[0:13] all right welcome everybody hello welcome I'm going to call the [0:19] meeting to order we do have a quorum this is the Monday June 17th 2019 [0:24] regular school board meeting for the Dyna School Board I hope superintendent could you please [0:29] quickly review our agenda we're proving minutes we have some presentations the [0:37] high school band trip to Hong Kong we have a presentation by the noon rotary some recognition of staff consent some [0:45] everyday approvals of various operations in the district and agreements that we [0:51] have getting prepared for next year and reports and discussions talk a little [0:57] bit about e-learning plan is putting together when we have all those hopefully less inclement weather days [1:04] and then for action we're approving the Master Agreement with the education Minnesota dinah [1:09] agreement with the classified supervisors and and then approving the [1:15] 2019 2020 final budget and then purchase a phone system hardware and then policy [1:22] reviews and for information some pendency updates from policy enrollment [1:29] Student Wellness annual report some staff recognition and then upcoming [1:34] school board meetings all right thank you very much where you start the first agenda item is approval of the minutes [1:40] can I get a motion to approve the minutes of the May 20th special meeting the May 20th regular meeting the June [1:46] 4th special meeting and the June 10th work session so moved are there any changes all those in favor [1:54] of approving the minutes as listed say aye aye any opposed motion carried next [2:01] agenda item is presentation and recognitions we start with the high school band trip to Hong Kong mr. Kyle [2:07] and his entourage welcome have you summer everyone and [2:26] thanks so much for the opportunity to be here tonight to share with you for those of you that don't know me my name is [2:31] Paul Kyle and I'm the director of vans and he Dyna High School talked nearly 20 years in the district and all three of [2:37] my children have gone through the Dinah public school system the last of which just graduated a few weeks ago Thank You [2:43] mr. Fox for allowing me to hand her her diploma with me today are three students of the Edina band program and I'll have [2:48] them introduce themselves I'm Lindsey makaan I'm a rising senior at don high [2:53] school obviously and I'm a drum major of the marching band next year and I played [3:00] the alto saxophone I'm Michael Easley I just graduated a couple weeks ago and I play the tuba [3:06] my name is Marissa doulos I am also a graduated senior and I play the clarinet [3:12] it seems like the band's trip to Hong Kong was so long ago which it was because it happened in March and yet the [3:18] amazing memories are so vivid it also feels like it just happened last week I recognized a remarkable trip like we had [3:25] happens largely because of you the school board and the hours you've invested in finding ways to support [3:31] student travel I also recognize you do most of the work but have none of the fun travel experience so I thought this [3:37] brief presentation would be a way for you to vicariously enjoy the fruits of your labor as we share some of the [3:42] highlights of our trips as well as some of the life lessons that we've learned along the way first off and most importantly thank you [3:48] for your time talents and energies as school board members and for your tremendous support of student travel in [3:54] the man program you're probably aware on some level how important the Dyna band family is in this community dusting [4:01] dusting oh not I'm in my new house all right I think in this community and [4:07] while I'm biased I truly believe it is one of the reasons that our community and school district is so unique and [4:12] sought-after not only do I believe we have one of the finest band programs in the state but with your support we're also able to [4:18] create life-changing experiences for our students either through performances like pops or playing at the state music [4:24] convention or performances that may happen on international tours like our trip to Hong Kong one of the things I [4:32] value the most about touring and it is a value I learned from my predecessor bill Webb and fostered by the company we tour [4:38] with Simon and Simon travel is the empathy understanding and tolerance that touring develops in my students it's [4:45] understandable to have misconceptions or lack understanding about others until you get to know them on their own soil [4:52] once that happens a new sense of interconnectedness and global citizenry takes form and once two cultures combine [5:00] to make and share music together the international language then global [5:05] friendships are made my goals for this trip and quite honestly for all the [5:10] International trips we take were to provide significant and hopefully life-changing performance experiences [5:15] for my students prepare them for the future adulting world through all the myriad skills that come to play when [5:21] traveling with a group communicating cooperating having patience flexing confidence by serving as an ambassador [5:28] being courageous and talking to other students and also little things like saying please and thank you and not [5:34] losing their passport and promoting a sense of adventure wonderment and offer the world by learning about another [5:41] country and its culture in the culture [5:49] in life of Hong Kong so from shopping and bartering with locals in the night market and visiting [5:55] the stilted fishing village where we lived when we didn't live we watched how people live in 21st century life in a [6:01] more 19th century environment and participating in activities like the salmon boat ride as [6:08] shown in that picture we learned a lot about the way people live across the world and the differences in [6:13] similarities to our life here yeah we uh we learned firsthand the harmonious [6:19] coexistence in Hong Kong of a variety of religions including Taoists Buddhists Christians and Confucians by visiting a [6:26] variety of amazing temples and monasteries at the wong tai sin temple we were up close and personal to a [6:32] variety of ceremonies that take place and some that we even participated in we had our fortunes read and then at the [6:38] chi lin nunnery we experienced some of the most beautiful and peaceful gardens in the world and while at the PO Lin [6:44] monastery we ate a vegetarian lunch served by the monks and visited one of the world's largest seated buddhas we [6:52] also gave multiple performances from the Hong Kong International School to Hong Kong Disney and shared musical exchanges [6:59] with students from Hong Kong Youth symphonic band Hong Kong International School and the most notable being the [7:05] Dona Nobis Pacem Keys concert at the st. Paul convent school in the heart of the [7:10] city well I have led many tours to various destinations I'm still amazed at [7:17] how quickly cultural differences melt away once the music begins some of our students taught their [7:23] students how to play frisbee a first for some of the Hongkongers shared dance moves and music and exchange Instagram [7:30] and snapchat accounts along the way our students grew in their worldliness [7:35] travel experience and in the bonds and friendships they have with each other friendships with memories that I believe [7:41] will last a lifetime now it is my naive assumption that you likely hear from [7:47] parents the community and perhaps students mostly when they are unhappy and things not going so well but in the [7:53] spirit of the summer thought it'd be fun to share with you some of the fun comments and the things that parents and students value about the travel [7:59] experience they've had in band while you glanced at some of the tour reflection [8:05] gleaned from this year's trip I'd like to have our three students briefly share some of their tour highlights with you [8:10] we'll start with Lindsay makan so I think the most valuable part of the Hong [8:15] Kong experience for me was getting to share some traditions that I'm familiar with with my family being from Singapore [8:22] with some of my best friends from home like eating dim sum and eating hotpot and looking at just a different way of [8:28] life and it was really special to introduce my peers to some parts of me [8:33] yeah I mean my whole life I've been bombarded with cliches about how music [8:38] is a universal language and but truly you'd be hard-pressed to find an aspect of the human collective [8:44] more ubiquitous than it and that was so true for us when we performed in this concert because we were in a thousands [8:52] of miles from home with people we'd never met before let alone spoke the same language with but you could tell [8:58] that every single person in the audience was as invested and passionate about music as we were and to be able to share [9:04] that experience with people who if I'd tried to have a conversation with I wouldn't have conveyed nearly the [9:10] quantity of meaning that that music can give it was something I think really revelatory for for a lot of us so that [9:16] was really special for me yeah so one of my favorite memories was meeting students from around the world at the [9:22] international school and we also performed for them we received a tour of their school and we talked to them about [9:28] their education musical and volunteer trips to other countries and plans for the future and in my section the [9:33] clarinet section I actually met someone who was attending the same college as me and so it's been super fun to form [9:39] connections across the globe and I think for me learning in the classroom is impactful but I also discovered that [9:45] travel based learning spoke to me in a completely different and beneficial way and from purchasing goods in the night [9:51] markets and learning Tai Chi to playing with musicians in the Hong Kong Youth Symphony our direct interactions really [9:58] impacted me and taught me a lot about communication to say this was an amazing [10:06] trip as an understatement for many students it was a life-changing trip international friendships were made [10:12] and for just a moment the world became very small while the hearts and minds of our students became very big thank you [10:19] again for your support of student travel and the dinah band program I know we have an incredible five through 12 band [10:25] program but I also know that it wouldn't be possible without your support in closing we would like to present you [10:32] with a little gift from Simon and Simon travel which includes the tour booklet from our trip to Hong Kong a luggage tag for [10:40] future travels a Hong Kong United States commemorative flag pin a Feng Shui [10:45] Goodluck token and a flash drive with some of the highlights and the entire Dona Nobis poem peace concert featuring [10:53] the Edina concert band and ensembles from the st. Paul convent school here's [10:58] a little picture of it this is actually embedded concert but it is eight minutes [11:05] long and Sara told me at a time limit so you'll have to go and watch it on your own but it's fantastic and when you hear [11:12] the students from their school speak about world peace and it was an own s [11:18] co-sponsored concert they have globally large eyes in a way that I think that [11:25] they foreshadow our students and so it was great for the two us to share that [11:30] element for them and this concert was let there be peace on earth which I thought was a fitting way to close the [11:38] concert and at the very end you'd be proud Andy Beaton led the standing ovation so it was great all the way [11:43] around thank you for letting us present today thank you alright next up is you [12:08] dined a noon noon rotary superhero program Valmai here with Bonnie roll [12:25] stead an educator a new rotary and on [12:30] behalf of the Dinah Public Schools we'd like to thank you the new rotary for your generous [12:36] generous raza t and your commitment to youth in Edina gift of $10,000 was given [12:43] by the noon rotary for Edina schools and super heroes program that empowers our [12:48] youth in elementary school and beyond in it with information and tools to help [12:54] equip them to keep them safe partnering with the rotary any dinosaur heroes will [13:00] allow us to keep our students informed with tools to help prevent assaults and [13:05] a special thanks to Bonnie and rotary president John Flynn for their charm [13:12] for awarding us this grant and a special thanks to superheroes for their commitment to child safety bonnie [13:19] wondering why you are so committed to superheroes and child safety I think as [13:26] a teacher and a nurse educator I'm used to thinking about vulnerability and [13:33] certainly you're used to working with children and taking care of them and being concerned about their safety so my [13:42] goals and my mission and motivation is probably a great deal like yours and I [13:47] would say thank you for your dedication and we were very honored to be able to do this and it's a very exciting program [13:55] I went and listened to it a few weeks ago in Deephaven and it's also being [14:01] done throughout Minnetonka school system so we already know that I've met with dr. Schultz and Val talked about this [14:08] program a great deal and within those school systems they've had really [14:14] wonderful results and they're measuring now the outcome so we'll have report on that as well but it's a really fun [14:21] program and the students are very engaged and it's also handled in a way [14:27] that I think is very appropriate for their age so that they go away with [14:32] tools and recognize in a very positive way how to care for their own boundaries [14:38] and their bodies so anyway we are very delighted that we were able to do this [14:44] in doing it we actually came to dr. Scholl's and Val to make sure that you needed or [14:50] wanted the grant and so it is a matching grant so it's ten thousand dollars from [14:57] us and