It is now 6:32 and I'm going to call this board meeting uh regular business meeting of the St. Louis Park School Board to order. Uh this is as we say a business meeting. So we take care of business in this meeting and we have just a few items on the agenda tonight. But before we get started, let me go ahead and read our land acknowledgement. We are gathered on the land of the Dakota and Ojiway peoples. I ask you to join me in acknowledging the Dakota and Ojiway community, their elders, both past and present, as well as future generations. St. Louis Park Public Schools also acknowledges that it was founded upon exclusions and erasers of many indigenous peoples, including those on whose land the school district is located. This acknowledgement demonstrates a commitment to dismantling the ongoing legacies of colonial power and a district's desire to support the ongoing work of local indigenous communities to thrive in our schools. Okay. The next thing on the agenda is the approval of the agenda. We have public comment tonight. I don't know if we have anybody signed up. Nobody signed up. Nobody here present to speak to public comment tonight. um uh superintendence report a discussion item 6A listening session announcements. We have a consent agenda as we typically do in a business meeting. And then on our action items we have 8A preliminary levy approval. And then we have 8B SRO contract and then 8 C policy development for policy 627 school volunteers and 627 school volunteers procedures and board member updates and then adjournment. So, it is recommended that the school board approve the agenda for September 30th, 2025 as presented. Do I have a motion to do so? >> Move. >> Moved by Director Ibrahim. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Second by Taylor. Welcome back, Taylor. Um, and uh, any discussion? Okay. All those in favor say I. >> I. Any oppos? Passes 6. And as I said, typically this next point is public comment. Just going to verify nobody's here for public comment tonight. is one of the ways that you can provide feedback to us. Although there are many ways, including sending us an email at schoolboardsp schoolboard at slpschools.org, reaching out to us as individuals and um we also have some things some listening sessions which we'll talk about later, but many opportunities to do that as well. Okay, that brings us up to number five, superintendent report. >> Well, thank you chair Cox and good evening board members. It's been a while since we've met um for our regular business meeting and I just wanted to give you an update as to where we where we are so far in the school year. So um we had a great start to the school year. Um I want to thank all of my cabinet members, all of my principles, all of our teacher leaders because this year we kind of kicked it off a little differently. Um, we welcomed all of our staff back um on welcome week with a keynote speaker. We had a keynote speaker, Jeff May, who really set the tone for us this year. And we also did a we also wanted to give um some choice to our teachers when it came to professional development. So, we set up a conference style PD for the afternoon where where teachers had a choice of attending PD sessions that were led by their peers. based on topics that they have decided that they wanted to really um have some more learning and development around. Um so I appreciate all of those teacher leaders that worked over the summer to develop their work sessions and presented to their colleagues because I when I I came to St. Louis Park I always said the answers in the room. So how are we creating space for those answers to be shared? So thank you to all those that contributed to a great kickoff. We also welcomed our students back um on the first day of schools. I say that multiple times because we had the first day of school for 1 through 12, then kindergarten, then our preschools, morning and afternoon. So, we had an opportunity to welcome all of our students back. And on the first day of school for the actual first first day of school, we welcome we had the honor of the lieutenant governor coming back to her elementary school to greet students back. So um Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanigan joined us at Aquula to welcome students back. So that was fun um sharing that space with her. Um, homecoming came a little bit earlier this year than usual, but I will say it was a great opportunity and the spirit of Park was in the buildings all week and especially during the parade and on the football field. So, um, it was it was so exciting to see all areas of our organization celebrating St. Louis Park at our at our early learning from early learning all the way to Linux and just to see the pride that everyone had including our community members as we welcomed everybody home during homecoming. Um as you know it is election season. We have some board seats that are open and um one we had an opportunity to partner with our city to um survey our election sites. So elections will be held at three of our school sites and also at LIOX. So Aquilla, the middle school, and the high school will serve as polling sites for our community. And so we did a walk through. Um, one of the things that we wanted to make sure is that our voters had an opportunity to exercise their right to vote, but also while while keeping our students safe. So, we have um pathways for our voters to enter the building without going through the building. and we just ask for compassion with our citizens that they understand the sensitivity that we in that we are currently in right now when it comes to the safety of our students and staff. So, we're asking everyone to just um give us some grace when it comes to their um school site voting locations and to enter in through the designated doors and that we'll have plenty of signage and also for the middle school and Aquula when it comes to parking during bus drop off and bus pickup to be mindful of um keeping those areas is clear so our buses can get in and out. All right. So this year um we are being very intentional about creating space to listen to families and community members about their experiences here in St. Louis Park. And we're going to be very intentional about creating space for our affinity groups. So, we will have listening sessions for our Latino families, our Somali families, our African-American families, and then we'll also host my general um open to the public, our Q&A to for a listening session. I will also host have two um dates for my advisory council to share share their thoughts with me and what's going well, what are some areas that we need improvement on. So those dates are posted right there and they will be um posted on our website as well. And lastly, I want to as many of you have seen me out um I get questions a lot about do you only have orange in your wardrobe? And I will I'll just make this public statement. Orange is one of my favorite colors. It is not the only color that I have in my wardrobe. But today, I do want to dedicate my orange to the day, the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation here in Canada and in the United States and in Canada. And on today, we are remembering the victims and survivors of the residential school system and their descendants um of those who were removed from their reservations and sent to boarding schools and those that did not make it home and those that were forced into those school settings. So, I wear my orange in um recognition of the day of truth and reconciliation. So that concludes my report and I will turn it over to Chair Cops. >> Thank you, Superintendent Hines. Also wanted to recognize that this uh one of the reasons that we moved this board meeting is because of Roshana that we celebrated too. And so want to acknowledge that for our community that celebrated that holiday as well. Um and with that then that moves us on to discussion items and we have our listening session announcements and the school board listening sessions. Is this something that we're going to have a little presentation on or is this just me reading through the list? >> Ashley, I'm assuming you're just reading through the list >> for this. [Music] >> Okay. A number of these dates are dates that you just spoke to Dr. Do you want us to are we going to sign up similar to the way that we signed up last year? How would you like >> I think we can kind of talk through that a little bit because here she's at the table. >> Okay. I think I'm just reading the list. Okay. So, just Okay. Okay. So, we have a school board listening session on Tuesday, October 21st from 5 to 6:00 p.m. A school board >> 21st or 28. >> Did we change it the 21st? It says 28 in here. >> We swapped them. >> Yes. >> For Dr. Hines's listening session. So, it's the 21st. >> Yep. It should be the 21st. So, it says in our in our >> board packet that it's the 28th. >> Yes. You want me to >> Yes. I'm sorry. I think I sent the correction in your weekly leadership but I didn't or in your community changed to the 21st. >> Yes. >> Yep. >> And the time is still 5 to 6, correct? >> Yes. >> Okay. and then virtual listening session on Tuesday, January 20th from 5 to 6 and a inerson listening session again on April 21st from 5 to 6 and then the rest of the times are the ones that we just mentioned with the superintendent. So there's some intentionality in the scheduling that we've done here so far in terms of um as our current board members know and that for the prospective board members we typically have at least two school board members there ideally three no more than three so that we don't have a quorum um at these meetings. So in terms of how we sign up for them, I think we can sort of connect to the director Zuku about um some of that in terms of >> I would say yeah connect with Jasmine. >> Jasmine okay sorry yes >> in terms of that. So then um but these are again one of those opportunities as I was saying from the beginning public comment is one of the ways to do that but it's pretty limiting in terms of the ability to actually interact ask questions get responses and so these are better opportunities and so we have the ones with the board and we have the ones with the superintendent as well. So any questions comments on that other thoughts? Okay >> I mean uh board members are allowed to attend the listening sessions with Dr. Hanks correct? Yes. >> Okay. Because I did so I just asking permission after >> all right. >> I have a quick question. >> Sure. Yeah. >> About the listening sessions for the community groups. >> Uh first question is uh I don't see natives >> native Americans. Okay. >> The second second question I have is will the board get summary of the feedback of the sessions if we don't attend it? >> We can do that. Okay. Any other questions, comments? >> Uh, another question for Ashley. It's uh how do you reach those family who don't use emails or social media? >> How do you reach them? >> Uh how do we reach people besides social media? And >> yeah, um we one we post, but we also text in text people directly from our new system, our communication platform. So it goes into our site newsletters as well, our district news, which community members can opt into. Um and then it's on our calendar or will be on our calendar after this after today if it's approved. >> Thank you. Just have one other note along the lines of what Abimo was sharing. Um I don't know how much space in case you have to add additional affinity groups. But I think could be valuable to hear from our LGBTQ plus um family, staff, community members, students. Okay. >> All right. There is no vote here. We're just I think sharing this information to people so that it's publicly available and for us to have a chance to chime in and share some of the thoughts, but you all have done a great job and we can continue to do that and share your thoughts and comments and as these things continue to unfold. So, welcome and we invite the community obviously please participate because they're for you. Okay, that brings us up to number seven, consent agenda. Um and on the consent agenda, we have several business items. Our um including some things related to our board report, summary, accounts payable, electric electronic funds, transfers of bank charges, investments, personnel, and it's a lengthy one and and that is because we haven't had one of these um since uh June. Um so there were a number of things listed in there. And then we have some minutes of um our uh one of our recent board meetings. And then we some information about adult don't be crisis. So it is recommended that the school board approve the consent agenda with the following business and personnel items for the September 30th 2025 school board meeting as as presented. Do I have a motion to do? >> So moved by Ann. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Second by Virginia. All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Passes 6. Thank you. All right. That brings us up to eight action items. It is um Yeah, you can come on up. You can come this way. Uh, Director Magnus. Um, this is going to be um related to our preliminary levy approval. I am going to ask that we move it and second it before we get the discussion going. So, it is recommended that the school board approve the preliminary levy as presented. So, do we have a motion to bring this discussion? >> Sorry. Moved. >> Thank you. I'll second it to make it easier. All right. Discussion then. This is your chance. Director Magnuson, you have a bit of a presentation to share with us. Many of us are familiar with this, but we we welcome this and we want the community to understand how we got to this point. So, >> yes. Thank you. Good evening, Chair Cox, Superintendent Dr. Hines, and board members. Um, I'm here tonight with our annual preliminary levy. I'll walk you through the process. It's the same every year, but I learn something new every year, and I'm sure you do as well. Because it is September 30th, it is the last day we can certify the levy. So, I'm just going to hand this piece of paper down to director Mancini because it has to be signed and as soon as we're done, I'm going to go up and send it to Hannib County because it's due today. So, um I just want to make sure that I don't forget to do that. Um so, the purpose of our presentation tonight is to review the pay 2026 preliminary levy in preparation for the action to certify this preliminary levy at maximum. And the word maximum really just means it gives districts and the Department of Education maximum flexibility to continue to work together to make sure that we're um correcting all of the formulas and data that goes into the levy. um we do have to certify a line item levy in December, but this really helps us to give our taxpayers in the community the best view of um the maximum amount their taxes could go up um when the truth and taxation statements come out in November and then we set the final levy not until December. I do want to just remind us that we you know we are sitting in three fiscal years and give you an update on what's happening. Um we had auditors upstairs today. They may still be there. um doing some final walkthroughs of our books and our federal single audit items. Um so we're closing out last year and we're feeling confident about the numbers that we will hit our budget and we'll make sure to bring information um to the board as soon as we have further information on that. Um we're in the middle of fiscal year 2026, so we're rolling out the new budgets, the budget reductions that were made in preparation for this year. Um fall enrollment looks very strong. We added a kindergarten section this year. Um, so our our kindergarten numbers are strong and enrollment overall looks strong. So that bodess well for enrollment site >> at Susan Lindren. >> Yeah. And we'll talk about then the budget impact of other things. Who did we hire? Um, so we'll be bringing that information and calling through that as soon as we can. And so tonight is really our first official action as we prepare for fiscal year 2027. So we're rolling on next year's um school year's budget already. So this um levy tonight sets revenue, that big hunk of revenue for taxes um for next fiscal year. So this is here we are back again at the top of the budget timeline. Remember our little star moves its way down throughout the year. And here we are at the top. And the things that are in orange are places where the board either takes action or gets some sort of presentation to help prepare the budget for fiscal 2027. And here tonight is our first official official action. Last night our finance advisory committee met. Um and we have about 16 new community members. We had a board member there. Thank you very much Taylor or and um we had several students who are joining us and some staff members. So, I think it's going to be a really great and rigorous conversation again this year. So, I'm very thankful for the time that folks take. I want to just hone in on where we are at. We're in that data gathering phase of the budget. So, we're really going what happened now that the school year started, how are um as I said, you know, how many students are in all of our classrooms? Who did we hire? Who left? So trying to sort through um all of the data and how it might impact our our um budgets for next year before we start honing in on um the next steps of of preparing the budget. So we'll be back to the board a couple more times. We'll have audit results. We are um hopeful on at the November 25th meeting there's a chance that we might have to delay that into December. And then in December, obviously, we have the truth and taxation hearing which will finalize this preliminary levy for tonight. So this is just an overview of the big chunks of the levy. So this levy is 44,530 543082. It's a small increase. I don't know why I didn't put commas in there. About 1.21% over last year. That's good news for our taxpayer. Our our dollar levy is not going up very much. We don't have much control over that as a school board. Um, but we do have to set the levy. So, you can see that the majority of the levy goes into the general fund. The next biggest chunk goes into debt service and then there's a small community service levy. What fund operating fund is missing here? My little quiz that does not have a tax levy associated with it. >> Uh, nutrition. School. >> School nutrition. Yes. Correct. It's our one operating fund that gets all of its revenue through federal, state aid or um fees. So that's those are our three funds that we levy within. So this is an overview of the three funds. You can see that the general fund levy is going down just slightly. I'll talk to you a little bit about the details of that. Same for community service fund going down overall just slightly for next year. The debt service fund is going up. I'll talk to you about that. Um, so overall the dollar tax levy is going up by about 1.21%. Now, keep in mind that as we think about a taxpayers perspective, this is good news because our our the formulas have not generated increasing dollars for the school district. As we set a budget, it's not such good news because the tax levy portion of the general fund is not going up for next year. So, just keep all of those perspectives in mind. Um, these are the line items. Um, when we go through the levy, it's about it's a 29page document. There's about 5,000 lines. I was looking through it today. So, there's a lot of really complex formulas, but it really boils down to these line items um and the formulas. And when you think about tax levies, there's really three kinds of ways that a school board can impose a tax levy. It's either voter approved and that's and I'll talk to you about what those line items are or it's a specific reimbursement for a specific expense and I'll talk to you about some of those or it's a specific formula. So the state of Minnesota allows us to fund a program in a certain way and most of those then are split between aid and levy and the state of Minnesota the legislature sets those levies and it's called equalized levies. So the levy might go up and down But then aid also buzz up and down. The school board has no control over that. Cannot change it. Cannot establish a new formula. Can't just ask for more money. So this is what the formulas produce and what our voter approval has produced. We don't have any control over that. Um so we are levying these amounts and then we discuss them at the final levy in December once truth and taxation statements have gone out. So when you said we can't levy, we can levy additionally for this. I mean that the option which we wouldn't probably ever choose. We could decrease but we wouldn't wouldn't ever have the ability to say like this funding formula is out of whack. We need more money for XYZ. We can't do that at this point because it's controlled by that legislation. >> Yeah. It's controlled by formulas and by voter approval and our referendum will and that voter approval has been established. >> Yeah. Okay. >> For our district. >> Yeah. Can I can I ask a quick clarifying question on this slide specifically? >> Yes. >> Do you know what goes into like the the tip adjustment? Yes. >> I'll talk through all of a few of these line items. I'm picking out a few to just talk about. Um and I'll maybe work my way down. So on this page in the general fund, there's two line items that are voter approved. One is the operating referendum. That's the big kahuna that we talk about is a 10-year levy. It was last set in a few years ago. >> 22. >> 2022. Okay. And so it's got a few more years to run. We cannot ask for more money. We're at the cap on that formula. We will have we can either renew it as a board to not increase it or um we could go ask for an additional if the if the formula changes in some way, but at this point there's not really much more that we can ask for. Current law does allow a board to renew at one time without voter approval. the cap once it's approved already. The capital projects referendum is also voter approved. That is our um technology levy. So um what I want you to notice about the technology levy is it's barely going up. And that's going to be a story you'll hear. Um the technology is set as a percentage of um of the property wealth in the district of tax taxable property wealth. And we've been enjoying increased property values in St. Louis Park