Hello everyone. I'm David Law, superintendent of Minnotonka Public Schools. And I'm Megan Celinger, director on the Minnotonka School Board. We're glad you're able to join us for our school board recognition program. It's important to take time to acknowledge and celebrate the outstanding accomplishments of our students, staff, and community members. We begin most of our regular board meetings with recognitions to highlight the positive impact that so many different people make in our district. Tonight we are recognizing middle school and high school state science and engineering fair state qualifiers. Middle school state honor band qualifiers. High school allstate music qualifiers from band, jazz band, choir and orchestra. Economic challenge state qualifiers. Minnesota aspirations and computing awards honores, district service center honored artists from our middle schools, and national board certified teachers and nurses for 2025. Every spring, the Minnesota Academy of Sciences hosts the state science and engineering fair. Students from across Minnesota compete at regional science fairs for the opportunity to share their projects at the state level. This year we had 46 high school students and seven middle school students qualify for the state science fair from the regional science fair. Several students have also qualified for the international science and engineering fair which will be held in Columbus, Ohio later this month. Congratulations to the following students for achieving this outstanding accomplishment. Razine Abdul Field, Tyler Claire, Lucas Granucci, Quinn Hughes, Mera Jant, Simron Core, and Sophia Parmley. Four students were also named as alternates for ISF, including Daniel Crocker, Milan Dargy, Alexander Wymer, and Maximus Ren. Our researchers at MHS were supported by teachers Kevin Burns, Caitlyn Mcwarter, Allison Peterson, Patricia Price, and lab manager June Han. Our middle school researchers were supported by Carrie Lavold at MMW and Michelle Brunick and Elizabeth Khan at MME. Let's hear more about our researchers accomplishments from teachers Caitlyn Mcwarter and Kevin Burns. Researchers, thank you so much for joining us today as you recognize your qualification for the 2025 Minnesota State and Engineering Fair. This is a prestigious achievement that recognizes not only the curiosity, effort, and dedication and care you've demonstrated this year to pursue answers for your scientific inquiries, but also your ability to communicate clearly about complex topics with a wide range of audiences. We are excited to share some statistics about the success you achieved this year. Combined, you earned numerous awards at Twin Cities regional and state science fairs. We also had four Minnotonka research students qualify as finalists and six as alternates for the 2025 International Science and Engineering Fair, the highest number of ISCF qualifiers in school history. Congratulations again to each of our science fair participants. We are so proud of and inspired by you. Hello, my name is Drew. I am a sixth grader from MME and I participated in the state science fair. My study was on the most effective way to trap and kill fruit flies. I think that the state science fair was a really good opportunity to learn and grow in the future and as a student. It helps teach you how to organize your priorities and collect and organize data. Another reason that I like the science fair is that I made new friends from MME and other schools. Hello, my name is Olivia Zo and I'm a seventh grader. My science fair project was about how plants react to magnetic fields, knowing that even something invisible can make a huge impact on the beginning of a plant's life. The most rewarding part of my project was overcoming the challenges I faced and presenting what I have done to the judges. Huge thank you to my family, friends, and teachers for supporting me from regionals to state. I am most proud of learning new ways to conduct my experiment in a more useful way. My name is Llaya Foster and I'm in seventh grade at MME. My project is titled Effective Treatment of Menstrual Blood Stains. I simulated menstrual blood with a pig blood and gelatin combination and then evaluated nine different widely recommended treatment options for blood stains. I received several awards at both the regional and state fairs including the ISF Alumni Award from Tamara Underbachi, the American Chemical Society Outstanding Project in Middle School Chemistry/Biochemistry Award, the 3M Young Inventor Recognition Award, and a Gold Grand Award for scoring in the top 5% of projects in the state. I also advanced to nationals. Science fair is one of my very favorite activities and I'm grateful for my mentor, Miss Brunick, for supporting me. Thank you. My name is Erica Kindu and I'm a sixth grader at Minnitanka Middle School East. This year I participated in the Minnesota State Science and Engineering F with my project Crisp, the complete realtime intelligent spoilage prevention system. I designed and built an Arduino device that predicts the days until spoilage of a milk sample by measuring the gases released off of it. The most impactful part of this experience was learning new skills. I learned how to code machine learning models, use electronics like Arduino, research food spoilage, and presented my ideas to the judges. I'm most proud of turning my idea into a real world prototype, which can help people and prevent wastage. Hi, I'm Milan and I'm a junior. I'm being recognized for advancing to the state science and engineering fair where I won three awards and qualified as an international science and engineering fair alternate. I have learned so much from Minnotonka research. Mr. Burns and Ms. Mcuarter have been so supportive of my work. I've been doing science fair since first grade and each year brings a new challenge. I can look back on previous years and see the growth and impact that my research has had. Our researchers from Minnotonka Middle School East include Autumn Debru, Llaya Foster, Ara Kundu, and Olivia Jiao. Our researchers from Minnotonka Middle School West are Suriraj Jant, Connor Molsome, and Rosalie Reed. And our researchers from Minnotonka High School include Rosine Abdul Field, Madison Ambrose, Lux Bodell, Bryce Budy, Jano, Jo Buffington, Tyler Claire, Daniel Crocker, Milan Dargy, Gustav Davidson, Aowen Duan Porter, Lucas Granucci, Nicole Gromova, Archerald, Headley Morris, Abigail Hudson, Quinn Hughes, Mera Giant, Nicholas Joseph, Maxwell Kong, Siman Core, Amelia Clem, Zal Cuckoo, Nicholas Labidi, Savannah Larson, Kiana Lawrence, Grayson Lee, Samuel Mchugh, John Paul, Mary, Maren Najib, Nikita Natra, Isa Pac, Carmen Pop, Sophia Parmaly, Honor Pulvaryy, Maximus Ren, Samantha Rogers, Sophia Shulatz, Salony Sivatum, Eric Solto, Ellison Stro, Liam Sullivan, Annie Tan, Audra Unlab, Alexander Wymer, Owen Wary, Jason Wendles, and Isada Urar. Congratulations again to each of you. This year, three students from our Minnotonka Middle Schools have qualified to be part of the Minnesota Band Directors Association Allstate Honor Band. As part of this recognition, students had the opportunity to join other musicians from across the state and to play together during a special weekend gathering. This year's qualifiers were advised by Minnetonka music teacher Heidi Bundy. Let's hear more about the honor. Congratulations to Andrew Oglevie for being accepted into the MBDA Allstate Jazz Band and to Kate Ogulvie and Evan Brandt for being accepted into the MBDA Allstate Honor Band. Getting into this group required a rigorous audition and lots of time and dedication on your part. I am very proud of all of you. Congratulations to the following state qualifying musicians: Evan Brandt, Caroline Ogulvie, and Andrew Ogleby. High school musicians in our band, choir, and orchestra programs have several opportunities to qualify for and participate in state level honors ensembles throughout the year. As part of these allstate and extracurricular groups, students have the opportunity to practice and perform with their peers from across Minnesota and they are able to learn from new conductors and from college level instructors. Let's learn more about these experiences. Hi, I am Miss Finn Somerfeld and I'm the orchestra director for Minnetonka High School. On behalf of myself, Mr. Kleinel, our band teacher, and Mr. Kors, our choir teacher, I'd like to say how proud I am of our music students for achieving this all state recognition. It takes a lot of dedication and drive to audition for and take part in these ensembles beyond the school day and our students have done an amazing job as part of this program. Great work all of you and thanks for everything that you bring to our Minnotonka music community. Hi, I'm Brady Wolf. I'm a senior and All State was a very meaningful and impactful experience for me. The the community at All State was so welcoming and I never felt excluded. It was so open and people were friendly and I I found friendships and I made friendships with connections with people in tener tener in tener bass and in SATB and just the cross choir group connections that I made and the friendships and memories I made will just I will cherish forever I think and as a group we were challenged by the complexity of the music and just standing there on stage it just felt so mindblowing and so impactful to be on both St. John's at St. John's church and on the stage at orchestral. I just felt blown away. I don't think I don't think I've ever felt prouder of a musical experience than that one. Congratulations to the following students for their outstanding musical achievements. From band, we recognize Naomi, Brady Ginsburg, Graham Herman, and River Stein. From jazz band, we recognize Johannes Lindon. From choir we recognize Amelia Moser, Mason Partardo, Owen Sali, Samuel Valancort, Naomi Vega, and Brady Wolf. And from orchestra, we recognize Allison Britzius, Molly Hansen Hilton, Denver Croc, Savannah Larson, Jacob Lee, and Grace Sha. We would also like to thank our high school music teachers for their work to encourage and challenge students to reach their potential. Those teachers are Aaron Kors choir, Kevin Kleinel, band, and Sarah Finn Somerfelt, Orchestra. A team of four Minnotonka High School students qualified for the state economics challenge this year. The economics challenge is a quizbowl style competition on economics knowledge. At state, the team competed well and one student, Dane Samurski, finished sixth in the state individually. The team is coached by high school teacher Joel Coleman. Let's hear more about the challenge. Hey, I just want to say congratulations to the 2025 uh Econ Challenge State Finalists. I had a great group from Minnitonka this year. Uh had four students who out of 500 students uh went as a team and and helped compete in the economics challenge at the University of Minnesota this year. Uh, economics challenge has been around for about uh, 30 years and it's a quiz bowl competition where students