Well, hello everybody. Welcome. Um, since most everyone that's um on the board and presenting right now for the workshop um is here, we'll go ahead and get started. It's 6 o'clock. Um and thank you all for joining us for this workshop of the Hopkins Public School Board for April 8th. Um we will be begin with our one item on the agenda which um is a transportation update. I did want to let everybody know that there are some empty seats here in the room. Um our superintendent Dr. Mary Piri Reed is at a conference somewhere in California. I'm sure she'll let us know where. Um and is joining us virtually. And then um Director West Morland and Treasurer Hartland um are unable to attend. Treasurer Hartland is sick and um Director West Morland is out of the country traveling. So, just wanted to give you that update about who is um not here that normally is and I would welcome our presenters up to the table at this time and um turn it over to Dr. Mary Perry Reed if you wanted to um to say something for the transportation update. If not, um, we'll go ahead and maybe just want to test everything and see if we can hear you. Sure. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Hello. Okay. Hello. Well, awesome. So, um, we're very grateful to our um, transportation audit partner, CISO, and I believe Nikki is here with us this evening. I'm not sure who else is with her, but um we have been engaging in conducting a transportation audit to identify efficiencies that will help us be more um efficient with our fiscal resources. And I believe that we've identified a number of opportunities to reduce our transportation bud budget. I've shared with many of our audiences that before COVID we were paying about $6 million for transportation and you know we're sitting at around $11 million. And so with our $7 million budget reduction here in the district for moving into fiscal year 26, it's um really important that we identify potential efficiencies while continuing to find ways of transporting the students safely and reliably. So, I will turn it over to our assistant director of transportation, Naisha Williams, our director of business services, George to Chapanduka, and Nikki um Pandril, and I'm not sure who else is here, but welcome. We'll turn it over to them right now. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Mary Period. And again, good evening, uh Chair Anderson and respective board members. Uh the other uh consultant from CISO in the room is uh Shenon. Uh so again this is a continuation of the presentation uh which uh CISO had uh with the board. uh and at that point in time uh we didn't have all the uh required data uh to make informed decisions around how transportation operations will feel and look uh for fiscal year 2526. So want to welcome uh uh the team uh back to the board table uh to continue conversations and look at some of the options we've uh put into consideration in partnership and consultation with uh with the board. Uh I don't know before we um we hand over to the CISO team Nisha is there anything else you want to add? I do not have anything just open for questions after Cecil is done with their presentation. Thank you. You're welcome. Okay, so we'll go through our slide deck, our updated one. Um first slide is just an the our focus was on bell times and no bus zones. Um same introduction to the scope of work really looking for how to be effective and efficient within the Hopkins transportation. Um, slide three shows your guys's current bell times. Um, all the schools that are on tier one, tier two, and then Metobrook on that tier three. The total number of GenEd buses used on your current Belltime system is 55 buses. Um, and that includes a total number of 526 currently being transported open enrolled students on those buses. Next, we're going to go into the few scenarios. We have four scenarios listed that we went through and rerouted your guys' system to see what what the number of buses were going to end up being. So, scenario one is all of the elementary schools being on a first tier and the secondary schools being on a second tier with an hour in between. This ended up being a wash. It was still 55 total vehicles for this scenario. Um, still the same amount of open enrolled students, 526. We chose to focus on the secondary students in that open enrolled number because that is where we're using the most amount of buses. Um, so there's 304 secondary open enrolled students, which is about four to five buses. So, if you're looking at reducing the number of open enrolled students that you guys transport, it could be a cost savings of around 400 to $500,000 for those four to five buses. Scenario number two is um the elementary schools the five elementary schools on the first tier secondary tier and then Meadowbrook uh going to that secondary so they wouldn't be on their own third tier anymore. This actually added four buses to your total amount because that secondary is already kind of the full tier. So bringing the Metobrook kids onto the second tier meant we had to add four buses. That would actually be an additional $400,000 to the overall budget by moving those Metobrook kids. Um again focused on open enrolled and with secondary um and Metobrook those that secondary or that second tier would have $459 open enrolled students on it which is six to seven buses 600 to $700,000 for those open enrolled students on that secondary tier. The third bell time option is when things started to get more interesting. Um, so this one is three elementary schools on the first tier, secondary schools on the second tier, and then the three elementary schools on the third tier, all with an hour in between so buses can get out, come back, um, and pick up at the as many students as possible. Um if if everything else stayed the same um there was a reduction of three buses, so it went down to 52 buses. So that's about $300,000 with Savians. Um we then looked at uh non-public schools and what it would look like to move their bell times to a different tier because currently they are on that secondary tier which is when you guys transport the most students. So what would it look like if we moved them to the third tier? Um and that was an additional reduction. So we got it down to 46 buses. Um which reduced nine buses. So going to this and moving non-pubs did see the most reduction of nine buses. And then the open enrolls similar to what it did in the other options. 304 students on that secondary. Um, so four to five buses. The last option, scenario four, we um kept your guys' current bell times exactly like they are now, but just moved the non-pubs to the Meadow Brook tier. So, just moving the non-publix. So that is um that is Notre Dame, Good Shepard and then um Blake to a third tier would have a reduction of four buses um and could could potentially have a little bit more if we did a little bit more creative routing. But that would be a reduction of four buses, $400,000 just moving those non-publiclix to a different bell time. So, those are the scenarios. Do you guys have any questions about scenarios? Otherwise, we're going to go into no bus zones. Chair Andre. Yeah. I I'm I'm We provide busing to those three non-publiclix. I didn't even know that. Yes. Yep. So it is part of state statute that public schools do provide busing, but school districts can determine the bell times that work within the system. So you guys can say, I understand right now your bell times are this. It would work better in our system to change them to this and that's how they would still be provided transportation. Chair Jason has a quick question. Yeah. Is this still in alignment with like the sleep study or like the sleep schedule that was conducted? Yeah. So, we are not changing your guys's secondary. So, the older kids are staying pretty much at that same time. We're just moving around elementary two elementary two elementaryaries in the in um scenario three. We're moving to elementarymentaries. Chair Andre. Yeah, I do have a question as well. Um, so your your your IP I mean estimating one bus is about 100,000. Is that including labor, um, maintenance, fuel, everything like that? Everything that goes into your contract. So I guess other than fuel our contractors because we contract the labor what they pay drivers that those things are factored in the raises that we give them each year but we as a district only we don't worry about maintenance or anything like that because they're not district owned vehicles. So we just pay the contractor for their services. Don't we have some district vehicles though or they are small vehicles. We have a few that we use for our transitions plus they are just small vehicles. That's a separate scenario with separate costs and things like that. Okay. So 100,000 is okay. That's like big yellow bus. Yeah. Big and that's a year, right? Yes. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Sharon Dre, I have a question. Um, so then we don't I guess yeah, that was confusing about Blake. I know Breck seems to have their own buses, but they're what technically in the Robbinsdale school district because they're just over 100, but they have their own buses. I didn't realize Blake didn't have their own buses. Have we thought about subleting those particular institutions for the expense? Obviously, we're car we're carrying a cost. So, I don't know if we could share that cost. So, right now for Blake, we only transport in the PM. We have an agreement where they actually transport in the AM. Um, but when we do that, a lot of times we reimburse anyway. So, it really depends on if we're able to and it fits in our structure, we can do it, but we usually still have to pay from reimbursing families. If a family transports their students, we reimburse the money back to them. And that applies for both Notre Dame, Good Shepard, and Blake. I think those were those were probably similar to my colleagues. Probably the big eye opener that I I think Blake is really a more shocking one to me. I did not realize I I can understand. I Notre Dame seems to be am closer to Glen Lake, so I guess that makes sense. And Good Shepard is closer to Mebrook. I I think Blake and I'm assuming that this is only the elementary within Hopkins. This is because I know they have two elementaryaries, one in Weisetta and one in Hopkins. Yes, only students that are within Hopkins that reside in Hopkins. Okay. Um yeah, I think I think it is I agree with everyone um that it is shocking I think to learn how much public schools already pay for private schools um and and interesting to learn. I am thank you so much for this information and the different scenar scenarios. I'm finding myself confused by them. However, so um I'm wondering um so the first number um that we're looking at is how much we could save in buses if we just tweaked a little bit how we're handling bell times. And then the second section is if We no longer provide transportation for openen enrolled students. Correct. I would not no longer but if we didn't add additional vehicles once we reached our capacity on our vehicles for open enroll students. So currently our past practice has been once we reach our capacity we just keep adding more and more buses. And so if we were to make sure that we stick with our capacity, we could save this amount of money for that second portion on the amount of open enroll students that we have. Yeah. But then uh uh the second scenario, what's happening with the second scenario? We are taking that half portion which currently is more of a third tier for me and moving it to the second tier with the secondaries and that scenario actually adds more uh adds about four more buses. Yeah, I that I I found that interesting too. Is it just because Metobrook has our largest enrollment of the elementary schools that plus secondary is already stretched out and that's where we have the most buses that we're just adding more to where we already have the most buses. That makes sense. But for the two different scenarios when it comes to open and road, we did not have enough time to unout all open and road students in order to create these scenarios. So these scenarios are factoring in our current structure with all the open enroll students that we have in the system. And then that second total number is letting us know that if we were to adopt what we are looking into moving forward with open and road, this is how much we could save, right? So in scenario two, we would have to add four buses. But it looks like if we factor in the open enrolled students, we would wait a minute. Oh, would we have to add even more buses? Yes. Okay, that's where I was getting confused. you would have to add four buses but you if if you took all open enrolled students off and just said like any extra room that would be the reduction of the six to seven. So open enrolled is a reduction. Okay. So I am looking at this correctly. Okay. So it would be um so it would be a savings factoring in the six to seven buses if we do open if we look at open enrolled only we would add four buses but then we would have that savings just for open enrolled. So that is we plan on doing that already with open enroll. So this is just kind of showing us that this is what we could potentially save once we go and move along with that. But if we change our times to this second time with Metobrook being on that secondary time, it will increase from where we are now. So it would kind of be double the savings if we didn't add four buses and then we just went with opening road. But if we go with this scenario, we would add four buses and save with that other open enroll portion. It's kind of two parts, but all things remaining the same. So it would be in this scenario too, it would be after factoring in open enrollment about 200 to 300. Mhm. Okay. Yeah. I think open enrollment isn't as guaranteed because it kind of depends on the decisions that are made because I I think you guys will still end up transporting some of those students. We're just really not sure how many who or what that's going to look like or what the room is going to be. Um, so when so we we showed you all four scenarios that we we did the work on, but looking at the cost reduction and the ones that had like the least impact on your guys' students, um, scenario three and scenario four were the ones that were kind of talked about as two more viable options um, because of both the cost reduction and the least impact to families. Chair Andre. Yeah. Can I ask a question? So, if you like in scenario three, um, do you ask Notre Dame, Good Shepard, and Blake to move to that third tier bell schedule? What's the percent chance they say no? Well, we just kind of let them know that that is these are the times that we are at to service them and they already are aware that we may make some changes. We just would have to solidify what those were. Got it. Thank you. So, they would we would just say to them like if they don't accept the new time then they don't get transportation. If they don't accept it, they could choose to find services somewhere else where they would okay contract. Sometimes they talk about like they have one of the schools have their own bus but they can't hire a driver. So it's kind of one of those things where they would find transportation somewhere else if they wanted to but similar to Breck that does their own. Yeah. Okay. Tier Dre, can I ask a quick question? This may be it may um you know align but it may not. So, I know that um the YMCA at Richdale is no longer offering after school next year. Is busing the reason for it? Um the YMCA was a partnership with our kids and company due to staffing issues. The kids and company is staffed now. So, what we did was we partnered with community education to provide that vehicle to the YMCA during the period of time where they were having staffing issues. And so there was a list of students that were approved that and noted to be on that waiting list. They