Are >> you all right? Uh, >> do you mind muting the mic? >> Yeah. What is There it is because it's 6:01 now officially on my iPhone. So that puts us uh in time for starting our legislative study session on February 2nd, 2026. Uh introductions. So we're hoping for Senator Wickland to dial in and then we've got with us Representative Howard, Mayor Supple, and city manager will not be joining us tonight. So there's our introductions. >> Do you want to do I need to go through the board, too? I don't >> know why I'm asking you. >> I mean, I think we all know each other, but we should probably do a really quick introduction so we all know know who we are. >> Well, I uh I'll go around introduce. We have our student representative Tian Breenri. We have Ken, Director Kendless, or should I say clerk Keas. >> We have director Tom Oh, Haley Tomkins. We have vice chair Kirk Spencer. I'm board chair Carter. We also have superintendent Yianowski in case you didn't know who that was. And superintendent's assistant Cassandra Comm super exceptional. She keeps us all in order. Uh as you guys know, I mean the purpose of the meeting really, we've done this before and we'll do it again is for us just to share kind of our um legislative priorities. Tiana kind of talk through them concerns and then hear feedback from you like are there ways for us to help um things that you want us to convey? I mean, we definitely we try to make a presence at the um day at the capital uh then obviously where we get to see you again and then can talk to other people as well. Um and we appreciate you guys' time that you come up and show up and talk to us and we like to participate and kind of hear both ways. >> Anything else to add? >> Um and then the only other thing that makes this different is obviously as we know we're in a unique situation in Minnesota. Um and so we also want to talk briefly about some additional considerations. um things that we had not anticipated a few months ago that we just need to make sure we're all on the same page and aware of what's happening around us and some of the impacts that it has on schools uh short-term and long term. >> Just a point of clarification are we're recording for future reference but we're not streaming right >> streaming and recording. Yes, we depending on study sessions when we are with legislator legislators, we do uh both of those things to >> make sure since it is official meeting since we've got quorum here as a board. Um yes, not that anything's private or that we don't need to share but it's I was thinking of like what kind of things are we saying on mic. So >> got it. All right. So you have in front of you a copy of our district legislative platform and it goes through a set of voice opportunities. Um, and we're going to talk, um, I'm not going to walk through the entire platform itself, but we're going to go in groups and sort of give you some of the background um, of each of each of our areas. Um, one is really around funding. Um, and funding is unique and we're really not actually asking for much new. Um, as you know, um, in regard to compensatory revenue, um, when we went to universal free meals, um, Richfield had at risk $1.9 million. Um those are dollars um to serve students who are living in poverty. Um in 2023 um we had a 5% drop. Uh there was another 4.2% drop. But the reality is comped is extremely important. Uh we use it to reduce class sizes. We pay for our school counselors. Um we have ammonities, aids, pair of professionals and a wide range of our educators. Uh 1.9 million um is somewhere around 20 staff members. Um and so if the legislature doesn't extend the hold harmless from this past year, um which we so appreciate, um and there is a group working on a long-term fix, uh we would be looking at $2 million in reductions, um directly that are designed around serving students in poverty. Um and so it's important to maintain that. Um, in the same vein, um, there was this great support at the legislature for special education cross subsidy reduction. Um, and there has now been selected, it's called the blue ribbon task force, and their job is to look at another 250 million in savings from what was shared out to schools. And one of the areas at risk is called ADS funding. ADS is a set of supports that are designed to keep students out of special education. And so it's systems and supports so that students who might be struggling um get support before they might get a special education assessment before they end up in special ed. Right now we have 11.3 um positions funded by ADSUS. Um and so if the commission finds this and they are looking at this um because it is not direct special education, it is supporting special education. That's 11.3 FTE. Uh that is most of our reading and math intervention is at elementary. Um that is most of our reading and math intervention at middle school and that is most of our reading, math and social emotional intervention at high school. And so when you look at what our systems are for students who are struggling and all the people who are there to support them, um if ANCIs were to disappear and to disappear, it wouldn't be in the 2627 school year. This would be theoretically a proposal for the 2728. We would be losing almost all of the additional supports in reading, math, and intervention um to support our students. And then if you were to pair that with the compensatory education challenge, almost all of the systemic supports we have built into our system to support kids um would be reduced. And so those are very significant areas. And so we're really hoping um that you can continue to add your voice in the hold harmless to comped um and then uh finding something different in special ed. C can I ask a question um on the I have not tracked the blue ribbon commission work? Um are there parts of that that um would it make more sense for legislators to be pushing for X versus Y? I um you know if we're looking for sort of other avenues or just insight into that process has it do you think it's on track to >> provide the kind of valuable outcomes? Just curious your insights on the blue ribbon panel. >> Sure. The blue ribbon panel has been selected by the governor to find 250 million in reductions. Um there are really two ways you can go about this. Um and