along the um edges and stuff, feel free to uh we have room for folks. Um and if you need to bring in chairs or whatnot, just let us know or if we can figure out something. So, Dr. Bitman, will you please review tonight's agenda for us in the community? Yes, Mr. Chair, we have Acting Chair Arum, we have a lot on our agenda tonight. We're excited to be able to talk about a number of things happening in the district. Um we we one of the things that we have is kind of an overview of the information that we had on our excuse me on our core planning team throughout the last year which we had lots of uh community feedback staff feedback etc. So we're excited to do that. We also have a number of policies that we'll be talking about as well as a number of things that are happening throughout the particular district. Um we will provide information about our legislative action committee and kind of a recap of the work that we've done and we'll off we'll also talk about some of the opportunities to renew the operating levy. Finally, we'll we'll take action on the preliminary budget for fiscal year 2026 and we'll also talk a little bit about our assessment plans along with policy. Great. Thank you Dr. Bman. Uh we will get started with tonight's excellence in action. Tonight's excellence in action celebrates the behind-the-scenes team responsible for Edana public schools successful adoption of the letters professional development program. Hundreds of teachers have completed this program which is based on the science of reading. This is the graduate level development course that has now transformed how teachers instruct to read and catapult students through their reading proficiency. Bethany Van Odell, assistant director of teaching and learning joins us tonight to recognize this team and of unsung heroes. Good evening Dr. Dr. Bitman, members of the board and members of the community. It is my true privilege and honor to sit before you with these fine educators who are next to me and talk about their work around our letters initiative. Um the science of reading has been an initiative that we've been working on for years and since this time started our student um growth has increased every single year and it is not without um the incredible efforts of these three women and others that I'll speak to in just a minute. Um we've done multiple board reports um on the efforts of our teachers and additional board reports that celebrate the outcomes of our students. But tonight, we're celebrating the small but mighty group of individuals that are the chief architects behind the scenes. Sometimes not always behind the scenes. Sometimes they're front and center leading all of the PD, right? Um so we are um looking at these as our unsung heroes today. We're going to sing their praises because they deserve to be sung. So just as the architect's meticulous blueprints and unseleelebrated efforts bring a vision to life, so do too the unsung heroes behind the scenes. Their never wavering positive attitude, tenacious problem solving, and professional grace quietly construct the success of every phase one science of reading endeavor. These architects, so we have Alyssa Barnes, who is a kindergarten teacher at Countryside. She has become a trained trainer for us. And so again, she is not behind the scenes. oftentimes she's out front along with Sandra Harley whom you've met before frequently, right, as she's up talking about the science of reading efforts. She is also um doing a lot behind the scenes, but also one of our trainers um and literacy coaches. And then Pam Berling, who does all of the um recordkeeping and spreadsheets upon spreadsheets upon spreadsheets. Um there are a few individuals who are not with us. Liz Den um manages our prek efforts. She is also the literacy coach there who has been um helping train those teachers and uh Sue Johnson who is um kind of Alyssa's counterpart. She um also is a trainer. She's a teacher at Countryside as well. And who am I missing? Joan. Joanne CCH and uh Jen Freighic who are our special ed coordinators who also help. So, we have um kind of parsed this out into three categories of uh who these folks are and what they do to help our teachers succeed. You know, and our teachers are succeeding and thriving. Our students are often succeeding and thriving. So, the small but mighty group that we're recognizing highlights three different layers of the science of reading PD structure. They are our system makers, our letters trained facilitators, and our cross department collaborators. So, first and foremost are our system masters. Pam, Sandra, um, and Liz, who's not here. They are working to, um, track systems to support 300 and plus staff members in training. This includes many, uh, spreadsheet lines. Right. I saw Pam's work today. I was trying to navigate her spreadsheets. Working with providers to ensure the staff have their materials. Sometimes that means hand delivering them to buildings as Sandy's driving around the district, making sure everyone has what they need. Um, providing clear and consistent communication at all levels. When you're sending out an email to over 300 people, you can imagine oftentimes you get questions back and they all go to these folks and they are navigating that all the time in addition to their regular day jobs too that they're also managing. Um, organizing celebrations. We've had cake with the science of reading rope on it. So, that's celebrating everyone, encouraging staff to meet deadlines um with a gentle nudge. Right. Cheering. Cheering. Yes. Yes. Cheering. cheering teachers on to the to the deadline there. Um, but they are selfless and reliable and have demonstrated an exceptional level of dedication to the details of our science of reading implementation. There's absolutely no doubt that without their work, our implementation would not be nearly as successful. We hear so many positive things from teachers and very very few um negative things about letters because it's so well-run and I think teachers feel so supported. So, our letters facilitators, I mentioned that Alyssa and Sandy, um, Sue Johnson and Liz Den are trained internal facilitators. So, they've participated in extensive training requirements. They prepare exceptional PD, the feedback from teachers. It's hands-on, it's engaging, they add humor. Um, it's it's they're just really um, highly regarded by teachers. Um, they're extremely dedicated and hardworking. They've certainly gone above and beyond to not only attend additional training for themselves so that they can then um do this on our behalf, they take time to organize and really be thoughtful around the adult learners in front of them. So Alyssa goes from teaching 5-year-olds to adults, right? The whole gamut. Um colleagues have repeatedly commented on the training sessions that they have attended. They were facilitated by um these these two and then also Sue and Liz and their deep expertise is a gift to Edina that will continue to support learners for many many years to come. Joanne um CC and Jen Freighic are unable to be here tonight but they're are special ed coordinators and they have helped so much in terms of making sure that we have all the bases covered with all of the teachers that need to be trained. Um and so we wanted to give a highlight out to those cross department collaborators. Um, they've been steady and responsive thought partners every step of the way. They are both solutionoriented thinkers. They go out of their way to ensure communication is clear and consistent. Due to their strong collaboration, all special education staff have met their deadlines and are eagerly looking for opportunities to embed their learning in their day-to-day work. And then we have our chief architects. when we think about um all of these folks. So, an architect architectural marvel isn't born from a singular vision. It's the product of an orchestrated effort by many skilled hands and minds. Each playing their vital part in its creation. So, there are very few words that can truly outline the amount of tens attention that Pam, Sandy, Alyssa, Sue, Liz, Joanne, and Jen have dedicated to our science of reading implementation. it would take us many many hours parallel to that amount of time that it takes teachers to complete their letters um to describe their excellence in totality. More than anything, we want them to know how much we are deeply grateful not only for the work that they are doing but the way in which they do their work. Again, like I said, they bring integrity, um a deep wisdom, many many skills, but also humor um grace. We are often laughing in the planning meetings, right? So, thank you to each and every one of you who are here and who are not um for living out our everyday vision and truly defining excellence in Edina public schools. You are noticed, you are appreciated and we are very grateful. Thank you. Uh board members, any questions or comments? Um real quick, I don't think I heard it. How many of our wonderful staff have completed their training that we celebrated a few weeks ago? Yeah. How many did we celebrate um at our 270? 270. And I just want to also point out that one of the best things that we have going for us in Edina is the Edina education fund that helped provide most of the funding to help make that training possible before the legislature provided funding to help make that happen. So congratulations to everyone who's already gone through that and continued success as we keep doing it. This is not a oneanddone uh situation. It's an ongoing development and ongoing train. So, excellent. Thank you. Thank you. Any other board members? Okay. Not so fast, ma'am. I'm just kidding. Well, I just wanted to say thank you as well um along with uh Director Bergman. Um you know, this is impacting generations of of students and families and so I appreciate all the work that everybody's done. It's a big lift and um it did not go unnoticed. So, thank you. All right. Thank you so much. Uh next up, next up we have hearing from the members of the public. Uh thank you to those who are here to address the board. When you signed up u and asked to speak, you acknowledged and understanding and adherence to board policy 206, which are our community commitment comment guidelines. Pursuant to this policy, each speaker has a maximum of three minutes to speak. A clock on the screen will be a visual reminder of your time remaining, and I'll prompt you verbally if you're going over three minutes. When those three minutes are up, you must conclude your remarks. This time is not to design this time is not designated to address items concerning specific staff or students, and personal attacks by anyone at the podium are unacceptable. If this happens, you will be warned, and if you persist, you will no longer be able to continue your remarks. Any feedback about district employees needs to go to to their respective site level leader, the superintendent, or be submitted in to the board in writing. The public comment period will be limited to 15 individuals. Per updated protocols, the school board will give the first priority to Edina public school students, individuals who have children attending the school in the district, individuals who reside in district, or individuals who are employed by the district. The school board will give second priority to individuals who wish to address the specific item that is on the agenda for that meeting. If your form was not filled out completely and you are not eligible to speak to be called. All efforts have been made to ensure multiple viewpoints would be expressed. Multiple individuals expressing the same viewpoint or multiple people from the same organization should consider consolidating your remarks. If you choose not to if you are not chosen to speak, your voice will not is not any less important to us and please consider sending us an email at schoolboardedchools.org. Finally, during the public comment period, our role as a board is to listen. This is not a place for the board to resolve any concerns and as such no comments will be made from the board. Issues will potentially be referred to the superintendent for appropriate follow-up. Thank you for your cooperation. Um we have I believe 10 individuals signed up to speak. Uh, first one is Marie Johnson. And when you come up tonight, perfect. If you could hit the green button um in front of there to so everybody can hear you. Uh, it's right in the middle center. It'll turn green. I'm sorry. Uh, why don't you click it one more time if you can. There you go. Good evening board members. I'm Marie Johnson, a South View parent whose entire family has been transformed by our unified special ed program. No teachers asked me to speak tonight. I learned of this staffing change only when another parent sounded the alarm. Southview's Unified Program is the only three-time National Special Olympics Unified Champion School in Minnesota and the 2024 Tom Oi Human Rights Award winner. Local media calls