[2:20] good evening tonight is monday july 19th then we do have a quorum so i'll call this meeting to order [2:25] i wanted to uh welcome dr stacy stanley um who is our new superintendent of [2:32] about three weeks now um and this is her very very first public board meeting so welcome dr [2:37] stanley thank you very much great to be here yes and we also have um our new director of media and technology [2:43] services here tonight um natasha monsis daily so welcome as well we're thrilled to [2:50] have both of you on our team so yes welcome um the first order of business tonight is agenda [2:56] approval do i have a motion to approve the agenda for tonight's meeting second uh we will now vote to [3:04] approve tonight's agenda all those in favor say aye aye aye anyone opposed [3:10] the agenda is approved um dr stanley will you please review tonight's agenda for us [3:17] absolutely so really excited to have our summer programming um highlighted this [3:22] evening and then of course we're going to move into consent agenda we do have some updates on [3:27] facilities and then we are going to be moving into an update around transportation we have [3:35] policy review and then i'm going to give just a brief update myself [3:41] thank you dr stanley um for our excellence in action tonight we are going to highlight our summer [3:47] programming and so i will have zach run our oh are you coming to speak i think [3:54] we are outstanding i didn't know we had a live update tonight so excellent welcome yeah welcome val we're [4:02] really excited to have you here and i've had the opportunity to get out to [4:07] several of the sites already this summer and the programming is absolutely stellar and so i'm really excited that [4:14] val and cheryl are here to talk to us this evening about some of the great things that are happening [4:19] good evening and school board colleagues and community members [4:24] i'm val burke director of community education and i'm here with my colleague cheryl gunnis who is our coordinator of [4:30] community involvement it's our pleasure to share tonight's summer of excellence review with you and [4:36] to highlight some things that we kept front and center as we developed our options and it's also our pleasure to [4:43] welcome dr stanley and to be part of the first july 21 or 2021-22 school year it's just [4:51] a little buzz in the air so when we start doing our um oops [4:58] okay i know you can see the pictures and if i can't get oh there we go sorry my first time in [5:05] this room um when we start our summer programming we begin [5:10] with our students and our staff at the top of our page we analyze evaluations and use data [5:18] and feedback that we've received from the prior year and particularly the prior summer and that allows us to adjust to make [5:25] additions subtractions and gain insight into the delivery we review our district mission our goal [5:33] is to have each and every student discover their possibilities and we look at our vision which is to [5:39] foster a learning community where all can participate and all can belong this grounds our staff before we begin [5:47] our goal setting community educators get a little jazzed about goals and reaching them and and number of students who and [5:54] families that we are able to participate so this is a fun time for staff and really under cheryl's leadership with [6:00] the with much of our team and rachel hicks and julie gabrielson those three created a summer for all of [6:08] our different program areas um we took our learnings from summer [6:13] 2020 our covid summer to create the safest possible environment we could for [6:18] students and we brought that forward we also wanted to goal-wise create [6:24] more options for students to rediscover reconnect figure out how to work together they had [6:29] had a year we've all talked about that where we were in different learning environments and so when we got the green light to do more [6:36] in-person programming we were very jazzed and so was our families [6:42] um we're gonna show you in pictures tonight um the joy of students being involved [6:49] together i asked our program coordinators to put up three words that kind of highlighted um what they [6:56] wanted to do with their program so our school aged care affectionately known as kids club wise guys talked about connections and [7:02] belonging talked about choice and fun and really about a developmentally appropriateness [7:08] developmental appropriateness so what did we do that we was different [7:14] um we listened to our community who'd been asking to have our preschoolers join our school aged care program [7:20] so this year we added our preschool team so the we have a group of pre-k students who will be [7:26] entering kindergarten who are going to feel confident who are going to feel connected who are going to know students and march into our kindergarten [7:33] classes really prepared we also listen to our community who said [7:39] while that transition period between elementary and middle school can be a little hard and awkward for [7:44] kids and they've been asking us to have our incoming sixth graders join our our school aged care program so [7:51] we did that this is two grades that we added to our school aged care team so they got in a room and started [7:59] thinking wow um how can we work with a pre-k through six building basically [8:06] and they came up with the idea of creating a four through six so fourth fifth and sixth building and a [8:13] pre-k through three so we tried it we surveyed families about the convenience of [8:19] drop-off we did not get a lot of pushback on that and so this summer we have two buildings that are serving our [8:24] pre-k third through third graders and one of our building is serving our fourth fifth and sixth [8:30] the leadership opportunities of that older building the way they swagger and the the way the staff is able to [8:36] interact with them appropriately has just been outstanding so we will do more [8:41] evaluations and data evaluation from that group but we feel like that's something we'll [8:47] probably continue to do our you can see through our pictures [8:53] that hopefully what we tried to do has been working kids are inside they're outside they're [8:59] upside down they're doing all sorts of fun things our pre-k 12 enrichment classes camps [9:07] it's pretty ambitious to be programming for pre-k through grade 12. and you heard from cheryl when we were [9:14] here in may with our youth development service plan that we had some pretty lofty goals for [9:19] creating opportunities for our high school students in particular with leadership and for our middle schoolers [9:25] and this year again our pre-k audience typically our pre-k students have been [9:31] served at our early learning center for the last few years because of construction needs in this building we have not had access to that space [9:38] so our program has kind of shrunk in the summer and so this year again cheryl and team kind [9:44] of said why do we need to only use that space could we make spaces feel cozier can we [9:51] use additional buildings to expand that so we did 600 plus [9:57] preschoolers are playing with us this summer learning with us are exploring with us 600 students are [10:03] looking at what the possibilities of being part of the edina public schools can do for them so we're extremely excited about that um [10:11] additionally we also know that students love their teachers they love their paraprofessionals they [10:17] love their school aged care team and so we reached out intentionally to [10:22] edina public school staff and said come teach with us come be a part of our summer programming [10:28] so we've expanded those connections and teachers and paras and school age care staff are having a ball [10:35] really showcasing other talents we have tennis instructors we have basketball people we have robotics we have [10:41] computers so the so teachers and students together alongside some really great [10:46] outside vendors are giving us the options of 424 camps [10:52] so again you're going to see students in all sorts of environments [10:57] learning and playing and all ages and stages youth leaders we talked about developing [11:03] them you will see in that picture a group of about 11 high schoolers high school graduates and early emerging [11:11] adults that are writing curriculum for us doing classes for us [11:16] supporting classroom teachers supporting students making connections under a group of leaders [11:24] that are teaching them how to be a leader teaching them real life skills [11:31] um it has been really uh dmt we're kind of following dmts's lead [11:37] when they started having high school students we're just really empowering this group of leaders to do [11:43] work with us and they are loving it we have lunches on fridays with this group and their cohort is [11:50] super special and also just the work and help that they are giving our team [11:55] is um amazing um community ed is a choice program and so [12:02] we learn we know we're sort of being successful when our enrollments increased 43 over a [12:08] couple of summers ago when we're able to increase our classes so that is a is an instantaneous fight for us to say [12:15] we must be doing something right because people have a lot of choices so um [12:21] building on those things we look at how we as community educators can [12:28] continue to prioritize partnerships internally sorry this is a little harder than i [12:34] would have anticipated but imagine with me a partnership slide [12:39] and externally so starting in january community ed staff teaching and learning [12:45] staff began meeting together community ed staff and