[0:10] herart I'm an assistant superintendent

[0:12] of secondary schools in the AIO Area

[0:15] School District and we're so pleased to

[0:18] have all of you here tonight to learn

[0:20] more about the attendance boundary

[0:23] proposed

[0:24] changes we have a lot of information to

[0:27] share with you this first half hour of

[0:29] the evening even and some of the topics

[0:32] that we'll be going over include a

[0:34] little bit about who we are as a school

[0:37] district in AIO area schools what an

[0:40] attendance boundary is why attendance

[0:44] boundaries need changing the change

[0:47] process timeline the parameters used to

[0:51] form the proposed scenarios the proposed

[0:54] scenarios and details surrounding them

[0:57] the transition plan and your opportunity

[1:00] ities to share thoughts tonight this

[1:02] will include splitting into small groups

[1:05] to share your feedback and to ask

[1:07] questions at the end of our presentation

[1:10] as we share information in the next 30

[1:13] minutes please make sure to make notes

[1:16] of any comments or questions that you

[1:19] will want to share afterward in your

[1:21] small

[1:23] group before we get started I want to

[1:26] take a minute to talk about one thing

[1:29] that we're striving to do in oio Area

[1:31] School the last couple of years we've

[1:34] been working towards becoming one

[1:37] Community for all where all voices are

[1:40] heard and valued and this means all of

[1:43] our stakeholders all our students our

[1:46] staff our parents our caregivers and our

[1:50] community members played an important

[1:52] role in our district you should feel

[1:55] seen and appreciated as part of our oio

[1:59] area school's family always whether

[2:02] that's today tomorrow or five weeks from

[2:06] now you are all important to

[2:09] us and the main way that we ensure all

[2:14] voices are heard and valued is through a

[2:17] concept called holding space holding

[2:21] space means that we are willing to walk

[2:23] alongside another person in whatever

[2:26] Journey they're on without judging them

[2:30] making them feel inadequate trying to

[2:33] fix them or trying to impact the outcome

[2:37] when we hold space for other people we

[2:40] open our hearts offer unconditional

[2:42] support and let go of judgment and

[2:46] control so tonight as we enter our space

[2:50] together please be respectful and

[2:54] understand that each person has their

[2:56] own narrative and lived experience and

[2:59] please be inclusive of all such an

[3:02] environment will allow everyone to be

[3:05] their authentic self and to be valued

[3:08] and heard this will help us build a

[3:11] collaborative Community as we venture

[3:14] through this attendance boundary change

[3:17] process thank you in advance for your

[3:20] help with

[3:22] this so let's take a quick quick look at

[3:26] some facts surrounding our district AIO

[3:29] area schools encompasses all or parts of

[3:33] eight communities that ranges from

[3:36] Dayton Rogers and corkran in the far

[3:40] Northwest two parts of Plymouth to the

[3:43] South and then Brooklyn Center to the

[3:45] east the two largest communities we

[3:48] serve are Brooklyn Park and Maple Grove

[3:51] with the city of AIO in the center

[3:55] about 160,000 community members live

[4:00] within this entire area we are the fifth

[4:03] largest school district in the state

[4:05] serving approximately 21,000 students

[4:09] and more than

[4:11] 15,000 of our students choose to utilize

[4:15] the transportation services offered that

[4:18] equates to nearly

[4:21] 36,000 bus routes we have a total of 31

[4:25] school buildings in AIO area schools

[4:29] current currently there are 24

[4:31] traditional elementary middle and high

[4:34] schools and we have seven special

[4:37] program sites including an area Learning

[4:40] Center and early childhood centers soon

[4:44] we're going to have a 302 School

[4:46] building and thanks to our community

[4:49] support of building a better future in

[4:52] 2023 a new elementary school is being

[4:56] built in the very northwest corner of

[4:59] the district

[5:00] and it's set to open in the fall of

[5:04] 2026 our school buildings are between 24

[5:08] and 100 years old the sizes of each

[5:12] building vary because of the different

