miss oconnell here miss Payton miss dimler here Mr view here Mr samansky please stand for 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 there have been no public comments prior that have been made prior to the meeting so the first action item is to approve the agenda and addendums so moved I'll second motion made by Miss naton seconded by Ms Danielson any further discussion on the agenda hearing none all those in favor say I I all oppose nay motion carries next up is the consent agenda which includes a school board minutes from the regular school board meeting on October 28th 2024 and the special canvasing meeting on November 15 2024 the Personnel consent agenda and the business consent agenda Mo approval I'll second motion made by Mr Burn seconded by Miss Geto any further discussion on the consent agenda hearing none all those in favor say I I all oppose nay motion car carries item four the recognitions presentations and showcase uh we're going to start out the night with the Lea Award winners and I believe they are being acknowledged by their principles principles so first up is Miss Frank from the elementary school so M lonnell come on up Miss Frank is not with us tonight um but it's my honor to tell you a little bit about her so miss Frank is the recipient of the leaders and educational Excellence award from the elementary school Amy exemplifies what it means to be an extraordinary educator her positivity shines through in every interaction creating an environment where students and colleagues alike feel seen heard and supported Amy is deeply committed to serving the needs of every child with kindness and compassion passion she thoughtfully adapts her curriculum to meet individual student needs ensuring that all students have the tools to succeed her extensive knowledge of her content area and her deep understanding of her students are evident in her daily work Beyond her exceptional skills in the special education classroom Amy is a steadfast and calming presence maintaining Grace and professionalism and a warm smile even in the face of challenges her co-workers feel valued and supported because of her genuine care and her dedication to teamwork Amy is a true role model inspiring all of us with her dedication compassion and unwavering positivity it is a privilege to celebrate her accomplishments and the remarkable impact she has on our school Community awesome Mr girton come on up and I believe it is for m dami [Laughter] so this year's recipient is Ashley dami she's a special education teacher former student tells you how old I am so here was my decision-making process um without a question we had a lot of Staffing challenges over the years couple years and she was the Lifesaver um Ashley just she became a teacher Leader by default it was Sinker swim uh pretty young in the profession but she just dove in and started doing the work and in doing the work she became more and more of a teacher leader uh not only for the special education department but I just think the staff as a whole she know she's young but she just she just developed into that natural leader in our building that was very I guess encouraging for myself and staff to see a lot of growth um very quickly uh she also in the in the meantime was a girl swim coach kind of living at the middle school and at the pool um she's the kind of a person that pays It Forward uh she's always doing what she needs to to help others never asks questions never complains just goes and does it um a problem solver uh put your put your energy into moving forward instead of um identifying problems and just she's always been there to help our students and staff so congratulations and thank you for everything you do y [Applause] Mr Hannon and I believe you have Miss man well High School recipient is Amy man congratulations to Amy uh Amy's continually stepped up to help us over there I mean for many years but especially the last few years um kind of echo what Nick said the special department has faced Staffing shortages new classes new staff and and Amy to rec credit um always takes on you know even this year again has taken on an overload to help us out uh along with that though I mean part of the reason think that makes Amy so special she does a lot more for our school She's our speech coach she's done amazing things with that program since taking over uh Amy was very involved in helping plan our Veterans Day program uh she's very involved with graduation if you see all all those slideshows on the big scoreboard for that last week that's du Amy she does all that stuff and it's a lot of work and and again just that's something that goes above and beyond but it's always for our kids uh and again she does a lot to promote our boys and girls State programs which I know our local Legions really really appreciate because I mean I'll be honest before Amy really became involved it was a we really struggle getting kids and she does a really good job of promoting that and promoting those kids to to kind of show our appreciation so again thank you Amy for everything you you've done your leadership and dedication makes our school a better place for staff and students so congratulations go just want to note that all three of our recipients this year were special education teachers which was kind of unique in a way and they all have first names starting with letter A so call it the AAA award I guess well but well deserved and I know Randy Pon would have been remiss without noting that too that all three were in the special ed Department doing a fat uh next up is our ESS recipients and again they're going to be spoken to by their building leaders right Mr Scher correct all right we're going to start with uh Miss dimler come on up for Mr Fable all right it is my tremendous honor to recognize Ethan tonight um Ethan is this year's um educational support staff for Watertown mayor but he's also uh the Education Minnesota support staff semifinalist so congratulations for that as well Ethan is truly deserving of recognition as he is consistently demonstrating compassion dedication and a genuine genuine willingness to serve and support others what what makes him particularly exceptional is his role as a male role model in a profession that is predominantly female he brings a unique perspective and Serv as a positive example for children demonstrating that dedication and passion for Education are valuable traits regardless of gender his interactions with the children reflect patience kindness and a genuine desire to see them succeed which has earned him the respect of both the kids and all of his colleagues in addition to his work with the younger CH children Ethan is also very generous with his time he often volunteers during his breaks to Mentor our 18 plus program offering support and guidance when it is most needed his willingness to go above and beyond his role speaks so much about his character and commitment to the community so congratulations Ethan it's an honor and a privilege to work with you m o Connell and your recipient is Miss hir sherea hirs and she is also not here this um sherea hirs is our Adis par at the elementary so she provides breaks to students and also does check-ins in classrooms for kids who just need a little extra support and a little extra love during the day um who are not yet in Special Ed but just need some supports to make it successfully through their school day um so here's a little bit about sherea sherea is somebody who consistently goes above and beyond in her dedication to students she takes the time to build meaningful relation ships with each student fostering trust and open communication her genuine kindness compassion and caring nature shine through in every interaction making her a supportive and approachable presence in our school sherea can besty described as quiet but Mighty always helping students both those scheduled to work with her and those who simply need a little extra support she is a consant team player willing to step in wherever needed from assisting at recess to providing help in other areas of the school her commit to ensuring no student feels unsupported is truly admirable we are so fortunate to have sherea as a part of our team please join me in congratulating [Applause] sherea Mr girton for Miss helget all right Kathy helget is our Middle School secretary simply put she's a gift to a principal she uh we we stole her away from another school dist district and she came in and just immediately uh revealed just how exceptional she is uh does it incredible job of supporting our school Community you know secretaries touch everybody involved in a school Community uh despite the demands she including the principal right uh she maintains a very professional welcoming and composed presence she's an exceptional Problem Solver she's skillful at juggling multiple tasks and she has a great sense of humor and that again just Builds on our environment and our school so just that upbeat atmosphere that she's helped create is as important as just what she does in her her role uh as a secretary or administrative assistant so congratulations I wish she was here she's wearing the orange up there by the way you're wondering who Cathy is so thanks Cathy Mr henon nominated Miss sunby yeah the high school recipient is Crystal Sun crystal is our an Adent assistant at the high school joined us last year I'd Echo lot what what Nick just said I mean Crystal has been an amazing addition um I I will give her all the credit for getting our newsletter well was just an idea to a she's just done such a great job she's positive every day with our staff and students but even more so like you know we've had nursing short you know staffing issues this past year and Crystal has been almost daily back there helping out when we've had Nurses Gone she just goes back there and helps kids I mean it's just again I just give her a lot of credit for you know that's out of her comfort zone probably but she just does it and she's just so welcoming to our kids and and staff on a daily basis and she's a problem solver again and and it really cool is this past year she started helping coach volleball again that's where she's at actually right now this is her banquet tonight but I mean just the fact that she's so involved and she does a lot with our booster program obviously too so I mean she's just a very deserving of this award so congratulations to Crystal and and from the district office Miss muraka is actually going to do the presentation take the pictures there we go for away tomorrow front page change pres your C well you might want to change you're taking a picture do he's working the iPhone he doesn't oh well it's a picture of you Darren you need to change the camera yeah did selfie [Laughter] mode you all know Heather huan she is our district office administrative assistant and Communications coordinator and she's very deserving of this award this year Heather is a true multitasker juggling numerous responsibilities while working tirelessly behind the scenes to support staff in all of our buildings she is consistently going above and beyond to build connections with our community make students feel welcomed and valued and ensure that our staff feel appreciated all while making everything