Audio test for Weisetta schoolboard meeting August 10th, 2026. resource that helps support public school districts, [music] charter schools, and tribal schools throughout Minnesota. Over time, careful management has helped the permanent school fund [music] grow to more than $2.3 billion. This growth has prompted a [music] discussion about how annual distribution We're ready, huh? >> Good evening. The Wisetta Public Schools Board of Education regular meeting for Monday, August 10th, 2026 will please come to order. Will the clerk please call the role? Good evening colleagues. Heidi Kedar >> here. >> Sheila Prior. Sheila Prior is absent. Alicia Little >> here. >> Paris Bendy >> here. >> Valentina Ays >> here. >> Dan Janestra. Dan Janestra is present. Milan Sahony >> present. >> Rob Virgin >> here. Thank you. We have a quorum. Please rise if you are able to recite the pledge of >> allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. [clears throat] >> Thank you. and welcome everyone. We're glad you could join us this evening. If you wish to speak during the audience opportunity to address the board, please fill out a form placed at the entrance of this building and hand it over to our admin district admin assistant Amy Guy sitting to my right. The first item on our agenda is the approval of the agenda and the consent agenda items. Consent agenda items are considered routine in nature and will be enacted in one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a board member so requests in which event the item will be removed as a consent agenda item and addressed the consent agenda item. The consent agenda and the meeting agenda items are listed in the materials. The recommended action is to approve the agenda and the consent agenda items. Is there a motion? I so move >> second moved and seconded. This is also a roll call vote. >> Colleagues, Paris Spendy, >> yes. >> Sheila Prior, Sheila Prior is absent. Heidi Kedar, >> yes. >> Valentina Ays, >> yes. >> Dan Janestra, Dan Janestra votes yes. Alicia Little, >> yes. >> Milan Sahony, >> yes. Thank you. We have an agenda. Thank you, Dan. Next item on the agenda is recognitions. In the spirit of inclusion, board members will take turns standing at the platform at the podium rather with Dr. Virgin. This evening, director Ays will join uh Superintendent Virgin at the podium. All right. Thank you, Chair Sahony. Good evening, everybody. I'm Rob Virgin. I'm superintendent of Weisetta Public Schools, and we have a couple exciting recognitions to share with you tonight. The first one is a great uh tradition that we have here to recognize one of Wisetta's inclusive education or educator awards. And I'm going to welcome our director of student support services, Jenny Nyas, forward to make this presentation. And as she wait makes her way this way, I just want to extend my gratitude to our student support services team and all of our special educators working across the district. as I'll touch on a little bit later tonight, I've had a chance to meet with a lot of people across the community, uh, students, former students, staff, community members, and the work that you do for our students continues to come up, uh, as an exceptional service that we provide. So, tonight we get to highlight a member of our Northwoods team. Uh, so I'm going to welcome Jenny here to do that and just wanted to extend my thank you for all the work that you're doing for our students and staff. Thank you. Well, I would like Adam Flech Shacker to come join me as he is who we get to honor this evening. Good evening, uh, esteemed board members, Superintendent Virgin, leaders, educators, and community members. It is my pleasure to stand before you this evening to celebrate the amazing educators of Voisetta who create inclusive experience for all of our learners. 38 of our staff members were nominated for their amazing work in creating inclusive classrooms and communities. Each of the nominees are inspiring and inclusive educators who have been nominated by parents, colleagues, and colleagues for creating, fostering, and being model inclusive educators. Today we are celebrating a standout educator, Adam Flyecker, who is a special education teacher from Northwoods Elementary. Adam was nominated for this award by Mary and excuse me, Mark and Molly Isacson, who shared the following. Our son is currently in the fourth grade. He's a fifth grader now. And lives with significant disabilities that could easily relegate him to sidelines. In many environments, it is considered safer or easier to let a student like our son remain an observer. Adam refuses to accept the sidelines. Whether it is navigating a bouncy house, climbing or steering a scooter board, Adam provides the physical strength and stability he needs to participate. We have watched Adam personally transfer our son and hold him securely so he can feel the sensation of bouncing and playing alongside his peers. This level of exceptional execution and intentional planning ensures that he doesn't just watch the fun, he is part of it. While we are deeply moved by the genuine care Adam shows our son, his impact is farreaching. We see him pour that same dedication into every student at Northwoods. His approach is defined by consistent communication and keeping families informed and celebrating every new milestone, no matter how small. With creative adaptation by using innovative methods to ensure activities are accessible for all and for his humility and character and looking past outward appearances to see a child's true potential and helping them to rise above adversity. True character is revealed in the heart and Adam's heart is firmly with his students. Because of the community he fosters, their son experiences a sense of belonging that goes beyond words. Adam doesn't just teach. He consistently demonstrates deep compassion and humility, serving our children with dedication that transforms the educational experience into one of true belonging. Congratulations to Adam for receiving the inclusive educator award. This recognition is a testament to your unwavering commitment and outstanding efforts to promote inclusivity in education by champ by championing diversity and ensuring equal opportunities for all learners. You have made a significant and positive impact on countless lives. Your dedication to creating an inclusive learning environment is truly commendable. Keep up the excellent work and continue to inspire others with your remarkable achievements. We couldn't be more proud of you and your commitment to each and every learner. Congratulations, Adam. This recognition is a testament to your commitment and relentless focus on promoting inclusivity and education. Keep up the excellent work and continue to inspire others with your remarkable achievements. We couldn't be more proud of you. This is a token. [applause] >> Well, um just thank you and uh three years ago now four years ago when Dr. Anderson gave the new staff uh presentation. Um I was introduced to the excellence for each and every for the first time and I think a lot of businesses and other schools can um take that as just a tagline and um it was important to me that it wasn't just a tagline and I was blessed with you can see just a portion over there of an amazing team that believes the same thing. So, thank you. [applause] All right. Our second recognition tonight is uh for our retirees. Uh each month at our board meetings, we honor anyone who has indicated their intent to retire in that time. Uh tonight, we would like to recognize the following employees for their announcement of retirement for 2627. We'd like to thank them for their years of service public schools and wish them well in their future endeavors. Tonight we have just one and that's Karen Ortman um who is an administrative professional at East Middle School who served for 18 years and being at East few times over the last handful of years I know Karen was ever present in that building and will be missed and so I want to congratulate her on her retirement. Congratulations, Karen. Congratulations to the honores and thank you Dr. Virgin and director he s before we move on I'd like to take a moment to announce a small change in our upcoming meeting agenda beginning with the work session on August 24th the recognitions will be included in the work sessions in lie of the regular board meetings. Next we have the audience opportunity to address the board. Amy do we have we do have some Thank you. This section of the agenda provides an opportunity for members of the community to address the school board. Speakers who wish to provide input to the school board must complete the signup sheet and return it to our district administration administrative assistant Amy on my right. Please note that you will need to complete a request form to be included on the speaker request list. When you are invited to the podium, please identify the subject or agenda item to which your comments pertain. Priority will be given to students and families with students currently enrolled in the district. The school board practice is not to engage in a discussion or debate with the speaker, but rather allow the speaker time to express their thoughts. Please present your comments in a respectful and professional manner. This evening, each speaker will be invited up to the podium to speak for three minutes. We have a number of requested uh uh speakers. So, I ask that you keep your comments brief. Amy will help me keep track. Are you we have that timer or >> Okay. So, Dan will help me keep track of the time by holding up a red card at the 3 minute mark. Please end your comments when you see the red card or when I say thank you. If you have already shared your thoughts with the school board, please consider letting someone new address the board. If a community member shares a message similar to yours, please consider shortening your message or presenting as a group. First, are there any students? Looks like there are student representative. First one on the list is Mahadalkar. Did I say that right? The last name was okay. Yeah. >> Okay. Welcome Som. Okay. Good evening members of the school board. My name is Soh Maradkar and I am an incoming ninth grade high school. I am here to talk about student representatives on the school board. A family friend told me about today's discussion regarding a student representative on the school board and asked whether I would be interested in sharing what I thought of it. Now, I don't know much about how school boards work, but I do care about students having a voice, especially when the decisions that are being made affect us the most. So, when I heard about this idea, I felt like it was definitely worth supporting. >> [clears throat] >> I have a couple. Oh, wait. I think a student representative would be helpful for a few reasons. First, students experience school every day. So, we might sometimes see things differently than the than adults do. We see how policies and decisions affect classrooms, choice of activities, technology, and the overall school environment. Adults can ask students for feedback through surveys or meetings, but having a student regularly at the table creates an opportunity for the student voice to be part of the conversation from the get- go. This should help build trust and transparency with students. Second, I think that it'll be a really great experience for the student representative as well. They would get to see how decisions are made, hear different opinions, learn how to speak up for others, and also how to disagree respectfully. These are all useful skills for college work, and just life in general. I also think having a student involved with the school board might make it so that other students are more interested in getting involved in their schooling community. Government and community service can sometimes seem like things that only adults do and students don't really play much of a part in. Having a student representative could show us that we don't have to wait until we're adults to contribute to something meaningful. Finally, I think it's important that the student representative has a real voice. The position shouldn't just be there so that the board can say that students were included. The student should feel comfortable bringing up concerns, asking questions, and sometimes just having a different opinion from the board altogether. If students feel as if their opinions are actually being heard and considered, I think that they would be more willing to participate and care what actually happens in their schools and communities. In conclusion, even though I don't have much experience speaking on behalf of students, I think giving them a chance to share their perspective to the school board would be a great thing for both the students and the board. [clears throat] A student representative would wouldn't have to make a vote or make the decisions, but their early involvement will hopefully lead to better decisions and smoother implementations of policy initiatives. Thank you for giving me the chance to share my opinion and the I hope the board will consider my suggestions. Thank you. >> Thank you. So, >> next we have Jaden Joseph. >> Oh, all right. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Jaden Joseph and I'm an incoming sophomore at Weisetta High School. I'm here today to testify on behalf of adding a student representative to this board. As through my personal experiences with the Minnesota Center for Youth Voices programs, I've experienced how student leadership and youth advocacy play such pivotal roles in the progression of our societies. I firmly believe that the inclusion of a student representative is very important to the future of the school board as well as for the future of our district. A student representative would be able to provide insight from a student's perspective, further incorporating students voices to the school board while also providing students with valuable leadership experience, civic education, and a platform to influence real world decisions that impact them and their peers daily lives. See, every policy this board passes, whether it be about schedules, curriculum, discipline, phone rules, or even mental health support, primarily affects the students. Before making decisions, the school board likely bases these decisions off of secondhand information, either from staff, data, or parents. The information that is harder and more vital to obtain for these decisions in this room is what a decision actually feels like from the inside before it's finalized. A student representative doesn't replace or take any take away any of that. Rather, it adds the one perspective that that exists only on the other side of the policy, the perspective of a student. This also isn't a new or untested idea. Minnesota law, specifically Minnesota statutes section 123b.09, 09 subdivision 1B states that a school board is quote unquote encouraged to encouraged to adapt a process to include student representation to advise the school board. On top of this, around 95 school boards across the state currently have at least one student representative within their school board. Minneapolis public schools, for example, a district right in this metro area, has two student representatives on their school board. By adding a student representative, Wisetta wouldn't be setting a precedent by incorporating a student representative. It'd be catching up to one that a lot of other districts around the state have already said. And the cost of adding a student representative is small next to what it buys. A student seat like this typically costs the board a chair and some meeting time. What it gains is a standing way to hear about a problem while it's still small instead of after it's already spread through the halls and through group chats. Right now, the main way this board hears what a student thinks is secondhand. A parent email, a news story, or a complaint that's already boiled over. A permanency means you hear it directly and earlier. Now, as I close tonight, I want to end by humbly asking all of you here today to support this. Students aren't asking for a vote on every decision this board makes. We're asking for a seat at the table where and when those decisions get made. Thank you all for your time today. Thank you Jayen. Okay, next we have Ame Chowi. May I proceed? Good evening board members. My name is Amea Chadri and I'm going to be a rising senior at the high school in just a few weeks here. Today I am speaking before you to address the issue of student representation on the school board. Now, I have spent all 13 of my educational years at Weisetta, and I am beyond grateful for the wonderful education I've received. Aside from my education, I am extremely involved at school. I run two clubs. I'm a link leader, a peace leader, and I'm in the small fusion subcommittee established by student student council. This means that I impact that I am impacted by schoolboard decisions firsthand and see how other students are as well. The first point I'd like to make is that we desperately need a student representative. It is imperative that voices feel heard in such a large community in a district as large and as powerful as Weisetta does and that the council is advised from a student perspective rather than just adults and administrators who see from the outside rather than experiencing impacts themselves. Now, since Wisetta's population is consistently growing and the community around us is changing with more students being more o open to advocacy and wanting to learn more and getting more involved um due to the societal changes in the school and around us right now, it is imperative that the board addresses the topic of having a student representative and I strongly urge the board to vote in favor of said topic. Now, students are affected by these decisions every single day. These policies and these decisions get made so regularly but however students are still not representative so that represented students are currently unable to even email the board as when I attempted to email the board for my school account it was blocked. Now my second point is that most other top schools have a student representative on their school board. Like the um like the gentleman who went before me said, over 95 schools in Minnesota already have a student representative on the board and the impacts of this are extremely significant. Even legislation in the Minnesota school board urged the board to make this decision in favor of having a student representative. Now, to address some concerns that the board may have about inst instating a student representative, the representative would likely have a non- voting rule as to not mess with the authority or administration policies of the board. Additionally, with a defined selection process and defined procedures, there be limits to the what the student represent representative may be able to do and limits to the authority as not to interfere with administration. Now I would like to conclude by taking all these components into consideration and strongly urging you to adopt and instate a student representative into the board. Thank you. >> Next we have Rowan [clears throat] Haley. >> Um good evening board members. I'm here to talk about student representatives. Um, when policies impact student bodies, it is detrimental that students have the ability to voice their opinions and concerns with the board. Although great opportunities are available when students sign up for student council, the only thing they are primarily responsible for is decorating the school and choosing the theme for the dances. Real student voices are heard when students are allowed in the room where policy change happens, the boardroom. Students are always encouraged to be more civically engaged and they're encouraged to be more involved in their comm community communities. But yet when given the opportunity there can be a concern whether or not students can handle such responsibility by by making space for students you will see them rise to fill that gap. Thank you. >> Thank you Robin. Next we have Ankita Akumar. Good evening. My name is Ankita Kumar and I'm a recent alumni of the Weisetta School District. Today, I urge the board to vote in favor of incorporating a student representative position on the school board. Throughout my time at Wisetta High School, I have seen ample spaces for students to develop their voices and make decisions through school clubs like student council, but very little opportunity for them to actively shape policy decisions that the school board makes every week at these board meetings. A student representative position, one designed with fairness and in consideration of the precedents set by other school districts, can be an incredible way for our community to see that students are valued for the unique perspectives that they bring to educational policy. So far, 95 school districts across Minnesota have established a student representative position on their school boards, demonstrating that student represent student representation is both practical and increasingly common across the state. By establishing this position, Weisetta can give students firsthand experience in civic leadership while ensuring that the people most directly affected by these educational policies have a seat at the table. To speak a little bit more anecdotally, many of you have seen me sit in this audience over the past year as I listened to all these board meetings and took notes. That was incredible and it was an amazing opportunity for me and a lot of my peers in grids even younger than I at the time to understand what policies were being passed and what issues were being debated. And so for a student to sit up there, it not only tells them that they are respected and they're valued, but it also allows them to gain the valuable experience that will help them build their careers moving forward. So I urge you to consider this and just allow for the possibility for students to reach excellence. Thank you. >> Thank you Ankita. [clears throat] >> Do we have one more speaker? Uh Dang Lin Leang. >> Uh good evening everybody. Um so uh my daughter just graduated from Va High. So uh first I come here to really want to thank the district and the board and all the educators um provide such a great uh learning environment and support. Um it's and I also attended a couple meetings uh here and actually I think one of the meeting I attended actually talked about all the uh support the district provided to students uh which is really good because actually uh my uh my daughter benefit a lot from that because she have some special needs throughout the high school. So I that's why I'm so grateful about uh this district and then you know everything uh is is is moving. Um again I don't know how many uh you know parent will come and thank you guys but anyway I know a lot of people have the same feeling as me. Um so uh luckily today we also have this uh topic about student representative on the agenda which is great uh because actually my my daughter Angela she actually I think work with uh Angela yeah like actually kind of tried to uh get the idea following it. She actually came here to meet with a few of you. Uh why she's interested into that? One of course she received a lot of report uh support and then she's really uh great growful for that. The other actually is because she talked to uh uh her brother uh her brother is in the same class as Dan. So she's were so impressed with uh like you know like uh you know like her generation can actually participate in uh influencing how the education uh can be done in this district. So um I I really uh can um uh you know kind of resonate to that because um you know like uh I also organize a few uh activities around the districts like the uh twin citizens Asian fair. Every year we have more than 100 uh people from high participate uh leading different kind of things. So I have a very high confidence of our youth in this district. So we're not just producing people um can actually you know contribute in the future but actually they already shaping a lot of things in our community. So just listening to all these young people just speak um I really feel like you know we should actually get them involved. Um my daughter's idea basically that really is like you know two ways right one is that uh really she want to be able to bring the uh what she hear from here back to talk to students so that they get better understanding of the support and also how how much care the district provide to them and that way basically uh she feel like my actually help the student to be more c collaborative in the classroom because again she uh claim herself to be like a teacher's pet to really care about how the class get run and all she try to help the student but again you know she feel like if we get access community more uh the decision get them more involved and then I think the student will be more appreciated. Thank you very much. >> Okay. Thank you Donglin. I'm sorry I missed one. Samya Mouhammad I apologize for missing your name. >> Thank you and welcome for coming here. >> Good evening Superintendent Virgin members of the board audience members tonight. I was actually brought as extra manpower by Anita Kumar to my personal experience with you as a previous student school board representative and address two concerns. The first concern that I know a lot of adults have when they think about giving students more responsibility is their time management. Now, as a student who was in a total of five extracurriculars at the same time as serving on the board, I was able to manage my time quite well. So was my other student school board representative when I served. At the same time, these policy and decision making skills are really important for students who go to school. Something called cold cognition develops by the age of 16 as reported by the National Institute of Health in 2013. Cold cognition allows young people to make decisions not based on emotions, but based on logic. So naturally, if you were to have a junior or a senior as a student schoolboard representative, not only would they be able to handle the responsibility, they would be able to handle the mental load. I also want to share with you what the experience brought to me as a student. I got to testify in the Minnesota legislature, which led me to testify in DC on topics that our school board were passionate about. At the same time, I represented our communities. I visited the elementary schools and I reported back to the student like the school board members on what exactly what happened and what went wrong. What do these students need? Not only that, when it was time for discussions on different policy items on the agenda that night, me and my other schoolboard representative were actually able to give input and sometimes change the minds of the people on the school board. As a student, obviously, I was a non- voting member. So having those conversations with the adults that literally govern the schools that we go to, it's incredibly important. So when a student is expected to behave in class to put their phones away, they have to understand where it comes from. And the best way to do that is to have student representation helping not only make those decisions, but spread it to their communities, to the schools that they represent. So, I think it's high time that school boards employ this all over the state, but it should be an important cause for you guys, too, and I hope that you do vote in favor of establishing it. Thank you. >> Thank you, Samia. I believe that's that's the end of the presentations. Thank you all for coming. Moving on to the administrative reports and recommendations. First, we have superintendent's report. Dr. Virgin will provide a transition update, sharing reflections and highlights from his first month in the district. Dr. Virgin, >> well, I can't start without thanking our students for coming uh and sharing your comments tonight. We look forward to um talking with you more. I know some of us have met before, but look forward to continuing continuing that in in many different ways of hearing your input into into our system. As Cher Sony mentioned, I'm Rob Virgin. I'm uh superintendent of Wisetta Schools since July 1st and today's August 10th. So, we thought it would be a good idea uh at the July meeting. I don't think I provided much substance, just kind of a photo op with my little kids. Uh but tonight to provide a little bit of a update for mainly for the community as well as the board of how have the first five six weeks gone. And so, there's a couple of topics within here. Uh the first one is what I've done to learn the Wisetta context. The second is how we're building our leadership teams. The third is as I've been building our leadership teams and working