Hi everybody. Welcome to this workshop of the Hopkins School Board. We're going to get started right away at 5:30 since everybody is here. Um, and just wanted to to mention that um, oh, sorry, for uh, Tuesday, February 10th, 2026. Um, wanted to mention that our treasurer, Rachel Hartland, um, is joining us remotely. She should be in the Google Meet um, as we speak. So, her treasures report will be um, delivered um, via the Google Meet. Hi, Treasure H Heartland. Thank you for joining us. um and she is able to um fully participate in this meeting due to a um legislative change and she does not need to list her location. Um but we are happy to have you here. Thank you for making the time. So we will get started. Um the first order of business on the workshop agenda is just a quick update for board members and for our community on the superintendent search. So as everyone knows we have hired MSBA um executive search services to lead our superintendent search and part of our tasks as a board was to find a date to for our planning meeting. That date has been set. It is on Friday, um, February, I kept wanting to say March, February 13th, and, um, it will get started at, I believe, 5:30 p.m. Um, we have our materials. Um, the first part of the, um, meeting will be a workshop where we will get an hour training on, um, MSBA's workshop called hiring the right superintendent. Um and then we will go immediately from that workshop into um we are slated for three hours. I hear it can be done in two for a planning committee meeting. Um all board members received their packet for that meeting and hope that you've had some time to review it. We also um did submit some preliminary feedback to MSBA via a email survey. I hope that everyone on the board was able to respond to that in a timely manner because that will be guiding um some of our work on Friday. So that is the only update. Of course, if community members have input, want to contact the board about the planning meeting or want to attend um to listen in and to see how that works, you are more than welcome to do so. Um and that is the update. Any questions? Fantastic. Then, um, we can move right on to our next order of business, which is a I'm just going to turn it over to Dr. Mary Perry Reed to bring up our our next guests. Thank you, Chair Andre. Good evening to board members, community members, and colleagues in the space. We do have a sixperson team I believe who will approach the table. This this agenda item is um meant to provide a referendum update to our school board and community. Um, every chance we get, we as Hopkins Public Schools want to thank our community for their tremendous support on November 4 voting for our bond referendum and capital projects levy renewal. We're very grateful to our community members, parents, taxpayers for the support and these uh resources will ensure that our schools have the safety features and other modernizations that will um provide great spaces for our students to learn and thrive now and into the future. We do meet on a bi-weekly basis with our construction partner site logic and also our architectural partner Fielding International. They are not here this evening and our two leaders who are also intricately involved in this work are um Gino Mazali and John Wed who lead the um uh Gino is in charge of buildings and grounds and John who it's John Wed night. You'll hear from him many times this evening. John leads ITIS, IT and information services. And then here with Site Logic, we have John, Jake, Zeod, and Andy. So, um, we are grateful to you for all of the support and work that you are putting into an organized process that allows our staff to be involved. I know that you're going to be talking about the design sessions this evening, which is a really important part of this process so that what gets constructed reflects input from the folks who are using these spaces. So, with that, I'm just going to turn it over to who is the first speaker? Jake. Wonderful. Thanks for being here. >> Yeah, thank you very much for the opportunity to be here tonight. um feels like a long time ago and not very long ago that we are here in June before the referendum. So again, thank you for the support and the support of the the community. We're really excited to be here tonight and share the progress that's been made um since we've been together in June. Um and tonight's really going to be a two-part update. A lot of exciting facility activities going on at the district. uh the referendum of course as well as the ongoing long-term facilities maintenance program uh which we'll be providing a brief update on as well. So appreciate the introduction ROA and would like to introduce our our roles in the project. So um my name is Jake Berg. I've been a program manager with Site Logic and Hopkins for for a number of years. Um, with so much work occurring now, um, I'll be really sharpening my focus on the referendum side as we go through the next five-year process and the implementation of the referendum as the program manager. Um, and I'll introduce some of my colleagues here to to my right as well. >> Thank you so much, Jake. We greatly appreciate the opportunity to serve Hopkins Public Schools. I'm Zad Lindseay Kureshi. I'm the design project manager. I'll be leading the cause during the design process. >> Thank you, Zad. Andy. And I'm Andy Fields. I'm LTFM uh project manager for uh Site Logic. And um with as many projects that will be going on with the referendum passing, it's critical that the ongoing work that your district does on the LTFM annual basis works in concert with with the um the referendum projects as well. >> And our president of site logic, John Ben. I would also like to echo the thanks uh for the opportunity to be part of the team for this project and just want to assure the administration and the board that you will have all the resources necessary to make this a very successful project and we look forward to working with you over the next several years to deliver the referendum. >> Thank you. So, as I mentioned, it'll be a two-part uh agenda really tonight to cover updates both on the long-term facilities maintenance side and the referendum. We don't have a lot of slides prepared. The intent is to provide you a a broad overview of both programs. Um ask any questions throughout the presentation. Please feel free to to interrupt. Uh we also um would be planning to come back uh as well as we continue to um achieve milestones in the program. We would next like to come back and talk about the phase right after uh the design which would be the bidding phase ahead of that so we can talk through what bidding looks like um and make sure everyone has a has a clear understanding of next steps before we get there. >> With that, I'll turn it over to Andy to speak to the LTFM program. >> Yeah, thank you. So, as many of you know, the state requires an annual LTFM submitt. LTFM is long-term facility maintenance and each district is allocated a certain amount per pupil to maintain their facilities. Um, as many of you know, that amount isn't nearly enough to maintain all of the facilities that you have to keep them dry, safe, and comfortable for your students and your community. Um, and so we carefully uh work with Hopkins Public Schools to make sure that you have a prioritized plan that will serve you well to ensure equity across your your buildings and to make sure that your buildings are dry, safe, and comfortable. >> Um, part of part of that is uh making sure that that we utilize your resources as well as we possibly can. So, with those limited dollars, our goal is to make sure that you don't have to dip into your your unassigned accounts to pay for uh projects that need to be take taken care of in your school. So, having a thoughtful plan is critical to all of your funding resources. Your district, if you look at your track record for manager long-term facility maintenance, uh every two years is is selling bonds to make sure that your facilities stay in good condition. So this this graph here and this chart just shows you an example on uh about every two years there's $12 million worth of bonds that are sold to maintain your facilities. So some of the questions that you may have as board members or as community members are how are critical infrastructure needs identified? How are those uh needs prioritized? And how are these decisions made? So before we go on to the next slide, it's really important that you start with a baseline. So making sure that you have an objective understanding of your facilities and all of those assets in your facilities uh to help you understand what are your greatest needs and how do you prioritize those. And then as is alluded to before, you need to make sure that there's a way that you involve multiple people in deciding what are the most significant needs and how to address them accordingly. Um we've looked at all of your facilities and all of your assets. we refreshed those this year. And something that's different about site logic um uh is that we have a platform uh that we use to help put all of your assets into and then so you have those archived and it allows us to sort and prioritize those into projects that makes this process a lot easier and a lot more efficient for your district. Uh so that that is called my site IQ. It's something that we've been using in your district uh for a period of time. So, we've recently this year um updated and refreshed that uh those assessments and those assets are placed into my site and we've used that uh to help along the process. I think Gino and I have met maybe eight times, nine times this year uh done some walkthroughs in buildings and excited to report that we'll be meeting with building principles uh next week just to share the plan a little bit more in detail with them. Uh the picture that I'm going to show you isn't the p picture that every district that we partner with gets to see. Uh the areas that are in the orange are areas that are in alarm and alert after our most recent assessment. And the areas that are in light blue or in dark blue show that you have really good conditions in your facilities. Uh so this is a picture that we hope that all districts hope to achieve. And I think this board and this leadership has done a fantastic job making sure that you prioritize your facilities uh for your students and your community. Um as I've stated uh uh earlier uh tonight, um we've we've been working on your long-term facility maintenance plan the last three months. Uh just making sure that we number one have an idea of the conditions in all of your buildings. Um and then meeting to share those conditions and then building a plan from there. Um, we are at the point where we feel really confident, maybe 95% that we have a good 27 28 plan for your LTFM and we'll be looking to build in the remaining eight years that will be submitted to the state in your 10-year LTFM plan in May. Um, as as I also shared earlier, um, we are going to be meeting with your building administrators to share what referendum work is being done in their buildings, what LTFM work is being done in their buildings, and then to get their perspective as to other areas of concerns or needs that they have. Um, so that's an added step that I I applaud Gino for wanting to make sure that he gets input and involvement from his building leadership. Um, our goal is to make sure that we keep this on plan. Uh the state requires the submittal of the tenure LTFM plan at the end of July and we're hoping to get that to you in May for approval. >> All right. Thank you, Andy. And before we transitioned into the referendum update, just wanted to pause and offer an opportunity to ask any questions regarding the long-term facilities maintenance program. No. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Yeah. So, jumping into the referendum again, a lot of excitement um on our team as well as in the district uh since we last met in June and certainly since November 4th. Um been a lot of busy activity. Um we we um we've been planning, prioritizing, phasing projects. um Zad will talk about some of the user group meetings that um himself and Gino have been spearheading and kicking off and and kind of most excitingly we've kicked design off now as well. So the the efforts are underway to begin the design phase and and get us into construction really starting um you know later this year. So very excited about that. Um when I talk about phasing what you'll see here is a is a graph another shot from my AQ. Um it repres represents the the initial phasing plan for the projects and those bar charts represent the projects in terms of dollars by a year because the referendum is large roughly $140 million worth of projects. That's far more than any construction company and contractors can take care of in a single summer. Um so we've gone through a process of planning prioritizing those projects over multiple years uh based on several factors which we'll review here shortly as well. Um, of note in the plan that you see here, you'll see the big spike in 2027. I know that's probably hard to to read from here, but the large spike is in 2027. That was very purposeful in that um it makes sense for a number of reasons to start um a lot of the construction work upfront as soon as we can complete the design cycle. Um it saves costs. It um accelerates the improvements um being available to the community and the students. And some of that construction work that'll start in 2027 will actually take uh multiple years to complete uh because we're limited to the summer break period when when school is out as well. >> U so back to the discussion around phasing um and again answering the question of how were projects phased over a multi-year process. How were decisions made? We met with the district administration staff um our architectural partners, construction partners over the course of several meetings really since June to determine a plan and a phasing plan that worked for everybody. It was really built around those five key factors that you see there. Constructibility, uh community input, equity and inclusivity, cost and funding, and then operations and safety. And when we look at constructibility that really refers to how pract practical it is to build the project. So it's about sequencing in a way that minim minimizes disruption to students, uses materials efficiently um and ensures projects can be completed safely um and not disrupt ongoing school operations. Next one being community support. So this considers the level of backing and enthusiasm for a given project um both in the the school community, parents, teachers um and staff. Again, it's it's your project, your referendum. Um so the projects that are most important should be prioritized early. The third lens we looked at is equity and inclusivity. So considering that all schools and students should benefit fairly from the construction program, we wanted to look are there dispar disparities in building quality, resources, others that would maybe ne necessitate uh starting one project ahead of the other. Um again to asssure there there's equity across the referendum program. The fourth variable of course cost is going to be a factor in all of this. Um, we wanted to ensure we had a solid plan, but also kept an eye on budget management. So, things like year-over-year normal construction inflation. Um, we wanted to be considerate of that. Again, another reason why you saw such a large spike in volume of dollars in 2027. Um, it's never going to be cheaper to build the project than it is today. So, um, that that was a factor of course balanced with everything else. And then finally, operations and safety. So number one, um school has to open on time. Um you need to use your buildings for for summer programs. So um all of that had to be considered and the sequencing of the projects um of when we were disrupting normal uh summer operations versus um flexibility with shifting to other buildings. So, so those were the five factors that we that we used to evaluate and um you know we feel very confident about the phasing plan we have put forward here and I'll turn it over to Zod next to talk a little bit more about the phasing plan and the design process. >> Thank you Jake. The referendum work is a rare and deeply meaningful opportunity to improve large scale across the entire district a wide variety of buildings and projects. In order to achieve this, an organized approach is essential. The approach is very straightforward in the sense that we're doing certain activities in certain years and we have two different separated phases. There's a design phase per year and there's a construction phase per year. Currently, we're in the 2026 design phase. Our activities during this phase will impact then construction next summer. That cadence, that sequencing is consistently deployed across the totality of the five-year project. And it allows for us to scale this in a measured way, aiming for the best quality, the best product that can be possible given our capacities. So in the current phase of design, we have four different buildings that are being pursued. There are projects at the high school. There are projects at North Middle School. We have Gatewood Elementary School as well. And we're also pursuing work that is districtwide. We have security standards and restroom standards that are being established that will contribute to the work throughout the totality of the five years. with my compatriots in uh the design team. We have a variety of participants that are coming from the design team and most importantly we have robust participation from users. Talking about users and the user groups, there's really nothing more essential for us in terms of a positive design outcome than getting input, feedback, and information from those that we intend to serve. So the user groups have been one of the primary activities that have begun and commenced as we've kicked off design. We've been pursuing user groups toward towards the 2026 scope. We've also been pursuing user groups towards the restroom and security standards as well that will contribute towards the future. So the user groups being an essential piece of the puzzle, it's so key that we have the right voices, the right input, the right thoughts to develop designs that are responsive, that are carefully considered and are aimed towards success. Uh the user groups are continuing. We'll have multiple rounds of user groups and I'll be talking about the design process as well. The organized approach that that entails and really taking advantage of the uniqueness of this rare opportunity to improve buildings across the entirety of the district. So this diagram is representative of how we're spreading it out over the years. And again, the repetition of that, the sequencing of that, as Jake alluded to, was pursued with thought. It has to do with constructibility. It has to do with capacity and a wide variety of other inputs that Jake had summarized. The diagram that's being shown here is representative of the organized and consistent process that we follow through design. The metaphor that might be helpful to describe how we approach design is a funnel. We're starting at the beginning with a wide variety and a large amount of ideas and input. Over time, we're working together to distill that and to filter that to emerge at the end with something that's well informed and also tuned. So with regard to the planning process from the beginning of that design till its construction we're working through different phases those range from the schematic or the very early beginnings of things where we're centered upon our ideas and our concepts towards the very end which is the construction documentation where we get very technical and we're producing the documents that allow us to then go to bid. So towards the end goal which is a constructed reality we have a one step at a time process that's organized and at every milestone we'll have opportunities to of course check in converse get the right input and feedback and this process starts large and end small. So this process moving from the schematic to the bid happens annually. We have every year projects that were on the previous slide shown that are following these steps one piece at a time with the end result being a clear direction for construction and ensuring that the vision of the design ends up in the result and that vision being informed by all of the various users, the community, all of the participants that we're looking to do the best service that we can for. So the schedule that's shown here is representative of the 2026 work that we're doing and every year the same schedule is followed. We're in the current moment very early in the process. So with that in mind in January and in February we're in the schematic phase which is the earliest phase. That's when we're doing our user groups. We're hearing from people. We're having conversations. We're thinking about the concepts in the broadest sense possible. As we move into March and April, we're then starting to solidify design ideas. We're working with our groups and our participants to ensure that we're getting closer to the mark. That's when we're dis we're making certain decisions towards the design that help us to solidify the vision to the next steps. Moving through the initial design, we're then moving into development. We'll be working on drawings and other documents that we're working with graphically and visually in the sense of a process of discussion and a sense of conversation that leads us through that design development. The end of that process is the construction document phase. That's when we're creating our technical plans and our information that's put out for the next step, which is bid. Uh bid and the the uh bid process lends itself towards the construction. We get our contractors on board and we're ready to go in that summertime to commence the work for that year. So, just to reiterate the expectation from January into the spring happens every year. Every year we have a new round of design and a new round of construction. This is the organized process that we're working through to achieve the objectives of the five-year process of the referendum work. And just to also uh restate, there will be always opportunities for communication such as tonight, the chance to update, the chance to communicate, the chance to share. And during this process, we'll have regular opportunities where we review outcomes and have opportunities to provide what we call signoffs, which are the final decisions, the decisions that are made that let us move one step at a time through the process. So with that in mind, right now we're in February in 2026. We're at the very beginning of a very exciting journey. So I'm so excited for the coming years and in particular achieving the objectives in year one that will lend themselves to the establishment of the process moving forward. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you Zead. And and as he mentioned um you know as we approach the u the bidding phase that'll be in December of 2026. Um however the work in preparation for the bidding phase and the requirements will really begin um in in the summertime. June, July is when we begin assembling a lot of those documents. So, um, in the effort of communication and and education, we we are happy to come back and provide a more in-depth overview of the bidding process, um, as well ahead of the the July summer recess. So, >> thank you. I appreciate all this information, especially like knowing where we're at right now. Um any questions, feedback from board members? >> Jar Andre. >> Yes. >> Yes. Hi uh site logic uh team and uh and Gino. Um I uh I see that Pathfinder is a common theme especially on our secondary uh schools. Um I think all of them. Um could you talk a little bit about what that is for the benefit of the community please? >> Yeah absolutely. The Pathfinders are occurring at a number of different buildings across the scope of the five-year project. Currently, we're pursuing the Pathfinders at North Middle School and also at Hopkins High School. Fundamentally, the Pathfinders are a spearhead. The intention of the Pathfinder is to provide a reference towards a potential future. The pathfinders in their purpose are an example of potentially what's to come in education, in curriculum, in pedagogy. The intention of the pathfinders is to be a model or a or a case study that allows us to explore innovative approaches in how we educate. Uh the high school pathfinder includes a wide variety of possibilities. Um, some of them may involve different flex spaces, spaces that allow for large and small groups to collaborate. Uh, the Pathfinders are going through a process of exploration. We're working with users to develop what those are and they are the beginning of a new approach towards what's possible when we think about innovations in education. >> Chair Andre. >> Yes. May I just quickly add that all of the Pathfinders were developed by our teachers in partnership with Fielding International guiding those discussions around what pedigogies are best practice um and best for a futuristic space and what kind of um features of a physical space are conducive to high quality learning. So these were all staff designed which is I think a really great piece to add. >> Is this part of the models that were shown at Fielding? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> And it was all site generated and proposed. >> Yeah, I remember that. A lot of it's really exciting. >> It is very exciting. >> Um Chair Andre, can I ask a question? >> Yes. Thank you all so much for being here um tonight uh and providing the PowerPoint on um uh providing a PowerPoint and referendum. I have a question about your equity and inclusion on um page 17. So it says I consider that all schools and student populations benefit fairly from the construction program. Um that factor looks at like disparities in building quality. Could you maybe talk about some disparities that you're seeing in building qualities across the schools um and what that looks like and how you all like what is an infrastructure assessment look like for identifying disparities? >> Sure. I'll I'll provide one example and I'm sure um Gino may may have others as well. Um as you may recall there are several playgrounds that are going to be renewed as a part of the referendum program as well. So when evaluating which playground should occur in which year, um this was a very heavy factor in determining which one needed the the the upgrade first over one that may have a a newer, more accessible playground versus another. So that's one one example of projects there that were determined through that that partially through that lens. >> Okay. Thank you. And do you all consider and I know um and this may be a question for an environmental uh consultant or I don't know if you all like do the consulting for environment but do you all consider like the air quality in buildings and do you look at like the population of students that's in the building and maybe the number of students who may have asthma or other respiratory conditions is that a part of that that infrastructure assessment? >> Yes. And that that really occurs very heavily during the long-term facilities maintenance assessments. Um so as a part of those assessments we do um indoor air quality in terms of ventilation rate assessments and ensure that your ventilation systems are up to code and any new systems um that are designed follow the the current ashray standards for for ventilation codes. >> Thank you. >> Welcome. >> We also have indoor air quality testing annually. So to access health and safety funds, you are required to have those testing done on an annual basis through health and safety. >> Thank you so much, >> Chair Andre. >> Yes. >> Thanks. Uh I echo my colleagues thanks for your ongoing work and as a person who has a a long background in higher education which involves a lot of buildings as well. Uh, I just was really pleased and wanted to compliment the work of the board and the leadership in our district and you all. Uh, I was pleased to see where we're at in terms of our LTFM. Um, so thank you for that. And then I just also wanted to say I got so excited when I saw some of the work and just knowing, you know, we I just started on the board and we got to talk with folks um throughout the campaign about the referendum and to see some of these um items, you know, whether it's special education suites or knowing that educators and the teachers have had such a deep influence on what we're going to get to do with space uh to just enhance learning. It makes me really proud. and music and choir. And so there's so many wonderful stories and I think about what that will mean. So I just wanted to say thank you to you all and then thank you to our community and to echo that and it'll be exciting to build it together. So thank you >> Jesus. >> Yes. >> Uh really good presentation. Really appreciate it. I thought the um information was pertinent and timely. So I I really appreciate it. Just a couple quick questions. Um I I really like the slide with the phase one, phase two, phase three, phase four to kind of show, you know, where we're going with all of this. Um I is that all inclusive or are there any other projects that didn't make that list? You know, >> that that is all inclusive of the referendum. Um it it is summarized. So you could you could have pages and pages of descriptions of the projects and sub projects within there. um we've summarized it to um kind of the the building level. Um however, that is inclusive of all referendum projects that does not include any LTFM projects. >> Okay. Um yeah, I I guess I was just wondering as a follow-up question, there was that slide with the vision 2031 and the safety and security accessibility parking lots, you know, for example, like I don't know if I saw parking lots on that list, so I was just wondering like where are they at? >> Sorry. And good good catch. There was another slide that got cut off at the bottom that noted that on there. Those weren't bulleted listed in there, the parking lots and the playgrounds. >> Okay. >> And anything additional on the cut off slide about athletics? >> Um the athletic projects um I believe are mostly occurring um in in 2026 here. A lot of those didn't require kind of the the uh design process that ZUD had had went over. So again, the ability to execute those now when your dollars um can go further without inflation. So we're looking to accelerate those in in 2026. >> Okay. I would just be interested to see a list of of those at some point if possible. >> A specific list of >> the athletic facility improvement projects. >> Sure, we can do that. >> Cool. Um >> would they all be listed in the review and comment or is there something more updated and maybe more concise that we can offer? >> We can we can provide you an updated list with the timing as well um now that we have that phased out for when they're when they're proposed to be planned. Yeah. And constructed. >> That's great. Thank you. And then my last question um when you had mentioned the user groups um could you just give an example of a user group for let's say the restroom guidelines is it just students that are pulled or are there particular affinity groups or student clubs who becomes a involved in the user group? >> Excellent question. The restrooms are a wonderful example of participation. So we did have an affinity group participate. It was the LGBTIQ plus group that was with us. Uh very meaningful work uh in particular you know talking about how we can think about restrooms in a means that's not just functional. There's a purpose that's in service to people there. Uh we have had a variety of participants with our user groups or workshops. We've also run workshops with students specifically as well. So uh for example we held a user group meeting with the high school students and they provided wonderful insights that uh complemented some of the suggestions that were also coming from staff. So the the constituencies of the user groups vary. Uh for example we may have for the pathfinders uh certain participants that are coming from student and staff. Uh districtwide security that would be a different user group of course. those would be people most interested in those subjects. Uh so we're trying to find the right voices and the right participants to get the best feedback and the best input possible. >> That's great. Thank you, >> Chair and Dre. >> Yes. >> Um hi. Um so I was wondering I know you mentioned that you were doing the groups. I was actually part of one of them and I think that's really amazing that you guys are getting input from the students. I think it's important that everybody's voices are heard and I it's really happy to hear that you guys are doing things like that. Are you getting information from staff members like the custodial maintenance staff seeing their insights and input on what like would help them with like adding on to the buildings and like something because of course that makes more work for them to do. So, are you asking their input on stuff like that? And also, as you continue to do the phases and the design groups, are you going to continue to have those groups with the students um updating them on the new processes that you have gotten and asking for their input on what you're doing? >> Yeah, appreciate these questions very much. I'll take the first question as the leadin. So we're very much wanting to have participation from all those that are affected or interested in the designs. So I've been working with Gino just as an example uh in the case that we're trying to get uh the right participants to align with each user group. >> Uh so uh with that in mind, we're also always hoping for that ongoing feedback as well. So in the case of the user groups, we currently have up to three scheduled depending on the project. Uh the Pathfinders have three meetings. We've just concluded our first round of meetings. We'll have another round in March and then another round in May as well as we work in alignment with the phasing that I described in the diagram earlier. >> As far as updates, absolutely there will be consistent updates that are provided throughout. The goal is for visibility, for transparency, and for awareness to be a part of this this process. Uh so with that we're trying to formalize means of communication towards that. Uh just in our Thursday meeting we were positing some possibilities to provide communications to participants or to even the broader community as needed. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you so much. >> Excellent questions. Thank you. >> Chair Andre Kai has one more question. >> Yes. So, speaking of user groups, how do um how do you go about um recruiting or um having participation in those conversations? Like do you if we wanted a group of parents like for the affinity groups for example, should we reach out to you all and ask if there's any you know opportunity for participation or is is like will you all reach out to the school and say hey like we have this design phase coming up please invite folks to come. Yeah, absolutely. This is a very valuable question. So, we've been very much leaning on our partners John and Gino and others. In particular, we've been reaching out to the admins in each building to inquire who would be the right participants or otherwise. Uh the willingness to have participants. We want as many participants as as we can that are most effective to make the design outcomes as informed and as successful as possible. So we don't just do this because we have to. We do this because it is truly the primary means by which we can have an informed design. >> So participation is encouraged. The willingness to participate is invaluable. So we would love to have as much participation as we can we can facilitate and if there are recommendations or otherwise please feel free to reach out. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. Um, and I just wanted to also say thank you um, for all of this work and for this excellent presentation. I too really appreciate this this one slide with the different phases and the way it's laid out. It feels like I can follow it. I know what's coming up. I know um, where, you know, my um, my attention will be going at different times. So, thank you for that. And I did just want to um to make a plug to um ensure that we are getting from the very beginning phases of planning um the input of our um special needs families and staff. um often times when we're talking about getting input um their their needs tend to become um well we're ADA compliant and um the assumption is made that their needs are met and I would just encourage us to to not um rest on that but to actively engage that community and the staff as well because there are really big needs um So, thank you for that. And I think that's all. >> So, appreciate you here this evening and we look forward to next time you come back with an update. We're all really excited. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you all so much. >> Appreciate. And that takes us to our next um order of business, which is the student information systems, how it works. And I get I believe you get to stay at the table with us. >> Turn it over to Dr. Mary Perry Reed. >> Director, what are Keshan and Tracy joining you? >> Uh no, just if we end up with some questions. >> Okay, perfect. All right. Well, welcome Keshan and Tracy. And um so this the purpose of this item is um to provide an overview of our SIS student information system which is infinite campus to our board and community. It's a um it's a really important component of our data infrastructure and how we um collect and maintain information about our students and families. And so I am very grateful to the efforts of director and staff Keshan and Tracy are here to help with questions. There is a small but mighty team who work together on protecting our student and family information and because it's so um complex we did want to provide an overview of what it is and how it works. So I'll turn it over to you John. >> All right. Thank you Dr. Roir Roto Reed. Uh tonight uh we have a lot of information in the slides here. I won't be hitting every single piece in the slides. I really wanted to provide a broad overview of information for you to have as a as a reference. Um certainly we'll be talking about some of the pieces as we go further in here, but I did want to just mention that some of the slides are very dense with information that I wanted to make sure you had available for reading um if you wanted to, but we certainly aren't going to go through necessarily every element that we have in the presentation here this evening. So, as we talk about our student information system, um in uh here in Hopkins, it is Infinite Campus. Um that is our system that we use across um all of our different uh data uh points that we're talking about. Um that really helps to pull the information together as we as we move through the evening. So, couple quick uh acronyms and just kind of help build our collective vocabulary as we start into this conversation. um really wanting to make sure uh you know just as every system you move into we have the acronym land that we have to make sure that we can orient ourselves with as we go through the rest of the conversation. So uh SIS we'll start to refer to as very shorthand for our student information system. Um enrollment really again those records of students participation in different education programs. uh state reporting certainly we'll talk about more as a driver behind uh some of the ways that we collect information and um and keep information. um relationships uh really what we're all about in this not only in our work but also in the data and what are those relationships between that information how are how people and information are connected in the system um making sure that we're linking all of those pieces together with that student um both their classes their uh what periods of the day they should be where um pulling all that information together parents household information everything related around those relationships uh Minnesota Department of Education and then uh uh PSO which we'll mention a little bit here as well of course the post-secary education options and as we go into the uh presentation we really are going to talk a lot a lot about the information that we hold in the system and as we hold that around uh remembering our definition around data and information we collect a lot of data points about individuals and data are really just that they're single points of information and information is really when you take all of that data you've processed and organized it to and interpreted it to help bring meaning and value to um to this. >> So just wanted to make sure that we kind of lay the groundwork for a couple of those pieces as well. So what is the student information system? It really maintains our official student records um across the district. So um E through uh E through 21 with uh E through22 with all of those students. So, uh, supports the daily school operations. You know, things you might think of very kind of basically is attendance, schedules, grades, all of that information. Um, connects families and schools. So, you know, all of those portals that you might look as a parent, whether that's, you know, lunch, uh, related information or end of terms, looking at grades, um, those information that you have available to you as a as a caregiver as well. um as well as you know that's what connects those pieces for communications. So whether that be the standard communications that we're sending out like don't forget it's you know openhouse night or those pieces as well as the information again around those relationships that move us into our crisis communications platforms as well. um ensuring accurate state and federal reporting. Uh certainly uh many elements of our funding contingent on uh accurate reporting within these areas um to have all that information gathered and to be able to report on it as as required by statute. Uh which we've also seen some significant changes in some areas in the last few years especially related to our early childhood programming. um as the different funding streams have changed at the state level there uh requiring significant uh work in how we're how we're organiz gathering organizing and reporting on that data. So uh it also helps the district as I mentioned receive that correct funding to meet all and meet all of those legal requirements from the state and federal level. The next graphic is really just to give you a representation around how these different pieces come together. Um so really student information um the more the broad topic we're talking about and both the staff as well as the systems uh that come together to really make this uh reporting happen. We have our enterprise information specialists who really kind of have the overall uh structure pieces around that data and then we have the individual folks who are either entering maintaining or reporting on that data. Um, as you can see here, really across our system, uh, the different types of folks that are involved in, uh, doing that. And in the rest of the presentation, we'll be diving down into some of these specific areas, um, around what that information is, how that information is gathered, um, maintained and reported on. So, wanted to really build kind of that piece of the pi, all the pieces of the pie that come together to, uh, collect this information, maintain it, and report on it. Um first of all um kind of at the center of the information is the student. So the student and family information um you know there isn't a student information system without the students and without the people that were uh that are involved in that information. So students, parents, that household information, you know who uh who all of the contacts are for a student, who are the preferred contacts, maybe there are records that we have in there of also folks that cannot have contact. all of those different pieces of information uh are in our student information system to help understand those relationships and help uh our staff to um kind of build at least from a uh information perspective some of the picture around that. Um most data is entered um into the system at time of enrollment. Uh so that's those initial household records, everything that's pulled together. um really working with our enrollment staff you know that it is a ownorous process of collecting all of that information getting all of that into one place um confirming the information and then from a data governance standpoint of also making sure that information once it's been entered and confirmed is destroyed that you're not holding on to pieces of data that you don't have to be holding on to. Uh one example around that it's uh that some school districts nationally ran into um in the last year is another another vendor for student information was breached. So we enter into the cyber security conversation there um around uh and you know data was released around that and so really thinking about that from a student perspective is you know those important pieces of information that we are keeping we have a need to keep and to keep secure information that we don't need to keep. We just need to confirm at time of enrollment that we are then removing that information so it's not part of the system on those long uh long-term recordkeeping requirements. So, uh, kind of an important piece of both the data we have as well as the data that we need to make sure we don't have. Uh, most data, you know, like I said, comes in at that time of enrollment. Um, but data is entered throughout certainly a student's career, uh, here at Hopkins. Um, you know, so those roles that are involved in entering maintaining this data really are enrollment clerks, our clerical staff in all of our schools, um, counseling staff when that's appropriate. um certainly the instructional staff working on those kind of day of um you know grading tasks as well as those final grades. So really a lot of hands across the entire district come together to make sure that uh the information that we are holding um helps to paint that picture around um a student's success and what that is looking like. So um several hands I guess is the point that I want to make here go into having this information available. As we look at then that uh enrollment and registration uh in infinite campus you know it's really denoted with a calendar is how a lot of that information starts to come together. Uh captures the school the school year who those teachers are what those staff relationships are within that given time period. um not only you know the the grade level but all the those specialists that are involved there as well. So um the start and overall and end of the overall days all of those calendars