Bam. It is 7 p.m. on Monday, July 13th, and I call to order this regular meeting of the Richfield School Board. Attending this evening's board meeting live and in the boardroom are board members call me Dennis, >> director Haley Tommpkins, treasurer Paul Cole, see what I did here, vice chair Kirk Spencer and I'm board chair Eric Carter. [laughter] Also at the table we have superintendent Steve Yianowski, assistant to superintendent Yunowski is Cassandra Crom. Other members of the district leadership team are in attendance and will be participating throughout the meeting as well. Ridgeville Public School's mission is to inspire and empower each individual to learn, grow, and excel. And we aim to keep that focus at the heart of our discussions this evening. Thank you to all of you. All of you joining us live and here live here and in the boardroom. Um, we also want to thank those of you who are streaming the meeting or watching after the fact via YouTube. We appreciate when people bear witness to our meetings where we conduct the necessary official business of the district. Our first item of business this evening is to approve the agenda before us. As approval of the agenda is routine business item, I'll briefly pause to see if there are any uh comments or questions related to the agenda. Hearing and seeing none and no one looking at me. Uh feel free Paulo to yell, scream, and wave your hands if you have something. Uh is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> We have a motion by Vice Chair Spencer [laughter] and a second by Director D. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> All post, please say nay. The chair votes I. And the agenda is approved. >> And are you going to >> Are you Yeah. >> Oh, no. >> I was so excited that I was saying everybody's titles, but we get even better. And I have to go back. You're right. My bad. Thank you. To keep it honest. We could not do roll call. We did have some procedural discussions. Um, with no clerk here, I'm going to do it myself. Director Spencer, >> I. >> Director Dennis, >> I. >> Director Tomkins, >> I. >> My favorite. Director Cole, >> I. >> The chair wants I. And now we have an approve agenda. Thank you for keeping me honest. >> Say more about that procedural conversation you like. You said without a clerk being here. >> No. >> No. Uh Cassandra had pointed out that we didn't there's some options that we could do um with the roll call vote of some in the past keep me honest here I don't remember the email off top of my head um some chairs have dished it off >> to the clerk okay to let them do the roll call >> uh there is some discussion of do you do the same pattern I think when we originally discussed it there's something about um if it was done in the same pattern right like if I always go left to write that um somebody could the vote could be swayed because you're always second or whatever. >> Um and so by mixing it up, it forces people to be honest and vote differently. >> So for me, I keep random. I'll keep running it. We'll call it done. >> So as long as someone's remote, that's how we'll do it. Any more questions on that? Perfect. Which brings us now to information proposal non- action item section of the agenda. This evening we have an opportunity for public comment. Although no one has signed up tonight, I ask you remember that we have public comment on the second meeting of each month. Uh and our next opportunity will be August 17th at our normal meeting which is 7 p.m. Now over to Superintendent Uneski for a superintendent update. >> All right, we have two items on the superintendent report today. Uh prior to our presentation on health services, um I am pleased and excited to welcome new assistant superintendent Bondon YMU to our district. As you all know, uh we were without an assistant superintendent last year and as Dr. Clarkson retired and we uh restructured. Uh we have attracted um assistant superintendent previously from Columbia Heights, but since July 1, um we have been throwing that entire year and more to our new assistant superintendent. So I'm going to turn it over to new assistant superintendent Bondo Yway to say hello and just pop that button, turn it green, and take it away. >> Thank you, Superintendent Yunowski. Um I am excited to have joined the Richfield public schools and I call myself a Spartan and um after a week and two days um I have made my round to the school and the visit of uh the city of Richfield accompanied by Superintendent Yunowski and I've had the opportunity to meet some of the employees and engage in some one-on-one um interviews with principles and directors and so I'm very excited to work with them and uh continue the good work that uh is being accomplished in Richfield public schools. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Glad to have you on the team. Go ahead, Mr. Carter. >> I was just going to say the same thing. Welcome. It's excited to see you here. We're speaking for me for the whole board. I'm super delighted that you've joined our team. So, thank you and welcome. >> And welcome assistant superintendent. >> All right. So, brief introduction. We're going to squeeze him for a large workload later on, but just not not at his first meeting. We'll we'll just give him a little bit of time to to get that underneath himself. The work tonight, however, will be to our health services team who are moving up to the microphone as we speak. So, we're going to hear our update on health services, all the amazing programs, and all the things that we do to take care of our students. Uh, so I'm happy to bring up health services director Michelle Whiteside and nurse Darby Swank. >> Hi, everyone. Thank you for having us tonight. My name is Michelle Whiteside. I am the health service supervisor and I do office out of Richfield High School. This is my partner, Darby Swank. She's our other licensed school nurse and she offices out of Richfield Middle School. Thank you for having us tonight. [laughter] Tonight, we'll review the new health service structure, um the nurse and healthc care pair responsibilities in each office, benefits to student health and education, our cardiac emergency response policy and plan, and our data. You can see myself and Darby are um shaded in blue. Um and we are the two nurses for the district. And the boxes underneath our names are the schools that we will be responsible for. Um, we'll be going from three to two LSN's this year. Darby and I will be performing the licensed school nurse responsibilities for nine school programs and overseeing the health care pair professionals at the four elementary sites. Next slide. All right. This is um a slide that tells you about the nurse and healthc care pair professional responsibilities. Um nurses are responsible for 60% of what happens in each health office. We oversee public health at the system, community