run smoothly for every for everyone else Heather's expertise shines through in our district Communications and social media her posts frequently receive praise she's also taken charge of our monthly districtwide administrative assist consistent meetings where she works to streamline processes and promote consistency across the board lastly Heather has an energetic personality she makes sure no one leaves the district office without a smile or at least a laugh [Applause] congratulations and next are our ESP um which is the Education Minnesota educational support professional of the Year Awards Mr Schuler I believe you're the one that's speaking to and presenting these well uh Mr fa was already recognized earlier I think Miss diimler did that so we'll uh we'll want to just congratulate him one more time um these Awards come from the uh Education Minnesota group um the pair professionals that belong to that Association nominate um and we had two uh this year Ethan was a semifinalist as you can see and Jenny Hoover Uh from the Elementary uh as a media Aid peray professional uh was also recognized as a finalist and I'm not exactly sure when the results come out to see who was the winner if you remember last year I think Angela dusy was a finalist um so uh but miss oconnell has a few words to say uh regarding Miss Hoover getting your steps in do a corruption you better all right Jenny Hoover is our media specialist at the elementary school she is our ESP at Watertown mayor she has worked very hard to make the media center a welcoming and functional space she is extremely organized and her attention to detail has made the media center very userfriendly she highlights different books setting them out for students to see she also reads a book to each class in the school giving students an opportunity to listen to to a book they might not have heard before she is a smiling face that makes our media center an inviting place for both students and staff congratulations [Applause] Jenny well congratulations to all of our recipients this year it's always great to hear the good things that our staff is doing uh moving on item D the technology Plan update M Miser hell again um so our Tech plan if you remember our previous Tech plan this one has a much different format um this time we really um made a goal of making this a working document something that we can use to track our progress um something that's more flexible that we can add to as we go um check things off up timelines that sort of thing so this one's really a working document um Dustin John and I the tech department sat down together and um put these goals in together um our previous plan did not have action steps did not have timelines did not assign lead people um so that's something that I really like about this document we're already using it to track progress on things um we one writing the goals kept our budget and our current capacity for Staffing in mind um we didn't add things that we knew that we weren't going to be able to accomplish um and we carried over just for some consistency we carried over the same section headings um that were in our previous plans so to highlight some of our goals um in the infrastructure section pretty much this whole section are things that we just need to be doing ongoing all the time um to keep things running efficiently and and up to dat um in the security section on the next page um one that I would like to point out is the fishing and security awareness training we've added in required trainings for all of our new staff it's a part of our like annual um updates that staff need to do each year we also have added in um cyber security Awareness Month things where we send out um like talking points to all of our parents our staff our students um so really raising awareness throughout the district to all of our users in the next section the hardware and software section one that I would like to point out here is creating a plan for the future of District own versus bod we're seeing that uh many districts in our area are moving away from BYOD and going back towards District own um specifically because it makes it much more easy to manage what your students are doing um lock down what they're able to access during the school day um give teachers software to be able to manage what their students are doing in the classroom because we're in a BYOD model it makes it much more difficult to do that if it's their personal device um we can't control what wireless networks they're joining so they're hotspotting their phones uh we can't filter when they're hotspotting as easily as we can when they're um on a school owned device and they can sign into their personal um Google accounts to bypass even more things so it would make it a lot easier for us to really lock down uh what they're able to do and not do do during the school day um it could cut down on things like gaming when they're not supposed to be also just um like it would cut down on cheating and things too um that's one thing that a lot of teachers have been asking us for um so looking at kind of long-term plans what can we do and what can we try to afford to do in the future um in the instruction section this has kind of been my personal goal for the year is working on Guiding practices and um talking with staff and students about AI um we're hearing more and more about it it's not going away um so one thing that I did this year was uh create um some classroom guidelines for teachers that they can use to guide their conversation about Ai and cheating and plagiarism and those types of things with their students um and then also sharing tips with teachers like how can they use AI to uh make themselves a little bit more efficient and then in the end user section um we have been in that first goal there implementing an identity management solution we've been working on that um pretty heavily this year it's working for students now so we're not manually creating all of the accounts for new um students when they're entering the district it happens automatically with an overnight resync and we're getting really close to having that um finalized for staff too so that will free up more of John's the one who does most of it so freeing up more of his time in the day and then the last one that I wanted to point out was was um utilizing the incident IQ ticket system this is something that we're doing all the time our staff have gotten a lot better at putting in um tickets instead of emailing us and calling us um but it's it's really helpful for us because it helps us kind of tackle those um items as a team and helps us prioritize our tasks and and work together and not have requests get buried in our email inbox so that's another um one could you explain what the identity management solution what that is for staff like what you it's doing yeah um it's an add-on to clever which is like a data tool that we use um and it looks at Infinite Campus and it sees when somebody has an like a student enrollment record start date then it knows on that date to set up their Google account it creates um their schoolagy account their seesaw accounts it creates their other accounts for them for the staff there's a few more layers to it um we also have to have it create their active directory accounts it'll create um their accounts for the card access all of those things once we have it syncing and working but there's a lot more accounts that need to be created for staff than there are for students got it but Infinite Campus for students we have an enrollment Rec with a certain end date um for staff they have a um a district assignment so that also has a start an end date sure so when it sees a start date it'll create things when it sees an end date it'll cut off all their accounts too got it okay yeah interesting and this is kind of to be obviously 24 to 27 but it's kind of a living breathing document yes that's that's our hope that's the plan well that's plan uh our last one you know it was written it was printed and published and then it never really updated and by the time that we got to the end of that three-year cycle some of that stuff just seemed so out of date that with this one that was our main complaint about the old one that we couldn't really update it and this one we able to update and make changes and track progress and and and with it infrastructure cyber security kind of doing nothing but growing um is this is something that I think maybe Mr Schuler we can get annual updates on you know whether it's you know from from you know you or you know Mr stutsman or even from the technology committee whatever it might be but just to kind of give us updates making sure that you know we're we're on track and and if there's any hiccups that you guys see that we're aware of it and we can hopefully help help out at our our level yeah and thank you for doing all the cyber security Awareness stuff that's near and dear to my heart um it's becoming a big issue I mean that's it's my that's my day-to-day so it's it's I appreciate that and and really it's it's more than just the kids you know it's getting the parents to understand that you know in their day life daytoday and how they can help themselves as well we're only as strong as our weakest users and as long as we're keeping our staff and everybody else up to date that's the main thing exactly no I just want to thank uh the technology team as well we're a small team we have three people in technology essentially and uh two really on the more on the maybe the hardware side and the infrastructure side and then Britney's on the back side you know working with their Infinite Campus and schooly and our website obviously was a big task that she took on last year and did a great job and and and this year one of our bigger task is going to be if we do convert to the six period to day you know getting in and arranging the courses uh in infant campus we know it's going to be a tall task as well so um small but uh mighty group and they do do a great job so thank you Miss misaka do you guys use like interns do any of your our high school students are they capable of being interns for a year we don't currently we have in the past um it's getting more and more that like what how much do we want a high school student to have access to with things like the account creation by having like IDM uh the identity management um that cuts down on some of that like monotonous day-to-day stuff yeah like in like my data world we wouldn't be able to right and there are maybe some things that Dustin and John could get some help on but what they're doing day-to-day changes so much all the time too that it's hard to have like a consistent sure schedule for a high school intern sure it gets brought up often yeah I bet it does I mean because it's a technology world so I'm sure there's interest but I completely understand yep thank you very much yeah thank you thank you thank you and for the award winners yeah you don't have to stick around unless you really want to I mean the rest of the board meetings yeah bye guys all right moving on to our first action item the 2324 audit Miss Raider and Miss stutsman from Bergen kdv come on up oh Clicker a chill good evening uh my name is Caroline stutzman I'm the partner