Guess we go. I would like to call to order the September 16th regular board meeting of the Mountains View School Board. Good evening and welcome. Our first item in business is item 1.2, adoption of the agenda. I would entertain a motion. >> So moved. >> Second. The uh it has been moved and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? >> I >> I. >> Uh next on the agenda, we have announcements. Uh gifts. Shauna, would you please read the gifts for us tonight? >> Yeah, absolutely. Um so there were 14 gifts for schools and programs received this period for a total of $2,693.88. And there were 18 gifts received for the Ralph Raider food shelf this period for a total of $42,288.13. It's recommended that the board accept these gifts and extend our thanks to the donors. Thanks Shauna. We actually have two student representatives with us tonight from Irondale and Mountains high schools. Like to welcome Kenna and Carly up. You guys can come and sit at the table. And I think Kenna's gonna share first with us what's going at on at Irondale this fall. >> Okay. Hey everyone. It's good to see you all again. My name is Kenna and I'll be sharing some highlights for Irondale that we've had so far for this year. Okay. First, I just want to take a moment to highlight our 2026 National Merit Scholarship semi finalists. This year we had five from Irondale. So we had Sewong, Rosa, Buana, Allison, and Joseph. And then we also produced five National Merit Scholarship commended students. And this year we had Caleb, Nolan, Kevin, Owen, and Hannah um get this award. So congratulations to all of them. And then this past summer, um pictured here are the one of the state's top selected high school musicians. So Irondale's performing arts program produced 19 all-state musicians this past summer. Um, and these are a mix of band, choir, and orchestra kids throughout our school. And this past weekend, our marching band, the Irondale High School's Marching Knights, placed second at the East View Marching Festival. Um, and the points between second and first place, only varied by a tenth of a point. And from what I've heard, that's the closest they've gotten to first place, which is, I think, Mounds Park, which they're pretty undefeated. So that's a nice um addition for the marching band. And we also had two senior flutists which were Doma and Eli. They were awarded with the two outstanding soloist award for their featured duet performance at this meet. And this week is also Irondale's homecoming week. So we have spirit events going on throughout the week. Yesterday we had roll out of bed day. Today we had twin day. Tomorrow we have anything but a backpack day. Thursday is throwback Thursday and Friday of course we have class colors because it's our homecoming football game. So yesterday to kick off our spirit week we hosted our annual volley and volley and powderpuff tournaments. Um sophomores took the crown for powderpuff and junior boys carried or claimed victory for volleybuff. And tomorrow to kind of continue our spirit week, DECA um is hosting our homecoming royalty showcase which will be held this Wednesday in the Irondale Auditorium. Irondale students compete for homecoming royalty through flaunting their many talents. Yes, that includes lip singing. Um and the tickets this year cost $3, which they haven't done in past years, but this year they decided to do that to give proceeds towards the Irondale food shelf. So, that's a neat little addition. And in terms of our football and dance, >> I'm pretty sure last Friday, I played Cooper, if I'm not mistaken. We lost, but it's okay cuz we won in spirit. Our theme was Minion Out. And as you can see, we really showed out. And upcoming this Friday, we're going against Bridley for a home for our homecoming game. Um, and Saturday is our homecoming dance. And this year, our theme is masquerade. Um, and also for football games, a new addition this year is that tickets for all activity games are free through the Huddle app. So, it's more inclusive for students who may have wanted to go to games in the past but couldn't necessarily afford it. And last thing is a couple of us students began a new chapter of the Youth Voter Project at Irondale. And if you guys don't know what that is, the Youth Voter Project is a fully student-led nonprofit organization that works to get the next generation of Minnesota voters in the booth. So today, we set up tables in the lunchroom as well as classroom visits to guide students on pre-registration. Since now Minnesota, you can pre-register at 16. And that's it. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All righty. Hi everyone. I'm Carly. I'm the Mountain View Student Council student board. um rep representative. I'll come over here next time. I didn't know how. >> No expectations. >> Yeah. >> Um well, this week's like really exciting for Mountain De. It's also our homecoming week. Um everyone's super excited. You can tell from the hallways just like spirit week. Everyone's dressed up. I think it's one of our like most participated like years yet. Maybe it's cuz they're easier to do like PJ day and twin day, which obviously when do high school students not wear PJs to school, so it's pretty accessible. Um, the dance is a Saturday from 8 to 11:00 and the theme is midnight on the bayou and it's kind of inspired by like Princess and the Frog theme. So, everyone's excited. We worked on murals last weekend. Just got them done. Almost didn't, but they look pretty good. Um yeah, just to kind of get morale up, we did powderpuff as well. Everyone was super excited. Um the sophomores won just like your school. They're just a good grade, I guess. Um yeah, and they all had really fun. They took really cute photos and I'll share them next time. Uh the game is this Friday at 7 o'clock. It's against Stillwater, so it's going to be a tough game, but super fun. Um, the theme is like green and white stripes. It's new this year. We're going to see how it goes because usually it's just Mountain View themes. So, we'll see if we have any backlash against that. But other than that, I think it's going to be a really exciting week and a good dance and I'm hoping for a good month and that's the main thing we're doing. So, yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Hey, one quick question for you guys because you guys will probably have a better pulse on this, but um I know you mentioned this in your report, Kenna, but you know, with the tickets being free for students, what kind of response have you heard from the students at each of your schools? >> You want to go ahead first? >> Sure. I think it's amazing because it wasn't as like accessible as it was last year. Um I heard like stories people like trying to jump fences because they couldn't afford tickets last year. So, I think it just is kind of safer overall, even though that sounds kind of weird, but it's also just like I don't know, it brings Mountains View, like in our opinion, more together that it's not like you have to purchase something to be part of that community. So, I think it's a really good, you know, new thing this year and I hope to see it in the years to come. >> Great. Thank you. >> Yeah, from what I've heard, I think everyone obviously is in favor of it. I mean, free tickets. Um, also from what I've seen, I feel like football games, they have like a larger demographic now. And also, I feel like the student section in general is a little bit bigger than past years, at least for Irondale. So, I think it's definitely a good thing in in terms of school like community and allowing everyone to have accessibility to different events. >> Great. Thank you so much for the feedback. >> Yeah. >> Thank you so much both of you for coming, for taking time out during homecoming week. Enjoy the rest of the homecoming week. >> Thanks again. >> Good to see you guys. Thanks for coming. >> Bye. >> All right. Um, our upcoming meeting dates, our next work session is at 5:00 PM on Thursday, October 2nd, and our next regular meeting of the board is at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, October 7th. Both here at the district center. I'll turn it over to Superintendent Lex now for his report. >> Great. Well, I just have one thing tonight. Kenneth mentioned this, but we just recently uh were informed of our National Merit Scholarship semi-finalists. Uh this year is the 71st uh national merit competition. Our semi- finalists have an opportunity uh should they choose again they get to decide if they want to move forward in that competition uh to compete for nearly 7,000 scholarships uh in total those scholarships are worth almost $26 million. So great opportunity for any of the students who want to move forward. Uh Kenned mentioned the ones from Irondale. We have another 10 from Mounds View. So, uh, we usually highlight them and invite them to a schoolboard meeting. So, when we do student recognition in November, they'll be invited and be able to celebrate them at that time. But in the meantime, congratulations to all of them who've been recognized and uh, watch for more information to come. >> Great. >> Congratulations to all those students. All right, we will now move on to item 3.0, which is approval of the consent agenda. I entertain a motion. So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you. The motion has been moved and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? >> I. >> Motion passes. All right. Uh, next up is agenda item 4.1. And uh to speak on some policy updates tonight, our own board member, Alyssa Daniels. >> Well, thank you very much, Heidi. Um the late last school year, uh the board decided to create a policy committee to undertake, uh a comprehensive review of all of the district policies for alignment, uh and consistency and just to update language um and also to evaluate dates and other um other ensure that the policies match the current structure, current roles, etc. Um the policy committee consisted of two board members, myself and Heidi Danielson, as well as former Melview School Board member um and now educational consultant Amy Jones. We met over several times for several hours um over the past, you know, six, eight months um to come together and and propose revisions uh to