together on that and getting to know our context better. Uh you might be wondering what have I been noticing? And then the last is just some of the things that we're doing to prepare for the launch of the 2627 school year. So I'll take those four uh topics in order and then board members if you have questions or comments uh at the end uh please uh feel free to share those. Uh first one is learning the wisetta context. So there's a few different ways that I've been going about this and some of this work started in uh I was offered the position in early March. So I had a couple of months in the transition time. Uh some of this work started then and has really accelerated since officially starting the job in July. uh I have had a chance to meet individually with each of our lead principles, our strategy leadership team members and our board members uh and as well as and some of those have been have been multiple times. I've also had a lot of conversations with kind of key community partners. So this would be you know kind of the casual way I've been describing this is like people that you would find on a website uh your police chief, your city managers, your mayors, other elected officials uh that uh other districts that we might partner with. uh uh services that we have like our financial adviserss, legal services, folks in of that in that capacity. From there, I asked uh primarily the schoolboard as well as some other district um uh people people familiar with the district for a set of recommendations on who might be good for me to connect with that could provide just some texture or some depth to understand the district that I wasn't getting through kind of our formal type type roles or maybe just some addition to that would be a better way to say that a little bit additional depth. And so we developed a list uh I put I threw the number of 50 out there and we are very close to that. I think we're at maybe about 40ome recommendations but then some of those recommendations have others. So, we're kind of getting into the 50 60 plus conversation zone where I asked of people that would be able to provide a perspective on our district. That could be uh former students, could be current students, could be parents, could be faith leaders in the community, could be business leaders, could be uh people who live in our community who choose a different uh option for their children or have chosen a different option. So, kind of no rules to it, just people who could give a nice cross-section of our community members. I shared uh five questions with them in advance. I actually went back and forth on whether to share these because uh somebody right away was like, "Whoa, this makes it feel really formal." Uh but I decided to keep sharing them because I really don't want anyone to come into the conversation thinking that there was anything any surprise to this. It wasn't meant to be uh overly formal, but it was meant to just kind of put all my cards on the table, so to speak. And really just two purposes I had as you look through these questions. One is there's some information I can pick up right away in the conversation. That's really helpful. Uh the other which is equally important if not more important was just to start a connection so that down the road as the community members might interact with somebody or notice something that they think I should know about or that they think our team should know about, they would feel like that they know me well enough and have a trust in me that they could bring that back. The other part of that connection is there's only so much I can take in right now. Uh, I'm taking in a lot of information. I think we've got good systems for documenting that and then analyzing that. And that's something I enjoy doing and have a lot of training in. And there's only so much I can I can really truly absorb. So, I'm hoping that I have that connection. So, down the road in 6 weeks or 6 months or 6 years, I can say that's the per they were talking to me about that. That's an interesting topic that I'm more ready for that I can follow up with them on. Another ways I'm I'm learning the context here is I've spent time uh with our academic performance data uh other system level data like budgets and operational indicators as well as the candidate profile uh that the board produced through the search process kind of mid-inter last year. And then maybe my favorite data source is just walking around uh and bumping into people and seeing what they might have to share. So here's a few ways we do that. Uh these are from the spring of made sure to get to every school building before school was out so I could have a chance to hear from students and staff while things were still in action in in May. The second area of update for you is how are we um building our cohesive leadership teams? As as we anyone who's studied or been part of leadership knows that any good leadership really requires a team to get things done and that we everything that all of this is really a team sport. And so we've tried to prioritize time as our strategy leadership team uh to get to know each other this summer, get to know what our work is. We spent some time establishing our individual and collective purpose. Trying not to rush into that uh trying to make steady progress, just kind of next actionable step after another to come together around what we think our purpose is. Each department leader also provided for both for me and their colleagues a report on where things have been recently some successes and some things that they're that are on their mind as we look forward together. That was super helpful uh for me to hear from each member of the SLT. I think it was also helpful at times for our colleagues to hear from each other of we're all in have very distinct responsibilities and those are lengthy and just to pause and be able to hear from each other about where our synergy might be. A few of those members are are here tonight. Of course, [gasps] our board work uh is also a leadership team and I've appreciated the way that uh the board has leaned into building our relationship for the long term here of really investing in how do we invest in our own um roles that we have as we find the synergy between governance and management all toward delivering excellence for each and every student. Uh we spent some time at a board retreat last week. Uh that was really viewed as an investment to me. I appreciated board members taking four hours for the meeting plus all the time. Um the pre-work that you did to be ready for that and to add an additional meeting in our summer months. Uh isn't going to be the only time I'll have that request, but just want to say thank you for that time already. Uh we also use that time to set the stage for the next chapter as well as align our expectations and standards. Last week we had our leadership council retreat. So this is our group of probably about 55 uh leaders across the district. That includes SLT who lead all of our departments plus kind of their direct reports plus our school principles and associate principles. And this was a really fun day. Uh we hosted at the DSC. We really tried to invest in kind of the first and fourth bullet point sub bullets you see there of strengthening our connections and interdependence as a team as well as celebrating the start of a new school year. Uh something that's great about working in schools is we get new beginnings and we get a chance to look at things fresh and to celebrate that. And I think it's important that we pause to do that whether that's at graduation to celebrate the conclusion of a school year or to look ahead. Uh I think it's important that we're intentional about that. We also spent some time aligning our vision and and our culture and collective ownership. Speaking about where are we and what do we aspire to. Spent a lot of time collecting input on uh from leaders about where are we, what do we think could be um what do we think should be continued, where do we see opportunities. We did that live in the moment of having people, you know, post things on idea walls, turn things in confidentially through note cards as well as through a follow-up uh survey. So a lot of opportunity for uh to get voice in this space and then of course to ground in our operational foundation and operational excellence of uh you might recall when I interviewed with you in February and March I uh would share things to the effect of I want to make sure that no student or staff member has a different experience this next year or a lesser experience because I'm new. And part of that is making sure that our operations are just very tight and secure so that we're ready for the launch of a school year and that people can feel can feel the normaly. So those were some of the focus points of our leadership council retreat across all of those meetings. I try to include a little bit about who I am and I won't go as deep with that tonight because as a as a board we've had a chance to do that together. Uh, but just to give you a little bit of flavor of two things I highlight in there is here's a picture from our July board meeting. There's Teddy, Rory, and Maisie. And I try to include a little bit about who I am because if for nothing else, we're going to spend a lot of time together. And we are in what I uh often refer to as the ultimate human business. And if people can't see the humanity in each other and need to see that who we are as people, we're much more able to to lead. And I was able to see the uh national teacher of the year uh speak a couple of of years ago, probably three years ago. And I think this is true in both the positive and the in the negative sense. But one thing she would share when she was in conflict with whether it was with colleagues or parents or students or whatever it might have have been is Alana is it's harder to hate up close. And I think it's easier to love up close when you know where somebody comes from and knows their story. We can be we can be much much more effective together. So in all our meetings I try to share a bit about myself in terms of um the importance of family and and how I um try to show up and then the other is this idea of we get to show we get to decide how we show up each day um in all of our lives both personal and professional we're not in control of how anyone else behaves uh other than ourselves and we get to decide how we respond to the things that come our way and that's a gift and I try to ground everybody I get the chance to work with and that gratitude because not everybody gets to make that choice and we get the chance to decide how we show up in response to the things that come to us in this type of work. There's going to be plenty of surprises. Uh there are plenty of surprises literally every single day and a lot of those were things that we didn't ask for and we get to decide what we do with those and how we show up and how we turn those into uh opportunities for us to bring closer to realizing our mission. So those two ideas of of humanity and gratitude are two things I've tried to include in each of our our kind of kickoffs. The big reason for all that is is I think it establishes trust and along the way uh all of our work is really is really based in trust. At the same time uh beyond just sharing kind of those philosophical pieces I'm trying to tee up for folks a little bit about not in terms of like a training um but beyond rooted in family and gratitude and controlling what you can control. How do how do I actually approach education? What do I think as an educational leader? Like what's at the core of that? And this is really introductory but just high level of I believe people deserve to think to real to to know what's top of mind for me. And there's a handful of concepts that I'll I'll very quickly go through here. The first one is all of our work is rooted in student success. that anytime we're at any type of collaboration table, whether that's virtual, a meeting, uh, asynchronous, we're developing something, it all should be rooted in student learning, student experience, ultimately students having success, which is that them being able to leave our system equipped with all the doors possible open to them. It's, you know, not to make it just a really simple version of that, that each and every student can leave here uh and graduate on time and be have any door that they want open to them be open and that's where all of our work needs to ground. And to do that, we need to pay attention to what's happening in our classrooms. uh what we do at this at this table is really important and I've you know tried to stress continuously the importance that I believe in our relationship and I know we have a shared belief that though our relationship is vitally important to the district the most important relationships are those between the students and the educators at the point of exchange and our relationship helps that happen and us paying attention to what's happening with our our students and our educators is most important with that as we do that we should have an idea of is what we're doing working, is what we're doing having the impact that we want. This one probably requires a little little greater depth and I uh we can do that at at another time for sure. Um but I included it here just so you know this is one of those kind of handful of ideas. The first one is focusing on what's happening in the classroom. Second is understanding our impact and are we aware of why we're getting the first off are we aware of what results we're we are getting and we are we aware of of why we're getting those and that allows having an understanding of both of those allows us to be in a spot where we're driving driving outcomes. Third notion that I've talked with teams about is this idea of multiplying your impact. So the groups I've been able to meet with so far are really our leadership teams and with leadership is kind of the the great privilege the blessing of being able to have a lot of impact. Uh this is image I joked with leadership council last week. This was created at AI. I don't think it's great uh but um I think it kind of gets the point across that I was trying to of that you as leaders two things. One, you get to multiply your impact, but also your influence is everywhere. It's not just a top-down type influence or I work with these three people, I influence them. It's our influence is everywhere. It's