All right. Um, I'd like to call to order the August 17th, 2026 um, regular meeting of school board ISD 622. First up is the um, pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. Um, so now we have to approve the agenda. Um, could I get a motion and a second? >> So move. >> Second. >> Moved by Swarore, seconded by Livingston. Um all in favor say I. >> I. >> And all oppose say nay. >> All right the agenda is approved. Um next up we have public comment. Do we have anybody signed up? Okay. So we will move on. Um and then we have our consent agenda. This is um the consent agenda consists of routine items that are acted on in a single consolidated motion without board discussion. Board members have the option of pulling items off the consent agenda if they wish to discuss them or consider them individually. Does anybody want to pull anything out? >> Okay. Um there's a request to pull H, which is the girls hockey co-op. Um anything else? All right. So, um could I get a motion and a second to approve A through G? All right. Moved by Livingston, seconded by Yenner. Um all in favor say I. >> I. >> And all oppose say n. >> All right. Um that is approved. Um and so now we are going to discuss the girls hockey co-op. Swore. >> Yes. Thank you. I was um just hoping to get a little bit more information on this. Um there is a long list of teams that we are co-oping with and so I had wondered who we had co-oped with in the past. Um, and just some of the background on why we are co-oping now. And >> sure, madam chair, members of the board, Superintendent Tuio Sorio, thanks for the opportunity to visit with you about the new cooperative agreement we are going into with uh, Two Rivers and uh, St. Paul Public Schools. We have been a in a cooperative agreement with Gentry Academy for the past two years and they really are kind of a hockey school. So, we were in their um, joining their program with our limited numbers. um they are did not uh pursue us renewing that opportunity with us. A lot of it has to do is when they have enough numbers and those students are going to their school, they ask themselves, do they want a 622 player to come in and take a spot of someone that goes to their school. So when they're seeking numbers, they're interested in us. And when they're not seeking numbers, they no longer are. So um with our limited numbers in 62 in girls hockey, this is a the best opportunity for us to play at the right level to join an existing co-op, which is this St. Paul public schools and Two Rivers. Um, currently the schedule was already built, so there'll be fewer games and practices at our arenas. Over time, as that schedule is built, there will be opportunities um in the co-op. So, I think it's a good move for us. Without it, you know, the limited girls hockey players would either not have a team to play on or potentially would have to leave the school district to join a hockey team. So, that's the reason for the cooperative. Um, I did have a question. It looks like on the co-op form those numbers are the numbers of players. Like high school number one has three ninth graders, three 10th graders. Yeah. Right. Okay. Why do we have why are there so many like Central, Koma, Harding, Highland Park? I I'm guessing that's one team and then North Tart and Two Rivers is another team. Is that right? um St. Paul public schools and all of their high schools and Two Rivers had been in a co-op together for a number of years. So, we're just adding our numbers to that cooperative agreement. >> Oh, it's a co-op with all of >> all of those schools. Yes. >> Schools. Oh, wow. >> And Two Rivers has been the host. Um so, they're maintaining that host status uh for now uh for um for the terms of this cooperative. It's really was the best opportunity for us um with the loss of Gentry as a cooperative. You know, with all cooperative agreements, you know, our initial goal is obviously to have our own teams at our own high schools. And then the next step would be uh to have a joint agreement between our two high schools, which we've had as cooperatives. Uh when the numbers still aren't there, we look for potentially cooperative agreements with another school. and um and try to use any leverage we have, whether it's facilities, um arenas, um a school that needs some athletes to join their team. Um and they think it's a a win-win cost savings. Um but with the loss with Gentry, um both of our ads thought this was the be best opportunity for us right now. >> And I think I asked you this once before, but I don't remember the answer. It looks like [clears throat] from this form, North St. Paul has zero students and Tartan has five. I mean, I realize I can change every year, but >> um >> when my kids were coming, one of my kids was coming through, they wanted to do downhill skiing >> and we didn't have it and so they could go to Still Water and do it. So, whatever kind of agreement that is when we have such small numbers, why what's the difference between sending them to another school and doing these co-ops? >> Well, it has to do with enrollment. So, um, a co-op is that our students in 622 don't have to transfer to Still Water or Two Rivers or St. Paul. >> Well, they didn't have to transfer. They could just play on the team. >> And there probably was a cooperative agreement like we Yes. Like we had recently we had a um a downhill alpine skier who was a very good skier. Um, and we entered and we're looking at a cooperative agreement for that student to be able to continue to participate without having to leave our school. I think that's it then. >> Thank you. >> Um, let me just pull it up. All right. So, I'm going to go ahead and read the resolution then. Um, be it resolved by the school board of independent school district number 622. um that the attach cooperative sponsor agreement B and hereby is approved. Um could I get a motion and a second? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved by Yenner, seconded by Swore. Um any additional discussion. >> Okay. All in favor say I. >> I. >> And all oppose say nay. >> All right. Um that is approved. Um, and so we have next up our reports. Um, the superintendent evaluation. >> That's you actually. >> That's me. That's right. >> I had to read my All right. So, um, this is a summary of the superintendent's evaluation for 2526. So, the school board met on June 23rd for the annual evaluation of a superintendent Tui Assurio. Superintendent to Giosaurio's Claire's strengths were in graduation, post-secondary pathways, safety and security, social emotional learning, and equity and inclusion. She and her team built a genuine multi-prong system connecting graduation to career readiness, drove a drop in conflict referrals through structural changes and relational ones, and established infrastructure for student well-being. Given the demanding context of this past year, Superintendent Tujiro's equity work continues to stand out with dual language expansion, heritage language programming, and a strong district response to Operation Metro Search. This past academic year showed our district moving in the right direction, but not yet where it needs to be. Overall, MCA scores remain low and achievement gaps between student groups persist. But we have a lot to be proud of. There were real gains this past e academic year. Our 678 MCA scores demonstrated strong gains in both math and literacy. We are beating the state and graduation rates for every student group. And we have implemented thoughtful data-driven approach to instruction. Our evaluation results confirm our belief that our strategic plan and the efforts of the superintendent and her team have created a strong foundation to increase student success for all our learners, increasing academic achievement, graduation, safety and security, social emotional learning and equity and [clears throat] inclusion. Looking ahead to the 2627 school year, the board's priorities include strengthening communications and public trust and continuing to drive academic achievement. Other priorities include securing long-term financial stability, continuing to expand post-secondary readiness and career pathways, maintaining safety momentum, and continuing to build out AI guidance and instructional integration. The board believes Superintendent Tutio's leadership, commitment to equity, and student success, and strategic vision aligns with the district's goals. There is continued work to be done particularly in improving academic outcomes and we may we remain confident that under the superintendent's guidance we are moving in the right direction to build on our progress and meet the challenges ahead. We look forward to continued collaboration and growth in the coming academic year. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Do I open it for anything? No. I'll just say it's been an absolute privilege to be the superintendent here for 11 years and this is the beginning of a 12th year and um still very excited about our work together. We've got an amazing team. So, thank you for that evaluation. I appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Uh all right, so next up we have um there are no uh school board representatives quite yet um at this meeting, right? So they'll be here for the next one. >> [snorts] >> Um and so next we have our um assistant superintendent uh Trisha St. Michaels with policy revisions and adoptions. >> Good evening, Chair Yang, superintendent Tujios and directors of the board this evening. I have 15 policies to recommend uh with recommended revisions and one draft policy recommended for adoption that I'll be reviewing with you. I'll identify the policy and a brief summary of the recommended revisions. And as a reminder, this evening is the second of our three required readings and as such you will not have to take any action this evening and we will have our third and final reading in the September business meeting. So I will just jump on into them. Policy 208 is policy stewardship. This adds uh clarity around what type of policies can be adopted in one meeting. Policy 402, disability discrimination non-discrimination policy, excuse me, adds language um speaking to what an reasonable accommodation process is. Policy 416, drug, alcohol, and cannabis testing. This names a new drug testing provider that the district will be using. Policy 509, enrollment of non-resident students, aligns the policy language with the open enrollment laws. Policy 521, student disability non-discrimination. This adds um language about the reasonable accommodation process as well. Policy 524, internet technology and cell phone acceptable use and safety policy. Um, it's a new statute due to some legislative changes or adds new statute language rather to legislative changes. Policy 613, graduation requirements changes are due to some new legislative action. Policy 621, the Literacy and Read Act, um, [cough and clears throat] excuse me, adds language due to the, um, changes with the Read Act legislation as well. Policy 709, Student Transportation and Safety Policy, adds some definition language. Policy 721, the procurement policy adds revisions for the thresholds for emergency purposes or purchases rather. Policy 722, public data request, add some language that speaks to safe at home participants and data privacy regulations. Policy 425, staff develop and mentoring updates are made due to statute changes. Policy 624, the online learning options, corrects a statutory citation. Policy 806, the crisis management policy, adds some language to re um to reflect the cardiac emergency response plan as well as adds additional resources. Policy 625 is the responsible use of artificial intelligence and and then policy 532 use of police officers provides some additional details regarding responsibilities and expectations. And that concludes the recommendations for revision and adoption. Thank you. Any questions? >> I'm sorry, this is not a question on the um uh context or the contents of the policies, but just um the the technical