our special services staff began meeting together [12:52] intentionally success center targeted we all decided that this was a year that we needed to really [12:58] collaborate we needed to enhance each other's program strengths and decide together how we could best [13:04] make sure there was the best learning opportunities and the best inclusion opportunities for families and we're really jazzed about [13:11] a couple of programs but one is our unified camp program delivery this summer that's where we learned from the typical [13:19] and special needs students together supporting each other you're going to see in one of those pictures a theater camp a unified [13:26] theater camp i had the pleasure of going to south view middle school to see that performance one kids on stage that's a fantastic [13:33] facility was amazing the pride in the parents the students just glowing [13:39] it was quite special so those we will continue to build on and we also continue with our outside [13:46] partners to try to bring in a business opportunities for our students with the chamber [13:52] civic and additional leadership opportunities through the rotary and anyone else because i think together [13:59] we can we as a school district can really take advantage of the great array of [14:04] resources we have out there and then finally this summer we are welcoming back people to our [14:12] facilities and it's been kind of fun we have regular our our old loyal users which is usually [14:18] our athletic associations and different community groups that we um host here [14:24] and then we brought in some new groups the vixen who is a female professional [14:30] football team use coleman food coleman field as their home field [14:36] um adelaide singers if you've ever heard of them it's a group that's quite popular all over [14:41] they are um utilizing us for the first time kobit ironically was a bit of a gift for [14:48] facilities because we had the opportunity with our tech our theater tech manager [14:53] to look at all five of our auditoriums and theaters he worked with each building [14:59] individually to make them safer to clean them up to get [15:04] them ready for our community to come in and use them um that was a gift of time that we [15:09] didn't you know was unexpected but we kind of just power are we talk together pardon me and [15:14] we said we need to be looking at how we can um uh do this so [15:20] and also i just need to do a quick shout out to julie gabrielson our operations and facilities coordinator and our [15:25] buildings and grounds folks because starting in october they all gather to figure out [15:31] every year we have at least four or five buildings shut down we as a district really are doing [15:36] year-round programming teaching and learning our high school our middle schools success centers community ed of course [15:43] etc and the puzzle piece of making sure everyone has appropriate spaces [15:49] they have the things they need in those spaces that's julie gabrielson's brilliance along with eric hamilton really figuring it out and [15:57] working together to make sure that everybody has what they need so thank you to them i [16:03] um cheryl is here also to share just a couple of anecdotal highlights [16:08] with some personal stories that i think will just showcase this and then we'll let you get on with your meeting [16:16] okay i'll just share a couple of things about what's my favorite thing this week because every week it's something a little different [16:21] but i think my favorite things watching all the enrichment camps this week are number one for sure it's the connections [16:28] so on thursdays at the end of camp when the kids are coming out of their camps and they wanted their parents or their [16:34] nannies to share phone numbers because they made a new friend and they want to set up a playdate or many families we've had a ton of [16:40] families who have just moved into edina and so for them to like use commedia classes as a way [16:45] to take a bike camp and get to know their community by riding around it or by connecting with some other middle [16:51] schoolers in dungeons and dragons club and coming out knowing somebody i think that's super [16:56] exciting and i think that the what i'm seeing is that the connections to what students are learning but also [17:02] also who they're learning it with and who they're being curious and exploring with is really kind of resetting the stage so [17:10] that they're ready for a great year of learning ahead so i'm that makes me really happy every thursday night [17:16] putting away the cones and the flags and clipboards and then i think the other really [17:21] exciting thing is this youth development opportunity like the students who are working with um they are getting such great real [17:29] world experience training they're going to have some great stories about collaboration and problem solving [17:34] for their first job interviews so i'm really proud of that and i think [17:43] one unexpected thing about that is that many of those high school and recent graduate students [17:48] are doing programming for middle schools so many of our middle schoolers so many of our outside vendors really don't [17:55] offer that and we've heard from our community there just isn't enough for middle schoolers to do and so to be able to use those recent [18:02] high school grads to really connect with middle school students has been really great to be able to do that and see [18:08] those connections and i guess just finally something that i love is um [18:14] our team has also shown that we're just lifelong learners because again amidst like just a lot of [18:20] challenges and difficulties and busyness like every day there's something where we've learned something we're gonna get better [18:27] you know we can see really growing this youth leadership program to be all year and more intentionally [18:33] recruiting the people who are part of it just every day there's something new that we see that we can do to make our program [18:40] more convenient for families more meaningful for students and just providing new connections so [18:46] it's great i'm really i love being part of this program thank you thank you for the time [18:53] thank you actually um one question after the ecc construction is done are you planning to move the preschool [19:00] back into the ecc you know we have to think about that because the possibilities of how many [19:06] more kids we've been able to reach so we might do a both and owen but i would really give me time and give [19:11] us time until the fall when we really have a chance because from what we understand we're not having it next summer either [19:18] okay so that's why we're sort of thinking we can't sit on our hands about it anymore we need to be providing some [19:23] stuff for our preschoolers and then figure out afterwards of course they prefer to be [19:29] in this building okay thank you yeah okay you guys have a full meeting thank [19:35] you so much thank you thank you thank you both so much [19:47] okay we're going to move on to hearings from members of the public pursuant to board policy 206 we ask that you do not duplicate [19:53] information that has been previously presented if you have a complaint about individual employees board members or students in [20:00] the district please direct any of these complaints to the appropriate site administrator the [20:06] superintendent or submit them in writing to the board the board typically does not respond to or have discussions [20:13] on any issues presented but questions raised during presentations will receive follow-up as directed by the board [20:19] i would like to remind all speakers that your presentations are limited to three minutes when you have 15 seconds left of your [20:24] three minutes i will prompt you to wrap up your presentation our first speaker is sarah patzloff [20:39] good evening board my name is sarah patzoff i'm a 21-year resident of edina [20:46] a mother of a rising junior and a 2020 graduate from edina high school [20:52] married to an edina east graduate and a former school board member and although i've sat in this room in [20:58] your seats i'm actually nervous so um i'm speaking to you tonight as a parent and a [21:04] community member and i'm not here for just in case anybody thinks sour grapes of not [21:10] getting reelected in 2019 because in fact i'm actually glad and i'm really glad that god had a different plan [21:16] for me but that aside um as we get ready to start a new year a [21:21] new school year where we get to refresh and we get to start over i hope with another with a new [21:27] superintendent in our seat welcome dr stanley i watched your interview process congratulations [21:33] that we take this time with school board elections on the horizon to turn our our eyes back on education [21:42] and kids i know that it's been tough on everybody but it's been really tough on the kids they've really suffered the last year [21:48] and a half and i hope i pray that this year we're not focused on social distancing and masks and testing [21:56] and vaccines and that now now is the time that we turn ourselves back to the purpose of [22:01] our school district education and with that said turning to the school board election [22:07] um we have four seats up for election this fall and as we know the last two elections in [22:13] 2017 and 19 got a little condensed contentious and there were deep divides created in our [22:18] community and there were some changes in our elections as well [22:24] the even the edina teachers union upped their influence in the last two elections [22:29] going beyond simple endorsements to mailing postcards and knocking on doors in