were approved to go to the YMCA because they were waiting to get into Kithn & Co. And so what we found out from community education is that they don't have that need anymore due to being fully staffed now. So, um the scenario 4 is where we're preserving our current bell times. Correct. Um thus like having the least impact on families and and staff. Um, but we are shifting the non-public schools down. I'm just making sure I understand this correctly. Yes. So, we would reduce four buses and then depending on what happens with open enrolled students, we could have an additional savings. Yes. Additional four to five lesson. So, it could be a total of eight to nine. And then scenario three, just to make sure, is making that change with the elementaryaries, the three and three, but we would still also move Notre Dame and Good Sheeperd to that third tier. So, it's okay. I I feel like I understand it now. Okay. So, thank you. You're welcome. Walking me through that. and chair and reason. Yeah. Um, so for for both scenarios three and four, it when we're talking about the open enrolled one, it it has the same language and numbers there. So just just tell me one more time what the thought is there because assistant director Williams, I thought you had said like we're already going to do it with the open road soon. So what what are we doing? I think what we want to do is just make sure that we our buses have a capacity of 77 passengers, but we really do not want to go over about 54ish. And so when we're routing, we do leave space for new enrolles. Um we do give space for some in district transfers and open enrolled students. What's been happening now is that once an open enroll family requests transportation, we just keep going to the max. And so if we get 20 students on one bus stop and it fills the bus up, we just add another bus instead of making sure that we say, "Hey, here is your other option." And we do give options sometimes, but we have to make sure that we're just letting families know that there is another option that may not be the stop that you would like, but it has space on that bus. And then we're also trying to work through that process of offering that pay to ride through the contractor, whereas open road families in certain areas will be able to pay to ride transportation in closer to their home. that will help with the families who may not receive transportation this year to the stop that they would request. So, it's more of a change in practice. Yeah. Cuz I mean, uh those opening road families have always anticipated that the district was providing transport for them. So uh just being proactive and uh communicating with them uh that you know when we reach capacity we may not be able to provide transportation at probably their uh regular favorite uh bus stop. Um I am wondering about what you just said. So we're um so we leave like 20 open spots on every bus. Was that factored into these numbers? Not we don't necessarily leave 20 open spots, but we do look at the spot the bus route and make sure before I guess if you want to say 54ish would be 20, but it's not necessarily I think it is factored into here. It is. It's not necessarily open spots because if we put 77 students in the each seat, it's a really packed bus. Um, and that's usually just for elementary students and these days we they're really squished and tight in there. Um, our secondary students definitely aren't comfortable with 77 on a bus. So, this it will never look like they're open seats. Um, but because it's the capacity of the bus just we just fill it up. Our capacity is just different than what the actual bus can says it can hold. Yeah. I just wanted to make sure we were looking at that in these numbers and we weren't going to be surprised with Oh, actually we had no savings because Okay. Yes. We didn't factor in the the cushion. We don't have bus aids, right? We don't have any bus aids on the bus. Not for our general ed buses, but for our special ed buses. um they're required per student that has the requirements. So, okay. Just not regularly on regular ad buses. I think too you'll see the most savings with moving those non-pubs in scenario for like that's your guarantee saving at least four buses. Um this is just with additional creative routing and sticking to the process. You could see more the extra couple of buses, but I think you're going to see the most change from the non-publix. Yeah, thank you for including that. Should we move on to no bus zones? Yeah, thank you. Um, so we did no bus zones for the one mile for elementary, um, which is on slide number eight. So, this is broken down by school and then how many potential buses that could cut per school. Um, you can see some of them have more kids in that area. Some of them, such as Gatewood, you would actually see a savings with kind of those 16 kids that would no longer be eligible. Um but when you look at overall that is about 7 to 11 buses um for the first tier or the elementary tier and then um on the next slide for secondary we went out to the two mile and those cost savings very similar to the 8 to 10. So 7 to 11 8 to 10 that's it's not combined it is just over it's just one cutting. So it would be 800,000 to a million in savings because you have to take it off of both tiers. So really it's what we can save on the secondary tier. So those 8 to 10 buses is where you're going to see the buses no longer being needed anywhere. So that's where you're going to see the cost savings. So if we I want to make sure that we're that I'm understanding this correctly. So if we do a um so we have a reduction in tier one then that would transfer to tier 2 and vice versa. Yes. So are we are we do we have buses? I guess my question is, do we have buses that we have for the secondary tier there that are not in use at tier one? Yes. Okay. And that's why the most savings would be on that secondary tier. Okay. Great. So, it's not like these are cumulative. It's not that we're going to save 700,000 plus a million. Yes. Correct. Okay. And I didn't know how to show that any other way. So, I was just going to explain it really well. It's not cumulative. It's just one Sorry. I know. It looks so good splashing before my eyes. Chair Andre. Yes. Have a question for the audit folks. Um so I think some on the board probably many or most on the board are worried about uh impacts to families with uh you know lower flexibility, lower income, you know kind of things like that where they can't literally cannot get their children to school because of this change. Um, is there any consideration or like scheme I guess you want to call it where if they demonstrate like kind of like free and reduced lunch if they demonstrate that there's need and they can't you know get the transportation that maybe we can you know get if they can get them to the closest bus stop like outside of the exclusion zone, you know, kind of like trying to get them onto a bus somewhere somehow, right? I I think with all policies, there can always be exceptions that are made for families in situations that need it. I think that's up to leadership and admin to make those decisions. Um, but I I think it would be do possible, especially um for buses that have the room. like we don't want to not not transport students that that may have a higher need if there's like open spots on a bus. So, I think it can be something that's talked about on a per basis type of thing with the transportation team, I guess. Yes, the transportation team. I mean, we worry so much about absenteeism, right? and like it seems counterproductive to be like, "Okay, well, you know, we can't get you there, but you have to be there." Um, but so if there was a safety valve, and I know that that's probably potentially less savings, but I think that would be a good place to be for Hopkins. I think that's something that we're looking into. It's just a matter of making sure, like Nikki said, it's in a policy so that we aren't increasing buses by doing so. So if once this is set in place, we will need to just make sure that our policies state what what situations will have us make these exceptions if there are any exceptions. Otherwise, what will happen is say the bus is full, we will just add another bus and keep adding buses and it doesn't really stop. And that's where we are currently. We're trying to avoid for sure. um if we put that policy in place then it's potential that it could happen. Yeah. Yeah. I do think too um I know that a a lot of community members have been talking about um being more strategic about transportation to school if you are in that zone. And so I know that that people in the community are already starting to kind of look into solutions for that. using the school as a resource. Yes. Yeah. I think it's determining how many buses depending on the the scenario that you guys decide to go to, how many buses would it take to transport students. So, let's say that's 41 buses. Any spot available in those 41 buses that aren't being used, that's when you can look at open enrolled students and the stops they go to. And then even potentially like no bus zone students both knowing that like hey this is our this is our max we can't add buses but we can make sure the buses that are being used are fully used to the full extent. Yeah. And the other thing I wanted to add is uh this is just on the general education process. We didn't factor in uh special education on this study. So, so for example, if some of the proposal with the governor uh become real uh with uh reducing any of the special education, transportation uh reimbursements, then they can eat into any potential cost savings we may get from uh looking at uh the general education uh busing differently. Chair and Dre, can I ask a quick question? Yes. Was there, and again, we may not know this, was there any consideration or any talk about like how that would impact enrollment at all like about the busing and if there's none like what how that could possibly affect the numbers. Yeah, there's there's a potential. I mean again considering our past practices uh with some of the uh open enrolled uh families which probably attracts uh families to come into Hopkins. So uh some of those changes may definitely have some impacts on enrollment to what to what extent we haven't really gone deeper into into that cuz I mean the other thing we are kind of talking about for this to work is to also put into consideration um where they actually families opt in so that we kind of are very pristine and uh clear on uh which students need transportation uh who doesn't transportation so that we can uh factor those when we start to plan on our routing. And this is even a more deeper question and this may or may not have been talked about, but like if we're talking about kids walking to school, especially smaller kids, have there been any com communication with like our local police department like to do extra patrolling around routes that have smaller kids walking, right? And if they do have to go into doing additional routes, will that cost a school district anything or will we have to, you know, like place a bill on that like extra patrol? Cuz I just would want our kids to be as safe as possible if we have little ones walking to school, which I just it hurts my heart, but I really would just want to put all the protections in place for them. I think in some scenarios we talked about patrol more like to cross certain roads, but I know that we we do have to make sure that there's an agreement and I believe there's a fee for that. We've also just explored volunteers or just different community members that will volunteer and help do like a walk together. Um there was another solution that there was like a biking one where they'd kind of just ride by and pick up the kids on their bikes. So there's there's things that we have talked about. Um I think it's just implementing seeing who in the community will help and how much we cannot incur extra costs by providing. So if we take it away from here then we might be adding it in another place. Mhm. And I I think too um the changing it to the no bus zones is good too. Like there are um other options besides having you know little kids walking a mile to school. Um so I think that using community um to do that is is a good option too. But I share your concern. No one wants kids being unsafe. There is also um potential funding available um and partnerships through the safe routes to school which I know um they're working really um hard on that at West. So there's a model potential model for us developing over there that we could use for other schools. Any other questions or thoughts? Um, I think I did hear someone say that um, there was most talk about scenario three and four thinking is that more of the recommendation. I think it's most because that's where we see most of the savings. Um if we take out the open enrolled students and we just look at the scenarios um that's where we three and four is where we see the most reduction. So scenarios three and four with like in collaboration with the no bus zone. So doing both of them was kind of the the talk right or the discussions. So the the scenario sorry um the so the scenario savings and the no bus zone savings those are cumulative correct. Yes. Yay. Okay. Good. That's my question. Um and and I did just want to say I really um appreciate you including um scenario 4 which maintains our current um bell times. um just being in this schools, I've heard a lot people given the time that it it's really late to be changing bell times. Um and so I appreciate that that was considered in this. Um, and then also I feel like there because we have these scenarios, we have a vision for maybe in future years we could be working toward um an increased savings cost once our community gets used to us being less Cadillac and maybe more to Toyota going forward in our bus services. So, thank you. I appreciate it all your time and work on this. Any other Yeah, real quick. Um, just so I'm not misunderstanding for scenario three, I I do see elementary 3 and then elementary 3 for 7:35 and 9:35. Are the gened included in the bottom? Because I know we have obviously in scenario four we have them all listed out all Hopkins listed out but then we have here added plus non-public. So that scenario three the purple area would be the three elementary schools plus Notre Dame and Good Shepard. So those nonpubs they just aren't spelled out. Is that correct? Right. Yeah. That's what I was assuming. Thank you for uh uh confirming. Thanks for that. I didn't catch that. Andrea. Oh yes. Hi. Hello. Um thank you to CISO and Miss Williams and Mr. Chapanduca for the information, the presentation. I do um know that it is um going to be important for us to move very quickly on quite a few of these things. our um assistant director of transportation Naisha needs to start mapping together what can be operationalized. So I would like to get a signal from our school board that we can move in the direction that's being proposed and I know that we have to make a decision about whether or not to um implement the three tiers if that's the direction that we're moving in either this year or next year. But I would like to get a thumbs up from the board in um moving toward expanding the no bus zones and offering pay to ride for open enroll students and starting to work with our elementary schools on what some of those um safe to school options will look like etc. because we have to start putting everything in place. Great. Would you like us to go around the table and just indicate where our comfort level is with each of these? I mean, I would look for um board members to maybe pick a scenario um of the bell times that you feel is appropriate. And then also once now that you've seen the numbers um what is your comfort level with um the no with the change to the the bus zones the no bus zones um one mile for elementary and then two miles for secondary. knowing