Say you say that space for a while. Good evening everyone. Um, I am going to My name is Virginia Mancini. I am chair of the St. Louis Park School Board and I'm going to call the February 24th regular business meeting to order at 6:32. Are you taking our Thank you. Um before we get started, we'll start with our land acknowledgement and director Williams. >> We are gathered on the land of the Dakota and Ajiway peoples. I ask you to join me in acknowledging the Dakota and Ajiway 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 this dis this school district is located. This acknowledgement demonstrates a commitment to dismantling the ongoing legacies of colonial power and the district's desire to support the ongoing work of local indigenous communities to thrive in our schools. >> Great. And now we'll move on to the approval of the agenda agenda. It is recommended that the school board approve the agenda for February 24th, 2026 as presented. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Um, Director Williams, uh, motion. And thank you, Director Cox. Um, so today I don't think we have any public comment. Is that correct? But we have some special guests. What >> did you >> No, I was just going to say what's on the agenda. This is um so public or excuse me special superintendent report with some friends and then we have some um information from business services and our financial advisory committee is here and then um we have some business items to take care of. So all those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Those opposed say no. Motion carries. I have no idea how many of us are here. Five of us. Um, and so now we are to the superintendent report and our special guests. This is exciting. >> Thank you, Chair Mancini. And I am yielding my time today to Susan Lingren. So I asked um, Principal Bang to come up so she can present some student learning from student from Susan Lingren and they're going to talk about Park Pride. >> [applause] >> All right. So, I'm not going to do very much speaking today because the really the spotlight is going to be on some of our scholars. Um, so without further ado, here are some things that are happening at Susan Lingren this school year. Um, you're going to see some themes throughout. some of the themes and things that we're really proud of is really looking at and thinking about um as a staff that they're all our kids, every single one of them and every single one of us. Um this year the adults and the students are really engaging in a lot of learning. So you'll see that show up in a couple of places and we are recognizing that all of our students and all of our adults have brilliance. So couple of our themes that will come through [snorts] um our beliefs are showing up and actually part of our beliefs is how we kind of came to I'll show share with you how students came up with their scripts for today um connected to our beliefs and connected to our portrait of a learner. So students got a special set of prompts and I'll show those to you in just a second. But there's only I was told we only had 10 to 15 minutes and a picture is worth a thousand words. I couldn't bring the whole school here. So, you're going to get a chance to see just a few photos of some of the things happening first. All right. So, to get ready for today, I asked these students to answer one of these questions. Some of them answered more than one um to share with us a little bit about their learning at school this year. And some of us aren't as tall as Miss Bang, so I brought a chair over so that they can step up and share with you their scripts. All right. And they will introduce themselves to you. Our first student was not able to come in person and so we're going to share a video of Selma. An activity that was challenging for me in third grade was our flashlight project. It was hard because I wanted it to be perfect. When I got down on myself, I remember what Miss Failen, our language teacher, told me. She said, "If you misspell, it's okay." And Ms. My third grade teacher reminded us to breathe in and breathe out to get through tough things. In the end, it wasn't so bad and I was happy with my drawing. All right, your turn. Okay, go ahead. Why don't you climb up here so you can reach because otherwise they won't be able to see you. Okay. Okay. Can you climb up on the chair? You climb up. Climb up here. Okay. There you go. There you go. And then lean way forward. Jose. >> [snorts] >> This year we did a supermarket project. It was about learning how to add money. I use a car with as much money as I want. I followed the rules. Even though I didn't know much English, the first round was difficult for me. I try to do it right, but I think I did it wrong. As the rounds as the rounds went by, I realized that it doesn't always ha have to be perfect. I just had to keep trying until I could do it. The more times I tried, the better I felt, and I felt more hopeful until I finally got it. I felt confident that one day I would be able to do it correctly. This project gave me hope that I can do difficult things. Do you want to say your name and what grade you are in? No. >> Do you want to tell us your name and what grade you're in? >> Okay. >> I am Donna Arlet Navas Marabia and I am a a third grader. [applause] >> All right. Before our next presenter goes, we want to share with you a little intro. Hello Susan Lingren families. Today I have some fourth graders here with me who are super professionally dressed because chance to go to Biztown and we are excited to hear all about it. So can you tell us first of all what is Bistown? >> Bistown is an experience where students go to somebody having a job and they >> Awesome. Thank you so much for telling us about that. Um, so you have a job for today. What were each of your jobs? Do you want to introduce yourselves and tell us what your job was for today? Let's go around the circle. >> My name is Jaden and my job was CFO of Carill. >> My name is My name is Aar and I was the CEO of West Bank. My name is Ellie and I was the CFO of the bank. >> My name is Joanie and I was the manager at UPS. >> So cool. Awesome. Um, what else should all of our families know about Bistown? >> Uh, that it was really fun and that everybody they got a chance to have a job relationship was not really and that like we got we got money to buy stuff we wanted. >> And I see here it looks like >> the the you there's a quality business award for and it was the US bank. >> Awesome. Um, what else should we know about Viztown? >> Uh, we have a we had to do a lot of learning about like money, checks, savings accounts, and jobs so we would be able to go on field trip. >> Anything else? >> And goodbye mustache and sunglasses. >> Well, thank you so much to these fourth graders for telling us all about Biz Town. All right, cool. >> My name is Zev Estrin and I am in the fourth grade. A few weeks ago, my class went to Bistown. My teacher said that it was the first time Susan Lingren had gone to Bistown. My job was an inclusivity trainer. Um, I had to go around Biztown and do an accessibility audit to make sure it was welcoming, welcoming, and accessible for everyone. That job taught me to think about other people's needs and make sure everyone feels included. It helped me understand how important it is to create spaces where everyone belongs. Bistown also challenged me. One of my responsibilities was to give a quiz to all the CEOs, but all of them were on break during my work time. Even though I tried hard, I wasn't able to reach all of them. That experience taught me about problem solving and staying flexible when things don't go as planned. I learned that sometimes you do your best even if everything doesn't work out perfectly. Thank you for the opportunity to share my learning. [applause] I don't think so either. Good evening. My name is Henry M and I'm a fifth grade student. One learning experience I'm most proud of that shows my brilliance and high expectations for myself is playing low ball in gym class. Mrs. S teaches us the right techniques like stepping with the opposite foot when we throw. And she sets up the space so we can all be successful. I've practiced a lot and I've improved my skills. This experience has helped me feel like a dreamer and innovator because I set a goal for myself and worked hard to reach it. In fourth grade, we did a music project called Elder Wisdom. We interviewed an elder about their life story and turned their lessons into a song. This project helped me become a connector because I had to listen with empathy and communicate with an open mind. It also showed authentic community engagement because we honored someone's story and learned from their experiences. I learned that everyone's voice matters and that we should share our collective responsibility to help each other feel valued and included. [applause] >> Hello, my name is Lily and I'm a fifth grader in Miss Bank's class. Spotlight is an after school theater activity that runs from 2:05 to 400 p.m. In Spotlight, kids sing and dance to some of our favorite Disney musicals. Spotlight is a favorite among third to fifth graders because it gives us the chance to act, sing, dance, and create together. Over 100 kids participate each year. I have been in three of the amazing musicals, Finding Nemo, The Lion King, and Alice Rillian, which is the one for now. Through these performances, I have learned many important lessons like understanding the perspective of every role and realizing how important each student is in making a musical come to life. Every part matters. I have also seen how hard kids work to make to show each other their very best. I think spotlight gives kids the opportunity to express themselves, build confidence, and support one another. It is a special experience that brings our school community together. [applause] All right. I also have one of my um partners in crime here with me, our instructional coach, Kim McVey. Well, that's hard following that act. They did awesome. Um I'm here to talk about the adult learning. Um we worked collaboratively with um the the um classroom teachers um and we taught um the instructional assistance. They took a vital role in our intervention. um an intervention, reading intervention this year. Um the instructional assistants went through about 10 about 10 sessions of training and they learned um using the FastBridge site, using the um the screeners, the reading screeners. Also, they um they also um instructed um students as well too in small groups. And um they also did progress monitoring. And um I want to share some we're going to we have a quick um video that we're going to share with you. Unfortunately, our instructional assistant couldn't be here. Um but um she was our gym teacher last year and she didn't do any academics. So part of our learning, our instructional assistants became a vital part of our um academics and learned more about our curriculum so that they can um be um partners and they are awesome. We um tapped into some really good resources. So, I want to share that with you. This is um Tessa. She'll be in the video. She's a second grader and I just want to highlight that she was one of the students that needed some academic acceleration and she worked for about 30 minutes daily with an instructional assistant and she made some amazing progress and her parents have noticed that she um is doing much better reading and she's um very confident in her reading right now. So, um >> I actually think she wanted to be here. >> She did want to be here. So, >> yes. Yes. Um she did want to be here and her grandparents and everybody too, but she'll get to see this. So, I'll click that. >> I'm thinking of you, Tessa. >> Yes. Okay. I think I clicked the wrong thing. How can I get there? >> Go back here. >> Give us a minute. Is it double click? I'm thinking the video link is probably a broken link is my guess. >> Oh, wait. It's right here. >> Oh, there we go. >> Okay. >> No, that says Corey's name. So, that's a different video. >> Okay. >> Shoot. >> All right. So, >> we can describe it, >> right? We can describe it. Okay. So, it's a word mixup um it was a word mixup um intervention. And the cool thing about this um is that our teachers actually got to learn more about FastBridge and the interventions and the resources that we have. They don't have to go to teachers pay teachers and find those interventions. So this one was um um day one, no day two where she's um reading the words, noticing the the patterns, and she gets to read a couple sentences and then a passage. And um but unfortunately I can't show that to you. But um our instructional assistants have confidence and they um they are really take it very seriously. They do homework. I'm like, "No, you don't have to do that." But they want to be prepared and ready to um do their very best for our students. So, thank you for listening. I'm apologize for not having the video. >> I think that's probably on me. So, we'll see if we can get it fixed so you guys can see it um at a different time if you'd like. Um, as I mentioned, I think one of the things that we're really proud of as a school system right now is just working together and to make that happen um, in different ways than it perhaps has in in the past. One of the things that we've really shifted at Susan Lingren this year is trying to not just wait till people are asking for help and looking for help, but really building a data-driven multi-tered system of support. So, an MTSS system. Um so we are using our screeners to drive some of our academic intervention and increasingly um I I think instead of thinking about it as an intervention but an acceleration plan for our students um our instructional coach is supporting not only our classroom teachers but also some of our instructional assistants to collaborate around how we might support students. Um, one of the things we're really excited about this round of screeners, we did screeners in the fall and we just finished a second round of screeners recently, is a lot of our teachers are now really excited about how can I play a different role in that support system instead of looking for someone else to support their students. Um, we're also looking at our behavioral and attendance data to drive some of the SEAL or um, social emotional learning needs of our students to think about how we support those increasing needs as well. Um, and our school social worker and our counselor kind of play a similar role to what the instructional coach does in supporting teachers in thinking about how can they support stronger tier one or tier 2 um needs for our students in that realm. And the best part about it is we're seeing the results already. So we're only what is this four, five, six months in um to making some changes. And right now our winter map um which is one of the assessments is just a screener um that our students take but it's showing really strong growth. So you can see the graph that's bordered in orange. Those little dots they're all in the high the those green ones are our dots that show students in the high growth and high achievement cortile which is something that as a school system we're super proud of. Um and it's taken all of us working really hard together to make that happen. So, that's kind of our little Park Pride moment to share with you tonight. Um, and just thank you for listening. And again, I just want to give another shout out to our students um for all they did to make this happen tonight. [applause] I don't know how this works, so if you have questions, I'm sure they'd love to answer them. So I and as you all are wrapping up, I just want to commend Principal Bang for her leadership and what she's bringing to Susan Lingren. But I also have to highlight and as I testified um what day was that? >> Wednesday last week sometime I don't know the days are running together. I testified in regards to um what our teachers are carrying. So this is a testament of how our teachers have been a positive distraction for what has been happening outside of our buildings that the students are still able to engage and connect to their learning and they're still growing and I know that that is a heavy lift for our teachers to continue to keep that focus as the world is doing its thing outside of our four walls. So, I do have to commend our teachers for their work that they are doing and lifting because it's showing. I kind of teared up a little bit over here. I hope nobody saw that. But it it is it brings me to um great pride to see our students and how they are shining. So, thank you teachers for all that you do. [applause] So, on behalf of the board, thank you so much for coming. And as an educator, I always get super excited when I see kids in the room. So, thank you so much. And maybe um you could send the video link to um >> of course >> with to Dr. Hines and then Dr. Hines can send it to the board and so that we would get a chance to see that. But thank you so much for coming in and you're welcome to stay for exciting budget talk if you want to kids. I know that. >> Yes. I did also tell them that as their principal it would be okay if they went home and went to bed. >> Yeah. [laughter] Yeah. unless you want to stay and hear about like a real biz. So, [laughter] more Biz Town. Thanks so much for coming for us. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Um and now we have more visitors coming. The financial advisory committee um is a part of our discussion. The purpose of this presentation is to advise the administration and the school board on economic and school finance um matters while fostering a community of trust. Um the financial advisory committee is just one of the many ways that we tried to get community input from others. So as we as they kind of shuffle out um you will get an introduction at the end but we're going to we're going to wait till the end I guess. So we're going to um go to Patricia. >> So okay good evening chair Mancini, Superintendent Dr. Hines and members of the board. Um, we are here to present some recommendations from the finance advisory committee. Um, I want to just start with our mission. I would love to us all read it together. St. Louis Park Public Schools sees, inspires, and empowers each learner to live their brilliance in an environment that centers student voice and experience to create racially equitable learning that energizes and enhances the spirit of our community. It's a really great reminder to start our meetings that way. Um because finance is not and shall not be a place where we don't talk about our mission, talk about students, talk about the importance of racial equity. And one of those ways is by having a budget timeline in place because we want to be transparent about our work, where we've been and where we're going. I thought this would work brilliantly. Um, and like the students, I'm learning. So, I think next time I can learn. I wanted to just show you where we're at on the budget timeline. I thought it would scroll down. Yeah, I wonder. So, you can link into that on your own, I think, from the presentation. And you can see that we're way down the road on here we go on the budget timeline. We're nearly to the place where we're starting to create budgets. So, um, way down in here, we're in the preparation area, which is we've been looking at data all, um, fall and into the winter, and now we're ready to make some recommendations so we can begin building budgets. So, back to the presentation. Um, so the budget timeline is one of the ways that we try to be very transparent and show the board along the way the number of ways that you can that you are getting involved in the budget and to show our finance advisory committee and community members how they influence the process along the way. Um, we already talked about the purpose of our committee. Um, you're going to hear a lot of recommendations tonight. You don't have to take action tonight. the um staff will go back and mull over the recommendations and then bring a final sec of set of budget recommendations to the board in March for action and then we'll get the budget built for your June action. There is a link this whole thing in your presentation is a link to the the written document we've poured over this thing. It's doing the same thing. I thought it would be more be beautiful, but it's a several page document that we edited every page of over a couple of meetings um this winter. And so the details behind our recommendations are there. Um and here's our list of recommendations. Um I'm going to talk about a few of them. Josiah Nebo, our director of business services, will talk through a few and Cody Christensen, our senior accountant, will talk through a few of them. And then we'll have time. We have some of our members, our committee members here tonight that will just talk to you about the the um their reflections on the work. And I am going to turn it over to Josiah. >> All right. >> Thank you, Director Magnus. Hi, board members. Um I'm Josiah Neble, director of business services. Um I'm here to present a couple of the recommendations from the finance advisory committee. Um our first recommendation regarding the round fund balance percentage. So um we want to um develop an expenditure budget that ensures an unreserved fund balance of at least 8%. And in doing that we also want to consider a long-term strategy to increase the fund balance to 12 through 16%. Um, a few notes on this slide. Um, the reason why we want to increase our fund balance, it is so important. So, we we're just not planning on setting money aside just to sit idle. We want to have the flexibility in case for unforeseen expenses that might come up. So if for example, if we have a $10 million fund balance sitting in the bank, if everything held constant, that's additional four teachers we can hire every year just by having the healthy fund balance. It also serves as a financial uh buffer for protection against um disruption in state funding or federal funding. Um it provides the district with optionality and flexibility. So if we do need a cut budget, we don't have to do it all in one year. we can be flexible and strategic and intentional on how we do things. Um, and then in the in some extreme cases where we do have a catastrophic loss of funding from like say the federal government, it just it buys us time. We don't have to react instantly. Uh, let's see. Uh, again, so this graph just shows the history of our fund balance and how it's been declining. Um, if I have any math teachers in here, they can they can tell you that this is bad, you know. [laughter] Um, so we we have uh in the past couple years, we have stabilized, but as you can see, we have work to do to get that U-shaped recovery so we can get back at least to that 12 to 16%. So, six years ago, six, seven years ago, we were almost at 30%. And by as expenses increase and by intentionally drawing down fund balance, we are where we are today. And our [snorts] second budget recommendation around uh fund balance is to maintain a structurally balanced budget. Um what that means is the budget we present to you here in a couple of months um revenue is in the equal total expenditures. In the past, we've been doing the opposite. Uh so that's going to help stabilize and protect the fund balance. It's going to avoid structural deficit. Um support strong credit rating and lower our borrowing costs as well as preserve flexibility amid enrollment, economic and cost pressures. It also demonstrate discipline and stewardship of public funds. Recommendation number three. Um we really don't have that much input because the the state says this guideline. Um but we are recommending that the formula the funding formula increase by 2.69% as it didn't in statute. And for enrollment I will hand it back to Patricia. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um you as you remember that student enrollment formula is new and just reminding us all to remind our legislators how important that connection to inflation. It's our second year and so maybe we don't have to be recommending about that in the future if we start to feel strongly about um the thought that that will stay in law. So, we're recommending um a student um number for next year of 4,460 students. And we use that number of students to set revenue because we apply it to all of the formulas that are applied to revenue. And then for our staffing projections, we use grade level enrollment to um determine our staffing numbers for the following year. One of the things we want to just remind us is that the an important thing about student enrollment is to try to figure out how to hold our student capture rates. Meaning the number of students that live in St. Louis Park and choose to stay here in St. Louis Park public schools and make this their their choice for education. We use a um traditionally we had used a seven-year cohort survival model which just means how long does a how does a cohort of students survive into the following year? Do families move away? Are they choosing other school districts? Um and last year we made a recommendation to just use the postcoid years for our survival and then to add one year. So last year we were using three-year previous data. This year we've expanded to fouryear and that makes the number 4,460 our projection for next year which will become like the third year where enrollment will be increasing. This is what the statistics are telling us should happen next year. Um many things can happen to interrupt that. There's a lot going on in our community and a lot of our communities across the state of Minnesota, but our discipline around this is to stick with the model until we until we know more um about the changes. This is a slide that you saw back in November about the student capture rate. And just to remind us that a lot of families live in St. Louis Park who are not choosing St. Louis Park public schools. That's where our opportunity lies. Um, and there's lots of ways that we brainstormed about number one being persist in improving academic outcomes. That's the number one way to improve our enrollment. Um, Cody is going to talk to you about student fees. Hello. I think I've met most of you, but if not, I'm Cody Christensen, the senior accountant here. Uh so if you think about it, you know, Patricia, Josiah, me. Um so anyway, recommendation number five, uh from the FAC, uh is about student fees and essentially uh all of them, all student fees, meal prices are going to stay the same, uh with the exception of the high school parking, uh which is an annual fee. Um we're going to bump that up from $100 to $200, um which is perfectly in line with surrounding districts. In fact, I can show that I think. >> Yeah, it's I got it. Tada. It's going to bug me if it's not perfect. I'm sorry. All right. [clears throat] So, you can see here the average from surrounding districts is $248. So, setting our new annual rate to $200 is right within that limit. Oh, it made it sub full screen. I didn't even need to do that. That was cool. Anyway, recommendation number six, districtwide fee structure. This is actually one that I worked on. Um, that's essentially just across the uh community ed, athletics, uh, meal prices, etc. Um, you know, we have about, I actually wrote it down, four different vendors, uh, that parents or families can use. Um, and whether or not the credit card fees from those are eaten by the district or paid by, uh, the family themselves, uh, you know, varies. And so recommendation number six is just to uh simplify all of that and try and get it in line and standardize it. >> And now recommendation number seven, it's back to Patricia. >> Um this is around class sizes. This number has not changed in, you know, as long as I've known. So these are the guidelines that we use for class sizes. If you click into the that hot link there around guidelines, it will show you that our class sizes that we actually report are in every grade level lower than this. So, we don't staff to try to maximize our our class sizes. We use this as a guideline because of the way students show up in cohorts. We can't always stay um you can't always get 23 students in every classroom, but we try to stay below them. we know that we have some um outliers in all cases, high and low. Along with that recommendation, this is where it was really helpful to have a couple of teachers in the room this year. We had and we have one teacher here tonight that will speak a little later. We're really thankful to have their perspective in the room. What we want to make sure we pay attention to this year, our recommendation is that we reduce the variability of class sizes at mostly the high school and middle school level so that we're more transparent. We make sure that we're clear about all kinds of things and that we're paying attention to low enrollment courses and know that and that the community knows that. And we want to improve staffing predictability in all kinds of different ways. So, those are some things that we will take back as an administrative team and pursue as we're doing our staffing and communicating about class sizes. Um, and Cody's going to talk just about this last recommendation and then we'll have a few reflections from our community members who I think are the most important to hear from. It's me again. Hello. Um so essentially recommendation number eight is just to uh focus on understanding and addressing uh the different key cost drivers that we have within the district. Um and so that's [clears throat] a lot of analyzing uh reporting um you know transparently reporting things, sharing things, making things user friendly so that uh district leadership uh can make more informed financial decisions. um things like that. We have a new budgeting tool we've been working with. Um we've been making these new monthly school board reports. Um things like that. So just keeping on that and focusing on where the big costs are and making sure that we're keeping an eye on it is recommendation number eight. And now we're on to the good part. Member reflections. We're going to start with I'll let him introduce himself. Yeah. Yeah. >> Appreciate it. >> You guys gave a teacher a microphone and told him to only talk for 30 seconds. Um Yeah, I know. I know. Uh my name is Peter Dfield. Uh I teach physics at the high school, but more importantly, I have a a seventh grader in the district and a fourth grader in the district. I'm just reflecting on my time with the committee. Um, given that I only have 30 seconds, I implore you guys to give an opportunity for these experts to help, right? Like we are trying to increase capture rate. We're trying to keep cost down. We're trying to do all these things. These people have wonderful ideas. Teachers have wonderful ideas. They are experts in fields that we could