and schedules being kept there again knowing that the student information system is that center of information that goes into other systems as well. So, you know, should there be some sort of an emergency that we need to respond to, knowing where your students are at and helping to build those lists, um, you know, of what students should be together, who is reporting them, uh, accounted for, all of those pieces. This is some of the roots that you see of that that the data goes into other purposing as well. Um, thinking about all of that data, again, we have a lot of folks involved here, enrollment, the clerical, and really then those subject matter experts. So, that comes into uh special services programming that that student might be participating in, making sure all of those records are together. Um, any of those specials through the day, making sure that those records are all pulled together. Uh, as you can imagine, um, then it comes into some of those reporting requirement pieces around the state. um because partition participation in those programs are reported on for funding requirements. You know, that might that includes special education, title programming, um ELLL programming, um you know, some of those post-secary uh education options. There again is those are a school being paid and then reimbursed for much of that those pieces. So making sure that we have an accurate representation of all those programs that students are participating in. And you know that kind of the uncomfortable joke every once in a while when we go into some of the modules in the student information system is that you can tell they were written by an accountant. And that's exactly the purpose for many of those areas is very much aimed at that accounting standpoint. um when we know that sometimes our structure is actually in our schools to really help a student be successful can look different than what we're required to report on. Again, trying to make sure that we're taking care of the whole student as well as meeting those those reporting requirements. Uh next area really is that transcript and some of that summitive data that we have uh for students um at the elementary. Uh most summitative information is really entered and maintained by that home room teacher. uh you know that's report cards, that's progress, all of those pieces that are going into that. Um at our secondary schools, uh counseling teams also have a significant lift there of helping us students both all the way, you know, as we are doing registration right now, you know, well on our way with registration in our secondary schools. those counselors now really coming and following up with students of uh helping to fill in those last couple electives or helping to fill out the last of that schedule or making sure that some of those requirements are are being met um for that student successfully progressing toward graduation. >> Um that's really kind of that shift that you see as we move into the secondary um secondary level. um all of that information coming together again to help build that uh summitative picture around where that student is at at least from an information perspective. Uh courses, schedules, rosters, uh Infinite Campus here again holds all of that current academic information. Um for state reporting we have to report on the areas um from the Minnesota common course catalog those standards being addressed uh you know in common classification um around them that the the teacher in their course uh and their area of lenture you know making sure that those HR elements are also coming into line into that student information lining up this student is in this course taught by this teacher with these certifications and have connecting all of those pieces of data uh for the reporting and funding requirements. So um it really is a cross department team there as well working um to make sure we have all of the elements pulled together. um any special designations, you know, that are state reported as well. Um so whether they're a concurrent PSO um Carl Perkins monies uh come into play with CTE classes they're again making sure all of those uh all those pieces of uh data are pulled together so that we have the information necessary to both report on as well as help uh that students successfully navigate all of those uh both coursework as well as the requirements to meeting toward graduation. um student information during the year. So, you've got your attendance, you know, being entered on that, you know, daily basis, making sure that we're tracking all of that information. Um helping ensure, you know, enrollments are staying active and accurate. Um certainly that state again, state funding based attendance around um that required reporting around that. Um many programs really require then a number of individual minutes that are being um addressed as well. So making sure that we're deriving all of those pieces together from your rosters, your schedules, and that attendance information. So not only is the student here, what coursework are they involved in, how many minutes of instruction are involved in that coursework, and making sure that we have all of those reporting pieces together for um both state and um federal requirements. Um really making sure that that all comes together. again multiple hands coming to touch that information to make sure that that full picture um comes to comes to bear. Um state and federal reporting. So that's kind of the last piece. you know you I've me been mentioning that throughout here but then after all of that information is coming together from these multiple different directions um that comes together to help do some of the more sum summitive reporting for state and federal uh needs and this is a really an additional piece to really think about is all you know the summary of all the previous slides is kind of into this slide as I mentioned earlier you know one example here. Um, and that's kind of the the screenshot that we have on the right side is an example from early childhood. Um, so really thinking that not many years ago, as in like maybe just four or five years ago, a student participating in an early childhood program was a single check box of yes or no. And now just even within this same one screen for that child is four individual boxes of checkdowns and multi selections that you're needing to make around what programs that student is participating in. So yes, our you know our electronic systems and technology um allow us to help um maintain the workload on some of these pieces. We also see this workload continuing to grow, you know, and systems can certainly help us with automating some of those pieces, but it really also comes back to the staff who are knowledgeable of that student experience and knowledgeable about putting that together to help that student be successful as well as what those required reporting uh fields look like to make sure that we're putting that really putting that picture together and kind of a a summitative representation around um what those services look like. So another example um that we can look at is PSO students which I mentioned earlier you know they were reported as a single checkbox before is yes participating in PSO um and now the requirements really mandate a significant amount of reporting that four different PSO um uh different elements related to student participation you know you you know traditional PSO concurrent PSO um some so this classes taught at the high school versus are they leaving campus to pursue a PSO option at um at a higher learning institution somewhere. Um all of those complexities that we really need to keep track of here and keep all those data elements. So both we know uh where students are at any given time. we know uh the relationships around uh the folks involved with that student throughout their education experience and then ultimately reporting these pieces to our state uh state and federal uh departments requiring that to get that information. So that is really the overview uh that I wanted to walk through tonight. uh certainly uh be happy to entertain any questions or information, do the best that we can or um certainly get back to you on any questions we can answer tonight. >> Thank you. Really appreciate it. Um and I also agree agree with your assessment at the beginning. This is a lot of informationrich slides for people to look through. Um, and I would just open it up for comments or questions and remind my board members, board colleagues that we'd like to give ourselves a little break. So, 15 minutes for questions. Great. >> Were you moving in director Heyman Andre? >> Yes. >> Um, thank you for the presentation. It's really interesting and data we collect and have to protect is just so extensive these days. So I appreciate all the work you do. Does the data we collect um remain proprietary to Hopkins or does this data follow a student? So, for example, if um someone were to leave the district, do they have access to our information about that student or um is that something we share or or where where are the privacy lines drawn there? >> Yeah, a couple different levels of that. So if a student is transferring within the state of Minnesota to another school district, then there is that cumulative file um that the the receiving school district can request about that information uh about that student to help really mostly about where you know some of those initial placement pieces, where is the student at in their education journey to help understand what uh where best they should be fitting from a programming standpoint with that. Um, also as you move through kind of those final summitive grades, again, all of those pieces, thinking ahead towards uh towards graduation, knowing what credits that student has already accumulated, um, having that information together so that that student there again will have that full picture of education um, as they're moving toward graduation and meeting all of the requirements along with that. Um then you know those that information around students once if a student's staying in Hopkins then to graduation really that final piece of information that we keep um from a permanent record standpoint is their graduation record. So their final grades of their high school experience um along with uh that full that final graduation piece. >> Thank you. And I want to make sure I'm checking in with Treasure H Heartland. If you have a question, just raise your hand. >> Sure. I do have a question. If if it's okay. >> Yeah. >> Um, thank you, Director, for coming tonight. I am curious as you describe the extensive changes in reporting that your team has had to accommodate. Do you get support from our vendors? Um, do this infinite campus or say can the uh any other vendor that we use, do they keep track of any of these changes and help us adjust our interfaces for reporting or is that all information we as a district have to track what the state is going to require now and then build ourselves? >> Yeah, thank you for that question. Um, that really is uh a shared responsibility there. both our vendor um infinite campus to be a vendor student information system vendor in Minnesota you have to be an accepted vendor um in the state um certainly there's a there's a decent list um of options there but to retain that uh currency with the state of Minnesota you do need to support some of those report required reporting elements um we all know that sometimes we can get surprised you know with new required ired reporting elements, you know, sometimes with the best of intentions and new additional funding to the the district that we just frankly can't react fast enough. And so then we need to build in maybe some custom fields, uh, do some of that work, which from a data governance and a sustainability standpoint can get complex over the long haul. if you need to start doing something from a custom tracking level and then move that into more operational, you know, that it actually has a home at some point moving forward. That is one of the requirements um that we look at for upgrading our systems. Um so Infinite Campus just to give the kind of personal and immediate example there with Hopkins uh Infinite Campus comes out with reg a regular cadence of updates um that really uh we need to stay current on as well certainly for many different reasons both for the practices of data management uh for the requirements for reporting um as well as for security purposes um and really making sure that we're staying current on that. Um you'll see in the release notes almost anytime that Infinite Campus comes with an update it's a required reporting elements are part of that list almost every single time whether it's the new um for a certain data classification may have additional breakouts now you know there were four ways that you could uh refer to something before maybe now there's six ways that you can refer to that uh information and so those do update you know pretty progressively ly as Infinite Campus works through that and it's always a a back and forth that then you know that's where sometimes the requirement to implement it can run into uh operational efficiencies or inefficiencies of yes we can account for this information but then how who is entering that data who's responsible for it is that data within classifications elsewhere in the system that those staff now required to report this new piece of information don't already have rights to in the system it it becomes a fairly large web of making sure we're connecting those pieces. You know, certainly following back again to the protecting data and information. You know, certainly doing the best we can within that framework of always following the principle of lease privilege, which is what you really have to do when you're talking about data services. Um, so I guess that's probably a lot longer answer than necessarily um uh looking for. Yes, it it really is a shared back and forth, but Infinite Campus as a vendor approved by the state of Minnesota also has a requirement to support any of those new um reporting pieces as well. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, Sharon Trees. >> Yes. Yeah, I echo the thanks for your sharing the work that not only you but a whole team and teams of individuals do in different parts of Hopkins School District invest in uh Infinite Campus. And I appreciated you starting with as well like the many faceted elements of what what this is all about. You know, it's about the relationships we have reporting. This is how we communicate and it's one of those things that we can take so for granted. Um, but we all know when it doesn't work, right? When suddenly you're not getting the email or, you know, there's these different things. And so, um, I'm just really struck by and I'm grateful you would present for all of us as board members and, uh, hopeful any of our community members who are listening in just to pause and recognize the sheer amount of work that all this is and how vital having um, data and the entry and all the labor that goes into it. So, just want to say it really does take a team and we're grateful for you and your team uh doing that. And as a former enrollment management higher ed person, I my props to all of you for all of the hard work with that. And I also just wanted to highlight what you named that um as part of our relationships in our district, you know, we we have early childhood and early childhood education and for parents and then we have community all the way through. It's not just K12, right? All the way through amazing community education efforts as well. And u we're all a part of that. So, thanks for that work. And that's all. >> Thank you. >> Well, I think there are no further questions. I just want to express my gratitude for everything that you do um and for making this um really complicated system work for the most part. Um because yeah, as as everyone said, it's not easy. Um and I do know too that there are um you know, frustrations on the other end when it doesn't work. And I I think that my experience has been that um that your team accepts those with grace and gets to work and fixes it. So, thank you for that. >> Yeah, thank you very much. It's as a as a leader, it um you know, it's uh humbled every day by the great team that's sitting behind me and making sure that on a daily basis they're there and making this all work for everyone. Yeah. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you so much, John. And thank you Keshan and Tracy for showing up. Thanks for all the hard work >> for being here. >> Sorry we didn't have any questions for you. Do you want to feed us one? >> Okay. All right. >> You're your information people. I get it. >> Yeah. >> Worst nightmare. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. Appreciate it. Absolutely. >> And thank you >> board members. Um that concludes our workshop. We have um 19 minutes before we need to be back here. Well done. >> Can we aim to be done by 10:00? invite all my board members to come on back to the table. >> We're going to um go ahead and get started. Um today is Tuesday, February 10th, 2026, and this is the general meeting of the Hopkins School Board. Um, welcome everybody. We're really happy to see you here this evening with us. And um, I will um, first mention that um, our treasurer Rachel Hartland is joining us remotely for this meeting. So um, she you will see an empty seat but she is here in attendance and participating in the meeting. So, with that, I will call this meeting to order of the Hopkins uh public schools school board um at 7:00 p.m. And we will go to our uh first order of business, which is to recognize some of our amazing students who some of whom are with us this evening. So, we're going to travel down to the front of the board table. >> Just need to unmute it real quick. Hello everybody. Welcome again. It's really nice to see your smiling faces here with us this evening. Um tonight we celebrate the outstanding achievements of a remarkable group of students who earned selection into the Minnesota Music Educators Association Allstate Ensembles. The MMEA Allstate program is widely regarded as one of the finest in the nation. Its mission is to develop, promote, and support equitable and comprehensive music learning and teaching across Minnesota. The All State Experience plays a powerful role in strengthening high school music programs while inspiring students and educators. At its core, MMEA believes that music is essential to the human experience. Through intentional and informed practices, the organization nurtures creativity, self-expression, and aesthetic sensitivity while honoring lived experiences in striving for both equity, and excellence in music education. The students being recognized tonight were selected as part of an elite group of 628 young musicians from across the state. Following a rigorous audition process, they spent part of their summer at an all-state camp where they refined their craft under the direction of a guest conductor, probably several guest conductors, engaged in intensive rehearsals, and built lasting friendships. We'd also like to recognize and thank their dedicated teachers, Melissa Hansen, who is here this evening. Wave, Miss Hansen. And Ally Swiggum. Wave, Miss Swiggum. Thank you to you. We also have two additional instructors who are not here this evening, Norah Thaicast and John Fulner. We so appreciate our amazing educators, not just for the musicianship that you build in our students, but also for your mentorship and your guidance and everything that you provide along the way to build these awesome well-rounded individuals. So, we are going to recognize our All State students. And so, uh, musicians, if you would please go to the back of that royal blue runner, you will have an opportunity to walk forward when you hear your name and then hang out up here after you get your certificate so we can take a photo at the end. for all state band. Gabrielle delello for all state choir. Rose Calibria, Lauren Lauren Dolby, Henry Hilner, Ella Moore, >> Nolan Sners, and Joanna Zochi. We're also recognizing a couple of other students who I don't think are here this evening. So, for All State Digital Music Media, we are recognizing Alio Morocco. And for for the All State Orchestra, we are recognizing Avery Cluer and Canoa Lee. And so at this time, musicians, would you please um come over here? We're going to take a photo and >> photo up. >> Yes, we have our interim director of communications and marketing, Toya. Thanks for taking the photo. >> The kids are the kids are more window. >> All right, everybody. >> Good. