Calling the meeting to order at 6:03 p.m. This is the board of directors special school board meeting, the organizational meeting um for Monday, January 5th, 2026. Welcome to all of our visitors, guests, and media. Uh we're going to start tonight with the board and administration roll calls. Mr. Phelp here. Mr. Burns here. >> Miss Danielson >> here. >> Miss Schultz >> here. >> Miss Gatsco >> here. >> Miss Nathan >> here. >> Mr. O'Neal >> here. >> Mr. Schuler >> here. >> All right. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance 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. All right. There have been no public comments prior to the start of the organizational meeting. So is there a motion to approve the attacked agenda and addendums? >> So move second. >> Is that you Heidi? Second. >> It was. Okay. Thank you. >> Motion made by Miss Danielson, seconded by Miss Gatsco. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. All oppose, nay. Motion carries. Now, on to the reorganization of the 20 26 Watertown Mayor ISD 111 school board. What we're going to do is start off with the election of school board officers. Um, since we only do this once a year, if there's only one nomination, they're going to be uh elected by acclamation. If there's more than one nomination for any of the roles, there will be a roll call vote just to ensure that um all votes are properly recorded. So with that being said, uh, nominations are now in order for the office of chairperson. >> Nominate Hunterfeld. >> Are there any further nominations for the office of chair? Are there any further nominations for the office of chair? If there are no further nominations, the nominations for the office of chair are closed. Hunterfelt or or me being the only candidate nominated for the office of chair, I hereby declare myself elected by acclamation and directed to be recorded by Miss Huan. >> All right. Oh, thank you. >> Um, moving on to the office of vice chairperson. Nominations are now in order for that position. >> I'll nominate Jim Burns. >> Thank you. Are there any further nominations? Um Oh, Jim Burns is nominated. Are there any other nominations for the office of vice chair? Are there any further nominations for the office of vice chair? Any further nominations for the office of vice chair? If there are no further nominations, the nominations for the office of vice chair are closed. and Jim Burns being the only candidate nominated for the office of vice chair and I hereby declare him elected by acclamation. >> Thank you. >> Stop with me again. >> I could have said that too. >> All right, moving on to the nominations uh for the office of clerk. So nominations are now in order for that position. >> I will nominate Katie Joe Danielson as clerk. Katie Joe Danielson is nominated. Are there any other nominations for the office of clerk? Any further nominations for the office of clerk? Are there any further nominations for the office of clerk? If there are no further nominations, nominations for the office of clerk are now closed. and Katie Joe Danielson being the only candidate nominated for the office of clerk and I declare her elected by acclamation. Congratulations. All right. And last and certainly not least, the office of treasurer. Nominations are now in order for that position of treasurer. >> I will nominate Erica Schultz. >> Erica Schultz is nominated. Are there any other nominations for the office of treasurer? >> Any further nominations for the office of treasurer? Any further nominations for the Office of Treasure? If there are no further nominations, nominations for the Office of Treasure are now closed. And Erica Schultz being the only candidate nominated for the Office of Treasur. And I declare her elected by acclamation. All right. >> Thank you. >> We now have the officers done. >> Yes. >> It's been a few years. >> So suspenseful. >> I know, right? I got to I got to work on that pause that the box. >> All right, moving on. Um, item B, motion to approve the following 2026 calendar dates and meeting times for the Watertown Mayor ISD 1111 regular school board meetings, which are to be held here in Watertown City Hall at 6:00 p.m. unless otherwise noted below. Um, with that being said, the April 27th date would be at the mayor city hall. Um, so just trying to to share some love with with with mayor and I believe that um there's only a couple dates that are not that fourth Monday. I believe it is May and December. I believe are the third um Mondays for those board meetings. >> You can have one at the Hollywood Township. Yeah, I'll second that. I'll second that. That sounds >> That sounds good. >> Move approval. >> Second. >> Motion made by Mr. Bird, seconded by Miss Nathan. Any further discussion on those calendar dates? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. All oppose. Nay. Motion carries. Moving right along. Item C. Motion to approve the following official designations for 2026. The official district newspaper being the Herald Journal. The office district bank deposiitories Old National and MN Trust PMA Financial Network. The official legal advisers of Kennedy and Graven Chartered and the official financial adviserss public treasury management and advisory financial solutions otherwise known as PTMA. I make a motion to approve the designations. >> Second. >> Motion made by Miss Danielson, seconded by Mr. O'Neal. Any further discussion on those official designations? >> Is there any changes? These are all the same. >> PTMA is different. >> What is >> the financial advisors? >> That's the financial advisor. That's the gentlemen that are in the office or in the audience tonight. So, >> um they were on it last year. Well, they were on it last year as well as Baker Tilly. >> So, we just kind of have removed Baker Tilly from that. >> Perfect. >> So, any further discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. All oppose? Nay. Motion carries. >> What would they have done if we said no? Just get up and pressure actually. They got to deal with us. So, they could have said no. >> Item D, motion to approve Superintendent Darren Schuler, contracted finance and district payroll pro uh processor SMS to invest and authorize district funds and transfers on behalf of Watertown Mayor ISD 1111 school district for fiscal year 2026 and for district office administrative assistant Heather Huan to perform some duties of the clerk. Second >> motion made by Miss Schultz, second by Mr. Burns. Any further discussion on that hearing? None. All those in favor say I. >> I. All oppose. Nay. Motion carries. Item E, uh, motion to approve the school board compensation for fiscal year 2026. Embedded in there is is sort of what our our current schoolboard compensation is. Um FYI, it has not been it was last updated in 2021 has remained consistent across the board. Um MSBA did conduct a survey across all districts in the state of Minnesota and I feel that we are in line with our neighbors for the most part. Um obviously the bigger districts are have a higher compensation. um such as uh our neighbors to the south Wakone is about $2,000 a year more so than we are. I do have a small little spreadsheet if we care. If not, we can continue our discussions on the payroll compensation. >> Move approval as presented. >> I'll second. >> Motion made by Mr. Burns, second by Miss Danielson. Any further discussion on the compensation? >> Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. All oppose? Okay, motion carries. >> Moving on to item F. If you want to open up the second one, D. >> Second one. >> Yep. Um, this is the school board committees. Uh, one of the jobs that I have as as well board chair, outgoing and incoming, um, is to kind of throw these together. Now, granted, we've had a school board that has been together for for quite a few years. Haven't had many changes. So, there have been a few small changes. Those are uh dictated up there in the yellow. Uh so uh Miss Gatskco, I kind of took you off of the uh teaching and learning committee and added Mr. O'Neal. And um Miss Nathan, I took you off of the ed foundation and put you on technology and we're only having one person on >> I know you got to deal with Jim. I'm sorry >> the side eye. And uh >> is there nobody else available for >> I want to be able to make sure she can attend these meetings >> because she wants those committee meetings to be at Hollywood. >> Yeah. Good point. >> Um and and the only other real change is the Ed Foundation board went from two folks down to one. Now we don't have in our uh policies that we have to have a set number. So you know in in talking to Mr. Schuler, we thought that one was probably sufficient for the the foundation. >> Yeah, they um a lot of their foundation meetings have been on the same nights as we're here. Yeah. So, we haven't really had a strong role there, but >> Yeah. >> And I know in the summer you have softball, so you you were not able to make it regardless. So, was So, >> the foundation does a nice job putting out some really good minutes. Yeah, they do. >> So, there's always a good record of what was talked about or discussed. Yeah, >> Pat's always available. Think Burns now I hear might be a new president. So >> co-president Nice. Excellent. >> Great for a conversation. >> Just glad you didn't put me on there. >> You had to take orders from her. >> No, that's the way my life is today. >> Exactly. Exactly. So I mean there's again minor minor changes that were made. Nothing major. So that is where we are at with the proposed committee chart for this year. >> Is there a motion? >> Motion to approve. Committee is committee chart is presented. >> Sorry. >> Motion made by Mr. O'Neell, seconded by Miss Gatskco. Any further discussion on the committees? No. >> Thank you for keeping me on policy. You're welcome. And I I I kept him on. Did >> you just say that? Did you be that for keeping her? >> Thank you for keeping me on. >> Notice my negotiation committee didn't change. My personel committee. >> Love it. >> That sometimes would be challenging if you change. >> Yes. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. All right. >> Going pretty well. >> Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. >> I. All oppose? Nay. Motion carries. That ends the action items of the evening. Uh moving on to the review and information items. Uh school board policy 209 code of ethics. Mr. Scheler. >> Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um as we do annually, uh we do remind or asked to remind board members of the code of ethics which is policy 9 209. Um and I'll I'm not going to read the whole policy, but what I will read is maybe just the note and and what the why is behind the policy. So a code of e ethics establish the standards of conduct that board members of a school board create and agree to follow. The principles and values embodied in this code of ethics prioritize board members obligations to students, the district and the community as a written set of expectations. A code of ethics guides schoolboard members decision-making and behavior. This model policy offers a starting point for school boards as they create a code that establishes parameters for board member conduct and and the best uh that they serve the district. Minnesota law and rules of parliament procedure establish sanctions that a school board may choose to pursue. So long story short um again uh it's just a guideline uh for board members to follow as u do what's best for students. So >> and and and reading through that policy, I I think we do a very good job as a as a board following that, you know, attending board meetings, coming prepared to discuss the items, uh listening to opinions in view of others, whether it's, you know, at this table, admin, community, we do a very good job of that. And students as well um voting our conscious, I think we all we all do a good job of that. Um, and and really it's it's being motivated by a desire to provide the best education we can for our students. So, I I think that's why we're all here for the right reasons and we inform ourselves about the proper duties. So, I I think we do a very good job of that, but it never hurts to to get that refresher here. All right, moving on. Item B, superintendent midyear goal review. Mr. Schuber. >> Yeah. Um last year I think I did this um kind of a midyear update on on just my goals and how um things are going. So I'll just give you a quick overview of that. Also um the first goal um was to manage the transition to SMS ensuring the continuity of operations transparent communication and fiscal um responsibility under that financial stewardship commitment. Um so we have obviously made that transition um starting July 1. And um overall I think some of the action steps I can kind of uh elaborate on a little bit are the fact that um you know we've had a really good relationship. Certainly Tom and I uh Tom's in the office two days a week now. So Tuesdays and Thursdays are opportunities to connect and and and combine the updates. Um Todd um Neski also is available. Um Todd's been a really good um person to lean on as well and uh gather feedback from. Um the one thing that we are working on currently is just that uh last action item is compiling a yearend report to the school board uh in June summarizing the effectiveness of SMS. I think you asked me when we asked SMS to come on is you know how are we going to judge their effectiveness and and how things are going. Um so we're in the process of of looking at a document that kind of a shared uh report card if you will um and I'll share that with you here in the next week or two as we get an opportunity to kind of review that um together uh to see if it meets their needs and if it meets our needs as well. But it's going to be a nice way basically five areas that we're looking at. Uh long story short, uh to get um to see how they're doing and to get some feedback. Overall, things have been going really well and obviously I think we had some initial um you know setbacks in terms of some some staffing on SMS's side in terms of getting people in positions. Um Tom wasn't with us right away uh but shortly came on after they had done some internal transitions within the company. So um I think we're really starting to get our stride as we hit the midyear point here and starting to get those routines in order. Um and then again we really took some time um we did some onboarding meetings early. Um you can see there I just included um a list of all the folks that met with them. I think we had about what uh 15 people from admin assistants, principles, the athletic directors that all sat down and had onboarding meetings with Todd and Tom. Um and it was uh really worthwhile. Um we also have kind of re I guess redone our way we do accounts payable, accounts receivable where we've putting a lot of more responsibility on our admin assistants and our principles and that was a big shift and change uh as well. So, um, we've been able to to kind of see how that's worked out and I think we're starting to catch our stride there, too. And and it's been different. I mean, uh, Lisa Raider did much of the coding for all everything that was purchased within the district and had, um, you know, that institutional knowledge or everything where everything went. So, I think the fall gave us an opportunity to get a better understanding of just again how we code things, um, how SMS likes things coded. They they're in multiple districts. So, um, we're learning from each other and, uh, that's been that's been