it the gold standard for inclusion. Those honors didn't happen by accident. They happened because Whitney Brocka is on site every day motivating and mentoring peers, deescalating crisis, and meeting strict IDEIDA timelines. Last month, we learned of a district pilot that reallocates special ed staffing to the early learning center. The plan cuts Whitney to halfime at South View and halftime at Valley View, doubling her case load to two buildings and 324 IEP students. Staff describe the shift from transformational to triage. There are five reasons why we should pause this pilot. First, the banner and funding is at risk. The national banner status requires sustainable staffing. Cutting leadership in half violates that metric, jeopardizing the banner and the $70,000 plus in Rotary Edina Ed fund and polar plunge grants tied to it. Second, there's a legal and fiscal liability. IDEIDA timelines are unforgiving. Delays trigger due process hearings that average $10,500 in legal fees and $19,000 in reimbursements to families for the national averages. Enough to raise any salary. Enough to erase any salary savings. Third, there's a retention crisis. A 2024 NCES survey named special ed roles the hardest to fill nationwide. Removing full-time facilitation burdens, exhausted teams, and speeds turnover that cost far more than we save. Fourth, student safety and mental health is at risk. In a crisis, seconds matter. A facilitator who is offsite cannot coach staff, calm a classroom, or provide a sensory break. Those gaps put our most vulnerable learners and their peers at risk. And lastly, the process and transparency of this decision. This decision was made unilaterally without input from staff, parents, the special education advisory council, or even this board. Equity demands collaboration and data, not subtracting excellence from South View to patch Valley View. We urge the district to press pause on this pilot program until a collaborative and databacked analysis of the real needs can be established. Protect the banner, protect our budget, and above all, protect the students who rely on us to live Edina's promise of each and every student can thrive. Thank you for your time and leadership. Um, Miss Whitney always makes me feel special when I come into her classroom. Um, one time I came into her classroom, um, and she gave me some snacks. It made me feel really special. Um, also she, um, all uh, is really amazing and I can't imagine unified without her. Thank you. Next on the list, I have Amy Power. Oh, so I had Ben and Amy Power. So whichever whichever one is Hello. Thank you everybody. So my son Jacob um just finished uh sixth grade at Southview Elementary School and I just want to kind of cut to the chase. It has been a life-changing experience for him and us. I did not think that something like this program existed. Um, I'll be honest and I think we have a kind of a unique perspective on it. So, Jacob was born in California and um spent the first first few years of his life there and um you know in researching and kind of getting to know the school system, let's just say it was not very good. So, we ended up moving to Connecticut, which is where I'm born and raised and that's where my family is. Spent the next 10 years there and in two uh school districts there and the first one was I would say probably average at best. Um, and then we moved on to the second one and that was actually quite good. And you know, I didn't have a good understanding of what it could be really, but that in my opinion, like he was loved by classmates, great staff, and was very hard to leave there until we got here. And this I did not think that um we could be in a situation where Jacob would come in and then leave the school year and have texts coming in from friends uh inviting him over to their house um just being loved by basically everyone at that school. And it's a direct result of Whitney Brocka and Jenny Schaefer. Um you know I I have a lot of dialogue with them just ongoing dropping Jacob off at school. Um, and you know, just kind of communicating about various needs that you have to do. And, um, I mean, we've had a couple instances in life where I felt like there have been angels that have been dropped like in our family. Um, and we got here and we had two at once in Whitney and Jenny. Um they are incredible and they have a unique chemistry that you know when I heard this news um the thought of disrupting what's going on there is unthinkable to me. I mean, I think this should be the standard that all schools everywhere should follow and um I I definitely understand um you know, wanting to spread Whitney's brilliance across the school districts, but um you know, just seeing the reaction when I picked Jacob up from that dance, the most recent one, and I s and this is when I first heard the news, and the look on the faces of the staff, it was quite shocking. I mean, I'd never seen looks like that. and very traumatic. I mean, I'll just use that word. They were they were seemed to be traumatized and I was kind of in shock and I was like, what why would why would this be a thing here that we have to discuss? So, um I think that you know they are very good obviously and there's ways to spread their um you know abilities across the school district, but I think that the abrupt nature of how this was delivered um was probably not the best. um just seeing how you know the fallout was afterwards. So um I just think it's very special the way it's been and I think um not disrupting it would be the way to go personally. Thank you, Mr. Park. Thank you very much. Uh next have Becky Golden on the list. They're coming. That is just fine. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Becky Golden, and I'm the mother of four amazing kids, two of whom have been profoundly impacted by the support of Whitney Brockla. I'm here tonight to talk about our family's personal and deep deeply emotional journey navigating navigating an exhausting special education system with the help of someone we now consider part of our family. At one of the most difficult points in our lives, Whitney became our lifeline. She didn't just guide us through the red tape. She walked beside us with compassion, clarity, and care. And her presence changed everything. Whitney, Greg, Bo, Jenny, Rachel, and each of you who've dedicated your lives to supporting students with exceptional needs. You are not interchangeable. You've built something very rare, a system grounded in trust, compassion, and connection. And when we keep asking more of those who give everything without reinforcing the structure around them, something has to break. We cannot afford to lose what makes this work so extraordinary. Whitney supported our family far beyond any job description. She didn't just help us navigate the system. She helped reshape it to fit our child. In IEP meetings, she found creative solutions that honored strengths rather than masking challenges. Outside of meetings, she dropped off meals, checked in, and made sure we never felt alone. She was all in every time. And our story isn't even unique. This team gives that level of care to hundreds of families. Every IEP, every moment of crisis, every quiet celebration and loud victory, every conversation with a student who just needs to be seen. This is what real support looks like. But piling more onto those already caring so much doesn't honor their commitment. It undermines it. This isn't just about one person or one school. It's about preserving a model that reflects the best of who we are. Southview has built something nationally recognized and beloved for a very good reason. And instead of dismantling that, we should be fiercely protecting it, learning from it, and replicating it in ways that support, not stretch, the people who make it possible. This isn't about resisting change. It's about recognizing the cost of asking more from people already giving everything. Their impact is not measured on a spreadsheet. It lives in the hearts of every family who's felt seen and supported by this team. If we let decisions like this go unchallenged, we risk losing the heart of what makes this more than just a system. This isn't just a a staffing shift. It's a critical misstep. And what signals what it signals is being felt by every family and staff member who depends on the system. Changes like this don't create balance, they create strain. There are better ways to respond to shifting needs, but they start by including the voices of those most directly affected with transparency and with the same collaborative spirit these educators have built their lives on. A process that If you could close up, a process that honors that work isn't only possible, it's essential. And it's not too late to get it right. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is Gigi Gordon and Zoe Higgins. Hi, I'm Gigi Gordon and I have been a part of Edini Unified at Southview for the last three years. Unified has changed my life. I have met the most incredible students and their families that have turned into lifelong friendships. I have also been on so many adventures like going to Kowalsskis where my friend Shifa and I learned life skills, social skills, and practical skills skills while having fun around the store and mall. I've been to Timothy's favorite bookstore, Wild Rumpus, where I learned he he loves Star Wars books but has never watched the movies. And I've been with Brooklyn when she went skiing for her first time ever at Highlands. She was so scared, but with the support of Unified, she had so much fun on the slopes. The Unified program wouldn't be nothing without would be nothing without our outstanding teachers. Their leadership, support, and inclusivity has inspired me to grow in ways I never thought possible. The teachers personalities make you feel welcomed and they do so much for you. On the last day of school, they took their time to make all these pictures and hand them out as a keepsake and a reminder of all of our experiences. The passion I feel for this program is something I share with the community. I have younger friends who are excited to join Unified at Southview when their time comes. I hope that you can keep this program intact and can replace can replicate it at other schools. Thank you. Thank you. Zoe Higgins. Good evening. My name is Zoe Higgins. I was given the opportunity to be in the unified program for my seventh and eighth grade years at Southview Middle School. I was chosen to be in the unified advisory this past year. I was a little bit nervous to meet some new people, but the minute I walked in, I was greeted with smiles, positivity, and it felt like home. The unified program is way more than pairing students leaders with aspired friends. It is where everyone's differences are celebrated and cherished. Lifelong friendships are created, life skills are developed, and memories are made. It's about supporting each other in the classroom and at outings where we're practicing life skills and sporting outside of school when someone needs a friend. The program that the unified staff has created is top tier. The staff have made a memorable impact on me and many others. They've taught us a lot about empathy. They make every little moment shine and they take time to talk and create a strong relationship with every single student. Fostering relationships and investing in each of us personally takes time and dedication. As I look back, this is what makes this program so special. They model how to appreciate everyone's unique journeys. They truly want to see everyone thrive. and it's felt like home and a place where I always want to be. The events we had through the Unifi program were the best. From fun sports to cool community outings, we bonded and made so many great memories. One of my favorite moments was the Polar Plunge because it pushed us all out of our comfort zone in order to achieve our common goal, which was raising money for Special Olympics and Adana Unified. It was amazing to see everyone show off their brave skills and the energy outside was just electric. Looking back on my time in the Adana Unified program, I feel super grateful for all the lessons and experiences that helped shape who I am today. The friendships I made and the positive vibes from teachers will always mean a lot to me. Unified feels like a family that pushes us to be our best selves. It creates an environment where kindness and compassion flourish, making school a much enjoyable place. These experiences stay with us and influence how we treat each others and approach challenges in our life. I'm a way better person because of the unified program. Thank you for listening. Thank you very much, Jack Lee. Still G's notes. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Jack Lee. We have an eighth grader Timothy who can you can hear out there sometimes who's in seventh grade or South View Unified program is autism down syndrome red hair and about 20 times more energy than I do. Tonight we are asking you to please pause this pilot to slow down and look for other options that do not impact the South Unified special ed program. To be clear, we want kids throughout the district to have their needs met. I'm a Southview alum. Uh, and so this is not a zero- sum thing. We think that there are other options that don't put this program at risk. There are two issues, as some of the folks have said, the decision itself and the way the decision was made. The decision itself puts the program at risk. The lack of transparency, not consulting seek, not consulting the board, not consulting parents, most importantly, not consulting the staff. Jenny Schaefer, who built this program over the last 10 years, was told she'd have a cut. That, frankly, folks, is how you lose your best people. I've lived in Edina for more than half of my 60 years. I know it's hard to believe I'm 60. We moved back here 20 years ago for this community and for these schools. between myself, my three siblings, and our three kids in Edina schools. We've spent 90 uh almost 90 school years in Edina schools. We've seen hundreds of teachers, hundreds of programs, and the unified is the best thing. Trisha Pettis at Southview calls it the foundation of the unique inclusive culture of Southview. I think of two words, excellence and inclusion. These are two words that describe Edina at its best, but those are two words that are not often found together, but that is that is unified. I lead a nonprofit. I make a lot of decisions. In theory, a lot of those are good decisions, but some of those things in practice are not as good as I thought. And so, I need to go back and unmake those decisions. Not failure, it just happens. That's what we need to do here. In practice, this is a much bigger impact to this program than than we realize. Um, if I use an analogy, I'll use an Edina analogy. This pilot is going to result in a tear down. We have a dreamhouse. It's admired by the neighborhood, by the community, by the states, by everyone actually. We wouldn't tear down our dreamhouse, and we shouldn't do this to this critical program. We have amazing staff, and we're in a unique moment. We want to have the best knee data. We already have it with Unified. Let's not change that. Let's look for another option. We want to spread the lessons of Unified around the district, not tear it down. Please slow down this decision. Slow down this pilot. Let's find a better solution that doesn't put South's special ed and unified at risk. Thank you. Uh, next we have a group um, Kaitlin Clif, Rachel Canable, Aaron Diknney, Emily Larson, Adam Griffin, Robert Alm or Rob Alm, Jenny Schaefer, Heather Edmonson, Marissa Bodcker, and Kayla Roberts. I gotta get my readers on here. green button. Okay, hold on one second. That's good. Yeah, hit it one more time. There you go. I could just keep talking without, you know, being timed. Dang it. Technology and me aren't friends. I can just start. Okay. Uh we come as United's special education team to ask the board to reconsider splitting the facilitator position between Southview and Valley View. We strongly believe this needs to be remain a full-time position at each school. We understand the idea of this change is to create equity, but we would like to present some information that suggests to us that it's not an equitable switch. A key role of the facilitator at Southview has been supporting our special education students with deescalation and needs. This is crucial because we do not have any one specific person in this position. In contrast, the high school has an allotted one full-time social worker solely that works within the special ed setting. And the elementary schools have two full-time behavior specialists. One of these positions was al allocated after they successfully requested to trade in three pair positions for that second behavior specialist. Our team at South View went through the same process, understanding that we would likely share the new position with Valley View. However, when we made the same request, we were denied. Splitting this role means one person needs to support the behavioral needs and needs across two schools while managing 24 case managers over 40 paras and more than 300 students and their families. Southview has over a decade of experience with special education support models a full-time psych with a team lead stipen that led to burnout a.5 facilitator role that lasted only one year due to the workload prompting the creation of our current 1.0 0 position. Four years ago, the role was reduced to 08, but quickly restored to a full-time after it proved ineffective. History shows anything less than a full-time position fails. It appears as though a pattern of moving staff to fill gaps rather than building a sustainable solution. When early childhood lost its facilitator to cover an elementary need, a new gap was created. Now to fill the gap, the middle school is being cut. Rather than reshuffleling rules, we urge the district to look at what's working self's current model and replicate that success elsewhere. If this is a budget issue, could we consider reducing special ed staffing at our private schools as a pilot? OOLG alone houses four specialed employees paid through EDINA public schools. This arrangement predates our current special ed director. Reducing the program from even four teachers down to three and servicing these students back within the special education school or sorry spe the public school buildings which is what we have done in the past and is a more common practice around the state could serve as a strategic pilot while trying while trying something new that is not a repeat of past the past. Thanks. Thank you. Next on the list is Robert Kundi. Did I pronounce your name right? Is that the proper pronunciation? I'm sorry. Proper pronunciation. Kundi. Y. Yeah. Do I have to press the button or you guys? Uh, press the button. There you go. U. My name is Robert Kundy. I have twin girls, Charlie and Kate, um who were here with us earlier tonight. They're going to be kindergarteners next year at Concord where Kate will receive special education support. Um they are immeasurably special and I'm lucky to be their dad. And we're all lucky. We live in one of the best cities in this state and we have one of its best school districts. And that's not by mistake. It's because we're incredibly dedicated people in this community and we make good decisions and we pride ourselves in doing so. So, I have to ask, why on earth are we considering a pilot program, if you can even call it a pilot, that risks negatively impacting the fundamental services we provide to our most vulnerable students? What schools have piloted this? Where's the data to support its efficacy? How are we measuring that? What further cuts are you planning if you deem this a success? That's what a pilot means. And if we go through with this, what lessons are we actually dedicating ourselves to teaching our children? Is it that hockey championships are more important than equality? I asked that because we have 11 hockey coaches in this district and I for one am losing the plot. In fact, there are 131 total coaches across all of our sports with 1,600 student athletes at a ratio of 12 to1. And yet, we're going to ask this special education provider to work at a ratio of 324 to1. I doubt she'll be working twice as many hours and getting paid double her current salary, which means that the reality is that services are going to be cut 50% for these students against a budget shortfall of 2%. Did we eliminate 50% of our coaching positions? I actually want an answer to that. But I know the answer. It's of course not. And so my message to you is this. This is not tenable. It's not acceptable. It's not who we are. And it's probably not even legal. The IDEA Act of 1975 mandates that children who receive special education and related services are entitled to a free and appropriate public education that includes opportunities to participate in the schools, not the school districts, but the schools general curriculum. If there's no education lead in special education at their school, how are you going to meet that requirement? Unlike our second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, 9th, 10th, 11th, or dare I say in the cradle of hockey, as someone who didn't grow up here, our head hockey coach, those special education teachers help you meet a federallymandated requirement. And in March of 2023, the Supreme Court issued a landmark decision which held that individuals seeking compensatory damages under the federal anti-discrimination laws no longer need to satisfy the administrative exhaustion requirement within the IDEA Act. In short, if your pilot fails, you can be sued immediately. This is not the right thing to do, and it's not even the fiscally responsible thing to do, and you will be challenged. You're seeing it in this room. You don't even have enough chairs. In Minneapolis, where they're facing a $75 million budget shortfall, they're increasing their special education budget by $3 million. And I promise you, we cannot win enough state championships in crisp white, probably new Hornet hockey gear to remove the stain that it will imprint on this board and on us as parents if we do the wrong thing. We are better than this. We know better than this. We can and we should do better than this. I'm here for Kate, whose communication skills don't quite yet match her courage, and for her sister, Charlie, who I hope is learning how to advocate for her sister from me tonight. Please join me in teaching them the right lesson. Reverse this decision. Thank you. Our last speaker is Amy Bartley. Amy Bartley. Hello. Thank you for hearing. So, I'm probably the only person here who does not have a South View kid. We actually chose to send my daughter to Valley View and Southview is our home school. Um, I would actually acknowledge that the reason we chose to send her to Valley View is because the United the Unified, excuse me, program was not a good fit for her special needs. So, I one of the things I have not heard today is the need for the education being funded. And I think that that is a miss because these resources that are being moved are not specific to South View. They're specific to the Edina Middle Schools, which is important because I have gone through having an IEP evaluation while Stephanie, who is the Valley View Whit version of Whitney, excuse me, was out on leave. I can tell you and I'm happy to share my experience. It was just I will say the value staff has been amazing but you don't have the expertise when that particular role is not there. So I found it very interesting. I found a 2019 Minnesota Department of Education evaluation where this particular evaluation called this as a gap and required a action plan to be fixed. And this was one of the recommended fixes was creating a full FTE position at both middle schools. And I believe that that is what is required. Having gone through without having that resource there, it is imperative that our students have that. And I can say that I've gone through from fouryear-old all the way up, having gone through and fought and battled every single time to have to get the resources. I have left these meetings in tears more times than I can count. That is not going to be fixed by keeping unified. That will be fixed by keeping the people in place that need to be there to advocate for our children. So I thank you for your time. I understand that you guys have a lot on your plate and that you are trying to balance a budget and I am just beside myself thinking that this is not a oneperson issue. This is a school district issue and is there anything that we can do as a school district and people of the school district to help to meet those needs just because this is not going to get fixed with just a it's not going to get a balanced budget. It's not going to get fixed easily. So, if there's something that we can do, please let everybody in this room know. I have a feeling that everybody here who's here to fight for their people are also willing to actually put their time and effort into helping with whatever is necessary. But also, please keep in mind that this is not about one program or one school. This is about an entire school district and the needs of our students. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. That was the last of our speakers. Um, thank you all for your engagement and your participation in this community comment section. Um, we'll be moving on to our next course of business, which is the consent agenda moving forward. Thank you all. [Music] [Applause] Uh, we're moving on to the consent agenda. Is there anyone who would like to remove anything from the consent agenda? Um I will be uh recusing myself from the vote on the consent agenda. Um so do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Second. Um all those in favor of approving the consent agenda say I. I. Anyone opposed? The consent agenda has been approved. I'm just going to give it a second. Mr. Chair, members of the board, it is my pleasure tonight to partner Mr. Chair, members of the board, those in the audience, it's my pleasure tonight to partner with Dr. Webb as well as our entire cabinet for the good work that has been done throughout the district. This work has been started with from Dr. Stanley and an enormous amount of work behind the scenes from an and others have made this a great success. Um, tonight you're going to hear the report and some information that hap that we received after this entire process and I think you're going to be really excited and proud. There's a couple things to note. One, that we had great representation throughout the district and community. two, that the celebrations outweighed the things that people want us to be thinking about. That doesn't typically happen. Um, in addition to that, the things that were mentioned are things that we are um that we find really important and we'll continue to discuss and develop action plans to meet those needs wherever that we can. So tonight we will provide some introductions. We will share some purpose. We will provide a quick overview of the process and we will have an opportunity for questions and answers. With that our cabinet members, our leaders are going to share a variety of slides and we look forward to presenting. So with that we are going to to turn it over to Dr. Leland. Thank you so much. And one of the things that we wanted to make sure people understand about the core planning process is that it is about monitoring our strategic plan and determining the extent to which we are on track to meet our timelines and the intent of the plan. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Uh just as a note, of course this was created in June of 2020. We had a little pandemic that happened and because of that I know and because of that we have extended our timeline to 2030. I love this slide. This is the best. This is what we do for each and every student to discover their possibilities and thrive. A beautiful vision for our district. And through our mission, we want our students to discover academics, activities, and opportunities, encourage creativity, foster curiosity, and develop critical thinking skills. We support every student's educational journey by creating a caring and inclusive school culture that supports the whole student. Deafany is up next. As Dafany makes her way up here, just one of the great strengths of what Edina is doing is uh they are developing really strong feedback loops. So every year gathering 50 stakeholders together to give feedback on the implementation of your strategic plan gives you great new information and you're going to hear that tonight. Thanks so much, Dave. You're probably familiar with the core planning process. It's a two-day session and the magic is really the first day and that's when the team goes out to site visits to see the strategic plan at work and in action. It's where the strategic plan goes from a PDF to actual strategic work being done in the district. And I think what is so fantastic, I've participated in core planning um teams where that wasn't done and where that is done. And the energy being out in the buildings and seeing the students and the staff brings is just makes the process exponentially better. It gets all of us to places where we may not be every day as parents. We get to visit buildings where we may not have students and as staff people. It it gets us out of the the four walls that we find ourselves in every day. Uh can you click one more time, please? Oh, that's quite all right. So, we visited we split up into teams and visited four elementary schools as well as all of our secondary buildings and again saw some of the key programs at work. We were asked at the second day to come back and provide some type of an assessment, some feedback on what's working well, what isn't, what you would expect. And can you here is an example of the different buildings and programs that were visited. And you can see there's that's quite right a lot of variety in terms of the programs that we got to um witness in action. Lastly, we heard presentations from really special partners in the district, the ED fund. We heard an extensive update from Alex Hatch, our new safety and security supervisor. We talked about the new budget task force, which involved community and learning a lot about school education and the Beacon dashboard, which is an online tool that we use to document progress. What I really want to highlight is um Alex's work which has been quite extensive in addition to a district-wide audit. One of the things that he's led that really touched all of us frankly is interaction between building security staff and students and at the secondary level flex times where students and security staff were getting together to build relationship because we know how important that is to maintaining and enhancing security in the building. I just want to read a couple of quotes from students who've participated in the focus group. What have you gotten out of being in your flex session with the security personnel? A safe place where I can talk about my problems, help me become a better person than I was, and motivation to do better in school. So, thank you very much. I will hand things to Jody Remson as Jod comes up. Just um it was pretty incredible being the facilitator and hearing the number of celebrations from the 50 stakeholders in the room. Uh we used a a web-based application. So there was no limit to the number of compliments and celebrations that the staff shared. So uh this I shared with the team that that uh during a couple of days that I get out to a lot of different organizations but I'd never been to an organization where the number of celebrations were three times as large as the concerns that people shared. So that was just a significant data point. It was also um significant that uh the the mix of students, staff, parents, community members, board members in the room um made the the data all the more rich. So, let's hear about some of the celebrations. Good evening, members of the board. Um I came at the right time to be able to talk about all of the good news that um Dave teed us up for. And so some of the things that we're really proud of that we were able to celebrate that day were our strong financial stewardship. We're in a really good financial position. Um our commitment to student belonging and of course our UDINA unified and project um success. Um I think that is the one over at I think it's supposed to be project soar, but that's our program over at um Fairview Hospital. Um and then other celebrations are student leadership opportunities for our K12 students. We talked today during the work session about many of those that are available. Our student engagement and belonging. Um and then the pride that Edina staff have in working here and in the work that they do. Um staff dedication. We have really dedicated staff and our letters training commitment. We were able to honor those staff as well today. The inclusive practices that members of our community um feel so much passion about. um safety and security advancements um bringing along Alex this year and all of the positive improvements that have taken place and then um again we just have that strong financial stewardship listed inclusive practices our commitment to inclusive practices through things like letters project search CPSS inclusion is something that is really embedded throughout our system and safety and security advancements um it's just something that we're really prioritizing those measures um with physical and so socio emotional safety through a strength and emergency management system to make sure that people are physically and emotionally safe. Um, we have our elevated commitment to safety which is a new level of dedication to ensuring safe environments for all students and staff. Partnerships supporting students, strong partnerships, things like give and go, our cultural liaons, um, they help reach every child. And then stakeholder collaboration. We have successful collaboration among administrators, staff, community members to really help move our strategic plan along. Partnerships for wellness. We have active partnerships with stakeholders where we support student and staff wellness and we're really prioritizing the wellness of our teachers. We have a commitment to all students, which is our shared belief that all students are the center of decision making and the strategic plan and a culture of continuous improvement. We always want to keep getting better. So, lots to celebrate here from our core planning. So, we are fortunate to have a student here joining us tonight. Adriana is going to make her way up here. Uh, and she's going to step in just for a couple of comments. I just said, Adriana, tell me about what was most valuable to you as a student coming into the strategic planning feedback process. Can you share how it felt to be able to give comments back to the district? Hi, good evening. Um, I just want to say like I felt very heard and special and it was just amazing to go to those um elementary schools and see how how they tried to improve students um learning and just participation and the way they do it is just very like I don't know how to say this in words just very like new very new from when I was in first grade and I feel like we improved over the over the years and I just want to say like I felt very special and very happy just to be there. And while we were getting prepped for tonight, you made a comment about belonging and how valued you feel here in the district. Can you talk a little bit more about that? Yeah. So, I'm a student in uh Southview Middle School and we have flexes and classes and a bunch of meetings during lunch. Um mostly for Hispanics and it's just very like amazing how they do it because um it was hosted by Blanca and Blanca is very like special to Southfield because she helps a lot of family. She helped my family a lot and she helped set up a lot of uh my brother's systems get into soccer um extra help and she helped me a lot and my family throughout the years she watched me uh grow up and she helps a lot of Hispanic families as well and I felt really like special in South Middle School because there was a lot of people like me that has the same struggles, same problems And there was just a lot of support though. I felt very included. Thank you so much for being here tonight. Yep. We're going to bring up our next speaker as well. Thank you. Good evening again. I'm here on behalf of Jod to St. Hubert to speak about day two of our um strategic plan meeting. Um we uh as um Jod mentioned who was sharing about day one um we went through and we visited all of the schools and we got a chance to get in and see different programs and then on day two we were able to come back and go through a process which Dave led us through uh called the sore process and we took this process through each of the five strategic areas and so just to give you an overview I'm not going to go deep into each um strategic area um but to get an overview of what we uh the thought process we went through in our tables um We talked through our strengths, our opportunities, aspirations, and recommendations. And Dave walked us through a process where again we garnered all of our responses and the entire room in a platform where we specifically first thought about the strengths. So the question we were reflecting upon was what part of our implementation of the strategic plan is working well. And so from there, you heard about the celebrations. That's where a lot of those came forward. Opportunities was the next thing that we were able to focus on. and we we um generated uh answers to the questions um what part of our implementation of the strategic plan is not working as well as it could be. And so again just to um kind of further explain each we went through this with each of the strategic areas aspirations. What ideas can you brainstorm to make our implementation of the strategic plan even better and recommendations which you'll hear in just a minute after me. Um what does our core planning team recommend as feedback to Edina public schools? And so again, there's some um deeper questions there that we were able to think about, but we spent some time thinking specifically through strategy A um going through that process and thinking through that in terms of its um academic excellence, growth and readiness. Um strategy B, ensuring an equitable and inclusive school culture. And again, you'll hear recommendations after me around what specific things came forward from that entire room based on what we generated and voted upon. Strategy C is fostering a positive learning environment and whole student and staff wellness support. And strategy D is developing leadership throughout the um district. And finally, strategy E is engaging