Calling the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. This is the board of directors regular school board meeting for Monday, September 22nd, 2025. Welcome to all of our visitors, guests, and media. As usual, always going to start tonight out with the board and administrative roll calls. Mr. Felt here. Mr. Burns >> here. >> Miss Danielson >> here. >> Miss Schultz >> here. >> Miss Gatskco >> here. >> Miss Nathan >> here. >> Mr. Oell >> here. >> Mr. Scheler >> here. >> Mr. Hennon >> here. >> Miss Okonnell >> here. >> Miss Payeyton >> here. >> Mr. Dalton >> here. >> Mr. V >> here. >> Mr. Samansky >> here. >> Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. Next up is public comments, but we've had no speakers tonight. So, first item is a motion to approve the agenda and addendums. >> So, move. I'll second >> motion made by Miss Danielson, seconded by Miss Gatsco. Any further discussion on the agenda and addendums? Hear none. All those in favor say I. >> I. All oppose. Nay. Motion carries. >> Item three, the consent agenda, which includes the school board minutes for the regular school board meeting on August 25th, 2025, the personnel consent agenda, and the business consent agenda. >> Approval. Second. Motion made by Mr. Burns, second by Miss Nton. Any further discussion? >> All those in favor say I. I. >> All oppose? Nay. Motion carries. Moving right along. Item four, the recognitions, presentations, and showcase. Going to start out tonight with the special education program review by Miss Payton. Come on up. All right. Um, good evening. Um, I'm both honored and excited to share the special education report with you for this year. Um, I just wanted to start off with the There we go. Um, with our mission statement. Um, we are committed to providing individualized EV evidence-based instruction, fostering strong partnerships with families and staff, and equipping our students with the academic, functional, and social emotional skills needed for lifetime success. Our Y is the students um in 24. Oh, I I apologize. I made some changes. Um, Why don't I get that up? Can you give me a hot minute? >> Yeah. >> Make some changes. >> Okay. >> I just edited a couple times. I apologize about that. >> No, it's okay. >> Let me see if I can hold it up on my end. Okay. >> Okay. >> I'll I'll just keep going. Why? If you don't mind. Yeah. Um in our um 2425, our special education program served 331 students, 16 non-public and 15 setting for students representing 14.5% of our student population. This is a comparable to Delano at 14.5% Howard Lake Waverly Winstead at 14.5%. West Tonka at 15.3% Wakona at um 16.6% 6% and Buffalo Handover Montros at 18.2%. Um our um we currently um at we have estimated around 29 cent 29% of families that are in free and reduced lunch. Um and that is significantly higher than Delano, West Tanka, Waconia and Buffalo Handover Montros. Um, so this from my perspective, this just shows that we have exceptional educational programming here to beat those barriers. In terms of like disabilities, um, our largest category that we serve is specific learning disabilities, and that category deals with kids that struggle with reading, math, and writing. That's at 27.6%. >> I believe it is updated. I apologize for making it. >> Oh, no problem. Thank you so much. >> This is the correct data you were looking for, correct? >> Yep. Thank you. There was just there were just minor changes. >> Sorry to interrupt. >> Um so, um specific learning disabilities at 27.6%. Um and then speech and language impairment at 20.5%. Um autism spectrum disorder at 14.7%, OHD at 12%. These kids typically struggle with attention and have a medical diagnosis of ADHD. developmental disorder at 10%, EBD at 9.1% and those t behaviors can be both internalizing or externalizing that act as barriers to their education. Developmentally, cognitive disability mild to moderate 2.1% and deaf and heart of hearing at 1% 1.8% 8% and then um we have five disabilities that are at 1% DCD severe and profound blind and visual impairment um traumatic brain impairment severe multiple impairment and physical impairment. Um next I I was just curious what the three-year trend would be for our disabilities to see um what that might be. And so what I found is there was a more uh significant decrease in specific learning disabilities as well as speech language impairment. And then we had a slight decline in autism spectrum disorder and developmental delay. And then we had an um an increase in other health disabilities. And the other um disability categories um stayed stable. All right. Um, in Minnesota, case loads are typically expected to range from 15 to 18 students at the elementary and 15 to 25 at the secondary level. At our preschool, we um, at our all-time high, at the early childhood, we have 19 students. Elementary at 14, middle school at 18, and high school at 16. These numbers will go way way up during the school year with new students moving in, and then new students qualifying under special education services. Um I'm super excited about our new staff this year. Our school psychologist has over 20 years of experience. Um she um is we're going to be working at point8 in her position and then point 2 working in our MTSS um process helping us out. She's working 5 days a week um and in person. And this and our evalu assessment quarter is also working 5 days a week and in person. And for us, this is a big change because we had a contracted employee for both of these positions and they were mainly remote. Um, so we're really seeing some some already some great traction with that and support for our staff. We have a wonderful early childhood speech and language pathologist, three um special education teachers at the elementary, middle school, high school, and then four pair of professionals that are highly qualified. Um we were able to earn um um 37,800 in grants to cover two of the teachers that are new um getting their masters in special education as well as another um probationary teacher who's getting their masters in special education. So thank you to Minnesota for that pipeline grant. um with all these disabilities um in order to to provide FAPE and get what they need, we had to we need to hire 51 employees. And we don't take it lightly. We make sure that um the resources are maxed out. Um we have 22 paras, 17 teachers, speech and language pathologist four, occupational therapist one, school psychologist and evaluator coordinator one, and assist administrative assistant one. We have five employees from Southwest Metro. They're inant um so they work just a portion of their their full-time schedule with us. An aiologist, physical therapist, deaf and heart of hearing blind and visual impairment teacher and a physical impairment teacher. So last year we had a virtual blind and visual impairment teacher and you can imagine how well that went over. So this year we have someone in person. So, um we um between our staff and our programming, we uh have about 4% of the Southwest Metro um programming and staffing with all the other districts. Our MA billing um we had a record-breaking year of $219,000 um that was generated from these MA billing funds. Um, so it is a requirement by Minnesota law that school districts seek reimbursement from private and public health insurers for the cost of health rellated services provided to students who receive special education services. And you might wonder, well, why was this a record-breaking year? Um, and it was a formula from DHS. They um, it was a subtle up year for us. So they're um contracting um the dollar amount increased for services and so we were able to generate $38,000 more in income. Um this year it looks like that level will be flat. So we're anticipating for budget reasons about $175,000. That'll come next year. So, our setting three program um setting three program is where a student spends at least 60% of their day in the special education classroom. We have five of those programs. We have two at the elementary, one called bridges and that's deals with kids with EBD. And then we have the compass room that serves our DCD and ASD students. In the middle school, we have our LCC program, learning choice and change. Um that focuses on EBD and ASD. The middle school high school is a joint program called Journeys. Um in the DCD, they um help our DCD ASD students. And lastly, we have our possibility transition program 18 to 22 years. Um we have one year under our belt um what's called the master grid. It's a it's a goal sheet that lists all of our students and important data on there. Um, and it's really helped reduce paperwork, improve communication, and improve our as well as our accuracy and our child count. So, it's been nice to match all our distance different systems to make sure that they're matching. Um, we do have a due process consultant. She works virtually. She helps our our special education teachers when they're overwhelmed and if they have questions around um being MDE compliant. She has a lot of experience working with other directors. Um we um all of our staff is trained in um CPI training and that is a program designed to help organize, identify and prevent and deescalate crisis. And one really big positive is we have our own um trainer now. And so if we have new staff or people need refreshers or maybe a gened teacher is working with with students, especially in our bridges program, we can get them some training. So it's been really helpful. We also um are doing a paper light storage system. So relying more on a digital framework. Um again saving paper and time with our case managers. Due process night will be offered monthly for an hour and a half. Um after school, staff will have the opportunity to ask questions, obtain support on evaluations, IEPs, positive behavior support plans, and progress reports. The district currently provides 16 hours of due process pay to each of our special education teachers. So that's really nice. um our evaluations, a big part of special education. Um we had 85 um which is a record number of evaluations for early childhood and they were all from the help me grow referrals. So it's really exciting that all those kids were able to get the help that they needed. In kindergarten at transitions, we had 102 evaluations, 20 of which were initial eval. We also conduct child study meetings um twice a month in each of the buildings and that's where all the the team gets together and talk about students and how we can make um determine a plan so that we can have um meaningful