involved in the audit of your school district so I'd like to take a few minutes of your time to go through the results of the audit for 2024 main reason we work with you is to provide that opinion on your financial statements that opinion is housed within the independent auditor report we also like to mention both Management's responsibilities as as well as our responsibilities which is also outlined within that independent auditor report so Management's responsibilities are for the preparation and fair presentation of those financial statements in accordance with gap what that means is management determines the numbers they calculate them um we are not allowed to do that piece we then our responsibility is to provide reasonable Assurance not absolute Assurance reasonable or we would be in her hair much more everyone's hair much more than we already are um reasonable assurance that the finan statements are free of material misstatement um so then based on our audit we provide that opinion which we are providing an unmodified opinion that's the highest level that you can receive not a change from previous years meaning we do believe those financial statements are fairly stated in all material respects all right a couple of additional components um we also consider internal controls as we go throughout our process so the first one there um the report in accordance with government auditing standards is in regards to that um one item noted their lack of segregation of accounting duties it is um one we've talked about it's just inherently present with the amount of um staff that you have in the duties that overlap you are always aware and segregating where possible um because you spend more than $750,000 worth of federal expenditures a single audit is also required for you the Child Nutrition cluster was tested in this fiscal year there were no findings related to that test work and then one final comp before we get into the financial analysis is in regards to Minnesota legal compliance so the the office of the state auditor compiles a number of State statutes for us to ask a number of questions about did not have any findings related to any of that information either so with that we'll dig into the financial analysis and we with general education Aid being your largest funding source as a school district in the state of Minnesota we look at the two main drivers of that um more goes on obviously in that calculation but formula allowance and pupil units are two main drivers of that and here we have the formula allowance showing where it has been what we know currently based on legislature for the future but focusing on that 2024 line and the 4% increase that was received this year then we look at pupil units and we begin with your resident ADM so these are only the students living within your district and for 2024 resident students um decreased by seven with the kindergarten and Elementary grade levels as they're combined here increasing and secondary decreasing then if you apply the waiting factors that are at the top of the slide here as well as take into account open enrollment you arrive at adjusted pun and this is the amount that you're paid off of from the state so to kind of walk down the slide here residents it's what we just looked at with the waiting factors applied to it and then the impacts of open enrollment are the next two line items so resident going elsewhere and non-residents if you factor those two together for 2024 um was a loss of 266 compared to a loss of 231 and so then as it as we move down total adjusted pun decreased by 44 for the year and again that's the amount that you are paid off of from the state next couple of slides look at both revenues and expenditures from a per ADM served standpoint allows us to look at the current year but also some State average information as we analyze the information so for 2024 seeing an increase here revenues increased by 7.3% ADM served decreased um so kind of just the pure mechanics of that calculation is the increase then if we step back a year and look at 2023 this is where we can look at some State average information um see that um you are below the state average as well as districts of similar size and again that's an average so we always talk about all of the things that can vary from one District to another to another when we talk about or when we that analysis happens so the demographics um needs of your kiddos so compensatory AIDS special education Federal funding um operating levies all of those things can definitely come into play when you're analyzing from one to another we start with revenues though because typically you're spending follow suit you're spending within your means and so when we look at expenditures we see a similar story looking at the 2023 line being under State average um and then also for 2024 we see a decrease here and when we look at um some of the other activity you'll see this but um if you remember 2023 some of the project costs related to the baitman bond were in the general fund so seeing this year not having those type of costs that's the reason the for the decrease that you're seeing here so here we have um actual dollars for general fund sources of revenues so in total revenues increased like I mentioned earlier 7 .3% um when we drill down a little bit to the categories here revenues from State sources increased couple uh we already talked about the formul allowance as one piece of it special special education is another piece as those needs and um related funding do continue to grow and then other Revenue decreased so this is um the result of the covid funding and the changes in that as that starts to wind down and then local property taxes increased with an increase in the Lev here we have general fund expenditures in a pie chart format as I just kind of mentioned one of your biggest changes year-over-year here is in that Capital outlay line um because 2023 had those project costs and so a number of the changes that you're seeing in the percentages um fluctuating from one year to the next really are driven by that change here we have a budget to actual snapshot for you um original and final budget are presented both anticipating fund balance would increase the actual results are in the third column showing the increase um there of 3.1 million and then the variance is in the far right column if we look at total revenues um we see that revenues are under budget the line item that um just to note there is the other local and County the main reason for that variance and then if you follow all the way down to the other financing sources and uses they're offsetting each other their most mostly that is just the result of that transfer for the abatement bonds and moving those dollars back in so it's just where it was transferred versus where it or where it was budgeted versus where it came in kind of offset each other in the picture here and then following the chart down expenditures under budget there if we apply a percentage to that it's 4 and a half per. here we bring the general fund all together we've touched on revenues as well as expenditures and the change in fund balance already and here we see total fund balance of just under 7 million we also have all of the components of fund balance listed here then at the bottom so nonspendable are for items like prepaids or if you had inventory but this is mostly prepaids think of it as items where you've already paid for it so those dollars are separated into its own category and then you have a number of restricted components so these are all of those State mandated funding sources where you have to spend it in accordance with how it's received all of those components together increased 656 th000 really across kind of the um the line items that you're seeing presented there and then the assigned um this is for more internally set aside funding that or um options that items that you know are on the horizon for spending um you're setting dollars aside for those costs that you know are coming um so an increase there mostly related to a roofing project that you know is um like I said on the horizon and then that leaves us with unassigned and this is the amount that um relates to your fund balance policy this balance increased by 1.2 million for the year and when we look at it in comparison to your fund balance policy your fund balance policy indicates that you would or that you have a goal to maintain a minimum unassigned of not less than 7% and not more than 20% of the operating expenditures when we run the calculation for this year you're at 15.7% so you are in compliance with that policy you've established for yourself here we have unrestricted fund balance is a percentage of unrestricted expenditures it's a bit different than what we just looked at um this is a little more detailed um you drill down a bit more MD does this calculation it's that detailed we don't calculate it they do um so just a different view from what we just looked at um showing the increase here for you and again seeing that dip in 2023 um for those project costs and we do include here not only all Traditional School Districts as comparison for State average information but also districts of similar size so it is pretty common for districts of similar size to have um more of that similar percentage that you are showing there um just for needs of cash flow the last couple of slides look at the special Revenue funds so we have Food Service here showing activity did increase both for revenues and expenditures for the year um really that had to do with the state funding um all of the meals so a little bit of a up and down or change I should say over the years presented here but for 2024 the state and federal combination of funding meals and then on the expenditure side of things increased participation as well as increased food costs so at the end of the day fund balance increased here about 216,000 and ended the year at 5 38,000 pretty common in our discussions across the state to see the Food Service fund um results like this for the year community service fund is the last fund pretty consistent activity this year compared to the previous year and at the end of the day fund balance increased about 150,000 and ended right around 900,000 all of the components of fund balance are positive at your end that is not always something we're able to say um so those programs are all you know they're self-sufficient and funding themselves so that's great to see too can go right past that thank you be happy to take any uh yeah I just buz past that every time should just take it out but anyway um I'd be happy to take any questions anyone might have out outside of the segregation of issues finding which every year I've been on the board and I think it's what 80% of the state pretty much has that one yeah it's pretty uncommon to not have in some form is there anything that the board or the finance committee that that we should be aware of be prepared for kind of leading into this that you found a part of your audit or we all as far as you're concerned we have the high we have everything in here documented to you there's a portion of the communication letter called required communication that is our Avenue to communicate anything to you