[5:14] time periods in which they were built

[5:17] which has created capacity level

[5:19] differences amongst our district schools

[5:23] this is most notable at the elementary

[5:26] level the older schools tend to be

[5:29] smaller and the newer schools are a

[5:31] little bit larger the school buildings

[5:34] were also placed where Community growth

[5:36] was being experienced during those

[5:39] different eras and because of space

[5:42] being available in a general sense

[5:46] Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center tend

[5:49] to be more established neighborhoods and

[5:52] Maple Grove Dayton and Plymouth are more

[5:56] growing areas and one last fun fact all

[6:00] of these school buildings are spread out

[6:02] on

[6:03] 703 acres of

[6:06] land it's important for us to know that

[6:10] our community members feel that we're

[6:12] doing a good job at achieving our

[6:14] mission and the great news for us is

[6:17] that feedback continues to show that our

[6:20] community thinks highly of us and has

[6:23] strong support for what's being done in

[6:26] a recent survey 82%

[6:29] of survey respondents rated us as either

[6:33] good or excellent on the quality of

[6:35] education at AIO area schools

[6:39] 87% indicated that they believe that all

[6:43] or most of our student needs are being

[6:46] met and

[6:47] 84% said they're proud of our schools

[6:51] and would recommend them to

[6:54] others so now let's dive into attendance

[6:57] boundaries some of the language we're

[6:59] using to share about this change may be

[7:02] a bit confusing so we want to be sure

[7:06] it's clear and understandable as you

[7:08] interact with the information so what

[7:11] exactly is an attendance boundary an

[7:15] attendance boundary is the geographical

[7:18] area from which students are eligible to

[7:21] attend a district school this means that

[7:25] your household address is assigned in

[7:28] elementary school School a middle school

[7:31] and a high school so in essence this

[7:34] boundary process change may change the

[7:38] elementary Andor the middle school that

[7:41] your household is currently set to

[7:44] attend and a quick note as a result of

[7:48] attendance boundary changes students may

[7:51] be moved between school buildings within

[7:54] our district but attendance boundary

[7:58] changes will not impact which students

[8:01] are assigned to attend oio area schools

[8:06] versus attending any of the surrounding

[8:09] districts such as an Noah hanapin Yetta

[8:13] Robinsdale

[8:15] Etc you may be wondering why attendance

[8:19] boundary changes now most simply it has

[8:22] to do where our students are going and

[8:25] what our schools can hold this can

[8:29] obvious viously change from year to year

[8:31] or from decade to decade the enrollment

[8:34] and capacity management advisory

[8:37] committee or EAC has been monitoring

[8:41] enrollment shifts in conjunction in

[8:43] conjunction with our school building

[8:45] capacities for the last several years

[8:49] their most repeat uh recent reports have

[8:52] detailed that is significant enrollment

[8:55] imbalance exists and that it's to the

[8:58] point that should be addressed

[9:01] specifically there is significant growth

[9:04] in Northwest portions of the district

[9:07] future Housing and Redevelopment are

[9:10] also expected in these same areas in

[9:14] addition to this there are also some

[9:17] district schools that are under

[9:20] capacity eac's work helped to inform our

[9:24] 2023 building a better future referendum

[9:28] and building a better Futures oversight

[9:30] task force agreed with eac's suggestions

[9:34] an additional facility space became a

[9:37] part of the

[9:39] 2023 referendum as a result of that work

[9:43] again thanks to our community support of

[9:46] building a better future in

[9:48] 2023 a new elementary school and

[9:52] additions to Maple Grove Senior High

[9:55] were approved to address space

[9:58] constraints

[10:01] during the 2023 building a better future

[10:05] referendum it was additionally noted

[10:08] that attendance boundary changes were

[10:10] needed no matter the outcome of the

[10:13] referendum vote with the additional

[10:17] facility space being added with the

[10:19] community's referendum support