certain policies. uh the board approved those revisions to several policies in June and we are going to be following with the next set of of final proposals from our work uh coming up. Um so each of the following policies have been updated to remove the monitoring method and frequency with no other changes to the policies that is uh BG0101 and BG 109 um uh BG I'm sorry BG0101 and BG0109 will be reviewed in the normal cadence for policy review but not be included in the board selfassessment. Uh we're going to be doing self- assessment in other in other ways. Um let's see. Uh the superintendent superintendent limitations policies will be included in the superintendence review. Um and that is it for the policy review thus far. >> Great. Thank you for the update, Alyssa. Um so I would entertain a motion um for the board to adopt the policies presented as revised. >> So moved. >> Second. >> The motion has been moved and seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> I. >> Any opposed? The motion carries. Thank you so much, Alyssa, for all your work as well as presenting tonight. All right, we are going to move on to agenda item 5.1. Uh, certify the proposed property tax levy with Superintendent Lennox. >> Thank you, Heidi. Um so each year uh school boards are required to certify their proposed property taxes by September 30th. The challenge to school districts with this requirement is that in September uh school districts only have estimates of our uh proposed tax levies due to the ongoing calculations that are happening uh at the Department of Education. Now eventually all of those calculations will be completed. school districts will get their final information and have that available for our truth and taxation hearings that are held in December. So, as a result, what the legislature has done is offered uh an opportunity for school districts and suggest that we don't have those uh those numbers in September that you uh take advantage of what they call levying the maximum. Now, that sounds like, well, wait, why why would you just levy the maximum? What it does is it uh allows you to do that versus a specific dollar amount. And the opportunity for for school districts in the public is that you don't then levy an amount that's too high or too low. So they just say go with that in September, levy the max and then as you get those actual calculations, then you adjust that number and bring that back in in December uh as part of truth and taxations. Uh so one of the things I think this board has done this enough times that this is an annual thing where we levy the max we make this adjustment uh in December and we hold a public meeting. Uh we also have to let the public know the date and time that we are going to hold that public meeting. So tonight I'm informing the public that our MU public schools truth and taxation hearing will be held on December 9th uh at 6 pm here at the district center. So, anybody wants to come uh and get actual information at that time or share comments with the board, uh we will be available for our truth and taxation meeting again December 9th, 6 p.m. at the district center. So, uh again, this is an annual uh mechanism that we use to move forward our preliminary levy. And tonight it is recommended that the school you board use that option provided by the legislature to certify the max uh for the 2025 uh taxes payable in 2026. >> Any questions or comments from anyone on the board for Chris? >> Thank Chris said >> we we've all been through this and we we uh look at these things during our work sessions as well. So, uh, appreciate the update, Chris. And at this point, I would entertain a motion to, uh, certify the proposed taxes as maximum on the levy limitation and certificate 2025 table 2026. >> So moved. >> Second. >> It has been moved and seconded. All in favor? >> I >> I. >> All opposed. Motion carries. Great. We will move on to item 5.2, to MDE review and comment. >> That's me again, Chris. >> Yep. Thank you. So, as part of our capital projects levy, which we'll talk about, I think it's our next item on the agenda. Districts are required to submit information regarding the proposed project as well as the funding request to the Minnesota Department of Education. Now, we uh completed that requirement and submitted a detailed report to the commissioner of education this summer. uh the commissioner and then department staff had the opportunity to review our project and provide feedback to the school district uh related to their thoughts. I am pleased tonight to be able to report that our project received a positive review and comment from the commissioner. Uh the report stated that the projects and expenditures were in the long-term interest of the district and the district was given approval to move forward with our referendum in November. So, uh, more information is going to be shared with the with the public, uh, about our capital projects request, but we wanted, uh, them to also know that the district has met all of the statutory requirements that are related to moving forward with a a capital projects request and that the commissioner