each way creates winners and losers. And I want to be very clear if we lose ads we are a loser. we lost huge in this process. Um so one way would be to reduce the cross subsidy coverage across the state. So let's say you now reduce our cross subsidy by 5%. Then everybody across the state has the equal impact of that $250 or $250 million. Um so we would now be spreading that across all 330 give or take school districts in the state of Minnesota and charter schools and everybody and the pain would be equal. uh this particular methodology um which is one of the things they are very strongly considering is because ADSIS isn't a directfunded special ed component. They have a set of things that might not be traditional special education that they are looking for in the we'll call it the portioned out cut method. So they cut specific programs rather than across the board. It is way better for Richfield Public Schools to have an across the board cut um than to have that portioned out cut. there are other districts who do not do EDS for example who would who then don't care right we care very much um >> yeah that was the exact kind of context that's helpful as I'm talking to colleagues and things like that so thank you yeah >> yeah I think people will be pushing both directions on that would be my guess we very much want to push for let's keep adsis let's spread the cut evenly and our argument would be that way everybody is taking the change in cross subsidy equally across the entire state of So um okay so then um we're not going to spend much time on the next and I'm referring to the platform on the next couple um because um these are on the platform itself not on the slides diversifying staff workforce and equitable outcomes enacting protection for immigrants and refugee families in Minnesota. This is on every platform every conversation obviously we know in the world that we live in we need protections. Um similarly, we need to be able to keep our data private. Um and so while the federal government or even the state government may ask for data on our students and families, we believe that that's not our role. Um and we don't want the legislature taking any steps that would change that and we want to make sure that we are maintaining that. Similarly, on our platform in reducing mandates and enhancing local control, uh continuing to support our ability to support our students, um especially those negatively impacted by federal policies. Um we have two more on here that we're not going to push a lot about. I'll just name them. Um one is allowing districts to choose which standardized test to complete at the high school level. Um our high school students will tell you, I don't really care about the MCA. um it has no impact on my future, it has no value to me and taking it after my ACT is done and when my grades and finals are coming up, I'm probably not going to care a whole lot. Um and our students will just transparently tell us that. We try to get them to do that. Um but in high school since they're taking the ACT for example allowing that to work um for um national requirements that is tolerable by law but we have not allowed that as a state of Minnesota and our students have been very clear on that. And then similarly the state of Minnesota and special education requires more paperwork than the federal government. So we have decided that more paperwork has to be done and you'll consistently hear from special ed educators that the paperwork burden is burdensome. All of these have continued on from previous platforms. Um, but we're often asked, "How do we remove mandates?" The these would be examples of mandates. When the federal government doesn't make you, but we decide to do it anyways, it'd be great to not have to have those additional special ed requirements. >> Question on that one. And um, my mom was an elementary special education teacher, so I'm very familiar with this one. I can think I can remember this is years ago. That's what she did all weekend long. You know, her bed was filled with paperwork, like literally stacks of it. Um, I had a bill one of my one of my first sessions on this that we ran into challenges with, but have there been specific bills related to special ed paperwork or if there was a single way to really get at this from a legislative level? Is there things that you'd recommend for to to lean in on? >> Um, I can certainly have um Dr. Clarkson isn't here at the moment. Um, I can certainly have us take a look at what some language might be to be helpful. Uh, Mr. Holy or actually MissWam will take notes on that and I will make sure we follow up. There have been a number of bills to try um but trying to figure out what the wording on that would be. Uh we'll we'll make some suggestions >> and I know it's challenging with the various interests in terms of there's a place >> yes >> for um making sure that there's paperwork and accountability and all that kind of stuff. So I know that it's thorny but um would love to learn more about if there's ways to help and lean in on it. >> Absolutely. We'll absolutely follow up. Um the next one we do have a presentation or a slide on which is protecting district's ability to choose their own insurance plan. So um we have an insurance advisory um which involves our district um board representation Mr. Holy and they recommended going to self-insured um quite a long time ago. Um and what it has done is it kept the the cost for insurance for Richfield public schools employees lower than many other areas. Uh, one of the current requirements of the laws is that we take a bid um regularly against what's called PEEP, which is the public employees insurance program. Pretty regularly the cost of PEEP has been much higher um than the cost of insurance for Richfield. So they have uh when the insurance advisory meets they have uh value conversations which shows what are the value you are getting in service for the amount of dollars you are spending. Um and so there's always been a significant difference in the favor of the current Richfield self self-insured program versus statewide programs. Um there is bills coming forward to take away district's rights to do that. Um and we are being asked to make some assumptions. Um the board that is deciding on this um is heavily