't know whose it is but we'll see all of the answers and we will rank those answers. Um and then the ones with the highest scores like one to five ones with the most fives whoever will be the ones that we interview. I need to know how many people do you think we should be interviewing? >> I would say not that many. I mean, >> well, you thought we should do seven. We're going to do that. >> Looking at seven is seven is problematic. >> I think >> I would say four. >> You think four? >> I don't know. I just made up a number. >> Okay, fine. That's fine. Um, >> I will say maybe unless there's a tie, maybe we pick the first three. Top three. >> Top three. Yeah. >> The top three and then just interview top three. You think? >> You're thinking three. Are you thinking? >> Yeah. Three. Unless Yeah. Like >> unless there's a tie, >> right? Unless there's Yeah. Unless there's a break in the scores that are just like, oh, there's two that are at the top and the rest are down here. There's four at the top and the rest are down here. >> Okay. So, it's a logical break somewhere in the 3 to four range. Okay. >> I could go with four. >> You could go with four. Okay. Well, we'll see where the logical break is and we'll get back to you. >> We can do this. Okay. So, to summarize, I will finish perfecting the questions. Director Long and I will chat. Um then we will have we will rank our candidates after the applications are all in. However it shakes out. Three to four we will be interviewing. We will do it League of Women Voters style open meeting. We will choose our let's do four. Well, if you choose your top two and there's three. >> We could do one or two. I mean, maybe when we interview them, maybe I'll be like, "Yeah, I only like one or I like all three or I don't know." >> I think we could be a little flexible. >> I need to know a little bit. >> Six of us. So, if >> what if [snorts] three people pick two and then the other three picked two, right? That that creates >> and then we're like superintendent search all over again. >> So, I'm thinking three. That way. >> Okay. >> You know, at least one of those top two will fall into that basket. Yeah. So, you're still thinking three. All right. I can live with that. If that's what everybody can live with, I can live with that, too. Okay. Have I missed anything? >> So, point of clarification. >> Yes. >> So, the applications will be sent out to all board members with no names on them. >> No names. We will. >> And then there's a scoring guide on there. >> Yes. This is Yes. And that's all that's all written already. >> Okay. >> And you can put comments, too. >> See, this just shows you I don't know what's going on, which is good. >> That's all right. You're not anyway. >> That's right. So, that'll go out to all of you and then there'll be a timeline to get back to you for the count or >> can we decide the timeline when it has to get back to us >> because we have to be able to >> let the candidates >> let the candidates know and tell them when to be >> Can we decide that? Well, I thought we're doing it that night, right? >> Oh, we're voting that night, but we're rank. We get starting November 7th, we get all the things. I think by the 17th. I think we had to have it by the 17th because the interviews on the 20th. Does that make sense? >> Um, I was just saying the ranks should go to the superintendent um not to the board chair because of open meeting law. So our ranks go to >> So for the initial screening process, those ranks go to the superintendent >> on them >> and then I can get them to the chair. We can Molly can get them to the chair. >> Yeah. Molly would add them up and then give the results. So the chair just gets the results and when the chair gets the results, the chair will contact the people that will be interviewed and also let the board know who we will be interviewing. >> Yeah, we didn't create that timeline because that's >> Mhm. >> Well, can you two work on that as >> Okay, I think that we're going to need to have Oh, it has to be in before the 17th. I will send a BCC to everybody. Give you a date. Okay. Okay. Okay. Well, this has been fun. Does anybody have anything else? Are we good? All right. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Moved. I'll second. All in favor of adjourning, please say I. >> I. >> Oppos? Nay. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.