and really across the state of Minnesota for several years. So that has the impact of increasing the revenue in the in the capital projects levy which is essential because we fund our entire technology staff team out of that funding source. This is already a tight budget. And as um staff age through the system and gain more years of experience and we negotiate contracts um I suspect that the needs for staff costs will go up by more than 31% next year. So we have a built-in tension already. Um and that's just because it's a dollar amount associated with with a percentage um of property wealth. The rest of these are either a formula or or it is identified as a a specific reimbursement. Reemployment insurance is one of those. It's a line item that we are reimbursed for the expenses for reemployment. Okay, I want to just talk to you about some of these line items. Okay, re remployment is the first one I had marked. You see that we have a negative dollar amount this year. What is being reflected there is that two years ago we had a a big catch-up payment for um expenses that we were holding during the COVID pandemic. We were asked not to pay our bills for several years. So we made a catch-up payment and then the following year we had to levy for it again. So it's just sweeping back a a levy that we made for two years because of the way the the timing of the calendar ran. So really, we have about $150,000 of reemployment insurance costs that we're levying for, but there's a back levy. The other thing you're going to notice in levies is if there's a mistake in the formula, it gets corrected and we go back and if our enrollment numbers are off, we go back and correct the numbers. So the levy is selfcorrecting just like state aid. >> You say mistake, but like you were just saying, sometimes that's enrollment numbers change. >> Yep. Enrollment numbers. >> It's not just a mistake. I mean, that's >> right. It's usually not a mistake. It's a corrected number. >> Correction. Thank you. >> Clarifying that. Yeah. >> Yep. Okay. >> Um the next one is other post-employment benefits. The need for us to levy for OPED is declining. Um about 5 years ago, we started um taking advantage of the of the opportunity to levy for the cost of other post-employment man benefits for staff members who retire with medical or dental benefits in retirement. um those have been grandpersoned years ago. New employees for the last 15 or 20 years do not have these benefits in contracts, but families are but um staff members continue to retire with these benefits or live into retirement um with these benefits intact. >> So we have a trust fund set aside for OPED with a bond issue that the district um sold bonds for several years ago. It is not going to be sufficient to cover the costs. So, the state allows districts to annually levy for a dollar amount that would equate to um a percentage that the trust fund isn't covering. And so, this drop tells me that the number of employees who are continuing to qualify for OPED benefits is declining because our trust fund is getting closer to being able to cover those that are remaining. We're not there yet, but it's getting there. Um, the other one that I wanted to talk about is the TIFF adjustments. This is complex and it will get to the edge of my understanding. So, I'll I'll do my best to be as clear as I can about it. TIFF is a tax increment financing district where tax capacities are set aside in a community. Um, and so it's established at the current valuation and as a as a piece of property is it's a way to get folks to develop in your community, investors to develop in a community. So as the valuation of the property increases, those taxes are set aside in a tax increment financing district and that increase in taxes is used for the development. So it's a way to help fund redevelopment in a community. So what happens then is that we as a district are not getting the advantage of the increased tax capacity. So once the the um tiff district is released, it goes back and makes corrections for any kinds of valuations. So either costs that weren't used with the tiff money or were there corrections that need to be made. And what this is telling me, this big drop, we're only we only have a TIFF adjustment of $5,600. It's telling me that some a big portion of our TIF districts were released in this last year. That's the limit of my understanding about that. And um I haven't followed up with the city to find more details and I certainly can about that. But it's a it's a reduction in our taxable revenue and a reduction to general fund revenue. So that is good news. And that's not again as you were just saying it's not anything that we're ever involved with. That is completely a city decision how they establish a tax >> exactly. And once a tax um t a tiff district is descertified then it becomes part of our taxable um revenue that's in our our taxable market value which is in the denominator of our formula. So it benefits us in the end because we've got redevelopment and a growing market value. Abatements is another big one. This year we haven't had to talk about abatements for a long time. Tax abatements are when um property owners and in this case when it has this big of an impact it's generally going to be commercial industrial property. And when I look at the list from Henipin County it's a lot of apartment buildings and office buildings. So appeals are made um to the assessor and to the county about the valuation of a property saying if this is overvalued. There's an empty empty apartment building which we probably don't have those here but empty office space um for instance or just it feels overvalued to me. This isn't the same as it used to be. Um u taxes are abated. So what that means is a couple of So this is like a two years ago catchup. It's an it's a it's one of those types of things. So taxes were abated which means when we closed our books on tax revenue for that year we lost a bunch of money >> as a district. So if I come when I come to you with the audit results and go oh wait our tax levy revenue wasn't as high as it was because a bunch of taxes are abated. Well, never fear. The levy catches up. So now we go back and respread that lost revenue across all of our property owners because it in theory would have been spread over those property owners had the right valuation been assigned at the time. So there's also there's a there's a a part of the abatement levy that looks at current year, which is really odd for a levy. So there were some tremendous tax abatements in the first six months of 2025. So we are able to so this the state makes a calculation and we're able to begin to levy for those advanced abatements. So this is revenue coming in 20 um pay 26 for 2627. But what that tells me is tax revenues are going to be down this year. So I better adjust my revenue budget for taxes this year. So the good news and the bad news and that's what you're going to see a lot of times. It giveth and taketh away. And these formulas sometimes adjust over a period of years. So this is an example of of something we haven't had to talk about in a while. But taxes and you'll see this really strongly in the debt service fund as well. >> But if I mean my understanding of this >> first of all for those who don't know the word abatement means like reduced, right? So like I think we're using it in that kind of taxes. But if we're reducing it for this, if you're taking that into account for this year's budget, what I think I hear you saying is like next year it could catch up when we would get that money back. >> Right. >> So, it's just a matter of timing, >> right? >> So, but as we're closing this year's books, I have to keep in mind or as I'm adjusting the midyear budget for this tax year, I've got to keep in mind there were there were some tremendous abaded taxes. So, we're not going to hit the budget for tax revenue this year. Money's coming, >> but it's not till next year. >> It's not in this fiscal year, folks. Is that >> Thank you. >> Yeah, >> we will get it. Not before the books are closed on this. Yes. >> Thank you. So, overall then there's a a slight reduction in the general fund, the community serals. >> Yes. That's a formula that is established. Um I'd have to look at the specific components of the formula, but I think it's a dollar amount per student. So this is the amount we get under the funding formula for safe schools and it's been on the books for 30 plus years. So and it hasn't really changed as a funding formula. So one way to look about this is this is the only amount that school districts get for safe schools. And as the landscape have has changed over the last school years, it hasn't budged. There's no other place >> for safe schools money. >> $36 a student. >> Yes. Okay. Thank you. >> Very small. >> And what we use this for and we have since I arrived at the district, we use it to fund um the cost for some counselors. We could reassign it to any number of things that we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on student safety in the district. Um, but we've assigned it to toward counselors and have kept that up over the years. >> So, it's not that that's our only spend. >> Exactly. >> By long shot, it's the only revenue we get specifically for that. And if we don't if it doesn't cover it, which it definitely doesn't, then it's coming out of general fund, >> operating capital, technology levy, long-term facility maintenance. We use all of the places that we can. But it's it is worth noting that I guess I must you correct me if I'm wrong there. This is a point of advocacy that you can take to the state legislature as we're thinking about what helps keep us safe, right? Is that adjusting this formula so that it's not $36 per student and that we get more money related to that would be helpful. >> It would be tremendously helpful. Is there I mean I just I'm curious like in the per people formula um I believe it was either the 2022 legislative cycle or the 23 they they had specific money going to counselors and mental health but so this is different is like in addition to or just different >> I think what you're referring to is um there's set aides of general education funding that we have to set aside for specific needs and ensure that we're covering the cost. So when we go over fund balances, you'll see there's a myriad of reserved fund balances within the general fund. So that would be staff development is another category like that. We have to reserve a certain amount of our spend in the general education aid. So yeah, safe schools is sort of like that. It falls into the general fund. We have to be sure that we're spending that money on safe schools. I'm just telling it's like that's not the only place where we're getting funding for >> for counselors. Yes, >> there are other there are other but I that was my thinking too that director and director Davis brought up for advocacy. I have no idea that has ever come up at AMC. I don't believe that we've ever talked about unless I missed a meeting last week about um adjusting >> that that fund. I don't know if we I'd have to look at the document. We've been talking about platforms and that there is stuff