get to kind of flex their economics muscles and and then show people kind of what they've learned in class. And just want to give a special shout out uh, to my AP micro students uh, who did so well and uh, came in and did extra study sessions to learn AP macroeconomics on their free time to be so successful in in the state competition. So, congrats. The student team members are Oscar Anderson, Ryland Ashoff, Sha Freeze, and Dne Summerski. Great work all. The National Center for Women and Information Technology offers an annual awards program to recognize students for their technology interests, skills, and accomplishments. This year, five Minnitonka High School students were honored at the state level with a Minnesota Aspirations in Computing Award. Savannah Larson, Abigail Hudson, Gabriella Hudson, Samita Krishna Murthy, and Rayanne Musa. These awards recognize each student's academic excellence, leadership, and future goals with regard to computing and technology. Let's hear more about the honor. Hi, my name is Sumita Christian Mory and I'm a freshman at Minnotonka High School. I am super excited to be um recognized as Minnesota's aspiration and computing honore and this truly wouldn't have been possible without all the guidance I've had from my teachers. So from Mr. Holy, Mr. Bar and of course Miss Reed and Mr. Chess it wouldn't have been possible and also I'm really thankful for professor Jasur for giving me a lot of guidance and you know teaching me Python. So thank you so much and I'm really excited to receive the award. Congratulations all. We will now recognize a group of our middle school student artists. Each year, our art teachers select pieces to display at the Minnotonka School's District Service Center. This is one way we celebrate the work of our students and our commitment to a fine arts education. These pieces will be on display now through the end of May. Student artists, thank you for sharing your work with us. Your artistic talent and creativity brightens the district service center. We would also like to thank and recognize our middle school art teachers for their work to encourage and inspire our community. They are Renee Rolls and Joanna Patakone from Minnotonka Middle School East and Emily Swaggel and Jessica Carlson from Minnotonka Middle School West. Our teachers will now read the names of each student artist as their work is displayed. The Minnetonka Middle School art teachers are so excited to recognize our 2025 district service centered honored artists. As part of the DSC honored artist showcase, our students work has been chosen by their art teachers to represent the amazing pieces created by the middle school this year. Artwork is now being displayed at the district service center. From painting and drawing to ceramics, sculpture, and digital art, our students have truly used a wide variety of techniques and mediums to add beauty to our district. Being part of this group is an honor and we applaud all of our honored students for their effort. We will celebrate now by showing images of your artwork as we read your names. from MME. We recognize Nia Bengry, Daria Brattonov, Bennett Broamp, Maren Kramer, Eleanor Flint, Fiona Goddessman, Jeffrey King, Isabella Cusk, Brooks Cooper, Cammy Lata, Katie Lou, Sophia Wyn, Eleanor Nimmons, Nora Palmer, Ingred Post, Lauren Rank, Josie Shoalter, Lakota Tyson, Ellie Voit, Brendan Wagner Fox, Nava Waterman, and from MMW, we recognize Charlotte Bridge, Ma Broch, Drew Caruse, Eli Durant, Lily Grahams, Dorothy Jennings, Rachel Long, Lyanna Loose, Blake McGee, Ariadne, Midwinter, Annaise Murfeld, Vivian Neem, Greta Park, River Piper, Tucker Oxnavad, Lily Quas, Stella Ratabach, Thomas Simmering, Julia Smith, Elijah Strummer, Malia Tobin, Belle Wasam, Emma Winkis, and Amali Wong. Congratulations again, artists. We are so proud of you. Thank you again to each of you for sharing your talent, hard work, and inspiration with us. Our final recognition for this evening celebrates several of our staff members for their achievements this year. Minnetonka Schools is proud to recognize three staff members who have become National Board Certified Teachers and one staff member who became a national board certified nurse during the 2024 25 school year. National Board Certification is a voluntary advanced certification that allows teachers to demonstrate excellence in teaching within their content areas. To earn this distinction, each teacher completed a rigorous application and testing process facilitated by the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards. For nurses, the certification is earned by qualifying for, taking, and passing the National Certification Exam for School Nurses. We will now hear from this year's National Board Certification Honores. Hi everyone, my name is Sean Kern and I am uh one of the the group of people um teachers in the district who received national board certification this past year. Um I teach English at Minnotonka High School um and I've been in the district for about 10 years. Uh and the pro the program is really pretty tremendous. It's it's great to have um district support in order to go through the process because it is really rigorous and um requires some financial backing. But uh the the growth that I was able to experience um being able to just reflect on my practice, work with others who are going through that same process uh and really just kind of see a lot of things through and and find the things that I do well and be able to leverage those. And then also think about the things that um I can continue to improve on uh as I I continue to be a better teacher in the classroom. I've seen a lot of transference over to uh student performance and I really look forward to being able to use my expertise in the future as well. The following teachers have earned national board certification. Michelle Brunick, science, Minnotonka Middle School East. Sean Kern, English, Minnotonka High School. Morgan Cronin, math, Minnotonka Middle School West. And the following school nurse has earned national board certification. Diane Severin Minowashta. Congratulations to each of you for reaching this professional milestone. That concludes our recognition program for this evening. Thank you again for celebrating with us. The school board meeting will begin shortly. The school board meeting will begin shortly. Okay. Good evening everyone. I would like to call the Minnitaka School Board May 8th board meeting to order. Can we please rise and say the pledge of allegiance to the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nationisible and justice for all. May I have a motion to approve the agenda? So move. May I have a second? A second. Motion carries. Oh, all those in in favor, please say I. I. I. I. Motion carries. Our first item is a school report from Minantanka High School. Superintendent Law. Madam Chair, members of the board, as you're aware, every board meeting, we have a different school do a report to the board and to the public about what's happening throughout the year. Usually we tie those board presentations to the board goals about belonging or academic excellence. Uh tonight we have a treat. It looks like a large group of high school students to provide an update at the high school. We'll start with principal Jeff Ericson. Great. Thank you, Madam Chair, superintendent law. Members of the board, great to be here tonight to showcase what's happening at the high school related to uh the three goals, belonging, student learning, and organizational support. and as well you'll hear from some of the students about some of the work in action to make those a reality. The first updates related to the work around belonging and I just I want to start by reminding our work at the high school starts with relationships. We've been working the entire year on the development of relationship surveys results. How do we build connections with students in class creating a positive and welcoming environment where students feel a sense of connection? We come back and we add that and we'll talk a little bit about some of the academic programs and that instructional excellence that happens having amazing teachers who create that environment in the classroom where the learning is engaging and authentic. And the conclusion of that is hopefully we have students that are successful, respectful, curious and we're getting ready to celebrate the class of 2025 and in a few weeks and to see that result of the work of that formula. It's always important to know that it's not just one part of the formula. We work on both to make sure our students are ready to go and also feel a strong sense of connection to school. And so tonight I'm going to share some of the work that's happening uh with our students. We also come back to specifically tying to the language of the board goal and as you well know that uh the goal on the screen and we come back with students and staff and the example we'll give tonight is related to the cultural fair. So with that I bring up Emily Rosenrren one of the assistant principles and you'll hear from some students and a little bit of work that's happened this year to bring that board goal to life and to impact the entire school. Miss Rosener. Good evening. I'm very glad to be here tonight to highlight the cultural fair, a schoolwide studentled event that happens annually at MHS. This is a picture of one of the student participant groups who hosted a table in the Commons to celebrate indigenous culture and educate their classmates about their indigenous people groups. In a moment, you'll hear from three cultural fair leaders who organized this much anticipated event. This year, we focused on a sustainable leadership model to ensure the event's continuity despite student graduations. Interested students applied, were interviewed, and formed a team of experienced and novice leaders. They hosted planning meetings, banner painting events, they managed social media, and they made announcements on the MHS morning show. the day of the fair. These leaders helped set up, troubleshoot, and otherwise support participants. And I'm very, very proud of their work. So, the cultural fair promotes positive connections and acceptance as students share their cultures with their classmates. So, to feel the day's energy a little bit, we have a video prepared by Andy Smith. This will give you an idea of what it's like in the building on cultural fair day. The cultural affair is a multicultural festival where we can celebrate the diverse groups at MHS through food, art, information, and culture. I just really enjoy getting to spread my heritage with a lot of people in Minnetonka. I think that Minnotonka is a great community that really accepts a lot of diversities. Every single booth is doing something different. Some booths are offering food. Some are just having information presented and they're sharing it with people that walk up. I'm representing Turkey, also known as Turkey. I'm personally half Turkish