and uh, his staff have reviewed that and brought back a positive review and comment for the district. So, with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions. All right. Hearing none. Okay. >> Gonna move on to item 5.3 and I'm going to turn it over to board member Shauna Bach to walk us through our district operational plan goal update of the capital projects. >> Perfect. Thank you, Heidi. So, uh, like Heidi said, I would like to, uh, report this evening on the capital projects levy. Um, as our community members might know, this is the first time ever that the Mount View School Board has proposed a capital levies project. Um, which will help our district make important safety and technology improvements. Um, I will play a little video for you and then give you some highlights after the video plays. So, if you could turn your attention to the video, it's pretty brief. >> Community um is integral uh to safety, especially in the school environment. We can't have public safety without the public's involvement. >> In Mountains View Public Schools, nine out of 10 residents say the district provides a safe and secure learning environment for students. So, how could they be safer? A comprehensive technology evaluation in 2024 revealed challenges that prevent schools from providing the safest and most equitable learning environment possible. Additional security cameras are needed to provide comprehensive coverage in critical areas throughout the district. Visitor management systems are dated and schools lack a uniform and modern public address and emergency response system in all classrooms. School districts like Mountains View are prime targets for cyber attacks, putting student and staff data privacy at risk. Unauthorized users attempt to access the district's systems more than 60,000 times in a typical month, and the district's aging network is becoming more challenging to support. So, our current camera systems across buildings at Mount Zoo Public Schools, we definitely can see and would benefit from an increase in the amount of cameras that we have in buildings. Also, talking about the quality that that could definitely get better because sometimes it takes a few hours and a lot more people on board in order to appropriately resolve a situation. Facing these challenges, how can our community protect its investment in our students and our schools? For the first time ever, the school board has proposed a capital projects levy on the ballot this fall. If successful, the levy would provide $10 million annually for 10 years. That's about $18 a month for the average homeowner. >> Parents want reassurance that when they drop their kids off at school that they're going to be safe. It's about essentials. It's not something we can take for granted. Mounds is one of only a handful of school districts that does not have a levy like this. This is how we protect what matters most, which is our students. >> With additional dedicated revenue, Mounts View Public Schools can improve school safety and better protect student data privacy against cyber attacks, all without pulling funding away from maintaining current class sizes and academic programming. Safety is number one and we've done a good job in the past, but we need to move forward. We want to invest in updated visitor management system. We want to invest in updated camera systems, hackproof fobs, and just our locking system in general. All of those things are going to make our school safer. In addition, the capital project levy can help support students in the classroom. Student learning devices like Chromebooks and iPads are in need of replacement. Instructional technologies like interactive displays vary in function, age, and reliability for student learning in all classrooms. >> I use technology every single day in the classroom. From the moment I walk in, the Smartboard is my mode of transportation to reach all learners. But there are classrooms in which a Smartboard is not as reliable. Some of the technology has maybe phased out. And so it would be important for all classrooms to have that same mode of learning to help all students succeed. >> Without this dedicated revenue source, there will be continued pressure on the general operating budget, competing for dollars required for other classroom and school needs. This will eventually lead to outdated security systems, older devices, and limited technology support. So, what will our school's safety and security look like in the future? That's up to you. Before you vote, please learn more about the proposal at mvpschools.org/saferchools. In addition to the capital projects levy this year, there is a school board election on November 4th. For a list of candidates, visit mvpschools.org/board25 and take advantage of early voting that starts on October 17th. Safety and security is an ever evolving industry. We need to stay invested and engaged in making sure that our investments are keeping the learning environment safe for all learners. I want to thank our communications department for that video. I think it is uh does a great job of explaining um what we're asking for