ten thousand dollars from the superheroes program so it's a twenty thousand dollar infusion and we hope you [15:03] will find it very useful thank you thank you thank you next is a special staff [15:14] recognition tonight is the last Monday night meeting for two individuals that have worked for the district for many [15:20] years and that's Margo Bach and dr. Gwen Jackson so I've had the pleasure of [15:26] working with Margo since she joined the district nine years ago over that time she has exhibited incredible [15:33] professionalism and skill as she guided the district through budget planning whether it was program enhancements cuts [15:39] reallocations referenda annual audits or negotiations [15:45] to name just a few areas her work has been recognized as the district has for many years received a Triple A rating [15:51] from Moody's credit we're only a handful of districts to have that rating most [15:58] recently Margo's work was recognized when the Minnesota Association of School Business officials presented her with the outstanding lifetime contribution [16:05] award org that award celebrates the overall contributions of Minnesota [16:10] school business officials to their districts or organizations their communities and their profession the [16:17] second individual who was here for her last Monday night meeting as Gwen Jackson Gwen's been with the district [16:23] for 12 years with various titles she's exhibited incredible professionalism as she guided the [16:30] district as head of HR and de-facto assistant superintendent I personally [16:35] have had the opportunity to sit through many meetings with Gwen as she quietly [16:40] and effectively addressed a variety of issues that I never could have conceived come before the district when knows what [16:47] I'm referring to yet she always kept focused on what was best for the students and the employees [16:53] of the district we thank both Margo and Gwen for their work on behalf of the district and wish them well in retirement and you have to come up and [17:00] get certificates hello alright great [17:30] I never get to ask questions so I'm gonna ask the two of you two questions have Margo go first with Gwen you've got [17:35] a chance so the first question is what's your favorite memory from your time here and the second question is easier which [17:41] is what's next favorite memory is volunteering at the high school and in [17:50] the AL math class and options math math class and plans afterwards or go [17:56] straight to the lake - similar I have [18:03] the great opportunity to mentor a senior this year at the program at the high school and it was so rewarding for me as [18:11] well as her and I'm so proud that she's moving on to the college that she wants to go to so that was really my favorite [18:18] experience and this is kind of weird but I have really enjoyed also negotiating [18:25] with our teams and and being creative going to the table and being created to creative and trying to figure out [18:31] something so I really appreciate it appreciated that and for me I am going [18:37] to do a bit of traveling and try to relax on Monday evenings [18:44] thank you very much the next agenda item [19:13] is hearing from members of the audience we have a number of individuals who have signed up to talk about Cornelia and the [19:19] board has also received the number of emails and so I've asked dr. Schultz and Margot to just give a quick overview of [19:26] some information for the parents at Cornelia and just so that you've got [19:32] some background before you come up and speak to the board thank you chair rolling pavement so we're going to go [19:37] through where the status is right now of the staffing for Cornelia there's been [19:43] some questions around funding and how that funding impacts staffing as it relates to the funding the funding the [19:51] overall district relates to the to some of the budget cuts we did this year just [19:56] to clarify that and then talk about achievement integration funding and how [20:02] that gets rolled into staffing the school system so first I want to have [20:07] the current information up-to-date is that the principal Masika has decided to [20:13] use funding sources available to Cornelia to hire an additional fourth grade teacher and Lisa's here right Lisa are you here somewhere hi Lisa [20:19] and so based on today's enrollment there has been a fourth grade section or [20:25] fourth section that has been added at 4th grade at Cornelia for the 19:20 school year and based on today's [20:31] enrollment numbers Cornelia is great for class size will be at 22 22 22 and 21 so [20:38] those are the four sections and those are within or actually below the class [20:45] size guidelines that the board has put forward for great for between 25 and 27 [20:51] and also just to let let let you all know the enrollment in that grade available has dropped [20:56] by two students in the last week so so we continue to monitor this as we do [21:02] with all of our sections across the district but that's where it is right now I'm going to turn over to Margaret [21:07] talked a bit about staffing and budgets so as far as staffing plans throughout [21:14] the district we have a variety of funds that may go to various sites depending [21:20] on the funding source we have the general fund we have compensatory funds title funds basic skills special ed [21:29] achievement and integration capital and the list goes on just a variety of [21:34] funding sources and that all plays into how we allocate the overall entire [21:39] budget when we do projections which you'll hear more about the budget later this evening [21:45] the building principals are always a part of our budget conversations and [21:51] Cornelia due to the funding resources or funding that it receives is able to [21:57] spend a higher dollar amount per student than other elementary schools within the district I just do want to make a [22:03] clarification a difference between staffing and and the budget reductions [22:10] the fourth grade at Cornelia was not a part of the overall budget reduction [22:16] plan that the board approved in March it's a part of the overall staffing [22:21] based on an enrollment similar to how we adjust secondary just overall and it's [22:30] consistent with in how we operate within our class size guidelines and typically what we do is continue to monitor over [22:37] the summer as far as our process and add Parra's or sometimes the equivalent [22:43] part-time staff to help in reading and math on evaluating that on a [22:50] case-by-case basis in terms of achievement and integration funding and [22:55] how that works it comes to the district as a whole not because of one particular school all districts benefit from the [23:03] Ani funding which is used to hire in for example intervention specialists cultural liaisons and offer types of [23:12] training last fall Cornelia was identified by the Minnesota Department of Ed as being racially [23:18] isolated the district decided to allocate an additional funding to to [23:24] Cornelia for 1920 as a result of this approximately $50,000 in April MDE [23:31] informed principal Masika and the district that Cornelia is not racially [23:36] identifiable for the coming 1920 school year the district did decide to continue [23:42] to maintain the additional allocation for 1920 of approximately $50,000 to [23:49] Cornelia regardless of the change of the MDE designation so just to let you know [23:56] that we will continue to watch our enrollment as we always do in the summer it's enrollment fluctuates right up to [24:05] where the school starts so final staffing decisions and I in August is not uncommon so Cornelia building level [24:12] level leadership talked to Lisa today that they had made the decision not to wait they will use these funds to hire [24:19] that additional fourth grade teacher the Ani funds and there's also some [24:24] information related to English language learners there'll be additional staffing for English language learners at [24:29] Cornelia and so again because of the funding Cornelia receives it's able to [24:36] spend that higher amount per student than the other district elementary schools which allows them to get that fourth section so we will keep in [24:44] contact with the building principals as we do and I'm sure miss Masika will be [24:49] able to communicate to the parents and to teaching staff how that staffing [24:54] unfolds at Cornelia so with that background great job laundry all right [25:00] thank you we're now going to hearing from the members of the audience each month when [25:05] we get to this part of our agenda where the board receives comments from the public I usually give a brief summary of [25:11] the rules for public comment I mentioned that individuals who want to speak need to sign up in advance there [25:17] to keep their comments to three minutes that individuals should try not to repeat has been said by others that we [25:24] typically don't respond to what is said but they'll be feedback given I also mentioned that our rules prohibit [25:29] individuals from making comments about employees of the district and school board members such comments should be [25:35] brought separately to the attention of the superintendent what I have not emphasized and I want to pause tonight [25:41] and emphasize is that our rules also prohibit individuals from making comments about other members of the [25:47] community our prohibition of individuals making negative comments about others is [25:52] important to the level of discourse we strive to achieve in our district it is important that individuals feel [25:58] comfortable coming before the board to express their opinion without fear that they'll be attacked at a subsequent [26:04] meeting that is not to say that individuals cannot have differing views or that they cannot come before the [26:10] board to express those differing views rather we require that all individuals who come for us do so with the utmost [26:18] civility to the extent that I or any other member of the board failed to [26:23] enforce that rule we commit to you to do a better job so that everyone can feel comfortable coming before us thank you [26:30] and with that said I will welcome our first speaker tonight and I will apologize in advance if I mispronounce [26:36] people's names but Mac Arena Corral no [26:44] okay Kathryn Graf [26:52] welcome [27:00] good evening I apologize I missed some of the comments at the beginning so if my comments are a little late in terms [27:08] of Cornelia funding then I apologize but it's a topic of great concern to our [27:14] school and to me so here I am I spoke last month at the board meeting and I want to thank you for taking the time to [27:21] hear my concerns regarding funding for camellia elementary school again I'm [27:27] pleased with the decision to hire a fourth class and Cornelia's fourth grade I think this decision is essential to [27:32] the academic success for rising fourth graders and will better allow our teachers to meet the individual needs of [27:38] each student in his or her class as we heard at last month's school board [27:43] meeting the needs of Cornelia's students are more varied than anywhere else in the district as a result having smaller [27:52] class is even more important at Cornelia than in other schools I am extremely [27:58] disappointed however that additional funds were not allocated from the Edina general fund to fund that teacher [28:05] teaching salaries come from the general fund and Cornelia's fourth grade teacher should be no exception since the digital [28:13] funds were not allocated to our school Cornelia now stands to lune lose a multi language learner instructor if it stands [28:20] that decision would undermine Cornelia's and a dinah public schools efforts to close the achievement gap Cornelia's [28:27] students are 46 percent diverse and received more free and reduced lunches than any other school in the district I [28:35] just learned that we'd no longer receive additional funding from the state to [28:40] assist with achieving closing the achievement gap but Cornelia needs it [28:45] more than many other schools in the district I'm happy to hear if I [28:51] understood that correctly that additional funding will continue to go to Cornelia to help close the [28:56] achievement gap you will hear more from one of our parents who is a professional [29:02] in the field but money spent at the elementary level is more efficient in helping students learn English [29:07] than money spent late are trying to help them catch up nearly one in five Cornelius students are in English [29:13] language learners so cutting this physician would have a large and detrimental impact on their education at [29:19] a stage where that impact could have lasting damage so I have two requests for the board first ensure that [29:26] Cornelius or that funding for camellias fourth grade teacher comes from the general fund just like everywhere else [29:33] second reallocate funding a diner receives from to close the achievement [29:39] gap to maintain the half-time Multi multi lingual learner instructor at [29:44] Cornelia thank you very much thank you next is chandra karate [30:00] welcome hi good evening thank you for this opportunity [30:07] due to the remarks at the beginning and actually after hearing about the band's [30:12] trip to Hong Kong I've kind of decided to pause what I had written in advance and just really speak from my heart [30:19] after attending the last couple board meetings I think it's wonderful that it [30:24] starts with a wonderful mission moment where we get to celebrate the high achievements and some of the really [30:30] great moments that our students are able to achieve in the district and those of us that are here speaking on behalf of [30:36] Cornelia really want to ensure that all students have that opportunity and for [30:41] us in and for me in particular being from a privileged background being a wealthy white woman I think it's really [30:48] important to use that privilege to draw attention to