updates and the policy adoption for 625, those require now just one meeting. Are we going to adopt those today or we're going is everything going to be moved to September? >> Everything will be moved to September. just adopted to do the three since we have a batch happening at the same time. >> Okay, that sounds good. Thank you again for all of the good work. >> I guess it's next. >> Uh, yep. Next up, we have the back to school updates from Superintendent TJ Sorio. >> Good evening, Madame Chair and members of the school board and cabinet. Hopefully that's showing up. Okay. Right. >> Hang on. >> Does that work better? >> Now it's showing up. Okay, good. >> All right. All right. Well, good evening everyone. Um, we are so excited for our back to school plans again. Um, there's some really incredible energy in the room right now. So, we're excited for all the plans that we have underway. I'm going to share a few updates with you as we get ready for back to school. Um, as we do every August, this is just kind of a recap of our district or chart. Um, thankfully we don't have any changes um to district leadership positions. So, the same people in the same places, which is kind of nice. Here is a slide that just is an update on all of our school and program administrators for the year. Um, most of these are the same as last year. We have a few a few changes as well, but this will be there for your reference as well. Um, just a few updates we have. Now, this was last updated by HR um a little bit ago, but it'll you'll get another one of these updated as we move forward into the beginning of September. But, um, so far this year um of the teachers that we had hired to come into our district, in fact, we just had our new educator training this morning. Um, and we it was an amazing group of people. uh lots of great energy in the space and quite frankly a lot of people who um are bringing with them a lot of experience. You know, I asked a group this morning, um, you know, how many is this? Here's your first year of teaching and, you know, some hands went up and then how many are coming from other school districts have been teaching elsewhere and a lot more hands went up and, uh, I walked in with one gal coming in the door and I said, "Well, what where are you coming from this year?" Cuz she had explained that, you know, she wasn't a new new teacher and she's like, "Uh, I've been working overseas in Abu Dhabi." I'm like, "Well, welcome to 622." So, um, I love love love meeting all the folks we have in here. As you know, a few years ago, um to help meet our demand for more special education licensed teachers, we uh ended up hiring um some teachers from the Philippines and we have we hired uh 11 in 2425. We hired nine more in 2526 and we have three more coming into our district this year. Um H-1B visas now have a $100,000 fee attached to them if you hire someone who's outside the country. So the three, so we didn't hire anyone from outside the country this year, but the three that we did hire um were already teaching in Minnesota in another school district. So um really excited about the energy and the folks that we have brought in, international teachers, have been phenomenal teachers, like really good teachers. So that's been exciting. So that program is continuing. Um and again, this is after as of a couple of uh weeks ago, [sighs] we had 182 employee vacancies remaining. And keep in mind, we have close to 2,000 employees. So, we're not doing too badly here. Um, and the second um box under there, you can see how that compares with that same week a year ago. So, um, actually doing really well, quite frankly. And even many of these have been filled even since this was put in this update here. So, we'll keep you posted on all of those. Anyone who is looking for employment, we've got great jobs in our school district and we encourage everyone to keep checking out our uh, employment opportunities. Um, a couple things to know about this year. Uh, due to the lateness of Labor Day, you know, in Minnesota, the law is clear. You cannot start school before Labor Day unless you do so due to construction needs. [snorts] Um, however, the state um legislature passed uh a variance for this for this year and next school year to allow school districts to start before Labor Day because Labor Day this year is as late as it can possibly be. And um so our calendar committee last fall spent a lot of time exploring all these options and um made the recommendation to adopt a calendar that has us starting school before Labor Day this year. So our first day with students will be on August 31st. Our calendar committee as you know um because you all approved this calendar last fall um has been our group has been working to adopt two years of calendars at a time. So the calendar for 2728 school year does not include a start before Labor Day. Um even though it's just a day difference, it it seemed to be enough that it still allowed people to not have to go into that um second week of June with classes by still being able to start after Labor Day. So this year is the only year that's happening. I did have one parent reach out just concerned um because they hadn't heard the information about the earlier start um related to a family trip that they had planned right before Labor Day that's been a standing thing and I just said send a message to your principal and explain the situation and and you know we'll approve that absence because this is a you know a unique situation. So um as I mentioned already our new educator week um our our calendar is linked here. It's also on our our website. Our new educators, like I said, they're not necessarily new to 622 or they're new to 62, they may not be new to teaching. That um workshop week is underway. Started this morning. Um we were handed out a lot of laptops and a lot of ID badges and lanyards and all that business. And just really great positive energy in the space as well. And all of our administrators practically were there too to greet