unionled. Um which is great. We are wonderful partners with the unions. Um and that same board um would be deciding on what changes are to the plan, what the plan is going forward, and we're making some assumptions um based on what it would cost and based on what the benefits would be. Um and so you are most likely to be asked to take away local control. Um you're going to be asked to have districts go away from self-insured. Um and you're going to ask be asked to support um a statewide insurance program for educators. and we are saying please don't uh we'd like to maintain our control. We believe at least at this time based on any information we have that our insurance will cost less and actually will provide better benefit to Richfield Public Schools employees. Um and we have yet to see anything that would suggest otherwise. Um and then the last and this is on a wide number. I think I am Oh no. And then I am jumping. It is not on our slides, but I'll jump to that in a second. Is increasing restrictions including low lo loopholes related to storage of guns on school property. At present, you could have a gun in a car in our parking lot. Um, and that is acceptable based on state law. Um, so we there are going to be bills coming forward asking to close those loopholes. Uh, there are also loopholes that allow a principal. Uh, we do not allow that. I just want to say that again and I'm going to say that for the board and anybody listening. We in Richfield public schools do not allow the principal who can by law allow guns onto school property. So there are a couple of loopholes. A principal can allow guns on school property and the law allows guns in people's cars. We are asking the legislature to support the bills when they come that stop this from happening. Um and so we want to make sure um that those aren't things that uh remain. Uh we want those loopholes closed. Um and so that is that is our traditional platform. I'm going to give you a quickie update on additional items that have happened since then. Um and then I'm going to pause and turn it to board members and turn it to you all. Uh so since December 1st, there has been a very significant ICE or federal agent presence in Richfield. uh which has had very significant impact on us. Uh we launched a week ago or two weeks ago at this point um an online temporary virtual program that has 800 of our students enrolled which means about 20% of our population. We did that because from December 1st um we went from a typical 10% student absences or 90% present to 25% student absences or 75% of our students present which means that there was an additional 600 kids who stopped coming to school uh because of the federal incursion into our area. Um I'm not making any editorial comment on that. I'm just sharing with you that those are the pure statistical numbers. Uh based on the same thing, meals every day, there are 560 fewer lunches every single day. And so we are no longer feeding our students and families to the same level that we can. Uh we have begun food distribution, but in our traditional school lunch program across the district, that same number um turns into that many. Um, and then the reduction in enrollment so far, so 30 students have left our school district and not returned, nor have they enrolled elsewhere. Um, and so there has been a 30 student loss to Richfield Public Schools in that time window. Typically, our numbers are relatively flat between kids coming in and coming out. So this is 30 different um than history would suggest. Um, and so that is obviously challenging. Um, and then we also need to acknowledge learning loss. So, we are going to do anything and everything that we can. Uh, we are actually launching a more rigorous and thorough um virtual online program after President's Day and we're going to be rolling some of those details out over the next couple of weeks. Um, but we know from CO that learning loss occurs when students are learning virtually and online. And so, one of the amazing things that occurred after CO is there was funding to follow to try to support learning loss. So now I want to take you all the way back to where I started about 15 minutes ago. So we're looking at compensatory education, $2 million to help students in poverty. ASIS funding over a million dollars in reading, math, and social emotional support intervention. Those are all at risk of going. And oh, by the way, um we're going to have pretty intense learning loss for students who from December through we don't know when are going to be learning in a virtual environment because of what is occurring. And so we want the legislature to be be considering that. We know that this isn't a typical funding here. Uh we know that there isn't a lot of extra money lying around. But long-term meal funding, uh we're not releasing our nutrition staff just because we've gone down 560 lunches a day. We can't do that. Uh long-term enrollment reduction mitigation. We're losing students we would not have lost, which also comes with funding. Um, and then we want to we want to have on your radar possible additional funds to support anticipated learning loss because we know it's going to happen. It's going to happen in every district that has patterns like this. So, with that, I am going to turn things over to board members um and then Eric will facilitate um the legislators sharing some of your priorities or information or questions. Not yet. >> Um ju maybe a couple comments on um the the platform that we've we've shared um just to make sure that you understand the standardized test. So the MCAs right now if a student a student can elect with their parents permission to not take the MCA that counts as a failure to the district. So, if you've got high schoolers that are they're checking out or they're doing the CC CCC down the list, both of those people are considered against the the num the one number that seems to get out on social media about the district and it's not very reflective of what we actually have here. Um, I'll also say that um any students that are taking classes outside of the school, so if you're doing PSO, these are students that a lot of times would perform very well on an exam like that. they don't have time to come into school for that period of time to take those. So, we're