our city and [22:36] sharing with the community who they feel they should endorse and in all fairness and i think we have our new union [22:42] president here the teachers union is meant to represent teachers not the students not the [22:47] community i understand that but this is why i in a growing number of community members who've talked to me [22:52] believe that this is a conflict of interest for example we all know that the school board members you guys negotiate and approve [23:00] the teacher's contract this sets their salaries and their benefits for every teacher in edina [23:06] and to be clear of our seven board members right now six were endorsed by the teachers union [23:13] and to clarify that further three of four seats were won in 2017 by teacher union endorsed candidates and [23:19] all three were won by teacher union endorsed candidates in 2019 and i just ask is this the trend [23:27] that's best for kids how do we know where those union endorse school board members [23:33] not candidates anymore loyalties lie and again i will say the union will make their endorsements [23:40] based on what's best interest for this three minutes are up [23:45] again this isn't about the teachers this is about kids and our community making sure that we pick candidates who [23:51] put kids first thank you thank you sarah next up is liz ross [24:07] thank you um i am here tonight to welcome dr stanley thrilled that you're here and to stand [24:14] by my comments and letters over the last year i am not one to hide behind anonymity [24:20] and i wanted to make sure that the first opportunity that i could address you in person that i would do so i would like to thank [24:27] you particularly representative jones or board member jones and michaelson for standing up for kids you guys have been amazing [24:34] this last year each of you echoing sarah's comments that are union endorsed has to take a [24:40] hard look at yourself after this last year the union is not here for the benefit of [24:46] the kids they are here for the benefits of the teachers that has been made incredibly clear [24:52] education mn posting about kids and their needs on social media is revolting we [24:59] need to focus on the kids you guys need to take the input of parents and teachers equally they're just inputs [25:06] not one over the other your communication this past year has been really challenging you guys have set [25:12] byzantine rules for how to communicate with the community who gets responded to [25:17] who doesn't when that happens some community members get incredibly engaged communication [25:23] some get nothing someone with connections to this board [25:29] even set up an anonymous twitter account to go after edina residence [25:35] this is wrong this is wrong someone even contacted my place of employment all [25:41] because i wanted my six-year-old back in school some of you guys even followed this [25:47] public twitter account heather edelson our state representative followed this public twitter account [25:53] this is wrong we are functioning adults we do not need to put up with this [26:00] i've heard over and over again from this community about how brave i am for speaking out how ridiculous [26:07] i'm an adult you're adults we're parents we want our child the best for what is for our children this should never be [26:14] considered brave me walking in tonight shouldn't be considered brief it should just be considered the normal [26:20] course of business and finally politics while pervasive in every [26:25] aspect of our society sadly should not be inside of our school board and our schools [26:32] this last year felt entirely like it was about politics the evidence [26:39] private schools in this town in this town operated more often gave families more [26:46] notice brought students back more quickly and reacted to data and state decisions [26:51] with decisive action over and over again competition is a real few more seconds [26:56] thank you this community deserves better it's enough the enrollment scores and grades are [27:02] known and now we have to think about how we move forward return the school system to being one of [27:07] excellence one of innovation and something that we can all be really proud of thank you [27:13] thank you miss ross we're not going to move oops sorry we're not going to move [27:19] on to our consent agenda is there anything anyone would like to remove from the consent agenda [27:26] do i have a motion to approve the consent agenda [27:31] we will now vote to approve the consent agenda all those in favor aye aye anyone opposed [27:39] the consent agenda has been approved uh moving on to discussion our first item [27:44] up for discussion we have a director smozel or i'm sorry assistant superintendent smozel [27:50] welcome we're going to talk about school calendars for 2022 23 and 2023 [27:57] 24. welcome assistant superintendent smazel good evening superintendent stanley [28:04] chair ellenberg board members community and staff i'm here this evening to talk to you [28:10] about our guiding change for the proposed calendar for the 2223 [28:16] and 23-24 school years all of you received in the board [28:23] documents the context the guiding change that has the context in reality the unacceptable means and the results [28:30] so we use these guiding change documents for for others who may be listening we use these guiding change documents to [28:36] clarify the parameters before we go into a process where we'll be proposing solutions and [28:43] then presenting that to the board so in a couple of things to highlight in [28:48] terms of the context in reality is that we still have a lot of construction that we're doing [28:53] across the school district for the next eight years or so over eight million dollars a year according to eric hamilton one of the [29:01] things that we've talked about in the past is getting a jump on bids in the spring and so we shifted a few years ago to [29:08] ending school a little bit earlier and starting a little bit earlier we do have 171 student contact days we [29:16] employ our teachers for 184 days plus 16 hours of conference time we have nine [29:21] days where our teachers are in service some of those are professional development days five [29:27] professional development days out of those nine the other four are days when they're preparing to launch the school year [29:35] we also have a couple of day-to-days data days are days at the end of the semester when teachers are working on [29:41] grades and compiling grades for that particular grading period so we have one [29:46] at the end of semester one one at the end of semester two and then we've had four two hour early [29:52] releases that give teachers and staff collaboration time built into the calendar year [29:59] in terms of process we have a small committee of parents of teachers and staff and of some [30:06] administrators that put together some options around the calendar and we'll use the guiding change [30:11] document to prepare those options and bring them back to the board we have often done a survey with [30:18] community members to try and collect data around questions that the committee has [30:23] so that we can use those data elements to try and answer those questions and prepare those options [30:29] i think the last time we completed a survey was october of 2019 [30:34] for the 2020 calendar and about 3 000 people had participated in that survey [30:41] we'll do a survey again if needed part of that is determined about what [30:46] questions or what the charges that the committee has and how complicated that is around changes or not in terms of the [30:54] process then we put a general process timeline our goal would be to bring that calendar proposal back to you [30:59] in the month of september certainly if we didn't need to do a survey i think we could actually accelerate that [31:05] just a little bit and then for final approval in october in terms of the results of the options [31:11] we lay out what would be unacceptable to do in that middle column and then the desired results [31:17] in that far right column just to note a typo instead of four full days of professional development that should say [31:23] five as the minimum in there and then we'll be bringing back to you a [31:29] proposal for the 23 23 24 school years [31:35] often times we've prepared a couple of different models sometimes those models get consolidated [31:40] through the discussion process and sometimes the models end up in front of the board as model a and model b [31:46] one idea about um a different way that we could do it is by having [31:52] uh the first year be very explicit in terms of all of the dates being laid out in terms [31:57] of professional development etc and then the second year being more of a shell that would be an example of a [32:03] different kind of model that we could bring forward and the benefit of that would be it would give us flexibility around how [32:09] we design and lay out those professional development days based on the changing needs of the school district so [32:15] with that i'm going to pause and see what questions the board has and maybe i'll turn it back to [32:22] superintendent stanley [32:28] do board members have any questions or comments i have a question randy sure um so [32:34] the eight million dollars of summer construction is that one million dollars a year eight million for [32:41] eight years that's my understanding and so it's over eight years it's eight million so no 64. [32:48] yeah eight million a year for the next eight years it's a significant amount of construction in our updating [32:55] in our maintenance cycle i don't know john if you want to add any more to that [33:00] i can go over