parents, schools, and community. And so with that, I'm going to let um I'm not sure who's after me, but okay, Nate's going to talk through the recommendations. Good evening, everyone. Um so a part of the process is the whole core planning team got to vote on recommendations which is a really cool part of um our time together amongst all the other things that you have heard about and the recommendations were intended for district administration to consider as we continue to implement all parts of the strategic plan. So some of the recommendations um included expanding peer tutoring at Southview. So tutoring younger kids. This was actually mentioned a lot of different times. Uh got quite a bit of traction. Uh the second sustain and grow support for letters training. And I'm just thinking about the presentation that we had around excellence in action tonight. um all of the resources and professional development that have been put into letters is not only taking root but people are seeing that as a significant priority to consider. And then continuing advancing safe, healthy and supportive learning environments. You heard a lot about um safety and security previously. Thank you. recommendations included um providing CPSS, culturally proficient school systems training for our athletic coaches and our school board members. As our board certainly knows, our athletic coaches have an incredible impact on a very large number of our students at the secondary level. Um in addition including cultural liaison and professional development in our training initiatives and increasing transportation options to support access specifically to afterchool activities. An afterchool bus um many of us uh referred to that in our past as well was a leading recommendation out um from our core planning group. In addition, adding more therapists and mental health supports for our students experiencing trauma or behavioral challenges. Uh replicating and expanding success successful restorative practices across the districts. We have some sites that are uh use utilizing restorative practices at a greater level than others and sharing that knowledge and um success with all sites and providing additional training for staff to meet student mental health needs and revise discipline practices to keep students in school. And I believe our final three recommendations which include strengthening staff wellness based on feedback um including additional safe spaces for students and staff, expanding leadership training opportunities particularly for students of color and our multilingual learners. And finally, improving outreach to communities of color, particularly in the area of redesigning um access to extracurricular activities, making those more accessible for those communities. This plan or the district rather is committed to accountability and continuous improvement and we believe that maximizing our impact is rooted in centering the voices of students, staff and families far away. key messages from uh just the community that was a part of the strategic plan is that our strategic plan is just not a vision on paper but it is something that includes very specific action steps that are being taken in within the district to meet those goals. Um we are committed to staying accountable. Um as we those of you had a chance to look through beacon where we gave action steps that for every single strategic plan element. So that is a extreme commitment to accountability and then we want to continue to center the voices of students, families and staff. Again, as evidenced by the two days where we brought the community, staff and students together to review the strategic plan and present our accountability plan to them because we feel like when we do that, we impact um we maximize the impact of the work that is being done within the district. And then this is the next pages are the committee members. And you will see that we had students from the high school. We had parents from the ELC. We had parents from the elementaryaries, middle, and high school. We had principles there from every level. And we had district office staff there. And we had cultural liaison there. And we had um school board members there, I believe. Oh, and cabinet members were there. So, we had um representation from everybody and we want to thank everybody for their committee work making uh this the core planning work of 25 20 24 25 are we going in next school year 2425 happen. Thank you. Thank you. We'll open it up to the board if there are any questions for or comments. Given that this is our fourth year, I'm just curious as to for the community and maybe for staff who aren't following it. What were the recommendations that we did that were recommended last year that we actually took apart and actually executed in this past year? Do we have any sense of that? I do not. Go ahead. So, so I I read the report from last year. I'm uh new facilitating this year. Um and last year when we got to uh recommendations, they were actually uh called results like what could it look like if we were implementing this? as well. Um what you got this year in the report is just clear specific recommendations. Uh when we when we use the technology and then everyone's able to talk about what's working and what's not and then not only give their suggestions for improvement and we get to vote on those, you get this prioritized really clear list of recommendations. So I can speak about this year. There is about 12 really clear recommendations that if you ask that question next year and you say Dan, how are we doing on the 12 recommendations from this previous year? Um it's a great checklist. It's a great uh list that Dan can take to the executive team and the cabinet to say, "Okay, can we can we divide these up and can we each take one and can we supervise that area for the year?" That's something as a former superintendent operationally that would serve Dan extremely well and serve the district. Thank you. Um I think then the the next sort of question comment I think would be more directed towards Dr. Bitman as we think of the next year. You know, one of the things that we talked about at our retreat and we've been and you've been looking at and so far is like all the things that we do and what are new things that we might want to do but are they priorities for us to do given that there's already so many things that we're already implementing? um and that there's a lot of strain within the the team across the district all the way down to the building level um for capacity. And so I just want to be as clear as we can be where we can be that I appreciate the work and this is gives a good guidance to those levels of priorities across the five different strategic areas. I just want us to be very thoughtful maybe not for tonight but as we come back to discuss where we go with priorities and and recommendations. How do we fit that through that filter? um I think is really important to make sure not only the board's expectations but also the team and the community's expectations are well connected. Thank you. And I really appreciate that analysis and perspective as well. We've talked about that as a cabinet and I think a number of the things that uh we are doing throughout Dana public schools are excellent and it would not many of them would not require something brand new and so we will be thoughtful of that certainly little tweaks to currently current happenings etc. And we'll continue to think about it measuring all of our systems like we have to consider if there are things that are just not providing the benefit and the success that we would hope. We'll continue to evaluate that as well um as we prioritize and I'll continue to work with the board, the executive cabinet um and leaders throughout the district. Thank you. Any other questions from board members, comments? Thank you. Thank you. And just you should be very proud that uh you're gathering every year to give feedback on your strategic plan. So congratulations to you and Dr. Webb, on behalf of the district, we want to thank you as well. You're so well respected and you did such an amazing job facilitating, asking questions and helping us to prioritize our work and we are better because of that. So thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Um moving on will be the legislative action committee recap. Um, in 2024, 2025, um, we covered a lot of items with with the LAC, uh, Director Barry and I, um, led the LAC team. Um, I guess it's hard to do a recap when the business isn't finished yet and everything's still going on, so maybe if it we might be done. I don't know if you've gotten a text yet. Still going. So, um, I will say that, uh, recap on our efforts so far. Um we've done you know we established our legislative platform and goals um you know as we outlined in the January 6th um meeting and then we also hosted a LACE breakfast on the 24th of um January that brought in a lot of our elected representatives and community members to speak. Um, we had a very, uh, productive day at the Capitol on March 24th where we got a chance to meet with lobbyists, uh, the co-chairs of the House Education Finance Committee, local representatives, and we also got to attend a Senate Education Policy Committee meeting that had some Udina families testifying and had some direct impacts from um, those groups as well. Um, we were asked to um, do some advocacy work on behalf of um, our representatives. We had three students testify on the impact of mental health um policies and funding that were included. So that was very impactful to many legislators when we were there. Um they they commented um about and they sought out our students individually to kind of talk to them after the session. So that was it was great to have those students represent us. Um we have such an impressive group of LAC kids um or students. We had 20 plus students in our LAC group. Um we conducted some tours of the Adina facilities uh to look at some of our um safety and security measures that we currently have in place and where some of the gaps that we identified are. So that was very helpful to see those in in person. Um thank you for um Alex Hadstrom for kind of walking through the the legislators for that. And then we also had um we have interns that are serving this summer as um or some LAC students who be serving as interns with representatives this summer. So, we're going to continue that work uh even after the LACE um adjourned for uh this school year. Um on the on the document in the um on the packet uh you'll see all the different members of the team. I won't go through and kind of highlight those, but we lost a very talented group of seniors and they're moving on to great things. Um we did hosted an interview process um an application process for next year. We've got another slate of really impressive um students joining us as well and so we are looking forward to next year. Um thank you uh Director Barry for serving on the LC for the last couple of years and uh we are excited to have u director Bourbon joining us on the LAC for next year. Um Cheryl, did you have anything you wanted to say? No, I think that was a great summary. Just thank you acting chair arrow for steering the LAC shift this year. did a great job. Thank you. Board members, any questions about the recap? Thank you guys. You're welcome. All right, moving on. Uh, next will be the operating referendum renewal. Speakers are going to be Dr. Dan Bitman, interim superintendent, uh, Merkwood, director of finance and operations. Mr. Chair, members of the board, those in the audience and in the public. This is our opportunity to continue to focus on our strategic plan and priorities around sustainable fundings to maintain and continue to improve the excellence that's happening in Edina public schools. With that, I'm going to turn it over to Director Woodard, who will talk about the board's opportunity to renew the current operating levy and uh we'll certainly come back for more conversation and decisions at a later date. Mr. Ritter. Thank you, Superintendent Bitman, members of the school board. Appreciate the opportunity to walk us through the mechanics of renewing our existing operating referendum authority. Before I get into that, um I would like to remind board members and those who might be watching what an operating referendum is and what it allows us to do. So, an operating referendum, um in the most basic terms, allows the school district to generate additional revenue, uh purely from property taxes, um to supplement our basic education aid as well as our local operating referendum aid. um or levy rather, two funding sources that have um as you'll see on a a subsequent slide, greatly lagged inflation over the last 20 years. Um an operating referendum can be put into place by voters of the district at a certain per pupil number which is capped by the state um for fiscal year 2026. That's $2,288 or so. Um and voters can approve that for a maximum of 10 