at mud safety and the platform >> about this particular part. >> I don't know. I'll take a look >> and I just look within Minnesota statute 126.44. >> Yeah, I feel like it has been but I don't >> Yeah, >> I don't know how like I can't think of how long ago that might have been. I do feel like this in 2016 or 2015 sorry >> at AMSD which is one of the legislative groups that we belong to MSBA would be the other one they we are looking at like creating some fact sheets and talking about this and we've been talking about safe schools mental health and all sorts of things. So I I would just before I don't want to say that that's not in there, but if we have thoughts about that then I'd be glad to circulate that to the group too and and then people could talk about that at the upcoming William, you know, >> I will not make it this Friday. I'll have to watch it. But I just think it's it's a curious conversation. Um I don't know if anybody saw the time the starting article like a month ago about some of the safety issues that schools are experiencing in greater Minnesota. Um, so I just it's just a curious thing because I think a lot of our safety issues is coming also out of the longterm facilities maintenance >> which is limited to to things that we're just replacing. Another advocacy would be to expand our ability to access more LTFM revenue like other districts. >> We've been advocating that very much. >> Yes. And if and to expand it for the sole purpose of LTF or for safe schools would be a splendid thing. Yeah, there's there's that talk. There's already that kind of discussion too. >> Yes. So that and and it would be really nice. I think one of the takeaways right now that you can see amongst the board here is be really nice if things all just kind of lined up, but they don't. There's like this fund and this fund and this expenditure and this expenditure and this set aside whatever. Like we said, so many levels to all of this stuff. It'd be great if you could just look at something and go, "Aha, that's that." And then you're like, "But it's not that's not the whole picture." So, I do appreciate you going through this sort of line by line, but I think we'll never get to the point where you or Josiah is at in terms of understanding this, but do >> and we're learning every day. So, >> I do certainly appreciate that you just take the time to go through it, >> but I do want to make sure that that I think people have a general understanding and we can keep moving on and continue. >> So, then the community service fund, there's nothing voter approved in the community service fund. These are all um funding formulas that are established in state law to fund different parts of um community education specifically and they are either on a per student basis like the number of zero to four um population. Community ed is based on the population of the community. Um so that's how that one works. And there's also a dollar levy that's specifically reimbursement specifically a reimbursement and that is for school age child care which is a levy for students in school age child care kids place who we serve with disabilities. So, we're able to capture the the additional cost associated with serving students with disabilities and we work with director Howard every year to make sure that we um get that coded correctly so that we can um capture the dollar amounts there. I want to just let you know that the early childhood levy looks like it's going down, but this is um one of the equalized levies that was switched from from levy over to aid. And actually the early childhood revenue formula is going up because it's linked to inflation um which is linked to the general education funding formula. So it goes that way. So the dollar amount of ECF revenue is going up by about $30,000. It appears to be going down on the on the levy only. The dollar amount itself aid and levy is going up for fiscal 27 by about $30,000. The other one I want to point out is school age child care. We are increasing our costs actually in school age child care. There's an adjustment um that you cannot see in this $1 amount from previous years where we had overlevied and didn't have the costs um associated with it and it's two years ago now. >> That's a correction. >> It's a correction in that case but we we're making a guess every year. Mhm. >> People are going to come to kids place and show up and state the year amount of those. >> Yes. >> Yeah. So we try to make our best estimate on that. >> Um and then you can see there's a small amount for abatements, but because community education is such a small portion of the levy, abatements, it's spread across each of the levies. So a small decline in community education. The debt service fund is going up by $771,000. There's two things happening here. Um, well, three things happening here. Our voterapproved levy is going up as we take on the principal and interest payments for the last voter approved bond issue that's doing all of our wonderful improvements. We knew that there would be reductions for debt service excess. So, as we um work with Ellers and Associates, our financial advisors, we try to wrap around new debt with existing debt so it doesn't have an impact on the taxpayer. So given these two things, it would have it was basically a flat tax impact. But in walks abatements for um abated valuations from two years ago and from the spring and so we would come up short within the debt service fund were we not able to um levy for that abatement. eventually if we don't need that to make our principal and interest payments because a reminder that we have to levy for 105% of what we need to make our principal and interest payments so that the state can be assured that we can make our bond payments. We can make our bond payments. We do that um diligently every year and the levy covers it. But this might be an example of if there were such huge abated taxes, we might not have the revenue in the debt service fund. We haven't run into that here, but that's why there's this debt excess. So, every year a recalibration is done and a calculation about here's how much you need to have in debt service to continue to make payments. And now we pay back the voters that extra 5%. So, abatements, we continue to to levy for the abatements to cover that problem in cash flow that we might run into in debt service in any given year. If it's not needed, it'll you'll see it in an excess adjustment in a future year. >> Paybacking the pay back paying taxpayers doesn't mean that they get a check from us, but they'll see this. >> Exactly. It shows up as a reduction like this is a reduction. It's Yes. Exactly. We do not send out checks. >> No. >> Thank you. >> So, here's what I think we and this is a prediction at this time until everything's finalized. we might have a slightly increasing tax rate this year. So our to and this is the first time we've talked about this in a long time is probably going to be more flat the rate itself and we'll have more details about this and specific home and property values in December but the levy is so it's a it's my numerator and denominator um story. So the levy which is the numerator that the $44 million we can levy with all these formulas is increasing by 1.21%. Overall our property values for two specific areas are growing by either 60% or 1.1%. So it's growing at a slower rate than denominator. So it's going to increase the tax rates. Now what? So the tax rate itself will likely go up. If folks have a declining property value or an increasing property value, it will look different depending on what kind of property that you have. But we might be talking about a slightly flat to increasing tax rate for next year. But our revenue is only going up by 1.21% within the levy itself. That's um where we're at. So, here's the next steps. Um we got our initial levy limitations on September 8th. We've been working with the state and the county um so that tonight we can approve at maximum tonight. I'm going to send this off to the county and to MDE parcel specific notices. So, the impact of this levy will go on folks truth and taxation notices um around November 24th. And then on December 9th, we will have a truth and taxation hearing to talk about it and um set the final dollar levy at that time. >> Yeah. And we know that we're not the only people who are doing this. The county has done this as well. The city as well >> with other people who can levy. I think there's some other modest levies I think that like watershed districts and others that are in there as well too that set similar sort of limits. >> So other people are doing this. We're just the last this year. Um, any other questions before we >> just on that because I can. I mean, this >> we have to say it, right? Our friends at the county and at the city do not have a um levy limitation imposed by the state um like we do. So, I think the city's proposing an 8%ish the counties I think it's just under 8% and we're at 1.2 which is the maximum, right? Like when we say we're certifying at the maximum. That sounds like a lot. It's not. It is way less than the other levy authorities have in our in our communities. There's reasons for that. Some of them are important reasons for that. But it just it's really important to know that that is the case that we are um really restricted by statute in how much we can levy in all of these different areas. like like Trisha was saying, there's like formulas and rules for every single little bucket that's on this list. And so all of those when you put all those rules together, that's where you get our maximum. And what we get is 1.2%. Which is probably probably less than inflation. Yeah. Seeing I don't know. >> And a declining amount in the general fund. >> And and a declining amount in the general fund. Right. So that is that's hard. Um it's going to make budgeting hard. Um it is frustrating. I think when um when we have to go out to voters who are saying, "Oh, well, you're always asking for money." Well, we're the only ones who have to. So, it that is a messaging thing that will will come up again when we end up doing another capital levy or another whatever our our um another bond referendum down the road. I don't know when. I mean, hopefully the operating referendum can just be um renewed by the board, but we'll we'll have to go out for a vote again at some point. And like when people look at their tax bills and they see 8% increase and 8% increase and they say, "I can't afford to vote for an increase on my my school taxes." Well, that's frustrating. So, that's my soap box for all of you out there. Um, we can I'm sure we'll talk about this again, but it's it's it's frustrating to see though, especially in a year where we're where I'm like 8%. Wow, that's must be nice. >> And I and I'll just qualify that Taylor is that again these are all the agencies set it at maximum because they want the maximum flexibility. >> Other places could reduce theirs. We could reduce ours. It seems unlikely that we reduce ours because of just of what director Casey had to say, but there is some potential that others can do it as well. And that's part of truth in taxation and all of these opportunities and why