that with board members when we have our agenda item on long-term facilities maintenance director mike olson [33:06] and then this gives us the exception so that we can start school early correct if we have over the 400 [33:12] 000 construction limit then we can start early that's according to state statute perfect thank you [33:20] so we'll meet that for the foreseeable future for the next 8 years [33:29] thank you randy that was great my question is under this guiding change [33:36] document have you considered looking at um [33:41] what's ahead over the next couple cycles of those two year [33:46] i don't know what to call them cycles i guess so could we add that into this changing document so that we are always [33:52] looking ahead because i think the when we approve the last two year calendar i thought you [33:58] guys did a fantastic job it followed a lot of this change this disk guiding document [34:04] in doing so and i think it helped with um with community needs knowing calendars [34:10] staffing um expectations so it was laid out so i think then that would push us till [34:16] next spring if i do the math right next spring to have like the next two cycles coming [34:21] so we can see that um have you guys give consideration to that and and what would be a pro or con [34:26] to doing that so you're talking a rolling calendar [34:32] exactly so that so that we know now right like we're looking ahead at that other so i know [34:37] we're headed in that it seemed like we were headed in that direction last year yeah i think we were headed in that direction i think once we [34:44] entered into um the coved pandemic we [34:50] paused on the calendar not knowing how we might have to shift days if we had to change the length of the school year and [34:56] some of those other things so we just kind of hit the pause button but the recommendation coming out of the calendar committee last time was to [35:03] now develop a rolling calendar process moving forward so we could certainly as an example [35:10] we could say by january of 2023 or sooner just you know depending on [35:18] how we wanted to lay this out we could say the next calendar will be prepared and posed to the board [35:24] nikki and i just reviewed policy right before the meeting in policy it says a minimum of a year so i think we could [35:31] go we could go longer than that but we could certainly add as a result when the rolling calendar [35:39] process would get approved by the board as part of the desired results of this process and then we have it kind of laid out moving forward so i [35:46] mean there's no other pandemic types of situations moving forward that's not on the docket um i think [35:54] i think that would be great i think that would address some community members needs as well and would be great so i also think to [36:00] piggyback on that julie is that the continuity of the individuals that are involved in that [36:06] there's a benefit to that right so that if it's not a new group that's restarting every couple years then the [36:12] process i think you also maybe need less time to meet when you're meeting more frequently if that makes sense yeah [36:18] we definitely have had some pretty consistent participation in it and then we have a few changes every [36:25] time but it does help with having people up to speed about the history of it and so that's worked well in the past [36:34] thank you thank you yeah i was hoping that we could add to [36:40] this guiding change as a result that we would in the interest of student safety [36:46] that we would not be having them in school during election days [36:54] um i think one of the things that we did in the last calendar is we align some professional [37:00] development days during key times during the year and we'll certainly look at the [37:06] professional development days and try to align those in ways that maximizes [37:11] safety for students if that makes sense [37:16] so you're you're so can that be added as a bullet then too yeah we can we can add that as a [37:22] bullet right yeah the the request is that it identifies election days where [37:29] students would not be in school would it be i assume that [37:36] you were talking about just the main election day right and is the rest of the board okay with that ad [37:43] okay okay so we would be identifying that as a non [37:51] as a non-contact day for students okay [37:58] can i just clarify i just want to make sure ellen so just basically the november date so not [38:04] primaries or anything else or is it any time that the polling places are open [38:12] because that i don't know how you i don't know does that make sense right i think that [38:20] when i when i was thinking about it my first reaction was i definitely did not want [38:26] it for during the general election i actually would be interested in other people's opinions on whether or not that [38:32] this was something needed for primaries or other types of elections [38:38] i think the complic the complexity that would be added when we include other elections would be [38:45] tough um because those you know [38:51] they may not they might not fall in a position as easily done as that november date kind [38:57] of ended up being the timing of it so i guess my thought is i would throw it [39:02] back to you guys to do some investigation and to kind of get those dates and take a look at them [39:08] is that does anybody have an opposition to that i would i would lean towards only doing [39:14] it on the general election day and tracking foot traffic over time for primary day [39:20] to see if it becomes something that would warrant that in the future i don't feel that strongly that [39:27] well i i agree with i agree with you ellen on on election day but i also know there's [39:33] been other conversation about using changing polling sites from schools anyway so there's a lot of things so to [39:39] have that in a changing document or in our policy that we wouldn't have i mean what if schools don't become a polling place so [39:45] there's that piece of it so um i would kick it back what janie said back to the your planning committee [39:53] i know that was a priority when you presented the calendar last time i don't think anything has changed there but i do know on here you do have [39:59] consider district calendar impacts on students so maybe we add in safety impacts on students family and staff [40:06] into the results that's one of the bullets listed so i would i so i understand what you're [40:14] saying julia i would just suggest that when when you could easily say when school [40:22] polling when when elections are in our schools um when the general election is in our [40:29] schools it will be a non-contact day [40:35] so that that just alleviates right what you're saying is correct on [40:41] it should be explicit yes it shouldn't be something that you can interpret from one of the bullets [40:46] i agree on general election oh that's what i was going to say general election yeah i think we all [40:52] agree that and i think we ran um parent student [40:59] teacher conferences on some of those days and that would that would be okay that would be [41:05] still be acceptable from the board perspective to do that just not have it be just a general student contact day got [41:11] it okay i think that's pretty clear anything else [41:20] you randy thank you everybody [41:28] okay uh next on our agenda we have policy review so i'll turn it over to director [41:33] michaelson thank you chair ellenberg we have three policies to review tonight the first of [41:38] which is policy 439 outside employment and conflict of interest the driver here is that there [41:47] isn't a conflict of interest among coaches that if student athletes would [41:54] participate in their say summer camps that they would give be given preferential treatment during [41:59] uh the season and so we have language here to spell out that that conflict will not happen [42:06] and um we are we also talked in policy in the committee that the um that this [42:13] would be spelled out to the community very clearly and to the coaches so that that conflict would be crystal [42:20] that there's no conflict and there's no favoritism based off of this participation [42:25] in off-season events so any comments or questions about that so [42:32] i have a question on 439 there's an exemption at the bottom of 439 that says coaches [42:37] are exempt from article 3 d 2 and 3. so [42:42] article 3d3 [42:48] says that they're not supposed to use district materials to promote their activities [42:53] so i don't know why we're exempting that it seems to me that if i'm reading this correctly we're [42:59] saying they can use district materials to promote their activities and i think that they shouldn't be able [43:04] to use district materials at least not without written permission so i would take a look at [43:10] 3d 3d3 nikki do you have any comments nikki toucher is our director of hr who [43:16] has a lot of hand want to say of this saying this nikki [43:21] so if you look at that five it specifically talks about district materials or facilities [43:26] and so it takes that second component of d3 [43:31] and specifics to facilities into materials and it says that they cannot use that for [43:39] to promote their coaching so i think five covers your question five which five um g five [43:50] on page three on page three yeah so they seem to contradict each other i [43:55] guess i would say you've created an inconsistency in the document because you you exempt them from you [44:01] from the prohibition against using materials and then say they can't use materials i think we should get rid of the [44:06] exemption for sub 3. there's a way we can probably clean