and individual level. We supervise all of health service and the health paras. We train and educate building staff on student health. We um are every building's point of contact for medical concerns and emergencies. We are responsible to review all 277 individual health care plans for the district and 24 medical 504s. We monitor medication reconciliation and compliance in each office. We are the care managers for students with chronic health concerns and medical procedures. mostly our special education kiddos. Um, this year we wrote 212 special education screening reports that includes vision and hearing and a health history. Sometimes um this includes parent interviews and also um we do try to attend some IEP meetings for our special education kiddos um if we're able. We um are state required um to review 350 early childhood screenings. Um that is um to give families resources for health care, dental and insurance. In the last few years, we have been capturing revenue for the district through third party billing. >> All right. And then our team wouldn't be complete without our wonderful health care professionals um who are located in our elementary buildings. Um and their main duties um as listed are after they receive training from a licensed staff which is typically us um they are able to conduct our hearing and vision screenings in the elementaryaries um and then they communicate those results um to the LSN and we put that into our screening reports. um they are a huge help with our immunization compliance process in entering all of the immunizations for every single student in our district. Um and then nurses are they referred to us for any compliance concerns. Um they care for our sick children um and do great work communicating with parents and guardians um in their their health offices. Um they are trained on medication administration by the LSN's enabled to do those daily and rescue medications. Um they assist students with activities of daily living. Um and a lot of those can be directed from doctor's orders um which we review as the LSN's. And then they also um work with us on those delivering what's laid out in the IHPs or individual health care plans for our students. Next slide. All right. This slide um I want to review the benefits of having student health services and education. If you see the family in school community are um surrounding the student. Everything we do is student centered. But if you see the school nurse has her arms wrapped around everybody that's supporting that student um in schools. This is our professional framework. Um while you're looking at the ways we support students to be healthy, safe, and ready to learn, um we would like to share a couple of real testimonies from our health staff when we ask them what is one thing that you'd want the board to know. >> All right. So, uh, this, um, quote is from Muna Abdi, one of our wonderful healthc care professionals from in the Centennial, um, school building. Um, and she writes, "I feel like the school board should know that we, among other parts of the school, support the students without many people knowing the extent of what we do. It's more than just ice packs and band-aids." And it's a lot of that. That's my little insert. [laughter] Um, we support students who, yes, get hurt and feel sick. Um, but we also are a shoulder for students to rely on. We remove health rellated barriers for students when possible so they can learn. We connect families with support and resources. We do this while updating our daily health log book and immunizations. Thank you. All right. And then the second testimony that we have is um from our former licensed school nurse, Libby Nelson from Richfield High School. [clears throat] The first thing I would like to say to the school board is that my presence here prevents a lot of potential medical emergencies. But when inevitable med medical emergencies happen, I'm the only medical staff in the building. People rely on me to know what to do in situations that cause panic for non-medical people. The most important reason a nurse is necessary is we do have the education that helps us determine when something is an emergency when it's not. Thank you. [laughter] And when to assess further knowing what questions to ask, recognizing medical concerns and the answers we do get. This sets us apart from the pair of professionals. If our district wants to impact health long term, we need to have the knowledge base of a nurse that comes from our rigorous education and lenture process. Next slide. An important project that we worked on this year in our professional learning committee um is the cardiac emergency response policy and plan. Um you as the board were introduced to this in June. Um this plan requires a designation of trained response teams in each site. Um ensuring swift 911 activation and deploying AEDs within three minutes of um knowing that there's an emergency. Having this plan ensures a rapid organized response to sudden cardiac arrest. We worked in collaboration on this. It was not um just us. We worked with Bob Olsen, Faith Breeden, Mary Clarkson, and Cassandra. Um the cardiac emergency response will be integrated into the building's crisis procedure plan under the hold in place medical category. There will be an annual cardiac response drill um for each school and that is just so that we can keep practicing um in the terrible event that there is a cardiac emergency. Next slide. All right. on this slide. Um I wanted to show that these are the total office visits that we have um in elementary and secondary. So this is two years worth of data. Um the red represents the school year 2425 and the blue represents 25 and 26. Um so this is just an update for you guys that um we have been working really hard at trying to lessen our health office visits and keep kids in class. so that they can be learning. Um, some of the things that we're doing is making sure that each teacher has a pack of band-aids. Um, if they're in a gym class, they have mobile packs that they don't need to necessarily send a student to the health office. They can take care of it right in the gym. We did place posters all over um classrooms. We tried to give them to every teacher. And we do um continue to do a lot of staff and student education. Next slide. Okay. Um this year the elementary schools managed 140 medications. That breaks down to be about 35 medications per building. Our secondary schools have 87 medications, which breaks down to about 44 um per building. This year, the elementary health offices staff are managing 26 students with daily medications, including three type 1 diabetics. Our secondary schools have 25 students with daily medications, including nine students with type 1 diabetes. These medications range from insulin to ADHD lunchtime meds, asthma inhalers, EpiPens, rescue medications for