we have these public votes and all of these things to send this information. Okay. I Yeah, I just wanted to say like to add some additional like contextualization the city and the county are adding to their levy because costs of services are increasing at that level. we don't have the opportunity to match our revenues with those increasing cost of services that they have the opportunity to. So when we also talk about you know how do we increase revenue as a school district to match the everinccreasing cost to running a school district that's yet another way that we don't we just don't have that option. >> Exactly. >> Well, I think I just think it's important to say that part of this is about valuing our staff, right? It's about saying like if we want to continue to pay our teachers, our staff um what they deserve and we don't have the ability to increase our revenue in the way that the county or the city does and we do end up having to look at budget cuts, right? Because there's when those costs increase, right? just general market rate increases or cost of living increases or benefit costs like health insurance. We don't have the ability and we don't have the ability to even come close to that with what we're allowed to increase our revenues at. It really, you know, we are committed, I am committed to making sure that we are taking care of our educators of our staff and also that has an impact. And so then when we end up having to talk about budget cuts, which are really difficult, you know, we're we're stuck in the spot where this is what school funding looks like, right? you know, we don't have flexibility the way other elected officials have that flexibility. >> And I will comment that obviously, I mean, I'm not a spokesperson for the county. I do work for the county. And so I want to be careful in saying this, that the county is also looking at cuts and stuff too. They have to make some real choices as well. But they do, as we were saying, have a little more leverage here too as well in terms of revenue. So it's we're we're kind of stuck because we're sort of saying we we can't do anything else in terms of revenue. We're at our max. The only things that can happen now are legislatively that the legislature and the challenge with that is that's for whatever they pass isn't probably going to impact next year or this budget that we're looking at. We're looking at you know at least another year that too. So that's >> I think we have to also name the fact that like yes I mean you know the county or the city but like they're the county is looking at huge cuts as a result of the f federal administration that's committed to underinvesting in our communities and you know so I mean it's a it's a trickle down effect. We're also dealing with the uncertainty of federal funding you know and so >> we have to name the federal administration in this issue. >> Y All right. Thank you. Other comments from other board members? >> Just that I think that if anything this just illustrates really openly that we are using the money as we possibly can in all of the different creative ways to find ways to continue to fund it. Um just a quick question as far as the bond referendum goes, we uh did the state legislature change so we don't have to go to the voters for the next one. We can vote, right? That's our operating operating >> which is which is due to expire in 2027. Let's let that >> which means that 2026 we would have the option to bring to the board and vote on it then. So >> listen up potential board members. >> Correct. >> But if we wanted to increase them we would have to go to the >> but first the legislature would have to change something in the law. Good. >> Okay. Anything else? We've already had a motion and a second on this. So, um, without any further discussion, all those in favor say I. I. >> Any oppose? Passes 6. Okay. This brings us up to 8 BSRO contract. We do not have language in here about what the um what we're asking people to do. And it's like I said, I would like this move before we move on to the discussion. So, I've drafted some language here and I can share it with you afterwards. But, it is simple. It is recommended that the school board approve the contract for SRO's for school year 2025 2026. Everybody understand that? So that is the recommended language here. >> Because it's not here. >> Yep. Because it's not there. So then I will make sure that you have that. >> All right. With that said, um do I have a motion to bring this forward? I'll move it. >> Do we have a second? Second by director. Okay. Um is this you Dr. H? Yes, it is. So, at our study session, we um reviewed this and there was a request for some language adjustments in inside and I want to go to the first one and it was centered around um three in three under G and um the concern was that we wanted to ensure that the school was leading the disciplinary action or investigation when it came to student discipline when it for intervention. And so in the first paragraph you will see it should have been in blue but the it's it is it reads it is the understanding of both the district and the city that intervention in disciplinary situations will be led by the district. So the will was the change in language in that statement. And then if you go down to five, the use of force was added because in the statute it says at minimum um the agreement the contract needed to um spell out the use of prone restraints. So this statement was added and it came from the suspensions I mean solutions not suspensions work group when it when they um drafted um language to put into SRO contracts. So in it, it talks about the use of prone restraints that it is not it is ideally not allowed on school grounds and that alternative um alternative alternative actions will be used and really focusing on deescalation techniques. >> And this is um Thank you. Is there anything additional there? Yep. This is this is we've had a lot of back and forth for a while and we've had this is all language that's been agreed upon by the city. >> Yes. >> That has not been ratified by them yet. We're waiting for our ratification here. >> So, but this is all stuff that they've looked at, taken a look at and feel pretty confident on. So, like I said, we've had a lot of discussion on this, but I do want to give the opportunity for any board members who like to share anything. Yeah, I guess I wasn't here for the last meeting. So, I've got some >> uh just a few things, some notes that I wanted to share. Um first, I want to say that I appreciate all the work and the back and forth and the collaboration that went into this I think now year-long process uh to get us to this point in the contract. I think it's come a long way uh since it first came back from the city. And I think I want, you know, I want to thank the policy committee, Dr. kind staff and city staff for getting to this point. I am glad to see the inclusion of policy 519 uh regarding arrests at school within the contract and I think prioritizing deescalation techniques techniques and using the least restrictive physical interventions is critical language uh that I'm glad to see included. Um I think kind of since the start of the the process I found it difficult to assess our SRO program. Um we've had limited data for both a quantitative and qualitative perspective. Uh and historically we've had somewhat undefined expectations for our SRO program. Uh there's very little conclusive data on a national level on SRO programs. But what we do have suggests that there could be real harmful outcomes from SRO programs, especially when they're not administered. Um I think a program like this does come with real benefits and real risks. Um, I like the idea of having a leazison between our school district and city resources center around safety and health. Um, I like the idea of building community relationships with our youth. However, I'm also keenly aware um both the the risk of both like privacy concerns with student data and the wellocumented school to prison pipeline. I think there's real concerns about over policing, especially over policing of historically marginalized communities, those who are neurode divergent or have special needs. And I think all those risks need to be considered uh in a contract with student outcomes at the center. Um so I've always been a proponent that we should have a contract that maximizes the benefits and reduces the risks for harms. Um, and I think one of the critical pieces that I've been advocating for includes includes contract language that delineates criminal conduct requiring a thorough intervention and school discipline to be led by district staff. Um, we had proposed some language from the ACLU that made it clear that absent a real and immediate threat to student, teacher, public safety incidents that do not involve physical injury or weapons should be considered school discipline issues to be handled by school staff rather than criminal law issues warranting formal law enforcement response by the SRO. And while I think the language in front of us uh makes clear that the expectation that disciplinary interventions would be led by the district, I don't think we've established that line in our current contract. Um and I think one of the the key concerns that have come forth uh the city's been very clear throughout the process that SRO are law enforcement officers first. This means that they're subject to their own procedures, laws, and training as law enforcement officers and language that runs contrary to those regulations are diff are difficult to include in the contract. Um, we also ran into this problem, I think, with the use of force section. Uh, specifically around prone restraints. While we can say we don't want it or we don't prioritize it on school grounds, we even say we don't allow it. Doesn't actually restrict SRO from using restraints in our school buildings. Um I'm also just concerned by past actions from the city surrounding the SRO program concerning these prone restraints. Um following the 2023 state legislative session when prone restraints conducted by SRO were banned. The city of St. Louis Park removed the SRO assigned to our school buildings and high school and middle school. And while many surrounding cities remained on site with no change, uh St. Park again cited that SRO are law enforcement first and that the new law would hamper their ability to use use of force tactics and their duties as law enforcement. Um I find that decision disappointing. Um, I also think it serves as evidence that an SRO program can't be relied on as a substitute for robust internal safety processes and programs, which I know we are committed to as a district and I'm very proud of. Um, and I think, you know, there will be future legislative sessions. There may be legislation that, you know, the city attorneys, they may have to remove their SRO's again. Uh, I also think we're navigating troubling and uncertain times at all government levels. Uh, there may be state or federal level policies that conflate with our district's values around law enforcement. And I think personally, I think it's in our best interest as as a school district to control as much as we can