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Congratulations. And thanks to all the parents and caregivers who showed up and friends. Thanks to all of you for supporting these amazing young people. >> And thank you all for being here. You don't need to stay. Um but we really appreciate you taking the time. I know you all are have really busy um lives. So um we then um go to um open agenda and this is where we um receive public comment. Do we have any voicemails or cards? Um we do really value hearing from our community. So, um, if you ever have something that you want the board to know about, feel free to email us. Um, and if you would like to make a public comment, you can do so in two ways. One is to show up um, before the meeting starts and fill out a public comment card, or you are able to leave a voicemail that can be played during the meeting in this section. And we do host two public comment sections, half hour for each one. one at the beginning of our meeting and one at the end. And now we will go to our student board representatives report. Thank you for being here this evening. Hello everyone. I'm Sufjan Osman, sophomore board rep. And to start off my report, our boys basketball teams ninth through varsity are playing games today. Well, actually freshman already, or not freshman, the sophomore team already finished their games. I don't know if they won or lost, but like go Hopkins. And right now JV and Varsity are playing their games and hopefully they're winning. >> Next, I want to speak about the BSA royally speaking like event. On February 26 at 5:00 p.m., uh BSA will be hosting uh 100 years of commemorating black history. This showcase will highlight their voices, stories, artistry, and achievements that have shaped black history and continue to influence our world today. After the event, there will be food. >> So, that's great. >> It'll be uh soul food dinner, and I think it's going to be like buffet style. >> Did you mention what day? >> Oh, yeah. February 26, uh 5:00 p.m. >> Thank you. >> And finally, for my teacher spotlight, it's my A push teacher, Mr. Swenson. Uh, I I just want to say he's a great teacher. He He's like definitely not like a normal teacher. I'll put it like that. >> That's going in the email that I'm sending him, by the way. >> Uh, but his class is rigorous and hard, which I enjoy. >> Thank you. >> All right. Um, my name is Manuel and I a junior student board rep. So, to start out with my teacher spotlight, um mine is for Miss Hubble, who's my AP macro teacher. Um and recently we just completed and took tests for our first unit, which is basic economic concepts. Um where we learned about core economic principles such as scarcity, the PPC, um comparative advantage, supply curves, demand curves, and market equilibrium. Now we're moving on to our second unit, economic indicators and the business cycle, where we've began learning about the circular flow model and GDP. >> So moving on, the Ford Next Generation Learning or Ford NGL parent information session that was scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 11th, tomorrow, will now be held virtually. The meeting session will also be recorded for those unable to join live. The session was moved to a virtual format in response to community feedback that an online option would improve accessibility. So, what is Ford NGL? Well, Hopkins High School is exploring a new learning model in partnership with Ford NGL, a nonprofit organization that helps schools connect learning to real world careers and future pathways. This work is focused on helping students better understand their strengths, explore interests earlier, and graduate with a clearer sense of direction. If Hopkins moves forward, the model would include a freshman academy to support the transition into high school and career themedies or pathways designed by Hopkins staff, students, families, and community partners. Moving on, AP exam registration is here. The second opportunity um to register and pay to take an AP exam is here for AP classes that are currently running during the second semester. The registration portal has opened and closes on Friday, February 20th, 2026. You must complete the registration questions and complete payment by the last day of the registration period. Exams are $77 or $40 if you qualify for a meal benefits. So, if you're taking a second semester AP class, make sure to sign up because it's a great way to get college credit if you're able to pass the exam. Finally, for yearbook ordering, the final orders have been placed for yearbooks and there are limited supply of extra books available. So, please make sure to order your yearbook as soon as possible because more will not be ordered. >> Thank you. >> Hi. Hi. My name is Havsa and I'm a freshman. Today I wanted to start off by talking about the National Assessment of Educational Progress or NAP where our high school has been chosen to participate in the assessment. This means a randomly chosen group of 12th graders will be tested on math and reading that later get compiled with other scores from across the nation to help educators and policymakers better understand how to support students. These scores are anonymous and don't impact student grades or class placement. The students that are chosen to take the test will take the test on Wednesday the 18th during Rails Connect. The second thing I wanted to talk about was the next digital learning day that's happening on Thursday the 19th where students at the high school get to learn from their houses or if they choose to come to the high school they could to do a pre pre-assigned class work pre-assigned class work by 3:20 p.m. to be counted present for the class. Finally, I would like to spotlight Miss Donald, my health teacher, because I always find her classes interesting with the review games and diagrams on our notes. I also find the class to be faster faster paced than most of my other classes, which is really refle refreshing. Today, we took a quiz about neurons and neuron communication and reviewed the steps on how electrical energy turns into chemical energy that gives you dopamine in your brain. Thank you. >> Wow, >> that was health class. >> Yeah, great. >> Wow, >> that's great. >> What grade is that? Are you a freshman? >> Yeah. >> Okay, >> fixed grade. Did you say it moves at a faster pace than other classes? >> Yes, it's faster pace because it goes blue silver day, so it kind of has to be a bit faster. >> Yeah. >> Interesting. >> Hi. Um, I'm Adena. I'm one of the freshman representatives. I wanted to start with my teacher spotlight. Um, today I'm spotlighting Mr. Echo. Mr. Ekoff is my ninth grade Lang and Lit teacher. So far we've worked on selfidentity and cultural identity. We've done and we've done some assignments on what we think that means to us compared to what it actually means. Um, right now we were able to choose between three short stories about revenge or coming of age. Um, when you're done reading about the stories, you write a short essay explaining the themes of the of what the stories are um of what the stories are. Next, I want to talk about spirit week. Um, this is in honor of the Valentine's Day sweetheart dance coming up. So, Monday we don't have any school, but Tuesday there's matching sets. Um, Wednesday is date night. Thursday is PJ day because it's a DLD day. Um, and Friday is class colors. Freshman is purple, sophomore white, juniors pink, and seniors are red. Um along with that, hard grams are being set out at tables during lunch. Students are able to buy hards for other students during lunch. Um where on Friday the 13th, the choir band goes and sings a song to the person receiving the hard. Um, also on the 21st there's a sweetheart dance for anyone who wants to come and just have a fun night and hang out with friends. Next registration week was or for 26 2026 2027 classes were last week. Um each day of the week the teachers shared with us how to sign up for classes and each day focused on something different relating to registration on how we can get the best classes as possible for our needs. Um lastly there is a new media center update on December 8th through 14th. There was a computer science opportunity for students who wanted to learn more about computer science and get some more hands-on practice and work with it. Um they also worked with Mr. Davis who teaches the computer science courses at the high school. Um this is where they'll be h um offering Royals Connect classes for coding courses for anyone who's interested. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any feedback or questions? Chair Andre. >> Yes, Director Roer. Thank you all for the incredible updates. I really, really, really enjoy listening um to all the incredible things happening at the high school and what you all are into. Would you give me the date for this? Was it the Sweethearts dance? Was it or like a day? >> Um yeah, it's on the 21st of February. >> And where is it held? >> Um at the Hopkins High School. >> What time? >> We don't know yet. >> Sorry. >> I'll get it for you, Brooke. Okay. Thank you, D or Director Robert. my second. >> It's okay. >> Okay. Any other questions? >> Well, thank you for that update. I am continuing to be impressed by your health class. Like I think all we ever talked about was don't drink alcohol. Like I that's all I remember. Um so yeah amazing that that level of explanation of neurology is happening and how it's the chemicals are are the thing. Um and I appreciated um Manuel that you reminded me of some things on my to-do list. So thank you for that. The yearbook and AP exam registration. You're >> welcome. Um and uh with that we will move to the superintendence report. >> Thank you. Um and I also love the student board updates. The teachers love getting an email following your shout out. So keep up um keep up that work. And they love the detail. So the more detail you can provide as long as I can capture it. They really love those emails. and thank you for spotlighting our educators. Okay, so I'm going to provide um some quick updates and then invite our um director of information services for a department spotlight. So I'd like to begin by wishing everyone a happy Chinese New Year. February 17 is our Lunar New Year celebrated by more than uh one and a half billion people across China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, Korea, Malaysia, and of course the Chinese diaspora, including our own Chinese students and Chinese immersion students here in Hopkins. This is a um this is a day that has been celebrated for more than 3,000 years in our world, making it one of the longest standing cultural traditions that is still actively practiced. And of course, last week's New Year celebration at the high school was a very, very beautiful showcase of song and dance by all of our elementary students in singing and um also a special performance from our high schoolers. So, it was great. After that uh New Year's performance, I was roaming the halls of Hopkins High School and encountered the robotics team hard at work. Yes. At 8:45 p.m. And so it was um great to run into them. They have two more weeks until their first competition. So they're busy with the coding and the building and the testing of their robot, which has yet to be named. Um in the middle there is Caitlyn. And I had a really interesting conversation with her. She helped me understand the process that they follow to build their robot. But um I asked her about her schedule. I always like to ask kids, "Well, what classes are you taking? And what is your favorite?" Well, her favorite class is chemistry, but it's at Dunwoody. And I asked her, "Why are you taking class at chemistry at Dunwy? Like we offer it at our high school." Well, she just explained that at Dunwoody you learn how to apply chemistry in a real world setting. So, she's learning chemistry cont um concepts in the context of electrical engineering and she really really loves it. So, it reminded me about the work that we're doing to explore how to embed more career connectedness at our high school. And on the next slide, I also wanted you to meet Henry. This is Henry. He's a student at West. He called me over to meet him at the school. Um Henry is new newer to Hopkins. He transferred here from another district and he loves Hopkins. He loves the sense of belonging that he found here and he has a lot of ideas about how to keep students safe during this time. And when I shared with him all of the ways that our community is supporting families during this time, he was really, really impressed and very grateful. And I too am grateful. And so on behalf of our school district, I did want to thank HF, ICA, our law enforcement partners, our city partners, and the six to 700 parents who are out there supporting our students and families in a variety of really critical ways. Thank you. And um so Manuel touched on this a little bit during um his report, but I wanted to acknowledge an important site visit happening this week to envision bringing more coherence to career and college readiness at our high school. And of course in vision 2031 we have a success indicator related to graduation and post high school success which is that every student will graduate with a post high school plan aligned to their strengths and personal purpose. And so today through Friday, our nonprofit partner Ford NGL is here helping us to envision how we might complement our strong college readiness programming with strong career readiness programming. And of course, how to how we might iterate the high school experience so that all students are engaged and successful is not a new conversation here in Hopkins. Prior to two 2017, uh there was a small team at the high school that built differentiated diplomas but didn't have the framework to implement them. And then in 2018, there was a college and career strategic task force that yielded a college specialist for our high school along with some other recommendations. In 2022, staff explored a ninth grade academy model as part of the research for transitioning our ninth graders from junior high to the high school. And then throughout all of this time, staff have visited a variety of high schools and um high school models across the country. So on this next slide, you'll see that um you'll see the the work that our nonprofit partner will be engaging in meeting with a variety of individuals and groups today through Friday. This partnership began last year and this is their third in-person visit with a fourth visit in April that will culminate phase two, which is the Envision phase. And then of course we'll we'll bring a robust presentation to our school board so that we can after gathering community feedback and really understanding what would have to be true in order to continue moving forward, we'll engage um our school board in making that decision. And then lastly, it's important to know that, you know, whether we're facilitating this from the inside or the outside, there is of course a cost. And so we're braiding together funding from grants, Perkins, um, professional development, and our general fund. And on this next slide, you will see something very phenomenal, which is 21 Hopkins educators who are being recognized as 2026 Minnesota Teacher of the Year nominees. Um this is really really incredible that we have so many of our educators who have reached this level of recognition in the teacher of the year process and um we just want to wish them good luck as they proceed. I talked with Mr. uh well I call him Mr. Tim Mr. Mc let me look so I can see that his name Mr. McCarron. He is a speech pathologist at our high school. I have seen him work with students. He's incredible. And um in if I remember my visits to I think I've been to all of these teachers classrooms. These are incredible educators and we're just very excited that they are representing Hopkins >> during this time. Okay. And then lastly, I would like to share that well, one of our um Sufan, I think it was you who shared about the cultural showcase at the high school. And we have other opportunities to honor the brilliance, resilience, and leadership of black communities, both past and present. And to also recognize how black history is woven into American history. And I think most of us know that black students represent 25% of our district. So, it's a really uh February being Black History Month is an important time to create to to create continue creating schools where black students are not just authentically included, but seen, loved, challenged, and supported to thrive. So, we're grateful to all the folks across our schools who are organizing efforts for our parents to get involved in this national this comes this uh national day comes around every year the national African-American parent involvement day. Okay. So, at this time I think uh Mr. Mr. Wet, if you'd like to approach for your third opportunity to present to the board and we're going to spotlight um information services. So, at the end of the superintendent report, we're trying to be thoughtful about um spotlighting our schools, our departments, various programs to give our board and community members a chance to dive in more deeply and understand how the district is organized. Thanks for being here, Mr. weather. >> Thank you again. Good evening everyone. Good to see you again. Um like my earlier slides this evening, uh there's going to be a lot of information here which we'll be just hitting the high points of. Uh wanted to provide a larger picture uh for you to be able to look at in your reading. Um but this evening certainly just hit the highlights as we talk through our department update here at information services. Um tonight I'll be speaking specifically uh just into our technical services, our technical support, our system administration, those pieces. Certainly uh the information services department and our and our very close collaboration with IDL um encompasses many other uh functions as well like our tech integration, our media services um and really making sure that that technology that we're talking about really um comes to u full force in the classroom is really a one of those tools that our staff and students can utilize. So um taking a look at um just the overall again like I mentioned um really looking at our systems administration you know network and device management so all of the devices that are in everyone's hands around uh the entire district cyber security uh certainly which we've visited on uh in the past here as well um becoming a larger and larger role of our department uh that student and staff support you know those hands hands you know helping hands available in all of our spaces, our schools, our classrooms, making sure that that technology is um um successfully running um in a very complex environment. Um tech integration, library media services, and our data services teams as well, which we just talked about earlier. Um, real quick, um, just to begin with kind of the department structure and kind of how we support, um, those different aspects. Um, uh, besides myself, we have two, uh, assistant directors in information services, and you'll learn why we have some of the structure around segmentation, separation of duties uh, here in a second. We have our assistant director of information services for operations. uh really that day-to-day oversight around what's happening um in our schools really holding you know much that staffing uh piece of that the onboarding offboarding supervision that cross trainining establishing those district-wide standards procedures and best practices um our IT systems and device life cycle management um as well as providing some of those strategic pieces around aligning the operations up to our district goals um on the uh kind of the I say the opposite side of that but really work very closely together is our assistant director of information services for cyber security identity and user experience. Um we really think about that together is that cyber security as well as the identity portions. Um we know that the current threat landscape um identity is one of the most attacked u portions of our security practices. Um, and that also lends directly into the user experience because if your IT security systems are getting in the way of that user experience, staff and students just the same are going to try to go around them. >> Um, so really making sure that you are not impacting your user experience by providing your safe and secure um, computing environment. So making sure that all of those pieces are in place as well as much like in our accounting standards having a separation of duties um that the cyber security person isn't the same person that's doing the standard maintenance and that work every single day. So maintaining those separation of duties um so that you have that second check on those systems. So uh like I mentioned here all of those pieces really coming together the cyber security identity and the user experience pieces to make sure that um that happens and the staff that support that um system administrator administration focus and the system administrators uh maintain server infrastructure as you might um uh think and kind of hear just even uh in technology in general. much of that workload and you know used to be the actually like we call it rack and stacking servers. You're actually putting physical servers in place and doing that work now um has really migrated to almost being completely cloud services. Uh so you're really uh managing it in a very different way than uh we have historically. Um this is also very closely working with other departments maintaining all those systems whether that be your HR system, your transportation system, buildings and grounds systems, you know, running our HVAC, all of those services that run a top of technology and making sure that we are uh successfully integrated across each other as well as that that base infrastructure is supporting all of those systems that need to to work as well as you know backup which is both a disaster recovery mechanism as well as a compliance mechanism. Um remembering that every single email that comes in and out of the school district is retained for seven years uh as part of our wreckage retention requirements. Um just one example of uh the work that we're engaged in there. Our network administrator certainly has been very busy over the last uh six months here um thinking about one of the largest program projects that we've engaged in in a couple years. um really maintaining that network infrastructure, making sure all of those switches, access points, you know, all of the wireless networking, uh everything is working as it needs to be across our environment. Um a new domain coming into this area with our networking as well as those our security cameras. So, we're seeing that domain really shift um that that physical security infrastructure is also riding at top our network infrastructure um which is pretty different um than what it used to be. Um and that's we're seeing that trend across all districts. That was one of the big conversations at the state tech director's conference that was last week was really talking about how all of these physical security pieces really coming into the to the domain of of uh it as well. Now >> not only cameras which have been there for some time but now sensors um you know uh in many of our spaces as well as now the physical security you know door door locks and all of those pieces riding a top our network as well. Um user experience as I mentioned this is making sure really all of these pieces are coming together um both the device experience you know with the school district we manage we manage around 9500 devices around student and staff devices uh again that's across our our entire department um also having that escalation support to the district level as well as phone system management uh again another significant change over the last 10 years uh phone system management has really turned from more of a clerical uh piece of tracking some of those pieces to now really another IT function within our identity services um because the phone numbers follow people now and really they're again making all of our services much more people centric instead of kind of the IT um gobblygook of numbers and everything how do we center that on the people to make sure we're providing a great service uh our enterprise enterprise information specialists again managing our our infinite campus system making sure that training is there um as well as data integrations you know as we talked about in workshop this evening uh that center of information in our student information system certainly needs to be connected to many other systems to help make sure that we have a successful um day-to-day operations across the school district. So making sure all of those pieces are in order. Um really those roles um as we look at that our technology support specialists and our lead support specialists out in our schools making sure we're providing a great experience you know handinand to our staff in all of our schools. um making sure that you know that day-to-day there there are frontline support there right there you know ready to uh to assist in that and really our leads who work right um in all of that have an additional scope of helping to um provide some of those crossf functional pieces some of the you know onboarding our new staff members um making sure all those dots are connected with lines >> um that integrated support workflow making sure any issue that might start as just like a this is acting weird and all and seeing what that escalation path looks all the way up to oh this is actually a vendor issue where we're now engaging with a vendor whether it be Google or Microsoft or someone else or Apple to help understand what actually caused that one uh this is weird comment very back at the uh at the beginning of that. So making sure we have all of those pieces in place. I'll call out a couple of the big projects that we've been engaged in. Full network project upgrade. We've talked about this uh both before the project as well as a little bit earlier this fall. Um this was a rip and replace of all of the infrastructure of our network. We completed over the summer. Um all of the physical work around that was done in five weeks, which is the fastest we've ever done that. Um really having