and and what we need and why we need it. Um, I was just going to highlight a few things uh for you. So, I I do want to emphasize that our schools are safe. Um, I send three children off to Mount View Public Schools every day confident that um they are going to be safe while they are at school. Um, however, things could always be safer, right? Um, so nine out of 10 residents say that the district provides a safe and secure learning environment for students. Um however, part of our district operational uh plan last year was to evaluate our um technology and that evaluation revealed that there were some um challenges and the district is asking voters to approve the capital projects levy this fall to make those safety and security updates in our schools. I think it's important to note that most metro school districts already have this dedicated funding source. Mount View is just one of a handful of schools that doesn't have that. I think it's also important to note that um there is no state funding dedicated to school safety. Um so we don't have money that addresses these concerns and requirements that we have. Um so implementing the recommended technology improvement requires an intentional investment in that area. Um so there are three things that we are talking about when we talk about school safety. The first is the security cameras. Um we want to be able to increase the security camera coverage across the district. Um the current camera system are at least 12 years old which is old when we're talking about um how technology has evolved for security cameras in the last 12 years. We're also talking about visitor management, strengthening those entry points for visitors and staff entering the building. Again, most of those systems are also at least 12 years old. Um, and then also looking at our emergency response system. So, upgrading the um PA announcements, the emergency response systems to include some uh digital displays. So, if students are in a classroom and an incident is happening, a message will pop up on the Smartboard that will um indicate what's happening. If there's a medical emergency in the hallway or or just letting kids know what's happening, uh which will really help ease some of that anxiety when kids don't know why you're in uh a hold or a secure situation. Um rumors start to fly and people start to come up with their own conclusions. So having that message pop up on the Smartboard would be fantastic. Most systems are 25 years old when we're talking about um public address announcement systems and emergency response systems. Um and then trying to upgrade to hackresistant door fobs, uh key card readers, and most of those systems are um at least 10 to 15 years old. So, when it comes to technology, things that are 10 to 15 years old are really old. Um, and then cyber security. If you follow the news at all, you've probably heard about the recent um cyber attack on the city of St. Paul, which really did the city for several days. um to get all new technology for the city staff and to go about business as usual uh during that cyber attack was really difficult. So with this dedicated revenue, we can um better protect student data against cyber attacks. Um, so in the event of a cyber attack, confidential student information could get hacked, staff information, parent information that could all be exposed. Online classes, assignments, digital learning tools could become unusable, financial systems could go down, communication platforms could go down. Um, it it could be very destructive. And as you heard in the video, there are 60,000 attempts a month to hack into our systems, which is a lot. Um, on any given day across Mountains View Public Schools, we have 8,000 devices that are connected to our network. Uh, almost 18 thou uh 1,800 emails are flagged for fishing every month. Like I said, the 60,000 cyber attacks are blocked every month. and there's 25,000 attempts to visit malicious websites and those are prevented um each month. So you can see that this this is uh a very real issue and really important that our data does not get hacked. Um, and then we talk about classroom learning, making sure that we can replace interactive whiteboards, install interactive whiteboards um, in all classrooms, replacing and upgrading student and staff devices. My own child plugged in her Chromebook like a good student. She plugged it in all night, woke up this morning and it was at 4%. Um, so we just we have some technology that isn't um as capable as it could be. We'd also like to install uh learning stations with advanced coding and steam labs and then have dedicated spaces for coding engineering, virtual reality tools, augmented reality tools, drones, robots. really helping our students step in to what the future of education looks like with new uh upgraded technology tools. Um and so without this investment, these these are all things that we can implement in phases throughout Monzery Public Schools. It's important to know that with this uh money that we're asking for, it will help us to not pull funding away from anything that we're currently doing. So, we won't pull