there would have been anything in there that we needed to share so absolutely um it's all transparent and and open to you for sure um very you know very well prepared and and organized and quick to answer so it's always a a good process so we're always appreciative of the work that goes into it because um as I mentioned um we are a a definite distraction from daily life so we understand that and try to do our best to not be too disruptive but unfortunately part of the nature sure thank you is there any other questions for Miss tman well thank you thank you so is there a motion to approve the 2324 audit move approval second motion made by Mr onell seconded by Mr Burns any further discussion on it uh hearing none all those in favor say I I all oppose nay motion carries and thank you Miss Raider for your time energy and effort that goes into this uh moving on to Item B the resolution to approve Permanent Fund balance transfer which is resolution 2511 Miss Raider um throughout or in the audit that she indicated the um expenditures for the abatement bond in 23 they were allocated to fund one during the audit and conversations with mde um those expenditures should have been coded to fund six even though we didn't have the bond funds so in order to adjust that um entry we have to do a permanent uh fund balance transfer so this um resolution and it has to have a resolution of the board per mde so this is um what I'm asking you guys to approve is the Permanent Fund balance of the um yeah the correction from having them in fund one they should have been in fund six so that is what the resolution is for so yeah we paid it with fund one we should have gone negative in fund six yes okay yes Mo approval I'll second who is that uh me me me if that help uh motion made by Mr buron seconded by Miss Danielson any further questions on the resolution all those in favor say I I I'll oppose nay motion carries item C acknowledgement of donation contributions and fundraising which is resolution 2512 Mr Schuler uh thank you Mr chair uh we have just three donors to recognize in November the first one is traera uh donation to the technology department uh you may have heard that we received 30 Dell laptops for use in the high school um programming classes statistics and web design courses so again thank you to uh um Miss Miss raka know if she's still here and nope she's not here but uh she would have been recognized uh for uh moving this forward along with Mr stutsman so thank you to them for reaching out and making this happen also the de uh wetel May FFA Alumni Association to robotics for $500 for robotic parts and Terry Rudy um Cargill employee uh to robotics for the amount of $1,000 also for robotic part so thank you to all those donors yes thank you and I'll make a motion to approve the donation contributions and fundraising second motion made by Mr felt seconded by miss naton all those in favor say I I I'll oppose nay motion carries moving right along item D annual fundraiser report Mr Schuler hey Mr chair and board um we bring you tonight the annual fundraising report um our buildings and our administrative assistance each building have been working on this um to update it accordingly uh as you can see maybe had a chance to peruse it but um again some of these um are current some are uh maybe taking a pause um some have fall fallen off the list uh We've did our best to uh kind of make it as current as we possibly can so um you get a little view of of if it's a service project is it a fundraising initiative and then which of the four buildings is it coming from so you can see uh each year we ask the board to approve this um and again uh the process is typically a staff member will go to an administrator and ask uh for permission to um fund raise and they'll obviously explain um what the fundraiser is and then the uh building level principal or director um makes a call to to move it forward and then all the funds are in what fund is it Lisa is it's the fund for all these fundraising um well it depends if it's a Student Activity it's in fun 21 okay which is which we which you manage we oversee you manage got it used to be its own F not anymore awesome and any further questions on the fundraising report motion to approve the fundraiser I'll make a motion to approve the annual fundraising report is presented I'll second motion made by Miss getco seconded by Miss Schultz any further discussion hearing none all those in favor say I I I all oppose nay motion carries item e first and only reading of District policies requiring review Mr Schuler uh Mr chair our policy committee met um a over a week ago to review the 700 series policies in addition to the 619 excuse me 616 policy the school district system accountability U policy um uh just a side note um after we met on Friday afternoon uh msba and their Infinite Wisdom uh came out with a policy model policy update and Corrections uh so as a part of that there may have been some emails exchanged today a little bit about the 701 policy um there's going to be a a tweak to that um my recommendation uh at this time and with the policy committee weighing in as well as that we will adopt these with the first and only read uh with the idea of probably bringing back 701 next month for a revision per msba uh Corrections that are being made little award but we'll get them approved this time and then we'll bring it back next month just to make that correction um again not sure how that timing works for them it didn't work well for us but uh I don't think they're asking us so um the other thing I would note is the 707 we don't drop a lot of policies but 707a um as you can see is called the special education handbook and if you look at the date on there it's dated 20132 14 um our previous special ed director felt it was important to keep that uh handbook in place um as we've looked at it now with uh Miss Payton um and we discussed it over the last month um we really feel like it is not needed at this time um and that we will be um updating that I don't know Miss pton if you had anything to update with that but um at this point in time it it's just dated and um I don't think being used in the way that um you know had been used previously so it's it's um it can be dropped so yep and approval second motion made by Mr onell seconded by Mr Burns any further discussion I have one actually um how are we going to make sure that electric assisted bicycle safety occurs thank you Mr phelp for bringing that up yes um so funny you ask uh in student transportation policy 709 there is a new uh piece in there that was adopted in the 204 legislative session 2024 and as a part of our um ongoing education of our students in the Realms of bus safety pedestrian safety and I'm feel like I'm missing one but lastly bike safety excuse me they're adding one more component to that and that is the ebikes um so um at at all levels we need to uh instruct our students um to let them know that ebikes cannot be used by children under the age of 15 which is a fact not many people know um so uh that was an an add to this policy um this time around through the legislative change so um we have addressed it at the principal level that somehow they'll find that the next year to add that to our our typical uh Transportation conversation with students so I think the city of Watertown just put that out on their like newsletter that about the ebite yeah it was kind of one of those sneaky ones I know between our superintendent group a lot of conversation did you know that was in effect and none of us knew um but it was highlighted in the policy uh 709 and we all noted that and um yeah not many people probably know that rule another unfunded mandate correct thank you all right so we got a motion by Mr onell second and by Burns all those in favor say I I I I'll oppose nay motion carries item F the comprehensive achievement and Civic Readiness report previously the world's best Workforce this review thank you Mr chair uh that's a that's a mouthful and it's going to take me probably the next 10 years to get used to that not being College and Career ready cacr as an acronym so I'm it's going to and I'm kind of a slow learner at this stage so uh but anyway we'll we'll work through all of that uh so this was the the world's best Workforce um that I've reported to you on over the last several years uh and we uh met at our district advisory committee meeting on November 12th uh and that committee gave the approval to go ahead and share the the following information with you so again this was forly the world's best Workforce it's comprehensive achievement and Civic Readiness uh we'll cover all of those topics as as we go through uh the evening um so world's best Workforce cacr I know caser I don't know how we want to how we want to do that uh in on the mde website that still has them as both there is the slash there and the original title is still world's best Workforce so I'm presuming that next year it will be uh cacr um as it's alphabetized in their uh new format when they get up to that but anyway this all started way back in 2013 uh as you are well aware and it's just a way for um the Department of Education to help district set goals that we've all become accustom now over the last uh decade or so uh and then can relay that with our community as far as far as our accountability um the uh new goals are still going to be five goals except they're going to change a couple of them um all children are ready for school that hasn't changed all third graders uh can read at grade level U they're they're eliminating that as a goal I I don't know exactly why what I will say is from our strategic plan our goal is to have all kids at grade level in math and reading so you know we're still keeping that as a high priority here uh even though it's not necessarily going to be part of of of that goal uh they talked about racial and economic achievement gaps we want to close those we want all students ready for College and Career uh Readiness and we want all students to graduate and the new one is preparing students to be lifelong Learners and I'm not sure if I mentioned this at the last uh meeting or or two but uh that's a really difficult one to set a goal for um you know yes how do you say okay we're going to have you be ready for to be a lifelong learner and we'll survey you when you're 30 uh you know I don't not exactly sure and and uh people in my position have been wondered the same thing um we put a goal down and we think it's you know relatively um meeting the spirit of that uh as we go through uh and then also we have to include in here um uh our plan regarding Equitable access to excellent teachers and we'll talk about that as we go through as well so uh last year uh our goal for kindergarten Readiness was that our students who are in our programs here uh will be kindergarten ready as measured by the core Advantage screener with reading at 92% um I think the last three years we've been at 92% as our goal of the last year I know we made it and this year we just fell short at 91% uh uh so and and is that done while they're in preschool still or is that right when they transition to kindergarten so that is measured in their preschool at the CLC at the CLC yep okay yep uh that's the that's