evaluations for for kids and families. And again the reevaluations every three years and um it's it's a it's a big big process but meaningful. Um, our strengths as a team, um, as a I just think we we have the most dedicated and talented staff. I think if we could have like a team sport, they would be the they'd win state. That's what I'm predicting. And, um, they have a great we have a great culture, which um, I appreciate. The transition program has 11 students this year. I'm excited about that because I really think there's going to be some friendships that develop from from that. there some really similar like kits. We have EV interventions that are evidence-based. Um the teachers are trained in literacy per readac thanks to Joe Vayou. All pair of professionals are highly um qualified and that's not always the case in every district. So it's nice. We have two early career teaching coaches that grant through resource um solutions and training. And that's already been really impactful, powerful. Um, again that the evaluation team is working out great. Our challenges are always and will continue to be Oh, okay. There we go. Is hiring licensed and highly qualified staff. We've really seen an increase in mental health barriers with students. Um the Carver County mental health health therapist are they are there's always concern they might be cut due to budget reasons which would be devastating for our team. We the crisis support is very limited if we call for help. And then it's just a demanding job and a high burnout rate. So um last this year the slate state legislature has formed a blue ribbon commission committee and their job is to save $250 million from special education or cut 250 by the year um 2829. Um last year the state um budget was 4.9 billion for special education and it's projected to be 6.6 billion in the year 2028. 29. So, um my goals um for next year are just recognizing staff for their outstanding contributions, supporting staff in their work with students and families as a way to reduce burnout and strengthen belonging, increasing efficiencies and communications within our in our system. Um, we have four education leads. Um, we have early childhood. We have Jennifer Slipka. Elementary, Angela Elias. Middle school, Ashley Denami in high school, Amy Mant. All four of those are incredibly talented and we're so fortunate to have them. They do a lot of work behind the scenes. I've really enjoyed working with them. And um, I've invited um, some of them to come up and just give you like an idea of voices from the field, what they have to say. Hi, I am Jennifer Slipka and I will tell you we love Randy. So, she is supportive and helpful and all of those things and we love her. So, um I am from the early childhood department and I thought I don't think everybody knows what we're doing over there at the CLC in early childhood. So, I thought I'd tell you a little bit about who we are, um the joys of our work, and um just highlight a few things because we have a fantastic team over there. So, I apologize. I'm not a public speaker. I'd rather sit on someone's living room floor criss-cross applesauce than be here, but I'm doing it. So, um so the Waterton Mayor Early Childhood Special Education Department is a dedicated group serving our youngest royals. We serve children from ages birth through pre kindergarten who qualify for special education services. So for many families, we're the first phone call they ever get from the school district. We're the first face that they see. We're all of those things. Um and so we take that really seriously. Like that is a very important part of a job that that interaction is their first interaction. We want to keep our families. We want them to stay in Watertown Mayor. We know what we have to offer and we we want them to be a part of it. Um so we want that process to be really welcoming and really positive for families and I think we do a great job of that. Um, our role involves supporting families. Oftentimes they're navigating new diagnoses. We're talking to families when they're um, children are still in the NICU or they're um, not sure what's going on with them medically or they're just they're having some delays and they're they're scared and they're worried or um, and they just need some help working through it. So, we're kind of in a special spot with families. Um, we're helping them navigate special education for the first time. um learn all their rights, learn the processes, all of those things. We're connecting families to community resources. They laugh that I'm really a social worker because we do so many of those things um as well. And then we help them navigate the school school district and we do have families that will check back in when their kids are in first grade or second grade and hey, could you help me with this or I have a question? Who should I talk to? And so I appreciate that they see us as a valuable resource. Um we are particularly grateful for our families. they invite us into their homes. Um, oftentimes birth through three, we're sitting in someone's living room. We're playing hide-and-seek throughout their house. You know, we're doing we're doing these things and we recognize that takes a lot of trust for families. So, we appreciate that. Um, and that they're trusting us with their family story and with their child. Like, that's that's our heart. Um, so it's a real honor to partner with them. Um, we see first steps, we see first words. And oftentimes in children where families thought, I don't know if we'll see that ever. and to be a part of that um is just amazing and we value it. Um the gratitude that we are is expressed in interactions with families I think really shows the strength of our partnerships and then highlights kind of our mission as a team. So um that's what we do. Um if anyone ever has a referral, help me grow Minnesota is a great spot for that or early childhood screening and then I will call you. So that is how it works. Um, I do want to highlight real quick, um, as a team, we're working to really streamline the evaluation process. It's always been seamless, but we feel like we can do better, and so we're really working to make sure it is the most familyfriendly um, process possible. Um, of those 85 evaluations that she mentioned, I think it's worth noting we do that in-house. So, there's Rebecca Wagner, Manar, and myself who also have a full case load of students that are evaluating those children. So, it's a full plate. And um but we still, you know, we we love what we do and we're really thankful for the opportunity. Um I have to also highlight the flexibility in our team. We have families that can't meet till 6:00 at night or they need to, you know, so we they are flexible and we all have families and we all have other things we do, but um everyone is willing to do what we need to do for families and so that's fantastic and they're just so collaborative. So um it's it's just a great team to work with. So I don't know. Do you have any questions about the early childhood department? >> Okay, thanks for your ear. Yeah, >> Ashley Denami wasn't able to come, but she wanted me to share some words. So, um this is um her um what you'd like to represent. Our middle school um special education program is off to an exceptional start this school year. We ga began the year fully staffed and our team members Amy, Lauren, and Joanne have seamlessly integrated into our program providing invaluable support. With a complete staff, our ASD setting 3 program allows students to attend more general education classes with PAR support and they are thriving. We are eager to celebrate the successes our students will achieve this year. In addition, our unified club has experienced significant growth. Last year we concluded with approximately 50 students actively participating in the club. This year we are thrilled to report over a 100 students in grades 5 through 8 have join have applied to join. We look forward to kicking off club meetings during advisory this Friday and are excited to see the wonderful experiences this year will bring our club members. So thank you. And next will be Amy Mant. I come all the time so I thought this time I'd bring another face for you guys to look at if that's okay. Um I'll first start and then I will introduce one of our students. Uh so I I did want to quickly talk about how the high school has transitioned to the sixth period day and I credit Mr. Hennan how he led that and then when we have always kind of been in this crux of how are we delivering better reading service to kids in the high school we haven't been able to do it the way we've wanted to and when the sixth period day came about uh there was another special ed teacher Sunonny Crowder and I we were so excited because now we can do basically what you guys have invested in in these these OLA trainings and she did letters as well and Sunday and we um have intervention classes which we've not ever been able to have. And the other bonus is moving from the 4 period day to the sixth period day is students that really do need a lot of support or would spend a lot of time with me like my wonderful student Isabella here. She actually now can attend more general education classes. And I think that's really really important because if you're only in special education all day long, you can't practice those other skills, right? who can't have those teachable moments. And I brought Isabella because she is one of she's an exceptional student, but she's also incredibly brave. And I'm going to tell you why she's brave and then she's going to talk a little bit. So, uh, Isabella is on our, you know, how unified is going to, you know, represent Minnesota. And so, Isabella is not one of the athletes or the players. She is representing them on that leadership team. and she's already been doing some things. Um, they went this weekend and she's practicing speaking and getting things out there. And we talked at the unified club a couple weeks ago and what I told the kids is yes, we use the word disability because it's what is required, but really I always look at it as a different ability. And I have said that for years and Isabella really echoes that she just has a different ability and her personality is contagious. And she's going to tell you a little bit about what her disability is and um what it has been like as a student when she first came to Watertown because she has not always been a waterme student and what it's like now and I'll help fill in any blanks. >> Hi, I'm