that in place ready to go so that we're not interrupting uh summer school programs. we're not interrupting all of those uh uh uses of our facility that are happening really year round at this point. Um to be able to pull off that large of a project was significant. So that also sets us up in a much better place with better network segmentation and being ready for these cyber security um both current threats as well as what we're seeing on the horizon. the flexibility around connecting, you know, that you can answer your phone from anywhere. Sometimes that's a good sing thing, sometimes not. >> Um, answering your desk phone from anywhere. Uh, so that really can ring just as you know there again, not even 10 years ago, you had to be sitting at your desk at that physical phone to be able to pick up a call where now you can do that at any point. And building that future forward pieces to make sure that we're ready for whatever might be coming. Certainly then artificial intelligence is in everything that we're doing right now. Not only is this uh uh significant work with our tech integration specialists around the district-wide guidance um but this is also making sure that our data is AI ready that we're putting our proper procedures in place around uh safeguarding data making sure that data is being properly labeled and ready um for kind of that um AI future that we're seeing with um all these different pieces of data that also is coming into our uh operations spaces as well. Um with artificial intelligence significantly increasing our time um that we're able to really dive in deep on a problem and find an answer much faster. Um we're seeing a lot of work both with our vendors around that as well as um how we can work with it too. For example, even our network that we've just installed, one of the elements of that within an operation capability is anytime that an error message is produced by what some of our equipment, you immediately get an AI summary of everything related to that and a direct reference into all of the documentation around that that can point you right into a direction to solve that on the spot. So, um, we're seeing that, you know, top and bottom, left to right across all of our work. So that is uh really the the quick overview of the department. Uh certainly there was more reading for you if you're interested in that as well. Um thank you this evening. Certainly if there's any questions otherwise we can keep moving. >> Any questions from my board colleagues? >> Chair Andre. >> Yes. Vice Chair Roer. >> Thank you um Mr. Wer for this for your presentation. You do a lot of great work in the district. So, I really want to just say thank you for all the hard work you do to keep our uh our our information systems um sophisticated and running properly. And um I was going to ask you some Wi-Fi questions right before you came up here, but I'm like he's presenting so I can't mess with them. Um but I do have two questions. one. The first question is um amongst the consortium of school partners that is that like that you work with are there any like shared cost amongst any of the systems that we used? Um I know like the maybe like the cyber security may be used by other districts like if there is some type of you know like cost um like cost affiliation amongst like the that resource within multiple school districts and then two how do we test the integrity of the AI that we are starting to depend on right because I know that when we get reports or um when we get information from AI I know that sometimes especially me as I'm learning, I assume that AI is being 100% factual in what they're sharing with me. And so like if we get a report that they're, you know, they give us a summary of something like who or what system are we using to test the integrity of um of that information. >> Yeah, thank you, Director Rover, for those questions. Uh the first uh to the first question um I'll mention there's a couple different ways that both we work together to try to control costs. Um, a couple of those are as you mentioned with cyber security. Uh, we are in part of a consortium where we work together because no one of uh the school districts involved would be able to afford um to have a dedicated security personnel like that is currently just not in the realm of affordability um for any of us individually. Uh so that's where we work together with a a security professional to be able to provide services across a consortium of about uh seven districts to spread that cost out. Another area where we work together and uh unfortunately this funding is going away after this year. Uh we do work together with uh another collaborative here in the metro area to help as a reimbursement for some of our internet uh connectivity costs. um the the state ended that program in the last session. Uh so we will no longer have those um opportun that opportunity for some of that reimbursement for uh connectivity. Uh so that's one example we've been engaged in probably for the last 20 years um is coming to an end here now. Um so those are a couple of the the consortium pieces that you to your second question around AI um that is the question of the day right now. How do you ensure the integrity of the data that you were getting back from artificial intelligence or and mostly with AI you're thinking about the large language models where you're act asking a natural language question getting information back um some of the models are more uh dependent on how you ask those questions and others um that's really where our tech integration specialists do a ton of work uh working with staff and students around how what do the reliability piece pieces look like in that. How do you check your work? Uh for example, um uh AI that we use uh fairly extensively is uh copilot from Microsoft and you can actually do a deep research on something where it actually will flag and show you each one of the sources that it has used. You know, it'll actually annotate all of your sources out for that. Um, additionally, um, when you're I think some of the future around data is going to be within small models that are working on this specific set of data. Um, which I think we're going to see a lot more success and around the the quality of the output on that. But yeah, that is one of the number one challenges we have right now. And there have been some very uh demonstrated examples of uh AI um answers leading folks astray as well. >> Thank you so much. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you. I wanted to make sure I'm checking in with Treasurer Hartland. Did you have any questions? >> Not at this time. No. >> Okay. Thanks. Any other feedback or questions? Wonderful. Well, thank you for being here with us so many times this evening. >> Really appreciate all the information about information. >> Um, >> thank you, Director W about information. >> That's right. >> That is what it is. >> Um, so then I would look for a motion to approve tonight's agenda. >> So moved. >> I have a motion. Is there a second? Second. Okay. I guess we're going home. Um I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> Seeing none. All those in >> Would this be would this be the time when No. Okay. >> Okay. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. >> I. >> Any opposed? The chair votes I. and the agenda is approved. And that takes us to the consent calendar. These items provide the board with information considered to be more routine in nature. If the board deems an item to be necessary for additional discussion, a motion will be made to move the item to new business. I did want to highlight for our community that there are two items in the consent um calendar that should have been posted at prior times. They are the two phase one and phase 2 Ford NGL contracts. Um and we are um working as a system to make sure that our contracts are um again part of consent. Um and that that has because of due to staff turnover and processes not being um totally transparent in the back end. Um we have not had that as part of our board practice in the last few years. So wanted to call people's everyone's attention to those contracts so that we know that they are there. Um and I believe that there is also a going to be a motion to pull the audit to new business. >> So moved. >> You can make the motion. >> Chair Andre. >> Yes. >> Yes. Hi. Um, I would like to uh move FY24 audit uh written report into new business. Um, I think we uh want to memorialize and and answer some questions that communities had and give the board space to talk about it a little bit. >> Great. I have a motion to move fiscar audit the written report to new business. Is there a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> Chair Andre? >> Yes. Just to be clear, in our consent agenda's policy, it says the the request doesn't need a second or a vote. So I I think >> Oh, >> by director requesting that we're good. >> Okay. Sorry. Um so no need to vote. We'll move it to new business. Um, so now I would look for a motion that the board approve the consent calendar with the um, >> Chair Andre, I'm I'm so sorry to interrupt. Um, I I I would respectfully request that we move the uh, Ford NGL contracts out as well. I I just have a couple questions on that. >> Okay. So I will then look for a motion to approve the consent calendar minus items C, D, and E, which will be moved to new business. >> So moved. >> I have a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. >> I. >> Any opposed? The chair votes I and consent calendar unless those items has been approved. And that takes us to the treasures report. Treasure H Heartland. >> Wonderful. Thank you very much. Um sorry I have several screens open so I need one moment to actually pull it up here. Um, I am offsite obviously, so we'll give a slightly um, less contextualized treasures report this evening, but I did want to highlight that I have recently met with our district's new controller in our business services department, Miss Emily Westerm, and she'll play a pivotal role in improving and implementing these internal controls and financial reporting standards that we have worked so hard uh, to catch up on over the the last year. and she and I discussed several ways to make the treasures report um more readable and more useful to our both the board and the community. And so obviously she is on boarding and working to implement items identified in audit and so we will um hear more about that. I will continue to work with her on that in the future. Um, an expense of note for this period is our advanced imaging solutions. That is the company through which we rent our district's various copers and printers. And we receive invoices for a variety of items from Advanced Imaging Solutions, including the actual lease of the machines, supplies like Honer or Staples that those machines use, and then some overages. and we purposefully aim to have some overages so that we don't pay for usage in the lease um in the leases that we don't utilize. So the invoices you see listed this time are for the machines across the district for the whole first semester of the school year. Um the lease invoices themselves for the first semester total 30,89171. Um, also you see several pages of Amazon purchases. I discussed that large project to reconcile the previous year's supply purchases. Um, the business services department has done a wonderful job um, taking all of those, transferring them to our current financial system to Skyward and tying them to last year's budget in their appropriate departments. And so we are they're almost completely done with that. There's fewer than about a dozen invoices left to manage. So the total for Amazon in this period is $52,70.88. There we paid $104,973 to Intermediate District 287. And and some of these vendors I'm highlighting because we'll see them very often. And so again, for the edification of our community, our new board members, um, Intermediate District 287 is kind of a cooperative public school district that serves a variety of West Metro districts and provides specialized education, alternative learning, and targeted career and technical skills for students that learn best in environments with either really small staff to student ratios or highly individualized care settings. And so we paid them, you know, that $104,973 um for the month of December. We pay that to cover costs for our in district students that attend the special district 287. And that number fluctuates some December have fewer instructional days than other months. Um but typically you'll see intermediate district 287 monthly. Uh we paid $89,69.64 for snow removal and salting for all of the buildings for multiple snow and ice events from November 26th through December 19th. Uh Ring Central is on most of our check registers and that is our phone invoice mill vendor. So you see $3,8226 in invoices from December 2025. And also basically every check register will show expenses for mileage reimbursements for our staff and also for tuition reimbursement. Uh we have many staff members that either always are assigned to work in multiple buildings or pinch hit when needed in other buildings. and those staff members who use their personal vehicles for their work days get to submit their mileage for reimbursement. Um, in occasion, we of course also have to drive offsite for trainings or other meetings. Then tuition reimbursement is a perk that's written into many of our staff's union contracts. So, in accordance with those agreements, staff members who are undergoing relevant uh continuing education can submit receipts and their grades to get that reimbursement. Um, with that I move that we approve total dispersements in the amount of 2,571,563.11 for the period of January 1st through January 15, 2026. >> I have a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> Chair Andre? >> Yes. Um, Treasure H Heartland, thank you so much for the report and you did a great job even virtually. So, really appreciate it. I just want to say uh thank you for clarifying those Amazon purchases and because I mean I was paging through it thinking like what was going on that those weeks. So, um appreciate hearing that it was kind of carried over from last year as we got it into our new system. So, um really appreciate your diligence on that. >> Certainly. And um I actually can't recall if you were there, but we did talk about it a bit in the previous um meeting as well. And so business services and and then I actually can go in and see each of the actual items purchased. So we don't just see Amazon and this expense. Um we do actually have insight into the the entire purchase if that's ever necessary. >> Thank you. Any further discussion? >> Chair Andre, >> Director Heyman. Um, thank you, uh, Treasure Hartland. Um, I had one question about a charge, um, related to the cabling for vape sensors and cameras at the high school in an amount of $3,244.67. Um, just for our community, um, I assume the the vape sensors in the high school have been working and have been installed or is this to get them up and working? >> They have been installed and we're going through I mean, they're working and they are being calibrated and tested for accuracy, but they are currently installed. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. I. >> I. >> Any opposed? The chair votes I. And the treasures report is accepted. Thank you, Treasurer Hartland. And that takes us to our first item of new business, which we will go in the order in which they were listed in consent. Um we will start with um the Ford NGL contract phase one. Thanks, Chair Andre. Uh, may I ask a question? >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, appreciate uh being able to to see these, being able to discuss them. I I just think it's important that, you know, obviously it was in the materials, community can see it. Um, I I guess just my only question is I noticed that this phase one was uh signed by uh the high school principal at the time. Do we have I would assume we do and I've tried to look to some degree, but is there policies around who can approve what amount? Um, and so does this fit that a high school principal can approve something for $41,000? >> Thank you for the question. It's a great question. So, I do know that we are going to be looking at those policies. I believe they're up for review. The procurement and program consulting policies will be reviewed on Thursday. And as I've indicated in some prior communications, um this is part of the the overall review that we need to do in our department. We actually don't want our school leaders or staff signing contracts above a certain dollar amount. And what that threshold is should be determined and spelled out in policy. And um we also want to um in terms of who signs a contract, who co-signs a contract, how they get um put on consent and paid, we want to um improve the consistency and fidelity with all of those practices. So those I think we're going to um relook at the policy and then start um noting what practices we need to change or improve and then provide the board with relevant updates. >> All right. Thank you so much. That was my question on the first one. >> Chair Andre. >> Yes. Um, I just have two comments tonight um about the Ford NGL contracts. And I want to start by being very clear that my comments tonight are not about the educational merits of Ford NGL. Um, my first comment is related to just how the contracts have come to the board tonight from a governance perspective and my second comment is about timing and readiness as we think about the next steps in Ford NGL. So, first with respect to how these contracts have come to the board, um Minnesota law says that the school board is the body responsible for approving contracts that bind the district. And that's because the board is the final backs stop for transparency, accountability, and liability for the district. So, if contracts don't come to the board, we can't do the job we were elected to do. Our district policies are structured consistently with that statute and the school board and administration together sense sets policy and authorizes contracts. Um administration may determine how to implement board policy but administration technically does not have authority to decide whether to bind the district to a contract. So, with that framework in mind, it's just important to note, and I think we're we've already said this, that neither of the phase one or phase 2 Ford NGL contracts were brought to the board for approval until tonight, which puts the board, or at least from my perspective, in the position of being asked to retroactively approve contracts after the work has already been done, work has already been work has already started, and money has already gone out the door. and that just flips the process on its head. Um, and going forward and as um Dr. Mary Perry Reed stated, I've been assured and I do appreciate that the administration recognizes the need to take a closer look at our policies, our contracting processes and those practices and um reviews of those practices and policies are already underway and I really appreciate that. So, I just want to say I'm open to approving this tonight with the understanding that it's a corrective step, not presidential. Um that we won't, you know, be retroactively uh um uh approving contracts, you know, once there's really no way to un unwind the clock. Um, and the second thing I just wanted to express is an issue that I've personally been wrestling with since learning about where we are as a district on the Ford NGL road map. And I had the opportunity today to meet with um the Ford NGL coaches and learn so much more than I knew before. And I understand we're currently in phase two, which is this envisioning phase. And um in this phase, we're learning and understanding our district more deeply and we're deepening community understanding. And I also want to note that Ford NGL's phase 2 states that part of this phase is understanding and developing the systems, structures, processes, and leadership needed to implement the plan and guide continuous improvement. As a district, uh, I feel like we are in a period of significant transition. We're in the middle of a superintendent search, which was not anticipated when this board NGL work began. We're also in the process of transitioning leadership at the high school. On the financial side, we have not had a director of business services for some time. We've recently hired a controller and we're now just completing the year-end 2024 audit, which was due in December of 2024. So with that said, even if Ford NGL ultimately proves to be a strong opportunity for our district, um phase 2 itself contemplates assessing whether the system, structures, processes, and leadership needed to implement the plan and guide continuous improvement are in place. Um I think of it like remodeling a house. You wouldn't invest in redesigning the interior of your home if the foundation and footings are in need of repair. That doesn't mean the remodel is a bad idea or not eventually needed. It means the timing matters. As a board, um, we have an obligation to make sure the foundation is sound before we commit significant resources to what comes next. I would just like to invite my fellow board members as we work through phase two to think through this and really be thoughtful about what our next steps are and to really take the lessons we learn in phase two um into consideration and um ensure that the district's on solid footing before um we move beyond phase two. Thank you. Um, and just for context, I believe it was shared with the board that and also with our community that there will be that that point of discussion and decision making coming forward in the spring. >> Yep. >> So, going back to the topic at hand, which is the Ford NGL contract phase one. Um, do I have a motion to approve that contract? >> Sharon and Dreon. >> Yes. >> Can I offer an additional comment at at this time and it it would be I know we're considering them separately. Um, but just the discussion just an you know an affirmation of >> um a just I think thank you for naming and bringing forward to us for our consideration. um these these contracts and uh being recently uh raising my hand, excuse me, to be on um the monitoring committee like it'll be good to be able to revisit this and just as we're uh fleshing out what what our processes look like going forward. So, um grateful for that, you know, because it is it it is an awkward position where it's like I mean I'm going to be voting yes of like we right you know that that absolutely um this is work that has happened and it's work that we're in an ongoing um ongoing work that we're doing as a community. And so I do just want to also note that um in continuing to be intentional in these next steps about our communication and and what are our steps throughout the rest of the spring and going forward that we just are deeply engaging the community in this. Um because I want I want it to be if we get to a yes, I want it to be a yes that our educators and our parents and everyone is like we are yes and we're in on this or if we discern differently that that it's clear that um we're in this together and that it can be a positive outcome uh for us. even, you know, being able to hear it was so helpful hearing both from you and then from Ford NGL that this is actually a longer term um body of work and consideration that has happened and I think more of us who can be just in that as a community um to come