how we show up in meetings. It's our verbals. It's our non-verbals. It's the things that we say uh that we give budget to. It's the things that we say are our goals, but it's also the the events that we choose to go to or we choose not to go to. All of that is observed and is a responsibility that we have as leaders to own our impact and to really see that as what a gift I have to be able to to have impact. The fourth here is that through our ability to multiply impact, if we're going to have any positive impact, it's going to be through our relationships. I mentioned we're in the ultimate human profession. And this is really a relationshipbased business is if we're to have impact that we want in the classroom and on the student uh success and experience, it's going to be through relationships. And this is a framework that I use to describe um what a high performance relationship looks like in a workplace. And it's that combination of both high expectations and high care. And uh it's of course it's overly simplified. All relationships don't fall into just four tidy categories. But I think if you pause to reflect on a leader or a mentor or a teacher, a coach or a parent or somebody in your life, uh a boss, a supervisor, a colleague, somebody in your life that has had an high impact on your performance that has helped you to get to even higher levels of su of success than you thought possible. There probably was, my guess is is that there was this dual presence of high levels of care as well as high level of expectation. And you you need to have both to drive to drive performance. And then the fifth and final piece that I hope folks are taking home from that is all of that starts with belief. And our belief that we you usually have used in this term and in other in this district and in other places too of collective efficacy. That's really what this is is do we believe that our actions make a difference? Do we believe that what we do has a has a positive medium or positive or negative or some sort of impact on on the outcomes? And when we believe that, there's really no greater lever we can push than that of we really got to believe that. So, um, focusing on the student experience and student learning and student success, what's happening in the classroom, making sure that we have a good understanding of that and we're supporting that, understanding our impact, multiplying that through relationships, and believing that we can make a difference are are the themes that um I'm trying to to share in the spaces that that I am. Lastly, um, what have I noticed so far? So I share out uh four themes but before I share those I always uh want to be really cautious to put this slide first uh as our strategic roadmap that is our strategic road map uh that has been in place since 2023 and continues to be in place. So our mission, our vision, our core val core values, our strategic directions all firmly in place. As I'm listening to where are the things for us to continue, what are the things to protect? Where what do we might want we what might we want to invest in? It's through that lens. It's through in service to these strategic directions and to the strategic roadmap. There's been four themes that come up frequently um or kind of have stuck out to me uh across all those conversations and data points. Of course, there's much more. Uh but the four themes that have really are standing out to me are that first off, we're grounded in our core purpose of ensuring student learning and experience. And there's a lot to be proud of there. And there's a lot that we want to continue to focus on and continue to get closer and closer to each and every in excellence for each and every and a reminder of that is our core purpose and remember that's what that's that's what we want to to make sure we protect. Another is around uh our organizational co coherence and connected autonomy of making sure all of our systems, our structures, our meetings, our um report patterns, goal setting, all of that aligns and contributes to student learning and experience. A third area of theme of uh that I think people have really wanted me to hear and that I've noticed in other data points is to continue to strengthen our community trust, strategic partnerships, and belonging. that the community trust that we have is so vital to our historic success and to make sure that that that that continues as well as keeping this eye on long range stewardship in our facilities and our programs and our safety of making sure that we're really looking at the long horizon as well. As I look at these themes, I'm hearing those three horizons that I try to keep in mind with every decision of are we making sure that we're making sure that we're making the decisions that best serve the students in front of us today that set us up the district to make continued good decisions 5 years from now and that will give employers in the world the graduates that they need 20 years from now. Are we attending to those? And as I've observed here the last several weeks and months, um these four themes really hit all three of those horizons to me of connecting with our our trust, having the organization align to our core purpose of students and then holding the long range in mind as well. As we prepare to launch the the year, uh I mentioned the focus on operational excellence. Uh we've got e amazing systems in place for that from buildings and grounds and facilities and technology and food service and and more. Uh I had a chance to visit with uh a lot of our buildings and grounds team last week. They had their uh kind of kickoff meeting to start the year and uh we're able to to join them for that uh for that launch. We have our our bus drivers uh coming together for something similar this Wednesday. U be able to join them for that. paying constant attention to enrollment and hiring and making sure that we have the right amount of people in our classrooms and paying attention to enrollment as it continues to come in um this time of year changes by the day but that looks to be continues to be in good order. [snorts] Also investing in our instructional excellence and making sure that we continue that focus on the classroom. We have our building instructional leadership team institute uh tomorrow and Wednesday at the high school. All of our new teachers have their welcome week uh next starting next week on Monday and then our full welcome back week is the week of the 24th. So being in space uh with all of our teams there and our teams have have great things designed and then modeling and and continuing the message of investing in relationships as we go. Uh so many of you at the uh kindergarten event last week which was a really just a great example of a relationshipsbased community and having all of our district programs and all of our elementary principles and their teams there was was pretty special to see uh our families come through and be able to connect with them in that way. So, there's a couple of pictures from uh from some of the community ed. Uh got talked into some food tasting as well as our kindergarten night the other night. Just fun stuff that we've been able to do around the community just in the last couple of weeks. And all that is around our theme for the year that we'll have in our uh all staff welcome back event on Wednesday the 26th, which you're all invited to and we'll share more information on that. uh that'll be at Wise at a high school and our theme there is building what's next together. So, thank you and uh thank you to our community. I think I' I've tried to extend this when possible, but I think I was a little quick on that tonight of just thank you to everyone for the warm welcome that you've you've given me and to help me be successful for the year ahead for our students and staff. So, with that, if there's any questions or comments, I'm happy to take them. But, thank you for the time. >> Thank you, Dr. Virgin uh for that quick update. Uh any questions, comments? Yeah, Alicia, >> I would just like to say I mean you hit the ground running. You're sprinting I feel like and you're doing amazing things. It's fun to be at a block party or just out in the community in the last month and a half and have people approach me and say they've had an opportunity to speak to you. They've seen you. Their child, you know, crossed you in the hallway somewhere. And I think that's amazing. You were clearly working before you even were officially working for us. You've been really, really busy. And I appreciate that. that is something that you are putting your time and effort towards. So, I think the only concern I've heard is make sure you're taking water breaks and maybe [laughter] getting a nap in every once in a while, but no, thank you. I think you've really embrace our community and I'm only hearing great things. So, thank you very much. >> Thanks. Thank you. [laughter] >> Thank you. Thank you, Rob. Um, I want to recognize your thoughtful approach. Um and that thoughtful approach was not just to learn but how to build those strong and collaborative trusted relationship. That was very clearly exhibited from first time we spoke and since then all the meetings that we have attended it comes across very strongly that your first goal is to make sure we work collaboratively. we have that trusted relationship and again as you said we're not we may not agree on everything but how do we come together look at what is what is the you know student outcome and how do we get there that is most important so again kudos to you uh it comes across very clearly in every conversation every you know interactions that we are having with you have kept us in the loop uh throughout the transition process uh but again it wasn't so much that hey this is what I'm doing and I'm just sending you an update. It was very thoughtful, meaningful and we could very clearly see so what. So you are meeting with all of you know community members but so what and then you articulated that hey I learned these and you know so and so things does that make sense like what do you guys think? So in every every each of those milestones, you obviously took us with you. Um and especially the bold retreat was really a great initiative for all of us to connect. Um again you showed willingness as Alicia said I think we got nervous that hey there are only 24 hours so you need to manage the work life balance. So I hope you do that but no you're really off to a great start. I mean we are really happy to have you here and looking forward to working with you. So thank you for all your help and support so far. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um Oh, go ahead. >> Um I just want to uplift the fact that every time you are approaching us, you approach us with a framework and I'm really appreciative of that because it helps me to understand how you're thinking >> and how to communicate out. So, that's very helpful and I think it's it's helpful for others to see that as well. Um, thank you for all the time that you've invested with us. I think it's critically important in this first we only got one first year, right? And so, you're doing a phenomenal job of of really reaching out and investing time with all of us to build all those relationships. I'm appreciative of that. Um, and just keep it going. Thanks for all the updates. >> Thank you. >> Okay, so Paris Paris said 24 hours. I I have a feeling you have more than 24 hours in your day. I you know you either your watch must be slow [laughter] or your cell phone must show a slower time but I don't know how you find so much time for so many things from the from the presentations and like Heidi said your frameworks are just I'm I'm very impressed with them. I think that high performance high care framework is the first time I'm seeing it from you >> and I I agree very strongly that to be a good high performance school >> we can also have high care. >> Mhm. >> And I think that's that's what we should strive for. But thank you for sharing that. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> All right. Moving on to administrative reports and recommendations. Um oh no we are in that administration recommendations and reports. There are no teaching and learning reports this evening. And the next one is finance and operations and executive director Trevor Peterson will seek a resolution relate relating to general obligation school bending bonds series 2026b. Trevor Good evening, Chair Sahony, members of the board. Dr. Version. Um, presenting me with Eve this evening is uh Matthew Hammer from Ellers, our MU municipal adviser. Um, Matthew is a man that probably doesn't need any more introductions at this table. He's been here uh [laughter] quite a while for the last uh couple years. But um tonight uh we are bringing forth a resolution authorizing the issuance and awarding the sale of $100 million of general obligation school building bonds, which is series 2026b. Uh this bond issue represents the first in a series of multiple bond issues over the next few years as part of the voter approved referendum back in April. Uh we apologize for not allowing [clears throat] the board to have a a huge runway to look at this, but um we did sell the bonds competitively this morning at 9:30. So uh the final results were not available until shortly after that. So we we do apologize for that. It was just a timing thing. Um on Wednesday of last week, uh we did receive an updated credit opinion from Moody's Investor Service. And uh we are once again thrilled to report that our district has maintained our AAA um credit rating status. So kudos to everyone. Um and to continue with the great news, uh we are once again pleased uh with the the bond sale results this morning. Um so now I'll turn it over to to Matthew to talk a little bit more about that. >> Thank you, Trevor and Cherony, members of the board. Dr. Virgin Man, district's financial adviser. Um we're here to share the bid results we received this morning for phase one of the projects that were authorized by voters back in April and we're really off to a good start. Um I always say when we're going through this process is a journey. Um and a good initial sale is always a good way to start. So um we ended up with 10 bids this morning. Um the low bidder was JP Morgan. The cover bid was Raymond James. um the spread was only 10 basis points. So if you looked at the first three bids, we were less than 1% um in