everybody and give them a warm welcome, which was really fun. Um, next week is when all of our teachers come back for teacher workshop week and um, you know, that's where everyone has to, you know, dust off their lesson planning books and all that business and get back into it. Um, but we're really looking forward to that event as well. Um, a little look at our enrollment right now. Uh as you know enrollment is always we base it on historical data on what we believe um how what numbers are going to look like based on what we've had previously in terms of trends. We look at live births in the in the boundaries. We look at transition and and current enrollment trends from previous years. And so these are our best numbers at the moment. They do change often. Well, they change all year long. Um, but as we built all of our master schedules for the school year, we always remind staff those first couple weeks, it's it's daily attendance counts. Um, and we're combing in on a daily basis to make sure if we have any hot spots, if we end up with a class that was larger than expected or whatever, we immediately start intervening to figure out how to add staff or make changes wherever we can. And so, we'll be monitoring that very, very closely. So, at our September schoolboard meeting, I'll be giving you another update related to enrollment, and we'll see how all of our numbers turn out, but this is a a a quick look at how enrollment is looking right now. These are our school bus times for 2627. Uh we always like to remind our families that we do have a school bus, an app to track your bus location. So, My Ride K12 is that bus app for families. And um just a reminder that our school buses, we run our buses on a tiered schedule. So our drivers will take drive students to middle schools and then pick up more students and take them to the high schools and then pick up more students and take them to the first batch of elementaryaries and then the second batch of elementaryaries. That's why we have such staggered start and end times in our day. Um so this has not changed from last year. These numbers and times are still the same as they were a year ago. And um we always like to remind families that those first um couple weeks of school while drivers are learning new routes and things are happening, just know that they might be a little delayed, but to log into that app because you'll be able to see where that bus is exactly. So, um our transportation team has been busy at work and and getting everybody routed and scheduled. So, um we're we're ready for a good start here. We also every year um Trisha and her team um put together some vaccination clinics for students. Um and so these are some dates we have coming up to help students who might be missing vaccinations ahead of the start of school. Um and then of course there's another option here for physicals for especially athletes who need to get uh a physical conducted. So those are these are um vaccines for students. We do have vaccination clinics for staff. Those dates are still being finalized, but we often bring in folks if they want to come in and get flu shots and CO shots and all that kind of stuff in the fall. We do offer those opportunities for staff as well. Um, and those will come a little bit um more into [snorts] September. >> Christine, >> yes. >> Um, do those have a cost associated to them? >> Trisha, do you want to speak to that? >> Maybe. [laughter] Um, so two different options in terms of whether a family is insured or uninsured families and we do work with families who are uninsured to either have a sliding fee scale and or have the cost covered through other options with the clinic that is coming in to provide those immunizations. >> Thank you. >> Great question. >> Um, I want to remind everyone that um, we are wrapping up almost a decade of construction in our school district. Um, for those who don't remember, um, it would have been 7 years ago in 2019. Isn't it amazing how time flies? In 2019, um, we passed a bond referendum that, um, allowed us to invest in some renovations for our buildings, which were so so so overdue at the time. And um the goals of that effort were to improve safety and security. Um for all those schools that used to have a office like in the middle of a building, those offices have all been put to the outside edge of the building so there's a secure entrance where you can monitor people coming and going. Lots of technology bells and whistles. Um lots more flexible seating and a lot of focus on energy efficiency. So um we're really excited about that. Um we are well underway. We have our the latest projects. Um, Harmony Building, I think, is nearly if not totally complete. Um, and we have an addition underway at Cowin Elementary. And you might recall that the addition to Cowan um was an add-on because all of our other budgets came in under project and we were able to um squeeze that one into the mix, which was great because that was a building that did not otherwise get any expansion. So, we're excited about all of that. Um, for those who haven't visited it yet, we do have a a website, a web page that highlights our building bond program. And for folks go to that website, you can see before and after pictures of all of our schools in the building. So, um, you might recall last fall we did a a big openhouse in here where people can walk around and see all of those um um photos and slideshows. They're all up here on the website. So, we're encouraging people to remember to go check those out. and families who and staff who might be new, look it up and see what your building used to look like cuz they're a lot of them look pretty different these days. I want to remind everybody that we are still um in the midst of our 2024 strategic plan. Um this is a plan that was developed in 24 um with the goal of being in place for 5 years. Um, as you remember, we had many many many many many many many community voices and um focus groups and um world cafes and surveys