alongside and support. So just wanted to note that as we continue the work forward. >> Thank you. Um so do I have a motion to approve the Ford NGL contract phase one? >> So moved. Thank you. Uh, is there a second? >> Second. >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? >> Chair Andre? >> Yes. >> I don't want to be redundant, but I think it's important to mention and I appreciate all of the comments and reflections. Um, Director Heyman, I think it's really important to mention um D to your first comment. Um, because there have been some community members. I don't really know how many. I just know that this sentiment exists with one or more community members that um questioned if we were rushing the process. And I wanted to um make sure that folks know that the um failure to bring the phase 1 and phase 2 contracts to consent um before now was not a result of being intentional, but oversight. And unfortunately there are other contracts that weren't brought to the board. So I just wanted to put that in the context of um we're you know we're looking at all of that right now and then we will probably bring some additional contracts that have expired. But at least we're um improving our processes and wanting to be fully transparent with our community what the contracts have been even though maybe they are expired and um that's going to be part of the cleanup process. So thank you. >> I I appreciate that. Um it's better to have them now. >> Correct. Um and uh you know I am eager and happy to help with um policies also as a member of um that committee and um look forward to tightening up that oversight as best we can. >> Yes, we do too. >> Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Um so we have a motion and a second. Um, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. >> I. >> Any opposed? The chair votes I. And Ford NGL contract phase one is approved. That takes us to the Ford NGL contract phase two. Um, any discussion? >> Chair and Dre. >> Chair Andre. >> Oh. >> Oh, >> go for it, Treasure Heartland. >> Thank you. Um, briefly I just wanted to say um, for the community's um, for their understanding that uh, Director Heyman mentioned getting the chance to meet with Ford NGL and that that was really illuminating and I'm so glad that you had that opportunity and did just want to point out to the community that the board both the board members who um, kind of rolled off of the board and then also the other five uh, existing board members did have an opportunity to engage with Ford NGL to have that similar kind of on boarding and and understanding built both in um stages one and earlier this year this school year in in the phase two. So those opportunities have been afforded to the board and I am very glad that as um new board members that it was offered to newest as well. Thank you, >> Director Thompson. >> Thank you, Chair Andre. Um, I think I just had two questions on this one, and again, I appreciate um the ability to ask these. Um, so first question probably is going to be a similar answer that we're refining our processes, but um, you know, I noticed that this one wasn't signed until fairly recently. um probably after it seems like the two invoices were due. So, I'm assuming it's not routine that we would pay for something before a contract is signed, right? Uh let's see. So if we look at the um correct sequence then um depending on the threshold there may be an RFP for responses and then once a once a provider is selected then we would want to have that contract put together we'd want to bring it before the board we'd want to have it signed and then payment would be issued either you know during Let's say it's a yearl long then during those services being provided or after and not before. Correct. >> Yeah, that makes sense to me. Thank you. Um and then I guess >> so this this specific one is divided into like two halves. >> Correct. Understood. Thank you. Um, and then my other question is, and I know that, um, you know, our our goal for financing this is by, you know, a very much appreciative charitable gifts, but it it it seems like, you know, if you're following the invoice timeline, you know, we've probably had to, I don't know, for lack of a better term, front the money. So, do you know what where that money comes from as we pay it first? Is that out of professional development or administration bucket or um just any idea kind of where we're getting that from? >> I actually don't believe we've fully paid the first half. >> Yeah. And I haven't seen them in the treasures report, so that might be true. >> And I don't know sort of the um proportion or amounts, but as I mentioned before, we're um very intensely and actively searching for grant support. And then there would be the professional development dollars and Perkins funding. Um I just don't know the breakdown, but we could always um delineate that and offer it on the Ford NGL web page or send it to the board. >> That that sounds very fair. So I appreciate it. Thank you. >> Sure. >> Chair Andre. >> Yes, Director J. >> Yes. Uh so uh the board did uh do a tour of the Shakipi schools uh with Ford ND NGL. I believe everybody was invited for that and uh some of us uh had showed up. So um I think uh you know at the end of the day it kind of boils down for me for phase three to to two big things that have kind of been touched on, right? One is uh our teachers, especially high school teachers supportive, right? I think I I would posit that the the burden lies greatest there. And so if they can be brought on board and they're excited about it and they want to do it, uh you know, that's a that that's for me a big breakpoint. And then um for phase three and beyond really, what is what is it for the bottom line, right? To to uh um uh not clerk Thompson, director Thompson's point, uh a lot of it depends on how much it's going to cost, right? If it's, you know, 10 bucks, okay, great. let's do it. If it's, you know, a lot more than that, then I think that's when we need to consider strategically if it's worth the investment um or if something else is. So, just like offer that. >> Thank you. And again, we'll have ample opportunity, I believe, to discuss this at the board table. And we'll have a lot more information, I believe, at that point around funding, um, also around what it's going to look like and the, um, input from, uh, parents, students, staff. Um, I think that I'm looking forward to having a very robust discussion about the the future of the high school and the partnership with Ford NGL. The matter before us right now is the afford contract phase two. So are there any specific discussions to be had on this actual contract before us? With that, I would look for a motion to approve the Ford NGL contract phase 2. >> So moved. >> Uh I have a motion. Is there a second? Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. >> Any opposed? The chair votes I. And the Ford NGL contract phase two is approved. Thank you all. I really appreciate the discussion and also um your patience as we um do some housekeeping. Um so that then takes us to our next order of new business which is the fiscal year 24 audit the written report. >> Chair Andre. >> Yes. >> Yes. Hi. Uh so uh we last uh last board meeting on 127 uh we had a uh presentation from our external auditor KDV uh the CPA firm and uh at the time the audit was uh in the final draft phases and they weren't completely compare uh prepared to uh give us the final numbers although they did give us uh a very good summary and uh so so that um if people are interested in in diving deep into the guts of that uh take a look at that um board presentation. Um I will note that uh very recently uh the final uh report is out um and it's uh and I should note that there were no material differences between what they had in their draft and what we are considering today. So um I'll give a very very high level overview um and and uh talk a little bit about uh what we on the uh audit committee um uh discussed about and some of our conclusions and mo most importantly uh a little bit about the path forward uh to get uh the on the audits uh more timely. So um so the district overall is in good financial shape. So that's really good news. um uh total revenues was 140.9 million against spending of 137.6 million. So um that is very very good news. Um in addition um we there were some financial uh maneuvers or or changes uh that um we basically spent restricted funds instead of general funds were appropriate. So, our actual unassigned fund balance uh increased $7 million uh to 16.3 uh 16.3 million as of June 30th, 2024. So, that's roughly about 12% of expenditure ratio, which is in excess of our board policy of a minimum of 6%. So, that is very good news. Um uh one of the things that the audit committee is very worried about is uh uh I think people are more or less aware of some of our uh neighboring uh districts and some of their financial challenges and so we uh uh are very worried about that and that is not the case uh for us. So that's great. In addition uh the audit report uh concluded with an unmodified or a clean opinion uh which is also very good news. uh means that our uh various uh buckets were fairly represented in all material respects. So um that's really good news. Um you know I I take that very uh very well. Um you know the auditors are a little bit like my parents. You know you can you can get adequate and that's about as good as it gets and so we are adequate. So that's great. I'm very happy with that. >> Uh so that's that's the good news. Um however uh there and and for those of following along uh you can refer to the written report file for those supporting documents. So uh however uh there are of course areas for improvement. Um and you can refer to the communications letter for that. Um so there's three major buckets of items that uh that we need to work on. Um so as uh the first is over a segregation of duties. Um actually director wed uh talked about a little bit about it. So that's great. Um but essentially the the the idea is that financial controls should be designed in a way that multiple people should be involved in large financial transactions and uh that you know allows for checks and balances to catch mistakes or um any nefarious attempts to bypass accounting practices. Um this particular issue is um can be generally traced to uh the understaffed finance team that we we talked a little bit about um in in the past. Uh and uh you know the financial controller who's uh coordinates a lot of the uh financial uh operations and accounting uh activities uh was not in place um for two years or so which is a long time. So, uh, the good news is that we recently hired a controller, uh, from Adina. So, uh, they're on boarding and I think Treasure H Heartland referenced, uh, talking to them already. So, that that's great. Um, the next major item, uh, is the financial balance restatements. Um, basically, um, when when when money comes into the school system, they can be assigned to different buckets, right? And so, um, there wasn't a problem necessarily with the flow. As we kind of mentioned, uh, we're that was a positive direction, but, uh, there were some problems in how those, um, accounts were or were bucketed or or or labeled basically. Um, and so that causes a lot of issues when it's time to close the books and we need to do a lot of detective work to figure out, well, hey, where was this supposed to be and is it in the right place? and and uh that really causes a lot of delays in the audit that we are seeing. So finally also uh it is uh somewhat at least uh tangentially related uh contracted services implementation uh they the auditors noted the district's policies for some of the purchased services um were not uh followed and in in addition there's areas for improvement and documentation uh around evaluation and selection and so though uh you know this this rhymes with our discussion with um Ford NGL And so, uh, you know, uh, it's not, uh, it's somewhat related to that. So, um, not mentioned in the letter, but definitely something that's on the audit committee's mind is how late this audit was. Um, I think, uh, you know, it's a year and change, almost two. So, uh, this is an item that we'd need to improve upon. So there are going to be uh corrective action plans or they call them caps um which are um being created or have been created um and we as an audit committee will meet with the school management on a periodic basis um to understand the status of those caps as they're being implemented and um you know at the end of the day uh we need to make sure that the policies and procedures uh that we have are um can demonstrate that they meet all the accounting and compliance requirements. And so uh the hope is that um with these uh concerted efforts that we can uh quicken the pace of these audits and uh u make sure that we don't get you know a year plus in our in our audit commitments. So >> uh and just finally as an update our 2025 audit is in progress and um it's our intention and the school district's intention to have it complete by uh June of 2026. So in about uh in the in this uh before we break for summer uh this would be a a improvement uh as far as timing goes. Um and so and we've uh talked with our school management and we think that this is an achievable uh uh target. So we'll be providing updates and uh as we get closer to the June date. So, >> I thought it was important to give this context and some of this info and we can uh have a discussion if needed. >> Thank you, Director Xiao. And I I just wanted to reiterate that um your report is because the audit committee has had a chance to meet with the full report and this is the outcomes of the committee meeting and discussing the report and you're bringing that to to the table. Yes, that's correct. Sorry, I should have mentioned that. >> No, it's okay. I think I think it was clear. I just wanted to >> to make it um official >> that that that is your report and that >> um it's not that there we're a body of people looking at this and we actually have an audit committee which I think is important to note and um I actually am grateful that >> you're going to be taking the audit committee is going to be taking an active role in the 2025 and that we will be getting as the board regular updates on the status. Um, so thank you for that and I would open it up to further questions and discussion. Uh, Treasure Hartland, do you have anything you'd like to add as a member of the committee? >> Um, no, thank you. Director Jao worked with director Simon and I to prepare those remarks especially because I'm remotely so he covered what we felt it was most essential to get out and um the board audit committee can try to answer any questions otherwise I know we have a little bit of admin support too if necessary. >> Thank you chair Andre. >> Yes direct vice chair roper. >> It's okay. Um so uh thank you director Zo for that uh very um uh highle overview of the audit. Just a quick question what are the penalties for the audit being late? Like are there any financial penalties that we would have to like pay or what are like the I would more say like the consequences of getting the audit in that late from a entity perspective. Uh well, I I can take a stab at it and uh maybe correct me if I'm wrong, but um so there aren't any penalties per se. Um we do uh the M MDE does uh pay attention and we submit this these audit reports to MDE for their uh oversight and things like that. So uh they were there's a lot of follow-up that occurs about when when your audit is late. Um, so I don't think there's a like a a penalty that you pay or anything like that. >> No, >> no, no. Financial penalty. >> Um, I will say that um for the 2025 audit, right? So this next audit that we want to get it done for um referendum before referendum um >> it just needs to be done before then. So >> are there any considerations given that many districts um are having capacity issues within like their business services? Do they have any type of you know like I won't say hardship but any form of extensions that we could apply for given what D um director Heyman had mentioned that we're going through a large transition of leadership right now and so just wanted to make sure that you know we are dotting all of our eyes and crossing our tees when it come to it but also realizing the capacity within the district. Is there was that a consideration within like the caps >> Yeah. >> requirement? Well, so yes, I I think so there the the the main thing though is um we need to fix the problems at the root, right? And so um when we miscatategorize certain fund things and then we have to go back and fix it later. >> It takes time >> it yeah it takes extra time. You have to do rework it creates gray hair for me and so you know it's it's not ideal. And so, um, yes, other districts are having simil some districts are having similar problems with us with underst staffing and, uh, you know, not that it's an excuse, but I, you know, I do read that other districts have been late in audits, too. Um, you know, we we need to do better, though. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you. And I think too the the ways in which a district can have um financial impact is that this does this can affect our ratings >> um which we want to be um >> careful of and to ensure that we are going out for the highest ratings that we can and this is one of the key factors in that um when I think it's still Moody goes out and assesses. So, um, >> that's I believe Director Andre, I believe that's end of June, which is why the >> Yes, which is why we're on that timeline, >> early June. >> Um, so, thank you for that. I appreciate that. That is a big part of the consideration >> any or the extra cost of a team coming in to do all the fixing and all of the extra time. >> So, that's a great question. MDE is um patient and they check in often, but there's um I haven't heard of any such thing as like a formal extension. I mean, they expect it by December 31st. And >> if you don't, then they >> Yeah. And if you don't, then they expect they expect to hear about what your plan is for getting it in as soon as possible. >> Any other questions or discussion? Chair and Drezen. >> Yes. Um, >> Director Thompson, >> thank you. Um, and appreciate that summary, Director Xiao. I just feel like you use language that helps me understand it. So, I I I really appreciate that. Um, let's see. I I mean, I do have a couple questions. you know, we saw the final audit, you know, Friday night, you know, so I've had it for a couple days, not, you know, the full five business days that we would generally have for a new business item. Um, I I guess kind of my first question is, um, some members of the public have referenced a policy 703, the annual audit. Um, when I go to the policy section of the website and I click the 700 series fiscal management, I don't actually see that policy. Um, but with some searching, I was able to find it. And, you know, it says we reviewed it March 26, 2024. So, I I'm just curious, does anybody know like is this 703 annual audit, you know, a currently active policy of ours? Thank you for the question. >> Um, Dr. Lightfoot, do you do you know the answer to that question about um 703? I also do not see it listed >> on our policies web page. >> We'll see what's going on because I'm on the page right now and it's 703 and you can click it and it's all right here. It may be a web issue. >> Um, but it's displaying right here. So, >> similar to me. >> We'll see. We'll get to that. I don't >> interesting. >> No, in particular. >> So, it is an active policy annual audit. >> Three. >> Could it could it be internally facing versus externally facing? >> Don't know. >> Because I'm on the external net. I am too. >> And if you look at all of the 700 policies, they are sequenced numerically, but on my end, 703 is not listed. >> No, 706 either. >> Were there specific questions just about the existence of the policy or >> Yeah. So, um, so thank you for confirming that it's an active policy. So in here it says um we must approve the audit report by resolution. Um so it it looks like we'll need to do a resolution to approve this. And then you know it says something in here that uh the administration must report to the school board regarding any actions necessary to correct any deficiencies or exceptions noted. So, I'm assuming that that's kind of a report, you know, about those caps that uh Director Xiao mentioned. Um, and I did have at least one question on a particular cap, so I don't know if anybody's able to answer it this evening or not. >> We um, thank you for the question. So, the corrective action measures are listed in the communications component of the report. And then, um, Jessica, do you have time to provide some additional context for what's your specific question, Director Thompson? >> Well, I I I think the, you know, kind of the specific questions was in in how some of this is worded. The official responsible for ensuring the cap is listed as the district's business services director. you know, as I understand it, that is vacant at the moment. So, would we substitute CISO for that? >> So, so Jessica Olsen would is our interim CFO or interim director of business services. Now, she is an employee of CISO, right? >> But she is acting as our interim CFO currently. >> Perfect. And then um the other question I had is it seemed like the planned completion date for the caps um some of them list like June 30th, 2025, but then some of them list June 30th, 2026 or you know November 30th, 2026. So I'm just curious why does 2025 show up in there if that's year has already come and gone? Does does that make sense? >> It does. So it really depends on if a corrective action could have been done by 2025. So June 30th. So like the prior period restatements. So part of that was because in FY23 there was an error in how the financials were stated. So we restated it in FY24 around receivables. So our thought is in FY25 we're not going to have that because we've gone through and we've done due diligence with the FY24 audit. So it should be corrected by June 30th of 2025. Now some of the other findings in there's no way to have it corrected by June 25. So then we moved it out to June 26. So just depending on what the finding was, whether we had time to correct it or if it was something that there was no way to have it corrected by the 25, then it was moved out to June 30th or 26. >> Great. Thank you very much for that explanation. >> Chair Andre. >> Yes. >> Just um if I can just jump in to say a a lovely community member sent me a note that uh something's wrong with our filter on our policy page. So actually it is there online. If you click on all policies, >> you can find 703 that way. >> So just as a note is >> and thank you >> community member >> the policy forgot to tag it. >> I just fixed it. >> Thank you. Look at us. >> It was created in 2019. We forgot to tag it. >> Okay. >> Thank you Natalia. >> Thank you Natalia. and community member in conversation who I won't name them but they sent me a note. >> Chair Andre, do you just want to repeat that into the microphone or do you want me to? >> Yes. Um, so the policy was not listed under the 700 block because it was not tagged as a 700 policy that has been corrected. So now if you refresh your um website it will um show policy 703 annual audit when you click on the 700 block of policies. So thank you. Did you get your questions addressed clerk to? Ah director Thompson I will get it right someday. >> I believe I did. Thank you chair Andre and thank you very much for your time. Any other questions or discussion? >> Um, thank you for being here tonight to field some some detailed questions. I I too want to um express my gratitude for the work that went into getting this done and also um that to reiterate to our community that I think the entire board is committed to getting this um done by our our June 6 um uh timeline. It is something that we take very seriously and like I said we we know it impacts our financial picture. So it is something that needs to be addressed and from my perspective is is my highest priority. Um so thank you for all the work that's gone into it. Thank you audit committee for um meeting and talking about it and pulling it out so that we can have this robust discussion. And with that, I would look for a motion um that the board approves. Oh, no. We need to do a resolution. Um clerk >> Willham Garver. >> Um I'm going to try and create Do I need any where's in this resolution because I don't know if I can can do them justice. Um But I I would look for a um resolution that the board pass the fiscal 24 um audit as presented in um the attaching documents. Um yes. Uh clerk, would you read the role? Sorry, that was a very poorly worded resolution. Uh, uh, director Heyman, >> I yay. >> I I >> Director Xiao, >> I, >> director, uh, >> Oh, I got to I just keep pointing. Okay. Vice Chair Roer. >> Yay. >> I Chair Andre >> I >> um uh director Thompson >> I >> and I treasurer Hartland. Thank you. >> I >> and the clerk votes I. The resolution >> passes. >> Passes. >> I will practice that. >> Thank you. Congratulations. Uh WG first roll call. >> Oh, before we move on, I just want to publicly thank Jessica. Um she's been here for quite a few months and has um done a tremendous amount of work to get us to this point in partnership with Dr. Lightfoot and the team. Um she's very knowledgeable, very detail oriented, very direct in a non-judgmental way about what we need to do differently and um there's a lot of appreciation for um how she is engaging in this work and helping us. So thank you Jessica. >> Thank you. It's been a pleasure. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Appreciate it and the whole team. Um that takes us to um our next business uh next order of new business which is a resolution amending and reinstatement of prior resolution um I believe for issuing um bonds and we have a whole team coming to the table so I will turn it over to Dr. Mary Perry. >> Thank you chair Andre. So yes, this is about bond issuance and uh we have Shelby McQuay from Ellers who is with us this evening and Jessica will remain at the table and Dr. Lightfoot as well. And um we did hear from our site logic construction partners earlier giving context to the projects and the design um process and we need to pay for all of those services and pay for the construction work. Um so I'll turn it over to the team to give context to what this resolution calls for. >> Good evening. Uh I'll kick it off. Uh just as Dr. Mary Perry Reid identified, uh this is the work that is related to the referendum as well as to other bonds which we are issuing which we'll go into in a little bit more detail um with specifics. So with that, uh Jessica, would you like to give a little of the fiscal background? >> Yes. So with the completion of the 24 audit, we are able to go out for rating. Um so that's exciting news which will help with our bonds. With that, um the resolution that is um in front of you tonight goes for twofold. So the first one is for the referendum. So there's 75,000 sorry 75 million um that will be going out for bond for that piece of it. And then there's also a facilities maintenance bond for 13,650,000. And that is um actually a bond that should have been issued back in 25. So this is a restatement of the original resolution. um just bringing that forward so that projects that have been done and that are being completed um are funded with the bond funds for that. So with that I will give it over to Shelby. >> Um good evening madam chair, members of the board. I have in front of you a pre-sale report. That's theformational item just um laying out kind of the steps that we'll go through with administration and your steps in this process to issue the debt. And then uh your action item tonight, which is another roll call um resolution, um will be the the resolution restating the resolution, the facilities maintenance bond portion resolution from 2024 and then also incorporating um about $75 million of the uh $140 million authority that voters granted to you. Um, so, uh, we're allowed to kind of put those or you as a district are allowed to put those together into one bond issuance and you get some, um, uh, economies of scale by doing that. You have one issuance cost and, um, that'll just go, um, in part, uh, the authority granted to vote by voters as part of your school building bond authority. And then the facilities maintenance bond authority is a authority that you have as a district. um to issue debt for certain deferred maintenance costs. So you have a um multiple authorities incorporated in the into this one uh financing. Both will be secured by the general obligation of the school district and by property taxes. And that was all um laid out as part of your overall levy that you approved last fall. uh and that was then incorporated into or after the vote was incorporated into the final levy. Um after uh that was approved uh the bond itself will be issued for 20 years. Uh that was um uh what was presented to the taxpayers at the time of the vote. Uh and then the facilities maintenance portion is slightly less than that or well it is less than that about eight years. Um, as part of the overall issuance, we'll get a rating on the bonds and you'll also have the credit enhancement rating. So, uh, the state will step in on your behalf if you're unable to make those payments and that's part of the overall credit enhancement program. And what that looks like to bond holders is a very secure bond. So, one, um, Minnesota debt is very good. Minnesota school district debt is very good. And then two, the the state kind of backs that. So, as was mentioned, we've held off on issuing a portion of the facilities maintenance bond. We weren't um you had the money in your general fund to pay those um bills and so there wasn't like an urgent need to go out for funds until um we understood what the rating of the district was. So, um, we're going to go into the rating conversation, um, uh, with the assumption that we have, uh, the data coming in and we'll be able to have a, um, a good conversation with the rating agency. Your underlying rating before it was withdrawn was a double A2. So, it was withdrawn, but you had all of your debt um, uh, the the rates on those were locked in. So, nothing affected what you had. it was the bond holders that um had those as investments was had a double A2 bond and then they had a withdrawn debt. So um so um if they held on to those you'll have that that um hopefully double A2 reinstated and then we'll proceed as um as normal with the with the bond sale as part of the bond um resolution. We have set this out as either a competitive or negotiated depending on how we're going to proceed with the the bond sale, but our intention is to have you um have the funds available uh in uh um by April 30th for the facilities maintenance portion to proceed with projects there and the um school building bond portion. And the overall assumption is that we um going into this is a 4.3% interest rate for the bonds. they'll be tax exempt. Uh and then uh the 20-year, like I said, for the school building and the eight-year for the facilities maintenance bond, all falling in line with the um overall capital plan that we presented to the voters, you um incorporated in your preliminary levy and then was able to include an additional levy as a result of the voter um approved authority in November. So, a few steps along the way, but um I'll be Ellers will be back here, either me or Matthew or Beth, with um the results of the sale on April 7th. Um and then you'll have those funds available at the end of April. So, I'm happy to answer any questions on the overall process here um or the the resolution as well as part of the roll call vote. >> Thank you. Appreciate you being here. Any questions? >> Chair Andre. >> Yes, Director Xiao. >> Hi. Uh, thank you. Uh, this is a question for, uh, Ellers. Um, you said we're you're expecting 4.3 as for our interest rate. Is that AA2? Is is that what you're expecting? >> So, our assumptions are um that that you have your existing rating of the double double A2 reinstated. So we do also incorporate some market cushion into our preliminary assumptions. >> Okay. And is is AA1 worse? Technically, >> uh double A1 is above A2. >> Okay. And what what would what would what would A1's interest rate be? So generally speaking, um if you look just at a lot of data, there's about five basis points uh spread between ratings. However, um we in Minnesota come in with that sort of buffer of the credit enhancement program, which plays off the state's credit rating. The state's credit rating is a AAA. Moody's makes the assumption that they'll pay all their bills first and then pay school districts. So that carries a double A1 rating. Um and so uh that that sort of buffers that five basis point or five to 10 basis point assumption between um uh ratings overall. >> So it could theoretically be like 3 to eight then is that what I'm hearing? >> And then the other piece that just plays into it overall is um supply and demand on the day of sale. So generally in the markets we see about 11 billion each week. Um and we've certainly had those weeks where there's $6 billion, but the demand is still up higher. So that 100% will play into the competitive marketplace. >> Okay. And and this is maybe beyond the scope of this, but how how would we get to AA1 from AA2? So I don't know if I have a lot of times what you'll get on that day of sale is the credit report which Moody's has done a really good job at highlighting what is needed to go um up or down in the rating and Moody's compiles a number of factors. I was just looking if I had the last report in my file um that are both in your control and outside of your control. And so, um, you have the most Fortune 500 companies of of any school district in Minnesota in your tax base. So, your tax base is, um, I think if that you slivered that out in the AAA category. Um, and your your, um, income per per resident is also very high. Um, so things those are all things that while affect your school district are outside of your control. Um, they also look at enrollment. They look at um finances and they look at the overall funding um um in Minnesota. So um I can't point to exactly I can get that information back to you >> uh on what it would take to move up. They also um rely heavily on trend data. They will not move um usually on a single audit up or down. uh they they like to see a trend of of um either lower debt, higher fund balance, increasing enrollment over time. >> Yeah, it' be interesting. We would we could save money, right? >> Yeah. >> Any other questions? >> Chair Andre. >> Yes, Director Thompson. >> Um could somebody just explain to me again the the two pieces? So, we're amending a prior resolution that we made on August 20th, 2024. And then, and so, can you just explain why we're amending that and then what the second component is that we've lumped together? I heard it, but it didn't totally sink in. >> So, as part of uh your general facilities maintenance program, every other year, the district has issued debt to fund a portion of your facilities maintenance. So, the 10-year plan and just replacing carpet, you know, fixing walls and um HVAC. So, uh that was that was part of the plan which was I think the FY26 plan um uh that was adopted by the board in the summer of 24. So with that um with given the overall um project expenditures, uh we uh built a capital plan that would keep your taxes nice and level by mixing um some bonds with the levy that you all all get. So it's not like you haven't gotten any money for your FM bonds or for your F facilities maintenance projects. you just had some of that in just cash through levies each year, but at that time we had a bond assumption of about um of $13 million. We held off on issuing that until we had full um the full picture of financials. So, we're now um taking that authority that you had in 2024 and combining it with a portion of your school building bond authority. there is not a need to issue $140 million right now of the authority because the projects will happen over time. So we're taking an assumption of about 75 million. So, we're going to combine that all together. And then we also um in order to keep everything moving along and yet give uh maximum flexibility, we've included um both the authority uh to um to either issue this competitively if all things flow through and we're we have a full financial picture to provide to the rating agency. Um otherwise we would have the authority you as the the board are granting um ers and the administration to move through with a negotiated um uh issuance should we not have a full picture but yet you still need to move forward with projects. And if that's the case then we wouldn't carry then you wouldn't have a full rating. um in which case we don't want to issue any more money than you absolutely need. >> So we're just combining that all and then we're also putting a parameter in there um that says we don't want to issue these bonds or you are you're not allowing the um the issuance to proceed if it's more than a 4.75% interest rate. >> Got it. >> So there's a cap there that you simply could not award if it was high. >> It makes sense. Thank you for taking me through that. >> And I just want to add on to that the financial picture. So we have the FY24 audit done. The FY25 audit needs to be far enough along that we could provide an outlook of preliminary review of it and the audit has to be completed by June end of June. So just to clarify on what that financial picture looks like. >> All right. Um, so >> and I would add just on the procedural level, know that we have weekly check-ins on the progress that we're making as part of that audit cadence. Um, so we're really driving um, procedurally to make sure that we are keeping up on a weekly basis to make sure that these timelines are met. >> Thank you for that. So, I would look for a motion that the board approve the resolution amending and restating prior resolution to state the intention of the school board to issue general obligation school building and facilities maintenance bonds series 202A in the maximum aggregate principal amount of wow $88,650,000 and taking other actions with respect thereto. >> So moved. >> I have a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, clerk, please call the role. >> Thank you. I will call roll according to alphabetical order this time. Uh Shannon Andre, >> I. >> Rachel Hartland, >> I. Drena Hyman >> I >> Brook Roer I >> Kai Thompson >> I >> Sarah will homeg garbers I >> Xiao >> I >> having um the motion for adoption of the foregoing of this resolution was um made and then duly seconded and upon the vote uh all have voted in favor of the motion. Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. Um, thank you for being here tonight and for the information and for the care with which you are engaging in this process. I appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Thank you all. That takes us Oh, assistant Superintendent Lightfoot gets to stay at the table with us. Um because that takes us to our policies and first read. I would like to turn it over to Vice Chair Roer. Okay, just a second. This is my first policy read as vice chair, you all. So please um so we will be discussing Oh just a second. So we are discussing policy 503 and Mr. Nick would you want to read over that policy? Do we want to just talk about each one and then um we can pass the slate perhaps? See if there's any discussion. >> Yep. Happy to cover both. >> Okay. Yeah, I'll let you take the lead. I'm learning. So, I'll take the lead on this first one or I'll let you take the lead on the first one. >> Great. Uh just so that the board is aware, um we are up and fully functional within our weekly connections. Uh just so people know that uh vice chair Roer and I and u Natalya do meet on every other week to look at the uh monitoring committee agenda. So we work to set that agenda based on the policies um that are in cycle with the board at the period of time and any additional policies that are being requested to be reviewed at that time. Um for these first sets, uh what we went through were two policies uh to get everything moving forward um and further discussions on additional policies as the board has requested. Um we are in discussion with the transportation policy. We are in discussion as identified earlier and will be in discussion this Thursday on the purchasing policy and consultant policy. In addition, what we're also doing um as part of our work is making sure that if there are any policies that are mandatory that we need to update with our list, we are adding those. Um and any that may have any immediate need, we are attending to. In addition, there were two holdover policies from the previous work of the monitoring committee in the first semester of the year. Um that was work done with the playground policy that we are in process with as well based on the request that came forward from our play for all um and community members. Um in addition to that we do have a safe community policy a community member brought forward that the monitoring committee had originally looked at that we will be continuing to review and work with as well. So just a little bit of background with uh what is ahead um in particular what is here this evening 503 and 503 um just as a protocol so that all boards understand when we uh board members understand when we have policies we do present you with the Hopkins policy and then in addition to the Hopkins policy if there is model school board policy we do present that to you as well um so that you can see both of those uh as was presented to the monitoring committee for discussion. tonight. First 503 and 503 it is our student attendance policy. Um part of the work that we did with that you will see in particular the changes. The changes are identified um in the color red so that you can more easily see the work that the monitoring committee did. Part of the change that was particular to that was making sure under the set of conditions for excused absences that we did look at family emergencies and those family emergencies also being inclusive of conditions that make it unsafe to attend in person. Um in particular that was specific language that members of the committee wanted to make sure that we had. There were some other minor changes um that were um allowed within some of the model MSBA work that is identified as well. But with that um I would open it up to any other monitoring committee members for anything I might have missed on 503 and then of course any other questions, comments from the board. >> Thank you. Um, I wanted to make sure that um, our community was aware that um, this um, policy is one that we reviewed because of specific asks that the LAC has to our state legislature to make um, changes um, that will protect our communities and our schools during this time. And so, um, this was the one piece that we had within our control that our, um, school board hadn't already shored up protections for our families, um, previous to our current climate. So, we were making sure that, um, not just in practice, but also in policy, we are um, responsive to the our community's needs in real time. And so this is our policy that we knew needed a little bit of work. So just some context, >> Chair Andre. >> Yes. >> Yeah. So, I uh regretfully was not able to be at the monitoring committee for this and um I just wanted to say thank you for working on it and it it does mean a lot and it's important and this is one of those things like it's a policy but it's a policy that uh humanizes and is about caring for our community. So, thank you for that. You're >> welcome. It's collective work. No more comments. >> All right. If no further questions, then policy 512. Policy 512 is an additional policy. As I identified, um, part of our work is reviewing to make sure that we have all the mandatory policies that are required in statute. One of those is that there is a mandatory requirement in Minnesota statute to have a school sponsored student publication policy. that policy. What you will see is um basically uh capture of the model MSBA policy. There were some particulars as we reviewed all of the items. I would draw the board's attention to um article 4 guidelines in that subsection. There are additional items that really identify student expression um and when that is prohibited. We wanted to make sure that from the model policy that we were more inclusive in number nine. And we also wanted to make sure that in number nine we referenced all the policy work that the district has done um to be inclusive in its work and its policies. And so all of those are called out by name where there are specific additional uh policies that we hold here in Hopkins. So with that otherwise basically the policy itself is more of a restatement of statute. Um and as well um some of the particulars that we blended in through Hopkins policy work. Um any other comments from monitoring committee andor of course questions from the board. >> Chair Andre. >> Yes. Director Heyman. Just a quick question so I understand as I'm um reviewing the policies, the red um text in the proposed policy, those are changes to the MSBA model policy. Is that am I understanding that correctly? >> Yes. Um and it you're you're identifying um what we did with 512 was really take the model policy adopt the model policy with some specific changes and we wanted to draw those changes out and identified those in red. >> Understood. Thank you. >> So yeah, this is a new policy for the district um required by state statute. >> Chair Andre. Yes, Director Xiao. >> Yes. Uh, hi Dr. Knightfoot. Uh, it's my favorite time of night, policy time with you. >> Um, I do have a question around uh item 2B here. Um, where if a student believes that their freedom of speech has been uh unfairly restricted, they can appeal to the principal. Um, is it opening a can of worms to create another level? You know, like they does the it seems like the principal gets the final say. Is that standard practice? And, you know, would it make sense to have one defined layer above that? Just a thought. >> It's an interesting question. Um you do actually have policies that if individuals don't feel that the issue is resolved, they can um issue a complaint and they can ask that that complaint be resolved. Um you do have a policy on complaints and those complaints would go to myself or to the superintendent. So there is another avenue that could be pursued. Is that expressly laid out here? No. Um certainly it could be something that we could work on andor add to if the board would be looking toward that as an additional step toward resolution. If there is no resolution that's done in mutually agreeable terms, we certainly could have language. >> I I'll defer to my board colleagues what they think. >> I think um I appreciate you bringing that up