the only uh building that uses the core Advantage screener gotcha yep at kindergarten they start with the fast then uh the core Advantage screener also has measurements in other areas not just the reading but we just pull the reading component out um for kindergarten rat us uh all students uh achieving a grade level in literacy um so we were looking at over the last several years we wanted to move our third graders from 51 and a half% to 54.5% was our goal uh we increased but we did not quite reach that goal uh we were at 52.1% overall you can kind of see the uh the red line there is the state line and how we're comparing to the state and uh we've talked over the last couple meetings about how you know we have had a nice little bump compared to where we were uh with the state but again the goal was not met closing the achievement gaps um for a district our size and in our demographic area uh it's really difficult to um set goals in uh one of our areas that qualifies which is free and reduced lunch seeing as how we're not really supposed to um identify students on free and reduced to our teaching staff to offer them more supports and work in it in that regard so we set our goal in the other area which is our special education goal um we've talked about this that I measured it over three-year period to kind of get a leveling out of that data rather than having a a a continuous pendulum swing of going up and down as the year uh data fluctuates a little bit so I've averaged over the last three years um we wanted to increase our or decrease our achievement Gap from 32.4% down to 30.4% uh our non-s special education proficiency rate uh went up to 69% and our special ed proficiency rate went down a little bit so we were actually at a higher rate at 42% uh Gap so again the goal was not met uh you can kind of see again how uh that has tracked over time right ideally you want the blue line going up and you want the red line going up at a more rapid Pace um but again this this is a an interesting one because in order to qualify for special education you have to be so far behind and so it and then you're giving them a test that's at grade level so it's it's kind of a wonky situation but um but we're working on it we um are feeling that um our specialed teams across the district now are are using snde and a science of reading uh program and as we continue to go down that Avenue we will um continue to be more focused with our interventions and hopefully are able to continue to close that Gap uh College and Career Readiness at the high school level we wanted our 12th graders to participate in at least one career-based work experience or mentorship program and PSO class we had 96% of seniors enrolled there um we wanted 65% of the 12th graders to graduate with college credits and 66% of them did and 40% of our 11th graders we wanted to take a con concurrent enrollment class during the last school year and 51% of those students did so we were able to meet that goal based on meeting all three components and then finally I think this graduation picture may be a couple years old um but um we about 90 97% of our seniors Who start the year with us to graduate on time and last year we had 102 excuse me 112 out of 114 uh graduating on time which was 98% so our goal was met for that uh I put I keep this slide in there just to kind of remind you that if you go to the mde site uh and look up graduation rates there is a a disparity in what our goal is compared to what's on the mde site uh because when uh mde puts these numbers together they don't put them out until February after they calculated um all the kids who have um started off in ninth grade with us and then gone to another school and then perhaps dropped out you know all those different things count against us so that's actually a four-year graduation rate on time as opposed to yours is just the senior year uh equal access uh to the information so we want to make sure that our students have Equitable access to to Great Educators um so uh experienced teachers we're putting them in that three plus category three plus years category uh and also that would not be on an improvement plan would be kind of em embodied in there as experienced uh and uh excellent teachers uh you can see that we have about 93 and a half% of our teachers with experience uh 98% of them are licensed in the area they're supposed to be so all those things are really strong indicators that we're providing uh good education for our kids uh the purpose of of having infield and effective teachers um and uh is that uh we don't want to have a scenario where we're hiring new teachers and you know in Years Gone by I know this would never have happened but in Years Gone by you get that new teacher fresh out of school and you'd throw all the tough kids in that classroom so that's what they're trying to avoid by having a you know an equitably um balanced classrooms for for all of our our staff uh the one area where we do kind of run into problems where we have some uh issues that um we're having a large portion of kids with inexperienced teachers in that special ed Department because we don't have many specialed teachers and you know when they're new to the district if we've got two teachers that have less than three years of experience we're going to fall into an issue with that but overall we're we're in really good shape uh for next year's goals uh again our kindergarten Readiness we're going to keep the goal at 92% of our uh kids at the CLC we want them prepared so we're going to move that from 91% to 92% um the third grade goal is going to no longer um be in existence for us uh we're going to we want to close that achievement Gap again we want to decrease that now notice part of that three-year thing right if we went from down to 42% well you'd say hey we go from 42 to 39% but by averaging that out we're still at 34% 34 points overall so we want to close that get from 34.2 to 31.2 so hopefully that gets all equaled out with that three-year averaging component in there uh College and Career ready we're going to have um 100% of our sophomores update their professional learning plan uh 60% of 7% of our seniors are going to enroll in at least one experience-based program and 65% are going to be in a concurrent course concurrent credit course and we're going to move this is the one that we're going to move to that lifelong learner where we want 11th and 12th graders enrolled in that career exploration elective I think that kind of fits into that lifelong learning um component so we'll move that down there uh and again 97% of our seniors we want to graduate on time as long as they begin the year with us so and then there's that goal number five that we'll move over there other accountability results um I think I've shared some of the MCA information with you a couple months ago when we were able to uh give information out that was not embargoed uh our overall district-wide proficiency rates in Reading were at 61 uh% which was up five and a half points from last year our science was up almost six points from last year and our math was up nearly 10 points from last year so we had noticeable uh increases in proficiency rates um all in all of those so I looked at all of these and this graph once again I think I shared this with you a couple weeks or months ago but um that's the differential how do we compare to the state so if we're above that zero line we were doing better than the state and you can see in two th in 2024 um we had increases in uh our above average State ratio as well in all three areas uh how did we compare to our other schools we were right in the middle of the road for all three of them when you line them up proficiency rates for math reading and science then when you compare that to last year how did we do our science teams they were in the fourth position as far as their growth rates from year over year and we were at the top of the Heap in reading year-over-year and the top of the Heap in math year-over-year uh some fast information uh when we started to accumulate this uh eight out of our nine started with higher than average scores on their fasts uh in math uh all nine grades had higher than expected growth rates and six of the nine classes increased their top two per uh percentage rates in those top two achievement levels and reading we had four of six beginning below average reading scores but all nine of them once again had above average reading scores uh by the end of the year and we had larger than expected growth in seven of the nine um grades that were tested uh another little tidbit if you were in one of those top two categories right we want to keep you there in those top two categories and we had almost 95% of those uh kids that started off in the top two categories in Reading stayed in the top two categories in reading and just a little bit less than that in math so again if they're in the top scores we wanted to keep them there we kept them almost of them there uh that's better than both than last year in both of those areas um we had a nice little jump on our acts uh from last year uh last year we had 75 students take the the ACT exam excuse me two years ago we had 75 last year we had 69 so almost the same comparable number uh but to still see that large of a jump was a a significant U accomplishment and certainly notable um class size ratio last year we had about 1,400 students we had 14 uh FTE which is about a 13:1 ratio if you kind of divide that by building it's about 16 to1 in the elementary about 17 to1 in the middle school and about 20 to1 in the high school and then you can see if I include the special ed departments it goes down a little bit further than that here's a breakdown of uh just the dollars and I don't want to bore you with accounting but we're supposed to report what we're using our compensatory aid for making sure that that that is consistent with best practices and with our mtss structure and our interventionist structure uh we're certainly in compliance with um the best practices model any questions anybody else thank you thank you I do I have it's not really a question but I'm curious though with that experienced teachers stat is that something maybe from a Communications marketing Communications I think we should be using that that's a good point absolutely yeah just another little Avenue that says why Why Us yep we've we've got a well established staff consistent good point yeah I make a motion to approve the caser report ker you have to say the whole thing come on now and what she said yeah what she said have a motion made by Miss daniiel said second by Miss n any further discussion on the caser hearing none all those in favor say I I I'll oppose nay motion carries thank you Mr next up is item G the January board meeting date January is right around the corner um and according to statute the first Monday in January is the reorganizational meeting uh it's where we pick the meeting dates for the rest of the year all the other fun stuff elect our officers um and recommending that January 6th be the date for the meeting as well as January 27th as our first official board meeting uh this is to get it on the get it on the records abide by the 3-day uh posting rules all of that stuff and then