Isabella. Um I have FAS. It stands for fetal alcohol syndrome. It um it's hard with math, reading, and a lot of things. Um it's also it was also hard making friends before high school >> and super quick just because I know her mom and dad are here. Isabella was adopted and so I know I know because we know that fetal alcohol syndrome comes from parents using drugs and alcohol and whatnot. And so Isabella and her sister were both adopted and because of the new environment and the how blessed they were to have their parents, you can now tell us. All right, what's hard in school for you? >> Uh, math is hard, reading, science, a lot of things. Um, it's also hard to focus and sit still. >> And it's hard because people look at you and they don't know that about you, right? And so that was maybe weird when you were young because people were learning stuff and you were kind of struggling. And how did it make you feel sometimes? >> Uh sad. >> Mhm. And then you came to Watertown and you started talking about who you were and what's different about you and now how did people start treating you? >> Um nicely. I've joined unified so that helped a lot. I made a lot new a lot of new friends and it makes me really happy and so we're grateful that you guys, you know, have supported our special education program and I have had a lot of directors you guys a lot and Randy is very supportive of what we do and I do my job because of people like this. So, thank you. >> Isabelle, you did great. >> Yeah. Do you have any questions for her? Are you excited for the unified um event coming up? >> Yeah, I'm really excited. I got um to interview a lot of people. Okay. >> And talk to them. >> Yeah. Nice. >> I guess you're getting ready for the 2026 World Game or the US Games in Minneapolis, right? >> Mhm. >> Yeah. >> Have you met anybody new? >> Uh I can't remember names, but I know a lot of sports I went to. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And I just want to say thank you for all of your support and and want to know if you have any questions on anything. >> Thank you for your leadership. >> Thank you. Thank you. A significant app and good job finding those highly qualified individuals. I know a lot of districts are still struggling finding help. So, keep what whatever magic and voodoo you're doing, keep it up. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you guys so much. >> Thank you. >> All right. Are we going to bypass? >> All right. >> Yeah. I I think we're just going to move past. I know Mr. Neski is joining us here and Mr. Griffin from SMS. So, I'll do my uh I know you're excited for your school board recognition as a part of my superintendent report tonight. So, hope that's okay. >> That long for the certificate. >> Yeah, exactly. >> So, our first uh action item is the 25 payable 26 levy certification. So, we have Mr. Schuler here as well as the SMS team of uh Mr. Griffin and Mr. Netsky. So, I'll turn it over to you guys. All right. Thank you. I uh somehow I closed it out. Let me I need to open it up real quick here. >> And Mr. Netsky has about three or four other board meetings tonight. So why he's >> he likes us the most. >> We're the newest. >> Okay. I can make that a little bigger if that helps. >> That'd be great. All right. Can everybody see that? Okay. >> Yep. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, we have the um pay 26 versus pay 25 levy. So, we have our pay 26 levy here in the middle. Last year's final pay 25 levy on the far left. And then on the change are our variance comparing the two. So looking at the general fund portion of the total levy, the general fund portion is increasing 59,233. That is a 1.83% increase. Um so significant changes, nothing like super significant. LTFM revenue is going up 21,768. Um our voter approved referendum is going up 12,000. um the adjustment for prior years. So each year we estimate our student counts to generate our referendum revenue and on the pay 25 levy we had a negative adjustment because we overlevied two years prior to that. Well, last year we were closer. So our negative adjustment was less and so that created a $14,000 increase on our pay 26 levy. um other adjustments for prior years related to local optional revenue and equity was a negative 10,000 payoff and then we had equity and local optional actually going down and the most significant again is the LTFM revenue. So again a fairly immaterial increase of 1.83%. Any questions on the general fund portion of the proposed pay 26 levy? >> Nothing right now. >> Okay. So, looking at the community service fund, um the levy there is decreasing $9,479. Um the biggest swing there is in the school age care levy um which is down 22,19 and we have some significant adjustments. Um in the prior year we had a negative adjustment of 30,657 that would have been primarily contributable or could be contributed to the school age care levy. So that's again we estimate what our school age care cost will be and then we have to show that in our youths in our accounting and the state lines that up with what we levied for and then they send an adjustment through on a future levy. So um the the levy the pay 26 levy is less again creating an increase there kind of offsetting um the decrease in our school age care levy. So debt service fund is increasing 46,264 um which is a 5% increase and overall the levy is increasing $96,189 which is a 1.2% increase. Any questions Mr. Netski? So, these numbers are kind of still being firmed up, right? Different runs, everything like that. So, what we're looking for tonight, correct me, is we're looking to approve the 25 payable 26 uh levy at the maximum, which allows for that true up between here and there. Is that correct? >> That's exactly correct. Yep. Yep. The state will continue to run updates almost daily through the end of September. And occasionally they'll find um an input that's incorrect or um some type of an adjustment to a formula. And by levying the maximum, it allows the system to work through the bugs. And then in December, we'll certify the final amount and have the option to make adjustments if we if the board chooses to at that time. And then you probably don't know the historical, but is this the 1.22? Was that kind of in line historical? >> Yes. Yep. Um, >> I actually pulled it up here. Are you seeing that? >> Uh, make There we go. >> Yep. >> Okay. So, we have a little bit of history here. Um the pay 25 levy was a 65% increase or 51,000. Pay 24 was basically flat 007% increase went up $5,823 and pay 23 increased 2% or 152,000 and pay 22 was a significant decrease um of 2.19% or 170,000. So in the previous past four years, our levy had a net increase over those years of 38,628. >> So it's really been super flat, >> very stable >> historically. Awesome. So with any other questions for Mr. Netski? With that being said, I'll make a motion to approve the 25 payable 26 levy at the maximum amount. >> I'll second. >> Have a motion made by Mr. Felt, second by Miss Schultz. Any further discussion on the levy? >> Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. All oppose, nay. Motion carries. Mr. Neski and Mr. Griffin, thank you guys for your time tonight. and on to the next for you. >> All right. Thank you. Have a great night. >> Yep. Thank you, guys. Thank you. >> Um, moving on until you get yourself settled there, Darren. Um, item B, the acknowledgement of donations, contributions, and fundraising. >> Mr. Schuler. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, we have a number of donations uh this evening like to uh bring your attention to. Uh our first donor is Gene Hos uh his foundation to robotics for $3,000 for parts. Royal soccer boosters to Royal uh boys soccer uh for $1,725 for jerseys and team travel expenses. The Watertown American Legion uh donation to mock trial for $2,000 heading to their Empire tournament which I think is this weekend even um this this week. >> Um tournament related expenses. Uh, McInte's Grocery donated to Mocktrial as well. $69128. They must have done some bagging, I bet. Um, Mock Trial, uh, Empire Tournament again for U that group. The Stifter family mock trial donation of $300 to the Empire Tournament. Mayor Baseball Club also to Robotics for $2,500 for parts. Watertown may air band boosters um donation to the band for the uh euphorium. Did I say that right? >> Euphonium. >> Euphonium. Okay. Which is sort of like a baritone >> if I remember correctly. Is that right? >> Baritone and a for those who don't know. >> I'll take your words. >> I kind of I was a baritone player. Um, and American Allegian uh, unit 601 mock trial for $200 to expense related to the their next competition. Um, the Lions uh, mock trial for $4,500 again to their upcoming tournament in New York. Um, and then um, Lions Watertown football $1,000 to uh, middle school shoulder pads. um Bay Island LLC uh kids company donation after hot chocolate. You can't beat that for consumption purposes only. >> So, especially >> can't be used for anything else. >> Those days coming off the sliding hill, they'll they'll need that. So, >> yes, >> there are your donations. >> I make a motion to approve all donations, contributions, and fundraising. >> Motion made by Miss Danielson, seconded by Mr. O'Neal. All those in favor say I. I. >> I. All oppose, nay. Motion carries. And thank you for all of our um folks that have donated this last month for us. >> Item C, the first and only read of district policies requiring review. Mr. Scheler. Looks like a lot of school board policies tonight. >> You got it, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Yes, we have the 200 series. Our policy committee met last week along with Miss Huan, and we walked through these rather quickly. there was not a lot of uh substantive changes to any of the 200 series. We'll see some more 200 series in November. So, get ready for that. Um but uh we have two um another one which is a first read. I may have shared with you last meeting that >> Well, why don't we make a motion? >> Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you. I jumped ahead there. Thank you. >> Is there a motion to approve the first one, please? >> So, move second. >> Motion made by Mr. Burton, seconded by Miss Nton. Any further discussion on our school board policies hearing? None. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. All oppose. Nay. Motion carries. Moving along. Item D. Now you can talk about the first reads, Mr. Schiller. >> Yes. Thank you, uh, Mr. Chair. So, um, policy 607.1, early entrance into kindergarten. Um, this policy does come up from time to time, especially at the elementary level, obviously. Um and um I know Miss Okonnell uh since her time here has kind of tracked this policy and and we knew um that it needed some revisions. Um we've had a few families go through this process. So, uh, Miss Okonnell took it upon herself this summer to do some research, um, checking with a number of area districts here, also in the metro, um, and just looking at their policies, uh, working with some of the folks, um, that she knows in some of those districts, as well as, I believe, uh, maybe Wendy Baron's from the state, um, who runs the gifted and talented program. Um and again just kind of reworking this policy um to to make a little bit more aligned to a process and the process maybe wasn't very clear previously but again this is only specific to children that are born between September um 2nd and October 15th uh who missed that cutoff. So this is number one cut off to go into kindergarten. uh they may have missed that, but families can um basically come forth to uh principal Okonnell and ask if their child can at least go through the process of an early entrance. Um and so again, we probably get maybe one or two a year if that, but um more recently we've had a couple. Um but again, uh part of this process was just to streamline it. Uh as you get down a little lower into the process, you can see there's a pretty comprehensive committee that's formed to um walk the the family through this and certainly the child um because we really take this really seriously. This is one of those things where as a school we don't want to make a mistake, but also there are students that are sometimes ready. Um and the goal is to certainly look for kids or um kids that are at least a grade above. So they would be at the top of the first grade class literally coming in. So one year advanced. Um the IQ score as you can see is noted in there too. There is a cognitive test around that 130 range is also required. Um our school psych is involved, some kindergarten team members, some interventionalists, uh Miss Okonnell and so it's just a a more streamlined process and I feel like now moving forward with families u they know um how this will will move forward. So um I don't know if Mr. Connell, if you have any further feedback or did we cover it appropriately looking around the podium here? >> Covered it. >> Yeah, she did a nice job of again laying it out for families and um it is like I said, it's it's certainly uh becoming a little bit more popular as as families are looking for, you know, options sometimes for child care. Um but also, you know, we certainly have children that are are that are ready. Um so there's the policy. So we we're looking for a first read only and um we'll be coming back uh next month for a final read. >> Um so everything is done by our staff all the evaluation. Is that correct? >> Yeah, there is a fee to the family for going through the process because of the time necessary and some of the materials that are needed to complete the process. So, I guess it's a little skin in the game, too, for the families to make sure they're serious about going through the process because it's pretty time intestine for the staff to go through that and the child. >> So, >> is that a set dollar amount or is it >> 250? >> We didn't put the committee added a number. There was not a number in >> We're looking at that range of about 250. Yeah, somewhere in there per student. 250. the cost would come from the U materials in part. So, a lot of the materials that the psychologists would use are not testing booklets that we regularly have on hand because they're materials that are for an age group that's younger than kindergarten typically for those IQ tests that are just materials that we don't have. So, um, it's partly to cover those materials >> and for a family in need, >> they would cover those expenses. >> We work with a family absolutely human hardship. Yeah. >> Thank you. >> I'll make a motion to approve the first read of the 607. >> I'll second. >> Motion made by Mr. Phil, second by Miss Danielson. Any further discussion on the early entrance to kindergarten policy hearing? None. All those in favor say I. I. >> I. All oppose. Nay. Motion carries. And we'll bring that one back next month probably. Um, moving on. Item E, the second and final read of district policies requiring review. Mr. Schuler. Uh, 503 student attendance. >> Yes. Uh, we had the second and final read of, uh, 503 student attendance. As Mr. Phil noted um the uh this is a policy that we brought back just because our admin team and some admin assistants sat down um and did really did a nice job of revisiting our codes in which we code our absences student absences. So the student attendance uh policy itself didn't get a huge overhaul, but um we were able to to take some things out due to the fact that we're changing some of these codes. So again, the codes are for when a family calls in and uh gives their uh their child's reason for being absent or least gone. Um uh I think all three buildings were a little bit different in how they coded things in the past. So uh Mr. Girtton led a group um in which they um sat down and and really came together on how they're going to code moving forward. So which is really exciting in each building now. um we feel like we've got a pretty solid approach and um we certainly feel like this will help also in our chronic attend attendance numbers um that were a little bit more unified in what we're approving and what we're not approving. So um the policy itself um as you can see there was some changes and some deletions. Um but uh some of the things that you see on PH2 for example some of the calling that is actually in an appendix um that we have all that information in. So we just took it out of the policy and it's in the um 5 503A appendix. So that is all in that piece. So not a whole lot of changes but again the bigger piece for us is just some uniformity in how we code things coming in each day. approve. >> I'll second. >> Motion made by Mr. Burns, seconded by Miss Gco. Any further discussion on the student attendance policy? >> All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. All oppose. Nay. Motion carries. That ends the action items going on to the review and information items. Starting off with a review of the 2025 MCA data. >> Well, good evening everyone and thank you for allowing me to be here and share some of our fun data for the um it's actually the 2425 MCA review because we haven't had the 2526 MCAs yet. But uh I wanted to share with you some of our results. I've been talking about this for uh a couple of months now, but our uh overall math proficiency rate was 63% this past year. Uh we had a goal of 63.6. So obviously the goal was not met. Uh that was a 3% increase uh was the goal. So we're just short of that uh 3% at 2.4%. Uh again that's our highest rate since the pandemic which is very exciting. Uh and uh we continue to exceed the state average uh in every grade level in math. So uh that's that's pretty awesome. And we did 40% better than the state proficiency rate. So very excited about that. Uh for our reading scores, we were at 62.4% of proficiency. Uh remember proficiency is meets or exceeds as the top two levels on the achievement levels. Again, that was the highest uh proficiency rate since the pandemic for reading as well. And we exceeded the state average and every grade but one um for reading. Uh and we did 26% better than the state rate as well. Um I've showed this to you the last couple of years. You can see uh 2025 for the math and reading scores. We continued to uh exceed the uh state average and and keep widening that gap, which is a uh exactly the direction we want to be going with that. Uh you'll notice there's no science scores in there. Uh we'll probably get to that uh next month as um the science data becomes available on October 1st. Um, just to compare ourselves with what's going on in our neighboring districts, I uh you can see the the scores there. I added a couple of uh surrounding districts from last year and I also put the statewide average in there so you can kind of see where the state falls in there. Uh we did not move up or down at all uh from last year. However, you can see that gap is closing between us and Wakonia. So, we're right on their tail, which is exactly we're going to catch them. That's the goal. Uh but when you look at the four-year differential um our um growth over the last four years in math has been over 14 points and in reading has been five points and that leads all those area schools in that four-year differential. So again I I really feel like we've got um a lot of momentum moving the right direction. I think that uh with the teams behind us uh you know and the our dedicated staff and wanting to do well I see a lot of really good things already at the beginning of this year. Very excited about that. U and I think we're just uh continuing to go in a in a very positive direction. So uh we set a couple of year uh the 26 goals. Um for reading uh we chose a 2% increase instead of a 3% increase. 3% is three students a year, but 3% is pretty much of a stretch goal. We put it at 2% for a couple reasons. Uh first reason, uh we've got a new curriculum in K through five. So, there could be a new curriculum dip for that. As well as we're implementing new reading standards this year. So there's always been a if you know if you followed it over the MCAs, MCA2s, MCA 3es, that first year there's always been a little bit of a dip. Um so uh our stretch goal is still going to be a stretch goal because those other historical things would indicate that we should fall back, but we're going to still stretch to improve that by 2%. And then we're going to look at a 3% growth in math as well. And again, that's uh two two to three kids per grade level is what we want to move across the across the threshold. So questions. >> So you said this the best since the pandemic. I don't what was it like? What were the numbers pre- pandemic? >> If you go back, >> sorry, >> no, that's fine. The prepandemic numbers, if you go back um quite a bit before that, they were in the 60s and 70s for reading and they were in the high 50. Uh I don't have them for math prior to the pandemic. Um so actually I don't have them prior to the pandemic at all. I was looking at the 10th grade reading scores. I'm sorry. Um I've got the um yeah I got them by grade but I didn't have a total and >> but sort of the whole state whole country kind of took a dip during the pandemic. Yes. Correct. Or MCA is Minnesota obviously state. Then >> it' just be cool to know like what it was the dip and how long would it take to get you know what I mean? >> Yeah. >> Now the question that I had was >> obviously we're going to do incrementals along the way 2 3% whatever the the incrementals are but what are we shooting for? What what is a right what what should Watertown expect as a good percentage? I don't know that we're going to catch, you know, West Hanka at 77. >> I know. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> The budget for that, >> right? But what what's what's a what's a good expectation, >> right? >> You know, that's a great question and I don't know what a great answer to that. I it would be really from the multi-tered systems of supports standpoint it would be great to see 80% because then you know your tier one instruction is meeting the needs of all your kiddos by by that standard but that's way higher than what we've got across the state. So how realistic is that is the $64 question. Um, I'd say somewhere in that 75% range I think would be a great target to plat, you know, plateau, but that's just off my head. I I'd have to do some more real deep digging to see if >> So now we know. >> Oh jeez. >> I I guess I'd be curious >> because she sent me a little note. If we think about we don't >> um obviously the state of Minnesota typically has done better than any kind of national averages or anything else but is there anything that equates to how MCA scores to any kind of national testing and and how we're performing >> that that's another difficult question if you look because every single state has their own set of standards which means they have their own set of testing criteria which means >> whether or not they're proficient in that is, you know, that's all varies by state. Um, if the early on in the MCA3s, I believe they did a national study and you know, our standards were higher than like 60% or 80% of the district schools around. So, if you were proficient in Mississippi, you would have only been at the 40th percentile in Minnesota kind of a scenario. So, it's just >> right >> and I'm I'm kind of making up I'm making up I'm making up numbers from what I can remember, but I remember Mississippi was, you know, their standards were so much less rigorous than ours that it was hard to compare. So, that's why then you go to the NAPE scores because that's a national score. Um, and and I know from I I attended some of the MSBA platform and action, the the legislative ones, and it's just schoolboard members across the state. What's affecting your district? There's a lot of districts that are probably going to put in their legislative priorities is getting rid of the MCAs and switching it to the ACTs. But obviously that's high school really, you know, that doesn't take into account the elementary and middle school. And two, the ACTs, I mean, what about those kids from that that aren't planning on taking a four-year that are going into the trades, >> right? you know, where where some of that information and some of those folks if they opt out don't hurt your scores. And I think that's to me that's a bigger issue is how if we're doing the MCAs, if we're doing a ACTs, whatever is going on, how do we encourage those kids to take those whether or not they are collegebound or trades bound or whatever it might be? you know, how do we get in in all of our buildings, you know, those those kids to take those tests seriously? Because unfortunately or fortunately for us and, you know, showing those graphs, >> that's what parents are looking at when they want to move into a district. They're looking at the MCA scores, >> you know, and then they release the numbers and you hear the legislator saying, "Well, these numbers are >> horse bleep, you know, they're not happy with it. We're stagnating." Well, what are those good numbers to be? How do we get there? You're, you know, if we're not funding the districts, how can you expect those to hire more teachers, better teachers? It's sort of the, you know, cause and effect. >> Well, I think that the measurement tool is just unfortunate, right? >> Well, and it's a percentage, right? So a 63 and you know a A throughF scale right is a is a D. >> But yet you know when you think about an ACT score do you know if a 30 is great or is a you know 35 great or is a 25 great like there you know so because it's a percentage. There's so much education that has to happen to a parent to tell them why a 63% is actually pretty darn good >> um in this case when it wouldn't be good in pretty much any other situation. >> And that's a lot of that that marketing out there because Yeah. If you see then the number is 63%. Well, that's >> a D. You know, our our kids aren't learning anything. >> Yeah. >> Well, you know, >> that's unfortunate. >> If you talk to the students, >> they know math, >> of course. you know, they they know what they're doing. It's just maybe they had a bad day to the test. Maybe they said, "Oh, I'm going to take the test and not care, >> right? >> Because, you know, I'm going to go and being a welder. I don't need to know reading skill, a lot of the reading skills or whatever it might be." >> Say a lot too that the MCAs are just one piece of data. That's really it. Unfortunately, they're the public facing piece of data that we're accountable to, but you know, if you look at our fast scores across the district, you know, that's the true measuring stick of if a student is seeing growth across an academic year. So, you know, we put a lot more stake in that, you know, internally, but externally, people out in the community and and we've get emails from folks that say, "Hey, you know, those are concerning scores. You know, what's going on?" And so that's the hard part is I think people on the outside don't always know all the factors that go into you know some of these MCA scores and we talk about that a lot you know student investment you know what's why is it important to kids in this day and age especially at the high school level you know it's hard for them to gather that like hey do it for the team you know there's no vested interest for them so those are some of the things that we're we're battling I think and unfortunately that's not great reflection sometimes on scores >> I mean I this showing the stat of 40% better than the state profic you know proficiency rate things like that to stand out um it's just unfortunately when you see the 63 people that the perception is reality like I said there's so much market that when everybody sees >> 63% >> well that's why you have to compare it I like the chart where you're comparing the neighboring districts that at least okay where do we fit >> we fit roughly where we probably should fit Would do we want to be better? Absolutely. >> I think the other side of it is looking at that growth rate. That's that's impressive to go to mean to grow 14 and a.5% when the highest other one was six. >> I mean, we're double the growth rate. That's that's what's impressive. >> Frankly, we need a news article about that. >> Yes. >> You know, should be a front page news article about that growth rate because that's >> my very best. I mean and and again to see that kind of growth >> we did early investment right and out of the gate right as we were leaving the pandemic right away we said we needed to do something different and better faster and it's showing in that number and so I totally agree with Jim it's like that is the front page story >> and we have reached out to our legislator there was one legislator that came out that was complaining about the MCA scores we've reached out directly saying with that chart >> nice >> you know saying look we'll what we're doing here. >> You want to come and see how you can trot down to St. Paul and tell them what good this little district in, >> you know, West Central Minnesota is doing, >> come and visit us. Okay. >> The problem with this and and the political side is they're going to spin it to whatever makes sense for them and you can't let the truth get in the way of a good story, right? So, when we're when we're making that comparison, it makes it really hard. But when we look at what we're doing here and how this the rubber's hitting the road, this is this is fantastic. >> Yeah. >> I I think we should also look at, you know, Joe, you mentioned the MTSS stuff and some of the more data that we have that we know. Couple this with that and tie that together and and tell that story. We we've got a hell of a good story going here. Let's let's shout this from the rooftops. >> I agree. I agree. Just for the record also, all the percentages were on students who tested. >> Yeah. So if they did not test, they were not included in this. Just for so that's clear for you. Yeah. >> But the balls I mean skull Vikings cuz it's going the right direction. >> Yeah. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you. >> Moving on. Item B, strategic plan update. Mr. Scheler. >> Uh yeah, I'll be brief tonight on my streets plan update. Um my focus area was communication and and I guess it was just uh to let you know um as we effectively communicate transparently to all of our stakeholders that we are working on the school calendar for next year uh and the following year. So I think you've heard me mention a number of times probably, but uh the state legislature has given us the opportunity to start before Labor Day next year and the following year. Um, and uh, we just can't start before September 1st. So, um, we already have started our first round of looking at drafts of a two-year calendar, which to our knowledge we've never done in Watertown mayor history. Uh, so, uh, we're going to try this. Uh, you certainly as a board will get to approve it or disapprove it, but, uh, we hope you'll approve it. Um, but we are working on that behind the scenes. Um, it makes sense to do a two-year because they're very similar in years. I mean it lay they lay out very very similar. Um we always do a version that we share with staff so they can give some input. We do a version without spring break and one with spring break and that's probably the biggest difference. Um otherwise um again we're kind of working on that behind the scenes. It is our hope to get that to you no later than uh the November board meeting so that parents and certainly staff can um get to work on that. I know Paul from the athletics and activity side. Um that's a big deal because um sports