losing that as well. And so, that throws off everything as well. Those MCA tests in addition for teachers, it's not it's not something that a teacher can take that information and change the way they're teaching, right? It they don't get the information until months later. It it doesn't tell the teacher or inform the teacher this particular student is missing this piece of curriculum. And so, not only is it important for us to to be able to use another testing methodology, and we do a lot of internal tests as well, um it's actually bad data that we're actually putting out there. So, that that was one of the the points I wanted to make around that. And then um just going back to the learning loss on the last slide um we actually are reviewing tonight some of the indications of data turning around from learning loss and we're seeing some of the factors where our kids are starting to recover from that and I'm really nervous what this is going to do to them in the next six months year five years. Let's go ahead. >> I I'll just real quick echo kind of what I said at the uh city legislative discussion. You know, I mean, for me, and I shared this at our last board meeting, the concern is as we talked about evictions and the concern with evictions from the city perspective and then kind of the light bulb for me was as how does that, you know, come over to us as a school district, right? I think Steve echoed it. You know, as we talked about students not showing up, students being scared to be at school, our attendance numbers look lower, we get less money, right? And then that's a snowball for us, right? Of like h how do we deliver solid education for our kids? So, I think Steve's last comment, I think, really nail it is like we need the legislature to to just look at us and just say, how do we just help hold things steady, right? When we're getting pressure from the outside sources, how do we help stay static as a as a district? So with that, I mean, I think I guess we'll turn over to you guys to see if uh if you have remarks to make. Oh, looks like uh Senator Wickland joined us as well. Um so I might as well I don't know if you want to start, >> Michael. >> Sure, I can start. Um and thanks. It's great to get together. It seems like a really important time to get together given um the moment we're in as a community where it just sort of feels like daytoday, hour to hour sometimes things are happening. um uh in our community, in our schools uh that are affecting our kids and the chance to just sort of strategize to how we can help each other do right by our community and our kids. Um and it feels like that's the most important discussion. You know, I can give some general lay of the land um of what the legislative session might look like, but quite honestly, my focus, and I really think our state's focus should be how do we um how do we navigate this uh federal siege that's upon our community and state in a way that uh helps our families that didn't ask for any of this and our kids that didn't ask for any of this. And we just know the harm is so real. Um, and a note of gratitude. I've heard nothing but uh positive things from family members in our schools about how this our our schools are responding and the district is responding. Um it just strikes me that um similar to in COVID times and other times when things feel unsettled for our kids, for our families, one source of stability is the relationship with their schools, with their teachers, and um I've had instances where uh I've interacted with a family and it's been a teacher or a past teacher has been the key stabilizing relationship for that family. And so, um, it just feels like once again, uh, there's a whole added level of, uh, extra things on the plates of our teachers, of our schools, and, um, really want to do everything I can from my position, our position at the state to support, um, this this effort because it's no, again, totally pretty un unforeseen. scrambling on the five, bu building the plane while we're flying it type of uh dynamic. Um and it's been inspiring how our community showing up, how our schools are showing up. Um so that's what I hope we have the most time for. But just lay of the land, you know, the legislative session begins in a couple weeks. It's a nonbudget year p, but every non-budget year is also a budget year at the legislature. Um, and it's important that we uh bring forward the kinds of asks and priorities that our community is asking for. And so a lot I want to probe on a few ways that we can do that with important funding. Um, that's that's needed here. Um, and I think the analogy to CO's an interesting one because there was a lot of fun. I mean, it was a uh again a crisis we didn't ask for, but there were a lot of federal funds and ways to sort of support in the aftermath and curious if there are analogous ways we need the state to step up. Um, and if that's a a way to rhetorically and make the push and and do that from your all perspective. Um, there's uh it's traditionally a policy year. Um, you know, there's a lot of legislators working right now as we speak on policy that's responsive to what's happening in our community. I mean, there's a group that's has 70 or 80 bill ideas um already. And um I'm not certain how many of those are education focused, but there's a lot of the ideas I think that are coming up now that colleagues and I will be discussing in way of funding and way of mental health support is an is an an issue that I know has come up and we expect those needs will only grow um based on what our families and kids are facing. Um and so want to figure out ways to partner on if there's legislative asks we should be pushing for um that are directly responsive to the moment we're in. Um I'm particularly concerned about the housing stability issue, the co-chair of our housing committee. Um and before all this happened, we have immense needs uh as it relates to housing stability and funding cliffs um where we're sort of getting outside of uh our large state budget times of surplus where we were able to finally make big significant me uh investments in things like rental assistance and housing supports. And so it's sort of a uh double whammy where a lot of that funding, state funding is going way down to sort of pre uh