that there might be a little bit of flexibility with our um elementary given that my understanding is we do have extra buses hypothetically. Extra buses. Well, don't we have more buses for the secondary zone than what we need for tier one? Yes. So, there might be some buses that could correct. you could handle those that Dr. that director Xiao was saying families that are in a hardship situation. Some school districts do like a wait list for their no bus zones so that if the elementary you have buses not being used that you could still provide transportation if there's room. Great. And then um uh the pay to ride um Dr. Mary Perry Reed, are we feeling that's something that we can operationalize by fall or would that be like a future scenario? There's two different ones for open enroll students. Yes. Yes. For open students. Miss Williams, correct me if I'm wrong, but that's something that we're hoping to mechanize pretty immediately. Is that correct? Correct. We are working through paid arrive for open enroll students. Okay, great. Thanks. And sorry to ask how much revenue does that bring in? It will not it would be for open enrolled families. It would be totally separate from family to the contractor. So, it will not bring direct revenue into the district, but it will help us to not increase and add additional buses for open road families and increase our our um funds for that. So, we'll be facilitating families connecting with a contractor, but we will not be providing the contractor. So for that um we will not provide it. We will not facilitate. We will help assist the contractor get everything connected with families especially since this is a startup but the families will directly work with the contractor to set up services to pay the ride. Okay. Thank you for that clarification. Um Director Jiao, do you want to start going around? Sure. Yeah. Well, I think scenario four is definitely like to me as as close to no-brainer as possible. Uh, so definitely scenario four. Um, I think maybe longer term scenario 3 is interesting, but I think there's a lot of disruption and it is quite late. Um, and I think the smart routing makes sense. So, um, definitely would be okay with that. Um, I guess maybe we can discuss the actual effects uh and monitor the actual effects and then um the exclusion zone or the no buzz zone. Uh, I think it makes sense. Uh, but I do think we should probably try to um build in some some an exception process and and maybe if that means like a few more buses to get the neediest and most most at risk and and most uh you know needing a routing uh you know if we have to give back you know a few two or three buses out of the seven to 10 I think that's reasonable to me. Thank you. Um I will say uh scenario four seems to be the least disruptive uh out of all out of the two scenarios that are being presented and I am okay with uh the no bus zones uh for tier one and tier 2. Obviously it's going to come down to an implementation and less of it's going to be a policy but it's really going to be falling on the implementation. I think that's where um families are going to want to understand that. Thank you. Um, I agree. I um I think scenario 4 is um is good for this coming year. Um, keeping things the same and then looking toward um other options that might be workable in the future if there are additional cost savings once we see how this works in real time. Um, and then the no bus zones. Um, I share my colleagues reservations about um the impact it could have on kids getting to school. That is our priority. Um, and recognize that this needs to happen. So, I'm in full support of that. And then um just with the knowledge that we're going to be relying heavily on community and then also um if we do make these changes to to make sure that they are um equitably enforced which I think can be difficult because often it's those with resources who know that the changes happened and know how to advocate. Um, so I do rely on our excellent staff to to make those determinations. I would also um agree with scenario 4. Um, and I do share the sentiments of both um, Vice Chair Andre and Director Zhao. Um just making sure that we can implement equity as much as possible into these decisions and also having the um you know like those exceptions and trying to work with families who are able who who we can support um who are unable to get their kids to school even like within a mile and who depends on us heavily for transportation. So, um would be open to helping discuss options or um you know any ideas or brainstorming around that. I can also you know do some community outreach to support with that. But want to just make sure our kiddos are getting to school safe and on time. I know that that plays into a bigger system if they don't. So, um we got just be very mindful of that. Thank you. Um yeah, I'm also comfortable with the no bus zone and you know it appreciate the discussion around it. It sounds like we're going to be very thoughtful about it. So um it makes sense to me. I was almost going to advocate more for scenario three based on the bigger dollar signs there, but I I like Chair Andre and how you had said it's like, you know, maybe do scenario four this year. We're probably going to learn a lot, you know, and then if need be move to that three on the next one. So I appreciate it. Thank you. Is that And I think are we all comfortable with the pay to ride option for open enrolled students? Sure. Great. Is that all the information you needed from us? Dr. Mary Perry Reed. I believe so. Um, Terrarero and N A N A N A N A N A N A N A N A N A N Aisha, how are you feeling at this point in terms of moving from decision- making to mechanizing these changes? Well, I feel like we have a lot of work cut out for us um just to make sure that we have everything buttoned up and in place. Um it will take a lot from all of us collectively to just make sure that we're able to put those policies in places for the no bus zones. Um switching the nonpubliclix shouldn't be too much. I just want to make sure and hope that we can see the cost savings at at the end. And that's what I'm looking forward to just making sure like we can see that revenue come back. Um, so we'll connect and just kind of talk and see how we can change those policies and button button things up when it comes to exceptions and things like that or community outreach and things like that. Yeah. And I'll also add that uh uh based on what we had from the board, we also uh make sure that uh equity is at the center of uh how we operationalize this process as well as uh impacts to enrollment. Yeah, thank you for that. Um, and also I think um, having maybe workg groups this spring at each site that can kind of help families transition might be something that we could help facilitate given that we all have schools that we partner with. So, if you do need that help of the board, feel free to reach out to us. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for all of your work and help and guidance during this. Appreciate it. [Music] Anything you'd like to add, Dr. Mary Perry Reed? No, I'm good. I very much appreciate CESO's partnership and there's a lot of work ahead of us, but it does feel good to find ways of being more efficient with our scarce resources. And um it sounds like we're putting together some opportunities to partner with families who may have some concerns. We we want all families to feel like they found a a getting their child to school solution that that works well for them. So I I'm looking forward to those opportunities ahead of us. So thanks to everyone. Thank you. And we will now take um a 7m minute break before our general meeting of the Hopkins School Board starts at 7 PM. Thank you all. say that it was only Wait, what? Oh, yeah. Cuz you said that it's You should say like it was on April. Oh, I didn't. Yeah. Yeah. Just to make sure. Hopkins girls had an Ireland trip alongside Eden Girls Rugby. very successful playing games and learning. Hello. Welcome to this me general meeting of the board of Hopkins Public Schools. Um I call this meeting to order at 7:01 p.m. And we get to kick off the meeting with one of our favorite parts of um being part of the Hopkins Public School community and recognizing some of our amazing scholars. So, we will um come down to the front of the room so that we're closer to all of you and not behind this oddly shaped table. Um, and I just wanted you all to know that our um superintendent um Dr. Mary Perry Reed is here listening. She's waving if you can see her in there. Um, she is thrilled that you are here tonight and sad that she can't be present in person, but she is watching and, um, is very proud of you as well. So, uh, thank you all for coming out this evening. I know um it's beautiful outside and um uh it can be difficult to come in and join us for these things. So, we are thrilled to recognize our student athletes and their coaches from wrestling who have recently competed at the state level. We're excited to celebrate the estan outstanding accomplishments of our athletes who have reached that level of championship and their achievements are a testament to their hard work, dedication, strength, and talent. Dan Gable, a legendary Olympic wrestler, once said, "Gold medals aren't really made of gold. They're made of sweat, determination, and a hard to fill alloy called guts." This quote reminds us of the importance of perseverance and pushing our limits to achieve greatness. On behalf of the Hopkins School Board and District, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to our dedicated coaches who have guided and supported our athletes. High school sports play a vital role in the development of students, schools, and communities. Beyond physical health and athletic skills, participation in sports teaches discipline, teamwork, resilience, and leadership. Qualities that benefit students both on and off the wrestling mat. Athletics foster a sense of belonging and school spirit, strengthening connections among students, families, and staff while instilling pride in the broader community. To coaches and parents, thank you for your hard work, commitment, and love for our student athletes. Your efforts are instrumental in their success, and we deeply appreciate you. Our wrestling team has demonstrated incredible dedication and skill. Their rigorous practice and competition schedules have been balanced with team building and confidence building experiences that enhance individual and team performance. Watching these athletes compete is truly inspiring and motivates us all to strive for greatness. At the state meets, our athletes delivered exceptional performances competing against the best in the state. We are immensely proud of their achievements and the hard work they have invested to reach this point. The wrestling team are Lake Conference champions. For the third year in a row, the boys wrestling team won the section 6A meet and qualified for state as a team. They finished sixth overall in the state meet. 10 wrestlers, 9th through 12th grade, earned the scholar athlete award with a minimum 3.8 GPA, which is pretty impressive. We are also joined by Rya Kausski, currently a 10th grader. Rya Kausski was the first girl at Hopkins to make it to the state wrestling tournament. She did that last year as a ninth grader. This year she was injured and couldn't compete at sections. So now to the fun part. When you hear your name, please make your way down the royal runner so we can recognize you. If you go down to the back of the blue carpet, we'll call your name and you can do your Hopkins Royal Walk. What? Oh, you okay? Um, Anna Jagger. [Applause] any of you just want to hang out with us up here. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. And Mark [Applause] Gonzalez. So, please join me in celebrating these students for their exceptional achievements. Let's give them a big round of applause. And Ria, if you wanna stand up, [Applause] did parents get it? One more. Sorry, that's okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. [Applause] And you are certainly welcome to stay this evening um for the remainder of our meeting um or you can um go and continue on with your evening. We totally understand. Um the first part of our um meeting is our open agenda where we take public comment. Um I do not believe that we received any voicemails for the board or any public comment cards. Um we do value hearing from the community that we serve. So, if you would like to show up in person and um address the board, you can do it in two ways. Leaving a voicemail or showing up before our meeting and filling out a comment card. Um so, given that there are no public comments for this evening, that takes us to our student board representative reports. And we have two board reps here in person. Any online? We have three. Okay. I did not see you at all. Hi. How are you doing? I'm good. All right. Great. I can see. Are we going to hear all about Cuba? Yeah, you will, actually. Great. Good. All right. Hello. Oh, okay. Can it be played? I'll quickly go listen to it first. Okay. Thank you. All right. Hello everybody. My name is Manuel Wahu and I'm a sophomore student board representative. So the high school has just come back from spring break and everyone is very excited because we are starting our fourth fourth and final term. So recently, as you all know, the high school band, choir, and orchestra took a trip to Havana, Cuba. I was on this trip and we had a lot of fun doing a variety of activities such as tours, watching cultural performances, shopping, going to the beach, eating authentic Cuban food, and playing our instruments or singing. So, um, in Cuba, we had an exchange with a local high school called the National School of Music. And we practiced with them, we performance, we performed with them, and then we socialized with them. It was a lot of fun, I think. um just seeing the cultural differences and then especially their their level of music because they practice 5 to six hours a day of their instrument. So just seeing um their commitment and dedication was really inspiring for all of us. Um so moving on, Mr. Schroeder and the Hopkins Outdoor Adventures program were awarded with 36 bike kits bike kits from Tonka Cycle with support from a heft grant. Mr. Schroeder teaches an outdoor adventures class at the high school and all the scholars are very excited to start biking this spring. Volunteers are needed to build bikes on April 15th and volunteers should have some level of bike experience and be able to bring their own bike building tools such as an Allen wrench, pliers, etc. and potentially bike stands and or bike pumps for filling the filling up the tires at the end. Also going on right now, applications for the National Honors Society for Rising Seniors are now open. NHS is a nationally recognized club for high academic achievers dedicated to the good of their school community. The requirements to apply are that you must have a 3.67 or higher GPA, 30 or more hours of volunteer hours, and a recommendation email from a teacher. You also cannot have any instance of academic dishonesty on your official school record. Applications will be due Wednesday, April 23rd. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, my name is Eloise Bullen and I'm a sophomore board rep. Starting we have the ACT and bilingual seal testing will be taking place on April 15th. Um, my Health held a children's dental service providing dental care for people of all ages, including teens and young adults. It was on April 2nd from 9:00 to 4:00 p.m. or 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Um, the Minnetonka Police Department is um partnering with the Henipin County Sheriff's Office by holding a youth leadership academy. Its aim is to empower youth ages 14 to 17 for them to become strong leaders in their community. The participants must live in Henipin County and there's only 25 spots available. So, get those applications in soon. Last but not least, Hopkins Girls Rugby went on a tour to Ireland alongside Egan Rugby. They had a very successful trip. We played three games and built amazing relationships with the other teams. Wow. Hello, my name is Claire. Um, I'm a junior. Um, HHS will have our second um, club fair of the year tomorrow. Um, I feel like this is a really good opportunity for students to join clubs near the end of the school year. Um, this is also a good opportunity for new clubs to get themselves out there. Um, I'm definitely really excited to go to this. I love seeing all the clubs and I'm I might join a new club. Who knows? Um, over spring break. Um, students from AP World History and AP European History went to Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy over spring break. Um, I did not go to this, but I definitely wanted to. It looked really fun. Um, I'm sure that it was very educational and just so many good sites to see there. Um, we will have a J uh JV track and field meet. um they will be competing against Eden Prairie in Buffalo. Um it will be a home meet on Thursday and then there um will be a varsity lake conference meet on Friday. Um and finally um there is a new Best Buddies program at HHS. I'm really excited that we finally have a program like this coming to our school and I'm excited to see what it brings to our school. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions or comments from my board colleagues? Uh, Chair and Drezen. Yes. Uh, Manuel, thanks for that update. That bike building workshop sounded really cool. Can you just say the date of that again and how many bikes there were? The date is April 15th and then there are 36 bike kits. Very cool. And I am wondering about could you tell me more about Best Buddies? Um, yeah. So, I'm not totally I'm not totally sure what they do, but I know that it's um kind of connecting students um uh like special education students and kind of fostering like good connections there and making them feel even more welcome than they already are at our school. And it's just really good to just like get people like, you know, connected and all that stuff. Nice. Thank you. I'm excited too that it's coming to the high school. And um where did you go in Ireland? So we did a full tour. We started in Belfast. We went down to Dublin. We went to Kill Arney and then Kill Kenny. Um, we went alongside it was four rugby teams all put together. So, it was Egan, Hopkins, Minnotonka, and Albert Lee all there. Nice. And you all traveled together. Yeah. So, um, there was 21 of us from the four different schools. And so, we all got to know each other very well. Nice. Sounds like a really good opportunity to build relationships. Yeah. Hopefully, we'll be joining them again in 2027 to go to England and Wales. Wow. Fingers crossed. Nice. Thank you, Jes. Um, first, you all went to Cuba. Like, come on. Like, that is that's amazing. Like, congratulations on that. Um, secondly, just a quick question. When is prom? Like do you guys have like another like dance or before prom? Like is there anything else coming up? I don't think there's another one before prom. There isn't another one, but prom is on um May 31st, I believe. And we're voting on a theme right now. Yeah. So, I'm I'm excited for that. One of them dinosaurs. Yeah, there were some funny themes on there. Um, on like the voting form, there was like dinosaur theme and like Star Wars theme. Those are really cool, but I don't I hope they don't get picked. You don't want to go as R2-D2 to Okay, that's this only question I had. I was just wondering like what the end of year events were at the high school. So, we do have another uh pep fest planned for the week of prom, like a pep rally. Yeah. keep us posted with details, please. Yeah. Thank you. And that um takes us to our superintendence report, Dr. Mary Perry Reed. Thank you, Chair Anderson. And um I did want to share that Manuel is going to come and do a I think with some other students do a spotlight at our April 22 schoolboard meeting on the Cuba trip. So Eloise, maybe you can also um share a few more details about the rugby trip to Ireland and we can hear about Cuba and Ireland. I think that would be great. Yes. Awesome. So I think I have been instructed to share my slides. Um um and I apologize um Dr. Mary Perry Reed, we do have um a a voicemail to play that's part of um public comment. Would it be okay to do it now before you get started? Absolutely. Thank you. So, we will hear um the voicemail that was left for us for part of public comment. Pediatrician in the Twin Cities area with family who attend Hi, this is Dr. Alex Duffy. I'm a pediatrician in the Twin Cities area with family who attend uh school in the Hopkins School District. I'm also a part of Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate and I'm calling in partnership with MN 350's clean transportation team to share an important funding opportunity. At a previous board meetings, you have heard about the various state and federal funding opportunities there are to help Hopkins deploy electric school buses. Thank you for taking the first step by expressing your interests, but we understand there wasn't time to submit an application. Fortunately, the Minnesota Department of Commerce has a new round of funding open through May 13th. Because Hopkins is a prioritized district, this grant could cover up to 80% of the cost of electric school bus, 85% of charger cost, and 85% of other related expenses like hiring uh to help hiring help to complete the application. The district or your bus provider can apply for this grant opportunity. As a pediatrician, I want to emphasize that diesel exhaust is linked to asthma development and school absences related to asthma exacerbations. Electric school buses can make a real difference for students health and attendance. If you're interested or want assistance with the application, I'd be happy to help. You can reach me at Alec. [Laughter] Thank you. I appreciate that. Um, and then we will now hear from Dr. Mary Perry Reid. Thank you for waiting. It's not a problem. Um, I'm actually seeing some things on my screen that I don't know how to navigate and I'm trying to follow the prompts and it's not working. And I wish John Wetter were here with me, but he's not. Oh, um I don't know what it means to grant access to this application and private and privacy and security settings located and then it's just not following the prompts. So, do you mind if I just share without slides for just a few minutes? Yes, go ahead. I'm so sorry. Well, um first of all, I don't love virtual meetings, but I'm very grateful to be able to participate in um one of our most important meetings, which is schoolboard meetings um virtually because I'm not in Hopkins in person. So, I am in San Diego. I'm attending the ASU GSB conference and I wanted to share that ASU GSB is a convening of education thought leaders, education technology, um, innovators, nonprofits, venture capitalists and philanthropists all coming together to look at the intersection of innovation, technology, and education. And so it's a really great conference especially um you know as a superintendent I really um enjoy figuring out if in Hopkins we are doing all of the best most researched approaches to um helping our students achieve at high levels. So, I'm really thankful to be here and I wanted to publicly thank the Walton Family Foundation for sponsoring my reg registration and all associated expenses so that I can engage in professional learning but not have to worry about using district resources. So, thank you Walton Family Foundation. And just to give you a flavor of what's offered here, in addition to book talks, panels, really amazing um keynotes and leadership reflections, there are also lots of sessions. So, for example, yesterday I went to a session to learn about the work that New York City public schools is doing to put together personalized post high school plans for all of their high schoolers. And in New York City public schools, they serve 1 million students. So personalizing a post-secary plan for every single high schooler is a very big feat that they're taking um seriously. So it was um a great opportunity for me to compare their college and career readiness framework to some of the structures and platforms that we have in place and are building at our high school. And um I was really pleased to know that we are on the right path based on what we're doing in New York City. Um so I wanted to also I had a slide showcasing the senior wall at our high school. So if you do have a minute, please go to the high school and visit the senior wall. Class of 2025 are beginning to post their uh post high school destination. So, colleges and gap year experiences and all kinds of um really interesting destinations our students will be headed to after they graduate. And of course, we have kids going to the University of Minnesota and to Madison, but also they're going to northern Michigan, Drake, Lyola, Boston, Kansas, Colorado, to Lane, Nebraska, Transition Plus, and beyond. So, we're really proud of our students and we're looking forward to seeing the diverse post high school destinations that will continually be added to the senior wall. Um, and speaking of college, Eloise did mention this, but um, our juniors will be taking the ACT exam next Tuesday, April 15, at the high school. And if you think about all the advocacy that um our LAC and some other advocates are engaged in at the capital to talk about the ACT test being a strong replacement for the MCA, at least for 11th graders, um we do we do want to make sure that all of our juniors are doing everything they can to create this opportunity for themsel, but also um to help us realize a strong ACT um participation rate. So, we're looking forward to seeing juniors at our high school next Tuesday. Beginning this month, the ACT test will be shortened and was redesigned. So, the science test will become optional and the remaining three subjects, English, reading, and math, will make up the new core ACT. And while the U of M is still one of the examples of schools that is waving the ACT as an admissions requirement, at least through fall of 2027, many colleges and universities have resumed the ACT and or the SAT as admissions requirements. So, we want all of our juniors to um work their best to put together um great opportunities for themselves. I also had just a um slide I wanted to recognize and I I think one of our board members I believe director Wes Morland talked about the variety show at West Middle School right before the break but we had a slide with some um photos of students showcasing their talents on the stage at West and also we haven't yet found um an amazing photo of the Willy Wonka performance but we had students at North who showcased their talents on stage right before the break and um you know for middle schoolers, our sixth, seventh, and eighth graders to just get up on stage and u really put themselves out there and um and do some showcasing requires a lot of courage and um really grateful for all of the adults who help our middle schoolers explore their passion for the arts. Had a quick slide um with an elementary feature. Fourth graders at Ellis Smith had a really wonderful time building bird feeders. Right before the break, each student assembled uh pieces of wood with hammers and nails to construct their own bird feeder for their front or backyard. Carl Ericson, who is the director from the land of 10,000 diverse bird watchers project, taught students about the positive effects birds have on our food chains and practiced identifying birds by sound and appearance. And so again, all of these kiddos were sent home with uh bird feeders along with a bag of bird seed and wanted to shout out Mr. Ericson and also a few of our high schoolers who helped with those projects. and super quickly had a slide promoting our engagement sessions for facilities of the future. So we've held four uh last evening we had another engagement session held at our high school. There was a virtual component. These uh sessions are offering staff and community members an opportunity to learn more about the bond referendum that we're preparing for November of 2025. And this is to provide safety, security, accessibility, and other facility enhancements to ensure our schools, playgrounds, athletic spaces, and other facility um facility enhancements are um continue to be future forward. So, we appreciate the partnership that we have with Site Logic and also with Fielding International and want our community to know that these sessions are genuinely meant to allow staff and community members to learn about the bond referendum, but also to give input. And so we do need to get feedback if there's a way that we can better set up our staff and community members um in a space to give that genuine feedback so that the um project list uh really does represent the diverse perspective of folks that serve throughout Hopkins. And um super quickly wanted to mention that at the March 25 board meeting, we did present um a list of budget reduction um items to the board table. Um throughout the metropolitan area, school districts are facing about a $300 million a budget shortfall. And so here in Hopkins with our need to reduce our district budget by $7 million, that has been um a lot of um time and labor involved in identifying those uh efficiency and reduction ideas. And so um currently that work does continue in terms of continuing to have bi-weekly budget meetings which are now evolving into staffing meetings. for example, of all of our school leaders were together on Monday to have a full day staffing process. We are engaged in budget tieouts with with each of our school and department leaders, which means that we reconcile this year's with this year's budget with next year's budget to make sure that we're bringing this year's budget to zero and being really clear on staffing and programming for next year. And um of course we had our transportation audit findings earlier which we now need to begin implementing so that we're at a minimum meeting that uh $1 million in savings in terms of transportation efficiencies. And then um just a final slide and I apologize I have a lot going on on my screen so I can't see what slide you're on if you're presenting but um I did have a slide just promoting um soup with a soup. So, these are opportunities for parents and community members to come in and meet with me, the superintendent, and um and have a casual conversation um about whatever folks have questions um concerns or ideas around. And so far, the conversations have been um very fruitful, very beneficial. And with that, I will um open it up for questions. And thank you, Mr. Ward for presenting my slides. I appreciate it. I'll chat with you online about whatever is happening with my screen here. I'm not able to navigate anything. Hopefully, you've been able to hear this report. Yes, we could hear you loud and clear at least here in the boardroom. So, thank you for that. Any questions or comments? Um, I just wanted to um quickly just give a plug for um a comment that I heard at the facilities um presentation last night um the in-person one at the high school. I was um in attendance and um when you were talking about the middle school um shows and the variety show um one of the um the braggs and bats that were brought up um a couple of times was just how much talent exists in our Hopkins community. Um, and I think you spoke to that quite well. Um, when you were talking about the um the middle schools and the way they that kids are able to get up on stage and just showcase who they are and what they bring to our community. Um, and we talked about how important it is to have facilities that nurture and support the great talent that's here. and we see it in our student board reps who come to the table and um every day when we're in our buildings. So, I I was very thankful to hear that last night that our community recognizes the very talented students that we have and that we serve. So, thank you. appreciate your report and I'm glad to know that you are um out there learning about great things that can come back to the Hopkins district. Appreciate you taking that time. Thank you. Well, with that, um we will then uh move to approval of the agenda. I would look for a motion. 