because it is I feel an oversight. Mhm. >> Um I mean would it be something that um the board would want us to add like a step three um or yeah that they could then come to another body. I'm not sure if it would be reference this policy um assist assistant superintendent life foot where they would be directed to you or if we want to have something specific to each site. Um I don't know what are we thinking as a board. Chair Andre. >> Yes, Director Heyman. >> Um if there is that I I think what I what I heard um you say Dr. Lightoot is that there is sort of this appeal option, right? This secondary file a complaint if you are dissatisfied or disagree with the principal's um decision. And so perhaps um we can reference that policy within this policy to say >> so that option is what you're thinking is the best. >> I think that would be the from my perspective I think that would be the best option. It's just at least directing >> whoever is reading the policy where where to go next. >> Other thoughts? Um, I think that we could work on words smmithing this tonight or we could send it back to the monitoring committee. Um, I'm a little bit inclined to think maybe a little bit more creatively because this is a studentf facing document and about student rights. um that we I would like to get student input, I guess, is what I'm saying because I don't know if even if we put it in here that students are going to feel like taking that next step like moving from the principal to either the assistant superintendent or the superintendent. Um perhaps we could be more creative and our students might have another idea of where they would feel comfortable moving that review process further. >> Do we think that >> again >> might be good to get student input? >> I don't think we had any students at the meeting. >> No, we didn't. And one of the student board reps actually was just talking about the missing the monitoring committee meeting last week. And so I do think it would be appropriate for us to um parking lot this until we receive their feedback because what was her Dena gave some very great feedback during the uh presentation um for the referendum. And so I will be very interested to hear what she has to say about um about this policy specifically. >> Okay. >> And procedurally there um just so people understand in second read if we're able to get that feedback, make those modifications, we can bring it forward to the board in second read on consent. If people review that and they're fine with that, they can adopt it and consent or um as you've already experienced this evening, we can move it, have some additional conversation as the board would see fit. So, we certainly have some, you know, definite time to do that within and get the feedback that we need. Um, we certainly still could approve it in first read with those directions to take it back and do that work and bring it back in second. >> Thank you. Appreciate that. Appreciate the question. Any further discussion on this policy? >> Okay. >> I guess my one question is if if students were to come to one of us, even if it isn't written in policy, there's nothing that would preclude us from meeting with them, >> right? >> Yeah. Okay. >> Okay. So then I would look for um a motion to approve the above policies in first read. Further, the board directs the administration to prepare the policies with suggested revisions um for approval in second reading at the next meeting as part of consent. >> So moved. >> I have a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> The chair votes I and the policies are approved in first read. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate you being here. And that brings us to our board member reports. um which feels refreshing that we're doing them before 10 p.m. So, thank you everybody for contributing to that. Um we can go ahead and get started. Um it has been our practice to introduce ourselves um and then to say how you're connected um to the district beyond being on the board um and also give a report of your activities and learnings over the past um however many days it's been since we met. So um hello everybody. My name is Shannon Andre. I have been on the board, this is my seventh year and um I have a senior at the high school and a graduate um and also um work at Gatewood Elementary. I did just want to do a quick um call out for an upcoming event um that we will be participating in. And some people might remember um one of our former student board reps, Oscar Wolf, will be um presenting um along with myself and assistant superintendent lightfoot for the city of Rochester. um they host an equity series and they reached out to Hopkins public schools because of our calendar equity work that was done and Oscar was instrumental in that becoming part of our board practice. Um and so he will be joining us from Colombia to um give this presentation on the student perspective. But I just wanted everybody in the community to be aware that um Hopkins is seen as a leader in this space. And um we um also I feel really proud that um that we're not only a leader in the space of responding to our community, but that we are a leader in the space of having students lead that work. So, just wanted to give a shout out for that and I will pass it to Vice Chair Roer. >> Hello everyone. My name is Brooke Roer. I am the vice chair of the Hopkins School Board. I am now in my third year. I have two incredible children in the district. And I want to just start off with um um happy Black History Month to our district and to our community and to our nation. Um, it is an important month for us to celebrate black culture in all ways. Um, I'm very clear about black history being a vibe 365 and not just for 28 days. And so I celebrate my blackness fully and unapologetically. Um, and I just wanted to name some of the events that I went to uh over the past few days. So last Friday, um, one of our incredible parents in the district, um, Valita had invited some of our elementary girls to cheerlead with the high school girls at the Hopkins to Eden Prairie game. Um, and so they were able to be like junior cheerleaders. Um, and it was a very uh, amazing uh, experience for them. They were super adorable and I loved that they were able to just have that experience with mentorship from our older girls. Um it was very powerful to see the connection there with them. Um I also was able to participate in National African-American parent involvement day yesterday. I spent the day at my children's school hanging out with my daughter um and her friends and then also hanging out in my son's classroom and reading him a book or reading a book to the class. and uh led a discussion about the role of the school board with elementary students and learned a lot about their request and their demands. And one of them was longer recess. Um >> of course, >> yes. Uh no% behind that. >> Yes, longer recess. They want more PE time. Um Yep. they one of the students named that they would like to see more um less bullying in uh in the schools which I totally agree with and then my son of course said longer lunch time um and you know I couldn't even get to the story because they were just kept coming up with stuff so I had to like cut it off pretty um pretty rapidly I said hey you all like but uh we got to cut this off but everyone raised their hand and was able to speak and I loved it so that just is a sign to us that we to engage our younger people in our conversations more. Um, and so that was really powerful to see and I'm looking forward to being a part of the Ford NGL listening session tomorrow. I want to just be very clear with community. I know that we've been hearing things um and just answering questions, but I'm still learning what the Ford NGL means and I do not want to mis um misrepresent what that is for our district. So that's why I have not been answering questions because I want to give you accurate an accurate description of what it is. So um I'm learning with all of you and I'm also understanding what that is from the board level too. Um and then I want to just say a quick um note to black history again. Um just one of my favorite quotes and some um words of encouragement for you all to think about. Um my favorite quote from Tony Morrison is is called um what it says is definitions belong to the definers not the defined. And so for far too long black children have entered into classrooms where the world tried to name them before they ever had the chance to name themselves. Measured before they were understood, disciplined before they were heard, and labeled before they were loved. Black history is how we return language, power, and imagination to our children. It teaches them they are not a problem to be fixed but a people in motion thinking creating and leading. This is about and this is about telling the black child you are not an exception. You are not an afterthought. You are not a footnote in February. You come um you come from thinkers and builders, freedom dreamers and truth tellers from people who sang through suffering organized through fear and still believe tomorrow could bend towards justice. And when our schools honor that truth fully, we are not engaging in politics. We are fully we are fulfilling the promise of education. And because a child who knows their history learns something unshakable that no matter the moment, the pressure or the pain, they come from a people who endure, who rise, and who keep moving forward. And so with that knowing and with that truth in their bones, I'mma go ahead and um quote my bro Kendrick Lamar. We are going to be all right, y'all. Okay. Um, and shout out to all the teachers, all of our I love all of our staff members, but since it's Black History Month, I want to shout out our black teachers and our black educators, our ESPs, our students for the brilliance that you bring to the Hopkins district, our Hopkins basketball team. Um, all of our teams, we had a um, one of our members of the basketball team, Jaden Moore, was nominated for McDonald's all-American, the All-American nominee. So, that's like really big news for us. Um, so yeah, y'all just keep being brilliant. Keep showing up. And thank you, Dr. Mary Perry Reed, for you also being a historic leader in our district as a black woman. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> That's beautiful. Thank you. >> Hello. Uh, this is Jiming Jao. Uh, I have two children in the district uh, in fifth grade and second grade in the Shing program. Uh, Shinyang Quu. It is Chinese New Year and uh it's the year of the horse um which is uh hard work and energy which is actually very important for our upcoming uh uh board schedule. We've got we've got CPAC tomorrow morning. We've got uh Ford NGL and then we have uh our superintendent search on Friday. So um you know we just approaching everything with as much energy and uh hard work as possible. Um, we had a uh I think superintendent had a uh reference to uh we had a really good uh new year celebration. Um and uh yeah uh it's next week next in one week. So have a happy new year. Um I pray for ADM uh average daily membership which is our enrollment. It's it's not it's not a uh it's not like a a bad luck to tell people what you wish for for Chinese New Year. So that's what I wish for. Hi, my name is Johanna Hyman. This is my first year on the board and very happy to be here. Um, tomorrow morning I will also be at the Ford NGL community convening. Let me back up. I have two kids in the district, both in elementary school at Metobrook, a kindergarter and a third grader. And I'm going to say again, you better not be up watching YouTube right now. Go to bed. Um, okay. So, tomorrow morning I will also be at the Ford NGL community convening, which I'm very excited for and looking forward to. I'm eager to listen and learn more about a potential partnership and hear from my understanding is we will hear a lot of information and learn a lot of things and discuss with the community and have robust conversations. So, I'm really looking forward to that. Thursday night, I will be at Meadow Brooks kindergarten roundup volunteering as a float to help wherever is needed. Um, believe it or not, we will be welcoming Hopkins future grads, class of 2039. >> So, um, tomorrow night that is the kindergarten roundup and that's an event designed to connect our future kindergarteners with the school community and it's a family-friendly event. Um, kindergarteners come and they can explore the classrooms, meet other um, teachers, learn about how um, we will help them develop their strengths and discover their talents throughout their kindergarten year and beyond here in Hopkins schools. And it will also provide an opportunity to complete your child's kindergarten enrollment process, which is very important. Then on Saturday, because I don't have enough to do, on Saturday, I will be going to cheer on our Hopkins Royals dance team at the state tournament. >> Um, the Hopkins Royals dance team has made program history by qualifying for state dance team tournament in kick for the third year in a row. Um, and I'm very happy and excited for them. that will be at the Target Center this Saturday, February 14th. Hopkins Royals, our amazing dance team, is scheduled to perform at 3:08. So, don't be late. And if Hopkins makes the finals, they'll dance again later um in the finals later that evening. That's my board report. >> Uh well, greetings. I'm Sarah Wilhelm Garber. she they and it's my first year first into the second month but like first set of month on the board. I live in downtown Hopkins and I am both a neighbor and a part of our broader district and community and I am also um very happy to be the parent of a human who will be class of 2041 Hopkins graduate. >> Wow. So speak I did the math the other day and figured that out. I was like goodness. So um just a couple notes. The one is uh was so grateful to our communications team for highlighting uh and the individual schools also in the different ways for highlighting the teachers in our district who I just felt so proud um to be able to say that there were 21 you know of the what was that 128 total. And again I I don't ever claim to be good at math. Um, I actually am not bad at it, but I don't like to do it in my brain. And so that's just a lot percentage-wise when you compare the number of districts. And um, what was really joyful, uh, is that I actually just sent a note to them. And I've gotten back some stories of folks or just little connections about, you know, saying things like, well, actually, my dad graduated from Hopkins and my mom was on the school board and, you know, hey, I'm doing this work or, you know, just it was really lovely. And and then what actually happened is we took Josie for Jos's pre that's my human who I didn't name who's going to be 2041 and we went for our preschool kindergarten readiness um at Harley Hopkins and one of our educators finalists for Minnesota teacher of the year was there and just it was so lovely to get to you know see them in action and also just I'm such a huge fan and um believer in early childhood educ ation and it was wonderful to just see um the ways that that's prepping my kid and prepping all of our kids to to just be able to feel confident as they go into kindergarten. Um so with that, I also got to bring Josie, the four-year-old, to the Jing Jing Chinese New Year. Thank you to community members for the invitation. And it was just joyful to be there and um to be able to celebrate with neighbors and and friends and community members and just so impressive uh to see the kids like every single class doing at least one of their songs and just major um thanks to all of the educators and folks who put that together. Grateful for that. And then it was fun to get to walk down the hall past the graduates from last spring and Hopkins and say Josie. And we ran into you, Brooke, right? Because you were there that night too, ran and I waved to you from up top. But um but it was just so lovely to walk past the graduates and say, "One day you get to be a Hopkins graduate, too." >> So I'm grateful for all of the different connections with staff and community members who have reached out. Uh the ability to get connected with the committees that I am a part of. Uh, also if my email is not working, if you've tried to email me and I haven't written you back, uh, you may be one of at least one person I am aware of who tried to email me and it didn't get through. We are working on that. So, let let Chair Andre know if you tried to get a hold of me or something. Um, and I just also want to again say uh a thank you to all of our community, our the district leadership and staff and educators, uh, transportation, bus drivers, and then the hundreds of parents who are doing so much work in addition to everything else that they already have in their very full lives to care for the safety and well-being of our students and and our families and to care for one another. And I think that's our strength and beauty is when we can come alongside of and take care of one another and just remember that we are all in this together. Uh to this it's going to break out into song. We're all in this together. Um from High School Musical if you don't know that. And as a part of that just you know the affirmation with Ford NGL and our superintendent search that it's I think both not only a personal commitment but I think our commitment to get to continue to do this work together. I'm really grateful to be a part of that. And with that, I will end my report. Thank you. >> Hello, I'm Kai Thompson. I'm in my third year on the board. Uh, three kids in the district, uh, ranging from fifth grade to 10th grade. Um, only thing I wanted to mention is, uh, the talk in my house is that, uh, both the boys and girls Nordic ski teams qualified for state. Uh, so they'll be competing up at Giants Ridge tomorrow. There's some question of if I'll drive up there, but who knows? So, um, yeah. So, go Royals. So, uh, thank you. That concludes my report. >> Treasurer Hartland. >> Yeah. Hi. Thank you everybody. Um, I am Rachel Hartland, currently serving as treasurer. I am in my fifth year on the board and very happy to be here. I have three students in our district. um a sixth, eighth, and tth graders. And um one of the things that my family has um had on their minds lately is registration for next year. And so next year I will have two high schoolers. And so I have >> a child and a lot of their friends that are very excited and um feeling very confident that their all their questions have been asked about high school registration. And last week we attended a wonderful information registration night at the high school in the auditorium. Um, additionally I have been part of I'm you know part of the board audit committee, the um citizens financial advisory committee and the legislative action coalition and this is prime time for all of those groups. Um, everyone should look out for an updated invitation of sorts to the legislative action coalition soon. We due to community events and kind of a large load that's on the plate of our legislators, as you know, we did not hold our previously scheduled January 30th >> legislative action coalition breakfast. And so that will look probably something like something digital. And so you guys will get an update on that soon. But we have been writing white papers and talking with our legislators. And so that has been a very busy group in addition to of course the audit committee and CFAC being busy as well. So we've been meeting weekly. Um speaking of Royals teams that are making state, the middle school robotics team has their state competition this weekend. um Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th at Burnsville High School. Um our middle school team is there's 56 teams that are going to participate um at the state competition out of 250 or so. And our team is one of just singledigit total middle school teams that made it. So they are very proud. They are very excited. They're very short compared to all the 17 year olds that are that are going to be there. Um, so that will be very exciting. And, um, Clerk WG, you mentioned High School Musical. That's going to be the middle school musical. Um, and so that has been, um, in rehearsal and will be available for our community to come watch at the end of March. And I think that that's everything. Thank you guys. >> Taran, I forgot something. Can I say it? >> Okay. Sorry. Um, I just wanted to just note really quick the Ford NGL is not tomorrow morning. It's at 6:30 p.m. >> It's 10th. >> Yeah. Oh, is it both? >> Yeah. >> What What What time is the one in the morning? >> The the industry or the community convening is from 8 to 12. >> Okay. >> And the parent information session is from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. >> Okay. So, thank you for bringing that up for the morning one cuz I only knew about the um evening one. So, I appreciate that. Um, I also attended Chinese New Year. So, I want to just say that was an incredible um, incredible presentation. I mean, not presentation event. Sorry. Um, I went to it every year. I told Z I saw the panda. I thought it was him and I went up to it and I was like, Z like talking in the face of it like Z and it was a student. So, I'm very sorry to that student um because our incredible our incredible director is uh, the panda at the um, at the parade. And then really quick, Boy Mafi, I think I'm saying his name right, won the Super Bowl yesterday. And he was that yesterday. >> Sunday. And he was a a Hopkins alum. >> So um congratulations. That was another moment um in black history that I want to say. Congratulations. >> Boy Mafi. >> Boy Mafi. >> Is that his name? Am I saying it right? Boy Mafi. >> I think so. >> Boy. >> Boy. Okay. So, >> all right, that's it. >> Okay. >> Reminding all of us. I think we forgot about that. >> Yeah. >> Do you want me to go? >> Yes. >> Hi everyone. I'm Roa Marie Piri Reid, superintendent. I do have an eighth grader at West. She's on the kick team. So, she'll be dancing on Saturday. So, I'll see you there. Director Heyman. And I just love hearing about all of our teams qualifying for state. They work. Our kids work. So, our student athletes work very very hard and it was nice to recognize our all-state musicians earlier >> during the board meeting and thank you for bringing up the parent opportunity um vice chair Roer for tomorrow evening to attend a parent in parent and family caregiver information session on embedding um more coherence and career connected learning at our high school. 6:30 p.m. um virtual and there's a link in um embedded in a district communication that was sent to families yesterday >> and >> and on the website. Thank you. >> And it will be available to it will be available to view after as well. >> Yes. And and I think there's been so much interest that we also are um trying to identify a date for an in-person meeting before spring break. >> Is the one in the morning in person or is that virtual? >> It's in person. >> It's in person. >> Um yeah, and there will be too um I believe a a feedback mechanism for the recording if people want to view it later and then provide feedback. Um all right. So I would um look for a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> I have a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. I. >> Any opposed? The chair votes I. And this meeting of the Hopkins School Board is adjourned at 9:34 p.m. >> Thank you. >> Thank you everyone. Bye. Treasure Heart.