large uh surplus levels while we have this kind of exploding need that I don't even think we know uh what the need is going to be. But if this occupation lasts two, three, four months, I just think we're only it's going to be a curve like that um in terms of the needs for folks. And so we are pursuing uh a $50 million uh in direct rental assistance bill at the legislature that I'm pushing. Um and some policies uh uh like moving back our pre-eviction notice uh or adding it to making it a 30-day notice. It's currently a 14-day notice. and doing some kind of things that provide a little bit more time for families to access rental assistance if they need that uh to to stay afloat. Um we're also partnering with a lot of the amazing non-government work that's happening um in Richfield here. We have an amazing local fund that's starting to raise significant resources and we're working to find other larger uh donors to kind of a statewide uh rental assistance effort. um and working to make sure that Richfield's sort of plugged in to ways to access some of those resources. And we just sort of have to be in pull every lever we can find mode. Um and some of these ways that local the local response is happening can be a little more nimble than we can be at the state level. And so finding ways to really supercharge that um is top of mind. Um so that's lay of the land. I would just love to hear from board members too just from your pers like how are our families doing? How are our teachers doing? Um what have you seen in the last two months? You know what are you worried about in the future? Um because beyond the the bullet points which are important um may being armed with sort of your feedback and your stories about what we're seeing in our schools can help us at the legislature um make the forceful push for solutions that actually meet the need. Because I I'm not interested in going into the legislature this year and saying, "Oh, it's a non-budget year and there's not that much money, so we can't do that much." our state is hurting in ways that we can't imagine. And so, um, we need to push, push, push. And so, um, it'd be just helpful to hear from you all, um, just any sort of anecdotes or the stories we have from our from our teachers, from our administrators and principles and families that help us make the case that um, we need to help Anybody dying to jump in and answer the question? I mean, I guess I'll take a crack at I don't look to Steve if you guys are all be quiet, too, and leave you hanging here. Um, I think, you know, it's like from what I've heard, um, stress, right? I mean, I think, you know, from a family perspective, I think obviously the the fact, you know, when we first saw ice presidents, um, the the number that stands out in my head, and I I think this might have been the the day where we got together, right, at the city, um, we were, you know, 30 40% absentee. Uh, it was just crazy, right? It's like people just are scared to go to school, which is sad. um the fact that we've got volunteers who have to sit and participate to keep our kids safe, you know, going to and from school. Sad, right? And so that's I think, you know, it's it's not just our families, it's the even the community as a whole are are feeling that stress of having to help out to make sure our kids are safe. Um I'll go on the record, I guess, and say that we were you one of our buses was stopped, you know, which I think is just ridiculous. Um these are kids, right? Leave kids out of this. Um I think teachers are feeling the pain, too. I mean, again, I I'm not obviously in the school. Again, I'll look to Steve, see if he's got some opinion on it, but the teachers I've heard are, you know, um, we feel tension and I've heard some of that tension of like they want to have a voice. They want to say something about it. And it's the struggle is is like how and it's like this is a balance of we're a school, we're also a workplace. And so, how where is their opportunity to speak out? Because I think, you know, for me personally, I don't speak out about this at work, but um, people have a strong presence. you know, we as a school are also in a position where we can help out and give back to the families. And so, you can see that we're, you know, a point for gathering food and things to give back to the community to to try to get this through this, right? And I think the real concern is how long is it going to last? You know, I think, you know, jotted down your words of siege and occupation and it's like I'm concerned we're going to be in this way until next school year, right? And it's like so so how do we make sure we get through and how do we just kind of band together for it? Yeah, I mean when I look at the things that we do that are education related, um a lot of these things are not. I mean we are delivering food every day at this point. Um we are in the process of delivering more hotspots today. Um multiple team members went back to the site of the previous bus situation because there were multiple federal there were a dozen federal officer cars in the area also. And so when you think about what you see happening in the press, uh you can't just allow your kids to get on the bus with the federal officers there because you don't know how that's going to go. You can't let them get off the bus in that situation. Um, at the end of our day, we deployed multiple staff over to the RAP hope center where there was a sheriff in multiple cars and had to then figure out dismissal at RAP where that may or may not have any interaction with our school, but a dozen cars with armed people and masks and tac gear and all these things. Um, that's a scary thing. Um, and you know, for even people who are saying, "Well, that has nothing to do with your school." I mean, we can all imagine ourselves when we don't know what's going to happen when 10 SUVs show up with armed people appearing. That is a very, very scary thing. Um, and it is a very scary thing for me. I will say racially, I am a white male. I am theoretically not somebody who is going to be racially profiled. And it's a very scary thing. And so for those who are in more vulnerable communities or more likely to be targeted, um that fear just escalates. And so how do you know creating a system that is responsive