and I want people to know just Turkish heritage and that is something that should be celebrated. I'm representing Colombia and I'm representing it because that's where my mom is from. We're Somalia and it's great being here because we get to share like the stuff on our culture. So I'm at the booth of Japan and today we have takoyaki which is kind of like taco is octopus and yaki is fry. One of the biggest things about this year's fair is that we have the most participants we've ever had. The multicultural fair is a really important part of student life at MHS. It just gets the word out about us and what we do and who we are. All right. I'd like to introduce to you three members of the cultural fair leadership team. Aar Sukani, Owen Beckers, and Marley Jack. Thank you, Mr. Rosenrren, for the gracious introduction. Again, my name is Aarv. I'm a senior at Minnitanka High School. Back in 2022, I helped found the multicultural fair with two of my close friends, Deepti and Melik. Since then, I know our first year, we started out with less than 50 volunteers or student participants, and we've grown to have over 120. Now this year we had over 4,000 students come and dance to Somali music, try new foods like parley g from India, crack Mexican piñatas, build their own Vietnamese spring rolls, and learn about African-American culture. One of the most rewarding parts, however, as a leader is not only just this large-scale impact, but seeing the personal impact on my peers. One of my really good friends once used to shy away from her Lithuanian heritage, but after the event, I've seen her proudly embrace it. Another participant that I worked very closely with was initially even hesitant to join the fair because they weren't sure they could represent themselves well. But in the end, they ended up putting together a big group and filled six entire tables with artworks, artifacts, and food. Now, as I prepare to graduate, I'm confident that the team and I have built an event that I know will ensure that the future of belonging at Minnitanka High School and beyond is bright. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Marley Jack and I'm a sophomore this year at MHS and I had the honor to be a part of leading the cultural fair. For me, being aware of mine and others cultures has always been important. I always try and celebrate my peers and this felt like the perfect opportunity to do so. I spent a lot of time journaling around the school to making sure everything was set. And as I watched the whole event unfold, I noticed the celebration of culture in the east gym where the Hispanic Student Union had set up. There are piñatas set up as well as soccer, music, and a beautiful kinera dress as seen in photos. Walking into the East Ry for the first time after the fair started truly felt like a fever dream. The celebration was alive for the entirety of the event and one of my favorite memories from the culture fair. There were many moments where I felt education was prominent in the fair and as I walked through the South Asia area of the commons, one of the states of India was doing henna on people. And as they brought those beautiful designs to life on their p their peers hands, they would tell stories of the origins of henna. I learned how henna was originally made to lower body temperature and now it's used for special occasions. Henna is just one of the many beautiful things about Indian culture and the cultural affair is where I had the opportunity to learn that. I also learned that there will always be a solution and finding the pro and actually finding that solution and ensuring everyone cooperates in solving the problem is what truly makes somebody a leader. The cultural fair helped me see new ways to find solutions and work with people I've never met before in order to host an enjoyable and successful event. Good evening Minnitaka school board members. My name is Owen Beckers and I'm a current sophomore at MHS. This year I've had the honor to be a part of leading the cultural fair and working directly with the student body and administration to complete all necessary tasks. As you heard earlier from Atharv, this year's this year's fair was an overwhelming success. Every year, new cultures are represented which increase the report throughout the school and set expectations for the future beyond MHS. In addition to leading the cultural affair, I've been honored to be a part of the Voyager yearbook this school year and was able to capture some of the moments where people felt represented, heard, and belonged. I can remember the specific moment where a student was sitting alone at their booth and when I look back 30 seconds later, there was already a group of students engaging with that student, learning about their culture, and not were they only learning, but having fun and enjoying themselves while doing it. Being a part of the cultural affair gave me an opportunity to be a leader and make direct change within our school and overall Minnotonka and beyond community. See and interact with the inner workings of our school admin while providing for the student body. Being a part of this wonderful event, interacting with students and staff has made me truly appreciate all that this community is built upon. With this, I look forward to the rest of my years at MHS and to hopefully continue expanding this great event for many more years to come. We hope to see you all there next year. Thank you. So that just gives you a slice of the leadership. They made that happen that day. They were empowered with walkie-talkie. So they truly had control of the building. Um but it was uh this whole event started with one of our values of curiosity several years ago by uh students mentioned was Melik and Deepy who came into my office and said what if we did this and to put that together and so we talk about student voice. We saw that connection. They made that happen. The course of success is replicating it and the leadership model that's been created and the students stepping up. they make that happen. It does tie in clearly to the the district's vision, mission, and belief statement about the the dignity of each each person is sacred, and part of our goal to carry out that vision is celebrating students and staff of all backgrounds, cultures, experiences, and identities to tie it to that work. And we're excited about 2026. The second theme we're going to touch on is a little bit many of you are part of related to student voice. And just the example before, the culture fair came from student voice. Student voice happens in lots of ways. Today we had a candidate coming in to teach a potential teacher and part of our process is they come and teach a mock class and then we get feedback from students about what that experience was like. So we try to find different ways for students to have part of it. There's a student innovation team but a new event this year that you're part of was the Minnetonka uh student schoolboard forum 1.0 and I put 1.0 because we have some ideas of how do we make it 2.0 know for next year and you'll have a chance to hear from some of the students that are part of that and uh share their perspective from the event. But for those that don't know about the event uh our first time and the purpose of the event was elevating student voice and building that connection and the feedback that we had from students and I don't want to take away their thunder was they enjoyed the chance to sit down around table and just have conversation that felt safe that felt comfortable and they felt heard. So what was that event uh who who represented that event? We had 49 students. I mean, I think we almost had perfect attendance. And so, from all the students that were part of this group, they represented the principal advisory council is a group that gives me feedback about the school. The teaching and learning uh advisory team that works with Dr. Leoo and Emily Rosenrren and Steve Urbansky, student belonging advisory group, and also student government. So, representatives from each of those groups were part of that day. Three different themes were highlighted and students had an opportunity to engage with you on a series of questions about experiential learning, the facilities and space within the high school and last the board goal around belonging. The three themes each theme had a presenter and also had about 20 minutes for questions and all that information was scribed and has been reviewed. there was leadership opportunity and having a table captain student le um who was able to help facilitate that conversation. There was an adult there that was a recorder and obviously many of you were each of the tables be part of that conversation. So I'm going have three students Andre Natalia and Salony talk a little bit about their experience and then we'll come back with some recommendations as we look ahead. That's all. Who's honoring me first? Good evening members of the school board. My name is Honors McNeel. I am a junior and I am representing the district teaching and learning committee at the high school. I wanted to first say how grateful I am to have been able to participate in the forum that was held in March. I thought it went very smoothly and generated a lot of great student feedback on the district's goals. I really appreciated getting to hear a presentation on each of the topics by an expert who really helped us to see how things worked behind the scenes and generate some great questions as to what they wanted to know from a student's perspective. Having a schoolboard member at the table really helped students feel like their opinion was being heard and considered. As Principal Ericen mentioned, each table also had a captain which helped lead the discussion and allowed for the conversation to flow smoothly and generate even more thoughts on the topics. One of the topics was experiential learning and there was a ton of positive student feedback from the students that were really grateful for these programs. Students feel like these programs truly enhance their learning and provide them with a real world experience. I know for myself, I'm into aviation and it's been really cool to see see the aviation program take off and get so much interest from students because it's not something that you see at a typical high school. I think that these experiential learning programs that we have sort of tie into the belonging goal. These programs foster new relationships and connections for students, whether it be with a one-on-one mentor who guides them through the process or an overall better understanding of what they want to do after high school. By getting that experience early, they are able to feel like they belong and have an idea of what career path they want to pursue. Moving forward, we had ideas of how we can build on the forum that was held in March to make it even more beneficial in the future. One of these being studentled forums that include presentations from students where they create