again in January we'll approve the rest of the board meeting dates there on um also too I would like to have a work session or board retreat after the January 6th re organization meeting too so we need a motion to approve the reorganization meeting and the first board meeting both in January I'll make a motion to approve the meeting dates for January as presented motion made by Miss getco seconded by Mr Burns any further discussion get it on your calendars I can see all doing that now um all those in favor say I I I'll oppose nay motion carries and that ends our action item so next up is the review items Mr Sher for the construction update well we're winding down on construction updates um we do have a few things still happening though with the abatement Bond project um we have electric going into the light poles and we hopefully see light poles being installed this week um being told uh Tuesday Wednesday we should be seeing those going up which be nice to get the CLC parking lot fully lit uh along with some wall packs that need to be going on the elementary school and um I believe there's a few at the CLC yet um most of that work should be done by Thanksgiving week the close of Thanksgiving week um also just wrapping up some of the lines in the basketball court and the pickle ball court the CLC and we hope to see Hoops installed this week as well and get that kind of wrapped up up on top and then final grade and seating has been done in most of those areas around as you can probably see um uh the the baseball field and other areas that the baseball field fencing will be done um over the winter um they do work all winter long understanding so um we'll see some work being done there uh to wrap that up um the only part that won't be ready probably at the start of the baseball season is the bases themselves we just weren't able to get the pegs in we're still trying to push uh one of the contractors to come and do that uh although this week's temperatures aren't real forgiving so um that would be nice to get those in before uh the spring start but as you can see that field is really starting to take takes shape and and looks really good so uh it be a nice addition to the our our Junior High teams but also the community teams as well so what about the railing in the upper lot at the high school yeah that's being powder coated as we speak um we're still waiting on okay yeah it's a it's a darker brown metallic uh there's a name for it similar to the doors that you see on the outside of our building they got repainted this summer all the auil gym do be similar to that color thank you okay yeah and we have the same railing going in at the CLC um the handicap entrance there too so yeah any other questions one thing I might add Darren we we I don't think anybody saw it in the business cons consent agenda was the conservation easement that we executed with Carver County that was related to some of the work we did in the parking lot areas sure Carver County had an option to allow us to make some of the mitigation efforts smaller save us some cost there by committing a small area to a conservation easement so it's east of the high school in the woods along the creek kind of between an existing Wetland and the creek and some area that we will never use as long as I'm alive so I think we're good for a while um but just so everybody's aware of that we have that easement out there and like I said I was able to we save quite a bit of money by committing that and and that worked out well for the district overall so just want everybody to be aware of that thanks the other item that we have going on R now is an LED lighting audit we're getting looked at uh we're getting that looked at by our electrician uh local electrician to uh see if that's an option the facilities committee will be committing to that um we need to make a decision by December 15th as the rebates fall off at that point in time so uh for this particular year so uh we're still in uh the high school middle school um bid has been out there as in terms of the cost um we Elementary and CLC is also being looked at um we should be having that hopefully by the end of this week too so facilities committee will have to make a decision uh we're learning that uh we can't use what we maybe thought we could in terms of the long-term facility maintenance dollars so that's uh that's a disappointment so we're going to be looking at uh possibly some other options there so what about the lead yeah I was just I'm sorry lead in theary school what's happening yeah uh good question um things um we just sent out a letter to parents about two weeks ago um and stating the fact that the um Le in the water at the last testing period in October has gone down um the only one that's still out of line or out of compliance is in the kitchen and we are working on um either doing a retrofit um in terms of a filtration system on that particular faucet or um taking it all out and just uh putting a new faucet in a new line I think we're going to start with the filtration system we do have a quote on that and um hopefully move forward with that as our as our solution so right now it's not being used so but um all the other lines came in under the allotted 0.5 parts per million so we're in good shape there was there remediation done at those other facets or did it just well we shut down the facets um the drinking fountains that were above the level we're just not using them so they're shut off we're just using the bottle fillers which all came in uh under um and then um the classroom um drinking excuse me the sinks um are all down with it there's just a sign saying handwashing only not that students ever use those to drink out of anyways but um they're just making sure now with signage that just for handwashing only so yeah good question any other questions anything else for construction related I'm just glad to be done with the every two week meetings I don't know I think we should continue after 5 years we're I'm good what are you going to do with all your time MH see my family maybe um can we continue to have the meeting no all right moving on Item B strategic plan updates Mr Schuler yeah tonight I just want to highlight um any area of the school U of our district that I think is pretty neat and and again this is under the all students exhibit physical social emotional well-being as one of our strategic commitments and feel connected to our school um one of the things I've been tracking a little bit is the middle school and the work that General Olsen and and Mr girton and his staff have been doing um they recently had a fall survey results um completion and um was able to see some of the data but kind of interesting to and it falls right in line with what we're doing in in terms of that commitment but um some of the questions that were asked is there an adult in the building you feel comfortable talking to and again the survey went out to to all middle schoolers 5 through 8th grade um their name was attached to it so they they gave that information out at the beginning to say your name will be attached cuz staff may be reaching out to you um but again 90% uh feel comfortable talking to a staff member 86% um last spring um said the same thing so we're seeing a little bit of an uptick in that area um do you feel safe at school and again about 378 uh surveys uh 93.1% feeling like they're safe in school uh again a little bit up from last spring when that same question was asked so um some nice increases there um this question was tweaked a little bit this year um one time uh the question is are you treated kindly by your classmates and again uh just about 60% said they're treated kindly by their classmates 38% reported sometimes um last year they had 75% um had report yes uh I'm treated fairly or kindly um but they changed um they added a sometimes options this this year um and you can see how that played out so about 38% said sometimes um almost 60% said yes they are treated U most of the time kindly but I know that's an area that um Middle School staff is looking at in terms of just that being kind to one another so um it's one they'll be tracking some the information that the students shared that they wish the staff would know about them and they said we need time to clear our heads um stop ramming academics down uh which is interesting uh we like to do games like to do Sports um a lot of the responses around mental health topics such as life at home struggling missing uh assignments Etc um was also brought up in that survey um comments from the student leaders um again just recognizing that some students take longer to get their work done just be aware of that teachers and staff um what we actually need help with was another piece that uh they want us to be aware of and then uh they should know a little bit about the student but not our whole life story so surface level only maybe don't get to do a deep dive on on us um and then sitting and watching uh teachers teach doesn't always help us learn so right the old sage on stage you know it's a good reminder for for staff um again to that Active Learning component they don't want to sit and listen they want to be active engaged L Learners so um again thank you to Jen Olson for sharing some of this information and um again just a pulse check in the fall from the Middle School I appreciate that they do that and I don't know Mr girton if you need anything else to add to that U but um and lastly some of the class activities they like the Hands-On like we mentioned um videos the ad puzzles the video examples of the work that needed to be done or you know examples of how to do that work um Project based uh was a nice piece there and then worksheets we're not mentioned so that's a good thing moving away from worksheets so um so yes just a quick update on our our plan any questions for Mr Schuler thank you you're welcome all right moving on to the admin reports starting off with Mr henon just a few items uh one we had our Veterans Day assembly back in the 11th um thanks to Darren and Heather and many others for all the work they did uh it went really well I think we had over 40 guests I think that day and uh they they love the breakfast they get to have and and the student involvement the band in choir were did an amazing job we had some student speakers so that was just a really cool event I know our kids actually really enjoy that this just general student body really likes that uh we have parent teacher conferences on the second that night we have the fasta informational session for our senior parents which any of you have done the fasta now it's usually quite helpful they have a speaker come out that helps them with that I'll be having parent sessions at night again to update them on the schedule stuff as well just to give them probably a quick 10 to 15 minute update so they know what's going on uh one strategic Plan update for our building goals one of the things we've tried to make a conscious effort every quarter is to reduce the number of students who have who have one F or you know any F at all I guess first quarter we had 14 kids out of about 500 so I mean I know we obviously our goals always get to zero uh but that's probably in my years as a principle the lowest we've ever