the fact that we have inequities in our school that really [30:53] need to be focused on and paid attention to and we are in a unique position so we're here to advocate on behalf of [31:00] Cornelia and to really try to do what we can on behalf of our students who come from a very diverse background in our [31:07] audience today we have a lot of people that are here in support of Cornelia can I get a show of hands and can I get [31:14] people to stand in the room who are here and supported this issue tonight it's [31:21] about 75% of the room is here this is a big issue it's really important we care [31:27] about our students we want to make sure that they have access to the same opportunities that children who are [31:33] white that come from a wealthy background do and if you feel strongly about this to those here in the room [31:39] please join us in marching in the dinah parade on July 4th we will be the last [31:46] group in the parade will be holding a banner that says equitable education in [31:51] Edina matters please show up as you are wearing a Dyna gear wearing cultural [31:57] attire wearing whatever you'd like to wear and draw attention to how important that this is on behalf of our students [32:04] and on behalf of Cornelia thank you thank you next is Melissa Craig [32:17] welcome thank you again board members [32:22] and superintendent Schultz Largo everybody for your time phone conversations email replies data [32:28] provided I appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts with you and learn more about the education funding process [32:34] probably more than I ever wanted to know but I feel much more informed now so [32:41] Melissa Craig a parent of an incoming 3rd grader and twin first graders at Cornelia elementary school I'm here [32:48] again to continue to advocate on behalf of the beautifully diverse student body our principal MIPS Masika and the [32:54] incredibly dedicated staff at Cornelia elementary school ever since I've learned about the reduction of an ESL [33:00] staff being removed at Cornelia because of a change to the student-teacher ratio and the removal of a fourth grade teacher that would have [33:07] resulted us and having class sides above the desk reptile inés I've been passionate of trying to understand why [33:12] these inequities exist based on the analysis I've performed I believe and many of those sitting behind me believe [33:19] that identity schools is under serving one of the most diverse schools in the district at the same time I was asking [33:27] these questions on June 1st the Minneapolis Star Tribune published an article titled 600 million a year yet [33:33] the achievement gap persists this article highlights the same issue that I observed funding is being given to a [33:38] school but little of it is being given to the activities and programs to effectively address the issue at the [33:45] board meeting working session last week board members indicated that they would like to see improvement in reading at [33:51] the 3rd grade level this has been a goal of the district included in the achievement and integration plans for last three years and perhaps even longer [33:58] what is the board and the district office going to do to help address this issue at Cornelia also at the board [34:05] meeting others mentioned they would like to work towards closing the achievement map others expressed they would like to [34:10] in an interest in identifying these kiddos earlier the data provided in the [34:16] 2018 state accountability report and the world's best work force report both cut out the disparities for our children of [34:22] color and they recommended that the district identify and remove barriers to focus on [34:27] the students that need the help there is data already out there to be able to identify these students what is the [34:33] board and the school district going to do differently to achieve this goal at Cornelia also at the strategic planning [34:40] meeting there was discussion about wanting to prepare students for the real world the real world is becoming increasingly diverse employers are based [34:47] embracing diversity and inclusion initiatives and are looking to hire a based upon the changing demographics in [34:53] our society many of you at the board strategic planning session thought it would be a great idea to partner with [34:58] businesses in our community to provide students with opportunities I'm an employee and hiring manager at BestBuy [35:05] corporate office just a mile away from Cornelia elementary school today we welcome two young Somali high school [35:10] woman student to our accounting team for a summer internship I wanted to share [35:16] with you what I've learned from our former CEO Hueber Jolie and I'll emphasize that our no CEO Cori berry [35:22] feels the same way they've taught us the important of the say do ratio if you say you're going to do something like have [35:29] third grade readers or close the achievement gap then really you need to do something about it cutting funding in [35:34] the most diverse school in your district isn't going to get you there our CEO has signed the CEO action for diversity and [35:41] inclusion pledge as have many other organizations like Target General Mills Health Partners Cargo Medtronic [35:47] companies are looking to hire the best the brightest and most diverse students a dinah public schools has the [35:53] opportunity and the obligation to make this a reality for our community please just stop saying and start doing invest [36:00] in Cornelia Elementary and provide our principal and our hard-working staff the adequate resources they need to set the [36:07] goals you've achieved or is that to achieve the goals you've set forth thank you thank you [36:15] next is Sarah when told welcome [36:28] good evening my name is Sarah when told and I'm a proud mom at Cornelia to an [36:35] incoming fourth grader and an incoming first grader I've been keeping up on the discussion of the four sections at the [36:42] fourth grade level and was so excited to hear that another section was going to [36:48] be added at Cornelia my excitement soon turned to disappointment when I found [36:54] out that as a result the funding needed for English language learners at [37:00] Cornelia would be cut in addition to being a mom [37:05] I'm also an ESL instructional coach I work with teachers teaching them what is [37:12] best practice for English language learners and a lot of my job and my role [37:19] is advocating for families and ELL students who don't always have a voice [37:24] at the table so tonight I want to be that voice I want to bring [37:30] research-based best practice to talk about why it's so important that we have [37:37] as many e/l professionals working with arielle children not just for the e/l [37:43] children but the Cornelia community as a whole when we look at research-based [37:50] best practice instruction for ELL students we have to look at it in two ways we look first at the Bicks which is [37:58] basic interpersonal communication skills or the language that the children would use on the playground interacting with [38:05] friends and we also have the kelp which is the cognitive academic language processing [38:11] that's the academic language the language that children need in order to be successful at school the research [38:20] shows that in order to gain the Bicks the basic conversation in conversational [38:27] English it'll take children three to five years to become proficient and [38:33] proficient just means being able to communicate needs at the level of a [38:39] native English speaker now the cognitive the academic piece [38:45] that can take four to seven years and the reason it takes a bit longer is that [38:53] it's more the specialized language the language of math the language of social [38:58] studies the language of science the language of literacy if the students [39:04] don't have that academic language they can't access the content and if they [39:10] can't access the content they're not going to be learning as much as they [39:15] could and we also know from research that al children need to increase by a [39:25] year and a half gains for six years in order to keep up with their native [39:31] English speaker counterparts and in order to do this we have to start early [39:37] we can't wait until the children are older to intervene and give best [39:45] practice instruction to the students and we may say yes well they're in the [39:52] mainstream classroom they're going to be getting access to regular English instruction that's true but they need [40:01] more they need direct instruction on how to access the academics so the [40:08] mainstream teacher has a responsibility with the content and the e/l teacher [40:14] then comes alongside and collaborates directly with the mainstream teacher [40:21] helping give suggestions and ideas and ways to integrate language and to [40:26] everything they do and then children also have that specialized time with the [40:32] AL teacher who is who knows how to best [40:38] deliver the e-l instruction so I say to [40:43] you aboard that we can't wait we need to go what's best practice in research and [40:49] serve our ell students at Cornelia our goal as a Dyna Public Schools is to [40:57] close the achievement gap then we need to put our efforts and resources where [41:04] it's needed most thank you so much thank you next is Kelly seal welcome Kelly [41:23] Vasily I am the parent of an incoming fourth grader incoming third grader incoming kindergartner at Cornelia and I [41:29] am here in support of our principal our amazing staff and the wonderful 565 students at Cornelia I want to start [41:37] tonight by thanking the school board for taking the time to listen to the concerns of the cornea community last [41:42] month I came to the school board meeting as a parent of an incoming fourth grader as Cornelia faced class sizes of 29 to [41:48] 30 students as a teacher position was cut secondary to budget constraints as you all know since this meeting a fourth [41:55] grade teacher has been added and now my daughter and other fourth-grade students will have class sizes at 22 students a [42:01] much more acceptable range in line with the goals set by the district however as a member of a bigger community in the [42:08] Cornelia school I was saddened to hear the cost of gaining these acceptable class sizes the district did not fund [42:14] this reinstated fourth-grade position with general funds instead our building and leadership team had to reallocate [42:20] funds the reallocation means other programs have been cut such as English language learning services and [42:27] additional reading services the true definition of robbing Peter to pay Paul in a recent email that I sent to the [42:33] board I inquired why why other schools within the district were able to use money out of a general fund to pay for [42:39] additional class room teachers when those class sizes were slightly above the recommended range I have yet to [42:46] receive a response to this inquiry last summer I received a flyer in the mail [42:51] and it was entitled we are EPS within this flyer the following demographics were highlighted we are Edina public [42:58] schools 26 percent of our students are of color 8% qualify for free and reduced [43:03] lunch 10 percent receive special education services and 5% receive English Learner services [43:10] our students at Cornelia offer a unique subset to this EPS population we are [43:16] Cornelia 46 percent of our students are of color 17 percent of our students [43:22] qualify for free or reduced lunch 13 percent of our students receive special education and 19 percent of our students [43:31] receive English Learner services we are Cornelia as a parent of [43:36] three students at Cornelia and a resident of a community directly surrounding the school I urge the district to make sure that the budget [43:42] proportionally allocates the correct amount of money to us to serve our diverse student population at our [43:48] amazing school but not at the expense of fair class sizes finally I want to end [43:55] my three minutes tonight to talk about the number of families that are zoned to go to Cornelia that opt to open and roll [44:01] into other elementary schools within our district in my section of a cornea and [44:07] neighborhood I have a neighbor who drives by Cornelia on her way to drop her kid off at Concord my daughter has a [44:13] teammate on her softball team who drives by Cornelia on her way to the discovery program at Highlands not the CP program [44:21] my other daughter has a fun on her dance team who drives by Cornelia on her way to Creek Valley I often wonder why this [44:29] is the case it isn't because of our teachers you see we have the best teachers in the district it isn't for [44:36] convenience as they drive to schools much farther away from home so I'm left to speculate I can only assume that [44:42] parents drive by our school because of our achievement gap because we have the lowest reading scores in the district [44:48] and because of our statistics and demographics I asked the school board to [44:53] help us rewrite the stigma behind Cornelia and recognize the unique niche our school and community occupy within [45:00] the district give our school the resources and allocations necessary to support our teachers our staff and our [45:06] students help us close the achievement gap help us increase reading scores and [45:12] help give all of our students in the district an opportunity to grow and learn there is no other school in this [45:18] district that I would want my kids attending and I everyone in this school to be given the same opportunity to succeed [45:24] we are Cornelia I appreciate your time thank you [45:33] next is Tracy Mercado welcome [45:47] good evening I'm Tracy Mercado and I'm here to share and shed some light on an [45:53] email that I sent to the board regarding South you middle school I sent a letter I'm gonna read it dear Edina school [46:00] board this letter is to recognize the outstanding leadership and