seizures, and ibuprofen for headaches. The school nurse trains the health paras on how to give these medications and the proper steps to take once they are given. Total we have 253 individual health care plans in our district. These are our care plans for each individualized student in school. We make these plans in collaboration with physicians and also parents um and make sure that they okay what we've written before we give them out to each teacher that needs to know about the child. Um each LSN manages about 127 of these plans. Um we've seen an increase over time from 68 to 91 per LSN and now um 127 to manage. Um students are coming to school with more complex medical needs and um they they need our services so that they can attend school safely. The last bar on the graph, represents the special education screenings um completed last year, the red is our elementary um pair professionals conducted 104 special education screenings and the secondary LSN's performed 108 um screenings for a total of 212 screenings. Next slide. Thank you. Um our health conditions districtwide um are represented in this pie chart. We have 134 kids with asthma action plans. We have many many many more kids that have asthma but don't necessarily have medications or um things in our health offices. Asthma's um the number one preventable emergency at school. Our students with seizures and diabetes um they require the most individualized staff instruction. One in 13 kids have food allergies and our other health conditions range from migraines to G tube feedings. We have nine students in our district with G G tube feedings and four of those are at Central Education Center. Um we have kids with heart defects, prosthetics, um lots of different range of things um in our schools. So health disparities do affect millions of children and kids don't need [clears throat] to have insurance or a referral or even an appointment to come to health service in our school. and um they can come and see our health health um nurse school health nurses which advances health equity for all. This one's for you Eric. [laughter] This winter we um started an informal informal poll. Um our secondary kids, they did not seem very interested in band-aids that were different colors. they kind of looked at us weird, like, "Why are you giving us a choice?" Um, our elementary students, they didn't have a preference. They would often choose a different color band-aid than what their actual skin tone was. Um, mostly the adults loved them. So, what I take from that is that kids think band-aids, sheer, they have a boo boo, cover it up. where adults are more worried about the aesthetic of what they're covering. But we definitely will keep trying. All right. And that is it. School nurses um you know, we are the bridge between health and education. We want our students to be healthy and safe and we just want them to be here learning um the most that they can be. Thank you. Any questions? >> I'll [clears throat] start by saying thank you and thank you for the picture, but I'll come back to that. [laughter] >> I really I worked really hard on that organization bin, so I was very proud of it. >> Also awesome. Very organized. I like it. You just need some labels. [laughter] >> Yeah. >> Yep. I've got >> I want to say uh give a a big thanks to uh all of you health services, the nurses. There's some things that you didn't mention. There's the support during the field trips. There's some things about um assistance uh that you do uh educating both kids and adults about several things and uh really the this the schools wouldn't run without you. So, thank you >> all of you. >> Thank you. >> Um I've got a comment and a question. Just thank you for your presentation. Thanks for your work. Um my son makes up a good chunk of those. uh Sheridan Hills, Miss Alicia and I are best friends. Um so [laughter] uh but I think you know it just it goes to show right that that's a space where kids can go if they need a break sometimes right uh get overwhelmed or get you know so it's >> made a big difference for us. Um just a question for my understanding. Can you share how you guys interface with the health uh resource center here at RHS? Is there any overlap? How do those things coexist? >> Um we do have definitely um a relationship with the RHRC. Um we refer students down there um many times. Um Jackie is the coordinator. Sometimes um if we have emergencies in schools, we've had to call her directly. And um there's been times where we've even had to like get a child started with Portico Health Insurance so that they can go see um a doctor for um a broken it was a broken body part. Um but we we definitely do um promote it. We have t-shirts and sweatshirts, too. So, u we definitely are trying to to be partners with them. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> And a question. Um, as a nurse, I know that the job that you guys do is not an easy job. I mean, managing those many kids and um just making sure that they're safe and healthy. So, thank you for all that you do. And I'm just curious um because I worked very briefly as a school nurse. How much um how many concussions do you guys see? I'm just concerned about that here at Ridgefield. >> Can you speak to that more in the element or in the secondary? >> I would say there's probably more concussions than what we're notified about. Um, we might there might be, you know, they're really playing hard in FIAD. Um, we suspect there might be a concussion after a head injury. We kind of do our standard protocol notifying parents. Um, referring on, but we might not always hear back on those results. Um, but >> yes, it's I I don't want to even guess at a number. I would say it's not um it happens often enough. Um yeah, and once we do get kind of feedback from a parent or a provider that there is a concussion, uh then we work with um kind of staff that that student might come into contact with on what those accommodations might be from the provider. >> Okay, that's great. That's >> Yeah, good question. because yeah that was a huge one for me where where I was um >> for some reason that school has so many I will just say it out loud >> so thank you for all that you do appreciate it >> I would just like to say any head injury we take seriously and we do notify parents you know if if there is a concern um we usually send like a parent square message which we love um just to say hey keep a close eye on him watch him tonight. You know, if anything changes, take him to the physician. >> Um I too am connected with school nurse because my mom's first job out of college. So um I can I can share a story at some point, but probably not on the mic. [laughter] Um I'm curious just how the structure of the um health services because I um I would have expected like a geographical like STEM and RDS have different pair of professionals versus