never be experts in. And so with my 30 seconds, I'm just going to say I have been sitting with some people who have brilliant ideas. And if we actually want to make change, if we actually want to somehow save money, build the budget, do everything else, you need to give these people a chance to try their ideas. Hi, I'm Katherine Chan, um, one of the FAC committee members, and, um, just a little bit in 30 seconds for me to share. Um, something that really surprised me in my learning process was, um, hearing the term a spaghetti bowl of noodles. Um, and that just is about the all of the different legislative bills that have this that's attached to this that's attached to this. And for someone or the entity that is the school district to try and untangle and make sure that they're checking the boxes in all those different categories is such a daunting task in and of itself. Is that it? [laughter] And my hope is that we have some leveraging of community capacity. so that we can use volunteers and interns and all those kinds of things rather than having to draw down our budget to do that. >> I am Callie Ree. I'm a district parent and had the opportunity to serve this year. Um, this experience deepened my understanding of how interconnected and externally driven school finances truly are. So much of the budget is shaped by factors outside of our control. Enrollment trends, state funding formulas, and fixed costs, which make the decisions you are all making um even more [clears throat] significant. Um this process reinforced to me how connected we all are to this work. Families, staff, board members, community members care deeply about our schools and we want to show up in ways that strengthen and support the district. Um, I think my one of my biggest takeaways was the enrollment in particular, which reminded me that community confidence really matters. Um, as parents and community members, we are ambassadors for our district. The way we speak about and support our schools contributes directly to long-term stability. Recent events reinforced how quickly circumstances can affect district finances. From attendance related funding shifts to added support costs, these pressures are real and often unpredictable. Financial stability and flexibility allow our district to respond nimly in these challenging moments while protecting the student experience. As you consider these recommendations, I encourage you to continue leading with that same balance of fiscal discipline, student- centered focus. The work is complex, but it matters deeply, and strong stewardship now positions our district not to just navigate challenges, but to thrive. Honestly, it's not our intention to be rude to you. We're just also conscious or at least I am conscious of the fact that we have staff here who are, you know, have to get home to their families and things like that. We do want to hear from you. We're just trying to keep it sort of tight so that we can have efficient meetings. So, we did not mean to be rude, but that we are trying to kind of clip out a pace out of respect for our um our staff that are here. Thanks. And I'm excuse me, [clears throat] I'm Patrice Howard, executive director of community education. And I also get the opportunity to serve on this committee. I have for the past four years at some capacity. And I have to say like this committee is absolutely amazing to be able to connect with young people, parents, and staff to just hear their voice, their curiosity, their engagement. Specifically speaking to recommendation number six, um community education is reviewing a new vendor uh for our registration process and their voice has mattered in this process. So I just want to thank them. Um it's just really been an incredible experience. Thanks. >> So that's um the presentation. We will be back with recommendations next month and then with the budget in June. Thank you. >> Awesome. Thank you so much for coming in. We really appreciate it. And if you didn't get a chance to share your full thought, please um send it to either Dr. Hines or myself and we'll make sure that it gets to the board. So we are going to transition over to Oh, >> are we doing >> Oh, we can ask questions. So, we are going to take home questions. So, we're not transitioning yet. So, don't run away just yet. But I do want to Thank you all for the presentation. I have many questions but I will limit myself to just one. um the class size recommendation. Um why is it that the recommendation for what we set as um sort of the cap it seems to be sort of significantly higher than where we actually average in practice. Um I just I'm trying to understand the disconnect there. >> It's by design. So, and I think of those as targets and not caps. So, they're not basements or floors or ceilings. It's just a target. And so, when we um lay out the number of students, let's say there's a 100 students and we're trying to get to 25. Four teachers, that's easy. But let's say there's um any difference among that 10 more students. Do we go above the 25? In general, we never do that. We target below the number. It's been by design that we would add a staff member and a cohort in the for the most part instead of subtracting one and making it 28 per classroom instead of 25. So, it's just a practice that we do when we're staffing. It's never perfect. There's a rare classroom that's exactly hitting that target, but it's a way to sort of guide our staffing numbers. We try to never go over 30 in an elementary classroom. you know, there's just some of those nuances. We sometimes will look at what what's happening with performance of students, um what's happening with behaviors of students when we consider whether we could go higher or lower. And um we're hoping to just be more transparent about those conversations um over the next year. So nothing's really changing in the numbers, but we're you're revealing the very thing that's it's difficult to talk about how you exactly get to the numbers um when cohorts don't show up in easy classroom sizes. >> Um thank you for that explanation. I think maybe I'll follow up with just some more detailed questions. For example, I just would note like I know this year um when enrollment increased, there were a couple weeks at the beginning of the school year where we had larger class sizes. I believe it was at the middle school and there was a lot of work that went into shuffling. >> Um and so I think it would just be helpful to gain a clear understanding, but I recognize our time limits. The only other thing I'll just say is Josiah, thank you for talking about the um the uh fund balance and I will follow up with you. I do have another question, but I I won't do it. And >> and just to remind you that these are just recommendations that we can consider and you we may or may not adopt them as part of the final budget, but it helps us to to guide a group of really informed and in interested folks. Um wanted to highlight these things for you. >> Just a quick one more quick question. Sorry. Um, so I uh I recognize that the uh the balance budget recommendation is is new for this year. Can you expand upon how that kind of fits in also with the the first >> Yeah. You know, you might have noticed that we it might have felt a little more backed off from the let's grow that fund balance to 12 to 16% um instead of just holding it at 8%. Last year we said let's actively move it to 12 to 16. And I think the committee's thinking is that if we can show discipline around bringing forward a balanced budget, because we have been disciplined for four years in a row, even though you saw and boards intentionally bought down that fund balance over time to hold off on making budget cuts, we've proven that we can balance the budget. And so the committee is like there's really not a huge incentive to just grow the budget if we can keep our budget balanced. But keep in mind that an 8% fund balance is just over two payrolls. It's about one month's worth of payrolls. So if we can tighten our belts and end the year above, let's just let our fund balance grow, but at least let's balance the budget. And it sort of takes the sting off the idea of cutting budgets to grow fund balance, which seems kind of it's it's awkward. It's financially sound, but maybe not sound for what we're trying to accomplish with kids. So, it's it's a way to to to change the focus off of the growing fund balance and just simply show the discipline that you can balance your budget, I think, is like the simple way to say it. >> Thank you. Okay, I think we're good and um you can always follow up with Patricia and her team. Now, Dr. Robinson, we are to discussion item 6B, multi-tered system of supports. >> Thank you. Good evening, Chair Midi, members of the school board and superintendent Hines. My name is Constance Robinson, the executive director of student services here at St. Louis Park Public Schools and I thank you all for the opportunity um to provide you with an update of the MTSS behavior um framework. So this is one of the definitions that we used last year when we first implemented introduced um MTSS. Um it is integrated for both academic or I should say academic behaviorally and socially support. The key purpose is early systemic intervention. If we can capture what students are in need of at an early time or early pre, we'll be able to prevent students from being in a setting or a tier three. So in this pyramid and I thank the principal bang for sharing it on her slide. This is our tiered system multi-tered system function across the three tiers. is the tier one where it's 80% of our students who are receiving core instruction uh preventative behavior systems put together in the classroom and then of course strong classroom practices in place. The 15% is where many of our students may benefit from that additional support. And that additional support consists of or it could potentially consist of check and connect um targeted small groups um social skills instructions by the the core teacher. The third tier is again it's where students may the students may require I would say targeted support and here's what the targeted support may look like. It may require a student to have a behavior intervention plan. It may require wraparound services. So, you may hear or see a social worker or a counselor working with the student, right? And you may hear about a family asking or requesting for their child to meet with like a restorative um specialist in their building. So, that's part of the MTSS tier that we're working on. And again the purpose is just to give you guys an update but I wanted to make sure that I talked a little bit about the implementation the discipline trends um the MDE compliance because this is the rationale behind the MTSS. So on this slide and I know that we had a few questions um in regards to what this means and it is it's basically saying that the district is now required to reserve 15% of our funds due to a significant disproportionality of students being uh overidentified in special ed and of course dis disposition disproportion in discipline outcomes. So, as you can see, our numbers for suspension last year, and again, I will pull that data for you all, but last year at the end of the year, we had 254. The current, as of February, we're at 157. But our current data shows that our students, our African-American students are still overly identified, not just for special ed, but also for suspensions. So the RA the risk ratio shows how much more likely one or two of our groups that ratio above 1.0 means increased likelihood. The upward trend indicates widening of the gap. So this is what triggered um MDE to say uh we need to pull your data and find out what you all are doing because this isn't matching what we were looking to see our kids start to flow not just for NTSS but also making sure that we have consistency in all demographics. So in this slide this is again it's about the out of school suspension exceeding um 10 days in special ed we have 13 categories and one of the categories is developmental cognitive disability and this is one of the highest total removals the that's widening removals for the gap and we're trying to make sure that we keep eyes on it because kids are moving from a federal setting one to a two and a three. And as we're using the MTSS process, we're making sure that we look at our data to ensure that it is aligned with what we say we're doing, but also looking at our kids regardless of their race, regardless of their background, but making sure we do factual information, not feelings. And this slide, it's more in regards to again aligning the disproportionality and addressing um the causes and going back to needing to reallocate the funds um because we do have a gap and we we just need to do more about working in our systems and get those things intact. So, >> all right. So, just a little bit of background. We started we introduced implemented tier or MTSS back in July of 2024. And it started with building leaders, establishing who their teammates that were on their current teams that could potentially be the members that has the capacity to do the work. So they refined their first they refined their teams but they also started to look at the different data reviews what they had currently in place but also what they needed to implement. So we always talk about doing work with fidelity and integrity. So this is the first year in 2024 when we started to look at our current data to say what are some of the gaps and then begin to open things up to the larger group and then go back into their spaces to say we need to start working on these um the gaps when it comes to data decisions and just making sure that we're recording what we say we're going to do for our kids. So last year we set up a high like we had this goal and that was to decrease the um number of special ed students or students being re referred to special ed by 20%. As you can see the outcome, we decreased it by 53%. And it was very intentional because we had our eyes on it like every week and we were doing a lot of, you know, spot-checking to make sure that if a staff member or one of our building leaders were asking for a student to move into special ed, it is where's the six to eight weeks of data? And again, it's not about a feeling that, hey, Constance is trying to tell us to do these different things. No, it is we need to make sure that if MDE ask us specific questions about what's our process, we can say we provided well documented tier 1 2 3 for our students before the students were referred into special education. Okay. So here this is what we've been strengthening. So we we launched this great this long again it's 20% to make sure that we're looking at our suspensions. But here's what we're strengthening now. This is our year two. We're strengthening everything we have. So for the crisis prevention intervention, each building leader has been trained. Each building leader and their special education teams have been trained. In a couple of our buildings, we have some of our gened staff members that have been working with students that have been trained. We have our restorative practice uh circles that take place in some of the settings. it look different where some of our students may have a they call it a check and connect but they also have like a morning meeting. So it looks different at every site but it's still considered a restorative