clean that up and i understand what [44:12] you're what you're saying but the intent was to give the broad exemption and then narrow it because otherwise the [44:19] previous language exempted exempted coaches from the entire policy and so that was the intent but i understand [44:25] your question i'm sure we can clean that up in policy so you could say coaches are exempt from article three d [44:31] two three except as set forth in five i think that would be a great amendment [44:37] okay we'll take that back to committee and then bring that back up for discussion next month ellen did you have [44:42] a comment question about this yeah just one is that i was wondering if um [44:47] the policy committee could make a definition of outside employment [45:06] um and and particularly because there is some confusion with whether consultants are have outside [45:13] employment so i just want i want to make sure that it's clear that [45:19] that what the definition is as we're moving through this policy [45:25] so are you thinking something like outside employment is that external to the district is that what [45:30] you're thinking as the definition um it's the it's the definition of employment that i [45:37] think needs to be more explicit [45:49] okay we'll take both of those back to committee and work in the language and bring it [45:54] back for discussion next month so i think you can bring it back for action next month [46:01] okay i mean these changes aren't major all right okay good enough we'll do that [46:07] then all right the next policy is 613 graduation requirements we're cleaning [46:14] up some language here um we're making some changes in the appendix [46:20] and um nikki i'd like to turn it over to you for any comments that you have [46:25] there's a lot of little things with this one so there were some definitions in here that weren't used within the policy so [46:31] some of that was just clean up so we took we got rid of those definitions not because the definition [46:37] itself isn't important but because the definition um didn't have wasn't used within the [46:43] policy so that was some of the components um otherwise it was just relatively [46:48] small cleanup in the policy itself like there was redundancy in seven [46:54] it talked about state law but then gave the specific site so things like that we did [46:59] clean up and i'm trying to think if there's any other components in there otherwise the policy [47:05] itself we worked with the director of teaching and learning and made sure that it's applicable and up to date [47:13] i have a question that occurred to me after a policy meeting and that is on page five number seven [47:20] this is in the appendix to a seven one semester credit for capstone [47:28] experience for implementation with the graduating class of 2022 2022. [47:33] does that mean that we will have a capstone requirement effective graduating class of 2022. [47:41] it's optional and that that's as an option um and that was in consultation with principal beaton [47:47] and and that's where we what we talked about in committee but i'm not seeing the language [47:53] oh it says as an option okay i've got i'm sorry i have an old version okay good all [47:59] right so i have a question and i should know the answer to this but um it says as recorded on the heist you [48:05] need 43 credits as recorded on the high school transcript so if you do compacted science and then [48:11] you take in eighth grade uh ninth grade science does that show up on the high school [48:16] transcript and if it doesn't shouldn't that count towards the 43. [48:25] the intention of the 8th grade class or the 9th grade class in 8th [48:31] grade would be to be able to access that high school credit bearing course and so that should be something that [48:37] would be accessible and would count towards graduation just for the graduation standards is it [48:42] on the high school transcript if it's not recorded on the high school transcript that we need to modify the language [48:48] there it would be recorded on the high school transcript the letter grade would be recorded it would not count toward the gpa [48:54] because it wasn't earned at the high school isn't that addressed in a different policy [49:02] about um i don't know if that's there are some other general courses that are that earn high school credit [49:09] that are addressed in other policies and this would fall under that umbrella because we address it i forget which the [49:15] policy is then okay but it does show up on the high school transcript this is the point and the same with the correct students [49:21] take um does that show up on the high school transcript if they take it as a sixth grader [49:26] i think the answer is yes i i would have to double check on that i'm not positive on that one all right [49:34] thank you oh please ellen actually too um i'm just [49:42] wondering uh we just passed some new science curriculum [49:48] that had that was just chock full of science standards and so i'm just wondering um i noticed [49:56] that the state has said that we have a pass on one year and that that those will be [50:01] enforced 2024-25 which would be when the incoming [50:07] ninth graders are seniors so i am wondering if we need to [50:13] change the wording on our science [50:18] to state that students need to take earth science as well as biology [50:26] and either physics and chemistry i don't necessarily think you're wrong [50:31] ellen we talked about with this specific iteration of changing the [50:36] policy that we were going to focus on the um language that was above [50:44] the specific credits because there's some other funky things with what we are specifically asking [50:51] like i actually brought up a policy committee the two gym credits the two pe credits and we were talking about let's [50:59] not talk about that right now in the specific um what we have the [51:06] section two which is our edina public school graduation requirements and make sure we have the right definitions in the majority of the [51:13] policy and then we need to go back into this policy soon because of things like that and and [51:20] asking ourselves because we have the sort of vague language around capstone and because we [51:25] have the um questions about pe we need to we're going to really have to go back in [51:31] and look a lot closer at those very specific requirements so i think you're right but we weren't [51:38] necessarily wanting to make those changes right now [51:45] we spoke of possibly visiting with this policy every three four five months because of [51:52] dynamic changes that might be coming upon this like fyad perhaps science but [52:03] but um so if i was a student trying to figure out what i should take [52:09] in in high school um and and the board is now proposing or the policy committee has [52:15] proposed taking out the wording which says the school district will notify students [52:21] and their parents of the district's graduation requirements with 30 working days of a student's entry into eighth [52:27] grade i'm i just want to make sure that we are giving our students [52:33] the notification of what what they are going to be required to take [52:38] the appropriate notification so they can plan their their high school schedules and students [52:46] will be doing that starting in eighth grade so i i [52:53] i understand that the board has some work to do and we've often talked about doing that [53:00] work however i do think that [53:06] particularly in the areas of science where we know that's a state-mandated standard [53:13] putting in the words to make that align with [53:21] state standards that's one of the things that i think we need to do but i but i don't really feel comfortable [53:29] passing and taking action on a policy that's going to impact [53:35] students really starting this year [53:42] i would rather make sure that it is either the wording is changed [53:49] to say we don't know what we're going to require i mean that it doesn't seem to make sense could we ask i'm just going to say maybe [53:56] jody and nikki could connect and because jody's really the one that could [54:02] help us understand what some of those dates are and if there are dates that can be changed [54:07] maybe jody you and nikki could connect and if there is a significant change that could [54:12] be made before we take action to your point ellen then i think it's worth it i think [54:18] we i agree that if if we have the information we can make the change now why not make [54:23] the change now but if jody comes back and says you know what things are we're still not finalized on anything [54:29] then i agree with you erica to say let's wait till we can get a better handle on it so [54:34] that's what i was saying i think there's i would say i agree throw it back on the ring and do more [54:40] investigation on it what i i would suggest is that um [54:46] our graduation standards for the class of 2025 [54:53] are understood by the board before they start their eighth grade year [55:02] and i believe that that is that it i i think that as a board we can we can [55:09] work on things but not not um as students are you know [55:17] we should be settled on the graduation standards [55:24] in eighth grade five years out and then we can work on the next classes [55:31] graduation standards throughout the year but i think this eighth grade this incoming eighth [55:36] grade class is a little bit unique because normally this would be as you know policy is set in place when you [55:42] start your career at the high school the policy sticks with you right so whatever it starts as [55:48] when i start my first day in ninth grade whatever policy is is what i'm held to to complete