some of the other buildings but yet those are really close to each other. So just some of your thoughts around how you put different pair professionals in different spaces. >> Um each of our pair professionals um do office out of our elementary schools. Darby and I um will be spending three days in our offices at the high school and middle school with a pair professional working opposite of us um on two days a week so that we can go to those elementary schools and do the things that need to be done the checks and make sure that we're communicating with them. >> Okay. >> Um but all of our elementary schools do have pair of professionals and >> they are they do a wonderful job. Yes. Yeah, we'll utilize >> they have a big big job. >> Yeah, forum. Okay, >> good. That's the only question I had. Thank you. Thanks for what you do. >> I I want to say again, I think the multicolor band-aids are awesome. Uh [laughter] >> I will also say uh I take it back. Um you don't need labels because you did a great job of looking at the picture again. Right. >> Right. You don't need to read to be able to read because they're by color and by shape, size, right? >> That's right. Visuals. We love visuals. >> Yes. Fantastic. >> Um just a random question. Uh do students that need asthma medicines have to bring them to the school office? >> Um so asthma inhalers are rescue meds. Um and so we work closely with um the parents and the provider because with those rescue meds, we want the student to have as quick access as possible. Um so sometimes that might be the student carries it. Um I know in my um primary school in the middle school we have bag tags um where because that's backpacks aren't allowed in the classrooms but we want students um who need medical devices or medication and need quick access. They'll usually carry just kind of you know fanny packs are making a comeback. Thank goodness. um they'll just have a a tag on it so staff know to not, you know, inquire like, "Hey, put your bag in your backpack." They know there's medical um in there um medications and we would communicate directly what those are. Um, and then a lot of kids, um, if it's something they don't need as frequently, then they might keep it in the health office. Or if it's a student where we're concerned that they haven't learned the correct um, they can't self-administer correctly, especially those younger kids, then we will have them come to the health office or we go to them. >> So, thank you. I will say in the elementaryaries that um all of the inhalers are kept in the health office and something that's really near and dear to my heart is um an inhaler spacer which is another device that you put onto the inhaler and that allows that medication to actually go down and disseminate into the child's lungs. Um, I actually use part of our health service budget to purchase those for kids who don't have them because I believe in that so much for our kids. >> Yeah, >> I was saying it's a great piece of equipment to make sure that they're getting the appropriate amount of medicine and that it is going where it needs to go and not just in the >> airway here. Yeah, it goes to the lungs. Thank you. That's awesome. The details that you do and appreciate all of you guys' work. >> Thank you. >> Any more questions? >> Thanks everyone. >> Thank you. >> Stay cool. >> Good luck with that. >> Next brings us accommodations. >> We're cool, Mr. Carter. >> Oh. Oh, right. It was temperature. Sorry. >> Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of cool, we would like to commend RHS student Ava Weerhold for competing in the 2627 Special Olympics. Ava competed both as a member of the USA gymnastics team and as an individual gymnast. She won the level one all-around gold medal as well as gold in the level one uneven bars floor exercise and vaultting and also earned a silver medal in level one balance beam. So congratulations Ava. You make RPS proud. Well done. >> That is fantastic. Congratulations. Next, that brings us up to our consent agenda. The item is the next um the consent agenda which contains a collection of routine or fairly routine business items that we consent to pass in bulk without individual discussion. I'll pause for a moment just to see if there are any questions or requests before we proceed. Hearing and seeing none, is there a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented? I move that we approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Second. >> We have a motion by Director Tomkins and a second by D uh Vice Chair Spencer. We're going to make it a point to say that. Any discussion? If not, we'll bring it to roll call vote. My favorite thing ever. Treasurer Cole >> I. >> Director Tomkins >> I. >> Director Dennis >> I. >> Fchure Spencer >> I. >> The chair votes I and the consent agenda is approved. Brings us to old business. The are policies before us this evening for continued review and possible action. Policy 702 investments and administrative guidelines 702.1. A second read. >> Yes. And this is a second read. Not looking for action. Uh this is based in Minnesota statute at MSB and this talks about how and what we do in regard to making investments. Uh so you'll see the authority of the district, the methods by which we do investments. Um and this is for fund balance and some of those other larger term components. Uh it just sort of spells this out in language in alignment with um state statute. One of the things we are looking at is adding a possible additional policy in regard to OPEB funding. And OPEB is the dollars that fund for people who are already retired. And so those are things where we may want to look at some different methodologies for investment. Um and so that's not in this current policy. Um but we want to uh consider bringing that back as a second policy um in addition to this at a future meeting. Um but with this, we have this for you for a second read. And if there are any questions or comments, silence. Sounds like there's no questions for this evening. Brings us on to new business. We got a bunch of stuff ahead of us. First is policy 301, organizational chart and policy 302, position assignments. >> Yes. And these go together. And uh you did note uh you got some communication that these did get updated just as recently as today. And so just a couple of reminders. Each year we do in one read the org chart and position assignments. Uh the couple of things that are new to us this year. Um this is realigning with the executive directors. Um all things that have already um passed in the reporting structure. Uh this has the name of our new assistant superintendent who you met earlier. uh this has the name of our principal at Centennial who will actually be here at a meeting in August to be introduced. Um and then you'll note there is an opening for director of special education because while we had um