conversation a restorative connection. Then we started to look at um some of the areas where we know that we need the funding and that was the mental health right the mental health in a trauma inform has been an issue and an area where we need to improve for decades but now more than ever because a lot of our students are coming in with high needs and I must commend our teachers our building leaders everyone that's been trying to get this work done by utilizing their social workers their school counselors um their restorative practice members members um even members from the community and just certain people that the kids may have a better rapport at. Um the other piece is is that we are aligning a lot of our work with our access grant to make sure that we doing a lot of preventative measures to support our students. So those are some of the things that we're strengthening for. Do >> you want to explain access real quick? >> It is the alternative delivery of services. So it's another plan for us to prevent. So that's where we look at the focal kids that may have been uh MCA in the red, right? It is how do we get them to the yellow? How do we get them to the green to the blue? So we take that group and continue to work with them so that we can see the improvements and once they cross that threshold, it's like okay now we can work on another group. But that's where access come in. It's a preventive is preventative fundings that we receive. Okay. um in this area. This is where I would like to come back to you all on March 6 to give you more um disagregated data so that we can have not just the race but more of the race, the grades um and even the classroom or the building so that you're aware of who our students are and what how many referrals that they've had, how many students had incidents. those incidents are considered anything that was referable for a student to be removed from the classroom. So these are the data points that I'm going to share or come back to you all back to on March 6. Okay. And this last slide, I want to make sure that we go back to the third slide that I shared, which was part of the 15% that we have been told by MDE to um sustain or hold on to so that we can have better outcomes for our kids. So, we had the opportunity to partner with um the African-American culture liaison. And since she's been working with us, here are some of the things that she has been doing. um she's been working as our tier three at um our K5 uh buildings, building those relationships with not only the families but the staff and connecting with the building leaders on recommendations but also being like a thought partner when it's time for them to either meet with the family to say here are some of the different things that the family may have shared that are culture related and they take that input to start to work with the kids because that that too has been reducing the barriers um for access and opportunity. So that's what I have and I will provide you guys with [clears throat] updates for March 6 on the data. >> So before we get into questions, I just want to have some a little bit of transparency. As we were preparing for this update, we noticed that we have some limitations in our current student information system and the dashboards that we currently have. So, in order to um dig out pull out the disagregated data that um director Davis was asking for, it's going to have to be done manually because we don't have the current setup in our student information system and who knew it to pull that data. So, these are just some of the discoveries that we are learning as we are now using data to help inform decisions. We're learning about the gaps that we currently have in our system in order to pull the data in order to make just in time decisions. So, we're going to get you the data, but we just need a little bit of a runway. So, it will be in my weekly updates on March 6. Okay. >> Excellent. Uh, Director Cox, >> just a quick comment that I [clears throat] think as somebody who's been on this board for a while, I just wanted to note that like while some of the data is really troubling, I do see like the thoroughess of the checklist and how many things that you're doing and it's given me like another new way to think about this and just that appreciation that I don't know that I've had quite at this level here. So, just thank you. Any other just a quick note to say thank you for being willing to pull that disagregated data. I think it's, you know, we know that there's so much intersectionality here when we're talking about social education status, um, racial identity. Um, and I think for us to make informed decisions. Um, so whoever has to pull that, I'm sorry that you have to do it manually, but thank you in advance for doing it. And I think it was really important, um, it was not important, but it was, uh, really amazing that we had Susan Lingren to come in and talk about how strengthening tier one supports and strengthening classroom teachers um, and classroom, what is going on in the classroom actually has big impact on MTSS in other areas. And I think as um as a person who's sort of receiving all of the information, it can be somewhat overwhelming because it looks like these are separate ponds, but it's the same pond and they're all influent. It's a system. It all is influencing each other. And so as a educator, I'm in the system, so I get it and I'm like swimming with the stream, but it can be overwhelming to sit on the board and not understand how all of the different things that we're doing in the district is actually working towards one kind of goal here. Um, it's a big goal to make sure that our all of the brilliance of our students are coming forward with that. Any other questions? >> Awesome. Okay. Thank you so much, Dr. Robinson uh for coming. And now we are moving into our consent agenda. Um it is recommended that the school board approved the consent agenda with the following business p business and personnel items uh for the February 24th, 2026 school board meeting as presented. May I have a motion? I'll move it. >> Thank you. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Um is there I Wait a minute. Were we supposed to have discussion? [laughter] Did I got Okay, I think I got a little ahead of myself. Awesome. So, passes 50. Um, next on the action items is the American Indian annual compliance agreement and um our presenters will be Patricia Howard. So, it is recommended that the school board approve the annual compliance agreement with the Afric or the American Indian Parent Advisory Committee as presented. Do I have a motion? >> Director Cox. Second. >> Second. >> Great. All right. Director Howard >> and I would like to just correct my name. It is Patrice. >> Oh, Patrice. I'm sorry. I was in a rush. Patricia, >> I [laughter] know. I know. >> Good evening again. Um, uh, Chair Mancini, uh, Superintendent Dr. Hans, members of the board, um we are here today to also in in addition to uh really uh speaking to our annual compliance, but we want to share a highlight um some highlights of our Indian education program. Uh you have a presentation there. I don't know if it Oh, yes. Yay. Because I know last time I was up here. Um so I have two lovely individuals behind me. I'd like to introduce them before we go quickly through this presentation. Would you like to introduce yourself? >> Hi. Um, my name is Diana Bolio. I am the American Indian um, education liaison. >> Oh, yeah. I am Scott Shoemaker and I'm the chair of the American Indian parent advisory committee and assist of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and I have two kids um, a sixth grader and a ninth grader in St. Louis Park schools. >> Great. Uh and if you have any questions uh for Scott, he has been active um his kids have been active in our programs. Um and we will just again go through some quick highlights here. So this is our uh really quick snapshot of our Indian education program. Uh we we will be going through um programming and highlights from both uh school year 2425 and 2526 as we are overlapping and uh really building on our focus areas. So um this is our American Indian parent advisory committees. Apac uh Minnesota statute states that American Indian and public schools in which there are a minimum of 10 American Indian students enrolled must establish an American Indian education parent advisory committee and that is us. We have well over 100 um American Indian uh students enrolled in St. Louis Park public schools. Our APAC membership comprises of parents and guardians of American Indian students within the St. Louis Park Public Schools eligible committee members include American Indian uh secondary students and American um Indian uh district staff. Uh non-native district uh staff are encouraged to participate. However, they are not permitted uh to vote um in our and should not be included in our APAC roster. Excuse me. Uh, American Indian parent advisory uh serves a role in help ensure that American Indian students are receiving culturally relevant and equitable education opportunities. Um, it's critical in the achievement and success of American Indian students in St. Louis Park and offer valuable opportunities to strengthen our district and parent partnerships. Um, St. Louisis Park has two grant funding sources to support Indian education programs uh students and families and that is our American Indian education aid through the department of education. Um and our title six America excuse me Indian education grant funding through the US department of education and additional program is supported uh via achievement and integration funding um as well as community education funding where we do braid uh funding to support and expand uh enrichment programs. Again, I spoke to earlier that we have um we're building upon these five goals here. So, goal area one um is to support post-secary preparation for American Indian students. Uh area two, support the academic achievement of American Indian students. Um area three, make curriculum relevant to the needs, interests, and cultural heritage of American Indian students. Four, provide positive reinforcement of self-image and of American Indian students. and five develop intercultural awareness among students, parents and staff. All that great work and just in a little bit of time we are highlighting some of the amazing areas and it's just so much more. I'll send you like a if you're interested we have like a 60page slide deck. So beautiful, beautiful program representation across uh one of the images that is highlighted here is a visit uh with our middle and high schoolers to the somebody correct me if I'm wrong. I cannot pronounce things. There you go. >> Oo kata. >> Thank you. Bless your heart. >> Sorry to go. >> Thank you. I love it. So two visits there. We engaged over uh 22 young people from middle and high school and um our guest speaker or um facilitator that day humbly welcomed our students back. So they did amazing um and we're looking forward to scheduling future visits there. Uh last year five high school students attended Red Lake College uh where they also learned about indigenous foods. Um and then last year we celebrated six high school graduate graduates and four of which plan to continue on with post-secondary um uh options. Um we've had some amazing sessions around uh recognizing and celebrating artwork, bead work, totem pose, pottery. Um we've had guest speakers, artists and storytellers. So, we've uh welcomed in our Dakota and Ojiway artist um who's also a Minneapolis firefighter, Ruben Keo from uh Dakota and uh I mentioned that. And then uh Michael Sharet, who uh many people know as Laughing Fox, has participated and has uh really blessed us with his um just amazing talents. He's a musician, artist, and storyteller. Uh he's from Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior, Chipua. Um, and he's amazing. He was just here this past December, I believe. And then none other than Dakota, I mean, excuse me, Dakota. Yes, thank you, Dakota. None other than Deanna, who's here and she first joined us as an educator and she's from our Red Lake Nation. She's an artist and she's more and more than that. You'll see her, our families will see her around here. I'm absolutely ecstatic to have her here with us. She's amazing. Um but this is just one of the um opportunities that she blessed us with uh this last year. And there's so much more. Um last year there are some educator highlights where a number of our um fifth grade teachers, middle school teachers, and high school uh teachers did attend a training at the Minnesota Humanity Center uh where they uh took uh part in a bidote experience. And the goal of that experience is for our teachers to be informed and participate and uh co-lead a future uh field trip uh with classes. Uh we have also increased our um culturally relevant material classrooms uh m excuse me in the classroom materials and then uh we celebrated uh just this past November Native American Heritage Month where we had a a number of amazing opportunities and um well ahead of time because we were uh planning to uh continue on with those goals. We did have our res resolution of concurrence or non-concurrence uh annual compliance meeting on May 30th uh where our APAC members met to discuss whether or not uh they concurred with the educational offerings to be extended by St. Louis Park public schools to our American Indian uh students and that vote was passed. So looking forward, we're excited. Um again, uh Diana is here. Um she is working on uh planning out our um some engagement series with our American Indian Intertribal Youth Council, college visits, um an upcoming spring family celebration, exploring rugby and some other indigenous uh sports and activities, exploring partnership with other school districts, and thank you. And I don't know if Scott if we have like a minute left. Would you like to share >> three phone? looking I didn't look at Dr. Hines cuz I was going through boom boom boom boom. So I don't know if if there's any questions. Um and that that's just a beautiful picture of uh some students with our previous um um liaison. Excuse me. Any questions about this programming? >> No. Yes. Well, I would love to hear um from our guests like maybe a little reflect just a brief reflection um as chair. How long have you served on it? >> Sure. >> You've been part of it? >> Yeah. Um yeah, we moved into the district in the fall of 2021. So, I've been a part of the advisory committee since we moved. Um and so when I previous I we previously lived in Indiana uh before that and there was no um Indian education program and I tried to get started in the schools there and I that's a whole other story. Um, and so I was just really excited to move into the district and to have this program in place. And um, you know, I think it's just the importance of these um, you know, tie to that uh, the responsibilities that the United States has towards us as native nations through that nation nation relationship and the treaties that we signed and, you know, the foundation of this country. Um but then also just having those um all of those different things in the schools um for kids to really see themselves um and to have um spaces to be themselves. And so I think it's been uh really wonderful to see that and and to have some community that's created out of that too. So um yeah, so they