had in a quarter in terms of percent so just kudos to the teachers and Mr Baron and our counselors for all the work they do with interventions and then last update is obviously I think Mr Schuler told you about the industrial Tech opening we're looking at that potentially in January with Mr josic um relocating to Florida um plan for right now is well one is hope his house does not sell and hope he has to stay that's you know if anything you can do to prevent that from happening would be great um but if he does leave you know we we do have a plan in place Mr Anderson our egg teacher can pick up some of those classes um weirdly enough Miss fiscus even though she's a math teacher is very knowledgeable of the technology in there and we'll be probably picking up a section as well um so be between that and a few other switches and some merging of our classes feel like we have a pretty solid plan to get through the rest of the year where everything will still be offered um so I mean I feel good about that and then I've already talked with Darren and we'll be putting together a a I don't want to say a brochure but it's a little bit more sophisticated of a opening posting cuz I do think once we show the facil ities and and what's out there we're going to get some candidates and we'll post it obviously that an egg license or an industrial Tech can teach these courses so we'll probably we'll post it that way we've reached out to several universities already so I do feel confident that when we post this and they said we should post in probably in January early February at the latest but I do feel confident we'll get you know somebody for next year but we do have a plan in place to get the the year where all the courses that we have offered to the kids we will still be able to offer so any questions thank you thank you Mr gton so I just want to briefly touch on where we're at with building goals um Mr Schuler alluded to that Baseline information looking at our cultural survey so I'm really happy with those initial numbers um happy that we can trust that kids are comfortable letting us know who they are so we're continuing to go through that data and just really Shore up who are these students that um present themselves as being at risk so um we started doing work with that on our staff development day uh November 4th I'm kind of moving on the other I think big action step that we've taken is um we're rethinking conferences so if you have middle school students uh you noticed that I just sent something out to families saying December 2nd conference will be invite only so here's what's going going on we looked at data and after many years of just looking at how things are changing in terms of how we communicate with families on how kids are doing we decided we're going to Target just the students and the families that we need to spend more time with um after looking at end of quarter quarter 1 final results um it's not bringing families in and just telling them that this is where their kids are at academically it's trying to put together a student support plan plan and partner with parents which is one of our strategic goals as well so what that'll look like is staff for reaching out communicating with parents I said make phone calls talk to the parents find out what's cooking in their lives in terms of what's really going on um and then try to find a way to coax them to come in with their kids and so this is new for Middle School staff um ele people are used to this but eighth grade teachers aren't used to picking up the phone and calling these parents and trying to figure out to get them in here but I'm very encouraged by what I'm starting to see happen uh and then we'll bring those folks in and start to learn and understand what's getting in the way of these kids being successful build out those plans and then just re-evaluate whether or not this was the most efficient thing to do with time looking at our our conferences families have been very supportive uh I've had a few phone calls and it's usually coming from fifth grade parents uh saying can I still see my child teacher you bet you can absolutely but we're really really trying to Target these families and appreciate just the the support and flexibility that um families that have students that are you know um in in a good spot academically socially emotionally being okay with um using the portal or emails or those kinds of things so I'll report back but it's a it's a it's time to do this so um hope it hope it uh Returns what we're hoping for um but we we will grow in terms of um reaching out and partnering with parents so it's a step any questions comments on that thank you thank you Miss o Connell on November 4th our kindergarten through third grade teachers and special education staff along with some of Nick's teachers completed um a significant achievement by completing their final letters Volume 2 training this Milestone marked the culmination of a 2-year Journey that began in the summer of 2022 focused on mastering the science of reading throughout this rigorous learning experience Educators engaged in an in-depth study of practical application of evidence-based literacy practices focused on the essential components of effective reading instruction including pheic awareness phonics fluency vocabulary comprehens strengthening their ability to meet the diverse needs of students so that was quite the achievement for them so they're thrilled to be done it's a great asset for our kids to have teachers with new empowered strategies in the classroom then the other big thing we've been working on um with teachers and with students at the elementary school is that as part of our all means all and being committed to a safe environment we've recently changed our crisis language an adopted crisis language that's in line with the I love you guys Foundation so we've been training staff on that and students so we had a staff meeting where we trained staff then we've been training students with that through video announcements in the morning so we've gone through what a hold looks like and a secure we did get an opportunity to practice a hold at the elementary because we had a situation with a staff member um who um slipped so we did practice that just to kind of keep them out of view of an ambulance that arrived at school so we're going to keep working through lockdown evacuate and shelter um as we learn new language and practice those routines with kids any questions how frequently do you guys have to refresh your letters training do you know I do not know that okay I just didn't know if just done I know but I just didn't know like just to keep up with it I mean how frequently do you have to that hasn't been released I think the bigger issue is just how do you train students coming out of college and and will colleges eventually take that on as a part of their curricular sure um process coming through so um yeah I guess to your point we don't know you know how often it's going to have to be renewed or refreshed as you said yeah they have their certificate so hopefully it's a lifetime certificate but to that end framed and mounted on the wall in their classroom right we're pretty excited I mean again we probably one of the first districts to take it on in the in the in 22 um and now we're in the first districts to complete at that K to3 level so um pretty neat pretty exciting yeah very cool other questions thank you thanks Miss timler why would well I just want to start by saying how excited we are to have our parking lot back and our office back that definitely is the highlight of our fall right now so thank you um we are wrapping up our fall season um classes are ending this month and into the early part of December so winter registration actually opens on Monday so we are really excited about that um we have also um gotten all of our submissions in for our license expansion so at this point we are just waiting to hear from the state um for our the expansion of our license room um adding that additional three-year-old space which will increase our license um to 77 students from I think it's at like 34 right now so we are just really kind of excited and waiting for that to happen um and then we have coming up our next Community ad advisory meeting is December 17th we're always looking for more members to join our group and we also have the senior dinner coming up this December 3rd if anybody's interested in joining that uh the band and choir will be performing we have NHS students helping serve um and if anybody's interested in helping it's from 4: to 6 on December 3rd so that's what I have from Community Ed any questions parking lot looks nice ah it's awesome it'll look better with the green grass y in the spring and some lights and some lights thank you thank you Miss pton do qualify for the senior dinner right um well good evening um as we approach the the end of the busy and productive fall um I'm excited to share updates on our special education program our team's greatest strength continues to be our tightnit group um that we're all focused on student achievement in addition we're especially proud of our triaa winners Amy man Ashley denami and um Amy Frank so um at Early Childhood we have seen a significant increase in Our Help Me Grow um referrals this year um so to date we received 43 um referrals and that's 10 more than we had all of last year and currently an automatic qualifier for speech and language Services is three um your infections in three months uh in six months excuse me or four in a year and that's a new mde mandate and so our numbers have increased significantly um I would say the staff is is overwhelmed but at the same time they're really happy that we're catching all these kids and getting them the services that they need so in the end it is a positive thing um our elementary school continues to see positive growth and student learning supported by sundai system and the fastbridge um progress monitoring this year we've also introduced Ready Set math it's a resource providing um evidence-based digital tools for many lessons for small and large group as well as independent activities um in addition um we have invested in two pro programs to support um to support our Learners achieve 3,000 which is a mcra hill online program um designed to support reading comprehension and the other one is Alex which is more of a traditional math program to support students needing additional math enrichment and these programs are being utilized effectively to support the private school kids as well as kids needing academic enrichment um and a snapshot of our progress shows a tangental impact on student progress we're seeing fewer um kids in special education in kindergarten first grade compared to third and fourth grade so that's really encouraging Staffing shortages and challenges continue for special education um at the um Elementary School we have three out of our um eight pair of professional are injured currently and while we always strive to get substitutes it's hard and so a lot of times the teachers come in to take over for that um it's put additional strain on our staff and we are very appreciative of the resilience and dedication of that staff members during this time um in the middle