[10:22] attendance boundary changes will be

[10:25] limited to elementary and middle schools

[10:28] and impact act fewer families as

[10:31] promised so just to be clear there are

[10:34] no changes being made at the high school

[10:38] level we understand that many community

[10:42] members make lots of decisions based on

[10:45] their households School assignments so

[10:48] this process is not something that we

[10:51] want to be doing often in fact it's been

[10:54] more than 15 years since we've last done

[10:58] changes on this scale we've come to a

[11:02] point however where it's

[11:06] needed this attendance boundary change

[11:09] process kicked off this past fall and at

[11:12] that time community members had an

[11:15] opportunity to provide their thoughts on

[11:17] the parameters the core team should be

[11:20] using in creating the proposed scenarios

[11:24] nearly 3,000 community members

[11:27] participated these are now called our

[11:30] community built parameters which will go

[11:33] through

[11:34] momentarily since like last September

[11:37] the attendance boundary changes core

[11:39] team has been utilizing the community

[11:42] built parameters to develop proposed

[11:46] scenarios in January four proposed

[11:50] scenarios resulted from this work and

[11:52] nearly

[11:54] 3500 community members shared their

[11:57] thoughts at that time on the the four

[11:59] proposed scenarios that feedback helped

[12:02] to lower the number of scenarios and

[12:05] make adjustments to them and tonight

[12:08] you'll have an opportunity to provide

[12:10] feedback on these

[12:12] updates these events in March will

[12:15] likely wrap up districtwide feedback

[12:18] opportunities so it's critically

[12:20] important to us that we hear your voice

[12:24] in April we'll once again review

[12:27] Community feedback and consider

[12:29] adjustments to the updated scenarios

[12:32] final attendance boundaries will then be

[12:35] announced in May the new attendance

[12:39] boundaries however will not go into

[12:42] effect until the fall of

[12:46] 2026 the only exception to this timeline

[12:49] is Crest View Elementary Crest viw

[12:53] families will make their move in the

[12:56] fall of

[12:57] 2025 our building a better future plan

[13:01] shared that an elementary school would

[13:04] be repurposed to serve pre kindergarten

[13:07] grades and to provide enrichment and

[13:11] community-based programming needs after

[13:14] much much research and consideration

[13:18] pres View Elementary School was the

[13:21] school chosen to do this so press views

[13:25] kindergarten through grade five students

[13:28] and their staff will be moving schools

[13:31] at the start of the

[13:33] 2025 26 school year which is next school

[13:37] year now you've likely put these two

[13:39] pieces together but the 2026 timeline

[13:44] matches with the opening of The New

[13:46] School in Northwest Maple Grove and at

[13:50] this time I'm going to turn it over to

[13:52] John Morad oio area schools a Executive

[13:56] Director of Finance and operations to

[13:59] walk us through the parameters and

[14:01] updated

[14:07] scenarios thank you

[14:12] Kelly okay these are the community built

[14:14] parameters the core team worked with to

[14:16] create the proposed

[14:18] scenarios starting with centering our

[14:20] core values of honor and integrity

[14:23] belonging inclusion and Excellence

[14:26] transparency and intrinsic value ensure

[14:29] scenarios can function in our system

[14:32] including but not limited to

[14:34] Transportation building utilization and

[14:37] capacity enrollment both current and

[14:39] future teaching and learning program

[14:42] offerings and financial costs ensure

[14:45] scenarios have longevity in our system

[14:48] follow the teacher student class targets

[14:50] established by the school board consider

[14:53] the number of students impacted for each

[14:55] scenario and consider the student

[14:58] demographics of each

[15:01] scenario consider connecting more

[15:03] schools from level to level keep

[15:06] neighborhoods intact as much as possible

[15:08] minimize non-contiguous non- adjoining

[15:11] areas maintain the 8/10 of a mile

[15:14] Elementry and on M secondary

[15:16] transportation service areas or walk

[15:19] zones maintain safety standards in