and interviews and things that fed into this. But um these five goal areas drive absolutely everything that we do in our school district. academic achievement, a focus on postsec graduation and post-secondary readiness, safety and security, social emotional learning, and equity and inclusion to ensure that all of our student, staff, and families feel welcomed in our school district. So, um all of our presentations to the school board this year from the different departments and schools and all that um are anchored to this strategic plan. So, you'll be able to see how that's progressing in real time. Of course, I want to mention that we do have a referendum on the ballot this coming fall. Um, you can check out the information on this website, 622forward.org, and um, check out all the information that's posted there. I will share a few um, bits of information. Many people ask, why are school districts going out for referenda? Uh, I will tell you, it's probably our least favorite thing to do ever. Um, it's not, it's tricky in Minnesota. um school funding, it's expected that part of that funding comes from your local property base, property taxes. And so um we need to go out to the community periodically and ask for an increase in that area. This graph that you see right here is a collection. This is um the line on the top, the dark blue line is actually um how much inflation has increased the purple per people funding. The orange line is how much we've actually gotten from the state. So the dotted orange line is how the formula allowance has been adjusted over time by the legislature. And the top line shows you if it had been adjusted to coincide with the rate of inflation where our school funding would be now if that had happened with the legislature. There is a YouTube video here. This is not a district video. This is actually a video shared statewide about why school districts have referenda on the ballots. This graphic right here um you've seen plenty of times before. This basically is a look at all the school districts that are member districts of AMSD, the Association of Metropolitan School Districts. And you can see that on this graphic this is how much um these school districts currently collect in voter approved operating referenda. And North St. Pal map Oakdale is kind of right towards the bottom here. Um where you see the orange line and the blue line. The orange has to do with um an operating referendum. And the blue line is for school districts that have a capital projects levy or tech levy it's sometimes called. Um as you can see we don't have a tech levy. We've not ever been able to get that on our ballot or pass it anyway. So um you can see though that if you look at our district collects about 1,042 per pupil and like up at the top is Hopkins public schools which is collecting about 4,400 or so per pupil. So you can see kind of the difference in kind of zip code and whatnot and how school funding it's it's a really challenging thing to ask our community to you know open their wallets and contribute a little more to schools. Um but unfortunately it's a big part of how our state funding system is built for schools. So um that's something we definitely look to be advocating for at the legislature. I'm looking at one of our board members who's running for the legislature. So we'll be talking about that. [snorts] So this first graphic was all of the metro area school districts. The one this little graphic is just the school districts that are right next door to us. So for comparison's sake um how we compare to White Bear, St. Paul, you [snorts] know, Southwash, Mameidi, Still Water, and Roseville. So, even amongst our local neighbors on this side of town, you can see that we are definitely much lower in funding than the rest of them are. Um, over the past 3 years, we've absorbed over $15 million in budget cuts. As you well know, we've had many, many painful conversations about that. And so, we are going back out again. Um, this is just a look at those cuts over the last three years. and um we really hope that we can have the opportunity to not have to do that again. So last year when we went out and it did not pass, we um had two questions on the ballot. One was for an operating levy and the second question was for a capital projects levy. This year um as you all know with much discussion, we have opted to simplify and reduce our ask significantly. So, instead of the two questions, um, we're now only asking one question, which would be an $800 per pupil increase. It's important to understand that's not an $800 per household or per person. That's per the number of pupils we have in our district. And as you saw in that graphic earlier about enrollment, that number changes. So, um, there's not a total dollar amount. It kind of depends on how many students actually come through the door. And that's why, but we do have a tax impact calculator here. Um, that QR code, there's also a link to it as well. Um, we have not increased our operating levy in 10 years. 10 years has been the last time we had an increase in this. And if you think about how much costs have gone up in 10 years and it's true in our homes as well, right? Groceries, gas, all those things have increased quite a bit. Um, and so, um, the costs in our school district have also gone up quite a bit. So, for this current question that's on the ballot, um the average home in our school district is valued at about $350,000. For the average homeowner, the increase would be approximately $21 per month if this question passes. Of course, people with a lesser valued home would pay less and people with a higher valued home would pay a little more. Um, renters do not pay property tax directly, but they do sometimes get those costs passed on to them by their landlords. We know that. Um, but this this little calculator allows people to log in. You can put in your uh property value and see what the impact would be to your property taxes if this question were to pass. So, that information