my [55:53] graduation if i understand how that works but and i think that this eighth grade class is a little bit [55:59] unique because of the compacted science and the new rollout of the of the science curriculum [56:05] so if we do have that information that's what i'm saying i agree with you if we can put it in we put it in [56:12] right but we're not it's not what we're doing is taking out what was part of the policy [56:20] so if you notice in the policy right now that's being proposed this eighth grade class is no different [56:26] if if it was our historically we told students all students at the [56:33] beginning of eighth grade what their what their requirements were going to be that was taken out because that's [56:39] actually not done it it historically has not been done at [56:45] the junior high level and so that is not done in current practice so that's why [56:51] that sentence was taken out [56:56] and and you don't and and i'm not sure i don't know [57:04] why we would have been operating outside of policy for years i'm not really i i don't [57:11] understand that but i do think the goal should be that [57:16] as students in eighth grade since many students in eighth grade are looking it's not just the [57:22] accelerated students students in the past have always looked at what they were going to need [57:29] in order to graduate sure i think i agree with that i'm i guess i'm going to defer to randy [57:36] maybe on this who would know for sure but technically if i'm not mistaken [57:42] nikki's looking at me too what policy is when i start as a high school student is [57:48] what i am bound to for graduation requirements because policy can change so if i'm not a [57:53] student at the high school i'm not um [57:58] what's the word when students are grandfathered thank you i couldn't think of the word so when students enter the high school [58:06] so i when i have an incoming ninth grader and i am choosing my incoming ninth graders class [58:11] the course catalog we clearly state in the course catalog the requirements in this course catalog [58:18] are what you are bound to so if the course catalog for my eighth grader is [58:23] you know the edina public schools course catalog is this for ninth graders but i have an eighth grader my eighth grader is only bound to the [58:30] new catalog for them and i would say that's true to the extent that the state statute and the [58:37] state rules don't change i mean to this to the extent that the school board controls that that would be true i'm talking about our edina graduation [58:44] requirements um if i can add um [58:50] when kids start high school they go through the eighth grade registration process [58:55] when they go through the eighth grade registration process and using the high school registration catalog [59:00] it lays out very clearly what's required for graduation and then that genie is correct that particular [59:07] cohort is on that graduation set of requirements so for science in the past the [59:14] requirements were physics or chemistry and then biology [59:20] and a science elective so it's three graduation credit requirements when the shift is made if earth science [59:27] is the requirement now that kind of replaces that science elective and they have biology and then physics [59:33] or chemistry so it's still three graduation credit requirements students who take the earth science in [59:40] eighth grade have room for electives additional electives as they go into the high [59:45] school students who have taken the earth science have met the science elective requirement if you will i don't think [59:53] jody can add to this but i don't think this is really technically an issue because the graduate the total number of [1:00:00] credits is not changing the communication comes in um exactly what those credits consist of if [1:00:07] that makes sense so the earth science kind of replacing the elective and then again the eighth graders will [1:00:14] learn about what's required for them for graduation when they go to register this fall so [1:00:20] they'll be on a different pathway than the current 9th graders are on so and i just want to clarify ellen that [1:00:26] the sentence here says that the school district will notify students and their parents of the district's graduation requirements within 30 working days of [1:00:33] the students entry into eighth grade that's not the current practice like randy said the students are [1:00:40] notified when they register for their ninth grade classes so i just wanted to clarify that i [1:00:46] wasn't stating that we don't let students know of their graduation requirements yeah and and my [1:00:54] i i would consider that it would be as the board is going [1:01:01] to look to act on this act on graduating standards [1:01:06] um i i think that we need to be really clear on what those standards are going [1:01:14] to be as students are starting ninth eighth grade not not ninth grade but eighth grade [1:01:22] and that the board should be able in august to pass the graduation [1:01:30] requirements for eighth graders for that class of um [1:01:38] actually it that would be 2026 [1:01:46] um which is a a year after these even these science [1:01:53] standards are going to be enforced so i'm what i'm just saying is yes we as a board should keep working on [1:02:00] our health standards and all these other things but to recognize that it won't take [1:02:06] effect for students i don't think we we should be expecting our students to be able to [1:02:13] change on a dime and make those changes [1:02:18] so so to set this maybe in the policy maybe have that wording [1:02:24] that these are the requirements for students entering high school um [1:02:30] a certain year and having a different appendix for possibly other classes but that would be [1:02:37] my recommendation because we understand that this is a work in progress and um so there's that the other thing [1:02:44] that's in here that's new is the mention underneath all of the academic standards [1:02:50] of the minnesota career and college success domains and competencies [1:03:01] and um and i'm just saying there's a lot in there and the the way the policy is worded [1:03:09] it says all students must complete the minnesota academic standards as developed by minnesota department of [1:03:15] education and then it includes as number seven this new minnesota career in college success [1:03:24] domains and competencies which has a boatload of recommendations [1:03:30] and i i am looking at jody [1:03:38] and wondering whether or not we want that included in with all of [1:03:45] those standards or if that should be better placed somewhere else [1:03:54] alan i think that's a good question for us to revisit that was reviewed by my team and we [1:04:01] and then adding that um there are components of that that we definitely focus on um and and and yet you do [1:04:08] bring up a good point there is a lot in there so as a policy team and we can revisit that okay [1:04:15] thank you so quick question i'm wondering if we could [1:04:21] we talked about grandfathering students in in ninth grade i wonder given that we're looking at [1:04:27] more compacted classes whether we shouldn't be grandfathering kids in in eighth grade for our own standards [1:04:33] rather than ninth grade just something to consider for the [1:04:38] future [1:04:43] okay duly noted lenny so um ellen are you asking for specific [1:04:50] language changes uh should we bring it to for action next month uh what are your i think we need to [1:04:57] bring it back to policy and take a look at that and come up with recommendation i think clearly we need [1:05:03] to have a broader work session just on graduation requirements in general [1:05:09] whether or not this policy comes back before a broader conversation about [1:05:15] graduation requirements i think we need to figure that on policy okay we'll visit it again at our next policy [1:05:22] meeting which is actually in about two weeks right and and the if since you are [1:05:28] revisiting it see all students must demonstrate the understanding of the following academic [1:05:33] standards and there are three school district standards one is a school district standards on world [1:05:40] languages k-12 and i i don't i'm not aware of ever [1:05:46] seeing any world language standards for k um 12 [1:05:51] and so i'm i'm just asking if you could and and if number two in that the school [1:05:57] district standards on career and technical education how that interacts and aligns with the [1:06:02] new minnesota career in college success domains and competencies um so all three of those in undersea [1:06:11] i'm not i think i i don't know if those are [1:06:18] actually being used as a graduation requirement and i just [1:06:24] thought i would bring that up free for policy committee to look at [1:06:30] okay director michaelson one suggestion because those are those are um that those are all in the [1:06:35] appendix we could take the policy itself um for action next time if the board would like that and then do [1:06:41] take a peek through the appendix itself and separate the two because the appendix just needs to go [1:06:47] for information so that's a idea that if the board would like that it's an option [1:06:53] and what advantage is served by us having this brought to action for next month as opposed to say waiting [1:06:59] another month i suggest that we discuss in policy committee okay and figure out the best [1:07:05] course of action okay let's let's just bring it back to policy and talk about it we had talked about also an honorary [1:07:12] degree that we could confer as a district we decided not to do that [1:07:18] just it not being our central mission