believed we had filled that um that did change just as late as today and so that contract is not coming to board today um and we'll be looking to fill that in the future. Um and so that is policy 301 and 302 and this is just reiterating all that information for you. We are looking for passage. >> Questions, comments, or a motion. >> I move that we approve the organizational chart and position assignments. >> Second. >> Who you going to give it to? That was super tied. >> That was that that that was about as close to a tie as I've I've seen. Um, we have a motion by Vice Chair Spencer and a second by Director Dennis. See, mic is being on. Any questions, comments? Sounds like we'll bring it to a vote. Start to my left. Director Spencer. >> I. >> Director Dennis. >> I. >> Director Tomkins. >> I. >> Treasure Cole. I'm gonna get this >> I >> chair votes I and we have an approved organization chart and position assignments. I think I'm just have to drop titles and just say names killing me like roll the dice and say right >> do whatever you want >> I guess you are the chair the facilitator. >> Appreciate that. Uh next item on the agenda is RPS LTFM budget 2027 2028. >> Good evening very uh thank you very much. Um, I have for your approval tonight the Richfield 280 long-term facilities maint maintenance plan. Uh, this is something that we're required to review annually and submit to the state for what that plan is. Uh, this year we did a deeper dive into our long-term facilities maintenance analysis and worked with ICS to partner on kind of a deeper dive building out that plan and you'll see the results of that moving forward for 2728. Um, what we're asking for here tonight is that the board of education approve independent school district 280's long-term facilities maintenance program budget and tenure plan as well as authorize the inclusion of the LTFM levy for 26 payable 27 the amount of 6,485,965. Um, you can see the breakdown there that consists of uh just over $ 1.5 million in the initial formula allowance. Uh, $970,000 for roofing projects exceeding $100,000 per site. Uh this is a new opportunity for districts to complete their long-term facilities maintenance needs around projects or around roofing projects specifically with additional funding coming with that. Uh $3,900,000 for debt service um from previously issued bonds and then earlier in June, I believe it was, uh you approved Intermediate District 287's um plan that included $99,7749. Uh the 10-year plan establishes fiscal year 28 expenditures at 3,723,929 and it also amends the fiscical year 27 expenditure budget to $4,656,873 which includes an additional uh $2.9 million for roofing projects exceeding $100,000 per site. Um, as part of this, it is recommended that the board authorize the administration begin planning for a bond issue of approximately $9.5 million to finance roofing projects exceeding $100,000 per site with formal board intent to issue the bonds. Uh, you see a little bit more information in the background information and a breakdown. Um, and then you will also see what are some of those projects that are included for fiscal year 27, um, which is starting July 1, moving through at the end of, uh, June. And then fiscal year 28 is really looking at kind of next summer's project. So this year you already had previously approved the Sheridan Hills partial roof replacement. Um there's an ongoing project with the skylight replacements here at the high school. Um and then previously approved here was the R stem RDLS parking lot and sidewalk project which was at the last board meeting. Uh for fiscal year 28, we are looking at roofing and replacement. um roofing replacements and restorations at multiple buildings. Also, window replacements here at the high school. Uh there's some exterior wall repair here at the high school planned for next year. Uh paving and sight projects throughout the district. Forward floor replacements, either tile, carpeting, or some of the gym floors. Um the rubberized gym floors are part of that project. Um some exterior door replacements and mechanical systems. Um, with that we seek your approval and if you have any questions I will respond to those. >> Thank you for that questions. >> I have a question. Hi. >> Um, so forgive me I'm new. >> Uh, but first first thing there's a typo in the first set of bullet points. It says $100 per person. >> There's one zero. >> You're missing a zero in there. That's just a quick >> um And then second, can you explain to me kind of how the how where the money comes from to spend this? You know what I mean? Like do we have that money? Are we Yeah. How do we >> So, uh the state um allocates funds for long-term facilities maintenance based on a formula per student formula. So, the $1.5 million is allocated to the um is the school is allowed to levy taxpayers for that long-term facilities maintenance fund. So, that is levy dollars um which is why we have to be approving this now already for next July one um because that information starts to go into the levy preparation between now and the end of December. Um so um the state has some um aid that can be connected in with it based on need but um Richfield's tax basis is such that we realize very little if any aid for long-term facilities maintenance or some of those matching aid programs. >> Sure. >> Um so all of this is um revenue that is permitted by the state for the school board to authorize um to be funded for specific purposes. >> Okay, cool. And those come through the levy. Those come through the levy. >> Perfect. Okay. Thank you. Just clarity for me. >> And then in so in September you will receive a proposed levy which we generally will authorize um levying up to the maximum for the planning. And then in December we do the truth and taxation hearing and that's when the school board takes final action on the levy for um what homeowners or taxpayers pay in it'll be in 2027. >> Okay. funding our 2728 school year. >> Okay. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And then by point of comparison, I've been here for 12 years and Craig is presenting an area that is now mine because I don't yet fully understand it and so it might take a while. I'm on year 13 trying to figure it all out because it's extremely complex. >> Cool. Thank you. >> Well, and I'll I'll ask you understand the formula is >> I mean all of it. all of it. It's it's challenging. It's this is hard. >> Well, I say in uh put everybody on the spot. I mean, seeing the news like the discussion about um the large Best Buy building, right, and changing the taxation numbers like reducing it again that that impacts this, right? I mean, so >> um it impacts some of it. We did reach out to Ellers and we are still anticipating increases in our property values across the district. So even with that large devaluation at Best Buy, we are anticipating to still see growth in our overall tax basis. Okay. >> Um in this specifically on the bonding side of things, um we have taken a look and gotten some preliminary estimates that $9.5 million in bond issues would be about $40 for an average homeowner in per year. Um, and we're working to keep that as flat as possible. Um, with combinations of some things coming off of our tax base as far as other bond issues, um, reduced enrollment, kind of keeping things flat that way, and then other fluctuations that occur in our funding in a given basis. Okay. >> Thank you. I think it's great to point out that we're thinking about it, right? It's like it's worth to say in the mic, too, that it's like it's not something that is >> being overlooked or like we're trying to plan ahead for it. >> Yep. Yep. Exactly. And um we've built that bond issue into this plan for approval so that we can get that submitted to the state. Um the formal board action requesting authorization um for the bond issue will come to the board later on. Um, one of the things we're all also contemplating, well, also have the opportunity is we have the opportunity for a bond refunding which allows us to kind of reissue those bonds and we're anticipating to see reductions in our costs with that bond refunding because of the interest rates they were offered at and what is available to the district now. So, that's one of the reasons why we looked at this as an opportunity. Now, as we have this boundary funding that's coming up, this is a great time for us to start looking at some additional investments with those funds or kind of what taxpayers are already paying in that situation. So, said in my language, we are seeing multiple ways of trying to bring down property taxes at the same time or to try to keep it as flat or close to flat as possible um with something that looks like it could be up to $40 a year, which is a very typical number. Um, and so we're we're trying to figure out how to keep that as low as humanly possible. >> Awesome. >> Um, yeah, good stuff. The only comment I also noticed the typo is there's one on the like later on when it's an extract of the minutes and I think that's the more official one that lists the following members were present and not present. So just we address that one too. hear all these comments and questions. >> Well, I I think um and I will get to where I think you're wanting me to go. Um the one of the things that I've learned over the last few years with this is like I I felt like we had done all of this great construction work on the buildings not that long ago and I remember three years ago seeing some of the um brick work on the high school crumbling um not long after that construction was done. and and Craig and I had a conversation about like why wasn't this a part of the work and part of that is that we were trying to use the money the dollars to really improve the interior of the building and then we can still use this LTFM funds to do those things like tuck points on the roof and bricks on the outside and those can be done over a period of time um as we see they're necessary versus like doing a big bang we got to take out this whole wall right uh and With that, I will move that we approve the long-term facilities maintenance plan as presented with the edit of $100,000 per site instead of $100. >> Second. >> We have a motion by Vice Chair Spencer and a second by Director Tompkins. Any more discussion? [snorts] If not, we'll bring it to a vote. Director Dennis >> I. >> Director Tomkins >> I. >> Treasurer Cole >> I. >> Vice Chair Spencer >> I. >> Chair votes I. And the RPS LTFM budget for 2027 2028 is approved. Brings us to food and nutrition services collective bargaining agreement 2026 through 2028. Good evening, board. I'm here to recommend that the board approve the proposed food and nutrition services collective bargaining agreement for the years of 2026 and 2028. It's important to note that as part of the negotiations, we review the salary, the benefits, and language items to ensure that we're in alignment and we remain competitive with um with external market conditions throughout the whole process. We keep the board uh they keep and stay informed and they provide us guidance in terms of being able to um complete our ne negotiations. Let's start with some key salary changes. For each year of this group, there'll be a two and a half% increase across all cells. We have um increased our longevity. Uh in our review, we identified um that to stay and to continue to be competitive that an increase in longevity would would make sense. Now on the benefit changes, uh the district's family contribution to the uh district's medical uh program is an increase by 100 per month for the 2627 year, bringing the district contribution amount to 1700. for year two or for the 2728 year, the district family contribution to that medical program is an increase of $200 and for a total of $1,900. Additionally, we have increased the VIBA contributions by 250 annually for each year, which is in alignment with our current teachers management and classified management. Through our negotiations, we agreed to reduce the years of service required to receive and participate in the matching program with the district's 403b plan. And you'll see that in there that that change is um a 1% match after four years. instead of previously you received the match after 5 years a 2% uh district match after 7 years where previously it was 8 years. A new area that we uh a new section is what we call a special leave of absence without pay. And um this section will provide clarity, understanding, procedures and steps for individuals who want to request and take an unpaid leave of absence. Whether that be for a year, whether that be for a week, and that they have full understanding of the procedure to follow to make that happen. Hear silence. What questions do you have for me today? Or do you have any questions? >> We've talked about this so much in our official close sessions. Uh but thank you. Any questions of the board or of course a motion? >> Yep. I'm seeking the district's uh the board's approval of this agreement. I move that we um pass this food and nutrition services collective bargaining agreement for years 26 through 28. And um just thank you to all parties um coming to the table and coming to a I think is a fair next step in uh our food service staff, nutrition staff. Second. >> Thank you. [laughter] We just all stared at each other, but we we need that. We have a motion by by Vice Chair Spencer and a second by Director Hopkins. Any more discussion? Uh then we'll bring it to a vote. Vice Chair Spencer. >> Hi. >> Director Tomkins. I >> director Dennis >> I. >> Treasurer Cole >> I. >> The chair votes I. And we have an approved food and nutrition services collective bargaining agreement for 2026 and 2028. Brings us to miscellaneous