teaching staff at South u middle school my [46:06] student attends South u and we are happy with the school's leadership its teachers and programming we are [46:12] particularly excited about the daily flex addition to the schedule an increased choice for students to get [46:18] what they need since the school board typically hears from people when they are dissatisfied we wanted to make sure [46:23] that you know that we are very pleased with our experience at South you and give big kudos to the teaching staff and [46:29] administration of the school keep up the great work over 70 people signed this [46:35] letter and wrote comments over a busy holiday weekend and I just wanted to [46:40] share a couple of the parent comments you have them probably in your email but I'll share for the first one we are so [46:46] lucky that our kids are self use students daily flex has become a very important strategic choice in our son's [46:53] day dr. Anderson is an innovative leader in our kids are well prepared for their next steps another parent my son is in [47:01] the GT programming and is achieving top test scores in his classes and on standardized tests Southview provides an [47:07] academically rigorous and challenging experience that challenges all learners another comment Daley flex teaches my [47:15] kid how to be accountable for his work and finally flex time has been fundamental it helps students reflect on [47:22] what they need and gives them time to get it done so as you can see parents support daily flex a lot of parents do [47:28] and I appreciate the board's desire to leverage data to inform your [47:35] decision-making and so in that vein I wanted to share some data with you that I don't know if it's been shared or not [47:41] sow a few leadership this spring surveyed teachers and students sample [47:47] size a 518 students and 44 faculty which is over 3/4 of the faculty in the [47:54] building 95% of students agree that daily flex has been beneficial to [48:01] me as a learner 95% ninety-three percent of staff agree that daily flex has had a [48:08] significant positive impact on student learning these are big numbers on very [48:15] statistically sound sample sizes I don't know if this has been shared but I just want you to know because it's tough to [48:22] get in the buildings and it's tough if you don't have a student in the building to know what staff and what students [48:29] think about the daily flex time that's been built into the schedule this year in addition 28 different schools have [48:36] visited South few over the last 20 months to learn from the innovation that is going on in that building 28 schools [48:44] over 20 months so I want you to imagine 70 plus people lined up behind me to [48:52] read this very same letter to share their comments in support of the South View administration the teachers and the [49:00] programming to share their comments about how they support student choice and daily flex why did I write this [49:09] letter I wrote this because I wanted it to inform your thinking as you're developing the strategic plan I know [49:15] it's tough to have sight level experience and I know personalized learning is one of the things that [49:20] you're discussing as part of the strategic plan daily flex is a piece of that I wanted to highlight the excellent [49:27] work done by our principal by our teachers and administrators and by our students I wanted to demonstrate the [49:33] strong parent student and staff support of daily flex time and choice for students I wanted to reinforce the [49:40] versatility of what flex time really is and what it offers and to encourage you [49:45] to set a strategic plan to empower the sites to drive the implementation of [49:50] that South he was taking great strides to build strong well-rounded yes could [49:56] you wrap up please yep independent learners and they're constantly improving an example is last week the [50:04] staff had a data study development meeting and they were talking about continuous improvement of advisory and [50:11] flex and that very thing so parents want you to know how happy we are with innovation and leadership in our school this is a [50:17] continuation of Minnesota's legacy of innovation in education any Dinah's legacy in excellence thank you thank you [50:26] next is Rebecca Peterson [50:42] welcome hi I usually come alone so I thought I'd [50:52] bring a prop this is Elise she is six she's subjectively cute she has the [50:59] impulse control of a puppy and she has a non-existent fear of strangers with the [51:05] redrawing of the busing lines she is one of the children who will be expected to walk to school in the fall [51:11] in the cold in the rain in the dark and the ice it will be point eight miles [51:16] from our house we'll get to that I barely trust her to get from the door of the school to her classroom let alone [51:23] point eight miles from our house to school and home again my home by all map [51:29] programs except the one Edina uses is further than 0.7 from the school however according to the district's program we [51:36] are the cutoff as such my children are told they will no longer have a bus to [51:41] school so they will have to walk along 60th which has no sidewalk up Hanson which has no sidewalk and a blind curve [51:48] and along Benton if you're familiar with Benton some of the sidewalk has no curb and cars drive up it as it's not clear [51:54] where the sidewalk actually is the child who lives on the street behind us in the [51:59] house behind us will still have a bus so the bus will still go by our house our block and pick her up just not my [52:06] children I will pause and say I am speaking on behalf of the neighbors who are in a similar position but using my [52:14] children as an example cuz they're mine I do not object to our stop disappearing [52:19] I don't object to my children having to walk to a new spot a block away where the bus will continue to go I have not [52:25] asked for any special treatment to be made however busca bath capacity is over [52:31] 70 no bus that I have ever seen is close to 70 in terms of efficiency there's no [52:37] way the buses could pick up 70 children and get their routes done in time so I know there's room for my children plus [52:44] they're small my children are able to get to a stop this is what Minneapolis [52:50] students do they come in they get to a stop and then they're allowed to go to the school the Minneapolis students whose parents are not paying taxes in [52:57] Edina they're still allowed the buses this is not a battle I will [53:04] stop fighting so long as the bus is in my neighborhood I will continue to push for my children to be allowed to ride to [53:10] and from school safely in denying them a ride especially home we are given little [53:17] options I will have to leave my job at 2 p.m. my job doesn't end at 2 p.m. I don't know about your jobs but they go [53:23] longer than 2 p.m. there's no kids club option it is full the wait lists are full they've been full since basically [53:31] the minute that it opened up I can't have them just top a ride home with people my children will be in car seats [53:37] until they're 40 so they would have to be in a pre-planned ride that had safe rides and that's not an option and there [53:45] are more than one I brought a representative so getting a bus home is the only way that I know that they can [53:51] get home safely once they get there they can get into the house and be there until I return I'm all for bus routes [53:58] being more efficient I'm all for cutting the routes I don't need to see 3 stops from my front door but as long as the [54:05] bus is going through a neighborhood it does not make sense to cut it off from the kids that could use it and get the [54:11] school safely so I would like that to be relooked at and reevaluated before it is [54:19] cut on a whim measure first measure twice cut once thank you thank you [54:25] next is jill diedring [Applause] [54:36] welcome Thank You 1756 days our family [54:42] has been discussing busting concerns with the district for almost five years we ask that you as a whole board carefully listen to our concerns this [54:48] evening to find a solution for all families with similar concerns I'm here with my family and other neighbors [54:53] affected by the enforcement of transportation policy 713 we live within the district's walking zone for [54:58] countryside elementary school on a unique side street off of Tracy Avenue between Benton and Vernon avenues there [55:03] are no back roads our home is located on the west side of Tracy Avenue the same side in which countryside Elementary is [55:09] located the issue is that Tracy Avenue does not have a sidewalk on the west side therefore in order to walk to [55:15] school our children must cause Tracy Avenue twice they first must cross the to reach a sidewalk which is where our concern lies since there's no crossing [55:21] guard and then they must cross back again to get to the school side at the start of our daughter's kindergarten [55:27] year in 2014 we walked the failure of many vehicles including a school bus to stop for us as we waited to cross Tracy [55:33] Avenue prompted us to request busing after multiple discussions with district admin busing was granted the district [55:39] has informed us that busing will no longer be granted going forward due to policy 713 the safety of Tracy Avenue [55:46] has not improved since 2014 what has happened however is our adult male neighbor was hit while trying to cross [55:51] it resulting in cracked ribs and a slight concussion his dog died from the impact we can't understand how anyone [55:57] could possibly still question the safety of crossing Tracy Avenue after this unfortunate event but here we are almost [56:03] five years later we understand there are many families who will no longer have busing next year with similar concerns we are asking for a solution for all it [56:11] has come to our understanding that some Edina residents assigned to the Hopkins school district who open enrolled to in Dinah public schools have the option to [56:17] pay for busing why isn't this option available to all Edina students outside the transportation zone due to work [56:24] commitments it is likely that neither my husband or I will be able to guide our children across Tracy Avenue on many days there's not a need for care once [56:30] they arrive home the only issue is getting them across Tracy Avenue since this need is sporadic we have looked [56:36] into Kids Klub care for these days it seems a bit ridiculous that we would need to take up kids club drop in spots [56:41] simply because there's a not a safe way for them to get home not because they need care at home however we still [56:46] looked into this option after talking with the kids club staff from countryside we are informed that this is not even an option since there's [56:53] no room for drop-in care for the upcoming school year we have not just gone to the district to find a solution [56:58] for the concern of pedestrians crossing Tracy Avenue according to the city's data analysis regarding Tracy 91% of [57:04] northbound traffic and 86% of South on traffic exceed the posted speed limit of 25 miles per hour we held the [57:10] neighborhood meeting with the city of Adana to express concerns unique to our street in relation to Tracy we walked race the Avenue with the [57:16] city's engineering director to discuss the addition of a sidewalk on the west side of Tracy the sidewalk would need a [57:21] petition and even if approved could take up to ten years to implement we have asked the city of a flashing light for [57:27] pedestrians could be installed we were told there's not enough foot traffic the city official advises to foil our arms which we have tried to the [57:34] point of embarrassing our child and it is unbelievable how many vehicles still fail to stop it seems that everyone [57:40] thinks the situation is everyone else's problem our adult male neighbor was already hit and his dog died whose [57:45] problem is going to be when a child gets hit our first of course our first wish is that bus and continue for our family [57:51] as it has the past few years however if that is not possible and since there's not another bus stopped which our kids [57:57] can safely walk we would also like the pay to ride option that has been granted to some open and roll' families we [58:03] understand that the board does not create policy but rather enforces it if time constraints for the upcoming school [58:08] year do not permit the district to implement a safe solution such as a Patriot option for all Edina students [58:14] outside the transportation zone we are asking you the board to retract and delay the enforcement of policy 713 for [58:21] at least another year until a viable solution for all children to get safely to and from school can be implemented [58:27] thank you thank you [58:32] next is Mike sir welcome hi Mike Samak [58:45] really apparent I'm here behalf the parents of the cornea school so I want [58:51] to step back a bit and talk a bit about context and know why parents in Cornelia are a bit concerned about this if it [58:57] happened over the last three or four months so there is a gap in Cornelia we know there's a treatment gap between the [59:03] way the school scores on reading and math wrote to other schools the gap is significant it's declining or dental [59:09] schools are increasing their scores Cornelia keeps declining so gap continues to increase so so that's a [59:16] concern you look at in the context of class sizes being larger than all we would have expected my question is is [59:24] what does the school board's opinion about why the gap exists what are the driving factors behind this gap have we [59:30] studied this do we think you know the answers to why the gap exists does the gap exists only in in the grade school [59:38] levels and to as a persist through high school and in middle school I don't know these answers I'm not coming here with any answers today I'm really asking the [59:44] questions around why the board thinks