is all here and it's also on our that website I told you about. This right here is a look at what the actual ballot question is. Um, it's we've had many, as you all know, we've had many conversations about this. Um, the ballot question is a little bit confusing because it says, "Our request is to increase by $800 per pupil." Um, well, some people read that and think it's eight I can't afford an $800 property tax increase, but that's not how much each homeowner would pay. Remember, that's that's the 21 per month if you have a $350,000 home. Um, but the way the law is written, we cannot in this ballot language say what the cost would be for a homeowner. you can only say what the price would be per pupil which is tricky and you also can't put on the ballot language how many pupils we have and what the averages would look like. So it's it requires us to do a lot of communication. It's also important to remember that um if it passed those funds um would begin with taxes payable in 27 and increase there is an inflationary increase included in that. I do want to mention um by including an inflationary increase, the state has caps on what you can include in your inflationary increase. In fact, um they actually generate um projected inflationary increases. They show what they have been previously and what they are projected to be going forward. And they are not nearly as close to what the actual CPI um consumer price index inflation rates are because of those caps. Um, and so we are going and it just we just had a conversation about this this afternoon. We'll put that that tax inflationary increase graphic on our website as well. Um, because I just had a community member reach out with a question about what that amount looks like. So, um, just making sure everyone is really understanding that because that's going to be a big piece of what we have to make sure people understand. Why does this matter? Of course, um, strong schools build strong communities, right? um your investment in public education in public schools actually protects your own property values. Right? When families want to move in there because your school district is doing great things, you're more likely to someday sell your house. Your value is going to go up more robustly. Um, and so we're really about trying to maintain um really high quality programs for all of our students in this school district as well as interventions and supports and mental health supports and after school buses and all the extra things. Um, as well as maintaining and keeping our staff. Um, and people shop around. Of course, salaries go up and and if we don't have any increases, it's hard to give teachers the raises that they deserve as well. Um and so we've been really um focusing on we've we've had very modest increases which has been good. We're good stewards of that. We've cut a lot from district office to try to protect class sizes and classrooms the most. Um but every year with more cuts it gets harder and harder to kind of keep those class sizes in check. So we're still holding tight, but again it's going to it's going to keep getting tighter and tighter. One of the really important things for people to understand is where to vote. Um, it depends on which county that you're in and it depends depends if you're going to vote on election day or if you're going to vote early or if you're doing a mail-in vote. So, we have information here for folks to find out where to vote. I always tell people if you're not sure, just Google where do I vote and you'll basically find the Secretary of State's website. You can type in your address and it will give you all that information. I do want to mention there's another item that's on the November ballot. This item is not on the ballot because we put it on there. it's been put on by the legislature. So, the permanent school fund is an issue that um I've attached a lot of information here. It it's basically a fund that actually already exists in the state. The thing is um that it does not uh directly the money collected through that doesn't all go back to schools um directly and this goal would be to get that fund to go directly to schools. Many people have asked how much of an increase would that be for our school district. it would be about $250,000 a year, which is nothing, not nothing, but in the scope of our overall budget, it's a very small amount. Um, but we do need to make sure we're communicating for folks about what this question is going to look like on the ballot to help avoid confusion about what's on the ballot and and to help understand that this was not something our school district put on the ballot. Of course, we support this measure. This would not increase anybody's taxes. It's money that's already taxed by the state of Minnesota. it would just redirect that funding to schools. So, um, we very much are in support of that as well. And I'll turn it over to you all for questions. Yes. >> Um, thanks. That was that was well done. Thank you. Um, I was uh really heartened to see that uh at the primary election a number of districts around the state passed their referenda. >> Mhm. Right. I I don't have off the top who did. It was a lot of uh uh rural uh uh districts and so on. I mean, everybody's strapped for money, but yet these folks, you know, went to the polls and said yes. And um so it can be done. [laughter] >> It absolutely can. And keeping in mind for an operating levy, which is what we are doing, you can only do that at the November ballot. So you can go out at other times of the year for building bonds >> and for capital projects that tech levy. So and I think part of it might be that I think it's very for lack of a better word concrete for people what a building construction project is going to look like or what technology resources are going to look like whereas operating reducing class sizes and you know maintaining programs is a broader category. Um, and that often times takes a lot more effort to kind of explain and help people