pay rates for 2026 to 2027. >> Sorry my microphone. And I'm I'm here tonight again uh to recommend that the board approve the miscellaneous pay rates for the 2627 year. These rates apply to positions that are not covered by collective bargaining agreements. They're typically casual. They're substitutes, seasonal or those in an unaffiliated role. As part of our annual process here, we review these rates to ensure internal alignment and remain competitive with our external market conditions. Key recommendations that I'd like to highlight is the health resource coordinator position. Um, an increase in that pay rate to to reflect the expanded expanded responsibilities of that position. So you'll see that we also have added a school bus driver traininee. It's a new position. It will add a casual assignment as a pathway for individuals interested in becoming school bus drivers who do not currently have their CDL or school bus driver license. and it will allow them to um get hired in a temporary basis to uh have some training and participation to so that they can be successful in obtaining that license. We'll still work on building that program. It'll be a new program and we'll write up what are the actual steps in terms of obtainment of that license. We feel that this will support our rec recruitment efforts in an area that continues to be challenging. There are uh three positions that we are eliminating and this is due to program changes really and it's really an involving staffing models. For example, the community education program assistant, the youth position. It was previously used to hire essentially 13, 14 year olds or 14 year olds to assist with summer camps, but that role has not been utilized for several years. Youth may now request to serve as volunteers instead, and they have found that a number of them come and volunteer in those summer camps. The water safety assistant position, which is under community ed as well, is no longer needed because staff are now hired directly as water safety instructors. It's allowing them to complete that initial training within the existing position and that pay range and you see that position has a pay range. So, I just wanted to highlight those few. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have. Otherwise, um I'm requesting board approval for the recommendation of the miscellaneous pay rates effective July 1, 2026. >> I just have a quick question. Is it going to be more feasible financially for all the new hires to have that experience versus getting someone else to to do that position? Waters safety. >> It that I help clarify. I'm sorry, what are you asking again? I apologize. >> Going to be more feasible financially for all the um new hires to have that kind of experience versus hiring someone and you know building a salary and everything um for those those persons >> safety >> the water safety assistant position. >> So that really hasn't been utilized because they've had them just go right in to be a water safety instructor. >> Okay. And so it's still there, but within that pay range that they have now established, they're able to have an intro training within there >> and having that direct support um with those who are actual the the instructors who've been here previously and have experience. Does that help clarify? >> Thank you. Appreciate with questions. Often comes a motion or somebody else is ready. >> Let's see. I so move that we accept the uh miscellaneous pay rate um as presented. with a second by >> second >> vice chair Spencer. >> So on the table we have a motion by Director Dennis. Any other questions, comments. Okay. Treasurer Cole >> I. >> Vice Chair Spencer >> I. >> Director Dennis >> I. >> Director Tomkins >> I. >> Chair votes I. and the miscellaneous pay raise for 2026 2027 is approved. Brings us to the revised 2026 2027 school board meeting calendar. All right, so everything is the same except for our June of next year. As a reminder, uh the Spartan Foundation set their tournament on the 21st, which is the third Monday, our typical meeting. So given uh the need for the second meeting um and budget timing, we are just suggesting to move that to uh June 28th um and that still leaves a couple weeks between that and the July meeting. And so that is a normal cadence. Um it just means there is three weeks between the June 7th and June 28th meeting. I move that we approve the revised 202627 school board meeting schedule. >> Second. >> We have a motion by Vice Chair Spencer and a second by Director Tomkins. It is a weird sound, right? >> Fan grinding noise. >> Yes. Sorry for those who can't hear it. Hopefully not. Uh any questions, comments about that? Then we bring it to a vote. Director Dennis >> I. >> Director Tomkins >> I. >> Treasurer Cole >> I. >> Vice Chair Spencer >> I. >> The chair votes I. And we have an approved updated calendar for 2026 2027. Did I say that right? I think I did. uh brings us to authorization for purchase of technology equipment. >> Yes. And so as we continue with regular replacement cycles, uh we are uh bringing larger contracts always to the board. Uh purchase of 225 Acer Chromebook plus devices um with management license. Total purchase amount 240,750. Uh this is bought through Sourcewell which is our joint purchasing agreement partner. I think Director Cole is that you? >> Director Cole, why don't you jump on mute? I think that is you with the sound in the background. >> Sorry. >> No, no worries. Um and uh we did uh talk to Director Steele about uh whether or not we bring these to DTAC. Um they come to technology as a larger replacement cycle as the overall plan. Um and we'll be looking to continue reminding DTEC as we get back to the school year. Uh but this is the approved overall regular replacement cycle to make sure um that our machines are up to speed and remain that way. So we do have this for you for recommended pass tonight. >> Thank you for that. Any questions, comments? We like to see a one of the devices. >> Um >> yeah, so we did we not approve other technology purchases in the last meeting? >> Uh yes. Yes. So there are student machines and there are uh adult machines. These are the adult machines. >> Got it. Okay, perfect. Thanks. >> I so move that we approve the authorization for purchase of technology equipment. Second. >> Great job. We have a motion by Director Dennis and a second by Director Topkins. Any more discussion? If not, we'll bring it to a vote. Director Dennis, >> I. >> Director Cole, >> sorry. Treasurer Cole, >> I. >> Director Tomkins, >> I. >> Vice Chair Spencer, >> I. >> The chair votes I. And we have approved the or we have approved the authorization for purchase of technology equipment. brings us to policy 452, evaluation and development of professional staff and administrative guidelines 452.1. >> Yes. And a first read just similar to all our other first reads