to that? Well, we're doing a wonderful job. We are educators. um and anything that can be in place to support students, support families, and then the things that will be the residual tales of all of this is is going to be important. >> You know, I used to teach in this district and now I you know, so I'm connected to some of the teachers here and obviously I'm at this school I'm at in St. Paul. A lot of them are more worried about their students. The students are terrified and they worry about and this is why I texted you the other day. They're worried about what's going to happen to a child if they go home to an empty house. Okay. So, you know, I don't know what the government can do about putting on putting on um controls for that. I mean controls for help or whatever, but um they um they the kids are the kids often feel like the school is their safe place and this is why those who are coming are still coming and um so you know and we've been doing our best to try to make sure that that happens both here and in St. Paul, which you know brings up the issue of special ed and access at the school I'm at in St. Paul without those ads people. it it would the the special ed your mom could probably tell you this um would be overwhelmed then add on the paperwork to that their heads explode and they you know I mean I was in a class today where it's great teacher but it was an active class and just ma making it through the end of the day and then knowing that they have to do all the work at the end of the day in addition to is challenging for them. So, I love the access people. I love the intervention people because they do keep the kids and they also keep them in the mainstream, which is something we really want. And um yeah, I'm I've just been assigned as part of ISD, the Intermediate School District 287, which is our special ed districts. And we'll probably be talking about all this at our next board meeting. That's all. I just had to make sure my mic was on. >> I'll just say one quick thing and then I want to hear from Senator Wickland as well. Um, you know, Ken as I was listening to uh Steve talk too. Um, you know, one of the things for our district and I think it's it people want to stay below the radar, right? And I think that's a slippery slope for us, right? It's like when you talk about kind of feelings, concerns, right? is we just want to stay out of the spotlight, which is an unfortunate place to be in as well, right? It's like and that's where the word that comes to mind is allies and trying to figure out how do we get people to help us out and speak up on our behalf? Um people who aren't as concerned about uh being in the spotlight versus here in Richfield, it's just just let us go, right? Just um so that's why when I ask, you know, are we on camera, are we recording, I'm very conscious about like what things do we say and what things can like get extracted out and used later. Um, we want to speak up for our district. We we're very strong, adamant, right, supporters of our district and we don't want to get our district in trouble. So, there's food for thought. I just looking at time. I don't know, Senator Wickland, if you want to go ahead and say a few words. >> Oh, sure. Um, thank you and thanks for the time and um, thank you for all of the the discussion so far. Um, I appreciate, you know, being able to hear kind of what your priorities are, but of course it really is all overshadowed by, you know, this much more sobering discussion that we're having about um about the impact of this sort of invasion in our communities. And um I just want to express um as Mike did just my appreciation for all of the work that you are all doing and all of the staff and educators and um in your district u to help kids you know deal and well I don't know if deal with is the right word but um to be able to get through this um period and um I hope that it it is um has an end soon. I just right now it's it's difficult to see uh difficult to see when when the end will be. So, I I just appreciate all of the work that's going on to to try and mitigate the the problems. Um and I appreciate hearing what some of the concerns are so that I can help, you know, colleagues that that maybe aren't experiencing it. Although across the metro, I think, you know, there are many districts that are are impacted. I um had a session with some kids from Bloomington last week and very similar um you know, just the the stories of being um kids having fears and going home and their families don't want to talk about things because there's younger kids. They don't want them to be afraid. It's just all so um upsetting and really nonsensical that I don't understand, you know, how we um are in this position. But we will keep working to try and get through it. And um in terms of our session, uh my work is focused more on um health and human services areas. So I'm trying to um understand and uh find ways to plan for some of the other federal impacts that um not immigration re you know enforcement related but some of the other um sort of ownorous um kind of penalties that the federal government is trying to impose on us that relate to our like our childare funding um our SNAP funding um and then more uh significantly our Medicaid funding and um it's really a challenge right now. We don't know for sure if they will actually follow through on it, but if if we do have to deal with a a cut to our Medicaid program in the range that they are are saying might happen, um we could be dealing with like a a $500 million per quarter um reduction in our in our Medicaid funding, which would be just devastating to us. you know, it would cause us to have to look across the board for um you know, for cuts. So, that's really uh hanging over us. Um I'm not sure how we will uh come to deal with it. We do have a budget surplus uh right now that is sitting there, but we know that the next bianium there is a budget deficit. And so um if we do um utilize the the surplus to um help with um some of these needs this year, um we will be, you know, making the job harder for the next bianium as well. So, um I I hope that um we can address. Um as Mike indicated, the you know, some of the areas that you talked about, housing, um child care is one that I'm I'm hoping that we can find a way