years. Voters can also elect to tie that um future increases to inflation, which our voters um very graciously did in 2017. Um operating referendums are spread on referendum market value rather than net tax capacity. Referendum market value is basically the the taxable value of all properties in the district less the values that are attributed to agricultural properties or seasonal w properties. Um any Dina um RMBB and NTC are virtually the same. Um we don't have any a land in Edina and we have very few seasonal wreck properties. So those two are um almost the same. Um in other districts particularly um up north or around some of our lakes that can actually create a pretty big difference for taxpayers. So it's something to keep in mind. This slide kind of describes our current voter approved referendum landscape within our our district. Um our operating referendum is set to expire in fiscal year 2028. As I mentioned uh previously, it was first approved in 2017 and tied to inflation. This school board certified our levy for fiscal year 26 at $2,261 per adjusted pupil. Um that figure is actually going to be closer to $2,288. So we'll see a positive adjustment for fiscal year 27. However, for next school year, that's going to generate about $21.5 million of revenue for the school district to operate. Those funds can be used for any lawful purpose that a school district can expend um budget for. That includes principles, teachers, to and from school transportation, utilities, custodial, anything that's kind of core to the operations of a school district. We also have a fairly robust um capital projects levy. Although that's not um relevant to tonight's discussion, there is potential legislation in the future. I know our LC was involved with some of those discussions over the last year where that may also be approved by board action. However, we'll focus on the operating referendum. The legislative session of 2023 now allows school boards to um renew those referendums on a one-time basis in the same amount and duration as the original. So, as you'll see on the chart, um we have a a referendum that expires in 2028. Our window to renew that by board approval begins on June 15 and ends July 1st rather July 1st 2025 and ends on June 15 2027. As I mentioned on the first slide um our basic education aid and local optional revenue have greatly lagged inflation over the last 20 years. This is a chart that all of you have become extremely familiar with. Um for some reason the uh the figures are not appearing. That top blue line is had the um basic education revenue formula been tied to inflation over the previous 20 years. Um and the very top of that chart would be $8,951 per adjusted pupil unit. Uh the bottom dotted orange line represents the actual appropriations given from the state over the last 20 years which is averaged something like 2%. Um so for fiscal year 26 we're anticipating $7,481. that gap of about $1470 per pupil in the Dina terms translates to about 13.8 million of additional revenue we otherwise could have had. Um to kind of make that gap a little bit smaller, we do have our operating referendum in place which underscores the importance of having that um for our school district long term. In addition to the basic education formula and local optional revenue um not meeting the demands of inflation, we also have various other categorical revenues that have not been adjusted at all um over the last several years. That includes our safe schools levy, which has been fixed at about $3,600 per pupil for a very long time. Operating capital lease levy authority has been fixed at that $212 mark for a long time. Gifted and talented revenue at $13 a pupil unit, so on and so forth. And so to mitigate the underfunding of all those other components, um we rely upon our operating referendum um revenue, which fortunately is tied to inflation. So as I touched on a little bit earlier, our our time frame to renew that by board approval, so no voter action is required, which also would um save us money were we to do that via special election. And that would cost about $150,000. As you all know, that's one of the reasons why we chose to go to even year elections. So, that window opens on July 1st, 2025 and closes on June 15th, 2027. Um, if we do not complete this board action by then, we would um either lose all of our authority or have to go to a vote to reestablish the the authority for the school district. Again, the original authority was approved for a 10-year term. We're allowed to renew this referendum in the exact same term, so 10 years, and also at the same amount. Um the state currently caps that amount if the state were to raise that cap. Um we would have to go back out to recapture the additional amount. In fact, we're actually short of the state cap by about $5 and the district has I think prudently chosen not to seek u voter approval for that additional $5. Um in order to do this, it's it's kind of similar to our truth and taxation. We'll have to have a public meeting where members of the public can comment on whether we decide to or not um renew our referendum. And at the same meeting, the board can elect to by resolution extend that referendum. Once all that is acted upon, um the administration will submit that information to the Department of Education as well as the county auditor and they will make sure that our authority is increased through um taxes payable in 2020 2037 rather. Some statistics about what's going on in the state. Um this is not depicted on the slide. However, prior to the legislation going into effect, and this is kind of one of the reasons why I think both sides of the aisle were supportive of this going through, is that prior to 2023, a a renewed operating referendum was on the ballot 336 times, and 335 of those times it was renewed. So, only one out of 336 failed. Um, which strengthens, I guess, the resolve for allowing school boards to do this without voter approval. Again, also many school districts throughout the state are on um oddyear elections. So, it also saves those districts from having to um conduct a special election, which oftentimes is very costly. And since this legislation has gone into place, a number of school districts have had their window open. There has been 95 different opportunities for school districts to renew this by board approval. Only one school district so far has elected to seek voter approval and that one school district in particular wanted to actually enhance their operating referendum. So they um were actually unable to do that just by a voter um board approval rather. At this time there's no action before you. We simply wanted to get it on everyone's radar and we do have a finance and facilities committee meeting planned so that we can um engage some of our uh most educated and most trusted um residents who have a a deeper understanding of school finance. It also gives the time um for the board to engage with Dr. Bitman and I think the administration at this point in time um will bring forth a recommendation on July 14th to have the school board approve the operating referendum for an additional 10 years um at our current authority tied to inflation. I'll actually add one more statistic because I know this is um somewhat popular from finance directors in terms of um comparing a school district's budget um to the number of teachers that um can be produced by a specific number. The $21.5 million of revenue would equate to about 174 teachers um which is roughly a um I think I believe 23% of our total faculty. So this is a really big number. It's really important for our school district and you know we wouldn't be the Dina public schools that everyone loves and cherishes if we didn't have our operating referendum in place. I had a question. Do you I know we don't have crystal balls in front of us to know exactly what may happen, but it seems like funding is being pushed lower and lower, you know, from federal to state to state to local. Um, and if there was more pressure to have more funding at the local level and they did increase the amount that you could get locally um after we potentially would go down the the route to approve this, do we still have a mechanism to capture that amount? Uh yes, director Huy we would have the mechanism of seeking approval from the voters and you know depending on what that delta would be we would have to evaluate you know how prudent it would be to use our quote unquote political capital in terms of capturing that. Um I will say that of course an increase in taxes is al always something that we need to respect and you know analyze very carefully. Um we do have quite a bit of um pay as you go long-term facilities maintenance um funding that we access on a year-to-year basis and that can be potentially restructured and bonded instead of um assessed to taxpayers on a year-to-year basis which creates capacity to increase our operating referendum without an increase to necessarily taxes. So the school district um simply due to that the robustness of our tax base does have a little bit more flexibility than other districts. So that's something we would analyze very carefully at that time. Um just really a comment. Um I think it's just really important to understand that you know the operating levy represents something north of 24% 20 28% 4 31% excuse me um 31% of our overall revenue% 13 excuse me I'm sorry you're giving me cryptic parts. Um the point being is is that it's it's a sizable amount of money that um the district couldn't go without. It would be very difficult to go without that. Um and I don't believe anyone's advocating not not to do that. I think it's really the prudent part of our consideration at the board level about whether we just go ahead and approve it for this one time or do we actually go back out to the voters. I just want to be just to state that it's not that if we decided to go ahead and renew the renew it without going to the voters. It's not out of a lack of respect for the voters. It's more for just the process and the cost associated with doing so for which I think as the data has already suggested. Most people in the community would wholeheartedly support that. Um I think we would want to invite people who if they don't support that they should certainly let us know and as we have our meetings and discussions before we take an action um we definitely would want to hear that. But when we consider that our future concerns budgetarily um with future uh deficits and so on so forth, that's still assuming the operating levy is still in place. The deficits that we're anticipating it two years out from now. Um that's already with the levy continually moving forward. It would be even worse if it didn't. Um so I just think it's important that we're always grounded in that those facts. And uh Director Woodard, you've already done that. I just want to reinforce that from a board voice. Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Also, for those of us or for those people who are listening and may not be in tune with some of the financial parts of school district funding, just a reminder, this is not additional money. It is money that we already have. So, it's just continuing what we have. So, just want to make sure that our public knows that. Any additional questions or comments? Thank you, Director Ward. Moving on to the proposed 2025 2026 school board goals. Um these uh proposed board goals were discussed in great detail and um discussion at our board retreat um earlier this month. Um we came up with uh four primary goals. I won't read through every um bullet point, but uh the first goal would be hire and onboard a new superintendent for the 2025 2026 school year. Um the number two goal or the second goal is strengthen district stability and sustainability while marking making measurable progress towards strategic plan goals and student success indicators. Third goal is going to be maintain a balanced budget and fiscal integrity while upholding district quality and strategic priorities. And the fourth goal is enhancing schoolboard governance effectiveness through continuous development and evaluation. Um each one of these has key actions as well as key indicators of success that we discussed. Um are there any questions or comments from any of the board members or uh Dr. Bitman regarding uh the proposed school board goals for 2025 2026? Um I just wanted to reinforce the fact that you know we have this huge monumental strategic decision about um the superintendent going forward. Um that's why we made it number one. Um we were all in unanimous approval of that when we discussed that. Um there won't be a more important decision that the school board makes as we move forward with leadership for the district. Um and we look forward to working with Dr. Bitman as we work through that. Um and I think that you know it's always important for us to not only have the key actions but the the measurements on that. I think we had a good