understand, but there has been some success >> um, with those non- November elections. However, you can't do that for the kind of question we have because it's an operating levy. But, >> um, but it's promising. It does happen. I think it's really important for people to understand >> what the actual out-of- pocket cost would be because I think it's so confusing how the ballot question looks, >> right? And um I mean I'm excited to think about what we could do with additional funds. Um I think that people would see the difference um across the district and so they should definitely consider that. Um uh on another subject since you mentioned the word concrete I was uh I was in Cornin Elementary as a a non like Katie as is a nonpartisan election judge. I am Charlotte is and so I watched this concrete wall being built. A lot of voters coming into Coward had questions about what's going on here at Coward. So, I just want to emphasize um there will be 250 additional students at Cowin. We we are uh there are some schools that were sort of o overs subscribed and so we're changing uh those uh boundaries a little bit uh to uh relieve that and um well, we're building uh classrooms uh a media media center cafeteria. It's going to be great. I think it'll be a real asset for the community. >> Colin was one of the schools that didn't get a change in their footprint. It got the secure office um and the air conditioning to cool it down and new furniture, but it didn't get an expansion. Um, however, since that time, the success of, for example, our Spanish immersion program at Castle Elementary, which is very close to Cowan, has been so robust that it's getting the space is getting tighter because of folks who are um enrolling into Castle for that program. And so once this construction is done, it'll be a couple years. We are looking to tweak a boundary line between Castle especially and Cowan and potentially a little bit from Richardson depending on how enrollment projections are looking by that time. So it's still going to be a couple years before that can happen. But you're right, the goal at Cowan is to be able to just add a little extra wing of classrooms so that we can add some um enrollment to Corn. Talin is far and away our tiniest elementary school by enrollment and also by location. We It's a two-section school. You have two first grades, two second grades. And if you get extra kids in there and the class sizes get big and let's say we wanted to add another teacher, we don't have a classroom there. So um we either just have to change attendance boundaries or um you know figure out ways. because we were able to add um a few extra classrooms in there. That's going to help us um alleviate some of that, you know, >> that space issue that's happening there. >> Right. >> Thank you. >> Um something that I think kind of ties together the um welcome the new educators. I also want to say welcome to 622 and I hope you have a a great experience here. Um, I I do think that we have a really strong culture here and that's part of how I think it's really important to be able to retain teachers and get that continuity, get that sort of learning about how things work, how the classrooms work, get that experience in teaching yourselves. Um, and so I think that's where culture is where 622 has kind of really thrived. Um, when we haven't had the funds that some of the other schools have had. Um uh and so it's it's like it's nice to hear that you had a really great start to the welcome new educators week. Um and I actually met one of them today um my son's new teacher. Um and she also said that it was a great day and good >> that she's excited to join the district and so there's a lot of positivity um a lot of really [clears throat] good energy as we start school. So, and even with our new educator welcome today, you know, I'm very clear that we really are proud of ourselves um for the fact that we have such great um culture in our buildings. Um our our staff, our students. Did that go? Oh, good. I tried to switch it back on here. Um there's just a lot of um thought and energy that goes into how do we make sure the adults that work in our schools feel welcomed, heard, valued, and we talked quite a bit about that this morning. Um that, you know, I really want everyone to love it here. And if there is something you're not loving, speak up because that's how we that's how we improve, right? there's something that isn't working properly or a situation happens. Um, our our building leaders, I think part of what makes our school district so marvelous is just really really really hiring strong principles, assistant principles and deans and folks who are on the front lines and they are so good. Uh, we work very hard at whenever we happen to have an opening, we search far and wide to get the best best people in those roles. Um, and that's the magic of our district. I think you're absolutely right. It allows us to hang on to people that we might otherwise lose because of budget cuts. We've been able to hang on to quite a few who might have otherwise left us. And it's just so important that people have voice and choice and input in their work and feel valued and heard and seen. And so, um, we put a lot of energy into that work. >> I just had a quick question. Um, so Harmony is done. So our alternative high school and online is going over there. What's going to >> They're already over there. >> Oh, perfect. What's going up in that space there? And this building did not undergo [laughter] renovations. Correct. >> Right. So um the for those who are unsure what we're talking about the currently this past year couple years actually our our 602 online staff that run our online high school and our ascend alternative high school credit recovery that staff has been housed here in this district education center upstairs on the third floor. Um it was never intended to be their permanent home but that was their place while we were kind of moving things around. So, um they now have been