to to uh try and help families out in that area. We we know right now that because people aren't sending their kids to providers, that could cause a lot of strain um soon if if payments stop for for the providers who are getting like subsidized payments. Um another area that um you know we we want to address is education and I appreciate the different ideas that you put forward. Um, I might check back in with you in a couple weeks when we get to session to see if we can get um some information just kind of current status of u the things that you had on that slide and um and if there are any updates or things that you want us to be aware of as we start session um just so I can be a good advocate for what the key needs are for Richfield. And um I think that that's about all, but you know, we we hope to be able to address um the learning loss and the ways and and mental health concerns, things like that going forward. And we know that'll take resources. So, um hopefully we can talk more as we get in session about what some of those ways are, how much funding would be necessary to to help out. and I'm happy to answer any questions if you have them as well. Thanks. >> Thank you. I'll throw out there right away, too, is like if you guys ever have questions, feel free to reach out >> to Haley. >> Yeah, I was sorry. I was just going to say one thing. It's a nice way to close us out too if we're wrapping this up is just that, you know, I want to shout out too that the community response from our neighbors here in Richfield has been amazing and there are some really, really incredible humans that live in this city as we all know. Um, but it has really been remarkable to see the ways in which neighbors have really been stepping up to support their neighbors. Um, and it's something I'm really proud of and I think it can be a model in some ways too for the ways in which right our neighbors are working to support the community but also figured out how to build a partnership with the school district which just amplifies everybody's ability to to impact the situation. And so just want to give a shout out to that and highlight that that's something special that's happening here. It doesn't mean that there's not still a need, right? I went by three places to get my dinner tonight, all of which are closed, right? I mean, it's our city is really, really hurting. And so, um, but just want to shout out our our neighbors and our community for all their great work and the schools for for doing that partnership because it really advances what our community needs. >> Representative Howard. Yeah, I was going to say I did have a specific question related to learning loss and you had mentioned the work that was done postcoid and you're starting to see some positive trend data. Could you share a little bit like what what did were some of the things that we did here in Richfield to address that learning loss and were there streams of funding that either came from the state or federal government that helped with that? um that would help us sort of think through do we need to kind of not reinvent the wheel but provide the funding to again kind of do some of those things. >> Sure. I think we'll need to assess where our students are um first emotionally um and then academically. Um and so I'd say there was a double-digit loss as measured through MCA tests across the state of Minnesota and across everywhere else um based on CO. Um there was also some very significant social emotional mental health challenges and so school districts were offered in the first March. Uh they were either called COVID or esser funds. Um but there was a number of governmental funded programs that then provided additional funding for supports to our students. Um in the first iteration when students first came back um there was a very big need for mental health supports. We added counselors. We added social workers. We added therapists. Um we added social emotional intervention support staff. We added staff to help deescalate students behaviors. Um we added a large amount of staffing, all government funded, all new dollars um to help support that transition. Uh frankly, it took a year, year and a half um for those challenges to start to shrink. um in which case we then took the funds and leaned them more into the academics into reading and math. And so if you track our achievement by our students, there was a precipitous drop, a slow grind and now a consistent move upwards um as things have now begun to accelerate in that category. Uh similarly from a behavior perspective are behavior incidences. Um office referrals we call them majors or minors. Uh major behaviors are office and might require home. Uh minors are just disruptions. Um they went from where we are now, which is somewhere around 400 in a half a year at the high school, they were in the thousands. Um and so they have gone from those really large numbers really down low. um all through those esserco funded positions um which are obviously now expiring um which is ironic as we are at the timing where uh we may need them again depending on what happens here. Well, as a as a follow-up piece, I would love to kind of get additional level of detail of just how much funding we had from those ESSER funds and a little bit of data on how they were utilized because I think we should be making the case that we're having a COVID level issue. Um, that's going to require a concerted long-term effort to help our communities recover. And so, um, uh, some of that background would be helpful in kind of thinking through like, well, okay, this is maybe the kind of since we don't have the those federal dollars, we should at least be proposing using state dollars, I I think, to to to do some of those same kinds of things. >> Absolutely. We can definitely put that together. We have multiple reports from they're now a year or two ago at the board. um as we were reporting back use of o of of co dollars, use of esser dollars, esser funded positions and what happened. Um we can certainly put those together for for you all. Um one thing I want us to acknowledge uh because as a district that is very focused on racial equity, one of the differences of co is it impacted everyone. Um and so we need to acknowledge that this is impacting people of