the spread between the three low biders. Um which really gives us an indication that we're at market today. Um and we got market rates when we were out in the market. Um if you go back to what we were estimating in the pre-sale report back in June, we had a 441 or a 4.41% interest rate estimated. We ended up receiving a true interest cost this morning of 4.21% so 20 basis points under and we were carrying an average interest rate during the pre-election estimates of 4.75. So that gives you a little context of where we're starting from a rate perspective. Um we also did receive a reoffering premium. Um, and if you look at that, um, we talked a little bit about this, um, during the pre-sale estimates, but we're depositing, um, $11 million and or 101,800,000 to the construction fund. Um, that's a result of the premium bid that we received in the sale. So, we're depositing more than the PAR amount, but that true interest cost that we're accessing that money for is 4.21%. And that's kind of important to the overall um project right now as we're getting things um started. Uh the district, as Trevor said, did uh go through our credit rating process. Um you were affirmed AAA stable. You can't do any better. Um you can't have a positive outlook when you're at AAA. So that's a really good place to be. um from a rating perspective and it is really a important signal um that Moody's is putting to the markets that this district's in is a very strong financial position um as they look forward. You'll also see there's a second rating in the sale day report that's a credit enhance rating and really what that is is think of it as insurance to bond holders. So, the state of Minnesota through a credit enhancement in Minnesota provides a credit enhancement um as part of the bond sale. Um and that in essence says that if the district for some reason over the life of the bonds couldn't make the payment, bond holders would get paid. Um so that's an appropriation and really for school districts in Minnesota that allows um school districts to access lower rates because think of it like bond insurance. Um so it's an important program. Um in your guys you have a AAA rating. That state credit program rating gets one notch underneath the straight credit enhance rating. So um overall um think of that as insurance and it's an important piece of the overall um um profile for school districts as they go out to market to to solicit bids. Um uh these do have a call date. Um, so if you look at the coupon rates that we received as part of the sale, um, there's a likely a possibility when we get to that call date, we'll be able to be in a position to potentially refinance these. So, um, the call date on the bonds is two or is February 1 of 34 and any callable m or any maturity after 2035 and beyond. Um, so that's the call provision. That's the uh what the market is really dictating. We have an 8-year call, which is typical right now when we go out to market, but an important piece as we manage the whole profile and monitor the district's outstanding debt as we move forward as the sale as part of the long-term plan of the school district. Um, so with that, I can answer any questions folks have about the sale this morning. Um, we were really pleased with the results and as I said, um, this is phase one. We have right now based on the plan and the draw schedule, anticipated cash flow needs, there's three additional sales that'll happen in 28, 29, and 30. Um, but that's all um going to be driven off of the actual need for cash as we move through the the multi-year process here for the construction projects of the school district. >> Thank you, Matthew. Thank you, Trevor. Any questions, comments? >> [clears throat] >> I'll just briefly share it's um really good to see the AAA credit rating reop. I'm glad you guys got a good interest rate and it's um really exciting to see these dollars be put to use. >> I just want to congratulate the entire district on having a AAA bond rating. Again, it is not just to say that we have a triple bond rating, right? Having a triple bond aa bond rating allows us to get better interest rates as we see today. um allows us to be able to do more for our retirees, for our teachers, for and inevitably for our students. And so this is really exciting news. We want to keep it there as long as we can. Um and so congratulations to the district. It doesn't happen just at the admin building. This happens with everyday decisions that everyone makes. So congratulations. >> I think if I could maybe add on a little bit to Matthew mentioned um about the the stable outlook. Um, [snorts] so this outlook is new for our district. Um, that is triggered when a district has outstanding debt um that exceeds $250 million. Um, so this will put us over that. Uh, so prior to this issuance, we were we were under that, which means we there was no outlook attached. Um, but now that we're over that, you either have positive, stable, or negative outlook. So again, as Matt said, with the stable outlook in the AAA rating, there you're not going to get a positive outlook when you can't go any higher. So, uh, right where we want to be. >> Okay. Um, I have a few questions on on the on the sale day report and most of them on slide two. Just just for my understanding, nothing nothing that, you know, I'm concerned about or, you know, worried about, but just just for my understanding, some of these things I have no idea what they mean. So, on slide two, what is what is reoffering premium? >> Yeah. So that's the when bond holders put bids in, you end up with what we call a true interest cost and the reoffering premium is the cash in essence that the underwriter is providing the district um for a higher interest rate or coupon rate when they um are purchasing that in secondary market. So the reoffering premium net the discount is how we get to the less the cost of issuance is how we get to the deposit to the construction fund and that deposit to the construction fund is 1 point or 101,800,000. So you're actually getting more than the par amount but your borrowing rate is 4.21%. Right? So they're giving you extra cash but your borrowing for that cash is still only 4.21%. So reoffering premium is something we get instead of we paying anybody. >> That's going directly in your construction account um and is within um you you have authority to issue 496 million right in total and par. But um that reoffering amount also is included and that's cash that goes into your construction bond for construction projects. >> What does true interest cost really mean? What what is true interest cost? >> Yeah. So that's the combination of what I just said, right? So the reoffering premium nest let the dis net the discount um and what your borrowing cost is for all those factors. So when you look at that true interest cost, the low bidder provided the the net reoffering plus discount at the lowest cost to the district. >> Okay. >> Um >> all right. And then what does the cost of insurance issuance include? You have a cost of >> that includes our fees. It includes uh Dorsy's fees, includes rating fees, um includes fees for the county. Um so that's all the costs of issuance for uh issuing the debt. >> So after paying that, we still have 101,800,000. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> And so why is the difference? I think you might have mentioned that but I don't know if I understood what you said. Why is there a difference in rating of AAA and double A1? What's what's the difference? Both both by Moody's. >> Yes. The the district's underlying rating is the is a AAA. That's the rating that the district holds and you as a municipality hold to the market. The credit enhancement rating is the state's program rating and that is notched by Moody's right one notch compared to the district states rating who's AAA. Um, and really think of that like bond insurance, right? So that credit program for school districts across the state of Minnesota, districts access that for the so they can access the markets at a lower borrowing rate when they go to the market because bond holders when they hold debt from a Minnesota school district are guaranteed to get paid. In essence, if the school district can't pay over the period of the bonds, the state will make the payment on their behalf. So that program allows school district to get a little bit of benefit, right? Um from a rate perspective because there's that extra insurance when they go out to the market. >> Have we I'm sorry. Uh you want to say something else or >> No. >> Okay. Have we ever had the same rating for both AAA on both? >> Uh typically well typic Moody's notches that one. So they won't be the same ever because the state of Minnesota holds a AAA and the program rating is automatically notched by Moody's one one rating. Okay. And then the final question on slide 10 the fund balance is is is referred to as a percent of revenue and so is the cash was it cash reserve or some something to do with cash as a percent of revenue. From what I remember or understand, per fund balance is typically a percent of operating expenses. >> You are correct. It usually is. Um Moody's is a nationwide investing service though. Um so one of the metrics they use is um percentage as of revenue instead of expenditures. So that's just their benchmark that they use to compare us to provide a credit rating um based on their their matrix system that they use for this. So they do look at revenues as opposed to um as opposed to expenditures. Um [snorts] that does impact um you know it does have the ability to possibly impact that based on however a year may end up. Um in our case we've had the um we've been fortunate to have revenues over expenditures which is great for a fund balance but then that would lower this percentage because it's a higher amount that they're con referring it to than it might be for expenditure. So, um it is something um as we move forward with multiple bond issuances that we as a district will want to monitor and need to monitor and um it likely won't have us, you know, making drastic changes to do anything differently, but um it certainly could play a factor as our um bond our debt threshold continues to increase too. So, um we we might want to u make sure this is one of those benchmarks that we pay closer attention to. >> Okay. So learn every something new every day. Thank you. >> I should have read Preduk action recommended action first before we went into discussion. I apologize but I'm going to read the recommended action is to approve the resolution relating to general obligation school building bonds series 2026b authorizing issuance awarding sale prescribing the form and details and providing for the payment thereof. Is there a motion? >> I so move. Second. Moved and seconded. I'm going to ask if there's a discussion now. >> You already did that. Okay. So, thank you everyone. Um, this is a roll call vote then. >> Colleagues, Danestra, Danestra votes yes. Alicia Little, >> yes. >> Paris Bendy, >> yes. >> Sheila Prior. Sheila Prior is absent. Heidi Kedar, >> yes. Valentina Ays, >> yes. >> Milan Sahony, >> yes. The motion carries. Thank you so much, Dan. All right. And thank you, Trevor. Thank you, Matthew. >> Yeah. Thank you so much. Talk to you. Talk to everybody soon. Have a good night. >> Yeah. Thank you. Okay. There are no HR reports this evening. And the next item on the agenda is other board action. and I will seek a resolution for a student rep on the school board. So, I'm just going to read something very quickly here if I can. So, at tonight's meeting, the board is being asked to consider approving moving forward with exploring the establishment of student representatives on the school board. This topic was brought forward for board consideration and in September 2025, the board held a work session dedicated to to this topic. During that work session, board members heard perspectives from MSBA regarding student representation as well as from Hopkins School Board member and a current student representative serving on the Hopkins School Board. The discussion provided an opportunity to learn about the potential benefits of student representation, including a including providing the board with a student perspective on district-wide issues, strengthening communication between students and the board, and creating opportunities for civic engagement and leadership development. Following that work session, this board the board attention was focused on two significant district priorities, the superintendent search and the referendum process. Tonight proc uh represents the next step in that conversation. The action before the board tonight is not adoption of a final policy. Rather is it is to determine whether the board wishes to move forward with the concept and direct the development of a policy and implementation framework for future board consideration. If there are questions, concerns or implementation considerations, those can be discussed during board discussion following the motion. So the recommended action is to approve moving forward with exploring the establishment of student representatives to the school board and direct an ad hoc committee in collaboration with administration to develop a proposed policy and implementation framework for future board consideration. Is there a motion? Yeah. Motion Paris moves. Yes. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Moved and seconded. Um we can we can begin discussion if you have any questions or comments. Only question I have is um what would be the timeline for the ADOC committee to come back with the recommendation or approach? Oh, to come back with the recommendation. I I do not have a firm timeline, but I would like to have that ad hoc committee set in place in the next few days. Okay. If possible and then they can come back and say, well, this is what we estimate the timeline to be cuz I cannot speak for the committee itself right now. But >> but but yeah, some work will obviously be required. >> Okay. >> In in collaboration with the administration. >> Okay. And assuming we move forward, is there any timing we need to think about when the student representative can be on the board or student representative can join the board at any time during the year? >> I I would Yeah, good question. Very good question. Actually, I think I would leave that up to the committee. I think from here on if this if this proposal is approved then I think this ad hoc committee will do the bulk of the >> okay >> of the effort and bring that back to the board. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. I would like to clarify my understanding is as if right now we're just making instead of actually going through uh motions and making plans and then finding out that actually let's say that uh majority doesn't want to we're doing actually we are just checking the temperature do we want and then making plan correct >> this proposal this motion actually includes that so I'm just giving an example let's say I don't want a student representative on the board at Right. And then so the so the ad hoc committee policy and all that doesn't matter. I will just say no. >> So that's why I'm saying we are more finding out what is the temperature what and then uh going make sense. >> If this if this motion passes the assumption will be that the majority of the board and eventually the board wants a student representative on the board but only under the condition that the policy that is proposed is approved. Without that we cannot have a student. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. >> So, I'm really excited about the idea of increasing student voice. Um, I think we saw some really interesting things. Actually, Dr. Virgin, when we were hiring you, um, the high school and um, HR spent a lot of time with students asking what they were looking for in a leader and we got some really interesting results out of that. Um, and so I'm excited to hear more and more from students. Um, and I know that we've got we've got pathways now. Um, in my opinion, I think we can boost them. Um, and so I think there are different ways that we can do that. I um I'm thinking about this. So that's one piece, right? Like I'm really excited about student voice and I and I'm let's go. The other piece of it to me is how do we do this as a board? Um and I am wavering here right because like I don't know that starting an ad hoc committee at the start of the year is the right timing to do such a thing I want to do. So as Dr. Virgin was talking about our board retreat. We were talking about a whole lot of strategy around implementation of plans moving forward and it feels to me like adding an ad hoc committee right now without having a bigger conversation around our other committees. Um it just feels out of cadence to me. And so my recommendation is actually that we wait until our organizational work session in December to keep with our normal cadence. Get all of our um committees in place including ad hocs, right? So we have committees of the board and then we have ad hoc committees and we have all of our appointments and whatnot. So I would say we do that work, do it together, have a bigger conversation around how to navigate all of that because committees as we know take a lot of time and take a lot of effort. And so I just want to make sure that we have clarity on all those pieces. And then it would be just like all of our other committees. We assign board members to certain committees. Then we move towards approval of that in January at our organizational meeting and then we start any work around that at that point. So I that's I'm so I don't feel like necessarily and we did this like we've had other items like when we were thinking about the pledge of allegiance we had other items like that where we did it and approved it in January. So it feels like that might be a better cadence than kind of jumping this right now. >> Any anyone want to comment on that or Yeah, I'm trying to get my thoughts all straight here. So, I guess did I hear you say you would want to create the ad hoc in the next couple of days? >> As soon as possible. Yes. >> Okay. Um I guess my only hesitation with that is this is something I'm very passionate about and I'm very excited about. Like full stop. Um since this was first brought to my attention when we were planning this meeting, I've been doing as much research as possible and there's so much out there. There's so many ways to go about this. Maybe it's the educator in me. Maybe it's wanting to just be really thoughtful and make sure you know actually I one of the students that spoke said setting a precedent. And that was something that I think I brought up is as a wise at a school board and as a district I want to make sure if we do this we do it right and we don't jump into it and then maybe in the you know after a few months or after a year go oh gosh I wish we would have thought about this. Um I would love to be a part of a committee but to me a turnaround time of saying in the next couple of days especially in lie of just all the changes that are occurring we're starting with the school year feels sort of abrupt and so I would also say that to me timing wise and sequence-wise waiting you know using some of this timeline to give all of us an opportunity because I don't know who else on this board wants to maybe all of us want to be a part of this new committee but we could all take some time to do some research and get a better handle on yeah what the districts that are currently implementing this are doing what would fit well talk to our district staff I know some of you have had some of those conversations I have not because I'm new enough even though I've been trying to I did see the Hopkins presentation back in September um but I don't know I personally feel like I want to make sure we do this really thoughtfully and really strategically and make sure leadership at the schools from our leadership team as a board we all feel like we can put our hands plans around this and dive in as a really great mentorship program for whatever student or students we decide to move forward with. So, I'm not saying no to moving forward with a plan, but I also feel like I would want to be a little more clear on what the expectations and timing of this are. >> Okay. >> You want to say something? >> Yeah, I'll go ahead now. Thanks so much. Um, you know, this has, I think, been a long time coming. Um, and it's something I've been excited to hear just day in and day out all the conversations we have with students. Every year we're fortunate to join student council for uh bagels with the board. It's a great occasion and the one thing they tell us every year is we want to step up. We want to get more involved. We want to hone our leadership abilities to be the best version of ourselves. And to me that's what excellence for each and every student means. So I am very excited to support this. I think that um you know we will have ample time to get it done and really the purpose of tonight is taking the board's temperature as a a previous speaker shared and um you know making sure we do this in a deliberative manner um over the next two weeks. There's just so much potential that this idea has and I think it's good that we're recognizing that as a school board um you know we have the same high expectations of ourselves as we do of our students. We are constantly self-improving. We are constantly trying to put our best work forward. So, I'm very excited to be voting yes um tonight and I can't wait to mentor the next um group of uh students and let them into our um doors to see how we make decisions in Wisetta schools. >> Okay. I'm I'm going to respond to Heidi's comment about ad hoc committee. So, the ad hoc by itself, it means something you put in place when there is no other committee that that will be able to do it. the the the the thought about having the policy committee do this was brought up at the at the agenda planning meeting and it looked like they are overwhelmed with with a lot of stuff. So we did not want to impose on the policy committee when they didn't really have time between now and the org work session another 6 months after that we put a committee in place another 2 to 3 months before they are in place that's another 8 to 9 months we have already waited I remember how much time it took us to have a board the board members visits to buildings being approved took a long time I do not want to end up uh and I don't think we should end postponing this or dragging this. Now whether the ad hoc committee will be able to do that quickly or not I I cannot say but putting that in place I think is really important. Put that put that in place right now because we have all the information we have seen students come and talk. We have seen community members send us emails, you know, requesting that we do this. And one thing that I would say if somebody asks me what is your biggest reason why you want a student representative on the board and this is this is my response always will be students are our biggest stakeholders, right? And so if we are not listening to the student students as far as what they would like what they their difficulties are what they're going through then we are not really listening to the stakeholders. The more time we spend the more we are dragging our feet and more you know the longer it'll take and then this this year will go and this year students will not be able to benefit from any of that. So I think I think we should not again every board member can decide for themselves. I I don't think we should drag this too long. [clears throat] >> Yeah. >> So, thank you million. That was going to be my question because I was going to ask like is there any way policy committee can take this on but again you clarified there is already enough on the plate. Um that being said again ad hoc committees I feel again this is not meant to be a longer term committee. This is to assess, put the protocols in place, work with, you know, Rob, you and your, you know, leadership team and put that framework together. Um, so I I am supportive. I think we should get started. Now, to Alicia's point, it's not going to be in 2 days. I think that's unrealistic. So even if we pull the meeting in 2 days, we're not going to have framework in two weeks. But I think we we should get started now and at least my recommendation would be not to wait until December or January because again it's just going to get dragged on. Um again it's a short-term committee just to put the framework together. I also don't think we're going to get it right the first time. Every school district is different. We will iterate. So once we put it in place, I think the ad hoc committee also needs to look at just like any other policy we revise every year, how do we revise that policy, right? So there will be some finetuning that will come up eventually. So again, I don't expect this to be well machine on day one, but I think given the interest, given the opportunity, we need to act quick and at least see how that framework looks like. So I'm supportive of moving forward. I'm supportive of supportive of moving forward now. Um and again we just have to figure out who that who's on that adoc committee. >> Yeah. Just a a couple of comments actually that so maybe one belief, one commitment and one request. Uh first belief share the belief that it sounds like we have across the table of you know not just our commitment to student excellence but like students having agency and voice in their experience is a good thing. Um I think it's good for schools and it's good for the it's good for systems and it's good for the individuals that are a part of that. So I think just want to name that belief and you know been um tried to I don't want to call myself a champion tried to be a champion for student voice at different phases throughout my career and have have a lot of experience with this and with that I've learned a lot about it's there is a lot of work to do in the how and to and to really try to hone that. So that's my belief. My commitment would be my understanding of tonight is that what you're voting for, though it it could be implied in different ways, but at the end of the day, the action that would result from tonight is the establishment of an ad hoc committee that would explore this and try to learn more about this. So my commitment is if you voted not to have just I'll say the other way first. If you voted to have an ad hoc committee, my commitment would be is I'm going to do everything on my role, my team's role to make sure that ad hoc committee is as successful as possible. If you voted not to have an ad hoc committee, my belief still stands. We're still going to be really investing in student voice and student leadership across this district. So, that's just kind of I'm good either good good either way moving forward with with that direction. the um request the one request I'd have is if this committee does convene to my request would be to have a a wide enough lens that you would capture maybe not every single maybe that's too high of a bar but more a good chunk of the kind of quote unquote wise um whh yys or the reasons that the students brought forward tonight because I'd have to play those back but I was trying to take notes. And some of those I think would be addressed by having one member or two members or three members. I know the committee is going to sort that out. Um but some of them wouldn't. And so is this an opportunity to have a wide enough lens that we're not just kind of smack dab on this and we're also looking at how do we have student voice benefit kids and benefit the system and could the committee explore that? Is is it interacting with the committees of the board? Is it interacting with their strategic roadmap? Is it interacting with me? Is it interact what like just those are just off the top of my head. So belief is there. My commitment is you know you're going to see the best of our team regardless of your decision uh tonight. And uh the request would be just let's have a wide enough lens that we can really get to the root causes that we're trying to get to. Yeah, I I I agree with you on that totally. I think we ought to also remember that it's important not just to have a body at the end of this table in a chair. We want it to be very effective and for that the ad hoc committee can can be very useful. They can define the role. They can define the selection process, selection criteria, um training, all those things, right? that all that would in my mind would form a part of the policy which we will implement and if the board when we come back with the policy from the ad hoc committee when we come back and the board says well this has a lot of holes I'm not going to approve it so be it right so that we unless we try unless we do something we won't know and