internally. Um, I don't feel comfortable at this juncture with the idea of an outside agency that exists outside of our control, specifically charged with student interaction. Uh that being said, I'm extremely proud of the work that's gone on in the background behind this contract. Uh I think Dr. Hind has gone and beyond uh to find workable internal solutions in place of some of the proposed rejected contract language that we've had uh in in that process. I think we've uncovered areas for improvement uh and uh exciting opportunities to ensure a robust SRO program moving forward than we've historically had. uh that includes work on progressive discipline handbook uh and that will help make it clear when SRO should be involved. Um SRO related questions and climate surveys uh far more robust discipline data gathering and reporting that will allow us as a board to make an informed assessment of the program in the future and all that's very exciting and I want to thank you for that. Uh when I look at this contract however and deciding when to move forward, I think the owner should be on the board to make that clear in our language on what we expect for this program. I don't want to be dependent necessarily just on the superintendent's discretion. I think what you're doing is amazing. Um and I don't think our current language is what I would like to see. So I wouldn't be supportive of this uh motion today. Thank you. Other comments from other board members? I think we acknowledged last time that some of the language is imperfect and we're really constrained by it and we do hope that we'll see revisions in that in the future too. And one other point that it makes too is that this is a there's a cause in this for us to end the contract for each department to end the contract too. So if we feel like this harms are >> Yeah. Normally I speak out to pray but it's action agenda so I need 5 minutes pray then come back. >> Okay. All right. >> Sure. We'll take a 5 minute break. Then we'll come back. Uh start at 7:41. 4 3 two one. Okay. Uh we're returning back to um we were on action item 8B SRO contract and we got a few comments here and I want to make sure if any other board members a number of us had an opportunity to share thoughts at the study session as well. So if we're not sharing them here, we continue to um many of the many of that discussion was happen there and like I said, but uh Director Davis and just a reminder, we're back in session, folks. >> Thank you. Um, I want to share some thoughts similar to what I shared last time because I don't think our study sessions are recorded and available to people and I think it's important for folks to understand like the nuance that has gone into this and the significant amount of work and I appreciate Taylor outlining some of that. Um, I also want to lift up the work of Dr. Hines on this. Um we've been now a year with um SRO's in our building with no contract or govern governing document in place. Um that when we as a board learned that last year, last school year, Dr. kinds undertook and I think thought we would just get this knocked out right away and um you know ran into the challenges that this presents. Um we have to my understanding SRO's in our buildings at at this point with no contract or memorandum of understanding in place. And I think that it's, you know, I think uh Ann brought this up last time, but it's really important that we get something figured out because we do have folks who are not working for the school in our schools and we don't have any sort of governing document over that at this point. And that's a real concern. Um, I talked about this last time, but again, I'm going to talk about it again because I it wasn't recorded. I want people to understand um what my concerns are and and where I'm at today. So throughout this process, I've I've had several concerns that have that I've brought forward that Dr. Hines has sought to address and I do think where we've landed at this point is leaps and bounds ahead of where where we started. So I want to name that. But the big concerns for me are related to student data privacy. So, we are required both by both federal and state law to keep educational data private. There's I'm not going to get into all the laws on that, but making sure that folks that if folks have access to our data, they understand those protections and that we're not breaching those privacy protections. And um I talked about this last time, but I had a concern related to a data privacy issue that involved an SRO and that undermined some of my trust in what was happening with and and really led me to say we have to strengthen the language here. We have to be very very clear and we have accountability on our end, right, in terms of what data we're sharing. Um, and we need our partners in law enforcement to understand what they can and cannot have access to and who they can and cannot get that information from and how it can be used. Right? So data privacy is critically important. And so I just want to name that as one area where I think we've done a lot of work to strengthen the language. Um, student discipline involvement. So, you know, I think if it's everybody at this table agrees that law enforcement should not be involved in student discipline, right? Student discipline should be handled by school staff. Um, and it because we haven't had something in place with a clear understanding, that's not what's been happening. And that's deeply concerning to me because, you know, we work really hard. We we care deeply about equity in this district. And we still have pretty significant disparities in student discipline as do racial disparities as do all schools and districts across the state and across this country, right? Um but if we if we allow law enforcement to be involved in things that are truly student discipline and not um criminal behaviors, then we are participating in a school to prison pipeline. Right? And that is not something that I am on board with and I know this board is not on board with. I also believe that our elected city partners, right, leaders um on the city council and our mayor are also not interested in that, right? I think that these are values of our community. Um use of force was a huge and continues to be I will just say for me a significant source of concern. The language that we've landed on um that significantly reduces and uh restricts the use of prone restraints by SRO's is so much better than where we started. I am of the belief um that we should not be using prone restraints on children in our schools. We don't do it in prisons. It's not allowed in the state of Minnesota in prison. Um, and we do have the authority as a board to say you can't use prone restraint if you're here as an SRO. However, our city partners would not agree with that. And so, the only way that we could reach a contract is if we agreed to allow it, but significantly limited it. And so, I am I continue to be concerned about that. It's I I'm concerned about it because it's fundamentally dangerous, right? Like the whole world watched George Floyd die in be murdered in a prone restraint, right? We It's extraordinarily dangerous for children. Um, kids die as a result of this. So, I continue to have significant concerns. I'm grateful that we were able to limit it in the way that we were. My hope is that in the future that we could revisit this and eliminate this as an option because I do believe that our community and that our elected leaders on the city side would agree with that, right, if we sat down and had that conversation. So, part of what I'm asking for tonight is a joint meeting with the city council sometime this school year to address this conversation where we can have this conversation as electeds, right? because Dr. Hines, you've done an incredible job, but you're not meeting with the electeds over there, right? And so, we need to have this conversation and we need to allow our community to hear us have this conversation. So, that's an ask that I have. I've asked for data and I know that there's a plan to collect data and that is critically important. We try to make evidenceinformed datadriven decisions here and we don't have good data. What we have is anecdotal data that quite frankly has been concerning which is what has led me to say we need some sort of framework in place. And so I am going to propose an amendment tonight to this that it has an end date. I would suggest July 31st of 2026, but I'm open to what that end date is. I think it should be valid for this school year and I would ask that we put an end date on it. Not that we have the opportunity to terminate it, right? But that there is a fixed end date for this so that we can have this meeting with our city council partners address some of the areas that I still have some concerns and if we can agree to a if if that amendment is passed by this board then I will support this thing. So the motion had the school year and is that >> it doesn't sufficient or >> if you Well, let me let's look at the language explicitly because when I read it the >> it doesn't >> when you read the motion you said for school year >> for the 256 I hear you but that's not what the contract says. The contract doesn't have an end date >> and it says it's effective until terminated and it can be terminated with or without cause upon 90 days written notice to the other party. This is part of the problem of using a contract instead of anou, right? Um I have advocated for anou, but nonetheless, here we are. I don't think it's that big of a deal. But I would like to change in section one that the term of the contract is and let's put an end date so that we can have this meeting reach an agreement. Okay. >> So, do we need to make a motion and have it seconded to add the amendment and then we build on the amendment? So, I'm just I'm this is our discussion period. I'm telling you that's I want to let other people talk, but before we move this forward, I'm going to make that amendment and I'm open to whatever date feels appropriate to the administration. I know we don't generally meet as a board in July. So, if you'd rather have it be August 15th or something like that, >> so you I think Are you making a motion? >> I will, but I but I did want to give other people a chance to communicate, but I can make >> You can make that motion. We have discussion. I'll make a motion that we put an end date in, but I would I really would like to hear from Dr. Hines about what you would prefer the end date to be. >> I mean, okay. So, first of all, then let's do do you have an end date? Can I speak to that and then then we'll make the motion with that in mind? >> Well, it makes sense to me that the end date be June 30th of 2026 because before June 30th, 2026, the school year would have ended. We would have compiled the data to do a a real um synopsis of what did the school year look like and then we present that to the board and then you all can make an informed decision based on data how we move forward >> and that contract would be then we would look at that presumably at August board meeting since we opened in July. >> Correct. So, right. So, it would say for this to Well, yes. Oh, what? >> Because