the gap exists and what factors drive it [59:50] maybe it's a mystery I'm an economist lots of things I can't explain teenagers women I mean this is one of those things [59:57] that we can't explain but my question is it have we studied it have we looked at the data and and do we [1:00:03] think we know the understan reasons behind it if so then what's the what's the plan going forward what's the plan to address [1:00:11] the gap is the plan to have more resources I don't know if that's the answer I obviously spend more other schools is [1:00:20] is an innovation should we try new things at Cornelia that other schools haven't tried because we're looking to [1:00:26] address the situation and it's different there no schools again on the answers I'm just asking the questions around on [1:00:31] what the plan is going forward I think that the parents concern that I talk to is mostly around transparency we don't [1:00:39] know what the board understands the reasons behind the gap we don't really understand what the plan is behind to dress to gap [1:00:45] and so when you see the decision around the classroom going to potentially 30 which was taken care of I understand [1:00:51] that as a parent you question does that border stand the concerns too they care [1:00:57] about our concerns those types of things and the lack of information oftentimes the worst is assumed the people that's [1:01:03] just human nature so I so I appreciate the transparency between science meeting I encourage you to keep being [1:01:10] transparent around the reasons behind the gap what you plan to do about it [1:01:15] and what's wrong what to do going forward that's it thanks thank you that [1:01:28] completes hearing from members of the audience we do have a number of staff recognitions from emails that came in [1:01:34] the first one is for charlie weis who is the band instructor at South View middle middle school thank you mr. Boies for an [1:01:41] excellent three years of instruction my child has grown as a musician and more importantly truly enjoys my child the [1:01:49] his or her band experience the next is a commendation of Tim Anderson who was the [1:01:54] principal of South View middle school the person who wrote in says that as a teacher who has been at South View for [1:02:00] many years the last three with Tim as our leader have been full of positive professional growth for our staff we're [1:02:06] doing better work for our students our work climate has improved our goals are now clearer and there's a feeling of [1:02:12] support for a member administration with action to back it up next is a commendation of Kristin Powell who was a [1:02:19] fourth grade teacher at Creek Valley Elementary the parent wrote in I don't know where to begin to thank you for [1:02:24] this year you've been an unbelievable force in my child's life in the classroom you treated all children with [1:02:29] such respect and super high expectations you talked to them in a manner that made them all elevate to your expectations [1:02:37] and fully believe in themselves there's an email accommodation of Kim Moore [1:02:42] first grade teacher at Concord Elementary Kim has taught many of our children so we knew our first grade [1:02:48] first graders year would entail learning laughs and lots of enrichment I've also [1:02:54] seen how mizmor reaches diverse levels and appreciate how she modifies [1:03:00] her lessons to reach all the students needs I was grateful for her emails updating me on our child's growth as [1:03:06] well as providing specific strategies we could use at home to reinforce what we were doing at school she has an [1:03:12] incredible passion for teaching she creates a positive environment filled with compassion encouragement and laughter next is a combination by the [1:03:20] way I'm summarizing these they're these emails some of them are relatively lengthy there's a commendation of Jesse [1:03:26] link who's a 3rd grade teacher at Creek Valley Elementary parent wrote in although our time with you was too short [1:03:33] your impact on our child was tremendous my child felt welcomed immediately made [1:03:38] new friends and you helped my child feel more confident next is a combination of Chris Holden principal at Normandale [1:03:45] French immersion as the final day of school at Normandale approaches for our children I'm reflective of how much we [1:03:52] have appreciated your steady and thoughtful leadership of the school you deal with countless sensitive situations [1:03:57] and have always seemed to lead with fairness and concern for everyone involved a combination of all of the [1:04:03] Kornelia staff and an email from a parent thanks for an amazing school year you have an excellent staff from top to [1:04:09] bottom accommodation of Courtney Borowitz 1st grade teacher and Lisa [1:04:14] Masika principal at Cornelia I wanted to take a moment and thank you for everything you did this year our child [1:04:21] loved being in Courtney's class and was crying on the last day of school because my child was sad about the year coming [1:04:26] to an end and finally a commendation of Dan Weimer grade 6 teacher at South few middle school an email from a parent I [1:04:33] just wanted to let you know what a great experience our child had this year at mr. Y Moore's class my child enjoyed [1:04:39] every minute and loved having him as a teacher not only is mr. Weimer a master storyteller he's also incredibly [1:04:45] engaging and presents the material in a way that makes the lesson stick each science class provided a good 20 minute [1:04:52] dinnertime discussion of what our child learned from mr. Weimer that day thank [1:04:57] you for all of our teachers and all of our staff for everything they do for our kids and for our district [1:05:09] next is hearing from member Nexus consent is there anything that anyone would like to remove from the consent [1:05:15] agenda I'd like to remove g2 just to [1:05:21] have a little discussion around that and that's co-branded webstore services correct [1:05:27] so g2 is removed and will be addressed right after consent is there anything [1:05:32] else to remove I get a motion to approve the consent agenda all those in favor of [1:05:41] approving the consent agenda say aye aye any opposed motion carried next can [1:05:47] I get a motion to approve the co branded web store services so moved and Sarah [1:05:55] you had questions about this particular item yes since this is a part of a [1:06:01] program that we've had ongoing for quite a while bring your own device which is a [1:06:06] great innovative program that Dyna adopted several years ago to allow parents and students to have access to [1:06:14] devices and have some ownership in them but also get some get quite a bit of support from the district and so when I [1:06:20] was taking a look at this mr. Buettner I just was wondering this year I know we [1:06:27] of course have access to new devices for sixth and ninth but from what you've [1:06:32] told us in the past or most recently was that we'll be providing the sixth grade [1:06:38] devices but the ninth graders will still have ninth grade families will still have access to purchase and then when I [1:06:44] was looking at the purchasing options I've noticed that they've changed from [1:06:51] what we used to go with in terms of the Chromebooks and having a relatively low cost entrance fee of between you know a [1:06:59] hundred to a hundred and fifty dollars and so I was wondering if you could maybe just address why we're making some [1:07:04] of these changes thank you good evening board a good evening superintendent dr. [1:07:11] Shultz and the board we continue to monitor [1:07:17] the e-learning squared program and specifically this innovative program our our hope is is that we can keep the [1:07:24] prices down but there is a couple of situations that are happening in the market the first is is that generally [1:07:32] speaking there is a huge shortage of Chromebooks this year and so for the [1:07:37] last few years there's been quite a few Chromebooks and they've had a race to the bottom for price and price [1:07:43] competitiveness this year it's trending differently and what's happening is [1:07:49] Intel which is the major manufacturer of the chipset is having a problem creating enough chips to go into devices and so [1:07:57] what they've done is they've shifted their manufacturing away from Chromebook models to Intel i5 and other laptop [1:08:04] models creating a shortage of the chip raising the prices up for the other aspect of it is is that the 3-year [1:08:11] warranty that we put the accidental damage warranty we've got that included on both of these items and that's gone [1:08:17] up a little bit in price as well both those things have created a little bit of a price increase on our devices but [1:08:23] we continue to monitor that we think it's important that we keep that three year accidental damage warranty on those [1:08:29] devices so that parents have confidence that that device is gonna get repaired [1:08:34] and it's going to be put in place but yes you're right the prices did go up and we're seeing that price increase for [1:08:40] our devices as well thank you very much that that completely answers my question [1:08:47] are there any other questions on the co-branded web web store services arena [1:08:54] and all those in favor of approving the co-branded web store services say aye aye any opposed motion carried next is [1:09:03] reports and discussions Steve you are up again with the inclement weather elearning plan we're not going to need [1:09:12] it next year [1:09:19] there there probably many students who are tired of getting a day off their [1:09:24] students or parents will gain good [1:09:37] evening superintendent dr. Schultz Board Chair Linea Wallen freedom and a dynasty [1:09:42] Lord I'd like to start this out with just a fun fact which is according to [1:09:48] the state climatology the latest snowstorm is June 4th and the earliest [1:09:54] is August 31st so though we're out a lot of people are outside tonight enjoying [1:10:00] the Minnesota weather if you remember not too long ago we had one heck of a [1:10:06] cold one last last year and so what this proposal aims to do is provide choice to [1:10:14] the school district to provide continuity of learning when it gets too cold for us to actually have people [1:10:20] coming because of safety concerns to the buildings and it's called elearning squared this proposal addresses the [1:10:30] state legislation requirements that we have which says that per legislation we [1:10:35] can take advantage of elearning program [1:10:40] so that we can in case of inclement [1:10:45] weather we can declare it up to five days a school year we can do this on and [1:10:51] then in the benefit to the district is is that one it is counted as an [1:10:56] instructional day so we don't lose our funding for that day as well as the fact is is that we just keep this continuity [1:11:02] of learning which we think is very important just a little bit about the [1:11:09] plan we have been working on this plan for a number of years and we made sure [1:11:16] that when we were developing this plan we took into account information and in [1:11:21] but from many stakeholders that include the the teachers of course it included [1:11:26] other school districts that are doing this right now we talked to school [1:11:31] districts such as Farmington Northfield and other school districts that have been applying elearning for the last few [1:11:37] years we we wanted to make sure one thing we heard was that the plan absolutely needs a strong communication [1:11:44] component and so we're coming to you today so that we can get this approved so that we can announce this in August [1:11:51] with our back-to-school communication so if we do have to declare a learning day [1:11:56] that our parents are well aware of the what it is and how it works and that it [1:12:02] has it addresses the needs of our users at different age levels we recognize [1:12:07] that e-learning doesn't look the same in a early education or an elementary school as it does in a secondary school [1:12:15] that we look at how technology is not going to be a hurdle into that and that we provide additional supports for [1:12:21] families and so we've taken all those into place hopefully to create a good [1:12:27] plan with that I'd like to turn it over to Sean B verson who can talk a little [1:12:33] bit about the instructional plan Sean is one of our digital learning specialists at the district and was gracious enough [1:12:41] to join us tonight to talk a little bit and help was instrumental along with Aaron Nelson Mike Walker and helping to [1:12:47] develop this plan good evening to the board and good evening dr. Shultz I'll [1:12:52] talk a little bit about our plan for instruction so you know initially we have to be in compliance with the state [1:12:59] rules and then addressing the stakeholders concerns but then at the end of the day it really is about the [1:13:04] instruction that we're able to provide a Dyna is well-positioned with the robust [1:13:10] online learning ecosystem that we already have in place many of the [1:13:15] practices that would be employed during inclement weather our practices that are [1:13:20] already commonly going on in our blended classes all across the secondary sites [1:13:25] regularly to this point so in our effort to clarify this plan we [1:13:32] will be working to make sure that the communication goes out and that training [1:13:37] is in place so that staff understands exactly what that looks like when if [1:13:43] weather event is called if I said if I didn't say when weather event is thank you so as Sean mentioned communications [1:13:52] an important component of this plan we look at communication kind of from two venues or stakeholders we have [1:13:59] communications to our parents in the event of actually declaring a learning day we would announce that we would be [1:14:06] doing an e-learning we would be we'd announce that our back-to-school that [1:14:11] will hold in our