robust discussion in that regard too. Um so I'm very pleased with um how both the governance committee and the rest of the board kind of came up with what this is. So thank you. I would agree with that. Any additional comments? All right. Uh this will come for action um later on I believe next month. Um so um we can move on to the next um piece which is the 2025 2026 proposed superintendent goals. Dr. Bitman, would you like to discuss those? Absolutely, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Um just appreciating the conversation around both schoolboard and superintendent goals. Appreciated the conversation, the alignment with the strategic plan, the measurable goals, and the strategies that we all outlined. So like the schoolboard goals, these goals were developed in collaboration with the school board and are aligned to the strategic plan and represent standards from both MSBA and MASA. Our first goal is about building trust and establishing capacity and credibility. There are specific steps to do that. Our second goal, my second goal, um relates to driving strategic alignment and instructional um excellence across key programs. And there are a number of programs that have been identified for emphasis and priority. In addition to that, our third goal really is about enhancing communication and community engagement. Looking for ways to even um increase the amount of communication that we're doing and engagement, which is always a positive thing. And our final goal really has to relate with ensuring a seamless leadership transition as the board hires a superintendent to move the work forward. So with that, I'd be happy to take any questions. Any questions from board members, comments? Again, I will only just say that, you know, we had a very robust conversation for the people who, you know, they don't know all the conversations that we were having about this. Um, Dr. Bitman, um, I thought did a wonderful job of not only in his new role coming in and trying to understand where our priorities were, where where he wanted us to focus. Um, I thought it was a very collaborative part to to be clear from the board as well as the other feedback that you've been getting from cabinet and other uh community members um where where did we want to focus this very valuable year that we're going to have with you going forward and um that was very indicative of I think your leadership style and what you're trying to do in your interim role. Um I was very appreciative of that and um I look forward to executing on this. Thank you. And I just wanted to say um you know the the four goals for you are um pretty broad and there's a lot of activity involved with that. So I appreciate um your willingness to kind of try and tackle these four goals. Um I know that the work that you've been doing with the cabinet and the community and the schools and the buildings themselves and everything else like that takes a lot of time as well as being engaged with the community. Being engaged with a community that's as engaged as the United community is is a um an interesting and fun task. So appreciate all your work. All right, we will move on to the next item and that is going to be policy review of policy 522, 530 and 532. Um, director man is going to be speaking on behalf of the policy committee. Well, thank you. I'm uh pinch hitting here for uh director Alenburgg and I would just like to say these policies have been reviewed by the policy committee with eye toward clarity district practice in alignment with state and federal statutes. They have been reviewed and aligned with MSBA model policy. We'll start with policy 522 uh title 9 sex dem sex discrimination policy grievance procedure and process. Uh there are no significant changes this policy but I invite executive director of human resources Sonia Sailor to the deis to explain any updates. Thank you director man. Um acting chair um Dr. Bitman members of the board of policy 522 which centers around title nine sex non-discrimination policy grievance procedure and process is before you tonight. Uh this is an interesting policy because if we had been discussing this policy six months ago, we would have been having a very different conversation. In August of 2024, the administr the federal administration at at that time made quite a few changes to Title 9. Those changes were rolled back in January of 2025 by the new federal administration, which rolled us back to the regulations found in the 2020 year of 2020, which literally returned us to the former policy. So, the policy that you see tonight really has um almost no substantive changes. Actually, no substantive changes from what our school board has had in the past. Couple of um a couple of things. Well, so the policy largely follows MSBA's model policy for Title 9. Um, and we in addition to that, we've added an alternate title n coordinator in the um event that I am absent or out of the district. We've added assistant superintendent Nate Swenson um as an alternate title N coordinator to to step in in my absence. Um, as in in the past, we are going to continue recommending that the legal citations in this particular policy remain embedded in the policy um to ensure ease of implementation. There are really no other proposed changes in this policy beyond um style changes that would line with the school board's style guide. With that said, does anyone have any questions? I have a question. Um, so there's isn't a question about a change but something in the existing policy that um, so the policy doesn't apply to sexual harassment that occurs outside the geographic boundaries of the United States even if the harassment occurs in as part of one of our programs and we do take international trips. What is there a separate policy that covers that or that is actually part of title nine specifically that um, it has to occur in the United States. So that is certainly of course our our advisors and our chaperons on um international trips work with the student discipline policy, student conduct policy, but no title n in particular only applies in the United States and so that is that's why that's called out specifically. Okay, Director Barry, if I could, there would be a number of other policies within REDina public schools that we have that we would use to address any behavior. Just wouldn't be in alignment with this particular policy. Okay, thank you. Any other questions or comments? Uh, seeing none, we will move on to policy 530. Thank you so much. Um, to immunization requirements, I will invite up director of student services, Jod Reming. um in this policy if you're looking up uh one clause was deleted from this policy and I will allow director Remington to explain uh why it was deleted for the um for policy 530 immunization requirements um what we're proposing is removal of section 3F which govern immunization waiverss for students who are not um Minnesota residents and the rest would just be formatting and minor edits were made um but nothing substantial in nature is being proposed. Are there any questions about 530? I just have a question in practice in terms of um I know we've seen a trend uh across the country as far as the exemptions that have been sought by students and and parent guardians. Um, have we seen a a sort of have we in Edina seen some large percentage delta in relationship to exemptions for this purpose during um co the co time? We did see an increase and I know that districts have really been working to be able to get caught up as far as immunizations go. I would need to look I guess more specifically at our data to see how our district exemptions are moving along. Um but I do know that there was just during the co time that there was an increase. Okay. Thank you. Any other discussion? Well, seeing none, if you'll stay with us for another one. Uh we have policy 532, which is use of crisis teams and peace officers to remove students with individualized education programs from school grounds. Um this was updated to align with current legislative changes and I will allow Director Reming to uh walk us through his policy as well. Thank you. As um director man stated um the updated definitions are coming from um are coming from updated statute and so you'll see that we have new definitions for physical holding and then also school resource officer and we have um also removed the definition for IEP individualized education program from um from the policy just because it's kind of extraneous the way that it's listed there and not necessary but there are no other substantive changes that are being proposed to the policy. Are there any other questions about um 532? Thank you so much. Uh seeing none, we can move on to uh further business. Thank you very much. Um those will come up for um approval or action uh the next month. Uh the next section is the action section. Um we'll be do have a motion to approve the preliminary budget for fiscal year 2026. So moved. Is there a second? Second. I will call up Mert Woodard, director of finance and operations, and he will present. Uh, Chair Arum, members of the school board, Dr. Bitman. Uh before I begin my remarks, I I would like to apologize that the agenda sheet that is attached to board book um appears to be from the prior month. So I've sent that to um Miss Nas there. Um thanks for saving me on this one. However, um there are there are no substantive changes um to the information that's going to be presented. Before I make some remarks about the um fiscal year 26 budget, just want to give a few reminders to those who might be paying attention that haven't been present at prior meetings. Uh this budget contains no material cost containments. Um we did quite a a bit of cost containment over the last two years totaling about $7.62 million. that as well as um a little bit of overperformance, which is good for the school district in areas such as interest revenue and some additional state aids that were not initially anticipated in 2023 have resulted in a a much better short-term position for the school district where we're going to be able to meet our fund balance requirements and without making reductions. So, that's excellent news. Um the second point is that the the budget is based on education and finance laws from 2023. Unfortunately, the legislature has not yet finished their work. Um, as you'll recall, in 2023, we did move back our approval of the budget to a special meeting later in June to accommodate um, some of the new revenues that were coming in. Um, I don't think that's going to be necessary this year. Um, I don't believe any of the changes that are being um, talked about at this time will result in a material deviation from the budget that's going to be before you today. As soon as we have final laws in place, we'll provide a an analysis of how this budget compares to what has been put into place. But again, we don't um we don't anticipate any material changes to the budget that you'll be asked to act upon tonight. Fiscal year 2027, I know that's a little bit of a a ways away, but that actually will formally begin at our July regular meeting where the the administration will bring forth its recommendation for long-term facilities maintenance revenue um for taxes payable in 2026, which funds a portion of our um 2027 school year. So, look out for that at our next month's board meeting. The basis for any school district budget, both revenues and expenditures, the way we operate and provide our programming is always based in enrollment. Um, this school board based on the recommendation of the administration certified um taxes payable in 2025, which is for revenue in fiscal 26 at 8670 um adjusted adjusted pupil units. Uh that should be adjusted daily membership. um 9,487 adjusted pupil units. We're actually going to serve um near that amount this school year. I think this school year we're um anticipating about 30 or so students more than was than was budgeted last school year. I think the 8670 is still a good number for us. It's more conservative for next school year and again aligns with the board certified property tax levy. Um over the last three or four years we've been within 20 to 30 students um in terms of our enrollment projections um which is I think within the acceptable range. For our general fund, the fund that um provides most of the funding for our day-to-day core operations of the school district, we're anticipating revenues of 167,614,828. The major assumptions behind that are the basic formula increasing by $200 per adjusted pupil unit or 2.74%. This would be the first year that the basic education formula would be tied to inflation. Um we're hoping that that's going to be maintained in perpetuity. Although if you've been paying attention to the legislature, you'll notice that there is some momentum behind eliminating that clause for the 2028 2029 bianium. Although for now, we are anticipating that the 2627 bianium will be tied to inflation. Our operating referendum, which we discussed in