but we have talked about having an [1:07:24] educational certificate and i think dr stanley is that the term that was used [1:07:31] yes a certificate of educational achievement okay so we may use that in the future so [1:07:37] we'll bring this back to committee and we'll bring this back for discussion next month [1:07:44] our last policy for tonight for discussion [1:07:50] i do know that our practice is that for appendices that they can come back for information [1:07:55] i think that this particular appendix appendix one is relatively significant and so i would [1:08:02] not separate out the appendix i would keep it because [1:08:07] my initial perspective is that if administration made major changes to this appendices [1:08:13] i might make it part of the policy so it's back under board control so i would not separate it that would be [1:08:19] my request [1:08:28] all right thank you lenny duly noted and our last policy for [1:08:36] discussion tonight is 908 this deals with tutoring for pay [1:08:45] and we are recommending that we rescind this policy this policy in effect serves two roles [1:08:52] one is as offering a simple service to the community that community members can reach out to [1:08:58] the district and ask for a list of tutors uh we do not [1:09:03] vet the tutors and we are um don't guarantee that relationship and [1:09:11] so this has actually just been a service that we offer we don't do background checks on the tutors [1:09:17] and um it is up to the community member to make the decision about the [1:09:23] worthiness of a tutor we do have a list reviewed once a year [1:09:28] just to make sure people are still living in the community and still offering the service there is one [1:09:34] substantive aspect of this policy which is conflict of interest namely that a teacher say wouldn't gain [1:09:42] the uh the teaching experience such to actually create a need for the student to use his or her [1:09:50] service and that is taken care of in policy 439 [1:09:55] so the conflict of interest is actually prohibited already in policy [1:10:00] so that is why we are recommending that we rescind this policy just the sake of for the sake of [1:10:06] simplicity and we also added explicit language spelling out [1:10:11] tutoring specifically to make it crystal clear that was a conflict of interest so we added language from 908 to 439 [1:10:20] and felt that it was a duplic basically a duplication of policy [1:10:30] any discussion okay so we'll move that forward for action next [1:10:36] month i turn it back to you chair allen berg thank you we'll now move on to our action items do [1:10:43] i have a motion to approve the ltfm budget i'm sorry program budget [1:10:48] application so moved is there a second second [1:10:55] just pick one sarah yeah one or the other what are the other we have director tope here to speak talk [1:11:00] to us about the ltm fm long-term funding maintenance [1:11:07] did i get that right fund facilities maintenance program long-term facilities [1:11:13] maintenance program yes thank you chair ellenberg superintendent stanley [1:11:18] members of the board this is an annual approval that the board makes it looks [1:11:25] at a rolling 10-year plan and it has approval of the projects [1:11:30] within that 10-year plan this 10-year plan has been looked at by our finance committee as assistant superintendent schmazel indicated [1:11:37] and i actually did look at the expenditure budget that we have in our packet on [1:11:44] page 214. this is actually going to be about 134 [1:11:50] million dollars overall an 11 year period that we're looking at and again these are estimates the closer [1:11:57] that we are to the to the year whether that's 22 23 the the better our estimates are [1:12:04] obviously when the estimates are in the out years they're just our best guesses as to what's going to [1:12:09] go on and what that estimated cost is this is primarily going to be funded [1:12:16] regardless of the cost by a pay as you go levy that you'll see on our levee [1:12:21] certification this september again we're trying to migrate almost all of our costs [1:12:26] for the program to the levy itself to avoid bonding and have interest costs so [1:12:34] i know there was some specific projects that you might have questions on i'll do the best to answer those although director [1:12:41] hamilton might be better to answer those but i did see that director jones had a a comment that she [1:12:47] made about bringing our air quality standards up which i'm very happy to to see as well [1:12:52] so other than that uh if director jones wants to make a comment on that or other questions from the board [1:13:00] oh good oh i see owen had a question earlier that i think was [1:13:05] no you had a question for dr smazel that i thought was apparently addressed i [1:13:11] think that was addressing the 8 million and it's actually even a little bit more than that with our [1:13:17] projects that don't really qualify um in a bonding sense but there are projects [1:13:22] that are in the pay as you go levy so it's 134 million over 11 years it's 20 times the threshold 8 million [1:13:28] okay i just want to make sure you got your question answered sorry go ahead i was going to say that then june the financial facilities [1:13:34] committee reviewed this in detail and brought this forward for approval so there's support from the committee [1:13:40] to continue forward and as dr stanley is coming in dr director tope is working closely with [1:13:46] her to ramp her up on all the ways that we do our accounting and budget maintenance here and it's a big budget there's a lot of moving parts i think val and cheryl did [1:13:53] a great job earlier today describing ways that there's innovation taking place to use our spaces during construction times to [1:13:59] maximize all the activities for all the kids and i uh i'm just really proud of the work the [1:14:05] district's doing right now i'm excited about how we're managing through what's been a challenging time on the [1:14:10] fiscal front so thanks i'm sorry any other comments or [1:14:16] questions just one other comment here allenburg if if i may is [1:14:22] the reason this is being brought in front of the board we did bring the 10-year detail plan in front of the board in [1:14:27] june because we want to want you to see that and get input on that first before we prepare [1:14:32] these application materials to send to the state by july 31st thank you i appreciate that we will now [1:14:38] vote to approve the long-term facilities maintenance budget [1:14:47] application you got there did i get it okay all those in favor say aye aye [1:14:53] anyone opposed the ltmf budget application is approved [1:15:00] okay um do i have a motion to approve the supplemental student transportation services so moved second great director [1:15:08] ah thank you chair ellenberg superintendent stanley and members of the board we did a request for proposal through [1:15:14] our sourcing agent catalyst this spring we were told by park adams our [1:15:19] special ed route driver route contractor that they were no [1:15:24] longer interested in providing service for us for both the special ed routes and our [1:15:30] out-of-district routes are mainly our minneapolis students so that we knew we knew we had to go out for a request for proposal [1:15:36] so we engaged catalyst our district sourcing agent and i hope board members read some of the [1:15:41] background that i put in there we did have seven vendors respond we did [1:15:47] a review of those options and then entered into direct negotiation with metropolitan transit network [1:15:53] transportation network and twin city transportation who we have done business with before we did conduct conduct site [1:16:01] visits with the two vendors to familiarize ourselves with their operations [1:16:06] and what we came up with was a two-year contract with metropolitan [1:16:13] transit with an option for a one-year renewal for year three and a one-year renewal [1:16:19] for year four however we did put a clause in there because we had not worked with metropolitan transportation network [1:16:25] before that we could terminate the contract after one year if we did not meet the dis [1:16:30] if they did not meet the district's uh expectations there's a fuel clause in there there's a [1:16:37] clause in there for additional annual increases of two percent per year with the option of with district [1:16:42] approval increase annually up to an additional two percent so maximum of four percent per year this is a [1:16:48] minority-owned organization and again if you read the background i'm pretty excited about uh having this [1:16:54] person as a contractor for the district i think they'll provide good service there's a [1:17:00] lot of background and a lot of ownership by the contractor to provide good [1:17:05] service and with that i'll stand for questions one other piece of code real quick on [1:17:11] that also reviewed in the finance committee one of the things that the finance and facilities committee continues to look at [1:17:19] are the ways that not only do we address current costs but we think about how inflation is going to be affecting [1:17:24] both the school system and overall taxpayers in the next five to ten years there's a lot of reasons to think that [1:17:31] inflation could increase so in terms of these contracts and some of the provisions and out clauses that director [1:17:36] tope and others have worked into them in terms of things related to food provisions and other contracts that continues to be [1:17:42] a piece of the thinking that we're doing now to try to be either ahead of challenges that could [1:17:49] come if there are any kind of sharp