pushing it down the road you know January December January February I think is not a good idea that's again my my thought my opinion Yeah, man. >> Um, I don't understand what's going to change in December. In December, I'm going to say there is going to be holidays and we're going to be busy. We will find always something to do. As if right now, uh, we are just making decision. I'm hoping it's not going to be rushed. I, for example, would I'm going to be asking some questions too. Uh but at the same time at this point uh to be honest when I was looking for papers uh thank you Anita you [laughter] gave paperworks and MSBA already has some framework already has uh some explanation and I think at one of the reason why we are going to conferences we hopefully many of us already build some relationship with our school board members with uh of our school districts and we can ask what was their experience, what did they like, I mean if if they have at their uh board table and what kind of policy do they have, what did they like, what did we learn, what did they uh uh what they would suggest to add and then hopefully together we can come up with but waiting I don't know what is magical going to happen in December uh waiting in till December is not going to change anything. And for example, when I saw I'm going to bring again and at the graduation ceremony close to the end, I was I that that thought crossed my mind. Wow. Uh another year passed and she graduated. She did not see uh the I mean the results. How did we uh are we for it or not? I highly suggest not to sit and wait. At this point we are just making decision do we want or not. Then uh then we need to think through I mean what how do we want it to happen so that it is thoughtful. Um then we can start working. >> Yeah. I just want to add one one one one real quick comment especially because of the numbers that came from the students. Christy Peterson who is the president of MSBA published an editorial in the latest MSBA journal July August and she had an editorial on this same topic why it is so important to have a student representative and she in that she disclosed that it is 135 school districts now that are that have student representatives so 95 last year I remember MSBA sharing 95 last year so 40 more have added in the last one year so yes parish Heidi. >> Um, so I just want to clarify for my board colleagues. It is never my desire to kick the can down the road. I'm not that girl. >> I don't do that. Like I just want to make that very clear. I believe very firmly in doing work intentionally and thoughtfully and strategically. And at this board table, if we are not the ones who have 10year, 20-year vision, nobody else is going to do that. This is our role. Our role is not to run quickly. Our role is to be very strategic and visionary. And I want this to be something that lasts. I want it to be something that sticks. And so, if we're going to do this right, we've got to do it right. And the the thing that would change between now and December is not our belief like Dr. Virgin said that we all want to see um more student voice and um an enhanced agency of our students. That is something that is collectively here like I'm hearing it from every single one of us and I know that our administrators want that and I know that our teachers want that. So we're all on the same page there. what would change is the strategic conversation and the strategic planning to allow it to stick. And I think that that is something that's worth considering every single time that we have a great idea. Um the other thing is as I look at this recommendation, uh I'm wondering I I don't think it's a clear recommendation uh in that it's not so so Dr. Virgin Head, you you mentioned a wider lens and I was also taking notes as our students were speaking. Um, and I would like to widen the lens for this. I want to raise us up a level from just a student representative. That could be a part of it, but I want to raise us up to student voice, student agency, student representation. So, it's not just about being at the board table, but it's it's wider than that. So, if we're open to that, I would be happy to recommend some just a quick change to the verbiage on a recommended action that could take us there that would allow Dr. Virgin and his team to come back to us with a recommendation on how to do that properly. Right? Because our lane is governance. So, we can say what our hope and dream is and then he's going to go off and take that and create a plan for us to take a look at together. So that would be another pathway that we could take in this moment. >> Mr. Chair, if I may. >> Go ahead. Yes. >> Um Heidi, if you wouldn't mind, just please sharing. Um my understanding is that you intend to move an amendment. Is that your intent? >> I'd like to continue the discussion >> and then if I if I feel like there's something there, then yeah, I I can help with the verbiage. Pretty good with the words. >> Okay. Yeah. No, I um I was curious just if um if you would like to move an amendment just the the specifics of your language. Um but if there are other items that you'd like to share, Heidi, I think that would be welcome um as well. >> Before that, can I just say one thing about strategic direction and all that? That's why I think we have we will have a policy. A policy is a long-term document that is clear, clear, concise. And that policy, if it is not changed, if it stays around 25, 30 years from now, maybe none of us will be on this board, but that board will have a framework to to to put a student representative on at the table. So, so that that's precisely why we need a policy. Out of 135 districts that have student representatives, I know of only three districts that have policies. There might be more, but I don't think there are all 135 have policies. I think that's that's probably asking for trouble because some board members may change next year, few years from now, somebody else might come and they might want something else from the student representative and it becomes kind of random. So that is what the policy does and that's where where the strategy lies. Um as far as your amendment, you talk about student representative being the student voice. That is the purpose of the student representative. That is a result of the student representative that will be a student voice. And there are a couple of other things you mentioned. I forget what those were. Uh what else would you add to the amendment? I'm just trying to figure out. I would rephrase it to say student voice, student representation. >> Yeah. >> And student agency. >> Student agency. Can you explain that a little bit? What what that >> actually I would take that out. I would take that out. Let's stick to voice and representation. >> Okay. Um, and I think I I think the policy so in the in the effort in the effort of not getting into debate but truly deliberating at the board table, I want to stick to that. Um, but I think that a pol the policy I think we're aligned. I think that a policy could be a part of the overall strategy around this. But again, I think we need to level up. We need to take this up a level. We need to be in the balcony and really look down and see out on the horizon a little bit further than just creating the policy because I think there's more to student voice than we may be seeing right now. And I want to take the time to allow Dr. Virgin and his team to think that through a little bit more widely. >> This is a board matter for his request. I'm being very very honest here. This is a board matter. This is a board, a student representative on the board, a governance issue. We do want help from the administration without a doubt. There is no doubt. But I think this decision and this committee will be from the board and the board me committee members ad hoc committee members will I would like them to decide >> to uh jump in the conversation again unless others are speaking. Um Heidi, if you wouldn't mind um if you the the recommended action, if you wouldn't mind just sharing which wording you'd like change just so we're all looking at the same thing. So if you wanted to read it off and then just say what wording you would like factored into your amendment. Um I think that would be very helpful. >> So I would move to >> and does everybody, if I may. Yeah. Does everybody have the recommended action language in front of them? I just want to make sure you can look on with me. Does everybody have it? Okay, good. All right. All right. So, if you wouldn't mind, Heidi. >> Yep. So, I would move to uh the following wording for a recommended action. >> It would be in collaboration with administration, develop a proposed framework around implementation for future board consideration of increased student voice and representation. All right, that's it now. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Can you read that again one more time? >> No, I think um I think we'll have to um you know connectify tune in our language here. Um it's self for me to uh to have that as I'm you know collecting a roll call vote. Um, >> so that motion is on the table. >> Yeah, that's an amendment to the to the original motion. Correct. Yeah. So, we need a second for that. >> Sorry. Can you reread that? It's so different. I'm just trying to Yeah. >> Okay. So, so essentially I would take out that first line that says approve moving forward with exploring the establishment of student representatives to the school board and direct an ad hoc committee. I would say in collaboration with administr. So this is how it would start, right? In collaboration with administration, develop a proposed implementation framework for future board consideration of increased student voice and representation. I'm just going to ask the board for clarification. Again, I'm learning here, but I think >> hold on. >> There's a motion on >> it has to be seconded in order to >> It has to be seconded. >> If it doesn't get seconded, it dies. So, if you want to have a discussion about that, you have to second it. Somebody has to second it. >> I guess I'm willing to second if we can continue the discussion. >> So, move more than seconded. Okay. Now we can have a discussion please. You can say what what you want to do. >> I'm just trying to and I I want to be thoughtful about language. I didn't love the term drag. Um that was not my intention was saying we could talk in December. I think again I'm maybe not sharing my I think we're saying we could move forward and start an ad hoc committee and start the discussion and we have no idea what the timeline's going to be, what the parameters are going to be, but somebody's going to figure that out and then we'll deal with that later. That's kind of what I'm hearing is what is being proposed today. I tend to be someone who likes to be a little bit more thoughtful in like having at least an outline and then asking people how they feel about it. And I think that's maybe where the disconnect is happening right here. And so I am fully in favor in moving forward with a plan and implementation of having a school board representative, a student school board representative. I just want to make sure when the comment of in the next couple of days was thrown out, that's what worries me a little bit is just that I maybe can't commit to that in the next couple of days, but I could commit to it in the next couple of months or in the next couple of weeks. And I want to be okay. >> But again, that's a lot of different opinions. And so I just wanted to say too, yeah, I'm looking at MSBA's that you shared this article from Christy Peterson and some highlights that come to top of mind for me that I guess is my only hesitation and I want to be thoughtful about it is making sure that whatever approach we decide to take, the approach may vary by district, but the comm commitment must be genuine. Students should not feel like they are being heard as a formality. They should see their contributions matter and influence outcomes. and also that we should be seeking out diverse student perspectives and not every student's experience is the same and boards must be intentional about including voices which reflect the full breadth of their communities. Those are the pieces that we are talking about students here. I know policy can be adjusted and adapted but I don't want to negatively impact this process because it will directly potentially impact a group of students who feel very passionate about this. So, >> okay. So I'm going to make a comment about the motion and the second I I heard only one different word in that motion the words have been moved around right you start with in collaboration with administration it's already in the motion right once the adoc committee is formed then in collaboration with the administration to develop a proposed policy the additional word I heard was student voice all I'm saying is when we have a student representative on the board at the table. That's what we are looking for. That's the that's the main reason why we wanted a student representative to hear student voice. I mean that I I assumed was was was a given was understood. So if you want we can add that. I'm okay with that. But other than that there is no significant change in the recommendation recommended motion. So, so I am I'm going to I'm going to say no to the uh amendment, but I'm I'm willing to listen to colleagues here, but I think the revised uh motion uh we took the ad hoc committee out, right? So, is everybody okay with that? >> No. I Okay, I didn't I didn't hear. >> Right. because I think the revised motion was in collaboration with administration. So really the administration will put the framework together and they'll bring it back to board. We don't need an ad hoc committee. Now that framework could turn into policy at later point in time but what I heard is the >> so who is collaborating with the administration in collaboration with the administration somebody has to collaborate with the administration and that somebody is is the ad hoc committee that's what's in the original motion >> so typically on our committees even our ad hoc committees which we have one at this time right we only have one ad hoc committee um there is always an administrative ative um representative. >> So it depends on who the administrative representative would be, right? I asked that question and we haven't figured out even who the administrative representative