their own discussions. Thank you so much for your time and listening to the ideas of students. Superintendent Law and board directors, my name is Natalya Eureo and I'm a sophomore at MHS. I loved the student forum and it was a privilege to participate. The structure and the format were extremely effective. Starting with an expert presentation and then going into discussion was really valuable so that as students we could contribute with informed perspectives. General questions were provided for each topic but it didn't feel scripted. We were able to collaborate and expand on those topics in meaningful ways. It was also a great opportunity to learn more about the lived school experiences of my peers and they have some really thoughtful and good ideas. I appreciated that each group was assigned a school board member. This level of engagement made us feel seen and heard and was very different from convening a group of students and collecting general feedback which can sometimes feel performative. Our commitments often require us to act. But throughout this experience, I learned that in decision-m the process is equally if not more important than the outcomes. Thank you again for this opportunity that empowered us to not only be vision holders but also vision shapers. Good evening members of the school board, superintendent law and community members. My name is Salon Sabottom and I'm currently a junior here at MHS and I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. A few weeks ago, I was honored to be part of a selected group of students invited to speak to schoolboard members about our experiences and our perspectives as students at MHS, as well as learn about some of the new developments, including the changes being made to MME and the expansion of the MHS parking lot. It was a unique experience we weren't where we weren't just asked to speak, but genuinely heard as well. What stood out most to me during our March 11th discussion was learning about the developmental changes being made to our school environment. These updates not only reflect physical change, but also a commitment to creating a more inclusive learning environment. Seeing the intention behind these changes and learning that it was not just data, but student voice that informed your decisions made me feel as though I was not just a student, but a true contributor to change. In the future, I know my peers and I would appreciate more opportunities to share student feedback. And I think it would be especially valuable to include perspectives from students from Minnotonka's wide array of academic programs and extracurricular activities. Even small acknowledgements such as updates in how our inputs are shaping the way that MHS and Minnotonka in general makes decisions is going to make us feel as though students voice is not just being echoed but is actually influencing decisions. Thank you for your time, your leadership, and most importantly, your intention to make Minnotonka schools a place where students can feel as though they truly belong. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you to our students and uh gives you a great sense of the leadership at MHS and just the thoughtfulness that they brought to that day and the impact. And I'm going to talk a little about the next steps of some of the things that we've thought about that we would recommend uh to next year. We want to continue this opportunity uh providing the students best voice. The box has shared just some of the highlights. One is just continue the format of students leading the discussions. They like that part. They like the comfort of being around a round table and uh having that connection. Uh hopefully we want to continue to obviously be an annual event. I think outside of the event with the board, we will do this two other times uh just with the high school administration because it was great to have all the leadership teams together. So we'll do a fall kickoff. ify well with all the three leadership teams end of the year and then how you see fit in terms of your when you'd like to be part of which session the one with you we want to make sure uh is we want that event to be hosted by students the students that spoke tonight uh are all students that are not graduating and so part of our selection process to have students here is we'd like some of the students you heard from tonight to be the leaders next year that uh it would not be me and superintendent law and Dr. do greeting. It would be the students and they would be hosting that. Um they would be working in generating the topics and they'd be working the presentations for that and they would be working on obviously looking at the information that's shared. And so the feel would be they would be at the helm of that event and all the planning processes that we have the structure in place. We know the impact that it can have and much how much positive feedback there was about that connection with each of you. And best gift that you have is simply the time to spend with the students and how valuable it is. So those are some of the suggest suggestions. Obviously, you want to put your take on what you'd like to see with that, but we want to continue that. And it was a positive event. It's rare to have all those groups together and also to simply to foster better communication, understanding of what we're about and the work that you're set forth. The last part is just a quick update on some of the goals related to the last part which is academic excellence. And just a couple two slides of highlights. Just note that this is our second year of anchor time that has changed how we operate, how we provide time during the school day for student success. And just noting that this this year in first semester was the lowest rate of students not earning credit and students having a multiple FS in particular course since 2010 2011 to the lowest levels in terms of peace. We also look at the other side of the equation of student academic performance overall but really making sure we're helping all students earn credit and reaching that goal. Some of the strategies that happened in addition to anchor time was we reinstituted academic anchors. So that's peer-to-peer tutoring that was launched in January of this year. So students have an opportunity there's obviously no cost with that access for all students to be able to work with in with uh tutors also task which is after school tutoring that includes students and staff members that work with students after school. So looking at all the different strategies looking at our data to make sure all students are moving toward credit. The other piece is just looking at our goal um of students challenging themselves through experiential learning which is our hope for all students. This just gives you a sense of the growth of some of our major programs. Vantage having a 20% increase in students for next year and a particularly a new strand that's very popular in registration was fashion fashion merchandising which is fashion design and econ but that's a significant growth research momentum growing and then the subset underneath the momentum which those numbers are included in momentum is aviation and we had a 23% increase in aviation as we get ready for next year flight school 2 which is uh flight school two obviously plus econ one semester and media meteorology the other semester and we'll have a full class of that. So that part of the building next year be used four of the six hours of the day uh with our program and our staffing. So it gives you a sense of our work related experiential learning and obviously the close piece. So we go back to the formula is when students this is from last year's graduation but just coming again from your the vision statement is producing outstanding graduates. The class of 2025 has been a phenomenal class. They have three weeks left. They close um on the 30th, two days of senior serve and then we'll have all of you and everyone else at US Bank on the 5th of June to celebrate just an amazing class and amazing graduates are going to do great things and really our focus in the next three weeks is how do we celebrate them and acknowledge their great work and also the people behind me to help bring the helm up for next year and bring the leadership forward and our goals and initiatives. So with that, thank you for your time. We'll pause for any questions or or comments. Thank you very much. Thank you, Principal Ericson. What a great great report. Do we have any comments or questions from the board, Sally? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So, I was thinking, oh, I now I know what to put on my gratitude list tonight. Oh, and there's another one. And there's another one. Um, just such a rich report from Minnitankka High School today. And in addition to the students and the work that you've done to keep this these things going to to create new opportunities and to keep them going. I love the fact that we've got an intentional way to keep the cultural fair alive. Uh the original founders are rolling off the last one of those right Thar and uh so great to know that that's going to continue. And special thanks also to principal Ericson and Miss uh Rosenrren for your support for all of this work. really grateful for that. Megan, um I just want to comment on the forum. So David and I attended a session at NSBA, not last year, but the year before that kind of was the oh, we could try something like that. And I would never have imagined that it would grow from that to this so fast. Like I really appreciate that you took this on, that the students are taking it on and taking ownership of that. I think it's just um so impressive and it speaks so much to the initiative of our students and our staff because it went from zero to 60 in zero time flat from all I can see from the outside. So I'm just very appreciative of that um initiative. So thank you. And one final comment, thank you to the wonderful speakers. You guys did a phenomenal job and very informative. So thank you for being here. It was great. Thank you. [Applause] Okay. Thank you. And now we have community comments. Do we have any community comments? Okay, we do not have any community comments. So, we are moving on to our next item, which is approval of fiscal year 2026 fees. Superintendent Law. Madame Chair, members of the board, after we had a public hearing earlier tonight, this is the opportunity for the board to rehear that uh televised presentation about the increase of fees and the board to formally approve them. These fee increases were part of our proposal to address financial challenges for this school year FY26. Executive Director of Finance and Operations Paul Bourgeois will be presenting a summary of those fees prior to your approval. Mr. Thank you, Superintendent Law, uh Chair Foss, and members of the board. Uh again, we've gone through this in detail at the uh uh study session, the last study session, which was streamed, and we've had a