good. Lisa Raider's still a phone call away. Uh, we do access Lisa from time to time to get some of that historical knowledge of things that we didn't know happened or, you know, we just need to get a better understanding on. Um, you know, and again, I appreciate the monthly updates that uh, Todd and Tom have presented to us for our board meetings. That's been a really nice concise document. It gives you a a peak in to see how things are going financially. And then at the bottom he usually puts a few little running notes too on on how things are looking on his end. Um I guess in one of the areas that we had a concern is with the audit. I think we've been very upfront with SMS on it that we were disappointed that didn't get done in a timely fashion, but I I know Tom and Todd have worked hard endlessly in December to get that to a point now and it's in the hands of the auditors and um you know we hope to be able to present that in the January school board meeting on the 26 uh that complete audit with the auditor. So we're moving along there as well. Um, so that's a quick overview of of the SMS. Any questions on that before I move on? Um, another goal I've been working on is is establishing some correlation between our young Royals preschool and our kindergarten program. And I think I explained back last summer was that this was just an area that's been kind of an area that I'd wanted to address for a while because I see just a lack of conduit between those two groups. and we've been able to now uh meet monthly and we've had four meetings with the young royal preschool teachers and the kindergarten teachers. Um and it's been really beneficial. We start breaking down what we call the EIPS which are the in early indicators of progress. Um the state puts out this document and so it helps with our alignment and what preschoolers are supposed to know. Um so that's been a task that we've been um starting that process of breaking those down and I'm backing those. Um, we've also had the opportunity now to uh switch. I think I shared with you is uh the kindergarten teachers have all gone over and visited the preschool classrooms for a couple hours and uh vice versa. The preschool teachers have been in kindergarten and observe kindergarten classrooms. Uh what we've asked them to do is complete kind of a a little bit of a spreadsheet on what they saw. So basically their wonderings what did they wonder about what they saw? And we're going to come back now in in January in our monthly meeting to discuss what they saw, what they didn't see, what and just those questions and be able to break that down and get a better understanding. Uh again, with our overall goal there is just having a smoother transition from our preschoolers uh preschool program into our kindergarten program. And it was amazing to me and uh the fact that they really hadn't talked in 10 years in terms of a formal conversation uh and and planning and so it was well overdue and I and I appreciate the work that both the preschool teachers and the kindergarter teachers are doing. Um Tim Dalton sits on that uh committee, Joe Katie Okonnell, myself and also um McKenzie Bortger, our new early childhood coordinator who's been a really good u asset too. So, got some really good things going there. I'm really excited about what this is going to look like at uh your end and you put together that transitional process. By the way, kindergarten um orientation or roundup is next week. So, getting close. Um, oh, also I should say too, we do have a early childhood specialist from resource training that's been out to meet with us as well um to kind of walk us through the EEPs um document and we'll continue to work with her as we move forward in the uh process. Um, goal three was that strategic uh, plan for social media. And uh, I think Heather and I have have probably this has been one that's been on the back burner, probably not the front and center, but some of the work that we've been doing uh, over time here has been has been good. It's been an opportunity to to set that what that plan looks like and start talking to um, Captivate Media about what we can do. And we had that discussion last spring. If you remember, there was an audit done in May and um what we can be doing differently to again to market um to our families and families outside the district. Um so that's been really beneficial. Um I know Heather's been working on the student voice piece and in talking to students about their experience at Watertown Mayor. You'll probably see some more of that uh coming in uh the second half of the year. Um and then again just looking at ways to um expand. And one of the things that um Heather did over the break I thought was kind of interesting was um well there's before I get there's a couple other projects. So we we did do a marketing uh campaign in terms of a video. Um that video is pretty much in its final stages. We've had an opportunity to see that. Um we're just planning on how we roll that out and how we use that. So that's really on hold right now. Um, we've also done another one with u MSBA called One Voice um another social media piece where um two of our local families and I've