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 the agenda is approved. And I just wanted to make another announcement. um I did at the beginning of the workshop um but forgot to do it at the beginning of the meeting. Our superintendent is usually here sitting um right to uh my right during our board meetings but she is currently um at a conference in California otherwise she would be here. And um our board colleague um Treasurer Hartland is ill and cannot be here this evening and director West Morland is um out of the country. So with that we will go to the consent calendar. This um item is um generally reserved for um reports and different actions that um the board considers more routine in nature. If there is an item that the board deems necessary for additional discussion, a motion can be made. Um I would look for a motion that the board approve the consent calendar as presented. So moved. I have a motion. Is there a second? Second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Chair and Gre. Yes. I'd like to move item G, the site logic referendum placement contract onto the um a new business item for I just had several questions about it. So you're you're unable to ask the questions now. Um, if you'd prefer that, that's fine. I just I know we can we can move these things out and because I was thinking probably director Chapanduka or assistant superintendent Lifel would be best able to answer my questions. So, are you making a motion to move the item to new business? Yeah, I guess so. I had seen in our consent policy 203.6 six that the request does not require a second or a vote by the school board if the request is made prior to the vote on the consent agenda. So, I was thinking I could get it out just by asking. Okay, that confused me. Can you say that again? Sure. So, it says a request is timely if made prior to the vote on the consent agenda. So, it's prior to the vote and then it says the request does not require a second or a vote by the school board. An item removed from the consent agenda will then be discussed and acted on separately immediately following the consideration of the consent agenda. Okay. So, what I would like to do before we do that is to ensure that we have people here who can answer your questions because I don't want us to move something to new business and then not be able to vote on it because there's nobody here to answer your questions. Okay. So, is it okay if I ask Jerero? Um, would you Yes. Okay. Um so the item will be moved to new business. Um and that is item G site logic referendum placement contract. Correct. Yes. Thank you. So, I would look for a motion that the board approves the consent calendar um without item G, site logic referendum placement contract. So, move. 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 the consent calendar is approved. That takes us to the treasurer's report. Um, as previously stated, Treasurer Hartland is unable to join us this evening and she gave me a comment and I can't find my where I would have that. Um, but hopefully everybody had a chance to review the treasures report. Um she will be giving a much more in-depth one on um on this um and next um meetings, check registers um when she is able to be here in person. Um she did want everyone in the community to know that the um the audit has been completed. there were no significant findings. Um and that the um the audit committee and SEFAC will be meeting to go over um any of the findings in the audit and to ask questions and a full report will be given to the school board um at our next meeting. And with that, I would look for well I will move in Treasurer Hartland's absence um that the board approve financial dispersements in the amount of $2,858,463.73 for the period of March 16, 2025 through March 31st, 2025. 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. Any opposed? The chair votes I. And the treasures report is accepted. And that takes us to our first item of new business, which is the site logic referendum placement contract. I would invite um Director Chapanduka up to the table, and I'm not sure um Dr. Mary Perry Reed if you had any introductory comments on something that wasn't um a new business, but if you if you do, please um feel free. Thank you, Chair Gon. Um I'm able to see director Chap and Duke at the table. So the um item in question is a professional services agreement uh with Site Logic, our construction partner. And um for the community, it is a massive document that spells out the terms of the agreement um as we prepare for a um bond referendum in November of 25. And um Terraro, would you like to provide any other framing and then we can see what questions our board members may have? Sure. Uh thank you, Dr. Mayor Perry. Um I think I also have Mr. uh Jake uh Beg from Site Logic online. Uh so this contract is actually a a placeholder for uh Site Logic to be able to start some of the work which are tied to the uh referendum. Uh first of all identifying uh the projects uh work with our internal team uh in terms of uh communication and uh facilitating some of the uh focus group meetings which are going on. Uh it doesn't uh provide any execution of uh the service. Uh this was just as a way to enable site logic to be able to do some of the work. Uh the contract will be predicated on uh what the overall uh desire for the district will look like as well as um uh what we'll be able to actually uh uh take out to voters in terms of the uh different projects. uh so for that work to at least start uh slightly going just something uh brought to the board in terms of how this will be facilitated uh uh in terms of the work ahead uh there's also uh reviewing comments with the Minnesota Department of Education which have to be done within specific uh timelines. Thank you. And um for further context, this is so how long have we been working with site logic in the district? Uh to my understanding, I think since 2002. Uh so site logic is kind of been uh our partner in terms of the uh capital projects in the district. the constructions which uh we actually uh facilitate. Uh they also were part of the referendum which was done in 2017 and they also manage our long-term facility maintenance projects uh on a yearly basis. And um just so I'm clear about what this contract is, is this um in addition to the kind of ongoing business relationship we've had with site logic. Correct. So So there's two things here. So there's the long-term facility maintenance which we've uh brought to the board uh previously. Uh that's a separate contract. Uh this is just a placeholder for site logic to be able to start uh start the work. Uh it's not going to be executed until the uh the board approves and uh the referendum is voted on. Thank you. But there's some work we need to do up front uh for these projects to be able we have to get all these projects to uh to uh Minnesota Department of Edu uh education site logic they are the actually uh they are the ones who do the architectural work the designs is required by Minnesota department of education. Thank you and clerk Thompson I believe you had some questions. Uh, Chair Andre. Um, well, first of all, thank you for your questions, kind of setting those up. Those were some of what was in my mind as well. So, I I appreciate having the opportunity to just ask some questions when we see a 32page document going through. So, I I really appreciate it. Um so um as Chair Andre had asked and you confirmed, Site Logic does our long-term facilities maintenance and now we're starting the process of contracting with them to do the work um if the referendum passes. Correct. Okay. By by this document. So for that piece, did we do an RFP with any other companies to do this or did we just go to Site Logic? Uh we didn't do an RFP. uh what site logic has done uh in uh if I'm not mistaken maybe 2018 2019 uh we did an RFP uh which did bring in another um another consultant uh who is uh fieldings who actually did some of our pathfinder work. So uh fieldings and uh site logic uh partnered uh to actually kind of start the work. Uh can we do an RFP? Yes, we can. Uh it's just a uh just a process which is going to take longer. Uh which if we are going to go to the voters in November, I don't think we'll be able to uh execute what needs to be executed between now and July for the reviewing comment with MDE. also understanding the uh level of uh knowledge site logic has about our spaces. Uh so those those are some of the probably impediments uh we will uh face if we decide to go uh the RFP route. It's going to probably at least take us a couple of months to a year to to to do an RFP. Okay. Are we required to go for an RFP? Uh not necessarily because we already have a relationship with uh uh with site logic. Uh can we do an RFP? Yes. I mean, you know, most of the time it's just standard that after a couple years and we've been doing RFPs in a lot of spaces in the in the district. Uh so uh yes, we can do an RFP. it uh what what that does is it's just going to prolong uh the work which needs to be done for that uh review in comment and putting all these projects together and all the work uh site logic and fieldings have done with those uh RFPs uh working with staff in the buildings to create the pathfinders. So this is this is work which has kind of taken us at least 5 years to get us here. Uh so bringing a new player uh that's going to be that's going to be a huge undertaking just considering the risk of the projects we are uh thinking about uh and the technicalities required to understand all the uh architectures and mechanical components of our of our system. Mhm. And I I think too I know that um I was speaking with one of the fielding architects um last night and she indicated that they started right before right as the pandemic was kind of coming um which delayed um the work significantly. So I think that's why we're seeing such a gap between the RFP and the outcome of that work. Uh oh, go ahead. Sorry, Chair Dre. Yes. I do have a question um around the compensation piece. Um it says, you know, their their fee for the services shall not give us where you are. Oh, I'm on page um 32 in appendix B. Sorry. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Yeah. Deep. I'm just looking at how much it's going to cost us, right? And it looks like it it says it shall not exceed 18.75 and shall not fall below 7.75. And is that as a percent of the referendum? Yes. Is a percent of the referendum. Correct. So that could be a female, right? Correct. Okay. Uh the reason why it's kind of crafted like that cuz we don't know uh to what extent and how much the referendum will look like. So uh the goal here was uh to bring this to the board. Once we know what the referendum would look like, then they will break down uh and bring that dollar amount to the board on what this might look like. Chair Andre. Yes. So is that sort of because site logic's costs are kind of fixed and so they could flex in between there to hit that fixed number that they need. Uh I I can't necessarily say that they are fixed but there are different services provided there. So if we decide um later on that we may not want them to do um certain things that may reduce the percentage. So the 7.7 to 18.75% uh is uh predicated on uh the different uh services which can be provided to the district. Okay. And so then we would kind of select what level of service we want or need from them and then that would dictate where in that range it would go. Okay. Yet director Ja, I'm glad you had caught that too. That was truly one of the things I was most interested in if that was standard because I mean if you're talking a you know 10% difference of $30 million that's $3 million is a pretty big difference. So I I get that explanation director Chapenuka. I appreciate it. Chair has a quick question. Yes. Could we maybe just give like a quick like summary or synopsis of what site logic is for those who are listening and don't know what site logic provides to school district so they can have an understanding. Sure. Uh I don't know if Mr. Beg is online maybe you can kind of give us some uh at least high level uh summary of the services site logic has been providing to the district. uh and I know we have also brought site logic to uh site logic to the table uh over time to come and explain some of the some of the projects. He's not okay. Yeah. So I can kind of give a high level. So uh site logic uh as I mentioned they uh they've been in the district uh since uh about 2002 if I'm not mistaken. based on my understanding. Uh so they are the district's project manager for any of our capital projects. Uh we don't have an in-house team which manages our construction projects uh as well as our deferred maintenance. So they manage those projects uh in partnership with uh the different general contractors. Uh they also do architectural work for the district. you know when we are adding new spaces or modifying some spaces uh in our in our buildings. Uh they also manage the relationship with uh the different contractors we we use for uh for the different projects as well as uh uh just making sure that we're in compliance with uh the uh different requirements uh per Minnesota Department of Education. So basically they our contractor for any of the capital projects we uh we we use uh for uh the dollars we receive through either bonds or long-term facility maintenance. Thank you so much. Just want to get that clarification for those who are listening and may not know what we are speaking about. So thank you. any further questions or comments? Well, thank you for providing that information kind of on um on the fly. Um I appreciate it and also um am glad we had the discussion. I think there was some learnings um as part of it. Um I am looking at the um the the part director Xiao that you brought out the compensation and it does say it's um that there will be an amendment to the agreement and is that something that we're going to see passed by the the board? Yeah, as well. Correct. Okay, great. So then we'll have a much um more detailed view of what the estimated total project costs and the costs for providing services will be once we have an idea of the scope of the work. Correct. Correct. Correct. Thank you very much. Thank you. Um with that, um I would look for a motion that we approve I need to get the wording correct. that we approve the site logic referendum placement contract as presented. So move. 