you can vote on it before the end. We could Yep. Yep. Yep. Now, I get that. But we would say June 30th. All students would be finished by June 30th. We wouldn't have a need for an SRO any of our buildings after June 30th by any means. It would be before that, but anyways, but that would be the deadline. So the proposed language that you're suggesting is >> would be to change paragraph one term of contract. I think the termination language that it can be terminated at any time should stay in there. But it says this contract shall commence on October 1st, 2025 and remain in full force in effect unless terminated as provided herein. I would say until June 30th, 2026 or unless terminated as provided here. >> Okay. So, it is recommended that the board approve an a um a >> an amended contract. >> Amended contract. >> Um well, we're approving the amendment first. >> Yes. >> Approve the amendment. >> Right. >> This amendment. >> You're moving the Yes. So, you're moving the amendment. >> Yes. >> Um with the language. G. Did you get that? >> Yep. >> I will second the amendment. >> Okay. And will you please reread that statement then so that everybody's good? We've had a second and I want to reread it if I have a discussion. >> Yep. Um, okay. So, the it is recommended the board approve an amendment for an end date of June 30th, 20 26 to be added to the term of termination. Um, where oops I lost it. basically after any time like the >> so it would say explicitly this agreement shall commence on October 1st 2025 and remain in full force in effect >> until >> June 30th 2026 >> unless >> or unless terminated. >> Is everybody clear on that language? Does anybody need to be okay? Any discussion on that language? >> Yeah, go ahead. >> I don't have discussion. Uh, I agree what S says, but I have a question. >> Okay. But on this language first, is it >> the language is okay? >> I mean on this on this contract date because that's what we're talking about right now. That's the discussion. It's on this amendment. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> That's what I'm discussing. >> Okay. >> And I I I say I completely agree with Sir, but what if they say no? What's going to happen? Because they're already here. That's the question. >> Then then we have then we have to come back with a new contract. They wouldn't ratify this. I'm guessing they're going to put the city. >> I can't imagine >> what are the >> Yeah, >> I think I think we're operating investment like whatever. I I think they'll probably we can't predict, but I think the the common understanding is that there would probably be an agreement. There's no harm or benefit besides the fact that we'd reopen this discussion. I think I think I think we've asked for that. So, >> we have a 90 90-day opt out in here that they agreed to for any reason. So, or no reason. >> Y Okay. Yeah, I just >> I feel I I mean >> I don't think this is that different from >> on a technical level. Yes, we're just we have to come back and we have we won't get this approved. Okay. So, any more discussion on that? Then all those in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed? Passes 60. Okay. Great. So, that has been adopted. There was discussion that we had on the issue itself. Was there any additional discussion? >> Uh yes. So um this was very difficult and I learned a lot and I do appreciate um so there's you there are things that you know things that you don't know and then things that you don't know you don't know and there are a lot of things that I didn't know I didn't know when we had this conversation so I really appreciate it. Um, I do want as director Davis talked about some of the things that came up in the study session when Representative Yuim, who is my representative, um, because I lived in her district, reached out to me to ask me about SRO's and my feelings about them, one of the conversations that we had is the the importance of the training. And so I appreciate that Dr. Hines has notified us that the SRO and building administrators will be trained at the same time and so they're part of that conversation. And I guess my ask is that um not only the data accountability as far as incidents and things like this go, but I also want somehow some accountability built into that so that I so that we as a board either know what the training looks like, who approved the training. Um you had mentioned in the study session the group that would be doing it. Dr. seconds do you remember that you did or is it just going to be us? >> It's us and we're walking through our student um behavior expectations and belonging. >> Right. So, I just I think that as a what where I would feel comfortable um is that if I knew what that training was and that there's an accountability piece um for not just our administrators but also our educators as an educator in the classroom. Um, it is essential that I know as much as I can possibly know. I know that there are cases that there are limits to what I can know as a as a classroom teacher. Um, but I have so I I also wanted to make a couple things clear. I have seen the benefit of an SRO program um in developing relationships with students. So there's no doubt in my mind um that there are SRO's in this world that are doing right by kids and doing right by by districts. Um the lack of data is frustrating and and having that. I also um did we talk to kids? Did we re did you I know that you have an advisory a student advisory council and then so does principal Paddock and did the kids give feedback on this? I I got feedback from teachers and from principles, but I don't remember getting feedback from students. >> We haven't pulled students this year in regards to the program um anecdotally in in formal conversations, >> right? >> There's some data that way, but >> that's what I thought. >> I think previous data I think has shown some general >> support. I think when um Dr. Osai was here during his interactions and um working meetings with students there was favorable data for SRO >> for his advisory council. I remember >> yes. >> Um so that's what I I mean that would might be another area that maybe our board representatives could take on just to get some feedback from that. But I think um it is an uncomfortable contract when you're looking at some of the languages and you're taking into consideration. And so a lot of my faith is in the training and the practice and the accountab account accountability measures that we put into place. Um I think it's important as a as a board because we're all passionate about this particular topic. Um that we make it really super clear what those accountability sort of strands are. Um if it's an a yearly report and we review our policies. um you know some policies we don't look at for three years and then some policies we need to look at every year. So that would be those would be my asks. I also just want to say that um in no way for at least for me does this is this necessarily a reflection on how I feel about the St. Louis Park police. I mean, I think that they have frequently been um very responsive to the needs of community members, including my own. Um I think though, and I and I like our vision and mission of the city and what they're working towards, and I think that this is um just one more step in developing a good relationship with community public safety. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other comments? Dr. Abbraham, did you have anything you wanted to add at this point? >> I think my colleagues say all >> Yeah, I want to go. >> I feel very similar and like I said, I think we've had a lot of good discussions. >> Something. It's fine. No, no. I mean, I agree with a lot of things that that said that Virginia. So Terra said um I think I said last time that I I we are already operating under having SRO in the building and we're operating under the statute that is listed in here like those are that's the law right now and we have SRO's in our buildings operating under the law. So to me, I think kind of Sarah said this, it's just really important that we have something in place and it is not perfect, but that we have something in place that then down the line in one year, less than a year, right, we can get numbers, we can get data, we can get, you know, student student feedback and all of those things and look at this again. Um, I just I that is my like plea to you all is that you you all do that. um and and you and I mean I think especially with respect to the like the boundary between school discipline and police work, right? Like the statute is badly written probably intentionally, but it's the statute nonetheless and we're operating under it. So I like I totally feel you and like I think I just we need to have something in place now. Um yeah, so that's I think that's >> I I think the one thing that I'll add is I think that was missing from the discussion today that we had a lot in the study session and that Dr. Hines has put some effort into is talking about training and some of the things that we would be doing with those with those people in our buildings and we have I think some good things in place and some good models and continue to improve in all of those areas. I'm just really proud of that and I think that's what people kind of the sense that I got from people is like yes we want these police officers also to feel like they're part of our community and they should feel and that's one of the ways that they do that by having those conversations by understanding by going through the training by understanding the same rules that that all of our employees work under. So that seemed really important. The other thing that we haven't talked much about tonight is about the city council. I did have city council members who reached out to me and said tell me more. I want to understand this. And I think there was to to your point um Sarah that like I think there want lots there there's an interest in having a conversation. I think there's some some interest and so I think we'll I think we'll find that they welcome that and um they also we haven't talked about this but other school districts do pay for this service as well and the city has once again stepped up and said that that this would not be at a cost for us. Um I think that's how it should be always anyways. Um but um I do really respect that. So there's been those were a couple other things from sort of the city perspective that I just want to make sure that were reflected here as well. But I appreciate and echo a lot of what I heard from the board as well tonight. So um any further discussion? >> I wish I mean the discussion we have you know couple weeks ago would be online and people will see how we discuss those things because now we we are saying that but they don't have reference to go back to We can look into that too as well. All right. But any further discussion then all those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? >> Thank you. >> Okay. So we have five to one. It passes. Thank you. Um this brings us up. Thank you everybody for all your work on this really amazing work. Thank you. 8 C um policy development policy 627 school volunteers. Policy 627 school volunteers