are just to refamiliarize ourselves. Uh this is the policy that shares the expectations for formal evaluation, the methodology used, the framework used and uh that overall timeline component. And so we do have this before you for a first read tonight. Um, again, just to remind us of the policy, um, as we will come back to our next board meeting with some edits and revisions. Any questions or comments on that? Okay, hearing none, that brings us to our favorite item, >> donations. >> Yes. So, Richfield Community Ed received donations of $225 from the city of Roseville, $1,200 from the Harry Wenger Marching Band Festival, $1,400 from the Winona Steamboat Days Festival, and $500 from the Lichfield Visitor Bureau for marching band. So, we thank uh those folks for the generous donations to our marching band. and Richfield Dual Language received a donation of $25,657.90 from the RDLS PTSO for shade structure and so they are uh helping build some structures to support shade. Thank them all. >> That's fantastic. >> I move that we accept these donations with the utmost gratitude. >> Second. We have a motion by director Tomkins and a second by director vice chair to accept these donations with the utmost gratitude. Bring it to a vote. Now I can ask for questions, comments. Director Tomkins >> I. >> Vice Chair Spencer >> I. >> Director Dennis >> I. >> Treasurer Cole >> I. >> The chair votes I. And we've accepted these donations with the utmost gratitude. brings us to advanced planning section of the agenda which always starts with the legislative update. >> All right, just very briefly um annual superintendent and mayor meeting today. Um it was a meeting of superintendents around the metro and mayors from around the metro. Uh nothing specific back from that meeting but information from the city. Uh they have hired a search firm. Um I believe the city manager is retiring in February. Um, so they are in the process of doing their work to post recruit and fill for a new city manager. Uh, so we thank Katie Rodriguez for the work that she has been doing and is doing I believe until February. Um, and um perhaps Mr. Spencer will be um connecting as the connect to the city um as we look to continue our partnership with them and as they move to a new city manager. >> Questions or comments on that? Then that brings us to information and question from the board. Uh the first item I will bring up is a summary of our closed session of our superintendent evaluation that we had at our last meeting. On behalf of the board of education, I'm glad to share the results of our recent closed session performance evaluation of Superintendent Steve Yinoski. On June 22nd, the board conducted a comprehensive review of Steve's leadership over the past year. We gathered feedback from board members, collected input from Steve's direct reports, and analyzed parents and staff survey results. We also evaluated student achievement data, and assessed progress against our board approved superintendent goals. The outcome of this evaluation was overwhelmingly positive. The board deeply appreciates Steve's steady leadership, his core commitment to equity, and a strong fiscal discipline. We especially commend his ability to navigate several significant challenges this year, all while keeping our students, staff, and families at the center of every decision. The board's ratings reflect a high level of confidence in Steve performance. Out of 60 marks, the breakdown is clear. 38 ratings of exceeds expectations, 22 ratings of meets expectations, zero ratings of needs improvement. While we celebrate these achievements, we also want to identify key areas for continuous improvement. Over the next school year, we want to focus on three strategic priorities. Deepening staff engagement across all buildings, actively encouraging and incorporating diverse perspectives in our decision-m. driving stronger student achievement outcomes. Under Steve's leadership, the district is moving in the right direction. We have a solid foundation and we are well positioned to build on this year's successes. I want to thank Steve for his continued dedication to Richfield Public Schools and I thank our entire community for your continued partnership. Please feel free to reach out if you have questions or would like to discuss our goals for the upcoming year. Any other questions or comments on that? And that brings us to suggested and future agenda items. >> Just as a reminder to the board, and we did say goodbye to um Director Pa Cole in person, but this is um Director Cole's final meeting. uh she is officially on the board through the end of this month but um at our next meeting I'll be bringing back to the board for our agenda um a conversation around um our options of moving forward to fill um what will be an open position as of August 1st. Uh so it has been a wonderful honor to work with Miss Cole um and we we did do this all and celebrated but again at your final meeting uh thank you for your service. Richfield has been honored to work with you and it has been an honor for us to partner together. So, thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. It's been fun 10 and a half and a little bit uh of years and I'm going to miss you and Richfield community, Richfield staff. Um, I'm very happy of the things that we were able to accomplish during this time. And to assistant superintendent, uh, I'm very I don't know if you're still there, but if you are, I'm very sad to have missed, uh, this meeting. Uh, I'm very glad that that you're here. >> We're going to miss you. and he is here smiling and shaking and nodding his head off camera but still smiling. Um, with that brings us to future meeting dates. Uh, August 3rd will be our next meeting. Um, it'll be a 7 o'clock meeting, our normal scheduled time. And then like I mentioned before, August 17th will be the next opportunity for public comment. With that, our final B item of business uh is normally to adjourn, but tonight we have a close session to discuss labor negotiations. As such, we'll now consider a motion to move into close session as law by Minnesota State Statute 13 DO3 for labor negotiation strategy. >> I move that we move to close session as allowed by Minnesota Statute 13 DO3 for labor negotiation strategy. >> Second. We have a motion by Vice Chair Spencer and a second by Director Dennis. We will go to a vote. Vice Chair Spencer >> I. >> Director Tomkins >> I. >> Director Dennis >> I. >> Treasure Cole >> I. >> Chair votes I. And we will now move into close session. After a brief recess, the board will begin a close session in a private room. We'll return to this meeting to officially adjourn upon completion of the closed session, but there will be no further business other than to adjourn the meeting. For those following the live stream, this will be the end of the session. Thank you for attending.