has moved uh down a week. So we start I think August 17th next fall. So everything's pushed down a week um as well. And but the possibility of us playing our first games in front of kids that are in session will be uh will happen if we start before Labor Day. Uh the other thing we're butting up against is if we keep uh our typical after Labor Day start um we wouldn't potentially be done until that second week of June. And I know traditionally here in Watertown Mayor that has not been a real positive thing. Um and again historically we try to get done in that first week of June if possible. Um so I think that's pretty much all I had on my notes there. Um, again, if we did start with our traditional um days, I think the elementary wouldn't start until September 10th. Uh, so you're getting pretty far down the line in September. Uh, if we stick to our traditional after Labor Day start. So, um, so just be aware if you have feedback, feel free to email me or give me your your input, but um, we're moving forward with looking at those both uh, calendars starting before Labor Day uh, next two years. My only question on that is will we be getting moving the elementary school to our trimester? >> We had very preliminary discussions on that. Um it's a pretty big undertaking just in the way the curriculum is structured in the elementary right now as they move to >> arts and letters. They're they're structured on a quarterly basis, not on a trime mister basis. So it would be a pretty big lift for the elementary to shift. Um can it be done? Absolutely. But I know Miss Okonnell and I think talked last week about this and her eyes got about this big. Uh saying, "Whoa, you know, that that's a lot." Uh but yeah, we'll have further discussion. Um you know, if not next year, following year, we'll we'll see. So it's being discussed. Any other questions? >> No, just to clarify, so it can't be before September 1st, >> correct? >> So yeah, >> December one is >> still September. September is whatever. >> Pretty much depends on when you want to get out of school. >> It's what? >> Pretty much when you want to get out. >> Yeah, for sure. For sure. >> It'll feel the same. >> I mean, as the years currently, >> yeah, >> it's about the same time. >> Yeah, definitely keep us in the loop as you hear feedback and everything. So, >> absolutely. >> Thank you. Moving on to the admin reports. Going to start it with uh Mr. Hennon. Are you going to give Mr. Gurtens too or is we skipping him tonight? >> I'm going to give an abbreviated version of Nick's. Absolutely. >> He gave me something. Just saying. Um for the high school first few weeks have gone really well. I will say, you know, going to a new schedule for everybody. I thought, you know, you don't really know for sure and, you know, it actually has gone really well. Kids have been great. Obviously, there's some things that, you know, just just different with having quicker classes and everything else. uh teachers have done have done a good job. Again, it's been a challenge just with pacing is the biggest thing to go from having 80 minutes a day and all you're done in 40 days to now, you know, it's just it's longer. Um but again, I mean, given everything that's gone on, I don't know if all the teachers would, you know, say this, but I think a fair amount of you said like it's been a pleasant surprise. Hallways are quieter. Um it's just in some respects it's been a really great change. But again, I mean, a lot of things we'll have to keep evaluating, looking at, but overall, considering the kind of the enormous change we went through with every class. It's gone really well. So, uh, two things you're going to hear a lot from me about this year is one professional growth plans for teachers and everybody else is around our profile of a graduate this year. So, we're going to be giving um student surveys at the end of every quarter or trimester now about kind of their impression of the skills we're trying to implement, you know, with those six skills of a profile of a graduate just so we gather more data to make sure we are really, you know, trying to overtly teach them, give them opportunities. Um, we're giving surveys and and people are filling out things about community involvement as well, just again so we have that data, you know, kind of you talked about to show that we're doing different things. The other thing we're tracking is is college and career exposures. So our this is going to be a big undertaking because so for our goal is we're started this year with with all of our kids hopefully very soon. But even for like seniors just to track every single college exposure they've gotten in terms of college class, every time they've had a college speaker, a career speaker, all that stuff. And just so at the end of the year it'd be kind of cool to say, you know, student X had 14 exposures this year because I that's really what we pride ourselves on is getting kids ready for that next level. And we know that it's different for everybody. It's not always just college, but it would just be really cool to look back and just say, you know, especially now starting with nth graders and say, you know, again, that student had x amount of exposures over four years. Um because that really is what we I mean really pride ourselves on is is giving those kids that opportunities. We have to define those a little more clearly, but that is something that we're going to look at more, you know, get more evidence-based in terms of we know there are a lot, but it'd be nice to give specific numbers for every kid. So, any questions for me on the high school, >> Mr. Girtton. >> All right. Nick says he's off to a very good smooth start to the school year, even though he's never been there. No, I'm just kidding. Nick Nick's been really sick. I mean, I will defend the guy. He's been really sick. Um students have quickly adjusted to sixth period schedule, new routines and expectations. Um I can attest to this next one. You see seventh and eighth grade students have adapted well the accessing course in high school. Um you know because they have industrial tech aggra courses, family consumer science, world cultures, seventh grade math, eighth grade advanced math, eighth grade band, and eighth grade science. So they're coming up a lot. And you know to be honest from a high school perspective like I haven't seen one issue. The only funny story I have to share is one one of the teachers kids were walking by and they were a little tardy and you're like come on get to class and the girls like we're only in seventh grade and we like come on let him have a little break you know and it was fine but but they it really we haven't noticed a thing it's been I mean fine having them come up um you know Nick even made a comment I mean right now I mean he has over 30% well probably mine too our shared staff now that's a significant increase of what it was two three years ago when it was just I think three of them So again, overall, Benny, he said a really good start. Um I think he'll be more specific next time, but he said his goals for the middle school this year are going to just again connect center around connections. Um tier 2, tier three support, and then again trying to get more kids to be up to that um grade level standards for reading and math. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Miss Okonnell. Good evening. Um, I have two updates around partnerships. We held our Royal Connections conferences on September 2nd and 3rd. Once again, the event was well attended. Out of 465 students that we had registered at the time of those conferences, there were only 11 who did not attend. >> Wow. We had 13 teachers in classrooms that had 100% attendance on that evening. Um, out of the entire kindergarten, 99% attended. First grade had 98% attendance. Second grade had 96% attendance. Third grade had 98% attendance. Fourth grade had 98% attendance. And schoolwide, we had 97.6% attendance. So, it's a really well- attended event. Um, I checked in with our teachers on our climate and connection team. They shared that Royal Connection conferences provide valuable one-on-one time for private conversations, early assessment data that reduces start of the year anxiety for students. It's especially beneficial for students with IEPs and 504s, allowing time to review accommodations and support relationship building with families. The format fosters strong homeschool connections and is distinct difference from an open house because it helps establish a foundation for students. um early career. Additionally, families gain access to the supplies that are needed through the royals room. So any families that need um backpacks or school supplies can get those right away in a private way as opposed to having it be very public. Um so it's a very successful event. Um also on September 2nd, we were informed that we were recognized as an official school of excellence by the Minnesota Elementary School Principles Association. This status is given to a select group of Minnesota schools that sustained to a 1 to two-year commitment of self-reflection and underwent a peer review. The Minnesota School of Excellence program emphasizes schools that it is not an end goal, it's a process. It's built day by day, decision by decision through reflection, responsiveness, and a shared belief that growth is always possible. We were recognized for being a leader in literacy before the read act mandate and for using data to d to drive our decisions. So um there will be a meeting that I will attend in November to learn more about what this process will look like as it unfolds. We'll get our banner in November that will get hung up and then we'll arrange for them to come out in the spring and have an all school assembly to celebrate our recognition and we'll get our plaque at that point. And then coming up on October 6th, we will have our desserts and data evening um at six o'clock and then that will be immediately be followed by our PTO event, PTO meeting. Any questions? >> Okay. >> Keep keep us in the loop for >> when those things happen at the elementary school. So if we can make it, we >> Yes, absolutely. >> Love to attend. >> Perfect. We'll do. >> We get a big banner to hang on the side of the school that we can see from the highway over there. >> We get a big banner. We get a plaque >> facing the Absolutely. >> on the electronic billboard this week. >> Congratulations again. >> Thank you. >> Well deserved. Welld deserved. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Dalton. >> Good evening, chair and board. Um, I'm going to talk a lot about what what we're working on, what we're working toward, what our initiatives are for the coming year. Um, we're off to a great start with our with our uh everything this fall has been really going well. One of our first big events was our touch a truck event which was a collaborative event with our ECF advisory council and and our staff. That was very wellreceived. Um, another piece with ECF that that we're really happy to be working with that it's and we're working with superintendent on this is our transition team focusing on literacy, focusing on transition from preschool to kindergarten. We've got the pre preliminary pieces done there and we're starting to establish that group and and we're going to be um meeting about monthly on that and and moving on on that goal. Excuse me. um early childhood uh and child care. Again, child care, we we we still have those those waiting lists. I haven't figured out how to hire a bunch of new staff yet. Um we are working on that. When I first came, I I was hoping it was space, but it's space is not the issue. It's it's staff really for us. We're really lucky to have the space. We have um we we have we have teachers that that teach a fairly small amount and they have a classroom all to themselves and that that's that's really a great situation to be in. So we've got some room to make some changes there and we got to find some more people to to fill those fill those jobs. So that's going to be one of the things we're looking at. um adult enrichment programs. Again, um we're really going to be emphasizing more of those and more in-person classes. Again, the online classes which really came about during the COVID times, they're great. They have that you have that opportunity to take those when you want, so on and so forth, but we're still we're not getting that that face-to-face connection that we'd like to see a little bit more of. So, we're going to be working on on bringing some more of those opportunities to our community. Um, for facility use, we're really working on updating uh procedures and guidelines. Um, maybe getting scheduling a little bit further out so that we can bring in groups. They're they're coming to us and they're asking uh 18 months ahead, two two years ahead, 24 months ahead. And we're, well, we don't know when we're doing our plays. And so, we're working towards towards maybe moving that scheduling system up so that we we can know what those things are a little bit further ahead and get more of those groups in here. Um, we're also working on implementing that new software system um for facility use, which is it's a it's a uh section of Ilio, which we we already use for a lot of other pieces. Um, our catalog, we're getting ready for that. That's in production. We're working on putting that together. That's our our our January May issue. That'll come out in mid November. Um, and one of the things that that we're gonna we're going to do is we're we're going to push to get more cataloges out in the community. Um, I I think catalog should be I think people should be tripping over those things and and we're going to work to get them out in into the different city halls, libraries, clinics, so on and so forth. And not just two of them. We're we're going to we're going to get a few of them there. Yep. We're going to spend a little bit more on printing that catalog. But the difference between printing 4,000 cataloges and 4500 cataloges is not is not that significant. So So we're looking at that. Um our advisory council, we've got our meeting set for the 2526. The first one's coming up here on October 14th. One thing we're going to do is we're going to try and move those around a little bit. We're going to have one over in mayor. We're going to have one in different school um so that we can have some uh just to just get around in the district a little bit. And one of the piece, one of our initiatives there is to get more community involvement in that. Right now the advisory council is primary. It's pretty staffheavy. Um and and we we don't have a lot of community involvement. So we're going to try and try and get some more of that. That said, all districts are struggling with that. Community education advisory councils, they're not as exciting as say uh early childhood. Early childhood tends to be almost a booster club for the early childhood programs. So, it's very focused and and people love to they love to work on that. Community education's kind of broad. We got facility use, we got adult basic education. So, it's it's a little bit different animals, but we're going to work to work to get that community involvement involved. Um leadership and development really that's one of the things I've been working on is the culture of in our department. Um, I've set up a couple of different groups that are meeting on a regular basis so that we have a little bit more crossermination in in people's jobs and and people know what's going on a little less siloed, a a little bit more collaboration and that's the the staff seems to really be enjoying that. Um I was lucky enough to attend the Metro Directors and Community Education Directors Consortium meeting on Friday and um early childhood consortium that's put on by resource training and solutions in Sartell and then the Sartell or pardon me the Carver County older adults council's uh meeting which was very enlightening. Uh I really enjoyed that. So again, our strateg work on strategic alignment. Um we're trying to advance the goals, the water mayor's goals, community engagement, lifelong lifelong learning, and strong partnerships. >> Any questions? >> Appreciate the year in advance on the meetings. >> Okay. >> Put them on the calendar. >> Good. Yep. That's what we want. We We have a hard enough time getting people to them. We want you to know when they are. >> Exactly. Exactly. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much, >> Mr. Samansky. Good evening. Uh this week, military appreciation week. All Royal Home events uh are free admission if you have your military ID. Homecoming week starts next week. Lots of activities events start next Monday. A finalized schedule will be out very, very soon. first grade check of the trimester will be out Thursday this week, which is about one week earlier than when it normally is when we were in the uh um quarters or or semester classes. Uh this fall so far, we've waved um fees for 48 students. That's the grand total so far. I have dollar amounts if you're interested in that. Music rehearsal are in full swing with performances starting November 20th, 21st, and 22nd. We're performing Oklahoma this year. Fine arts registration is open and most of our programs will be underway in the coming months. Winter registration will be open October 13th. So that's right around the corner as well. And the official fall participation numbers are in. 307 was our grand total for the fall. Uh 28 more than last fall of 2024. And this is the highest number since the fall of 2015 where we had 333 participants in the fall sports. We're off and running and have lots of bodies, which is a good problem to have. >> Any questions? >> Thank you, >> Mr. Scheler. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair, board members. Um, just you saw earlier in the in the agenda, we did have the enrollment Mrs. Huan put together um our most recent um 3-week in enrollment number. So, uh, as you can see, we're down about 19 in the elementary students from last year. Uh, in middle school, we're actually up about 30 students from last year. Again, some of that's just a shifting of a larger class, a smaller class leaving. Uh, high school is down about 23 from last year. I think they're about 494 um, according to our numbers. Um, again, so right now we're about 4 uh,411 students um, K through 12. And uh that's again down about 17 from last year um at the end of the year. So again still trending uh not quite as bad maybe. Um I think uh Miss Rder and her budget had planned um around that number where we're we're projecting right now. Uh the big piece is the ADM piece which obviously our revenue is generated from. So, um, the EDM should calculate pretty close, I think, where we had budgeted, and we'll we certainly adjust that as we go. October 15th is kind of that big check-in day with the state with our um our enrollment. So, the EDM start uh getting generated at that point in time. And um we'll see where we go, but um I guess, you know, other than declining, we're we're staying somewhat steady. So, that that's probably a good piece. Um, also too, just to note, we're hosting our first of two district-wide staff meetings. Uh, uh, this week in terms of the PEEP healthc care change, um, as I've mentioned, uh, a few times in my weekly report that, uh, we only had two bits, healthc care bits, um, health insurance bits. Um, one from health partners, one from PEEP, which is the public employees insurance, um, group. Um, again, uh, it looks like all intended purposes, we'll probably going with PEEP. um that's about a 30% increase and as we've talked about our claims over the last year and a half have really uh skyrocketed uh which kind of shied away. Some of the the the biders potentially there um we've had a wonderful 10-year history. Our claims were wonderful to the last year and a half and so um we're seeing those increases. Um with that being said, we've had PEEP before so our staff is familiar with the way they operate. It's a little different model um but again a model which I I think uh will benefit staff um in the long run is there'll be some really more consistent leveled uh increases uh given their history and how they they they tier their schools. So um our insurance broker Mark Belts has been great. Um so he'll lead these uh this week with our staff along with representatives from PEEP that are coming out. Um the only sticky wicket right now we haven't seen their catalog yet for um some of the uh the ratings of the the clinics. The clinics are all rated on a one to three scale. So you're a one, a two or a three. Uh the that catalog has not come out yet. That comes out in like midocctober. So um unfortunately the timing didn't work out right for that. But um this for intended purposes just be inform staff of the changes and what that looks like. So um again appreciate the work of uh Ed Rundell from the teachers group and Angela um Dusky also from the parrofessional group that sat in on the presentations um with Mark Belts and um along with Crystal