public hearing on the the fees that are being proposed to be changed. So, I I'll go through just a few of the overall uh major items, this being the third time through um in front of the public. Uh this year we are looking to uh for the first time in probably a long time um probably since 2006 at least we've been we've been looking at raising all fees about 10%. There's a few fees that get raised every year based on different costs. Uh this year um after a uh really kind of an unprecedented run for school districts in Minnesota. We had an 18-year run of no budget reductions. the last uh couple of years we've had some challenges and uh as part of the budget reduction process for fiscal year 26 uh a chunk of that was looking at doing some additional fee increases to help uh close a $5 million gap that was identified back in the fall. So uh we have a a 10% across the board fees uh being proposed in uh um across the various levels. Uh there are a couple of areas with student um uh band rental uh and orchestra uh instrument rental fees that are being increased 20% because the cost of repairs has has jumped and those have not been changed in quite some time. Uh we also are looking at for the first time since it was implemented increasing the uh uh the bus fee per student by 10% from $100 per student to 110 and then a maximum per family of 250 and u to 275. Uh it's important to note though that um on a 173day instructional calendar that still is a a good deal compared to buying gas. Uh it's basically about 64 cents a day or 32 cents per trip. So still relatively modest. Uh we also um are going to be um increasing our our Tonka Dome fees across the board by $5. Uh we've actually done that uh every year um um since the Tonka Dome was established just gradually uh to keep up with the rising cost of electricity and natural gas for that building. And then um uh I guess the final thing to to to discuss is the total amount of this. The estimated dollar amount is of of all these fee increases is 2 approximately $252,000. So it's about 5% of the $5 million gap that we're trying to close. So uh hopefully things will u kind of moderate in the next year or two and uh we'll be able to hold these fees for a while, but these are just a part of the equation to try to balance for 20 fiscal year 26. Thank you. Can I have a motion to approve fiscal year 26 fees as presented? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion or questions? Mike. Uh just one point of clarification, Mr. Bourgeoa. Um when the transportation fee uh the fee is only applied to students who are within 2 miles of or families whose students are within 2 miles of their attending school. Is that correct? That is correct. Under two miles uh the fee is assessed over two miles. State law uh provides free transportation. Thank you, Megan. Um, I would just add for the public also that at the study session, the question was asked about um, would these fees uh, keep a student from taking a class if their family can't afford it? And there are funds available um, for students who need assistance to be able to pay the fees for these courses. Thank you. Anyone? We have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Sorry. Next on the agenda, we have a preview of the celebration of excellence. Superintendent Lob. Madam Chair, members of the board, May and June are months of celebration. And something uh unique in my experience as superintendent and incredibly impactful is our celebration of excellence of our staff and community members. Uh tonight, executive director communications Dr. Jackie Getty will give a preview of that event. Dr. Getty. Thank you, Superintendent Law, Madame Chair, Madame Vice Chair, uh and members of the board. U this is one of our favorite events to put on of the year. This is the 20th year that we've done the celebration of excellence which is an event that brings together school volunteers, teachers, staff um and um honors their years of service from 20 25 30 and 35 years to their outstanding teaching. Uh we have a celebration of excellence awards for teachers and employees. We have Spker awards which are for our school volunteers and then we have some specialty awards that are brought to us by some of our amazing sponsors. Those include the Bradley Gard award for excellence in elementary education, the Joyce Gustoson Memorial Award, the Judy Erdall Memorial Award, uh and then we have gold partner awards for our Vantage and our Momentum programs. Uh, and we'd like to thank the Minnotonka Public Schools Foundation, former principal Brad Board, the Excelsier Morning Rotary Club, and the Friends of Judy Erdall for their generous sponsorship of those named awards. And then two, the event takes place next Thursday, and everyone is welcome. You don't have to RSVP. You can just show up from 6:00 to 7:00 on Thursday, May 15th, in the art center at the high school. There's a reception and then that's followed by the program from 7 to 8:30. uh and that is in the art center theater. So, and it's a mix of uh awards on stage, wonderful videos showcasing all of this amazing work that our teachers, staff, and school volunteers have done and then um just a lot of joy and we always get a a handful of students. I think we'll have quite a few actually there this year cheering on those who they nominated. So, we're very excited about it. And our audiovisisual specialist, Andy Smith, has put together a short little preview video. So, we'd like to show that bringing such a good vibe to class. He starts the every single lesson with a dad joke. Bright and fun. You can tell that she is excited about life, excited about teaching, and he sees the strength in their artistic abilities and makes that project their own. She's a very warm and patient and highly skilled educator who goes above and beyond for her students. Very kind. She has a heart full of playfulness and her classroom feels warm and inclusive. He has been supportive, kind, just being there for everyone. She says good morning to everyone every day, anyone who passes the door. She's just a really fun teacher. She gives me feedback on my classwork. She's super helpful and really friendly. The children love learning with her, and what more do you want from an eighth grade teacher than an eighth grader that loves to learn? I think he's a very selfless person. He's willing to do anything for anyone. She always is finding fun ways to learn and she really engages with us. She is whips smart. She's no nonsense and you can guarantee that your kids are going to have a great year. The kind and loving teacher and the students really feel her love back. [Music] I think that sums up a lot of the joy that you'll feel in the room. And again, we want to invite the public, anyone who would like to come, we'd love to see you there. There's lots of room. We're also going to be live streaming it. And we will share that link out with everyone the day before the event. So again, that is Thursday, May 15th, next Thursday um from 6:00 to 7:00 a reception and from 7:00 to 8:30 the program. And I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you, Dr. Getty. Does anybody have any questions? Chris, I just want to say uh acknowledge you and your team and say thank you. Uh I know well I think I know how much work uh goes into this and it's probably double or triple that. I know it's a huge event and you guys spend uh so much time. It's a great event every year and so I just want to say thank you for uh putting it together and all the hard work. Thank you for that and I will thank the team. Right now my office is overflowing with awards. So I'm really surrounded by the joy until we come to that. So thank you. I would like to say it is a very special event and I have tears every time I attend it. So thank you for all of the hard work. Thank you. Okay. Next on the agenda is the approval of the 2024 25 calendar change for professional development. Superintendent Law. Madam Chair, members of the board, um, next up is one of the more challenging things you've had to deal with over the last few uh, weeks since we've discussed this. Uh, it's a late change, which I know is very hard for our parents for childc care reasons and for end of year traditions. We we've been communicating about that. Uh, I'm going to give a preview uh, of some of the background for this just so that the board and the public are aware of this. Um when the state passed the read act, they built into legislation that districts were allowed to take a day for the purpose of supporting the implementation of the read act, specifically our curriculum. At the elementary level, as we worked with our you our teachers association, they preferred to have the curriculum that we'll they'll be using next fall as soon as possible. as we went back and forth. And part of the reason for this late change was that our provider of curriculum wasn't able to guarantee that they could have it in our hands by the last day, June 10th, until recently. And just this feels differently to parents than it has before. This is the first year in my history that the state has ever identified materials that school districts must purchase. It's a completely different process than people have dealt with. So committee members might say, "Why has this never happened before?" The state has never given us a list of materials and said you have to pick one of these. The one that we picked after piloting became we could only assure its availability to our teachers on June 10th within the last about 5 weeks. The other part that is driving this change is since 2007 we've had the same middle school program. We're going to a new middle school program in the fall and part of that process to was to assure our teachers we would have time for them to adequately prepare for this. Our previous model was going to be to take a small number of teachers and have them um write some curriculum over the summer, but this day allows us to have every teacher putting their hands on the transition process and and provide some additional support. There are trade-offs. The unfortunate challenge of pushing parents uh with child care and we we tried to give as much lead time announcing it after the work session even before the board approved it. We've worked with every elementary principal about those very critical transition days and celebrations saying let's be creative at assuming the board approves this. They will reach out to parents that they have concerns and come up with ideas for strategies. I I can assure you that as recently as two hours ago I talked with our teachers union representative and the feedback is the majority of teachers are supportive of this model of putting material in their hands ahead of the summer and giving our middle school teachers as much time as possible. So, this recommendation comes with a balance of how do we give teachers as much time as possible to present for the fall and acknowledge that it's going to be hard for parents and and we certainly have heard from parents about both those things. So, I know that this is tough for you as board members. Um, Dr. Leoo, I've taken a lot of your thunder, but I wanted to personally say I've I've heard from the community members. We have talked back and forth. Is there anything else about this presentation that I haven't covered that you want to make sure that we can say for the public to hear? I think you have covered the majority of it. Thank you. Well, I'm going to take some ownership. This was recommendation from the superintendent that I know is hard for our community, but we wouldn't be doing it if we didn't think it would be good for our students. And the last piece I'll say is if we hadn't done June 10th, we would have had to do a day in the fall. And between the two, uh, a back to school day, uh, teachers in a disruption is is much harder than an end of school day. We we made that decision. So, we're recommending that a board the board approve. June 10th will no longer be a school day for students in grades K through 8. High school schedule will be unchanged. The last day for those students would be June 9th. Middle school and elementary teachers will have um preparation a planning day for the fall. Elementary teachers will have their literacy curriculum. Middle school teachers will be working on their new middle school program. With that, I'd open it up for the board. Do we have any discussion? Or wait, no, sorry. It's a motion to Can I have a motion to approve the calendar change for professional development 2024 2025? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion or questions? Megan, um I would just clarify that the last day for K through 8 will be a Monday, but it will not be early release anymore, right? So Tuesday would have been an early dismissal. Um but Monday will be a full school day. That is correct. Okay, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Okay. Next on the agenda is the approval of pilot for student representation on the board. Superintendent Law. Madam chair, members of the board, um since I first became superintendent here during our goal setting meetings, the board has discussed ways to elevate student voice. One of the goals for the last year and a half was studying how other school districts incorporate student voice. Many school districts across the state have sitting schoolboard members or student school board members. I inper Lake when I was there, we had those students. Um but this board had been very thoughtful about that exploring options. Former board chair Zelinger and I visited with other school districts about this. Almost every board member attended sessions on how board me or school districts incorporate student voice. Earlier tonight, we heard a presentation about the uh student forum at the high school. This board has uh had discussions about um ensuring that board or students are present at every board meeting. you have all committed time to doubling up and doing student listening sessions. We just wrapped up our student listening sessions by grade level. Um and then you charged our Vantage and Momentum students with coming up with a model and that group of students. I I told those students one of the options was to not recommending having students on the board or they could rep recommend what other districts do of having two members or they could recommend some other model. And just like Tonka students do when you give them some leeway they come up with amazing and they did al although it was similar amazing for all groups but they came up with a model uh that I'm presenting tonight that is uh they wanted teachers to identify students that had the strength of representing the student body and being thoughtful at a schoolboard meeting and that process uh pending this decision that process has started where teachers are starting to identify students. I will tell you that as we talked with our our different groups of students and we explained this about two weeks ago, one student in the room said, "How do I sign up?" And I said, "Well, you don't get to sign up, but you can tell a teacher you're interested." And after teachers nominate students, all the student body will vote for their grade level representatives, next year's sophomore, sophomores, juniors, and seniors because freshmen aren't in the building. The model would be that that group of students would the week of the schoolboard meeting have a chance or as soon as possible even the Friday afternoon to review the board agenda and then have a chance to ask questions either in a Zoom meeting or something that we'll work out and then elect people to sit at the board. You know, the logistics of this that we have today is they'll sit right over here in the board meetings or they'll join the table at study sessions and director Getty and Carrie Voltz will have a different table in the room to do the work that they're doing and the students will have an opportunity to weigh in just like board members do, but they will not be voting members. of course statutory they can't they may or may not h have comments on some board agenda items just like board members but uh this is a pilot for a year we've talked about measurement for this and what that looks like and we will be talking going into the year that our what our goals are for measurement of impact of student voice at the board meeting and then in a year's time we'll talk about do we continue this in format or some other format this has been um processed uh at as the board after the students presented in November at a study session and then at an additional study session before coming to you tonight. So it's my recommendation that we pilot the model our students brought to us in November um with teachers nominating students with students voting on their peers to represent them with that group identifying students to attend a boarding meeting meeting. they may or may not attend the entire board meeting depending on their schedule and that we would commit to following up in about a year's time on uh is this adding value and no part of this should be a detraction from our commitment to excellence. We are excellence first. I've heard some rumors that potentially this would mean we're not caring about our budget reductions or about our our our high performing students or incredible opportunities. This should not detract from that commitment we have as a school district. So with that, I'm making the recommendation to pilot this student representation to the board. Can I have a motion to approve the pilot for the student representation on the board? So move. May I have a second? Second. We have a motion and a second. Um any discussion or questions? Um I do if that's okay. So I just have a little bit to say. I'm confident that so far we have found creative, purposeful, intentional ways of incorporating student voice as we we heard from principal Ericson and I'm really proud of that from our board and our administration. I think we've we've we've created and from superintendent law we've created some really successful pathways. the the student forum. I was really pleased to hear that 2.0 is going to be even bigger and better. And um I'm I'm really pleased with that and I was hesitant a little bit at first, but I really I like the the direction that the board is taking on this with the student advisory. Um, I I really feel very supportive of student voice and I trust my colleagues up here that we are piloting this in a minuteified fashion because we are a district of excellence and we don't want to just do what every other district is doing. Um, so we're we're we're keeping that excellence and we're doing it in our own Minnetonka way that keeps the excellence and I I really want to be sure that we're measuring the outcomes and we're we're evaluating it to make sure that it's really useful and beneficial at the end of the day. Um, and I'm excited about it. I mean, I think it's something new and um I'm looking at it from a positive lens that we are a cohesive board and we're trusting each other to to to move forward with this and and keeping a a good a good lens with it. So, thank you for the effort and time that everybody has put administration and superintendent law at developing these pathways to move forward. So, thank you, Megan. I just want to piggyback on something that you said. Um I think something important that I have thought through this process is that um there was some word at some point that this was going to be something that all districts would have to do and that one of the things we wanted to do is get out ahead of it and really explore um best practices and think about what would work best for Minnotonka. And I think that po that point that you made is very important because we spent a couple couple years where we all went to sessions at NSBA about it and we sent it to the Vantage moment or Vantage program. And so we really got input from a lot of places from um peers in our in our state and out of our state to really figure out what worked best for us to try. And I think that's really important. So I just kind of want to emphasize that that piece is that um rather than having been told you have to do this and then kind of being like now what we are lucky enough to have had the time to do the leg work to get it to feel right. So I too appreciate that fact. Anyone? Okay, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor please say I. I I any opposed? Motion carries. Okay. Next up, we have approval of policies. Do I read all of these? Okay. Uh, Superintendent Law. Madam Chair, members of the board, uh we have a slate of policies today that reflect changes legislatively from the 2023 session as well as uh sometimes people look at our policies and say this one hasn't been touched in 20 years, is it still relevant? So we look through these. They are similar topics. Some of these are being approved unchanged, but just for the fact that we did review them and putting a new time stamp on them. Some are being recommended for removal because they're redundant and some are being updated because they reflect legislative changes. Tonight, executive director of human resources and general counsel Angie Flowers will run through those policies as a slate board members and you'll have the opportunity to approve one time for all four of them. Miss Flowers. Thank you, Superintendent Law, Madame Chair, and members of the board. Beginning with policy 216, the teaching and learning advisory committee policy. We do have some recommendations and updates for that one. And the updates in policy 216 really just reflect our current practices. Those practices are mainly that the work is led by the teaching and learning department and specifically associate superintendent Dr. Amy Leoo. The information is shared with the board and that is reflected in the changes. There was also an update to how we advertise for persons to join the committee. We used to have paper publications and we're not doing that any longer. Um, and lastly, the updates reflect that the committee previews reports and they may include parent and student surveys with suggestions provided to the board. The next policy 217 measures of success. We do recommend sunsetting this policy because it is covered in policy 618, assessment of student achievement, and that policy was thoroughly reviewed last year. And policy 601, district curriculum instruction, and assessment. We reviewed this policy and it does reflect our current practices and it's compliant with current statute. Therefore, we do not have any recommended changes for policy 601. And lastly, policy 603, instructional and curricular program review and improvement. We don't have any recommended changes for that policy either. It reflects current practices covering the topics of materials, differentiation, current instructional review and improvement process along with the program improvement cycle and curriculum development. And those are our recommendations. Thank you. May I have a motion to approve policies 216, teaching and learning advisory committee, policy 217, measures of success, policy 601, district curriculum instruction and assessment, and policy 603, instructional and curricular program review and improvement as presented. So moved. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion or questions? We have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Next up, we have approval of proposed Minnitankka Diamond Club District Partnership for restrooms at Veterans Field. Superintendent Law. Madame Chair, members of the board, uh we have amazing uh community partners and specifically the Diamond Club. One of the first things I noticed was Veteran Field is worldclass in Minnotonka. Tonight, executive director in finance and operations, Mr. Paul Bourgeois, is going to talk about an amazing opportunity the Diamond Club has brought to us to upgrade that facility. Mr. Bourgeois, thank you, Superintendent Law, Chair Foss, and members of the board. Um, as as you know, we have had um a little bit of an unfortunate circumstance with the retaining wall in the left field side of Veterans Field and it and it's been shifting and sinking and we need to replace it. And you approved uh some bonding to actually put that in place and get that done over the course of the summer and the fall. And in the process of that, it's actually given us an opportunity uh to actually make an improvement to the to Veterans Field in terms of providing a uh a larger a large a restroom a permanent restroom facility and a concession stand. And it may even be, you know, in terms of making lemonade out of the lemon, right? Um it might even be able to open up this particular uh proposal through the diamond club might even open up the field for year- round use uh for for other uses on the field in the winter. Uh so we we know some minor settling in the late fall of 2024 and we made a note to check again in the spring if it to see if it was just minor or stable or if more issued had developed and on March 3rd we looked at it and there were some significant problems that developed further over the winter. So, the board approved issuing bonds estimated for an estimated $ 1.3 million cost of replacement with what's called a large block construction. Uh the similar size block used for the Einer Anderson Plaza and the the front retaining wall at Minnitankka High School that replaced the one that was tipping over. Uh and then also improving the drainage behind it. Um those that material was not available when we built the the wall about 10 12 10 years ago. Um the thing is is with the large block we'll have a reconfigured plaza because uh it'll be it it it is able to go straight up instead of being stepped back like we had to do with the smaller block. And so that will accommodate a a larger plaza that would allow for a permanent restroom and concession structure to sit on top of it. The Minnotonka Diamond Club's willing to donate funds to construct that on the expanded plaza. Now the the retaining wall replacement is going to happen. it must happen uh with or without the restroom concession facility don a donation by the Minnitankka Diamond Club, but they're willing to step up and actually uh make that happen simultaneously while we're constructing the retaining wall. The Diamond Club really has a proven track record as a solid district partner. Back on April 28th, 2006, the Diamond Club entered into an operating agreement and use agreement with the district for the construction and operation of Veterans Field and Legacy Fields. Total $4 million project. Uh the district issued the bonds and constructed the facilities, but the bonds were paid off in 15 years. In 2021, Mitonka Diamond Club took responsibility for paying off 90% 3.6 million principal value and the associated interest. A couple of the people who were involved in that original deal, uh Kyle Hakeamp and Charlie Cannon are here in the audience. Uh and they are uh some of the people who persevered all the way through. uh they built that revenue stream from advertising, concessions and field rental and fundraisers to make the annual payment of their portion and they never missed a payment not even during CO 19 or anything like that. Actually they were done before CO 19 but uh that revenue stream is ongoing because they built this system in place. So based on their performance the operating and use agreement was amended by the board on June 4th 2021 and extended through 2037. So, and and per that original agreement, all the advertising and field revenues are to be used to enhance district ball fields. Just a little bit of a background u in 2006 before construction, this is a a visual of the the the baseball diamond and then there were two softball diamonds uh kind of in the middle of this picture. And it was there's just very small stands uh really not many at all, but it was just a big slope down to the side of the of the baseball field in particular. In 2007, Veterans Field and Legacy Fields after construction, you can see how uh the dual use field, it's used for for uh uh for football uh for about 10 of the 24 weeks of the year that it's in use. And the and it's used for baseball for the other 14 weeks. And uh you can see how it was improved. In this picture, you can still see the upper level tennis courts that were there at the time. uh since moved down to the lower field and turned into a parking lot up more parking up above. But you can see the grandstand and then you can see the the pin wheel for the three softball fields and the improvements to the fourth softball field on Legacy Fields. That's what they funded for $4 million and again paid for 90% of it. Uh the original retaining wall left the slope in place and there was just about a three or four foot retaining wall at the bottom and it was holding back a vertical or slope with a vertical elevation of about 25 ft. And back in 2013 we had some heavy rains. There were um we were declared an u a FEMA emergency zone. We got some money from the federal government at that time although they didn't give any to us. I went to two meetings, one with 12 FEMA people and one with six FEMA people. And then 3 months later they gave a report that said we weren't qualified. But um we took it on ourselves to do the repairs to the washed out wall. And so we constructed the revised wall with the material at that time in 2014. It was a stepped up type of construction. In fact, if you drive around the area, you still see some of these smaller block walls, particularly like on Highway 62. There's some walls that are like stepped back because the small block, it's very hard for it to go up all the way uh without and hold the pre back from the pressure of the soil on top of it. So, it's still a vertical elevation of 25 ft. And uh we it but it was an improvement. It created a a narrow viewing plaza at the top on the upper level. So, you know, at that time, we made lemons out of lemonade. Uh the the potential restroom concession facility uh would be about the same footprint as the iner Anderson stadium and softball fields restroom down below the visitor uh the visitor bleachers. Uh the restrooms are about 200 square feet each and the concession area about 400 which is the same size as the irer lobby area. Um it's really three times the size of the current Veterans Field concession stand which is below the press box. If those of you are Doctor Who fans, it's about the size of the TARDIS that he jumps into to try and travel. So, very small. Uh this is a conceptual uh representation of what the facilities will look like. Uh there's a a u inspiration uh concession stand that we looked at in terms of finding things online to kind of emulate a little bit, but uh uh the plaza will be much bigger. So, it'll be a much nicer viewing platform. uh who know and who knows how how that will be used when it's not being used for baseball because it's a large space that could uh hold temporary, you know, gazebo tent and and meetings or in in warm weather or what have you. It's just going to be a a better facility. And then the the you can see the restroom represented on top with a concession stand. The uh this is just an overall vertical two two-dimensional looking down at it. Uh the concession stand is on the left with windows that would uh kind of face the the grand stand. So people just walk right up to those concession stands but can still watch the ball game. And then the restrooms are on the south end of it. So the estimated cost is $900,000 to a million dollars. Uh we have a proposed agreement between proposed to you would be between ISD276 and the Diamond Club. It'd be amend amendment four to the current operating and use agreement and it specifies the payment terms because all of the other components of the agreement would continue in full force. Uh the Diamond Club and and the Diamond Club has actually approved this uh this structure uh uh with a 16 to zero vote of their board a couple of weeks ago. Uh they uh would give us a $500,000 cash donation in August of 2025. So, it's like after this season is done and they've collected rents and um and the the remaining rent for the season and the and additional um concession revenue and advertising revenue and then every year after that in August 150,000 donation in August uh and a and another one in 20 August of 27 and then another one in 28 or the remainder if we come in with bids under budget uh you know we will basically have them pay up to the point where it's paid off. And so that's what this structure would do up to a maximum of a million dollars. But we're pretty we're not pretty confident. We're very confident we should be under that dollar amount for that. But they have a strong record, long track record of being a trusted reliable partner. And actually they a majority of the funds actually are already on hand. Uh so again, the retaining wall replacement must happen and actually we're designing it and working on that part of it already with or without the diamond club uh