increases so i think that this is a good rfp and there were good vendors that came through to propose options [1:17:55] and support the recommendation from the committee i would add to director fox's remarks finance committee [1:18:02] did ask to see this before the board meeting so i did send that out as soon as i got the last contract from [1:18:08] twin city transportation and i will also say that there were some constraints in the other contracts that didn't allow us [1:18:14] to be as efficient as possible that we've worked out within these contracts that's why i think if you read the the [1:18:20] documentation we think the cost will be very similar to our last year [1:18:29] yep i had sent john this question but i thought it would be worth clarifying for our community members [1:18:36] that just voted on a very generous levy and bond to allow us for uh to have some new construction at [1:18:42] our bus garage and the ability to bring our special education transportation in-house and maybe just a acknowledgement that [1:18:49] that doesn't happen overnight and so how this is connected in the future with with that happening [1:18:54] that's a very good bring that up and kind of comment on it very good question for clarification director shaw [1:19:00] uh if the board recalls we did approve a lease for three special education buses and one [1:19:06] replacement bus i think it was in april or may so we've already [1:19:12] started the movement of that process to move our contracted special ed routes over to our [1:19:17] district employees again as director shaw said that doesn't happen overnight [1:19:23] but we wanted to make sure that within this contract there was no guarantees of a specific number of routes for this [1:19:31] contractor so i made sure that catalyst understood that and that the the contractor understood [1:19:38] that as well as that we are migrating to a district owned special ed as much as possible so did clarify that with them i am [1:19:46] comfortable with that and i certainly hope within the next three to four years we will be [1:19:52] as as much as possible district owned special ed routes [1:19:58] thank you john what i'm sorry erica yeah oh i just want to see if there are other questions or comments uh one more [1:20:04] comment so uh one more quick thing is that just so people hear it in this full open setting in addition to [1:20:11] looking at the costs and the structures the ownership versus the leasing of the buses and transportation center [1:20:16] we're also continue to look at all kinds of green energy or renewable options so we have discussed that multiple times [1:20:22] in the finance and facilities committee meetings and will continue to throughout the second half of this year so within these rfps at times right now [1:20:29] we are working with two things control requirements and prerequisites as john dr tope was [1:20:35] saying and also with facilities requirements and limitations but it continues to be a topic of [1:20:41] conversation for the committee and importance for for all the people on the board [1:20:46] thank you we'll now vote to approve the supplement supplementary student transportation [1:20:51] services um all those in favor say aye aye aye [1:20:56] anyone opposed the supplementary supplementary student transportation services is approved [1:21:03] um do i have a motion to approve thank you director tope thank you i appreciate all your work sorry i'm [1:21:08] just trying to roll through this agenda here um do i have a motion to approve policies 429 [1:21:14] 431 515 633 and 904. [1:21:20] second okay director michaelson we had no discussion [1:21:28] on these policies last month and if we have any discussion i would welcome that otherwise [1:21:36] seeing no interest i turn it back to you chair allenberg it's not no interest it's full support [1:21:41] they're much better yes full support thank you director fox [1:21:47] we will uh now vote to approve 409 429 431 515 633 and 904 [1:21:54] all those in favor okay quick questions 432 is listed here on my agenda is that [1:22:01] intended to be included did i say the wrong polyps well you went 431 515. so i just wonder [1:22:09] oh i skipped one okay so let's vote on these and then i'll do a motion for 432. sounds good okay i apologize [1:22:16] um all those in favor of approving 409 429 431 515 633 and 904 say aye [1:22:24] aye okay all of those policies are now approved now do i have an emotion [1:22:30] a motion to approve policy 432 so moved second um we will now vote to approve [1:22:36] policy 432 all those don't want to see if owen's got comments on 432 [1:22:45] i supported five minutes ago yeah still support all right all those in favor say aye aye i want to [1:22:51] post policy 432 is approved sarah did you get all that [1:22:56] with my little error thank you okay we can't get through a board meeting without a little error on my part [1:23:02] so i don't want it to uh go by okay we'll go to board leadership and committee updates [1:23:09] um the only update that i had was i just wanted to make sure the community saw [1:23:14] that we did have recognition of a staff member and i wanted to read it really quickly [1:23:20] we have a commendation of jen gross a grade three teacher countryside elementary alyssa barnes [1:23:26] grade k countryside elementary and karen bergman principal countryside elementary [1:23:31] this was an email to from a parent to principal bergman we like many parents have a sincere love and admiration for teachers [1:23:38] this past year has taken that to a new level the countless hours of hard work and care your teachers have put in [1:23:43] both seen and unseen has to be off the charts there is no way they could have done what they did [1:23:49] as well as they did without a great deal of personal sacrifice jen gross went above and beyond to make [1:23:54] a personal connection with our child that started day one and never stopped she took the time to really see who he [1:24:00] is identify his strength and offer him the support and encouragement to let those strengths grow and shine he was [1:24:06] happy confident proud and learning every day he developed friendships with teachers and peers that he has been looking for [1:24:13] the school year in spite of its difficulties was his best yet i cannot express enough how much this gift meant to us [1:24:19] jenna's honest caring insightful compassionate generous and an absolutely phenomenal teacher [1:24:25] alyssa barnes's greatness i am lucky enough to say was not new to us the minute i knew our child was in her [1:24:31] class any hesitation i felt about them going to kindergarten was gone she is someone who is exactly where she [1:24:37] should be she was meant to be a teacher our child learned so much this year he was happy kind confident and curious [1:24:44] alyssa fostered a true love for learning for our child what a priceless gift i am still in awe of what alyssa [1:24:50] accomplished this year it felt to me that kindergarten didn't skip a beat once everyone went back at the end of [1:24:55] january i missed hearing alyssa's good morning song in my kitchen she exudes happiness kindness silliness [1:25:01] creativity and curiosity she is the perfect kindergarten teacher and a truly special person to everyone [1:25:07] in our family i have no doubt these teachers are able to shine because they are in a school where they feel supported and connected [1:25:14] and for that we thank you so congratulations to all of this [1:25:19] countryside individuals we are lucky to have all of you on our staff are there any [1:25:25] committee updates from our committee chairs no okay i'll just turn it over to dr [1:25:32] stanley to see if there are any superintendent updates all right well first of all i'd really like to thank the community just for [1:25:38] your warm welcome it has been fantastic getting out into schools touring them [1:25:44] really being able to meet the principals spend time with them and of course um the lead team members [1:25:49] i and my husband had a blast at the 4th of july parade that was so much fun and i'm just really [1:25:57] looking forward to getting out into more experiences as i mentioned i've been out and about in schools really [1:26:03] being able to see the students in action this summer with their learning and and just the incredible [1:26:08] um courses that are being offered through community ed the other thing that i wanted to share [1:26:15] is a thank you to community members who have reached out to me i know that there are many concerns about the start of the [1:26:21] school year and you know we want to make certain that we get information to [1:26:27] community members to families about the start of the school year as soon as possible of course we are waiting to get [1:26:33] additional information from the minnesota department of health and [1:26:40] ultimately our primary goal is to get our k-12 students back into school we want them [1:26:47] there and we want to be able to keep them there consistently so that there isn't the turnover [1:26:52] of going back and forth or you know and to keep them healthy quite honestly [1:26:58] we want to keep them healthy as well so please community members just know i am pulling together the incident [1:27:03] command team and this is at the forefront of my mind just like it is at [1:27:08] at the forefront of yours and of course all of the board of directors and we will get information out to you [1:27:16] that will let you know the direction that we're going as soon as we possibly can so thank you for that thank you dr [1:27:24] stanley um and um i think that is all so i will adjourn the meeting [1:27:29] and everyone have a excellent rest of your july thank you thank you