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 the um contract is passed. Thank you, Director Chapanduka. Um that takes us to our next agenda item, which is the equity audit teaching and learning findings. I would invite um Director Erdle and Brown up to the directors Erdle and Brown up to the table for this presentation on um updates on our equity audit to ensure our educational practices align with our commitment to vigilant equity. Thank you for being here this evening. I feel like I was walking up the bridal. Did you still get to go on Did you get to go on the royal blue carpet? Nice. I'll um turn it over to Dr. Mary Perry Reed if you have anything you'd like to say. Thank Thank you, Chair Andrees. And um welcome to the table, Dr. Brown, Dr. Erdle. I can turn it over right away if you both want to provide a framing. Um but I think that um our board is aware that we did conduct an equity audit several years ago and we're just um looking at all of the findings and recommendations to align our current state um with um to to determine any gaps or alignment between what the findings and recommendations are and our current state. So, it's been a good practice to figure out, okay, well, um what have we done with our policies? What what are we doing in the area of teaching and learning to make sure that we're fostering inclusive learning environments and holding students to high expectations and reducing our um any uh disproportionality in our student results. So, I'll turn it over to Dr. Brown for any additional framing and then to Dr. um for a bit of a review um around what we've uncovered and thank you very much and that was framed quite well and I will turn it over to my colleague Dr. Erdle. Good evening everybody. It's nice to see you all again. Um so just um for some additional framing um the equity audit was was um shared with the board in September of 2021. And as I um the process that I took to sort of provide this report tonight was to go through specifically the teaching and learning findings. And as I was doing that, I realized that maybe a timeline also would be helpful for some context because there was, as you know, as you've heard in previous um sharings about the equity audit that was sort of that this was conducted during the pandemic. So there were some kind of interesting factors. So Natalia, you can go to the next one. Um so this is a timeline detailing some of the impacts on the IDL, which used to be the teaching and learning team. um as related specifically to the findings in the audit. Um it's not the most linear timeline because many of the programmatic shifts that we've made are multi-year undertakings. Um but I'm just going to briefly kind of go over where we've been and where we are now. So the first thing that happened in in 2019 was that the teaching and learning department was reduced and then reformed as the innovation design and learning team. And shortly thereafter um two well two things happened. One uh the pandemic started and and that shifted all of our learning structures to a pandemic learning response um and the equity audit was conducted after um kind of the next thing that happened was research development and uh launch of the Hopkins learning framework. And I mentioned that because that's specifically related to some of the findings that we're going to talk about. Um then as I noted the equity audit was presented in September of 2021. Since then we've um done research de and development of a schoolwide enrichment model which again is directly related to the equity audit. um IDL has hired this starting this year a multilingual coordinator which is related to the findings on English learners and um another um aspect of 2025 is the work that Dr. Hampy is leading in terms of in the installation of tier one schoolwide enrichment programming. Um so I'm going to go through kind of each of those areas. Um there the structure of the um deck is that there's it's really textheavy and I apologize for that. I I'm going to try not to read word for word. Um but you you'll certainly you have it so you'll be able to read um all of the details. Um but I've structured it with some direct quotes from the audit and then kind of some of the work that resulted. Go ahead Natalia. So, uh, the Hopkins learning framework, as I mentioned, um, this this was one of the very first projects that IDL was charged with once we formed, um, the the desire was it came directly out of the recommendations from the visioning process. But the desire was to provide a coherent and equitable experience for students E through 12 plus regardless of which school they attended. And prior prior to this learning framework, the the only systemic learning framework that we had was at the middle level and that was our IB model. So the development of this framework directly addresses some of the findings in the audit. Yeah, it did. Did we lose Roa too? It's all the great learning taking place. Just can't handle it. Just overwhelmed the system below the circuits. just can't handle it. Thank you. Okay, so the first um the first finding was oh and I want to mention that the the auditors use the term C and I that stands for curriculum and instruction IDL for us teaching and learning for others but that's really kind of talking about the department who's charged with this work. So, some of the findings were around well well-defined anti-racist teaching practices as well as instructional strategies to support um to that were considered effective for students of many different backgrounds. And so, once again, the Hopkins learning framework was really researched and developed as a tool of anti-racist pedigogy. Um, the inquirybased pedagogical approach and conceptual learning design are inherently anti-racist because they prioritize student agency, critical thinking, and diverse perspectives. Um, this is empowering to all students, but in particular our students of color and fosters an inclusive environment. Um, additionally, conceptual learning, which is a a key component of our learning framework, emphasizes big ideas and connections across disciplines, which helps to sort of dismantle that traditional more eurosentric narrative. uh coupled with strong foundational skill building, these strategies support student of students of color by validating their identities, promoting equity, and providing them with the tools to critically analyze and challenge systems of inequity in in education but also beyond. Um, another finding in the report was around culturally pluralized curriculum and uh they the report found we did not find culturally or ethnically inclusive content for new knowledge being developed systemically and uh I you know I agree at that point in time we were in the process of creating kind of this a systematic approach through the Hopkins learning framework and so um as we work toward full implementation of the learning framework across all of our schools. Um this is creating sort of that systems level approach to really ensure that all students are getting access to um the the teaching strategies and the curriculum and content that um is inclusive of their perspectives. Okay. Okay. Um and then the next finding was around really um program review and a curriculum map. So there was not evidence at that time of what we would call a vertically aligned curriculum map in some of our content areas. And so we've been working really hard on that uh with our teachers and through our program review process. So, um I think in well later this spring, I think in maybe a month or so, um Elsa Gaul, who has been leading our math review process this year, is going to come and present with another member of our team who has been sort of retooling and revising our entire review process so that we are moving away from a once every seven to 10 years toward an implementation and then continuous improvement process. Um, and so we'll share more details about what that's looked like for math, but then also what that is going to look like for all of our curricular areas and then a calendar of of when those reviews are going to be initiated. Okay, moving on. And so then there was quite a few findings around the schoolwide or the talent development model and as I mentioned uh we spent a couple of years in the research and development phase and this year um thanks to Dr. Campy's leadership and partnership with our school principles really making sure we are implementing tier one specifically at the elementary level. So specifically go ahead Natalya the first finding was around accountability. So what happened when the um teaching and learning team was reformulated? We used to have specific people on the team who were responsible for every curricular area. So we had a social studies person, a science person, a math person, a literacy person, a gifted and talented person. Well, when that model um when that model went away, you know, we were sort of trying to figure out how to provide the same or a level of support across all of the curricular areas without a specific person dedicated to that work. And so, um what where we've gone with that is, um creating, uh some accountability by naming, uh Dr. Campy who is our principal on special assignment. This has been one of the key projects that she's been working on and in particular it addresses the concern that the auditors had around really needing to work with the building principles to ensure that there was some fidelity to the implementation. Um and again she is going to be providing the board with a full update I think at the LA maybe at the last meeting in June. And so you can expect to hear more about that um specifically what that's looked like this year and she can give you an update on on how that's is at our systems level. um similar one of the other audit findings was around strategic and ongoing professional development um specific to talent development um and also really helping shift mindsets around what does it mean to be gifted and again um thanks to Dr. Cami. She has led teachers and school leaders through some training through the Renzulli Institute around what a schoolwide enrichment model can look like and um and they she has been con consistently um participating in trainings through that team and also some local things as well. And then finally um the last finding was around analyzing data to drive decision making. And again our schoolwide enrichment model like all of our programs will be part of our review and continuous improvement cycle so that we're not developing something that doesn't keep working for us. It's uh we want to really make sure that both our implementation is strong but then also we're getting the results that we think we should be getting. Okay. Then um the next findings were on the English learner programming. Now I don't know if I've mentioned this to this board but here's a fun fact. When I joined Hopkins, it was under the old teaching and learning model and I joined as the English learner specialist um because I've been an EL teacher for my entire career. Um and so I joined in August of 2019 as the EL coordinator and then um a few months after that the the department shifted around and so I became the assistant director of IDL at that time um while still working to oversee EL because there's we have a lot of state and federal requirements that um we have to make sure that we're meeting. So at the time of the equity audit, we didn't have a named person who was in charge of EEL specifically, but I was kind of doing that because that's what my background is. So one of the first um findings was around creating a clear and coherent vision of EL services. Um we did not have documentation on our website or a systematic district-wide plan around what EL service looks like. um and accountability for the ELLL program. So um the auditors at the time found a lot of um maybe what could be considered some dated practices around pull out versus pushin models. Um and so really we were called to define um for our staff and for our families what is the appropriate way to instruct students given what their needs are. And so one of the things that uh was really important to me when we so we've done two things um we've hired first of all a literacy specialist and what was really important to me about that is uh previously e and immersion for that matter had kind of sat separately from literacy in general and I really wanted more of an integrated approach so that our how we are working with and and teaching ing literacy with our English learners is connected and co coherent with how um our literacy plan district-wide literacy plan was um enacted in general. And so um we didn't I didn't want the e programming to be siloed. So now um the ALE program benefits not just from like my leadership but also uh the leadership of Kim Smith who's our literacy specialist whom you've met. And also this year um we've hired Markel Rios who is an immersion specialist but we work really closely with um he and Kim work really closely to provide coherence for EL immersion and literacy in general. The last finding that I wanted to address, I'm I don't not taking credit for this, but it was in the teaching and learning section of the audit findings, and I thought it was important to share with the board. So, go ahead, Natalyia. The the last finding was around this idea of inequities with um specifically to Eisenhower related to Shinshing and Huntos and not having an integrated parent group. So that was still true in 2019 and has since um has since been revised. So under principal Ness's leadership, the PTO at Eisenhower Elementary is now um not specific to any one pathway, but includes English, Chinese, and Spanish pathways. So again, can't take credit for it, but I did want to mention it because it was part of the achievement equity findings that were in the audit. Oh, great. and I'm open and we're able to take any questions. Thank you. I appreciate this and the the binding and then the actions taken. Um it's very clear and and easy to follow. So, thank you for that format. Um any comments or questions from my board colleagues? Chandre has a quick question. Yes, Dr. Thank you all for this presentation. I still am getting through the equity audit that big old thick packets. Um so I I know a lot of work went into it. I just have a quick question about the um last one. Um I appreciate Principal Ness's leadership in um you know addressing these and integrating the uh PTO's when it says like we discovered not having an integrated group. Um, excuse me. We discovered not having an integrated parent group is divisive. Were they were there concerns that maybe like one group was being favored over the other group or one was more resourced than the other and that maybe kind of was the I I think um I roer um it was at a time when um the equity audit team could not get a hold of many um uh COVID 19 really uh threw a wrench in the equity audit process. For instance, most equity audits, the team goes inside a school building to see what the artwork is, to see and to observe. At that time, they couldn't even get into schools. Um, so to answer your question, um, they usually would interview parent groups and because we were in isolation, they couldn't get to the groups that they really wanted to. Um, as I mentioned earlier, the creativity from the team was really great. When um when uh parents and care takers were coming for food that we offered, they interviewed them. Um and um and then they were able to interview um some groups but not all. And so unfortunately the the groups that were formed in a lot of our sites were not Does that answer you a question? Yeah, that answers Yeah. Thank you so much for that for the historical uh context of that as well. And then I just have one more uh question for like the curriculum mapping. Um let's see. So anti-racism teaching practices are not well defined to any degree. So that was like so basically for the curriculum and instruction are they looking at like what is being taught as far as like our history and just how the kids are learning how they are implying applying and then determining that the anti-racist teaching practices. Um I guess I'm just just a little confused by that. um the anti-racist teaching practices are that well defined. So, are they indicating that maybe there was like some subtal racism in the curriculum or I don't think that they are implying that. And as I said, um I think that they used the best knowledge that they had under these circumstances that we were in. Like I said, in the best of worlds of equity audits, they would be able to walk into a classroom, they would be able to interview the instructor, and they would be able to see what the specific curriculum is. But when we were in isolation, um, they did the best that they could with what they had. They interviewed some in instructors but again were not able to actually observe a classroom which which really does impede your your mindset. I think what was also true about