donation, but it's an opportunity for you to consider. Uh and it, like I said, it would um it will make a major improvement to that facility that uh many people have been asking for for a long time. And uh again, I think uh with what we're con able to construct there, it might end up even opening up the field for winter use somehow, you know, because it'll be heated and heated concession stand, heated restrooms, all that kind of stuff. So, you never know how our creative people in the city of Minnitonka or the Mitankka school district will come up with ways to make use of the space and have fun with it. So anyway, uh so thank you for considering this. The tenative timeline right now, we have the plaza fenced off to keep pedestrians off of it on the south end where it's really been sinking. Um we got the authorization from you to to sell the bonds and uh the construction design of the wall is underway. Uh we're hoping that we approve the agreement with Minnitankka Diamond Club. Uh now in July and August the city of Minnitonka minhaha uh creek watershed uh plan will district will do plan review and approval and then we'll hopefully open bids in August and then September through December retaining wall demolition and reconstruction and as the retaining wall goes up once it's high enough then probably about October uh through January the restroom concession facility would be constructed and plumbing constructed portable water hooked up waste water natural gas and they'd be open for use in April, you know, once the uh kind of the the baseball season starts again. So, that is the ten of timeline. Um, and thank you for considering this. Thank you, Mr. Bourgeoa. May I please have a motion to approve the Minnetonka Diamond Club District Partnership for Restrooms at Veterans Field. So, move. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion or questions from the board? Chris, I'm the thank you guy uh today apparently. Um uh just an exciting opportunity um making lemons out lemonade out of lemons, I guess, like you said earlier. And I just want to publicly thank uh the diamond club, the Mangaka Diamond Club for long-standing partnership with uh with the district and goes much beyond that and uh Kyle Hikampamp and Charlie Cannon who are in the audience today and uh their contributions to Diamond Club and to the district and the community go way beyond this. But we really appreciate it and this is an exciting project and it's going to be a great addition to Veterans Field. So, thank you. Okay. Well, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor in favor, please say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. We'll do a good job for you. Okay. Now, we move on to the consent agenda. May I please have a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented? So moved. May I have a second, please? Second. All those in favor, please say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. All right. Now, we come to board reports. Superintendent Law or Yes, Dan. Uh had a couple financial uh committee meetings in the past month. Uh back in April, we had the regular finance committee meeting and there was a lot of robust discussion about uh the timeline and what we should be doing surrounding a potential bond measure for facilities improvements. So that discussion is ongoing. And just last week we had the OPED committee meeting which is the other postemployment benefits committee. Um, and despite the roller coaster uh month that the stock market has been in April, that uh that fund is in surprising good surprisingly good shape. We're basically even on the year. So, all things considered, we're in a great place. Awesome. Thank you, Sally. I have a few. So, the Special Education Advisory Committee had its spring meeting on April 22nd, and I just also want to put out a thanks for all the uh parents who have represented on that committee. We actually have a representative at each of our learning sites, and they um some of you may have noticed if you receive uh principles emails, their names are actually listed as the liaison. Um and so they are open for contact from parents who are seeking more information or community or whatever their needs may be and those liaison help connect people with what they need. Also uh just that that committee has really become something very meaningful in terms of collecting input and taking using the input from those community members to shape how we move forward. they've um strengthens for example the connection with the PTO's and PTAs to make sure that the work that those um parents are doing is helping to be inclusive of all of our students and responsive to the needs of everybody. So that um has been really fulfilling. Uh also had the opportunity to attend the teaching and learning committee meeting this past Monday and again thank you to everyone who has been participating in that this year. Um and that was a good wrap-up to the year just helping everybody understand uh how we have come to where we are with some of our um curriculum and other things readact particularly. And finally um and superintendent law you might have more to say about the case committee but uh the work is not done at the state legislature. Uh a push is still on. It's been daunting, but we are not giving up that people continue to write, to email, to call, to visit uh legislators to say there there are priorities and we are expecting our legislators to take action and we're just going to keep keep at them and we invite the community to join us in that. Um, I'm also on the legislative committee for the uh metropolitan uh school district committee and likewise there is a lot of activity going on. So less people think we're just sitting back and waiting to see what happens, not the case. Thank you. That's great. Uh oh, sorry, Mike. Go ahead. Uh just a quick update from the mental health advisory committee. Um we've got uh a few things that are going on. Uh the Jed Foundation project is providing a lot of data right now between all the surveys that have gone out and some of the other analyses that have been done and we're hoping to run that through the mental health advisory committee to get uh the members uh input on on that information. Um, and I'm also we also are hoping to take a look at the current literature on school start times because that is a recurrent uh question that comes up from the community and just starting that process by looking at the data that is out there, the studies that have been done. Um, so that we can then start to make a decision whether or not that's something we need to move forward uh in deeper examination as far as the logistics are concerned as a district. Um and then lastly, uh one of the things that we've discussed more recently is is starting to look at what a sort of community response uh might be. If if in in a worst case scenario situation where we have a an event at one of our schools, then we have uh sort of a network that's in that we can develop so that providers in the area can uh be we can connect with them quickly and efficiently and get help to students and and families that need it on a on a timely basis. Thank you. Okay, Superintendent Law, a couple uh community announcements. You heard about committees tonight and so this is my first plug. The school board has several committees that are annual um opportunities for the community to get involved and those committees are opening up for applications to start for the fall. We will also communicate this out through uh school channels. The teaching and learning advisory committee is a a committee that runs from September to June and provides input on uh course changes, statutory requirements that need to be implemented, curriculum adoptions that are coming up. So that's the teaching and learning advisory committee. The finance advisory committee that uh board member Olsen um referenced meets on Tuesday mornings uh throughout every month of the year gets reports on the district finances and has a chance to weigh in on things like strategy or communication or even decision- making like the upcoming potential bond decision. That's the finance advisory committee. And as members roll off um we place new members on that com committee has a set number of community members and there are people every summer people choose not to reserve so those are open. There's also the mental health advisory committee that Dr. Remacol referenced uh and that focuses on how do we best support our students mental health and wellness and suicide prevention are all wrapped in that. Um, and there's also the calendar committee that meets from about February to March and makes recommendations for the calendar a year and a half out. All those committees are open. The it's if you go to our website and submit an application, you get a bounce back that says when those decisions are made, we'll be pushing those things out, those uh information through school channels. But if you're interested in serving, please look at those opportunities. Uh, this tomorrow wraps up teacher appreciation week. If you haven't had the chance to reach out to your children's teachers and say you make a difference, do it. In the month of May, as things get crazy, a little note of support never hurts. Um, we've been with board members help delivering treats to every classroom in the district. We are wrapping up tomorrow morning. Thanks board members. Very fun to be in teachers classrooms. Um, and we've also inspired some students who may become a teacher just because they say, "How do I get a cookie?" I said, "Become a teacher." Um, and last, uh, we saw a preview of Celebration of Excellence tonight in a video reel. None of that happens without an incredible communications team. Tomorrow is school communicators appreciation day. That would be Dr. Getty and her team. Um, Andy Smith, Mary Cornelius. We've She's got I'm not going to be able to name them all tonight, so I shouldn't have started, but there Uh we are fortunate if you've read about the district, if you've gone to the web page, if you've seen in a video, it's the communications team and they're fantastic. I want to give them a shout out right now. They're nationally recognized every summer from the National School Public Relations Association and we can't connect with our community without them. With that, don't forget two big updates. And this is I'm jumping to announcements. We moved our June board meeting to May 29th because graduation is is June 5th and so uh that first Thursday in June that happens frequently when we get the US Bank on that night. So graduation is June 5th. One of the best events of the entire school year but our next board meeting, our June board meeting is May 29th. Thank you. All right. May I please have a motion to adjurnn? So moved. May I have a second, please? Second. Um, I guess that means motion carries. Oh. Oh. All in favor. Excuse me. I knew I would mess up a little bit. So, all in favor, please say I. I. I. Ajourn. Okay. Motion carries.