[15:21] regards to bus routing trying to avoid

[15:24] major highways

[15:26] Etc avoid lengthy travel times on

[15:29] buses comply with state laws Schoolboard

[15:32] policy and negotiated

[15:34] agreements as you can see this is a

[15:36] pretty good list of parameters as we

[15:38] review the updated scenarios you may

[15:40] notice that some of these parameters are

[15:42] adhered to more than others from

[15:43] Scenario to scenario the coure team did

[15:46] their best to utilize all the parameters

[15:48] as much as possible again with utilizing

[15:50] the size schools and current placement

[15:52] of school buildings that we have today

[15:55] and are soon

[15:56] expecting in just a few minutes as we'll

[15:59] be going through the updated scenarios

[16:01] as Kelly mentioned you if you have the

[16:04] opportunity to provide feedback and ask

[16:06] questions in the small group portion of

[16:07] tonight's event please make sure to note

[16:10] your comments and questions and we'll

[16:11] get to those

[16:12] soon this is an overview of the updated

[16:15] scenarios being shared tonight January

[16:18] scenarios number one and two are moved

[16:20] forward with some adjustments made to

[16:23] each scenario between 2,000 and 2600

[16:26] elementary and middle school students

[16:28] are proposed osed to move which is

[16:30] approximately 9 to 12% of the district's

[16:33] total

[16:34] enrollment bullet points three and four

[16:36] mention specific groups of students that

[16:38] would be impacted as noted in the

[16:40] community built parameters this was

[16:41] looked at for all the scenarios and this

[16:43] is just a snapshot of that the racial

[16:46] demographics of the schools wouldn't

[16:47] change by more than 5% in the majority

[16:49] of cases and the poverty demographics

[16:52] also would not change by more than 5% in

[16:54] the majority of

[16:56] cases okay let's get down to the good

[16:58] stuff

[16:59] um scenario number 1A this is the

[17:02] updated scenario been renamed this is

[17:04] not exactly the same as the Jan January

[17:06] scenario one a few tweaks have been made

[17:10] before we go through those again I'm

[17:11] going to orient you to the map here so

[17:13] the colors represent the attendance

[17:15] boundaries for the middle schools orange

[17:17] being oio middle red for Maple Grove

[17:20] middle green for North View middle and

[17:22] blue for Brooklyn Middle within each

[17:24] color group you will see the proposed

[17:26] attendance boundaries for the elementary

[17:28] schools feed that particular Middle

[17:30] School you'll also see an elementary

[17:33] school Edinbrook Elementary with a

[17:35] purple hashtag coloring one of the goals

[17:38] of the parameters is to reduce the

[17:39] number of elementary schools that split

[17:41] students to different middle

[17:43] schools for reference today we have

[17:46] seven Elementary locations that split to

[17:48] multiple middle schools in scenario 1 a

[17:50] we have

[17:52] one approximately 2600 student

[17:55] elementary and middle school students

[17:56] would be impacted in this scenario this

[17:59] is about 400 fewer than the January

[18:01] proposal some of the strengths of this

[18:03] scenario are its building use efficiency

[18:06] elimination of non- adjoining

[18:07] geographical areas and an improved

[18:09] feeder like structure as students would

[18:12] move with classmates from elementary to

[18:14] middle school this scenario would last

[18:17] for the foreseeable

[18:19] future in the elementary school

[18:21] neighborhoods would maintain mostly um

[18:23] intact as more natural barriers major

[18:25] roadways Parks creeks and lakes are

[18:27] utilized as the boundaries

[18:29] in all but one school building be Oak

[18:32] View would be within its own attendance

[18:34] boundary um which means the students

[18:36] closest to each school be able to attend

[18:37] and potentially walk there an oak View's

[18:40] um boundary actually still allows for

[18:42] students who live directly across the

[18:44] street would be part of a walk Zone to

[18:45] that school at the middle school the

[18:47] non- adjoining Geographic areas that are

[18:49] currently exist at North View Middle

[18:52] School would be eliminated and again all