shared um you know some of the um ideas of activities that we're um going to do this year and so just yeah kind of hope to keep the momentum going. So, um, yeah, it's been a really great experience. >> Yeah. Hi. Um, yeah, my name is Diana. Um, I am, um, Ojiway. I'm a Red Lake White Earth um, descendant, also Leech Lake, too in Onida. Um, yeah, I started my role. I got hired I think my first day was December 8th. But before that, um, I [clears throat] partnered with, um, Tai, the former, uh, liaison, to come in and do, um, cultural teachings. I'm an artist. I, um, do bead work and I make moccasin. So that's another way to really integrate um a lot of teachings within the schools so that the um students can learn something about um um their heritage and also have an opportunity to create something that is like an a traditional craft that would have been practiced by our ancestors. Um so yeah, so that's was um some of the work that I did previously with the district and then Patrice told me that the position was open so um I applied and here I am. Um, so yeah, I'm working um to um working with a lot of the schools now to get some of the classroom activities going and do a lot of that. And then planning for the spring semester or [clears throat] spring season would be to um you know integrate some of those more like outdoor outdoor activities with like lacrosse and other traditional sports, indigenous sports and things like that. So, I'm really looking forward to um presenting some of those um traditional values and traditional part um activities into what they're already learning if students are. >> Awesome. And I just want to also thank uh Director Howard because it has um I feel like the program has grown in intentionality over the last four years or so. And I think that um I'm really impressed with that. So for our new board members, um we don't like really discuss this because they passed it. So we just passed it. So there's not a lot of mystery for this. So we just um because they their recommendation is to pass it. So if they said that we're in compliance and they say um so all those in favor unless there's other questions >> comments I'll make it quick but just appreciate um as we were talking about some of the things that Dr. Dr. Hines mentioned about how teachers are positively distracting our students and we know that people are being sort of addressed because of color of their skin and things like that that you guys are carrying a heavier load than we even would anticipate to. So just just a note of appreciation about that as well. >> I was just going to say thank you for your vote of concurrence. Grateful for that. >> Okay. All those in favor say I. >> I. All oppose say no. >> Passes 6. Thank you. So 5 Z. I keep forgetting that we don't have all of us. Okay. Um so moving on to what are we on? Oh, the achievement and integration. So Dr. Cooper is going to join us. It is recommended that the school board approve the fiscal year 2027 achievement and integration budget as presented. Do I have a motion? >> Thank you, Patrick. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Colin. All right, Dr. Cooper. >> All right. Good evening, board chair Mancini and Superintendent Dr. Hines and board. Thank you for this opportunity to present our new achievement and integration for the 2729 school year. Uh just to give a little background, the purpose of the achievement and integration plan is to pursue racial and economic uh integration, increase student achievement, and create equitable educational opportunities and reduce academic disparities based on students diverse racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds in Minnesota public schools. Couple of things to point out here in this plan as is this is a new plan coming into the 2729 year. Some data is not captured at this time. So our goal, our first goal for St. Louis Park public schools by PAX students will increase in reading proficiency as measured by the MCA4 and that's blank because the MCA4 reading is a new assessment uh part of the MCA this year. So what we'll do is at the end of the year we'll capture that um data there for the first part they continue to track until spring 2029. Goal two, the percentage of St. Louisis Park High School students enrolling in career and college readiness programs will increase by 10% from the end of 26 to year 29. This this data here and our goals align with our comprehensive achievement and civic readiness plans and our goals. So we really kept the goals aligned. And then also goal three, St. St. Louis Park public schools will recruit and retain a larger number of licensed staff of color into teaching, student services, and administrative positions, increasing from 16.9% to 20% by 2029. As you see in the plan, under each goal, there are key strategies and indicators that we can monitor each year uh throughout the plan up to 2029. Questions? Um I don't know but uh director Anderson couldn't be here tonight and so she did um ask that I read the following statement. Um the achievement gap of af African-American students has been a concern for quite some time. As an African-American woman and parent of African-American children who attend uh St. Louis Park, I know having more staff that represent us will help with the feeling of belonging for our children. In return, it will help with their confidence and willingness to learn by speaking out when they need more support. Um, this pleases me to see our district partner with other districts in an effort to take action to support our African-American ac African-American academic success. Thank you, Dr. Cooper, for putting this together. >> All right. Thank you. >> So, now, are there any other questions from board members or comments? Um again I'll make it quick just that I know that um to that third goal that there's a lot of professional organizations and um organizations that are looking at that third goal and like it's a regular part of sort of um AMSD presentations that they talk about that. So for my colleagues who want to know more about some of those things there are some there's some information out there and probably a wealth of information but um everything I think from like licensing and some of those things and pathways and all sorts of things. All right. >> Uh, great. And I just also appreciate that as um it's holding true to our mission, our mission and vision of St. Louis Park. So, thank you very much. >> All right. Thank you. >> So, with that, all those in favor of um approving the 2027 achievement and integration budget as presented say I. >> I. Those opposed say no. >> Passes. five zero. [laughter] Thank you. Um, next we have the labor agreement um with our presenter, Director Loey. It is recommended that the school board approve the 2025 2027 labor agreement for Park Association of uh Association of Teachers as presented. Do I have a motion? >> Director Cox second. Oh, thank you, Director Williams. All right, Director Loey. >> Good evening, Chair Mancini, members of the board, Superintendent Hines. Um, my name is Jason. I'm the executive director of human resources and I am standing here this evening happy to present the PAT Park association of teachers agreement um for the periods of 2025 2027. Um, this contract covers our teachers in our K12, our adult education, and our early learning programs across the district, which is approximately 398 employees. We had a total of nine negotiation sessions held um and a tenative agreement on December 18th. [snorts] The union voted to ratify the contract on January 20th. human resources and the business office worked closely on the economic impacts of this contract over the course of two years. We also partnered with building principles and district leadership to ensure that any of the language proposed would not have um imp would not affect daily operations, excuse me. Um, looking at the contract and some of the highlights, we have a 2% increase in both year 1 and two across all the steps on the salary schedules both for K12 and early learning and adult ed. We did um increase the career increments over the course of the two years. Um, schedule C um uh we did not make any changes in year 1 with the exception of the extended rate of pay for teachers. In year two, we did increase the schedule C amounts by 4%. Um, a couple of things regarding benefits. We did make increases to both the district on the district contribution for both health and dental benefits over the course of the 2-year contract. And we also increased the 403b contribution from 3% to 3.25%. A couple of things that I just want to highlight about this contract is the negotiation process for our teachers was highly collaborative and grounded in mutual respect. The team's approach, the work and shared commitment of supporting students, staff, and the long-term health of the district. Our communications were intentionally aligned to the district's strategic plan, [clears throat] the district strategic plan, and the principle of one St. Louis Park. I think a lot of the um language that we spent a lot of time working on is truly reflective of us trying to create a system that is structured across of one St. Louis Park, making sure that there's the same um the same tools, the same resources, and the same opportunities for all of our teachers regardless of what site they're at. the union and the district engaged in open um dialogue reviewing priorities, some of the constraints and some of the opportunities that lie in front of us. Overall, the process was reflective of the culture we are striving to continue to build in St. Louis Park. Um and it is a culture where we believe in collaboration, shared purpose, and strategic alignment. >> Awesome. Do we have any questions from anyone? Um, again, I have a statement from Celia that just says, "The salary increments feels um are reasonable and I support the teacher contracts, increments, and new language for clarifying purposes." That no. Okay. All those in favor of approving um the 2025 2027 labor agreement for Park Association of Teachers as presented say I. I. Those opposed say no. Passes 5. Thank you. Congratulations teachers. Nice to have a contract. Yeah. Okay. Um moving on to next and um it looks like director Loie is going to stay with us. It is recommended that the school board approve the 2025 2027 labor agreement with the community education educators. Is that what the CES >> um as presented? I'll move it. Do I have a second? >> All right. Thank you, Dr. Davis. And >> you're on. >> All right. Action again. Um I'm here this evening presenting to you our community education educators contract for 2025 2027. Um this contract covers our school age care worker working in our kids place child care program. Um our preschool and our early learning educators in both the early learning center and the preschool programs. Um representing approximately 62 employees across the district. We had a total of four negotiation sessions with a tenative agreement held on February 12th. Um we worked closely with um director Magnus and director Howard to review both the economic and impact the economic impact and the um impact some of the language would have on the daily operations of the programs. Um looking at the wages we increased um we increased each step by 2% in both years one and two. We restructured the salary schedule in year two. We retitled um the ranges to it was in response to a number of confusion a lot of confusion around the salary schedule. So we restructured that. We also eliminated steps one 2 three and four to make sure that our starting rates are competitive with other school districts that have similar programs. Um we remove language that um before it was titled the career increment. We removed that from the salary schedule and now we made it a retention stipen for employees that have been with the district for a number of years and meet the requirements and that is no longer calculated into the hourly rate but it's more of a flat dollar amount that's divided out over each um paycheck. We did um increase um contributions to both medical and dental um benefits. Um overall the process was very collaborative, respectful and both parties demonstrated um a shared commitment to problem solving. Um our community educators engaged thoughtfully and constructively clearly articulating some of their priorities and listening to some of the districts as well. The process was reflective of mut um a mutual focus on students, families, and the community impact, reinforcing the great program that these individuals all take part in. Overall, the negotiation strengthened the working relationship between the district and community ed um and set a positive foundation for the ongoing collaboration in the work. Awesome. Thank you. Do any questions? I just want to also say thank you for the summaries. I love the summaries. I don't know. Um they're I don't know if you did them, but they're great and I was it was very easy to read and I appreciated it because it help it helped me to go to the contract and understand the contract better. So, I really appreciate the great the summaries. >> Glad they're helpful. We spent a lot of time doing that. >> Oh my gosh, I love the summaries. So, uh, with that, uh, all those in favor of approving the community education educators 202527 labor agreement, uh, say I. >> I. Those opposed say no. >> Passes 5-0. Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. Um, moving on to I think is this the last one? We did it, you guys. We did it. Okay. Almost. This one might You might have some questions. I'm just going to guess. Um so our last discussion um action item is the authorization to prepare the referendum question. It is um so can I just pause for a second director Cox? I think he that um director Williams needs to read the entire resolution. Correct. >> Um I think that would be ideal that you read the entire resolution some point in here but we should move it before we >> before we Okay. >> Before we read it. >> I thought so. Um, it is recommended that the school board adopt the following resolution authorizing staff to prepare a referendum question for voter consideration regarding the district's capital project levies and bond um issuance. I will move it >> and director Williams will second it. And now um he will read it. Okay. Um, the authorization to prep to prepare referendum question on capital projects levy and school building bonds. Recommendation. It is recommended that the school board adopt the following resolution authorizing staff to prepare a referendum question for voter consideration regarding the district's capital projects levy and bond issuance. The board action requested motion to adopt the resolution authorizing staff to proceed with preparation of the referendum question, completion of the required review and comment process and initiation of the community information and engagement process. Uh whereas the school board seeks to ensure sustainable funding for long-term facility maintenance, safety improvements, and deferred maintenance projects identified in the district's facilities plans. And whereas the board may place a referendum question before the voters to authorize a capital projects levy and general obligation school building bonds under Minnesota law. Now therefore be it resolved that the school board authorizes staff to one prepare one referendum question that combines the following. revoke and replace the existing capital projects levy with a higher authorization. And two, authorize the issuance of up to $50 million in general obligation school building bonds to finance deferred maintenance and capital improvement projects districtwide. Uh number two, complete the required review and comment process as described under Minnesota statutes. Three, develop ballot language and supporting materials in accordance with Minnesota law. Four, initiate a community information and engagement process to provide transparent communication regarding project scope, tax impact, and facility needs. Be it further resolved that the superintendent and administrative staff are authorized and direct to take all necessary actions to implement this resolution, including preparation of materials for board consideration and submission to appropriate authorities. >> Thank you. All right, Director Magnus. >> Yes. Good evening. Um again, um Chair Mancini, Superintendent Dr. Hines, and members of the board. I'm going to just walk quickly through these first few slides. They're just reminders of where we're at with the capital projects levy. It's a it's a percentage of net tax capacity that the voters approve. So, it moves up and down with net tax capacity. These are the last three um rates that we've had. Um this shows us some comparative data. so that on average on a per student basis we are below these comparative districts. We are looking for um authorization from our community to get us to the amount per student that Hopkins currently holds. This slide um shows what's been happening with our capital projects levy and funds available. And as we've been tightening um our belts in the general fund and moving as much as we can so that it reflects the truth about what we spend on technology and capital projects related items. We've been um buying down that fund balance in technology or in the capital projects levy fund balance to the point where we're now beginning to to um exceed our spending. And so we're seeking ways to um increase and and balance that fund balance. There's very few ways that school districts in Minnesota can increase funding and that boards can have and communities can have positive impact on our funding. And this is one of those very few ways and it will help us in our um general operations. We pulled together some data for the last four years just to show you proportionally how how this fund is spent. Like all of our other areas, the majority of what we spend money on here are staff. We have staff that directly impact technology areas, the entire technology department, some media center staff members over time, some staff across the district whose job it is solely um to work on technology and other um technology items. So this is 23, 24, 25, and then this is where we're headed for 26. But to pull that all together, you can see that over time, obviously, the staff number is going to go up because that's what happens in school districts when you employ staff members. I will tell you that the technology team has not grown in all of that time and it might have even reduced. But what what happens with staff members, we settle contracts and and salaries and benefits grow. But what begins to fluctuate is what is assigned to software and how much equipment we can purchase and how much we can actually replace. I'm not saying that these were all the prudent and timely expenditures because I know that we are deferring purchases that would help our families, our students, and our teachers be more productive. Um, our buildings be more safe and replacing items um that should be replaced and that the staff that we have could be better serving our school district and our families. But what you see here is that orange line where we were either building a little fund balance um or growing into our fund balance for these three years presented here and we're just projecting what will likely happen into next year if we continue to use um these funds for all of our technology purchases. We're going to exceed funds available and deplete that fund balance entirely. So we've thought a little bit about what's going to happen. we projected out to maybe 2029 and at this time we only know what we know today and even today we started having conversations about some gaps in technology in an area I hadn't thought through and that's um our our auditoriums is one of the areas that we have a lot of really expensive equipment that our community has invested in and it's another area where we haven't been able to pay as close attention to it because we don't have the staff to do it and we could really be leveraging that investment that our community has made. So we thought through enterprise system support is mostly new staff and infrastructure that we need to really support this enterprise. This is a large business that we are running and to make sure that our community and our students and our teachers have the support that they need. Cyber security is a growing gap for us. We know that our online and digital curriculum is becoming more and more important. We saw that um just a few weeks ago and as we grow into a tighter and tighter calendar where every day um that we are out for a snow day in Minnesota, we need to um be sure that that we are able to continue to teach students. Our physical facility security is becoming more and more important. Our doors and our um technology that lets us inside so we know who's in our buildings. We have keys all over the place and doors all over the place. We need to make sure that we know who's exactly in our buildings and who's coming. Um I I believe that that's what our community should be able to expect from us. We can't afford it right now. Um facilities maintenance. We have a contract for all of the electronics that run our facilities and that our staff are constantly monitoring from their homes. We want to make sure that we can continue to support all of that all of those electronics like the new boilers that we hope that we can put in two of our facilities. internet and locate services to make sure that we have a redundant um systems so that systems don't go down um and our visitor management system and our radios so we can communicate really well. So you can see that what we're setting up for because these funds won't be available till fiscal 28 will be the first year we're setting up a positive variance and at this time given this is just what we know today there's about two six $2.6 $6 million available and we can either build up a fund balance for big replacements, big projects, phone systems, and other things that need to be replaced over time, surprises that come up over time, or we know that there will be things that we aren't aware of. Um, and this is a way that we can continue to pull as much of our technology um costs as we can out of the general fund. It's one of the ways that we can preserve the general fund. I don't know if Tom if you have any notes to add to any of this. This is a physic, you know, like this is a a picture of what that looks like. The big blue on the bottom is just growing what we have. And really, it's just if we can imagine today what our technology program could be and it's really most conservative thinking, we would be adding all of those pieces on top. and we won't grow into that full amount um until, you know, until more time passes. And since this is a percentage, we don't know what's going to happen to the net cap tax capacity. Um I my 10 minutes are up. Um so over time, the tech net tax capacity could decline and the revenue could decline. So here's the potential tax impact on a $400,000 home, which is a little more than our average value home, $20 a year. And there's a link to more data there. The deferred maintenance bond issue. I do want Jim to talk to you a little bit about some of the research they've been doing. They were just over in Richfield today looking at some new boilers. Here's our history. We've been um going to our voters for deferred maintenance um over time mostly because we do not have access to or partly I guess because we don't have access to some of the funding that's available. These next two slides are pictures from the MDE present an MDE presentation just shows that in 2017 deferred maintenance was [clears throat] put under one envel one envelope for health and safety and deferred maintenance. Some districts had access to more funding than others. They were the largest and the largest in square footage and oldest districts about 25 districts. And this is a chart that came from the Department of Education that shows the difference on a per per student basis. And this um projects out in in 2025. It's about a year old. And what I what they told us in the presentation is the gap is growing. That's the difference on a per student basis of access to long-term facility maintenance revenue that our district has versus those largest districts, which are some of the very districts that we are trying to um compete with. So, um, that would help if we could have access to that. It's it's not going to solve the problem. Even those districts, um, are asking for funding to help support deferred maintenance. I want to just go back to our bonds from 2022. We do have funds remaining from those projects because part of that funding was for deferred maintenance. So, as of um 63025, we had $53 million. Um through the end of this year, we expect to sp to have spent another 25 million for the projects that we have in the queue over this year, including Lennox and a few other projects that are up and coming, which means that we think we'll have about $28 million remaining, which is about what we thought. Here's our list of deferred maintenance items that we know today that are pretty urgent. And today, another one added to the list, which is the Peter Hobart playground, which we'll be looking for ways to um get grant money from um money from Henipin County grants and maybe from their PTO, but that's about a $750,000 project. Um and we can talk more about that, but these are the kinds of things that just pop up. Um, we've known about that Peter Hobart playground for for a bit, but two of the largest projects and the most urgent projects are the high school and middle school boilers. That's $50 million. And that's what we're asking with help to replace. We think we can manage the rest of this list from those funds remaining from 2022 and through our long-term facilities maintenance funding. I want Jim to just um talk about these boilers and the pictures that are in here. >> Sure. So the picture you're seeing right now that that is a boiler at uh the middle school. Um just as reference sake, the orange ladder standing next to it is an 8ft ladder. So these boilers are about 16 ft high in dimension and about 8 ft wide. They take up a a lot of our space and they were great in the day. They've seen their date. Um this one in particular, I think is 67 years old. The life expectancy of a boiler of this nature is anywhere from 30 to 50 years. Um, currently right now with what we're spending on annual maintenance is roughly 20 to $25,000 per boiler. Middle school has two boilers. High school has three boilers. So that adds up real quickly. Um, and then secondly with those these boilers are are in dire need to be tuned and the burners replaced. we're looking at a cost of about between $50 and $100,000 to replace those burners. So, right there you're looking at, you know, anywhere from 250 to $500,000 just in burner replacement. And that would be, you know, if we could get that done. If we waited longer and tried to nurse them along longer, what we're doing is we're cutting our efficiency back further. We're we're spending more on on fuel that we don't need to be doing. Um, and then these are the boilers of the picture here. These are the boilers in the high school. They look good and I'm going to credit that to my staff because of the work that they do over there. They keep the boiler room clean. They keep it working as efficiently as possible. Um and that is an effort that is never ending. What you're seeing is part of this overall cost is what we're looking is is um piping replacement. This was a picture taken today of a return line for our boiler. You can see how full of crab this thing is right now. That is about, you know, that is a 3-in in diameter pipe. We're down to less than 10% efficiency going through that pipe right now. That little hole that you see in the middle is what can get through for our heating right now. This is why we're looking at doing the entire when we go to new boilers and if we are able to go to new boilers to do a complete piping replacement at that time so we can bring back the efficiency that we're expecting. So currently with the boilers we're looking at they run on a low pressure steam um and we're looking to convert over to a hot water condensing system which further increases our efficiency as well. The life expectancy is may not be as long because of technology. They use a lot of technology to get the greatest efficiency out of them. It is a 20 to 25 year efficient or uh expectancy of these boilers with a 10-year warranty. That's unheard of these days. And that is with specifically with one type of boiler that we're looking at to go through with. Um annual estimated cost maintenance on these is about $1,500 that we're looking at right now. Um we would the high school we would probably be looking at adding removing three boilers those size and going to four boilers. Um what this will also do is help us with the pool and heating the pool because the pool comes off those boilers as well. So we haven't decided whether we'd have a dedicated pool boiler or if we would use the the the the layout that we anticipate designing the boiler system that we added here. This is the the the design that we're going to be using for Central because we took out the boilers here that were 80 plus years old last summer and replaced them with four new boilers. They are running right now and our return on investment was estimated at 6 to seven years on that. Um so we're going to be looking at efficiency and a lot better controllability with these. Secondly, replacing all the heighting piping throughout the building. Like I said, this is where we came into the cost simply because it's mostly not material, but it's labor to crawl through those tunnels to cut those pipes out to replace with new new piping going through that. That's where the bulk of the cost really is with these. Not the units themselves, but the labor and the piping replacement with this. Um, once again, we're converting from steam to hot water. And then one of the other big things we have in this thing is with these older boilers, both at the high school and at the middle school, we have underground storage tanks that now have anywhere from oh, I want to say 8,000 to 15,000 gallons of uh fuel oil in them. When XL Energy calls and says we want to go to an energy demand cut, we have to switch over between natural gas to fuel oil. Um, and these are these tanks were replaced, I believe, back in 2000 roughly, and they're hitting their life expectancy cycle. Yes, they are fiberglass tank. They are doublewalled tank, and we do monitor them, but they have a life expectancy of 25 years and then you have to replace them. So, we're looking at taking out a potential great environmental hazard and just eliminating it by going to a more