school we are thrilled to welcome a new middle school special education teacher with 14 years of experience in studying three EVD programs um this expertise has already enhanced our ASD EBD program and we are excited about the impact it'll have on Student Success on October 4th we had a special education advisory council meeting the purpose was to provide program updates and to create a platform for parents to share resources and insights in regards to Behavior Support um we have partnered with Southwest Metro um and we hired a board certified Behavioral Analyst to come in other Elementary School and Middle School um to look at a few students to help them to help support us with strategies to help with their self-regulation um and lastly at the high school um we just found out we earned a prestigious spot on the um Special Olympics unified Champion schools ESPN honor role um and this recognition celebrates the school's outstanding commitment to fostering social inclusion through the Special Olympics unified Champions schools program as you know the big part of it is the Unified sports um where students of all abilities come together to play um play sports promoting friendships teamwork and inclusion and um in addition to that they had to pass like 10 rigorous standards of excellence to earn this award so um thank you for your continued support and dedication to the sucess of our students um any questions congratulations on that award that was fabulous very nice Mr samansky good evening just a quick wrap up for the fall and a little brief uh synopsis for the winter so far um overall our participation numbers were up for the Fall by three so we're we're hanging in there uh girl soccer first conference title in program history 101st in school history three Royals achieved All State honors one Royal was invited to play in a Statewide All-Star game for seniors our unified program was honored nationally by ESPN representing all of Minnesota um to their unified honor role I would have given you a lot more but miss p already stole my thunder on that one oh it's all right it's all rightor we had one team compete for a section final our girl swim and dive team set sent three relays and four individuals to day two of sections which is very exciting it's been a while since that's happened so it's really great to see the growth in that program uh fall musical was completed this past weekend Mean Girls we had 888 uh folks attend our Play Our Big Show or most attended show was Friday night we had 287 winter our first contest will be tomorrow girls basketball starts next week um for the most part everything that we host will be underway as of next week activities are getting geared up more and more you know stuff like mock trial speech and that they they haven't started competing yet but they're getting more in the swing of things kind of give you an idea of what's on the horizon 75% of next fall has been scheduled every two years sections and and classifications are updated and changed this year is we are in that process um it's the process has started they're in the The High School league is in the in the data collecting business right now and we'll know more um later on this year I don't anticipate many changes as far as what section we're in or anything like that but don't hold me to that District football is following the same timeline currently right now we do not have a football schedule for for the fall of 25 uh once we get that then we'll have 26 it'll just be home and away um again we don't anticipate major changes but we didn't anticipate major changes in football two years ago and we got them so your guess is as good as mine um there's a new High School league constitutional change you may have heard about it it has to do with ninth grade governance that will pass in the rep assembly this may uh Watertown mayor voted in favor of it it's one of those things it's a major change constitutionally with the state of Minnesota or with the High School league but it will impact us not even a little bit because it's something that 90% of the schools across the state already do uh to give you an example um back when I used to play a long long time ago in the early years um high schools were 10 through 12 not 9 through2 so most of the high school league um verbiage and their bylaws are geared to 10 through 12 in fact the high school league doesn't govern anything nth grade and Below now it's not a u there's a lot of variances to that a lot of nuances to that so for example um if you had a standalone nth grade team you could start that season earlier you could end that season later you could do all sorts of different things same with your middle school teams in that and what'll happen with this change is now nth grade will come under that and now ninth grade will follow the same rules that the high schools follow which like I mentioned before most schools do that anyway um yeah so it'll be a busy winter and we'll know more as the months pass and probably a football schedule hopefully by May so that'll be nice and we can plan homecoming and all those other fall events for 2025 so any questions no awesome thank you Mr Schuler thank you Mr chair uh I'll be very brief um just want to give a thank you to Heather huan for her work as an election judge here in Watertown uh she spent uh was it 14 hours 14 17 hours that was three short all the people she knows every single she greeted every person 2,000 some I think over 2,000 over 2,000 individuals got a Heather huan greeting so she knew every one of them on a first name basis she did so again uh no it's a big commitment and and we kind of loan her out for that day but it's well worth it and and uh for a very good cause um just real quickly to a legislative update that you may have seen um in the House of Representatives there's now been a tie in terms of uh Republicans and uh Democrats at 67 each which creates an interesting Dynamic so some of the word out there on the street is nothing's going to get done it could be because of that uh that strangle hold but we'll see um Democrats uh still are in control of the Senate some of the bigger things I think that are the talkers that are happening out there in terms of the legislature uh from district standpoints is just again um some uncertainty on the funding of that summer unemployment insurance that we've talked about and how that funding is going to be running out and districts will be on the hook for that um compensatory Ed funding and the need to fix that and again based off of that free and reduced lunch count uh we've talked about over time and um there has been some work on that but that'll need to continue um earn safe and and sick time um in that Paid Family Leave is a big one too that I think a lot of us are concerned about and and just again paying that out and what that means you heard a lot tonight about substitute shortages this only enhances that so again when we are struggling to get subs and some of these things are coming into to effect um now in this this year um it's a big deal um along with that is Staffing shortages um highly Qualified Staffing special LED like Miss Payton mentioned is a continued concern and then redac funding as much as that uh professional development has been awesome um but the ongoing funding of that was is a longterm concern basic funding formula obviously with a little bit of an inflation increase uh will be something we're watching and then as Hunter has advocated for a lot already you've seen on the msba side and his resolution is that declining enrollment component so um there'll be a lot of of work being done there I know Hunter has been at the front of of that and it looks like we're going to make it on to at least the platform for M msba and um speaking our piece a little bit on on how that's impacting our district so I don't know if you had anything else to add to that but I'll do an update on that later sounds good that's my report any questions thank you all right thank you any board member reports committee meetings over the last month updates um no Mr view basically gave the uh overview of what we talked about at the um District advisory committee meeting last uh we have a marketing and Communications meeting tomorrow evening and apparently a policy one coming up again just there they're always there they're just always there mhm Southwest on Tuesday and it was uh very good meeting I would say very much HR related um the this was the first year where they only had one open enrollment versus two went really smoothly um they also went through pay rates because with our former superintendent it was all over the place and it it was a little bit challenging so they really came together had all the superintendence as well look into it make sure everything was kosher and um amazing and uh they he did also mention the uh needs assessment that you had we didn't get too much results on that but I heard that went really well with all the districts and in February we'll have a little board retreat um pretty much all Happ that and possibly your strategic plan and the most exciting news I think that we heard is that they're pretty much fully staffed thanks to all the international students so never really happened ever before so that was pretty exciting yeah so now they have to kind of figure out what it all entails to be fully that's it's so anybody else all right well I'll give you the um msba update as Mr Schuler mentioned uh our resolution that we passed a couple months ago was still on the docket um the msba government or government relations team actually did a lot of detail Deep dive on it provided a lot more background um the delegate assembly where they discuss the resolutions and then that gets narrowed down to the actual um marching orders if you will for msba is next week so in December I can give you more of an update as to what are the key legislative priorities from an msba side but uh I've been getting questions off and on about our resolution hey what does that mean how do I support it so good news there um obviously now that the elections are over msba is pushing the the one through four uh trainings again phase trainings uh highly recommend that if you have not taken one through four years yet uh so two the leadership conference is January 16th and 17th I know I mentioned that last month however changes since last month we actually have two Watertown mayor presentations so we have uh Mr hennon with a CTE presentation as well as Miss oconnell from a uh playworks presentation so we're being represented there so more uh more reasons to attend and that is what I got is it required to stay at a hotel no okay I never have okay I will this year because I have other got it early mornings late nights yep board meetings yeah all that fun stuff but you don't have to I never have in my tenure it's I always drove back and forth so trying to talk my husband into going with me cuz he came from his work like they've had representation there so I'm like oh there you go joint effort all right is there a uh motion to all right who was that KY Joe is there a second all right motion made by Miss Danielson second by Miss Schultz all those in favor say I I I all oppose nay motion carries meeting is adjourned at 7:51 p.m.