[18:54] but one school building being Brookland

[18:55] middle would be within its own

[18:56] attendance boundary it's again right

[18:59] across the street from where its

[19:00] attendance foundary begins this means

[19:02] students closest to each school would be

[19:04] able to attend and potentially walk

[19:07] there moving to scenario number 2A again

[19:10] this is not exactly the same as scenario

[19:12] 2 from

[19:13] January approximately 2,000 elementary

[19:16] and middle school students would be

[19:18] impacted in this scenario which is about

[19:20] 100 fewer than the January proposal some

[19:23] of the strengths of the scenario are its

[19:25] low number of changes functionality in

[19:27] the system including efficiencies with

[19:29] building use and transportation services

[19:32] elimination of non adjoining Geographic

[19:35] areas and an improved feather-like

[19:37] structure as students move with

[19:39] classmates between elementary and middle

[19:41] the scenario would last for the

[19:43] foreseeable

[19:44] future elementary schools neighborhoods

[19:47] would maintain mostly in be mostly

[19:49] intact as more natural barriers again

[19:50] are followed all but one School Oak viw

[19:53] would be within their attendance

[19:54] boundary again students closest to each

[19:56] school would be able to attend and

[19:57] potentially walk there middle schools

[20:00] the non- adjoining Geographic areas

[20:02] currently in North View would be

[20:03] eliminated and again um all but one

[20:06] building being Brooklyn Middle would be

[20:07] within its own intendance boundary but

[20:09] again right across the street in this

[20:11] scenario you'll notice Edenbrook is

[20:13] again the only school that splits to two

[20:15] middle schools and the boundary is a

[20:17] little bit different than it was in

[20:18] scenario 1 a versus 2A but it's still

[20:20] splitting to just two schools

[20:29] now that you've seen updated scenarios a

[20:31] common question is going to be how does

[20:32] this specifically affect you to help

[20:34] ensure and help you with that we want to

[20:37] please have you check the boundaries

[20:38] website for interactive maps for each of

[20:41] the proposed scenarios in which you can

[20:43] type your address in and find out the

[20:45] specific impacts the website is

[20:47] district279.org

[20:49] boundaries Chromebooks are available

[20:51] tonight if you'd like to take a look

[20:53] while you're here um we're going to look

[20:56] at a few FAQ questions and go through

[20:58] some of the common ones uh more

[21:00] questions can of course be asked within

[21:01] your small groups and are also available

[21:04] online one of the most common questions

[21:06] is if I want to go to a different School

[21:08] than my boundary school can I the answer

[21:11] is yes and no um so in short here's the

[21:16] best way I'm going to explain all of

[21:17] this if in the past you have taken

[21:20] action to select your school to select a

[21:23] school for your child that is different

[21:25] than the one you are assigned to you

[21:27] have the right to choose to stay at that

[21:29] school um applications do not need to be

[21:32] refilled up for that so that would apply

[21:34] to current in District transfer students

[21:36] and current open enrolled students have

[21:39] the right to stay at the location they

[21:41] at as shared in January students

[21:44] attending their home school will be

[21:45] required to attend the school that

[21:47] they're assigned to through the change

[21:49] process one adjustment that has been

[21:51] made to this however is that the 2026

[21:56] 2027 fifth grade and e grade classes can

[22:00] choose to remain at their current school

[22:02] if they would

[22:04] like we received a lot of feedback about

[22:07] this through the first process we

[22:09] listened we heard you we wanted to

[22:12] change that option so if you would move

[22:14] for one year for the last year of middle

[22:16] school or the last year of high school

[22:18] you will have the opportunity to remain

[22:20] at your current

[22:22] school this whole harmless option for

[22:25] Fifth and eighth graders is new and it's

[22:27] purely being offered because it was was

[22:28] a consistent request to the feedback