efficient system with the newer boilers. And >> can you talk just a little bit about the efficiency of the system? And >> yes, so I know there was a question that came up about are we looking at alternative uh potentially alternative means and methods. The two are that I really know of myself, one is electric and the second would be geothermal. Um, and I don't have a lot of experience with electric just because of electric. We all know that electricity, if you've seen your electric bill and all the taxes and everything else you see on that bill, electric is is skyrocketing in cost. It's not going down. The second thing along with efficiency with the new boilers that we're putting in, like I said, the new ones we have here compared to the old ones, they were somewhere in the neighborhoods of 60 to 80% efficient. The new boilers we have here are 95 to 98% efficient meaning they burn cleaner. They burn hotter and they don't have the CO2 emissions. So we are actually reducing our carbon export or into the environment by using a greater efficiency boiler as well. For the geothermal I can speak to it as my where I live in Rush City. They installed a geothermal system about 15 years ago when they built their new high school and they just converted last year away from it simply because of the challenges of the geothermal system. There are two ways you can either do it either a horizontal loop which means you have to have a lot of land space to lay down a lot of piping for that water to run through to get the the earth's core temperature to bring that water up to temperature. pump it into the building and then increase the temperature through heat pumps using more electricity or a small boiler of such. The second is like I said we talked briefly I talked briefly about it was the electric and I'm just not familiar enough to know with the electric and some of the technologies. Now Europe is coming out with hydrogen boilers. The one thing I saw off the hydrogen was creating a storage system. So we'll be going back to something similar to the underground storage tank. Hydrogen is a very very um tough element to work with. I'll get my physics specific. Oh, physics will tell me that. So I got I can get his confirms. So it's a very volatile substance when it's not pressurized properly. Am I right? >> So So we I have chosen right now and this is an ongoing thing to look at the hot water systems. I will also be we're bringing in um Halberg Engineering who has just completed um the great big expansion over at White Bear Lake and they did the conversion from steam to all hot water boilers over there. So they'll be helping me to design to make sure we're doing the right thing to make sure that we're environmentally friendly that we're also trying to make sure that we're spending our tax bailers wisely here. >> Thank you, Jim. And um the tax impact then on that bond issue that would raise $50 million for the two um building boilers is $10 a month. So that together between the two um uh the $241 annually um for an annual total of $361 would be $30 a month um for both um parts of that one question we're talking about. So, again, just reiterating what the board's resolution was, and we're hoping um that we can get moving on this. Oh, and the next steps are, of course, we're going to prepare the ballot language. We're working with attorneys on that. We'll prepare the review and comment that the state will have to authorize the um we might do a review and comment on the capital projects levy to be sure we can use it as expansively as possible. And then also, we'll re be required to complete a review and comment for the bond issue. and then we will come back in March for the board to actually call for the election and adopt the exact ballot language. >> Okay, I am going to go out on a limb and say that there's a lot of questions. So, does anybody want to get us started? Okay, Director Davis, thank you for the presentation um and for um incorporating some answers to questions that we discussed previously. Um thank you also for sort of that visual of the pipe situation. I know I was the one who was really pushing you all on do we really need to do the pipes. Um so how long would the new piping last do we expect? because I sort of when you put up the um information about sort of 6 years to recover the cost at on the boiler at central that's a little different right than the I assume that's just the actual cost of the boiler and not the 60 to 70% that also includes the piping cost >> that's including the piping with that >> okay how long would we expect the piping to last and then also that that picture you put up which is just concerning From a health perspective, generally >> it's not drinking water. It's the hydraulic water. So, it's the heating water. >> Sure. I don't know like what are the part I'm not a scientist. We all know that. But like what are the particles that are coming off of that into the air? But nonetheless, um is it look like that throughout the pipes or is it just is that just one? >> I would say that was a worst case scenario. Um that's closest to the boiler as the water returns and we're getting sediment settling out at that point in time. along with the boilers when we install. Now, we do have water conditioning, but we will also be upgrading water conditioning as we're going through this as well. >> So, that's hard that's hard water. >> St. Louis, any everybody who lives here knows that St. Louis Park has very hard water. So, >> what >> um Okay, one other question. Um going back to the the tech levy part of it. um the you know that chart is very helpful in terms of the costs as we expect them to grow and I heard you say that we could um save some of the money in a and a create a fund balance >> we already have a fund balance there's a reserved fund balance >> sure so we could add to that or is there if we authorize up to that amount do we actually have to levy at that amount every year or could we say well actually this year we don't project to need that much >> right you wouldn't have to levy the full amount. And since there's no state aid associated with this, it's 100% tax levy. There's no loss for not doing that. >> I think there's another conversation about once a tax, you know, once the community has authorized it. >> Sure. I I definitely understand. No, we would not. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Dr. Cox. Do you have that question? Um, so, um, as we know, I've been on this board for a few years now, and I've had a lot of presentations about a lot of facilities stuff, and I'm super annoyed that we have to talk about facilities all the time because we're here to educate children and to um, provide education resources for our community, but it's a reality, right? So, it's reality that to do that, you have to have buildings and you have to have them operating well and you want them to be safe and you want them to be heated and lights working and all the things that we're talking about. So, I do recognize that and just appreciate it. And you know, um, like I said, I've been through a lot of these conversations about facilities and they won't end. They continue to go on. We'll always have issues about this. So, um I know that it gets tiresome for communities and stuff and recognize that that can be just tiring, but it's it is a reality of what we're in. Um, and uh, you know, I I think one of the things that um, I'm trying to read the notes that I put down right now, but I think um, you talked about how we're trying to move a lot of technology out of the general fund. And that is one way that we support our kids is by trying to reserve as much as we can of that general fund for teaching and for the other things that um, we need to do to educate our our students. So really really really appreciate that we've been making that improvement and want to underline um you know we talked about this in a study session and maybe one of my colleagues would bring this up too but this is not about laptops when we were talking about technology that's one you know [snorts] like they're part of technology but it's the easiest thing to grasp you know to say oh so you're just buying new but you guys did an excellent job of saying it's everything. It's so many things that are included in this and just really appreciate that. And then just to one last thing that people know again as I've been on this board for a while that long-term facilities maintenance is a thing is a pet peeve of mine. Um you know as you said it's not going to be enough but it is really hard when we're restricted in that and for my colleagues and for community members who want to see some improvements in that. Um if you have connections to the tax committees [laughter] or you want to lobby those those would be the people to really focus on because it really is a tax related issue and not an not an education policy um issue. But it is a pet peeve of mine and I have been trying to raise it wherever I can and it is parts of um some of the different agendas out there. It's not the biggest one. It's not the flashiest one and but it might be one of the most meaningful ones for our board of some of the things that people are talking about right now too besides you know things some of the other um things but like compensatory and stuff that I've heard that are not don't tend to to be an as big of an issue for us but things like this could really make an improvement so I'm hoping that um someday someday that's it >> director Williams Um, sure. Yeah, I just wanted to uh again think thank thank you for the additional uh projections that you've added and the additional data that have been presented that kind of answer a lot of the questions we've had previously. Um, I think it does a a great job of illustrating that like uh director Cox said that the techni is not just about laptops. Um, it's it's a just a small portion of of what it is. And I think it's important just to contextualize that like technology is is the critical core functions of how we operate as a as a building system. Uh the the keeping the lights on, keeping the internet connected. Um and I think those are things that we have to fund regardless. And this is about protecting the general fund. Um and I I think just to add on to that, I think it's also about um it's a key component to safety. Um and as you know, technology is a key um funding mechanism for safety. We we have building cameras, uh secure entrances, badge access like you had mentioned, uh PA systems, data privacy, cyber security. The list continues to grow as uh as we continue moving forward. Um and the ongoing maintenance of those systems continues to grow ever more expensive. And I don't think we can even really project out what those costs will be 5 to 10 years forward. So I think this is um a key mechanism that we can use to set us up well uh for the future and make those critical investments in in student and sta staff safety. Um, so I'm I'm very much in support of of moving forward with this plan. >> Thank you. Sure, Director Baldin. Or you're good. You're good to go. Okay. Um, there's just Okay. So, two two points of clarification. Um, the first one I think that is important for our community to understand is that when I love the spaghetti. I love how this the spaghetti analogy keeps coming following me whenever I'm at a board somewhere. But um this uh the spaghetti analogy is so important to understand that state funding is often tied to particular things but there is not a steady funding source for safety and security. Is that correct? >> That is correct. There is really there's one very small dedicated funding source um that we pay for a portion of a counselor with that's been around that school that's safety for mental health. Yes. There is no dedicated safety and security funding remarkably in the state of Minnesota. >> Right. And I think that um everything is just to do a small little thing. Um you know if a student has a medical condition that goes into our system so that we can communicate it to our teachers and to the people that need to know. And that data needs to be protected. that data needs and so that takes a system in order to protect it and so again um as much as you know I'm a reading teacher I teach reading so what I want to acknowledge is that yes this is so much more than Chromebooks and onetoone this is not like okay let's get rid of our our onetoone and um go back to um textbooks and um pencils kids never have a pencil anymore anyways so like it is bigger than that. My other clarification, would you mind just going back really briefly to slide number 17 and 18? >> Um maybe 18 is probably more important. So this >> which ones are they? I don't really have them. >> It is the long-term facility the historical long-term revenue average for daily um average daily membership. Can you just So we're the red. >> We are the Yes. the many many districts in the state who are at the red. So the average long-term facility maintenance funding per student. The blue are the districts that were um grandpersoned in at the higher rate because they had access to the funding. Um we only had health and safety funding at the time and in 2017 long-term facility maintenance came into play. Um so we got a little bit of an increase us districts in the red but the gap has widened over time. >> It certainly has. Yes. And those blue um districts are big districts that have the expanse. >> So >> um we are this is a situation we didn't ask for and we have to deal with. >> Yep. And it's been an inequity in the funding for a long time. 2017 was big because it gave us all access to alternative facilities or L what is now LTFM but it didn't close the gap and I just want to commend um Director Cox I think you have been advocating for us since I have known you since you have been on the board to close that gap but when you have bigger districts that are getting that amount of money they're not going to be like oh yeah we'll share with you so um this is a bigger issue than just what um maybe the district is not spending their money wisely. We are spending our money wisely. Our costs are changing and we don't have a level playing field um as far as funding sources go. Uh, I did just want to read, uh, Director Kaufman left a note to say that she wanted to because they can't vote since they're not here, but she wanted to put, um, it out into the space that, she officially supports the capital project levies and bond referendum for deferred maintenance. And director Anderson also said having the graphs and more specifics around repairs and costs is extremely helpful and will help me be more confident in asking our community's support. So let's move forward with preparing the ballot question. Are there any other questions or comments? Excellent. Then um all those in fa you do not have to read that again. I think one time is fine and the summary statement is right there. Um, so all those in favor of appro adopting the following resolution authorizing staff to prepare a referendum question for voter consideration regarding the district capital projects levy and bond issuance. All those in favor say I. >> I. All those opposed say no. >> Uh, great. The eyes carry it. Five to zero. Thank you for your time and your effort. And we had a lot of questions, so I really appreciate you answering all of those questions. Thank you. >> Um, awesome. Thanks so much. So, we're moving on to our um