procedures. It says director Magnuson, but I don't think you're involved with this at all. And the agenda that I have um I think this was a little bit we heard from uh Director Suku and I think um director Davis and from Superintendent Hines. I don't know if there's anything further. This is just rescending language and it's been address. So unless there's anything further Oh, I didn't I didn't let me ask this. So let me make sure that's brought to people. It is recommended that the school board resend 627. This is just a vote part. 627 school volunteers and 627 school volunteers procedures from the district's policy manual. We have a motion to do that. So, okay, we have a we have a motion and a second. Okay, thank you. All right, now discussion. Any further discussion about this? This is seems easy peasy. All right, then. All those in favor say I. Any oppose? Passes 6. Board member updates. What do people have? Go. Um, it's been busy. We haven't been here, but it's been busy. Um, was grateful to be able to participate in the staff welcome back day. So, thank you for the invitation and just a lot of gratitude to staff for a strong start to the school year. Um, it's, you know, it's a busy, challenging time of year and um, I can just say I'm just, uh, I've had an opportunity to talk with a lot of community members recently about our schools and um, folks are feeling really good. So, I'm hearing just a lot of really positive things. So, and I'm grateful also as a parent for the incredible work of the school staff. Um, also got to go to student welcome back. Um, which was very fun. Um, both in elementary school and the high school. Homecoming was a blast. Um, been to some PTO. So, it's just been a busy September's busy. It's been a busy start to the year. Um, I just want to finish by saying mashova to our Jewish community. Um and Gamar Hatima Tova which is uh for Yom Kapor which is coming up on Thursday um the family and friends and neighbors. So thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, we have a 100th birthday party next week for the Lenox Community Center. And if you didn't know, 50 years of Lenox was um an elementary school and it has been our senior center community center for 50 years. Um which is pretty cool. So um October 6th, which is Monday, um from 4:00 to 7:00, we're having a kickoff celebration with food and reception and there's tours and there's some fantastic pictures from Linux history. Um I got to go to the historical society and like root through class pictures and that was super fun. Um, and our board chair and I believe Mayor Muhammad are also going to both give some remarks at 5:00 PM. And then there's also events all week next week. So, it's kind of a 100th anniversary week. There's, um, tours, there's drawings, there's all kinds of, um, there's a dance. So, um, check out the post about this and come to Lox on Monday to to see 100 years of history. direct. >> Oh, you go in the line. >> I'm just going I just went this way. Yeah. >> Okay. Yeah. So, uh I went to couple events. Uh I think my first one I don't know which one they go but I was in BSI events. That was first time for me. You know, I met director uh Davis was there. Uh I went also to Akola two times. as a parents too. And uh it was fun last week too because my my son was fifth grade. So like I have to stay till the end because he say this is the last year for me in Angola. So I we have to stay next year is going middle school. Um I also went to you know middle middle school to I think though I'm not in the ballot but I was engaging like that. I'm running but you know I'm glad to to connect all these things and I'm I'm willing I'm also planning to attend Linux you know that was a great difference I know I want more but I I don't recall but I think that's that number so it was great >> um it feels like a lifetime ago for me but um in August I got the chance to attend the uh lead conference uh leading in equity, action and diversity at the UFM. Um it's a fantastic wonderful opportunity to uh to immerse yourself in uh with educators and and what equity and education uh can look like. I thought it was uh super valuable. And I think one of the things that stuck out for me um is, you know, the SLP uh was well represented there. Um, we appear to be an institution at the U of M. And I think that speaks to a level of like recognized excellence and recognition for our forward thinking innovative programming uh that sees equity and excellence as one in the same. Um, and I especially want to give a shout out to, you know, the staff who were there and including Dr. Sylvia Lafayette and the alumni and students that presented um an extremely inspirational window into the wonderful talent and passion that St. Louis Park is putting out into our country and our world. Um just fantastic. Um I also had a chance to check out the rainy but always wonderful reading festival launch event uh at Peter Hobart. Um loved to see all the bubbles. Uh the community resources tableabling at the event was wonderful as always and informative. Love to see the kids and the community come out even on a rainy uh day that looked like at any point it was about to to thunder but it was still well attended. Um and I am already looking forward to next year's event. Uh and I'm hoping we'll have better weather. Um, oh, and last thing, uh, Peter Hobart, uh, their community night for their PTO is, uh, next week, October 6th at 6. So, excited to check that out. I don't remember September because I went back to school. Um, but I did participate in so many things, I don't even remember what they were because I just was always busy. Um, but I will highly recommend that anytime you're going to go to an elementary school, bring stickers because I was the most popular person for the fifth graders and under for that short amount of time. And >> nice chair is pretty much draw though, too. >> It is okay. I'm not getting that. I'm not getting that. But, um, no, the stickers were great. Um, I also may have had or have a personal connection to the team that we played for homecoming. And um, my colleagues said how how impressed they were with the stadium. They kind of went on and on about that and on um because we're trying their economy is also trying to pass a referendum today or this year. But um the thing that I really took to heart was how much they were impressed with our student fans and how um they they were like wow. And then they wanted to know if they always wear overalls and I was like to be honest with you I don't think so because of the company but they were really um so they were very very uh complimentary. They also gave me a little bit of a hard time as well. >> All right. Anything else? Yeah, >> I just forgot one because like when I was reading today the board agenda, I know normally we don't talk about con agenda but I am seeing some wonderful people who who've been in our district for 35 years 25 years and I'm hoping you know they do important jobs like custodians and I hoping in sometime you'll be able to remember them upcoming boarding longtime staff. What's that? >> We can mention family conferences. >> Family conferences. I know it's on my list of things coming up that um yeah, you guys took a lot of there. Um but uh yeah, because I was going to say the coffee with principal for at the high school is coming up on Monday morning and then uh we have Tuesday or Thursday off this week for Yakur as we were mentioning. Then Friday I believe is some uh student conference dates for the upper levels for the middle school and the Hi, just for the high school. Sorry. So, that's coming up um on Friday. Is there more you wanted to say there? Okay. Um I was going to say that um it was an honor to tour the Aquilla facilities when we had um the first day of school there. I was honored to be there for I think I made it to all my first day school assignments this year. Um thank you. But it was super fun. um everything from just kids in elementary to the kindergarteners with new energy to um the high school students who didn't want to show much of any sort of pleasure but I think they felt supported. I think we >> best one was here though. >> I think we was >> the best one was here. >> Yeah. Yeah. Let's get into that. I was going to say we learned from the from the early bubbles and dance music. I think we try that at the high school next year. I think we see because I think some kids could really get into it um as well. But those it is an exciting moment. I've always said graduation is my favorite. Um but that that's got to be up there close a close second. Um, uh, I was going to say, um, on homecoming, we did get to see the new bleachers and experience the new facilities, and I'm really glad to see that the new bleachers are a sub substantial upgrade. And the bathroom spaces um, while are a little tricky to find, are still pretty um, they're a huge upgrade, especially from our what we had last year. Um, and so I want to thank um, Director Magnuson and Jim Langan for all that work and and our athletic group for making sure everything was ready for that, right? It was a pretty big deal and stuff. So, and there's another opportunity to experience that if you want to come out. We had great turnout for homecoming and I'd like to see that energy return for this Friday's game. We're back here at home um, to play there as well. Um, the other thing I want to mention is we had a meeting of the athletic advisory committee which we've expanded this year. So that's beyond a board member and the AD and now we have a great representation of students, parents, um coaches, um and both the high school or the high school athletic director and middle school athletic director and got some good conversation going on there, including about conference, you know, our conference that we participate and some interest we have in looking to get into a better conference that better reflects our student body and has some other benefits to it, to um I I don't want to get deep into this, but I feel like there's some things too about how um people treat us and respect us and things like that too that could could um benefit us from a conference group. But it's been great. We'll have another meeting of that coming up soon and just appreciate people participating in that. And then as um director Mansini alluded to earlier, there's AMSD does have a legislative platform that we're working through right now that has some high level things. This is a policy year, not a a funding year. It might be a bonding year, but not a lot of funding things going to be just being addressed, but some things we might discuss. A lot of policy things. I started to bring some issues forward to see if we can get any traction on them. I'll look into some more of these, but it is one of our groups that goes out there and says, "Hey, by the way, we're doing all this work for your kids. Let's, you know, let's see that you can return something to us because we we, you know, it's not easy these days." And some people get it. Some people need some education about so um any number of things there too. So thank you. I think that's it unless anybody has anything else then I will call journ at 86. Thank you.