back pocket the ability to notify parents of an e-learning day and then if there was actually an [1:14:18] e-learning day declared what we would do is we would use our mass notification system or our current notification [1:14:25] processes like putting it on the radio stations and the newspapers and in our excuse me the television stations as [1:14:31] well as our mass notification system also as Sean mentioned what we hope to [1:14:38] do is would know what we don't hope to do but we will do is make sure that there's really a formulaic design of [1:14:46] these days and the content for our teachers and students so that it our [1:14:51] teachers know how to post what to post what information to post on it and our students can understand and see that [1:14:57] information know what they're supposed to do know where they get to resources and access the resources and most [1:15:03] importantly how to get help and help is in the form of online tools that we have [1:15:08] built into our learning management system as well as simply picking up the telephone and calling and leaving a message on our teachers voicemail system [1:15:16] so that they can get back to those students or you want to talk a little [1:15:22] bit about the training plan sure so then and as part of this plan one of the things that we learned in our [1:15:27] investigation through Farmington and some of the other districts was making sure that the expectations are clear and [1:15:34] clearly stated and clearly worked upon by the group and so part of our training wouldn't [1:15:39] food clarifying what those expectations look like on those particular days giving guidance and the length of time [1:15:45] each activity should take assistance on how to leverage office hours for staff [1:15:51] and so that that could be communicated to kids as well so what's the best way to use the tools that we have available to make office [1:15:58] hours meaningful for the kids but not also undo on anyone involved in it and [1:16:04] then ways to think about flexible activities and the way that those activities are delivered and received on [1:16:11] those particular days and so that's in the consideration of our training plan timing for that plan so we would hope to [1:16:19] be able to offer what one of the things that we have going for us again is with [1:16:24] our online infrastructure we will offer face-to-face trainings for those teachers that are more comfortable with [1:16:29] face-to-face but Schoology also allows us to provide blended training for staff as well we just completed last Friday 40 [1:16:38] teachers came and attended a two-hour session then we'll work six hours online and so we we've done many of these [1:16:44] things in place and we'll just be expanding it to include and clarify what this plan would look like in action and [1:16:49] finally this plan addresses the resources needed ensuring there's technology access or technologies not a [1:16:56] hurdle for our families this idea of creating anchor units or activities so [1:17:01] that they're set up well in advanced and so when there is an inclement weather that they can get delivered work with [1:17:08] Aaron Nelson and special education to ensure that our kiddos with special [1:17:13] needs are being addressed and then really again just I want to mention that our teachers have really adopted to our [1:17:20] learning management system and are leveraging that very well we've had a pilot for the last year at the high [1:17:25] school with virtual subs and it'll be building upon the great work that they do but providing them time to develop [1:17:32] these anchor lessons in these units and so that in case of a inclement weather [1:17:38] day we can conduct an e-learning day and with that I'll stop and see if there's [1:17:43] any questions so Stevie Shawn give me an [1:17:50] example of what how would this look this look like in middle school for a math class what the students be under [1:17:57] but they had the understanding that they will all be on their computers at 10 o'clock and the whole class will [1:18:03] assemble virtually at 10 o'clock or are they going to be given an assignment that they'll be working on all day long [1:18:09] would that be done with all the classes how does that work out yeah that's a [1:18:16] great question and some of those details will be worked out in working with the staff as well but the way that this [1:18:24] lives and other examples where it's currently going is a blended lesson or a flipped lesson would be hosted for that [1:18:31] math class there'd be an expectation that kids participate in that and that's part of the Minnesota State statute that [1:18:37] in order to account that as attendance they need to participate it in some way and then we would help the teachers [1:18:43] develop what that looks like so they wouldn't be expecting kids to make up the seat time the the full period time [1:18:50] while on the computer and so it might look like watch this video respond to [1:18:55] three questions related to this video posted in the discussion on Schoology now you've completed your math requirement for the day in the best [1:19:03] examples there will be discussions where kids will be able to interact with each other but again asynchronously because [1:19:09] Schoology is an option so i can post a comment about what i saw and then the teacher might facilitate that [1:19:15] conversation more in it and and in the best cases and I've seen it in science classes those discussions will sort of [1:19:22] take off and the kids will be able to interact in that there are guidelines about what it looks like differently as [1:19:28] far as the expectation of time in the class it's a great question it's one that we've that we've talked about and [1:19:36] discussed and so to your point there is [1:19:41] a consideration that it isn't we wouldn't expect that the kids are on the computer from the time that they would [1:19:47] normally attend school to the time that it they would be done and in fact one of the things that we we do think about is [1:19:53] the computer can be a delivery for the information but the online activity may [1:19:59] not necessarily have to happen online right and go outside take three temperature measurements see how they've [1:20:04] changed and report that and so that provides some flexibility about instruction as well that I think also can benefit other [1:20:12] classroom activities outside of that day so I think it's I think it's a natural progression and again as I said a lot of [1:20:21] these lessons are already occurring in blended situations where kids are experiencing some of the instruction [1:20:27] outside of class and then coming to class to have the discussion about the content and so it would look similar to [1:20:33] that did Farmington have anything to say about compliance did were the kids [1:20:39] completely there yeah that's a great question one of the lessons that [1:20:45] Farmington reinforced regularly was communication and collaboration with [1:20:51] staff and so we've learned some things from them that we would put into place [1:20:56] as part of our training with staff and so you know during back to workshop week [1:21:02] I think that I think that the language is four hours of training for staff in order to get this off the ground so we [1:21:07] would be talking about those things and some of those lessons that we learned from Farmington about clarity around that and it in where Farmington sort of [1:21:14] took a larger leap we are looking to we're benefiting from their leap and maybe taking a couple smaller steps to [1:21:22] begin with to get us prepared to do that so it's the least disruptive possible and it comes a couple things one of [1:21:28] which is I think this is a real creative idea to redeem that time because what we had five last year I mean we're gonna be [1:21:35] making use of that my last question is how does this look in the early [1:21:41] elementary grades that's that's a good question and we have spent time with [1:21:47] that and thinking through that you know Steve can talk to one of the easiest things we can do is just deliver [1:21:53] information through Infinite Campus as we normally do because the learning management system isn't as consistently [1:22:00] relied upon across those early age levels but again just thinking about what offline activities you could [1:22:06] provide for parents to do with their kids while they were at home and so I I just in preparation of this and thinking [1:22:13] through this I created a tic-tac-toe board that has three science activities three reading active [1:22:19] and three math activities you pick which three want to do and you just get to go across the board and it's a fun way to [1:22:24] have some of that learning continue but again as we get closer to that I think [1:22:30] we'll be informed by our incredibly creative and thoughtful classroom [1:22:35] teachers about what that would look like and what would feel best for them and what would be appropriate for the kids at the different levels we had the [1:22:45] pleasure of hearing this presentation and teaching and learning and I just have to say that I think this is [1:22:51] fabulous thank you for working on this I know you brought this to us even in the fall as a possibility of something to [1:22:57] look forward to and little did we know at that time how much we would appreciate it in June when you brought [1:23:03] it back so just having kids you know at various levels but having a student this [1:23:09] year in an AP class to see how 5-days affects that class so significantly this [1:23:15] is such a fabulous option and I want to thank the teachers and the teachers union and Gwen and Margo for putting [1:23:22] this into the new contract that we're going to be discussing it's a collaborative effort and it's so [1:23:28] appreciated it's good for kids it's good for everybody so thank you to everybody [1:23:33] who participated in making this happen I [1:23:39] had a couple questions so I heard the assignment will be linked to the attendance and so some students might be [1:23:45] marked as absent anyway if they don't comply I was wondering about the [1:23:51] deadline I've heard some district so say maybe five six seven days later is [1:23:56] actually the deadline for this assignment and we'll retro actively mark you absent if you haven't complied by [1:24:02] then which ensures that students both have the time to do this work because it may be in a place where they don't have [1:24:07] access to may ensure that students get the learning we hoped they would get and getting back to the attendance and the [1:24:13] financial component of attendance minimize that impact on our district of you know of that hit due to the weather [1:24:19] is that something that other districts have as a top-down rule that you must give students five six seven days to [1:24:27] complete this inclement weather you learning squared assignment that you don't have teacher discretion to [1:24:32] to hit that marked absent button earlier is that something you've heard elsewhere [1:24:40] yes we've we've heard other school districts have have come up with ways to [1:24:45] use eLearning not just for inclement weather but for days where they're going [1:24:50] to have professional development and they're not going to have students and so they leverage they still want to have [1:24:56] that continuity of learning going on and so the teachers have developed units of lessons those don't count for [1:25:03] instructional time per legislation and so those they generally give a longer [1:25:09] window for turning in the assignments per legislation what the Minnesota Board [1:25:15] of Education recommends is that the assignment has taken that day just like in a normal assignment period but we [1:25:22] also have processes in place just like if a teacher was gone for absence in a [1:25:28] day and then the attendance clerk made the attendance and so we envision that we're going to attempt to take the [1:25:35] attendance that day sometime that day and then if it's not we do already have internal processes in place where we can [1:25:41] come back around the next day and do attendance where things happen with the [1:25:47] technology for instance where we had a substitute the day before and we didn't take attendance so we're looking at [1:25:52] attendance that day and then if there's not a there's already process in place to be able to come around and take care [1:25:59] of the attendance the next the next business day I don't know if I was I [1:26:04] don't quite get to my question because my question wasn't so much the logistics of taking the attendance but the wisdom [1:26:11] of giving students an extended time to comply so you minimize those students who ultimately are marked absent due to [1:26:18] their own choices not due to our logistical hassles well I think we can [1:26:26] we can look into that the the state is pretty adamant that they wanted us to [1:26:32] follow the regular attendance policies of the of the district so that attendance is taken on a daily basis and [1:26:39] things like that whether or not all the assignments [1:26:45] account for that person's attendance and so for instance if there was an [1:26:50] assignment that was being delivered and there was also a discussion thread and the discussion thread is for the [1:26:57] attendance component for the day but the assignment could be turned in a later date and still get credit for that there's still the availability of the [1:27:04] student to turn in the homework and do the homework and get the credit for the homework but the attendance component is [1:27:10] by state statute they're kind of rigid about having that attendance taken that day making sure that we take the [1:27:16] attendance that day and so there will be some students that will be marked absent because they didn't participate in the [1:27:22] online learning component but that's something that we have to follow the state legislation the state law for any [1:27:33] other questions all right thank you very much thank you [1:27:39] next we move on to our action items can I get a motion to approve the Master Agreement with education Minnesota Edina [1:27:46] and Gwen okay thank you very much I'm [1:27:56] really very honored to present the contract for the for the teachers group [1:28:02] this year it's for two thousand nineteen twenty and two thousand twenty twenty [1:28:07] one school year Margo and I could not have negotiated this contract without [1:28:12] the help of Tom Connell who is the AME president and a Sunday who's here joined [1:28:18] us as well as Tracy Burke Oh and then also who was um Jason doctor could not [1:28:25] be here tonight along with raw chopped who was also our controller and was part of the negotiations team and then at [1:28:32] least I forget Stacy Geiger who was with us and now has moved on to another position but one of [1:28:38] the reasons that we were able to complete this negotiations in my opinion in a timely manner before the end of the [1:28:45] school year not just once but twice no last two times is because of the relationships that we have built so we [1:28:51] really have gotten to know each other at the table before we got into some of the [1:28:58] shoes that we discussed and we and then when tables were issues were brought to the table sometimes we weren't sure who [1:29:05] brought the issues if it was eme or was the or if it was the district because we [1:29:11] really wanted to work on all of the on all of the issues at the same time so I just wanted to share that and I wanted [1:29:17] to thank these folks for coming tonight and for being a part of the process the [1:29:25] silver one of the parts of the contract is that we had a salary schedule change [1:29:32] we have a salary schedule that goes a through R and this time we have added a [1:29:38] step s as well so the contract for year one is a half a percent increase [1:29:45] but those teachers who are falling onto step s will have a two percent increase [1:29:51] just in year one for year two there's a one percent salary increase across the [1:29:57] entire steps a through S but in addition those teachers who will be on step s for [1:30:04] two thousand twenty twenty one school year will have a five hundred dollar stipend so that's just a one-time [1:30:10] stipend for them there will be an increase of insurance health insurance [1:30:15] for one percent over in years one and years to year two and then as Shawn and [1:30:24] Steve shared about the flexible learning plans for inclement weather we're very [1:30:30] pleased that we had a great discussion in negotiating that at the table as well another creative thing that we did was [1:30:37] there's going to be a pilot for teachers on bringing your own device and there will be a pilot that will include up to [1:30:44] 25 teachers if they choose to use their own device instead of a district device then they will get a small stipend of [1:30:51] 250 dollars that also includes training for the teachers as well this total [1:30:57] package is 5.2 1% or a little over 4.5 [1:31:03] million dollars which is within the adjusted guidelines that you gave to [1:31:09] Margo and me a tackle session earlier in the spring I welcome any questions or any questions thank you [1:31:22] to everybody to the entire negotiating [1:31:27] team we appreciate the teachers the union sort of getting to this point quickly [1:31:34] it's just sounds great yeah thank you I know there was a balance on both party [1:31:41] sides about trying to make sure that as much also stayed in the classroom as possible for the kids and that was in everyone's mind which helped move it [1:31:47] very quickly so thank you everyone Tom you want to say anything you're good [1:31:54] all right any other questions all those in favor of approving the Master [1:31:59] Agreement with education Minnesota China say aye aye any opposed motion carried thank you [1:32:06] very much next can I get a motion to approve the agreement with classified supervisors confidential employees and [1:32:12] other support staff when you're up again [1:32:18] okay so Marco and I negotiated with this particular bargaining group and it's [1:32:24] pretty simple it is a 2.2 percent increase for year one on the salary and [1:32:29] one percent salary increase for year two there is no increase in health and it is [1:32:37] the total package increase in package is one hundred and twenty five thousand [1:32:42] five hundred ninety three dollars or three point zero six percent which is that within the guidelines that you gave [1:32:48] us earlier this spring I welcome any questions any questions there all those [1:32:57] in favor of approving the classified supervisors confidence on place and other support staff contract say aye [1:33:03] aye any opposed motion carried thank you again Quinn and the rest of your [1:33:10] negotiating team can I get a motion to approve the 2019-20 budget [1:33:19] Margeaux I think that you've provided this budget before but you've got some [1:33:24] more great information for us [1:33:40] right good evening superintendent Schulz chair [1:33:48] while in Freedman and school board I was thinking as I was walking in here [1:33:54] tonight because I calculate numbers I believe this is at minimum my 70th the [1:34:01] budget presentation in my not here in this district but in total overall so [1:34:08] anyway I want to thank the school board finance and Facilities Committee staff [1:34:15] administration community and most specifically the business office staff [1:34:21] because they cut once you as a board have made all the the overall big [1:34:28] picture adjustments in March the business office spends the next eight weeks or more doing all the details and [1:34:36] getting it all together so it's quite a process and they work really hard to do that so here we are just brief [1:34:46] run-through of the calendar it's a sick at least a six month process and here we [1:34:53] are in June for the budget approval we're required by state law to approve a budget by June 30th we will again update [1:35:01] the budget in December we use audit results in any updates in the fall that [1:35:07] we know either from actual staffing because we have retirees and we're [1:35:13] hiring throughout the summer any staffing changes any enrollment changes that kind of thing will be updated in [1:35:19] December I just throw in this chart on the formula allowance and it hasn't been [1:35:26] updated yet but it will be for the results of this legislative session so the dotted green line where it shows [1:35:35] 2019 s general IDI formula at 6300 $12 for 1920 because of the legislative [1:35:43] session that'll be six thousand four hundred and thirty eight and for 21 [1:35:50] it'll be six thousand five hundred sixty seven dollars still below the rate of [1:35:55] inflation but certainly we made some progress this legislative session and are very [1:36:00] appreciative for that I'm going to go through a few of the parameters and not [1:36:09] only for the 1920 budget with them which the majority of the information is the [1:36:17] reduction plan you approved in March but also then thinking ahead to 2021 and [1:36:24] beyond so I'll kind of talk about both here the the detailed budget document is [1:36:30] only about 1920 that's so that's what you're approving tonight is the 1920 [1:36:37] budget you're not approving a long-range plan or anything like that I only provide that for informational [1:36:42] purposes at this point enrollment is projected to be stable over the next [1:36:49] five years which is reflective of the demographic study we received in the [1:36:55] winter from hazel Reinhart also at the same time we are I did make an update [1:37:03] for kindergarten enrollment we do have updated numbers for kindergarten I'm [1:37:08] happy to report those numbers are higher than they typically are at this time of year we know that that will continue to [1:37:16] change between now and September but it's high enough that I could plan for a few more kindergarten students so we do [1:37:24] have that the general ed formula allowance as I said the legislative session increased we were planning in [1:37:31] the the parameters a 1 percent for 1920 and a 1% for 2021 and so that additional [1:37:39] percent certainly will help in both of those years and ongoing because that [1:37:45] there's a compounding impact of that percentage increase the net impact for [1:37:52] 1920 because another categoric revenue [1:37:57] was reduced when it increased was about 400,000 but the net impact for 2021 is a [1:38:04] little over a million dollars so the line and how it really does help the long-range forecast the operating [1:38:11] referendum increase in 2021 will be just a little [1:38:17] over 1.5 million and then special ad revenue maximization the federal and [1:38:23] state we always try to maximize federal special ed aid and formulas and partner [1:38:29] them with special the state special at aid and so it's just making sure on the [1:38:35] expenditure in the revenue side where we are using both formulas to the fullest [1:38:41] to meet the needs of our students as well as make sure we're tapping into all available sources of funding the one [1:38:48] calculation I do not have in the 1920 budget yet because the information coming out of the legislative session is [1:38:55] too new yet is any increase in special [1:39:00] ed funding they are changing the formula in multiple ways it's very preliminary [1:39:06] information and it is possible that we could see some increased special ed [1:39:13] funding but more detail is needed so my replacement and I have visited about [1:39:18] that in both he he agrees that's what he's currently doing in his district as well and I continue to monitor over this [1:39:25] summer into the fall to see how that plays out on the expenditure side we [1:39:32] have expenditure projections for lane changes and retiree savings actually [1:39:37] they about net each other out one's a positive influence the savings the tra rate increase which is costed into the [1:39:45] various bargaining units that was statutory and last legislative session it's about a hundred thousand dollars [1:39:52] election cost is every other year when we have our board elections or if if we [1:39:57] were to have any other sort of election it's about a hundred thousand dollars in our insurance renewals actually they [1:40:03] offset each other we saved on the workers comp and and a property [1:40:09] liability went up so is also the expenditures are reflective of the [1:40:15] contract settlements that you just approved I made sure that we got that information in there as well and then [1:40:23] now pause on the PowerPoint quickly - in your board packet I'm not going to [1:40:30] go through each financial statement or anything like that but point out that the document has a narrative format if [1:40:37] you want just a high overview of the budget what change from the previous year few charts few graphs there's an [1:40:45] enrollment chart in there as well I talked about those assumptions then there the financial section has more [1:40:53] detailed financial information also provides for years a history and the [1:40:59] 1920 budget on the individual funds and then the informational section provides [1:41:05] even more detail sorted in in different ways for revenue and expenditures so you [1:41:11] can find reports that show revenue by fund expenditure by fund revenue by [1:41:17] building expenditure by building revenue by program expenditure by program or [1:41:23] what we call object which would be a type of salary or type of benefits or [1:41:30] supplies or what we would call Finance which is a state funding or federal [1:41:37] funding or that kind of thing so all sorts of detail in there the area and we did go through this in more detail at [1:41:44] the finance and Facilities Committee last Monday pages 15 and 16 provide [1:41:52] information on beginning fund balance and ending fund balance and the changes they're very similar pages they have the [1:42:00] same information sorted in a different way page 15 provides detail on our various [1:42:06] types of fund balances some are required from governmental Accounting Standards [1:42:12] and state requirements some are bard board policy but it provides you much [1:42:17] more detail about those fund balances page 16 provides less detail on the [1:42:24] individual fund balances but more detail on the types of revenues and expenditures and then there like I said [1:42:31] there's more detailed worksheets on each individual fund with a history associated with them one thing I [1:42:39] we'll mention on these detailed sheets a general funder in particular from the [1:42:47] final budget in 1819 we assume we will spend all our carryover $1 until we get [1:42:54] through the 1819 audit so in some cases you will see a sizeable decrease in a [1:43:00] particular area most notably capital and that's due to we're still planning a [1:43:06] hundred percent of the carryover being spent in 1819 and we know that that will not will not occur at and we'll adjust [1:43:13] it once the audits done we have a variety of charts here on revenue and [1:43:20] expenditure history I won't go through each one of those individual ease them individually the the major variants that [1:43:27] can happen in these as any changes in capital expenditures the major source of [1:43:32] funding that we have is from the state and that of the state component 53% is [1:43:38] the general ed formula we are lucky we have a very supportive community 28% is [1:43:46] property taxes we are providing a service to our students and as such the [1:43:53] majority of our expenditures are salary and benefits 84% of that salary and [1:44:00] benefit area our largest group is the teachers and then we have clerical [1:44:06] custodial drivers paraprofessionals administration another way of looking at [1:44:12] our expenditures is by program and if we look at instruction for regular [1:44:18] instruction special ed and our pupils types of support services 81 percent of our budget goes to those categories so [1:44:26] either direct student support or other pupil types of support services and that [1:44:32] is really good I mean we are spending our dollars as close as possible to the [1:44:37] students this is a nice history comparison on revenues and expenditures [1:44:43] per a DM or students compares Edina to the lake conference average to the state [1:44:50] average there can be unique reasons within a district why a [1:44:56] district might be higher or lower in any given area so if you ever have a question about it ask me the most [1:45:04] up-to-date data right now from the state of 1718 what I noticed in reviewing this [1:45:09] today is in the expenditure area we are [1:45:15] spending our focus and the the previous slide is reflective of that as well is [1:45:21] on regular instruction in these direct instructional instructional support and [1:45:27] pupil support activities you can see that in the averages were above average late conference and we're very close to [1:45:36] the state are above state average in these areas and we're more efficient in administration and other operational [1:45:42] areas and that's reflective of how we align our dollars annually in our budget [1:45:50] process so as I said the in the [1:45:57] beginning the update to the long-range plan those assumptions that I'm using at [1:46:03] this time it's not a decision-making time on anything beyond nineteen twenty but I did want to provide an update [1:46:09] because the legislative session impacts nineteen twenty and also just to show [1:46:16] the visual of it's hard as a board to make the decision to make budget adjustments and I always like to show [1:46:24] that the results of your decision how that impacts on in an ongoing way and [1:46:30] the combination here of so the Green Line that goes down significantly is if [1:46:38] we had done nothing if the legislature didn't increase the formula above our [1:46:45] parameters and we did not make any adjustments in March and then the notes [1:46:53] sitting here and the red line shows then with this 1920 budget that is presented [1:47:02] before you with the increase from the legislature with our own radar Shen's and i'm happy to report that the [1:47:10] unassigned fund balance excluding capital is above six percent just [1:47:15] slightly at six point three and then into 2021 likely if all assumptions [1:47:22] maintained should be somewhere between six and a quarter six and a half or [1:47:28] somewhere in that range I'm 2021 but that all is dependent how the audit comes out it depends on many [1:47:36] variables so don't hold me to that number and because the audit needs to [1:47:43] come out the fall budget needs to come out and adjustments need to be made we did talk about fund balance in finance [1:47:50] and Facilities Committee finance and Facilities Committee typically looks at [1:47:56] least two years out when we're planning for the upcoming year's budget so in [1:48:01] December that'll occur and there have been times where the finance and [1:48:06] Facilities Committee has recommended even if a even if the current upcoming [1:48:13] year didn't show a reduction has recommended a small reduction because up [1:48:19] next year does and I'm not recommending that right now I'm just saying that here [1:48:26] in June is not the time where we would list a reduction or or not there's [1:48:32] information that starts in November in December when we do that again so but [1:48:38] the good news is we're a little bit above 6% and that's where we targeted to [1:48:44] be and so it's excellent news for for June 17th 2019 and with that I think the [1:48:57] next steps are to monitor the results of the legislative session most specifically the special ed funding and [1:49:04] complete the 1819 audit and see how all of that impacts the 1920 budget and the [1:49:11] future budgets beyond that and then do the final budget in December any [1:49:17] questions [1:49:26] I know you just mentioned that you don't typically talk about long the long-term [1:49:33] planning and the expected budget reductions but I'm wondering if if you [1:49:40] could if you wouldn't mind just giving the board like a range or the magnitude [1:49:45] that we're talking about I think in Prior conversations I understood that we [1:49:51] might need to make a budget alignment somewhere around one and a half million [1:49:58] if the state only raised the general [1:50:06] plan by two percent so I'm just wondering if you could speak to that if [1:50:14] that still holds true if we're looking at something like that to that magnitude [1:50:19] or if it might be less so I'm not going to speak to a specific number because [1:50:25] one I don't it's not the time of year but I'm not seeing a number like that [1:50:32] so I will reassure you I'm not seeing a number like that at all but a lot will change they think that [1:50:41] I'm not sure where the million that might have been if we made no reductions [1:50:48] and didn't get five percent from the state I'm not sure where that particular number Ellen you're referencing came [1:50:55] from and my concern with labeling a [1:51:01] number if there is one right it all depends how a lot of things happen over [1:51:07] the fall until late fall into December we are positioned very well right now [1:51:15] with the results of the legislation and the reductions that you did make as a [1:51:21] board so I never want to really come out and scare people at the same time if I [1:51:30] say it's zero and then it changes that's that's not good either but right now it [1:51:36] looks it looks good it doesn't I'm not seeing a million and a half so that has that for an answer [1:51:42] not answer that's a good answer and I just want to clarify where I was getting my information from the district [1:51:49] provided some numbers to the association of metropolitan school districts and in [1:51:55] a twenty nineteen budget survey so maybe numbers have changed but the fiscal year [1:52:03] twenty Minah is listed as if the budget [1:52:09] this would be projected budget shortfall if there's a one-percent formula increase each year over the next two [1:52:17] years so according to this it would have been 2.2 million but if as we were [1:52:24] talking if if it was just if we do get [1:52:29] we did get a two percent increase so it's not on one percent so it's going to [1:52:35] be less than 2.2 million the 2.2 million was for 1920 we did reduce that that's [1:52:42] what was input to MSD that was this one was yes yes yep but this was done after [1:52:53] we had okay so okay well I'll go on to [1:52:59] this next one which is fiscal year 21 at 700,000 so and at the time that was [1:53:06] completed that what could have been then it was the number but now we have the [1:53:12] additional percent from the state and enrollment has been updated to reflect I [1:53:20] suggest you don't hang our hat on any number right now at this point in the season ality but both from those [1:53:26] publications or even making estimates now there are many moving factors over the course of the year we had some nice [1:53:32] tail winds from the decisions made last year from the way that this state responded from some of the planning [1:53:38] effects that are now having a compounding benefit at the same time Margo and her team getting its triple-a [1:53:44] bond rating was exceptional and that helped us save money through the refinancing we did last month [1:53:49] that's not the tail-end having a 6% capital reserve is also closed or it's on the lower end of what districts have [1:53:56] that have a triple-a bond rating by far so I think all those things have to be weighed but I would say that in the June [1:54:03] time frame we should pause on the discussion about what the number is going to be for 2021 okay I understand [1:54:11] she says and that's just not the right time no I'm what I'm trying to do is [1:54:16] make sure that the the fact is we're [1:54:22] doing a great job of managing our budget but the budget is really tight and that [1:54:27] is perhaps a message I'm trying to make sure that I understand last last year we [1:54:36] were a little surprised by the quantity of budget alignment that we had to had [1:54:41] to make and I'm just making sure that I'm asking all the questions necessary [1:54:47] to hear whether or not we have to make any if if you saw that coming or what [1:54:53] would cause these numbers to change so that we would you know besides enrollment which we really can't [1:55:00] forecast if there was any other thing out there that would cause us to need to [1:55:08] make a budget alignment as we had in the past annually so in the last since 1998 [1:55:19] there's only been one year that in my districts that I've been in that I have [1:55:27] not had to make a budget reductions or like realignment so it is part of our [1:55:32] normal process and so I can't in good faith sit here with you and say we we [1:55:43] can't we won't have to next year what I can tell you is that it looks good and [1:55:49] much better than it did before and it's [1:55:54] always a challenge in schools I mean a big unknown is you're the board strategic plan I [1:56:00] I don't know what that is and and so I mean there are variables internally here [1:56:07] locally there are variables we don't control and there are variables we do [1:56:12] control and and we get more information as we get into the fall audit will tell [1:56:18] us always tells us a lot sometimes we save in places and sometimes we're off a [1:56:23] little bit in places and I always hope they couldn't net each other out but or that you know we're on the good side and [1:56:31] that helps drive okay what do we learn in the audit did we we save in more [1:56:39] areas and we need to adjust in 1819 because we really aren't spending to the [1:56:45] level we thought and it may be in other areas we are so it's a process the other [1:56:50] piece is to be honest with having somebody replacing me that person needs [1:56:56] to come in and review the budget and put their expertise behind it as well in [1:57:01] their recommendation because I'm gonna be honest I'm not going to be here and [1:57:07] and so do I have an opinion but John the [1:57:14] new director business services it will be the one making the recommendation not me okay thank you thank you for the good [1:57:22] work too by the way any other questions all right all those in favor of approving the 2019-20 budget [1:57:29] to say aye aye any opposed motion carried Thank You Margo thank you I get a motion [1:57:39] to approve the purchase of the phone system hardware Steve you're up it looks [1:57:47] like a replacement of aging hardware okay I just steal your thunder no good [1:57:53] evening again board absolutely so just to give you some context our telephone [1:57:59] system was put in in 2006 and these parts were original pieces that were put [1:58:05] in there are they're called the gateway so I won't go too deep in the woods with you on this but it is the it is the [1:58:12] hardware that connects all of our phone calls that come in in and out of our organization [1:58:18] so we run what's called a voice over IP telephone system but all the telephone [1:58:23] calls that originate outside and come in or start in the district and go outside run across gateways and those gateways [1:58:30] were no longer stopped being produced in 2011 and stopped being supported in 2016 [1:58:39] so we've been running without a hardware that is supported for a number of years in our buildings the gateways serve as [1:58:46] the device that we use in case of a disaster the intercom interface with our [1:58:52] paging intercom system as well as our 9-1-1 phone call so if we did have an emergency and the telephone system was [1:58:59] down there our telephones within that building that can still make 911 one telephone calls so we based off state [1:59:06] contracting we were working with CDW who owns the state contract and it turned [1:59:12] out that it was the close to their end of year and so they were able to provide [1:59:18] us a couple additional discounts and as well you'll see on their telephones and [1:59:24] those telephones normally go for a hundred and seventy two dollars there [1:59:31] they're being sold to us for seventy two dollars so over a 50 percent discount on that also the they're throwing in some [1:59:40] Cisco switches that will help us begin upgrading our building technology and [1:59:46] then learning credits which are typically a thirteen thousand dollar value they're throwing those in at no [1:59:52] cost and so the discounted items go over a hundred and thirty thousand dollars on [1:59:58] this state contract quote we're only buying the hardware at this time we'll still be able to leverage our software [2:00:03] in our phone system but this will just kind of ensure that we have technology that is still up to date and we can [2:00:09] still put support on in case we have an issue or something goes down on that and [2:00:15] I ask for your approval for this tonight any questions all those in favor of approving the [2:00:21] purchase of the phone system hardware say aye aye any opposed motion carried thank you Steve next can [2:00:29] I get a motion to approve policies 107 108 and 538 I'm here [2:00:36] yeah largely the same as last month 107 108 are the same 538 our student travel [2:00:42] updated with the input from the board last month which included accommodations [2:00:47] made for students with dietary restrictions and food allergies as well as specifically noting that this policy [2:00:55] will require people to follow policy 707 for competitive pretty thank you for the [2:01:03] changes all right any questions on the policies yeah all those in favor of [2:01:09] approving the new policy 107 108 and 538 say aye aye any opposed motion carried [2:01:18] are there any committee updates I think that Finance would probably just had an update that was the budget any other [2:01:25] committee updates anything else on the agenda all right is there any objection [2:01:33] to a journey hearing none we are adjourned thank you everybody