communications from our board members. But before we do that, um I'm going to start. So, two uh important things of note that on February um on February 9th, we had a board retreat in which we worked with a company so that we could improve board communication and board protocols. So we spent the morning together um talking about our protocols as a board. So our communication um how we divide the labor of the board um the difference between governance and management. It was a really productive um it was a really productive morning and uh I don't know Stephanie's company's name. I forgot. >> Ray and Associates. >> Ray Yes. Ray. >> Ray. Ray and Associates um came up with some really good recommendations for us and she's working through that with um Dr. Hines and me and um Vice Chair Anderson. So when we have that and director Cox when we have that we'll present her recommendations to the board. Um, one of her recommendations is that the board chair share a summary of our study session at the so that people who may not have been able to watch the study session get a board um update. So, uh, after our board retreat, we had a study session in the afternoon and the the joy of that study session is that we got to meet our new board, student board representatives. Emma, can you help me pronounce your last name? >> Yep. >> Thank you. And can you maybe introduce a little bit about yourself? >> Um, like your grade? >> I'm a junior. I've been in the SLP district for well, all of the years that I've been attending here. [laughter] That makes sense. That tracks Unfortunately, I am alone out of the five board members here. Two are not here because of Ramadan. One is sick and the other I'm unsure. >> Lunar New Year. >> Lunar New Year. So, >> you're holding it down. >> I'm sorry if I'm just in the corner. I feel lonely and anxious without my people. [laughter] >> We had We had a lot of business to get through. Um, but feel free to always speak up if you have a question. Um, if you want to make a comment, you should always feel free to speak up. You don't have to you don't have to wait at all. So, um, we do we have five board student board representatives. We've been waiting for a very long time to get them on the board and so we were super excited. Got an opportunity to have lunch with them and get to know them a little bit more. So, that was great. Um also the remainder of the time we spent talking getting a budget update about the tech levy. So we had this presentation um the on the 9th and we were able to dive a lot deeper into um what it would mean to revoke and replace. And I appreciate all of the um work that went into that. Talked about communications, we talked about maintenance. I now know more about boilers than I ever really wanted to. Um so uh it was it was a very productive meeting. So that was so um I just want to invite everybody to study sessions and or watch it online or come in because I think the study sessions are super important to see what information we get and what information we're asking for so that we can make informed decisions. Um and then I get look forward to my summaries at board communication. Um otherwise just a couple other things. Um, it is Black History Month and there have been celebrations in each of the uh buildings and I've been loving all of the photos. Um, tomorrow is our district-wide celebration at Aquilla. Um, so I hope people will get a chance um to participate in that. Um, and with that, oh, just one other thing that I neglected to do in connection with the um, financial advisory committees, Dr. or uh director uh Kaufman did want to express her support for the recommendations of the financial advisory committee. Uh she's participated in the last two meetings where the community members, teachers, district employees, and school board members work diligently to review and revise what has been presented here tonight. I want to specifically highlight the importance of growing our fund balance and keeping uh to a balanced budget. It is thorough. It was a thorough and thoughtful process and she was very glad to be a part of it. So, I apologize I didn't get to to share that. So, I'm sharing it now. And with that, um, who wants to go first? >> All right. >> Yeah, I want to echo Director Kaufman's statements about the work of the finance advisor committee. I also kind of parachuted in. Uh, saw the good work they're doing, the presentations. Director Magnuson, thank you for putting that all together. Um, great work. I Let's see. I didn't really think about my other updates. Uh, I I've been around. I was at the middle school. I watched, uh, Pinocchio, uh, Pinocchio and Sun, the production of the Aquilla play. So, uh, thank you to the staff and families and the kids. It was great. It was fun. Um, I also, as part of Black History Month, I want to shout out, uh, direct, uh, Mr. Pener. Uh, I watched the jazz band perform on Friday morning. Uh, they played a couple things that are escaping me, but you know, as the kids were coming in in the morning. Um, it was great. And my son was in the band, so I had ulterior motive in watching that. Um, so it it it's I think I'll pass with that. Thank you. Um, as on the theme of Black History Month, I just want to note that um, I think tomorrow night at Aquilla at from 6:00 to 7:30 is the So, I just want to add that note again to the group. So, you did, but I'm just had it on my note. So, I just wanted to say it again. [laughter] And I'm hoping to be there. Um, we'll see. I've got a sick kiddo at home. But um I also just wanted to take a moment to express gratitude to our community for the ways that folks have continued to show up for each other over the past weeks and months. Um just grateful to be a part of this community and and a part of this school district. Um and then I lastly because I want to keep it short, I just want to express um public support here for our St. Louis Park girls basketball team who chose to exercise their First Amendment rights um when they chose to kneel during the national anthem um at least once last month. Um I'm really proud of our student athletes for their courage um and for speaking with their actions. um taking a public position particularly when you're in that type of spotlight is um not without risk, right? And um want to acknowledge um the courage that it takes to do that. Um, I recognize um there's actually apparently an article in the Sun Sailor this week for those who who read that um about this and about um the fact that as a school board we received uh communication from our local American Legion expressing concern and disappointment. Um and I know Chair Mancini responded. Um, and this is all, you know, it's it's public. It's in the um it's in the local newspaper. Um, our practice [clears throat] as a board is that our chair responds on behalf of the board. And I just wanted to take a moment here to share my own perspective on this. Um, that I was disappointed in the perspective that was shared with us. Um but grateful to our district leaders for inviting a conversation and a dialogue with um our community members um to be able to share more about the perspective of the board and the district and our students. Um I um I have veterans in my family. Um I value our legions. In fact, just last week I was at a funeral um and the sort of celebration afterwards was at an American Legion. Um and uh the poppy ceremony for those who are familiar with that. I was able to participate in that. They invited all of us to do that. Um I have a a beloved family member who passed who was a commander at an American Legion. So, I just want to note this is I have deep respect for our veteran community and for our legions. Um, and I um deeply support our girls basketball team and under no circumstances would back down from um our student athletes being able to exercise their rights to express themselves. So, I will leave it at that. Thank you. Dr. >> Sure. [clears throat] Um, so I I I did have the joy of uh accompanying Dr. Hines and one of our f fellow former board members, Abdi Yakim Ibrahim, who participated at a hearing in the Minnesota House. There were about um 20 pre presenters, more than 20 presenters there. So it was a lot and it was a lot to take in. We had superintendent, teachers, board members, community members, and even unions weighing in and sharing their thoughts. We had people from or they had people from Columbia Heights, which has been um really persistently attacked. We have uh from St. Paul, Wilmer, Bloomington, Minneapolis, Roosevelt, and other um areas. And they were heartbreaking stories. just being honest. It's um to hear what um our staff is experiencing, to hear what superintendents are having to deal with. We talk about unprecedented times, you know, so much these days and the challenges that means for people have to having to pivot. Um it's heartbreaking to hear what the what the experience is on on students. Um thinking about the things that they think and the questions that they ask, you know, why do people hate us? Um and um you know the the challenges that we're seeing some of the improvements that we made postcoid um we're seeing some of those improvements being erased. Um they did end it I think with I don't know something that was sort of both heartbreaking and and hopeful which is that um you know one of the teachers that was speaking was talking about how the goals of so many students after you know when you ask them the things that they want to do after they graduate they want to help they want to be helpers so I'm encouraged to think that maybe that's the kind of attitude we need and um and it's hopeful but it was great I was glad that Dr. Hines presented. Um she, as she alluded to, she spoke to some things including our impact on our teachers, which we didn't hear a lot of at that hearing. So I really appreciate Dr. Hines calling that out. I appreciate um former director Ibrahim for sharing his perspective as a community member and uh he was one of the only people of color who was there to to present from um well for one of the only people of color and I think the only Somali to present and there were a lot of people who were afraid to come to the capital that day to speak. So I appreciate his courage as well. Um, on a lighter note, I got to attend the uh early learning um parent advisory committee meeting and I'm so glad that um that I've inherited this group and get to to attend because it's it's such a pivotal change. It's so different now to be looking at things and seeing um young young the our youngest learners and seeing the families that are engaging around issues. Um we also had a presentation about screening. was enlightening to me because I all these parents were talking about it and it's like it's been like 15 years 20 years whatever since it's not 20 but it feels like it since I've even thought about screenings and that's a real thing in our community and a real thing for these families and just encouraged by the work that um director Howard has done to really build these people and embrace them and bring them into our community. Um the two other quick items. Um as my colleagues know, as we've been saying, I'm very much about advocacy. I'm trying to get things moving with a legislative um advisory committee or advocacy committee, however you want to position it. Um I just remind folks that AMSD has a platform. MSBA, I just checked they have a a platform on their website. Encourage you to take a look at them and think about the things that matter to you the most and things that you think we should elevate. and I do have inroads to help do some of that work. Um, and both AMSD and MSBA have advocacy days that I know that have been shared with us and I encourage people to participate. And um, the final thing I was going to say is um, I don't know, I'm hoping I'm not taking somebody's heat away, but I'm glad to see our revised school board web page. Thank you, uh, Jasmine and others who were involved with that for updating our pictures so people knew what we looked like and making some updates. I think there were some things that were missing and stuff and some things that got updated and we've talked about transparency and and um we want to make sure that people in our community know who we are. We want people to understand what we're doing. We want people to have good links to it and I just appreciate that we've put effort behind that as well. So that's all I'll say. Thank you. Um try to be somewhat quick. Um I uh I guess I I'll second that we have an unbelievably uh supportive community throughout the the last couple of months. Um and I just wanted to just u give a little reminder that uh the first of the month is coming up. And uh uh just uh just a note to to continue to uh if you can donate to to STEPPP uh bird feeder and other m uh mutual aid efforts throughout the city. um as our vulnerable neighbors uh require uh rent, utilities or or food assistance uh through this difficult time. Um and then lastly, I will note that uh there is an imagination fair at uh Peter Hobart coming up on uh March 6 that I am excited to attend. >> Emma, >> um I would like to point out that uh this week students are doing registration for the following year. So, um if there are like certain topics that you would want students to be more knowledgeable of or to help their um future for considering the also block schedule, which means that they would have more time, more classes to um [clears throat] I'm sorry for the brain fog. >> [laughter] >> uh like any thoughts about that because um it is happening this week and it will be ending registration will be ending around perhaps March 10th and then I would also like to add the um SATs are coming up for the 11th graders. Um just know if they're doing all right. Okay. Sometimes it's a little heavy. Feels heavy. I feel stressed. It's not even here yet. But just just back up your students, your kids, those in your community. Um beyond just education cuz it's the fact that many students had to join into online learning because of what is going on. I've had friends who I still feel weird not seeing them in the cafeteria during breakfast or in classes. Like their seat is empty. And I wish that it wasn't. I wish that we felt safe enough to go to a place where all we should worry about is sitting on our butts for 40 minutes listening to teacher talk and spend our lives in a building for 14 years of our lives. 18. My bad. No. Yeah, 14. >> Thanks, Emma. Um, and I share your uh sentiments that we want students in school and we want them to feel safe and we want them to be worried about things other than um they're being fearful. >> So, I really appreciate uh you speaking up and sharing that. Um, I did I've attended two imagination fairs, one at Aquilla, one at PSI. I look forward to the Peter Hobart and I look forward to Susan Lingren. They are my favorite. I have learned so much. Um, DECA state is this weekend. So, DECA will be uh there are I think there are I'm gonna get this wrong and then I'm going to get in trouble. There's um I think there's 18 students who have gone on to state and state starts on Sunday. Um, and just a shout out to our um Muslim community and celebrating Ramadan. Thank you for all of the um learning opportunities that we've had in our district and also just the staff for really supporting our students. And with that, I'm going to adjourn this meeting at 8:53. Thank you everyone for coming.