shared this a little bit but uh the Roshold family and the Celig family um both were teachers in the district um both husbands and wives um and now their children are both uh teachers in the district Hannah and Jake Russell at the elementary uh so uh MSBA came out and did a really cool feature on them and That video is also uh wrapped up. I just got the final copy today. Um and we'll share that as well. But it's about a six and a half minute video that um it's kind of unique. They ask questions um of the two families and u they kind of go back and forth, but it's it's well done and I hope MSBA eventually gets to put that into production, but it really does um show Watertown mayor in another cool light. Um and that generational teaching component was uh kind of their focus on that. Um you may have noticed um Heather also put out shoot recently that uh we had a reach of over 225,647 uh in our Facebook um content this last year in 2025 uh with uh right about 3.3 um,000 f followers. Um and again uh our reach right now I did a little math is about 68 times larger than our follower base. So basically the content is getting out there. It's getting shared you know and uh by parents and staff um and there's been some really high engagement as well. Uh only helps for the brand awareness I think is getting that word out. Um but our next push is again how do we get it out beyond just our family. So, um, you know, again, if you have ideas, I know our marketing communications committee meets on Wednesday this week. We'll get another chance to talk more about what our next steps are. But, um, again, the high reach means that we're getting out there and we're getting some really good um, feedback. Um, another thing I think it builds is community trust. Uh Heather and I talk about this quite often and the fact that a lot of the positive um message that she's putting out there about student learning, student achievement is making those connections with our families and with our taxpayers and seeing the great things that we're doing. Uh I think the thing that and again this is anecdotal but um you know we do not get the the nasty uh Facebook uh messages saying you know the bad things about the district that we had seen previously. I think we try to combat that with the positives, you know, and uh that's been really uh dropped significantly and if there is something we do address it and try to get ahead of those things. Um but again, um we're reaching over about 200,000 people through just those unpaid posts. So there's that's that free advertising that we talked about. And then um lastly um goal four was we've started the problems of practice our leadership team which is the principles and the directors um I've been a part of that process and uh we started that in August with the three-day workshop um resource and training uh and we meet monthly on this and each principal and director is responsible for one of their action items. Um so we're coming back to those on a regular basis as we meet uh on a monthly basis. Um and we'll come back our our next meeting uh with resource and training is in January where we do a mid-year assessment on how we're doing and how we're holding ourselves accountable and then we'll come back uh to the board here in June uh regarding uh the steps that we've taken um to get to our to our end game goals. So each building is responsible for a goal and we're all working towards those goals and what we call problems of practice. And again, when we sat down in August, we all looked at each other and said, "What's the problem in your building? What's the problem in your building? What's the problem in your building? What are some things you want to address?" And that's how we came up with those as well. So, listed in there. Um, yeah. So, there's just a quick update on how things are going and um, you know, work towards my goals. Any questions? Want to throw a fun little anecdote over the reach. I don't you guys know this. And I get it's a summer program, but it's water tower royals. And if you saw last summer, the 12U catcher, there was this awesome play. >> It was the 2025 game changer play of the year >> with over 50 million views >> and they aired it on a Japanese station now >> and they show Watertown till Mayor Royals on it. >> So I thought that was kind of a cool little >> You're saying we're global? >> Yes, we are global. >> Global. >> Kind of a big deal. We're a big deal, guys. So, I thought that was like saying that it was just kind of Hey, it's it's a summer program, but it's Watertown May. It's the Royals name. And I thought that was kind of a fun little thing to share. >> So, that's awesome. >> It was fun to share that. It'll never happen again. >> Yeah. >> I thought that was really cool. >> That was really Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Anything else for Mr. Schuler? >> Thank you. >> I make a motion to adjurnn. >> All right. Second. >> Motion made by Miss Danielson, seconded by Mr. O'Neal for adjournment. Um, all those in favor say I. I. >> All oppose. Nay. Motion carries. Meeting is adjourned at 6:32 p.m. Um, we'll take a 5m minute break and then we'll reconvene for the work session.