detail earlier tonight, will be increasing by about 2.91% or $64 per adjusted pupil unit. And we also saw some pretty robust growth in our capital projects levy, the only levy category that's tied to the um value of the property base of 8.36% or an additional $78,000. In terms of expenditures, we're anticipating 165 million 31,168 and that includes more or less status quo operations. As I mentioned um at the start of this presentation, no material changes, no cost reductions. uh we did not um have to enact a Berg process for next school year. And so our basic core operations this school year, our programs, the number of schools we operate, all the staff, the various ratios will be the same next year as they are this year. Um final bullet point on this page is that our unassigned fund balance is projected to be at 8.9% at the end of next school year, which is significantly greater than the near zero or less that we were projecting two years ago when we kind of started our cost containment. And that's well within the board's policy of six to 10%. So again, some some pretty nice short-term stability and that's a direct result of unfortunately some cost containments that we had to do over the last couple years. In the food service fund, we're anticipating revenue of 5,265,78 offset by expenditures of $5,58,82. A modest change in fund balance of about $27,000. Um for next school year, we're continuing to anticipate that we'll be serving free meals to all students, one breakfast and one lunch per year. Um participation kind of exploded last fiscal year, which was the first year um that we had that program in place in Minnesota. This school year, we've seen an additional increase uh albeit much smaller. And next school year, we're anticipating another small increase to participation. The federal government hasn't yet released the reimbursement rates um for those reimburseable meals, but we're not expecting anything crazy. Um and so we're being quite quite conservative with our assumptions and we'll revise that as we go as we proceed. The most important thing to note uh I think on this fund and also the subsequent fund is that it continues to be self- sustaining with no subsidy from the general fund. In fact, we are allocating the maximum chargeback that we can um to the food service fund which is great for the general fund. In our community service fund, we're anticipating revenues of 13,772,932 with expenditures of 13,299,50 um with a a pretty nice change in fund balance of about $474,000. The budgeted revenues um include an 8% increase to our kids club fees um which is you know on the surface quite significant but I think over the last several years um they've been much more modest in nature and now we're kind of trying to rightsize those. Um the board acted on those I believe in December and also a 6.5% increase to our preschool fees. Again just like the food service fund this fund operates without any subsidy from the general fund which is exactly what you want. Um not all school districts can boast that claim. Um so it's a benefit to the general fund as well. In that regard, again a chargeback is also assessed to this fund to allocate um appropriate costs um that the general fund is absorbing. Our construction fund is um actually not going to be as exciting as it has been the last couple years with our addition to Countryside Elementary. Um all of those bond proceeds have been spent down. Uh now the major activity in this fund is a continuation of our long-term facilities maintenance program particularly those projects that are greater than $2 million per site. Um i.e. the uh Edina High School mechanical upgrades project. Um we're anticipating revenues of about $2.8 million. That includes a transfer which is not necessarily a revenue from the general fund to account for those larger projects as well as expenditures of $8.2 million um which is primarily financed by voter uh non- voter approved bonds. We sold bonds this fall in the amount of about $7 million and as projects get completed, we'll spend that fund balance down to zero. Of course, we'll never actually get to zero because um you may have noticed we've got some older buildings in this district and so we'll always have a pretty robust long-term facilities maintenance and deferred maintenance program. The last of our governmental funds is our debt service fund. revenues of about 18,113,179 offset by expenditures of 17,636,34. Uh this budget um completely reflects planned principal and interest payments made against our uh both voter approved and non- voter approved general obligation bonds. Um we don't have any plans at this time to issue in fiscal year 26. I believe the next time the board will be asked to act upon a bond issuance would be long-term facilities maintenance bonds in the fall of 2026, which is fiscal 27. In theory, this fund would go to zero activity at some point in the future when we're we're finished issuing debt. Of course, that's um likely not going to occur in in actuality. You'll also notice that revenues ex exceed expenditures. That's because the state requires that we bond for 5% more than the principal and interest payments um just for added security. uh that will then be paid back to the taxpayers over the life of those bonds. Um so some years will will generate more revenue than expenses, other years will generate less. Just depends on the timing of those principal and interest payments. Finally, this is something that's been discussed um at our finance and facilities committee meeting as well as um I believe at last month's work session where we'll be bringing an updated 5-year forecast um more frequently. I think since I've been in district, we've done that once per year. Now, we're getting in the habit of whenever we have a a major inflection point in the budget calendar, um that may be the preliminary property tax levy, that might be audited financial statements, that might be legislative action, um as well as our preliminary budget. We'll then re refresh our forecast with the most up-to-date information so that the school board can continue to govern the the school district properly. Um, we're anticipating deficit spending in fiscal year 27, assuming that my conservative revenue and um, less conservative expenditure assumptions come to fruition. Um, we'd still be within the board's 6 to 10% unassigned fund balance policy. However, in fiscal year 2028, as you'll note in your board packet, we begin to be under the board's policy and that situation gets prec precipitously worse as the years go on. um which would require significant uh reductions in cost containments in fiscal year 2028 um if not fiscal 2029 as well. The next time you'll see an updated financial forecast will be at the September special meeting. I believe we're going to need a special meeting for our preliminary property tax levy. So once we have those figures confirmed, we'll update our forecast and then when we have our certified property tax levy and audited financials either in November or December of 2025, we'll provide another update for the school board. I'll take any questions at this time. If not, the recommended action is before you. Any questions from board members, comments? Okay. Uh we will now vote to approve the preliminary budget for fiscal year 2026. All of those in favor say I. I I. Anyone opposed? The preliminary budget for fiscal year 2026 is approved. Thank you, M. Uh, do I have a motion to approve the 2025 through 2027 Edana public schools assessment plan? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Uh, we'll welcome Greg Gweiler, teaching and learning data programming analyst, and he will present. All right. Thank you, uh, acting chairman and board and community. Dr. Bitman. No real substantive changes to this uh, from the kind of even when we started at our first work session. So, I'm really excited about the energy and activity that's ongoing around this and that uh I've been in meetings with uh uh all levels of our uh administrative deans around putting in place the uh more detailed dates for their sites for all of the different assessments. So, uh just because there haven't been any updates doesn't mean there's work there's not work ongoing. So, um I don't uh I don't think there's really anything else to add. Board members, any questions or comments? I just want to say thank you. Thank you for coming tonight for not a whole lot of questions. Um, we had a very robust work session last time to discuss this. Um, it was well thought out, well presented. We had good dialogue back and forth. So, I'm look forward to approving this tonight. Thank you. I would concur with um, Director Bergman. You've done a great job with this piece of it. So, thank you. If there are no questions, we will now vote to approve the 2025 through 2027 public schools assessment plan. All those in favor say I. I. Anyone opposed? The 2025 through 2027 public schools assessment plan is approved. Thank you. Do I have a motion to approve policies 516 and 538? So moved. Second. uh policy u uh director man uh if you could tell us about these policies. Uh so rapid rapid review action for district policy 208 development adoption and implementation of policy allows for the adoption of policies at one meeting if there are no significant changes. With that in mind, the following two policies are being recommended for action. We have policy 516, student medication that has an updated form. We have policy 538, student travel. This policy is being brought for a quick review solely to replace the medication authorization form appended to the document. The form currently in use has been revised with attorney review and should replace the outdated form included in the policy. Board members, any questions or comments? Seeing no questions or comments, we will move forward to vote to approve policies 516 and 538. All those in favor say I. I. Anyone opposed? Policies 516 and 538 are approved. And then for policy review action, uh we have a number of policies 503, 515, 529, 531, 605, 609, 610, 611. Uh there were no requested changes to these policies that came to discussion at our May 5th board meeting. So these policies are being presented as they were on May 5th. Once again, uh, do I have a motion to approve policies 503, 515, 529, 531, 605, 609, 610, and 611? Some moved. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. Um, are there any questions or comments related to those uh policies? Seeing no questions or hearing no questions or comments, we will now vote to approve policies 503, 515, 529, 531, 605, 609, 610, and 611. All those in favor say I. I. Anyone opposed? Policies 503, 515, 529, 531, 605, 609, 610, and 611 are approved. Uh any board leadership updates or committee updates. Uh moving forward with no uh border leaders board leadership or committee updates, we'll go to the superintendent updates. Dr. Bitman, chair, members of the board, cabinet as well as others have um supported our buildings differently and intensely. So, we're grateful for a great end to the school year at all of our building sites. Graduation was an amazing event. We thought that went really well. The district worked hard to make a number of improvements after the last graduation based on feedback we received from some folks and the graduation ceremony was flawless. We did meet as a debrief as a debrief and we we identified a few things that will improve for the next year and we'll share that with the board as we move forward. So, thank you for that. The district has had a great opportunity to celebrate some of the really amazing celebrations throughout the year in terms of achievement and the work happening in each building. And we're also intensely now working on planning for the next school year to make sure that the work we're doing is successful and setting goals. And um as a personal gratitude just thanking the board. Oftentimes people don't see the work that the board is doing behind the scenes whether it be in various policy committees or teaching and learning committees etc. working on school board and superintendent goals, volunteering at events, being at graduations, um that often time goes unnoticed. And so I just want to say thank you to the work that each of you do and the time you put in to support our students, our families, staff, and administration. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Pitman. I also wanted to say thank you to the cabinet for another great school year. Appreciate all your work and effort that you put in over the year and supporting Dr. Bitman and the transition from Dr. Stanley. uh look forward to moving forward, you know, as the summer goes on. And also wanted to say thank you to all the students and graduates for the class of 2025 and all the great work you've done to represent the community. Um with that being said, I wanted to say um do I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? The meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Thank you guys.