would be. Um and again, I think this has to do with work and and strategy and what we're developing as we're going into the new school year. I think it's important that we have a framework that can encompass all of these things. So there could be an ad hoc committee, there could be a task force, there could be I mean it could be a lot of different things. I want to give Dr. Virgin the widest lens as he's requested to be able to create a really great solution within our system and within the work the work uh flows that are already going on. That's what I'm asking for. >> We do have an ad hoc committee and that ad hoc committee does board members. So my point is this one also should have. >> Oh, absolutely. >> But I thought you said you you removed the ad hoc committee wording. >> So I'm I'm I'm saying we in this motion as I put it as I motioned for it, the ad hoc committee verbage would not be there because it would be a framework that's created >> and Dr. Virgin. >> Okay. That's where I disagree, but go ahead. Sorry. Yeah. >> Okay. Um, so that's that's where it would I mean the framework would come from that's there's that's the difference between governance and management, right? Like is is we say we want to we so as a as a body who governs we are saying we want enhanced student voice. We want enhanced student representation. How do we do that? The how is his job. >> How is the policy and and by the way the student voice is at the table. So that is governance. The student representative will be a part of the governance process. He will not he or she will not be a part of the management process. That's why I'm saying repeatedly that it has to be a board decision. >> Okay. Anyway, >> um >> yeah. So, >> so I think let me play it back. So, I think what you're saying is nothing changes. There will be board representatives who will collaborate with Rob's team, but really Rob's team is driving the framework from the resolution standpoint, we are just taking that ad hoc committee world specific right now. >> Okay. But in reality the way we'll operationalize it yes there will be board members whoever we decide at the table working with Rob and his team is all so again we're just it is important >> we are changing the language but I don't think we are changing the construct >> the board members all seven board members cannot work with with the administration so what I'm saying is the ad hoc committee the three board members or the two board members whatever it is less than four right because other it becomes a you know an open meeting it's a quorum so that ad hoc committee like our other committees will work with in collaboration with administration so I have made sure that that that wording is there there is no doubt that the ad hoc committee will be collaborating and working with the administration we do not want to work in vacuum but this is absolutely a government's role and you know if if board members disagree then so be it Yeah. >> Okay. So, and yeah, Alicia, >> I Dan just was sort of saying, do I have any questions? And I guess I don't disagree at all with what you're saying. I guess my understanding though is yes, in our committees, we do have administration. So, we're not showing up at finance committee with all the finances as a board. We are collaborating. And so my only hesitation here is that I feel like I personally and maybe it is because I'm newer, but I feel like there's other board members who also want to learn about how would this actually be implemented? What staff in the buildings? What buildings are we talking about just high school? Are we talking about middle school? Are we talking about >> that is the role of the committee and the administration together to come up with that policy. That will be all be a part of the policy. That will be all the part of the rules. >> Right. Right. >> And so I guess I Yes. I think it is just a language thing then. >> Yeah. because it feels like you are saying you feel that needs to be done by ad hoc and I'm hearing Heidi presenting that that could be done with a variety of frameworks and so we're just if if we are voting today to move forward with >> something then >> okay >> so I I listen uh but I hearing governance this is governance this is allowing students to be in a governance role. So I don't understand why are we as if right now we are actually going around the idea are we good with it uh having a student representative then the details can be worked out and yes it need to be worked out by uh ad hoc committee it should not be just coming from administration it is governance role >> I'm absolutely saying that we would work in collaboration. It would not be only administration. Never ever ever does anything at this table come or should it be suggested that it comes to this table just from administration. We work in collaboration. That's what all of our committee work is and I spend a whole lot of time working in collaboration with a lot of people. Um so there's one other piece that I haven't um shared. So about a year ago, um Milind Sheila and I were at the high school. We met with um Principal Gendler and the um advisor of the student council who's also a teacher at the high school. And we had a long conversation about um you know, representatives on the school board, in particular, student representatives at this on on the board. Um, and there were concerns from the high school about how that would impact students. And this the way that things are worded right now, I can tell you with confidence, is not what the outcome of that conversation yielded um or was the hope for. And so I think it's important that we also consider and uh Dr. Anderson, our previous superintendent, was also in the room at the time. Um, so I think it's important that we consider that conversation and our the adviser, the student council adviser had gone to students and had some conversations with them and I'm just feeling like we um we need to lean into that conversation a little bit too. I my concern again is not with is it governance. What I'm saying is the the the way that we are approaching this is falling outside of our governor's role and we need to be the way that we work in collaboration is that handshake between the friendly fence, the handshake between um the board and administration. And so we have to allow that handshake to happen. Um but because of the specificity of how this is worded, it's not allowing the handshake. It's we are specifying very very clearly. >> I do remember that conversation. Let me can I just respond to that very quickly? >> I'm going to move that we call the question. >> We want to call to question. Okay. >> Uh Danny is calling to question for this is for the amendment to the motion. >> Yes. Heidi's proposed. >> All right. So he's calling to question. That's a motion. We need a second for that. And I second that. Uh this will be a vote. We go directly. No discussion on this. >> So please have a roll call vote, please. May I clarify again? Right now we are voting on how um version >> Thank you. >> No, no. He right now we are voting first on his call to question. He's saying stop the conversation. >> We're voting on Heidi's amendment. >> But I thought you called to question. So we have to vote on that first. That has to be voted on also. Call to question has to be voted. >> I just need a second. That's all I need. >> No, you have to. We have to vote. >> You seconded. So now I can move to a roll call vote on the amendment. >> No on the call to question first. >> All right. Can we >> Yeah, that's fine. >> All right. All in favor actually. >> All in favor >> say I >> I >> I >> oppose nay. Motion passes. So you Yes. Stop that conversation and now we can go back to the amendment. >> All right. So the uh amendment um as uh Director Kedar um moved. All right. Starting with Director Kedar. Director Kedar, >> yes. >> Um, Director Ays, >> no. >> Uh, Director Janestra, Jan, Director Janesterra votes no. Uh, Director Little, >> yes. >> Uh, Director Bendy, >> no. >> Um, Director Prior, Director Prior is absent. Uh, Director Sahony, >> no. Motion fails. Motion to amend fails, right? Yes. So let's go back now. We go back to the original motion as presented. Um so the recommended action originally was to approve moving forward with exploring the establishment of student representatives for the school board and direct and and direct an ad hoc committee in collaboration with administration to develop a proposed policy and implementation framework for future board consideration. Okay. Um, this is all this is a roll call vote. >> Uh, thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, Sheila Prior. Sheila Prior is absent. Heidi Kedar. >> No. >> Uh, Valentina Ays, >> yes. >> Uh, Dan Janestra. Dan Janestra votes yes. Uh, Alicia Little, >> yes. >> Paris Bendy, >> yes. >> Milan Sahonyi, >> yes. I'm sorry, Alicia's vote was >> was yes. >> Yes. Okay. All right. So, so the motion motion passes. Thank you everyone. I forgot to read a statement that uh Vice Chair Prior had emailed me. She's absent and she apologizes for that. So, I'm going to quickly read that. I know this is all done, but I I owe it to her to read this. Um, so I am intrigued by the idea of having a student representative on the school board and I would like to explore the idea further. I think establishing an ad hoc committee is a good first step. It gives us an opportunity to determine whether and how a student representative program could work for our board and our students. Creating the committee does not commit the board to anything beyond studying the idea and developing recommendations. I expect the committee's work will help us understand what student representation would look like in practice while giving board members, community members, and administration an opportunity to provide input. Importantly, any policy proposal that comes out of the committee would still need to come to the full board for a discussion and vote. I hope this resolution to establish an ad hoc committee passes. Thank you. Okay. So there is one more item left on the agenda and that's board reports. Um and I will share MSBA director's report. I'm on the MSBA board of directors as you you might know. I'm going to share that report on the permanent school fund amendment and Minnesota kids rise. So I'm going to ask two questions. How many of you have heard of the Minnesota Permanent School Fund >> at length? >> You have everybody, right? Good. That's good. Um, how many new Minnesota school districts have a constitutionally established trust fund that benefits every public school district? Everybody new? Okay. All right. So, let's watch a small video that MSBA has put together by an agency called Captivate. Amy, thank you. >> Did you know that every Minnesota public school student [music] is part of a public school trust? More than 168 years ago, when Minnesota [music] became a state, lands were set aside to create a permanent trust dedicated to one purpose, supporting public education for generations [music] of Minnesota students. Today, that promise continues through Minnesota's permanent school fund. Revenue generated from [music] school trust lands is invested, creating a permanent financial resource that helps support public school districts, [music] charter schools, and tribal schools throughout Minnesota. Over time, careful management has helped the [music] permanent school fund grow to more than $2.3 billion. This growth has prompted a discussion about how annual distributions from [music] the fund should be calculated. This November, Minnesota voters will be asked to [music] consider a constitutional amendment to update how annual distributions from the existing fund are calculated. The proposal [music] does not create a new fund. It does not change the purpose of the trust and it does not [music] raise income or property taxes. Recommended from a nonpartisan task force and with strong bipartisan [music] support from the Minnesota legislature, the proposed amendment reflects modern trust and endowment management practices and will increase distributions [music] to schools while maintaining the fund for future generations. Learn more about Minnesota's [music] permanent school fund and this fall's constitutional amendment at minnesotaapsfmendment.org. I thought this was a helpful way to introduce the permanent school fund um topic because it provides background information in an educational format and this is very important for voters in uh this fall. As many of you know, I serve as the MSBA director for district 4. One of the responsibilities in that role is to help keep school boards in the director district informed about statewide issues, resources, and opportunities that affect public education. This fall, Minnesota voters will consider a constitutional amendment related to the permanent school fund. MSBA has developed educational resources to help board members and districts understand the issue and communicate accurate information with their communities. The goal is to make sure our communities have access to factual educational information. MSBA has provided resources that are available to help board members and district communicate accurate information with their communities. I also wanted to share information about Minnesota kids rise a statewide effort to highlight the people people programs and opportunities found in Minnesota public schools. There are resources available for districts to share student staff, graduate, and community success stories. Resources for both PSF and MKR can be found on the MSBA website. Please reach out to me if you have trouble finding them. Thank you for the opportunity to share these updates. I encourage everyone to take a look at these resources and consider how we can continue informing our community and celebrating the great work happening in our public schools. Thank you very much. Any comments, any questions? I'm I will I'll try and answer them as much as I can from what I know. No. All right. Hearing none. Thank you. Moving on to the last item. This concludes the Visetta Public Schools regular board meeting. The next work session will be on Monday, August 24th at 4 p.m. Is there a motion to adjurnn? >> So move. >> Second. >> Moved. Seconded. All in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Oppose. Nay. The motion carries. The Wisetta Public Schools Board of Education regular meeting for Monday, August 10th, 2026 is adjourned. Damn, hiding.