Sunby uh we had a really good opportunity to get a better understanding of where we're going but um yeah again we had a really good 10-year run and all of a sudden you know it dropped off a little bit but that's that's insurance that's the way it rolls sometimes. So um that'll happen. And then um lastly too um we are meeting with our uh colleagues from region five. Region 5 runs our smart system. So our smart finance and smart personnel systems um and our admin team and our admin assistants are are working with them to get a better understanding. With the shift to SMS, there's been a lot of work behind the scenes in terms of how we process our accounts receivable, accounts payables, um credit card purchases and such. Um so, uh we're spending some time with the region five uh trainers uh and just reooking at how we um do that. In the past, Miss Raider handled all that and so we're really farming it out now to building principles and admin assistants at the building level so they'll have a better tracking of their budgets and approval process as well. Um, but it's new and it's a it's a it's a new um time for admin assistants and principles. So, u part of that uh on Thursday is just to to kind of work on that system and putting it all together. So, a lot of work behind the scenes, but uh we're we're getting there. So, and then lastly, again, just a big thank you to the Watertown Chamber. Uh you've heard me say this every year, but uh it never gets old in terms of the response we get from the chamber. Uh last Wednesday we had over 100 staff attend uh the chamber dinner and uh over uh I don't remember how many businesses in town but I think at least six restaurants contributed food um and door prizes uh went from a number of businesses across the across our city and so just really fortunate to have an active chamber that really cares about our teachers and uh Jim Maine from across the street at marketplace really takes a lot of pride in this event um and his passion shows through that day too and just appreciation for our staff and it's pretty cool. Even some of our staff won door prizes. I think Joe uh won a very nice uh you can take your lunch and put in a little crockpot and then you plug it in and now Joe as he's waving smells of delicious leftovers in his office every day. So prizes were wonderful. That's just one example of some of the neat prizes that were out there. So thanks again to the chamber. Very very kind. That's all I have. Any questions? >> Did you have something else from earlier in the meeting? >> I think Hunter for letting me forget my favorite part. >> His favorite part. Almost forgot it. >> I would ask that each of the board members please pause momentarily so that I can get a picture. Thank you. >> All right. Well, again, MSBA does such a nice job of of giving us a nice little template here with a lot of wherees that Miss Huan, I know, appreciates. So, um, again, the theme this year for schoolboard appreciation is called guiding light for student access. Thank you, Hunter. You threw me off there. >> Um, Watertown Mayor Public School District recognizes the importance of public education in our community. And whereas the Watertown Mayor Public School District appreciates the vital role played by those individuals who serve on our local boards, establish policies, and ensure an efficient, effective school system. And whereas the school board members serve as a voice that enables our community to preserve local management and control of our public schools. And whereas the schoolboard members are charged with representing our local education interests to state and federal governments and ensuring compliance with state and federal laws. And whereas schoolboard members def selflessly devote their knowledge, time, and talents as advocates for our school children. Whereas local schoolboard members are strong advocates for public education, responsible for communicating the needs of the school district to the public and the public's expectations to the district. Now therefore, let it be resolved that the Watertown Mayor Public Schools recognizes and salutes the members of the Watertown Mayor Public School District School Board by proclaiming September 2025 as schoolboard recognition month. >> Now you can breathe. >> For the highlights, u we'll start with um Hunter Felt is first. Hunter, congratulations. Hunter has been on the board since 2019. Let's give Mr. W round of [Applause] in there. >> Ready? Oh, >> yeah. Right here. Hold on. >> Background. >> No faces. I think it's like business. >> All right. Next, we have Mr. Burns. Uh, Mr. Burns has been on the board since 2021. Congratulations. [Applause] >> Do that again after shaking hands again. >> Oh, for God's sake. [Laughter] >> That was well. >> All right, we have Erica Schultz. Erica's been on the board since 2019 as well. So, our second longest standing member. >> Wow. >> Thanks, All right. And Katie Joe Danielson, congratulations. Also has been on the board since 2021. >> All right. [Applause] >> And Heidi Gets. Heidi has been on the board since 2019. Also, congratulations. Lisa Nathan has also been on the board since 2022. Congratulations, Lisa. Well done. >> And Jeff O'Neal has been on the board since 2023. >> Congratulations. and and also thank you guys for what you guys do for running kind of a thankless job a lot of the time and I appreciate all your guys' help and input and that's what makes our school what it is you know it's it's all of us up here and all of us you know all the admin team so thank you guys >> for for what you do >> now it's not thankless anymore >> next year now we can't say that we always say suitable for framing or the refrigerator at And moving along, is there any board member reports since last month? >> Um, a reminder that on Saturday is a royal night out for the uh education foundation. So, big casino night doing the raffle drawing. If you need tickets, I know myself and uh I'm sure Mr. Schuler still have tickets with me tonight. Might have a few. Well, if anybody needs tickets for the event, we have a couple extras if you if you want to attend. So, just see me afterwards and we get you on the list. >> There's a marketing meeting on Wednesday night personnel committee. Uh we have tenative agreements with all of the bargaining groups. >> Yep. >> Good job. Uh Southwest met last Tuesday. Um short meeting pretty much uh welcoming everyone back, the staff um you know obviously students. It was actually really nice. We had a little um meet before uh the meeting. So we got to talk to some of our uh new hires and uh I thought that was really nice. I spoke to quite a few of them. Some of them were some of our international uh teachers from uh from the Philippines and uh they were looking forward to uh this winter which we'll we'll see if that's still the case but uh yeah it was >> right no they were very appreciative >> I I actually did tell them that so but no so it was a really good meeting. Anybody else? Uh, last week we had a finance committee meeting with uh, Mr. Netsky to talk about the the levy and just kind of we touched on where we are on the budget wise. Seems to be very very favorable, which is good. No really big surprises there. Um, as uh, Mr. Dalton mentioned, you know, October, I think it's 13th or 14th, we have a community education meeting. Um, on October 2nd, I'm actually going to be in the middle school presenting to Mr. Jetma's social studies class again. I think this will be year three. Um, and I know prior board chairs have presented in his class, too. So, that'll be kind of fun, sort of why we ran, what we do, and I always kind of end it with a, oh, we have an extra million dollars. What are we going to do with it? And all the kids kind of put their ideas down. So, I'll make sure I come back with their laundry list and make sure the facilities committee understands that they want a McDonald's and high school and everything like that. Um, from an M MSBA side, I again I mentioned I attended one of the platform and action meetings. Um, it's just board members across the state kind of get together and sort of what are your priorities to help set the MSBA legislative priorities a little bit and the overall themes were funding formula changes. They think it's kind of it's the antiquated. Um the unfunded mandates are are still there. Sort of that there was a lot of the one-sizefits-all doesn't fit all um mentality. Uh still that sped cross subsidy and and as I mentioned earlier, you know, wanting to remove that MCAS to move more toward an ACT perspective. There was a lot of discussion on that. So that might be something that's going to be on on theirs moving forward. They asked about one of the board members asked about what what what's on the legislative priority for education and I think with what happened was it last month in in Minneapolis you know safety is going to probably be on the on the forefront of everybody's mind this year. So more to come on that but it's still up in the air as to sort of what that looks like. um have a board retreat this weekend to work on the strategic plan. Um and then kind of have a board meeting that's in northern Minnesota. Um shameless plug for the presentations and the showcase for the MSBA conference again January 15th and 16th put on your calendars for the 18th time. Um the nominations for the Allstate School Board October 13th and presentations for presentations and for if you're wanting to do a band or choir is the September 29th and the end of October is the school showcase. So those due dates are coming if there's anybody that has other interests maybe in our audience. So I know we've already had one submission for sure. So that's always a good thing. So that is what I have on the MSBA side. >> This still like an early bird registration for the >> for the conference. >> Yeah. >> Um I'm sure that there will be but >> I I believe so. Um call me tomorrow. >> Yeah. >> Well, I still we're still three four months out. So >> yeah, but sometimes they'll have dates on there that I can mark. I can >> cuz I think I'm going to try to go because Steve said he can go too from his business perspective. So, >> okay. >> There we go. >> We might go together. >> Nice. >> It's a date. >> Anybody have anything else? With that being said, is there a motion? >> I make a motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Motion made by Miss Danielson, second by Miss Nathan. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> All oppose, nay. Motion carries. Meeting is adjourned 7:35 p.m.