[22:30] that was received in January and

[22:32] February more information will be coming

[22:34] out on how to make this

[22:36] selection the currently restricted IND

[22:38] District transfer and open enrolled

[22:40] schools will remain in place until a

[22:42] review has been completed which will

[22:43] happen no later than January 15th of

[22:46] 2027 which will be in time for any new

[22:49] IND District transfer requests for the

[22:51] 2728 school year Fernbrook is a great

[22:54] example of this the building has been

[22:55] tight for quite some time and we need to

[22:57] see how new changes are supported um

[22:59] with the boundary adjustments for that

[23:01] first year busting information that

[23:03] usually goes along with these changes

[23:05] will be shared in its normal timeline in

[23:07] the regular back to school season so for

[23:10] the fall of 26 implementation expect to

[23:12] see a communication regarding

[23:14] transportation in August of

[23:16] 2026 a lot more answers to frequently

[23:19] asked questions have been added to the

[23:20] boundary website feel free to check them

[23:22] out at again district279.org

[23:25] boundaries at this time I'm going to

[23:27] turn it back to assistance

[23:28] superintendent parpart to talk about the

[23:30] transition and feedback

[23:39] opportunities first our district greatly

[23:41] appreciates your flexibility with these

[23:44] changes please know that our entire oio

[23:47] area schools team is here for you to

[23:51] help make this transition go as smoothly

[23:53] as possible all our schools as always

[23:57] will be very welcoming mean to students

[23:59] and their families as this change is

[24:02] made make sure to reach out and connect

[24:05] if your school is reassigned also if you

[24:08] have any questions please don't hesitate

[24:11] to reach out to our hotlines at better

[24:14] future at

[24:16] district279.org or by calling

[24:20] 763

[24:22] 391

[24:24] 8990 at any time it is now time for the

[24:28] feedback portion of the night likely

[24:31] what you've all been patiently waiting

[24:33] for as I've shared Community voice is

[24:36] very important to us and there are two

[24:39] ways that you can choose to provide

[24:41] feedback this evening option one is to

[24:44] go to your assigned small group your

[24:47] name tag color matches the small group

[24:50] that you're assigned to and in a minute

[24:53] the facilitator of each small group will

[24:56] hold up the color for their group so you

[24:58] can easily find where you need to go if

[25:01] you haven't been assigned a group please

[25:04] report to the check-in table at the

[25:07] entrance and we'll get you all set up

[25:09] the second way you can provide feedback

[25:11] is to utilize the QR code on the screen

[25:15] and fill out the Google form via the

[25:18] website link all of your feedback

[25:21] whether that's via the small group or

[25:24] through the feedback form will be

[25:26] reviewed by the core team team in the

[25:29] coming weeks again this month will

[25:32] likely wrap up districtwide feedback

[25:35] opportunities final attendance

[25:37] boundaries are expected to be approved

[25:41] in

[25:43] May before we close out the presentation

[25:46] portion of this evening I want to

[25:49] introduce School Board member director

[25:52] director Erica

[25:54] Foster and I want to thank you for being

[25:57] here with us tonight Erica and once

[26:00] again a reminder to all of you that

[26:02] there are multiple ways for you to stay

[26:05] informed refer to

[26:08] district279.org

[26:10] boundaries for the latest information

[26:13] parents and caregivers you can stay

[26:16] tuned to regular updates via email and

[26:19] text and all of our community members

[26:22] can also connect with these hotlines

[26:25] better future at two at District 27

[26:28] 99.org or by calling

[26:31] 763 391

[26:35] 899 thank you again so much for joining

[26:39] us tonight and taking time out of your

[26:41] busy schedules we really appreciate all

[26:44] of your help with making these needed

[26:46] changes to be the best that they can be

[26:50] so thank you very much and at this time

[26:52] could the the groups hold up their uh

[26:55] facilitators hold up the colors and if

[26:57] you want want to match your name