color. this is impacting immigrants um to a greater extent than it is the white population of the state of Minnesota and the um long-term citizens of the state of Minnesota who are also white. Um and so there will also need to be some differentiation of those funding and supports that hasn't always happened from a governmental perspective. And so keeping the lens on this is a an impact that impacts those who have not been best served by the systems in the past. Um and so we need to acknowledge that to make sure that that doesn't become something that is impinged upon people to further oppress and marginalized folks in the future. >> Mayor supple I want to give you time if you've got any questions or comments. I don't want to make you feel left out here. I just want to thank you all for the opportunity to be here and to learn because it's important to hear what the needs are in the community. And I would echo what um Director Tomkins said. It's been amazing to see the partnership and all of the members of the community coming together and working together with the schools and with the city and with everyone to try and do what we can to to work together and support our neighbors. So, I want to thank everyone for that. And I also would put um some emphasis be behind some of the asks that came tonight because we are going to need stabilization. We're going to need to figure out a way to help make sure that people can stay in their homes and have food and then start recovering from all of the um trauma that has happened. So, thank you for your time and thank you to all of you for what you're doing. >> Thank you. more questions, comments from anybody. There's an open floor. Got a few minutes left. >> Um, I'll just add a couple more things based on the conversation. Um, one of the the policy provisions related to gun violence prevention. Um, that that that will be a concerted push the legislature and it was helpful to hear the legislative platform items. um they those seem beyond common sense and again sort of in the range of like I think you would if you told a normal person that wasn't that that that is the state of play now they'd be like really and so um and that's the same with a fair amount of our our gun laws that we where we need to take action on. So that will be a big push uh that at least our caucus will be making this year um as well and so look forward to finding ways to partner on that issue. Um and then if we are wrapping up um I just really grateful for the chance to to connect and would just call out that we probably need to be even in more communication. I mean we are in the middle of a crisis you know and so where it's a crisis level uh you know like you know superintendent mentioned like on a daily basis we just don't know what kind of event is going to happen in our community. I feel like um most of us wake up uh we check our phones to see how many messages we have and we're just sort of bracing for the day. Um and so just calling out that um we're all in this room I think pulling in the same direction and our community is pulling in the same direction which is amazing. Um and so just uh continuing to keep that open line of communication together for ways that um you know at the state level, the city level, the school district, how we can be um partnering and raising up um the things we're all doing to respond to the moment um seems more important than ever. So it was it was well timed uh to get us together uh tonight. And you know, I think we all hope for some times that feel like more normal. Um tomorrow would be great. Uh but we know that uh probably not tomorrow. So um we'll we'll have to keep at it. >> Every one of our team members is sitting here doing intensive planning for virtual online version two to launch after President's Day and we are very much hoping that we're doing a lot of planning and production in something we were never going to use. So that is our big hope. >> Amen to that. >> Right. I think you know one of the things I might say too is just kind of reflecting back on your anecdotal question. you know, we see it here in Richfield and I feel like people across the state don't necessarily believe that it's really happening. I mean that you can you hear from us, right? It's like and you're here part of the community. It's happening, right? It's like it can't be denied. It's like we've seen it. We've had eyewitnesses. It's like this is going on. Your words are spot on with siege crisis, right? It's it resonates because it's real. And it just it's so frustrating when you're hearing the news like you pick it up and go well it's not real or it's like that's not happening. and come sit here for a little bit, right? And and see it and see what it's doing to our community, right? Like the the point of the businesses, right? How many are shut down earlier or are currently closed? I mean, it's there. It's it's a real thing. It's that's I guess more disheartening than anything else. So, not for me. Any more questions from the board or anybody else in the room? >> Um, no, go ahead. I was just going to say thanks for thanks for your continued leadership and partnership and I really do think yeah working together is a great way to get things done. So, >> um, Representative Howard, you had asked for kind of some anecdotes that we're hearing from the schools. And I think when we stood here, I think it was four weeks ago, maybe it was two weeks ago, as we were moving into two weeks ago, when we were starting to move into online learning, this whole wall was full of boxes of packets that the teachers have put together. And what I'm seeing from teachers and educators is agility. >> Like, I wear two hats. I've got this job and I have a job that you know through another corporation and the level of pivot and change and support students at the same time. Our educators want to do more than they can do and we're just asking them teach be with your students. Um but they can also respond so quickly and so um just encourage our our teachers to keep doing that. Um, but uh I'm very encouraged by who works in this district as well. >> Well, thank you again. Appreciate it. Uh, you guys are always welcome. Let us know if we can help you out. With that, I guess I'll conclude our study session at 6:55. >> Perfect.