money away from any academic programming, class sizes, that kind of thing. Without this funding, these are still things that we need in our school district, and the money has to come from somewhere. Um, so if we uh fail to get this money, that means something's got to give somewhere else. Could mean schools are less safe. We're we're using the money that we currently use to keep class sizes low or programs running for this technology investment instead. If successful, the levy would provide us with $10 million annually uh for the next 10 years. As you heard in the video, for the average household, uh, in our school district, it would be about $18. Um, and if people are curious about what it means for them personally, if you go to, um, mvpschools.org/saferschools, there's a tax calculator on there that will help you figure out what it would be for your uh, specific property. And there's also a schoolboard election happening in November. Um, there's a couple different ways you can vote. You can vote early uh right next door here at the Shore View Library. You can also vote early at the Roseville Library. Um, that starts October 17th through the 31st. uh weekdays 10:00 am to 4 pm and uh Saturday November 1st you can vote early at the library 9:00 am to 3 pm and then again Monday November 3rd 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. You can also vote by absentee ballot uh on uh before November 4th and then um you can also vote on election day which is November 4th and you can find your polling place on the Ramsey County website. Um, and also there's a school board election happening. In addition to this levy, there will be um three board seats uh that you'll be voting on. And if you'd like more information about the candidates who are running for school board, you can go to mvpschools.org election25. And that will conclude our presentation on the capital projects levy, essential tools for safer schools. Thanks so much, Shauna. Anybody have any questions? Anything to add? Great. Um, again, Shauna uh already thanked our communications team for the video. There'll be some other um mailings that residents will receive telling them more about uh the capital projects levy, but as always, you can go to the district website as well and find additional information. Thanks, Shauna. All right. At this time, we'll move to item 6.1. Jim, do you have any AMSD or legislative updates? >> Uh, yes. We had a um AMSD meeting um I believe about a week ago Friday. Um we had a presentation on public opinion on public schools um by the Morris Leatherman firm, which we are all familiar with. So, they gave us the latest rundown on where uh people are with public schools and a lot of things happening out there in the public. It was interesting. It was uh um done. It was finished the day before their school shooting in South Minneapolis. So, it was, you know, an interesting look pre that. Um we also previewed the special session on school safety. Um we believe that uh the governor will probably let it be known sometime by the end of the week this week about when he's going to have the special session on school safety and uh uh went through some of the proposals that they're proposing for public schools. Um, and we also had a presentation on the Purp Center for the Arts, which is a public school funded by the state, not by property taxes. That kind of has a special role out there for, uh, kids who, um, really want to pursue a career in the arts. And so, that was very interesting to, uh, catch up on that. So, um, that's what we were up to last week. So, thank you. >> Great. Thanks so much, Jim. Shauna, any updates on Northeast Master 96? >> I do. So, um, Northeast Metro 916 is an intermediate school district of which Mountains View Public Schools is a member. Um, and we utilize their services for um, some special education programming as well as career and teched programming. And we met uh, the first Wednesday of the month, September 3rd. Um and we um had a presentation on um school safety and um threat assessments and how um how just safety awareness I guess would probably be the best way to put it. Uh it was a really uh great presentation about um some threat assessments and their evolving approach to safety in uh Northeast Metro 916. We had the superintendent uh review which we continue to believe that uh Dr. Bo does a great job of leading uh Northeast Metro 916 and we had um a few routine policy updates but other than that it was a pretty standard meeting for 916 and we will meet again the first Wednesday of October. >> Great. Thanks Shauna. Next item is 6.2 school board member updates. Any school board members have any updates they'd like to share tonight? We have not yet fully engaged with the new school year, have we folks? Just kidding. I think there's been some PTA meetings happening and I think we have a lot on our calendar in the coming weeks. Hopefully, we can make some events at some of the schools. Lots of sports happening. So, looking forward to all that for for all of us. Uh, is there anything else to come before the board? Not we are adjourned. Thank you. Thank you.