the timing of it is that um again we we hadn't um before had a framework that went across all of the grades and so and um there was some system knowledge that probably um the newly formed IDL team maybe didn't have. And so for example, um if we had been asked at the time to produce a K through 12 document that sequences all of the standards that are being taught at which grade levels, I think we may have been hardressed to produce that for the audit. Um, and so that to me speaks to the importance of that systemization of a co a cohesive framework and some of those tools or um I guess reference documents that don't live with a person's expertise, but they're really designed and developed to create that knowledge within the system and so that our teachers or our principles, anybody would be able to access that information. And then also to your second point, you know, specifically name in Hopkins when we say anti-racist teaching practices, we mean we use inquiry and conceptual learning and things like that. At that time, we we didn't have that. Uh-huh. Um, one other thing to add is, um, when we look at, um, pedagogical practices that are anti-racist, one additional element they were looking for is whether students could see themselves in their in the curriculum that we use to engage um, students in teaching and learning. And so, um, I remember our auditors frequently referenced pluralist curriculum, meaning that students, um, when they're in history or they're in literature, they are um, learning from text selections that that are diverse and have stories um, that represent multiple cultures, specifically the cultures and the heritages and the um the personal backgrounds that our very own students are bringing to the classroom. So, that's another example of um of anti-racist pedigogy that the auditors were looking for. Absolutely. And just to add to that, if I may, it wasn't part of the equity audit, but we did get reports when we were in non-concurrence um from our APEC um committee about um instances of indigenous peoples not being represented in the curriculum um and in the classrooms in particular um in Hopkins. So, I think they they were very much in alignment. Um agree. that night has changed. Yes. So, any other questions or comments? Um, yeah. So, I do have a question for you and for the team as well. Yes. Was the vote of non-concurrence from our APEC community? Was that pre209 or this was after the audit? Um, I believe it was it was before their findings were delivered and probably as the audit was occurring which had a very prolonged timeline um due to the pandemic happening just as they were getting started I believe. Um and so that non-concurrence that was um my I believe my first year on the board um when we got that vote so it would have been 2020 um and then the second year I believe we got another one um and but a lot of the curriculum based things have been ongoing and now that we have um people who are ensuring that we have access to those materials. Um that that has been taken care of and now we are in concurrence. Thank you. Yeah, I do have Can I add to that too? I think the other really important and kind of unique thing about Hopkins is that our Indianed coordinator Annie FA is part of the IDL team. And so what the reason that that's different is that in a lot of districts that role again kind of exists in a siloed way. You know maybe certainly studentf facing and adding value to schools but not really part of the teaching and learning team. And so that's been, I think, a really important move that we've made to ensure that, you know, we're well positioned once the Indian Education for All Act that is now legislation gets fleshed out by our our department of ed, we're really well positioned to influence teaching and learning. Um, because we are our Indian ed coordinator is so closely related to our team. Absolutely. Thank you for adding that. I I I know there's the elephant in the room. I know if we're in a much better financial situation, um I'm assuming we'll be able to invite him because I think at this point the report was 2019, we're in 2025. So then we would be overdue by next year like to be able to say this is what we put in place. Here's the improvements versus we're stuck in time of some like a snapshot in time versus somebody coming back and saying, "All right, let me see." And obviously I know there's no free lunch, but I know when we're in a better situation, I'm assuming we'll be able to invite those uh um auditors to come back and you know kind of evaluate Hopkins again holistically to be able to say, "Okay, yeah, I we like the direction. We like where you guys have moved from 2019 and we're excited to see where you guys are going." Well, I can um the auditors I I know um many of them have mentored me o over the years and um I have been reporting back to them. As a matter of fact, I will email the Dr. Erdle's report to them and they are ecstatic that we did not just put the report on a shelf and that we have been actively pursuing the recommendations that they made to improve us. And um one of the auditors um I have a um connection with and I meet with her um because she is a of a a a colleague of mine. And so I I hear from her frequently, what are we doing with the report? And so when I have been able to report back to her, it it is a sense of accomplishment on their part and a sense that Hopkins is doing the right thing. We are one of the few districts that have engaged in an equity audit and they pointed that out to us numerous times when they came in person and then when they finally gave us the the report. So I I will uh I will send that to Dr. Shen this evening. Thank you. You're welcome. Chair Andre. Yes. I do have a question as well for um uh both people. Um so yeah, I have read it back toback and I actually print it off. It's on my shelf. I read it like every so often um because it it really matters. Um I I guess you know we the Hopkins definitely we care, right? like, you know, nobody could say we don't care, but yet and and it looks like we're making progress, and that's great. Um yet the there's still racial um achievement gaps, right? And it's they're very stubborn to say the least. So, you know, what what else could we do, right? Like I I feel like, you know, we're hitting the audit points, but are there any items that are like we we can't do this or or we're not doing this well to close those gaps? It just kind of like we're rowing in the right direction. We're just not making progress as much as I'd like. Yeah, same. Um I feel I agree with you. I feel the exact same way. Um I think I don't know. I I think um there's a tension between we want to see um immediate results when and we know that implementation of any pra change in practices is a really long game. And I think I remember um talking to this board a little bit about um the Mississippi Miracle when they really changed the course of their literacy results and that was that took 14 years. And so so I think um director I I agree with you and I I think our job is to really provide a consistent course while at the same time making sure we are paying attention to the results we're getting so we can make those course corrections. Um so I I I mean I think it's really a balance. I think we've got the right ingredients. Um, and now we just really need to be consistent and not, you know, change the game on our teachers because they are implementing a lot of change practices in the class at the classroom level right now. Um, while again still kind of paying attention to make sure that we're not blinded by our own creation of a framework to see if whether it has faults or not. Well, I will add to that. Um, Dr. Dr. Erdle, thanks for for providing that. Um, it is so true that um we do as systems, I think, get excited about shiny objects and then we forget about the importance of implementation, consistency and fidelity and monitoring. um especially if we've done our due diligence around the research that identified you know what is the best thing to implement right so if we've done that research and we make the decision then everything has to go into monitoring um our implementation so that we can get different results what I want to add is that and I think Hopkins is you know another example of a system where there's a lot of pressure that comes from within and outside of our system to make sure we are doing all the right things for our highest achieving learners. Okay. And at the same time we all we also want to ask oh and then what about those achievement gaps? Well, um we also in addition to meeting the needs of of students who excel, um we have to balance that with meeting the needs of our most vulnerable students. In fact, the um the measure of of and the value of really any organization is how well we serve our most vulnerable students. So to what degree are we paying attention to our multi-tered systems of supports, right? To what degree are we paying attention to like what do Dr. Erdle said around quality tier one instruction for all students so that we can begin serving 80% of our students very well with with quality tier one instruction. And then we're minimizing the number of students who need the tier 2 and tier three support. But we're also good at identifying what those um nuanced and specific needs are with each of our students name by name, especially those who are most vulnerable. So the way that our school board can really hold us accountable is, you know, by making sure that that uh you support the amount of time that we invest in our most vulnerable students. And that's how we will start to close those gaps by paying attention to what they need and by monitoring the um the fidelity of of implementation of our most important efforts. Uh thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Um I just had a a couple of comments. Thank you for staying Manuel. Hi. Um, one, I appreciate all the context. Um, I also really appreciate your final statements. Um, Dr. Mary Perry Reed. Um, I think that most of us, um, share that commitment and, um, thank you for naming it. It's very important to continue to focus especially um like as you said there's a lot of pressure to um to just kind of pay attention to the raceh horses right the ones who are who are leaping out of the the the gate. Um I did also wonder um I feel that sense of urgency as well as director Xiao to know um are these changes having an impact um and I think probably given thank you for that 14-year context. Um because I think it's important um I do also know that I I see a difference in the classrooms when I'm there. I think it's not as measurable as we would like it to be, but I think that we do in Hopkins do a good job of um measuring that in in different assessments that we give our kids their sense of belonging, their sense of safety. Um, and if you don't feel safe and you aren't wellfed, um, I was going to say, Vice Chair Ross, there is free lunch in Minnesota, um, at the schools and, um, you you can't learn and, um, so I appreciate that those things are starting to be measured here in Hopkins so that we know that we are on track. Um, and I'm losing what I wanted to say. Um, I just really appreciate that we are doing this. It's in the forefront of our minds. Um, and that we are continuing to be held accountable by the audit and to implementing change. Um, and I appreciated too that there was the um, reference in the talent development section. and I'm looking forward to the presentation later this year. But also that you know we mentioned mindset shift and I think that is critical. Um we all need that especially in education. I find that um even myself um we approach too often students with a deficit mindset and how can we fix them and um shifting that mindset I think will allow for a lot of this to to be realized and so but those mind shifts mindset shifts take a very long time so I appreciate this work it's not easy work. Um, but it is rewarding. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. You Dr. Ball. Thank you, Dr. Brown. You're quite welcome. Excuse me. So, that takes us to um our next area of new business um policies and first read. I wanted to just make a quick thank you to Vice Chair Ross and the policy and monitoring committee for um reviewing and making changes to Hopkins policy 707 on transportation. I know that was a quick turnaround so um welcome assistant superintendent lightoot and I will turn it over to vice chair Ross. Thank you. Yes. uh to what Chair Andre um alluded to, we're going to be talking about two particular policies. Uh the first one, hopefully nobody's surprised, a 707. This um has to do with the transportation um and it's in relation to the transportation audit that um both the community and board colleagues heard earlier today in the workshop as well as 555 which is student fees that kind of um goes along with 707. So, with that, um, like I said, we have two particular policies that we're going to be looking over. Um, no changes to 555, but then there's going to be some changes, uh, of note on 707. Hopefully, uh, you guys remember from the board workshop. So, with that, I'll hand it over to assistant superintendent uh, Dr. Lightfoot. Thank you. Good to be with you this evening. Um, as mentioned, the first policy is 555 related to student fees. Um, as of note, the monitoring committee did go through this policy, um, reviewed it, looked at it in detail, and is not recommending any changes presently for the board's consideration at this time. Certainly would be open to any additional comments or questions from the full board and can take those at this time. I just had um just a quick question for context and it could just be because we're viewing these together, but was this one reviewed because we were thinking there might be a change to student fees given the transportation? Great question. No, it just came right along in the series of what we've been looking at. Um, and it seemed um right in line as this was the three-year cycle for the review of 555 when we were in the 500s. Um, the 700 policy, as you are well aware, was requested by the board for the budget consideration. So, that was really the initial review of both of these at the time. Okay. Thank you. Mhm. I am just curious uh Vice Chair Ross if there was any um discussion around that. I know we've heard from our community for us to you know explore the idea of um students who find themselves in the no bus zone paying a feeder ride. Um and I don't know if that would be part of this policy. I just wasn't sure if that was a discussion that was had. Yep. We had that discussion because we knew that in the last um meeting that um there was a discussion to uh pay the right and so that would be a fee that would impact the students but I mean obviously more so impact the family because we know the students and maybe there are some students out there who would be paying these fees but it would fall under this particular policy and that is another reason why it was like brought at the same time with 707. Thank you. Mhm. So given that um realization there the monitoring committee didn't see that any changes needed to be made. Correct. Yep. Thank you. All right. I think that's all the questions. Great. All right. The second one as also mentioned is policy 707. As you will note, the monitoring committee did review that as well and then made the corresponding change as identified in the policy to look at that onem um attendance zone, if you will, um in the attendance area definition, extending that.8 to one mile um for no bus transportation. and then two miles or more um which will make that amendment there as well um in the policy uh for secondary. So with that um if there are additional questions happy to entertain those or additional information we can provide chair Andre. Yes, director Joe. Yes. Hi Dr. Lightoot. Um so earlier we were in the workshop we were talking a little bit or um there was a thought that potentially if um there was uh uh if somebody was in the no trans no bus zone u potentially that they could um get an exception or something to that effect. Um showing maybe extreme need or you know l literally cannot get to school because of parents and schedules and um and don't have the resources and all that. Um, is that something that would need to be added or, you know, kind of thinking like maybe after four or five just saying something like, "Hey, if you, you know, there may be an exception process that's needed or something like that or I don't know what the language would look like, but yeah, it's a great point. Um, we have, as you note, um, the incorporation of information around a hazard area. Um what we don't have is we don't have the distinction if you will um in the regulations because the procedure um has not yet been created um to look at how we would exactly implement um any of those available spaces as you were discussing in the workshop that would be available on buses for that specific speific purpose. So, while that would be helpful to have the for lack of better term um authorizing language to move forward with creating that process, um it may be helpful to develop both of those at the same time. Um, so once we have a better idea of what that process might look like, we better are probably better able to tailor the language um, so that it could make sure number one that we're capturing the intent that was discussed at the workshop and then number two making sure that it's put into language that can operationalize that as part of these regulations. Does that help? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'm just thinking about the practical implication, right, of like, okay, well, the we now have a no butt zone and it's wider than before and we're actually enforcing it now. Um, I think there's going to be reaction and and if we had that ready to go just to be like, hey, if you are in extreme need and you cannot get your child to school that we'll try to help you, right? Best effort or whatever we want to call it, right? Or or whatever. Um, but at least we have some safety valve and it's not just, you know, parents aren't between Sila and Teribus, right? Like it's it's it's not a good place to be. I don't think so. I appreciate it in hearing that. I mean, I I think as part the monitoring committee can go back and look at some additional language um as we think about something in second read to bring back to uh the board so that we would have that specific there. Again, I would just want to make sure that the language would be designed in such a way that it supports um the actual process we're looking to build and implement. Um and would want to make sure that those are aligned of course um in that further conversation. Okay. Thank you. And to um Dr. Life's point, we didn't want to put the cart before the horse like we needed to have that discussion at the workshop before putting this policy and saying this is what we're going to say because that wouldn't have made any sense. Understood. I am wondering just for some clarification, you're proposing putting language in um for second read. Would this be in and also director Joe, please weigh in. Would this be in the regulations portion where the actual changes were made or are we talking about something, you know, at the beginning? Um well where we have the specific information is in the regulations 2A regarding eligibility. So in the eligibility section what I'm hearing based off the workshop information and um the discussion that's happening right now is that we really would want something in there that would also be in addition to what's already existing in 1 through 4. something that would speak to a needs-based consideration and how that needsbased consideration would dovetail into the actual process of what we're looking at. When we think about remember remembering back to the workshop conversations about spaces that are available on buses if they aren't at their full capacity um how we would potentially prioritize and what that would look like um from an actual implementation standpoint. Um, so in theory, for practical reasons, that might be number five as we look at section A and thinking through where some language would fall, but that would be a conversation with the monitoring committee to make sure that that group was ready to move forward as well. And I would Oh, yes. Dr. Mary Perry, was that you? Can she hear me? Can you hear me? I can hear you now. You know, um, just as a side note, I can't operate my mute or camera. Oh, no. Um, so I was trying to silence my computer, but then I realized I couldn't hear you and you couldn't hear me. Um, sorry to interrupt. I did have a comment, if I may. Um, so I liked what Dr. Lightfoot said in terms of okay, what what do we need to put into place with the policy and the regulations to commit to what we said we were going to do? And might there be some opportunities for us to um not work in isolation as we identify um some possibilities for families who may have some elevated concerns and thinking about how CISO has shared with us that with this with us expanding our no bus zones, we are more um aligned with what other districts are doing, but they might be able to identify some districts who have recently expanded their no bus zones and perhaps we could talk with them about some uh regulation language or some structures that they put into place with their elementary schools to to support families and and just to be creative. Thank you. I appreciate that. Um, I agree with the desire to be thoughtful and really um recognize that there are families that will find this to be a hardship and I don't want us to put into policy our previous practice of making exceptions. Um, so if the monitoring committee can can be creative around like I think I heard um one of the presenters at the workshop saying that we have a limit of this many buses, we can't add more buses. I think you know with something along within the parameters of the current system etc etc. I think that would um make me feel better um that we're we're aligned with with the regulations will be aligned with um our intent. Did that make sense? I feel like I kind of lost lost the Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, I think the monitoring committee is going to do a little bit of work um on that language. Is that something that we want to put on consent or um for second read? Uh we can do it either way. Um certainly we can bring um something back through old business as well and second read. Um what I'm hearing is that it would be a good conversation for the board to review and as such maybe the recommendation um is modified that um for 707 it's brought back in old business and second read um as such that way you could make sure that it is and does receive that full hearing for everybody um to look at and make sure that um it is aligned with intent I think were the words. Vice Chair Ross, how do you feel about that? Wholeheartedly agree. Absolutely. I mean, he took the words out of my mouth. Okay, great. Um, so then I am wondering though too, I believe that our transportation department can move forward with everything they need to move forward with if we put this into new business. That's my only hesitation. uh old business. That's my only hesitation. They since we are passing it in first read um yeah these these are regulations. So of course the administration works with regulations. Okay. Um and develops those and then attaches them to the policy. Okay. So we can begin working on those um based on what we know to be the um intended outcome that the board is hoping to to achieve. Okay. Thank you. Um so with that I would recommend that the board approve the above policies in first read. Um further um the board directs the administration to prepare the policies with suggested revisions. um policy 555 for approval in second reading at the next meeting as part of consent and to prepare um policy 707 um for old business um approval and second reading at the next business at the next meeting. Do I have a motion? Thank you. 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 policies are passed in first read. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate your time and I hope that was clear what we're doing. I was a little confused. Um great. So that then takes us to our board member reports. Um we can take this opportunity to introduce ourselves and to give a report of activities um for since we last met and director West Morland is not here so it passes to clerk Thompson. Thank you chair Andre. Hello I'm Kai Thompson. I am in the probably like second year of my first term. Um I'm the clerk on the board. I have three kids in the district, fourth grade, 8th grade, 9th grade. Um only board member report I have is um I went to the virtual facilities of the future uh meeting last evening and just um was really struck by what a good you know group of of people who really care about Hopkins you know were represented there and and talking about ideas for um you know how our facilities can meet the needs of you know not just our students but really kind of the whole community around around the schools uh last evening. So that was very good. Thank you, Director Roer. Hello, my name is Brooke Roer and I am serving my second year on the school board. I have two wonderful children in the district. Um I just have two quick reports. Um yesterday I was invited to do a virtual experience um by our former commissioner of D Shantara Hardy who was just a well-rounded leader across the state and just do a lot of great work across um the nation in multiple capacities. And um this virtual experience was immersive. Um it was a what was it? So it it was an experience to help public service employees um prepare for their jobs. So it was helping us like learn efficiency and reducing turnover and improving interpersonal skills um connecting on different types of scenarios. And so yesterday I was able to put on the virtual reality um headset and was able to act as if I was like a social worker talking to children who were getting taken out of their homes. Um, and it was such a surreal experience that I almost dropped tears because like you never really prepare for those type of conversations and it it just helped you navigate the way that you would talk to um children. And I know that they have um some of the uh modules for like healthc care decisions and um decisions for police officers and decisions for um EMTs. And so I told Shantier that I would bring this to our board and hopefully we can schedule some time maybe before the end of the year if there's time for them to come and do a demonstration with some of our board members. I think y'all will really enjoy the experience and it will really put a lot into perspective. I've been thinking about that since yesterday. So um that was a great one. And then yesterday, uh, excuse me, and then next week, excuse me, our next board meeting, I will be a little bit late, um, just because I will be doing a speaking at the Hopkins Climate Action event that's going to be happening on April 22nd. So, I'm just letting you all know of my absence in advance, but I will be here um, for the remainder of the board meeting um, and I will miss the board workshop. So, that's my board report for tonight. Thank you. Mhm. And here is the if anyone wants to read the information, I have the information right here. Thank you. I'd like to take a look at that. Um, Dr. Mary Perry Reid, do you want to go? Sure. Hello everyone. I'm Roaria Puri Reed, superintendent. I have two children in our district, a seventh grader at West and a high schooler. And I have already provided my board report. And thank you. I'll pass the torch. Baton. It can be a torch. Why not? Um, uh, hi everyone. My name is Shannon Andre. I am the current chair of the Hopkins School Board in my sixth year of service. Um, and I have a junior at the high school who was also in Cuba with Manuel and um, a graduate from Hopkins schools who is gainfully employed. So ringing endorsement. Um and I also work as a special education parah at Gatewood Elementary. Um my board report is short because of spring break which I think was a welcome reset for a lot of us. Um and um I just wanted to um give a a plug for the workshops that are happening around facilities. I attended um the in-person version of the uh facilities meeting that Clerk Thompson went to virtually and I think there's another one open to the to our community on um April 15th. Do I have that date correct? And will there be um will it also be in person and virtual? Okay. Um so but I'm sure the information is on the Hopkins website so I would direct people there. Um there there's some really great feedback coming in and I think um everyone should be a part of um the future of Hopkins. So um at least as far as our facilities are concerned and I think we heard um some good reports on action items that we're taking but also being able to realize those in the environment in which um students develop themselves is really important. So um come if you can. We welcome your input. And that is my report. Chair Andre. Yes. I'm sorry I I didn't I wanted to respond to your question. I was looking for an email from our director of um communications, Jolene, and I wanted to um provide some clarification. So, we did have a referendum check-in today, and it looks like um our bond referendum partner, Site Logic, and Fielding are meeting with our innovation design and learning department this Thursday in the boardroom. And then we're going to hold a separate uh virtual meeting just for staff next week. And we'll send that invite out to staff next week. And then we'll also do the community engagement session on April 15, which is next Tuesday, and that will be communitywide. So, I hope that makes sense, and I just wanted to provide that clarity. Yes. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Jason Ross. Um I have three kids in the system. Two sixth graders at North and then one um third grader at Tangland. Um I as well was at uh spring break. So I have uh a non board report, but I look forward to attending the AMD meeting that's going to be happening this Friday. And I definitely uh want to give a huge shout out to um the women uh the Yukon women's team winning uh the NCAA. But more importantly, because I'm pretty sure people be like, "We're in Minnesota. Why do we care about Yukon?" Uh in case people forgot, there is a significant Hopkins alum named Paige Buckets. Yes, I call her Buckets because that's what she was making uh the majority of the game. Um, so I wanted to recognize her and uh and uh the work that she uh individually did and uh the entire um team for Yukon. So again, that's the reason why I'm acknowledging it. I know we're not in Connecticut, but I'm going to recognize Hopkins alum. Thank you. Hi, I'm Jiming Jao. Uh this is my second uh year on the uh school board. I've got two kids in the district um in the Shingshing program here at Eisenhower um fourth grade and first grade. Um right before uh uh the break uh I attended uh the um the Tanglin uh assembly at uh Principal Hison invited all of us and I I had some time available. So, it was very special to go out there and see uh he's building a very uh you know uh good uh culture out there and I think it's uh you know kind of typical I guess if you call it that of all the schools here in Hopkins that uh each one has its own individual uh flavor and uh community and uh it was just really great seeing everybody uh together there. So, it's good. Thank you. Um, and with that I would look for a motion to adjurnn. We're moved. I have a motion. Is there a second? Second. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? None. All those in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? The chair votes I. And this meeting of the Hopkins Public School Board is adjourned at 900 p.m.