relocated now that Harmony's um updates are done. They are in the second floor of Harmony and the lower level of Harmony building is still where our adult education programs are. GED, adult ESL, adult programs and training. So, um they're all over there. the the third floor of this building uh is now we're kind of rearranging some things to try to make those spaces better, more usable when it comes to like professional development and teacher training and workshops. We do a lot um you should see these weeks especially there's a lot of reservations happening out there in the district trying to compete for spaces and where we can hold meetings. This boardroom, for example, is a very, very common meeting space um for trainings and workshops. And so, um we're um updating and moving furniture around to kind of get those spaces ready. And um we're going to do some minor updates to this building. Nothing major construction wise, but we're going to be doing some minor updates to try to maximize the the use and space in this building as well. So, great question. >> Great. Thank you. I think that's all we had. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, we're going to move on to our action items. First up is our acknowledgement and contributions. Um, Director Rosemark. >> All right. Uh, so Minnesota statute 123b.02 O2 permits school boards to receive for the benefit of the district bequest donations or gifts for any proper purpose and apply the same to the purpose designated. Uh in that behalf the school board may act as trustee of any trust created for the benefit of the district and for the benefit of pupils thereof. Uh therefore the director of finance recommends the following resolution. Be it resolved by the school board of independent school district number 622 that the school board accept the with appreciation the following contributions and permit their use as designated by the donors. We have uh Steven Mgrren who donated a nice Yamaha grand piano for North High's music department. The Kenny family foundation $13,000 to subsize class and activity fees for adults with cognitive disabilities. Knights of Columbus North St. Paul, $1,117 for programming for adults with cognitive disabilities. And then Heather and Jacob Harrison donated $2,000 uh for for use at Weaver uh Elementary School as well. The total fiscal year 2526 monetary contributions is $16,117. >> Thank you. Um could I get a motion and a second? >> So moved. >> Second. Moved by Anderson, seconded by Rosemark. Um, any discussion. >> All right. All in favor say I. [clears throat] >> I. >> And all oppose say nay. All right. So that um is approved. And next up we have community education. Um this is the resolution for the approval of the revision of the facility use fee schedule. Good evening, Madame Chair, board members, superintendent, and cabinet members. You have a resolution before you in your board packet for proposed revisions to the district's facility usage, rental equipment, and personnel rates. The facility use fee schedule has not been updated since 2022. One of the primary reasons for the proposed increase is a significant rise in utility costs. Revenue received from rentals and fees is used in part to pay cost allocation to the general fund, which helps offset the costs of utilities, consumables, maintenance, and other expenses associated with community ed and public sponsored activities and events. As utility costs have increased, the amount facilities use pays through cost allocation has also increased significantly. Adjusting the rental rate will help offset a portion of those additional expenses. With a significant amount of district construction now complete, we were also able to review the updated square footage for all of our facilities. In 2022, we did that for a portion of the facilities that were completed at that point. That information was used to develop more equitable gym rental rates across the district. Another change involves the rental of district grounds. The cities of Oakdale, Maplewood, and North St. Paul no longer issue permits for the district 62 grounds. So prospective renters are now directed through our facility use office. In the pla past class B renters which include in district nonprofit user groups have not been charged for field rentals. Because there is an administrative work involved in the scheduling and managing these rentals. We are proposing a nominal hourly field fee to just help recover a portion of that cost of our staff time. We have also updated the equipment section of the fee schedule to reflect the equipment currently available for rental and have added fees for new equipment line items. Personnel rates have also been adjusted to help keep with the annual wage increases. These proposed changes will help ensure that our fee structure more accurately reflects the current cost of providing and administrating facility rentals while continuing to serve our schools and community partners. At this time, I recommend that the resolution be approved as presented and happy to answer any questions if I can. >> Can you remind me what class BD and E is? >> Um, yes, I can. [laughter] So class B is a nonprofit taxexempt community groups and organizations when the majority of participants are ISD 622 residents um like athletic associations, a group that might be sponsored by Maplewood, North St. Paul or Oakdale. So it's like within our district boundaries or serves the majority of our students in some capacity. So class C is fundraisers or revenue producing nonprofit taxexempt organizations um when the majority of the participants are not 62 residents. Class D is nonprofit taxexempt community groups, organizations and other associations with a membership of less than a majority of the 622 residents. And then class E is commercial organizations um that are forprofit. Okay, >> great. Thank you. You know, there the person who most spoke to me about this was the first group. Um, it was basketball guy, but he said that the rates aren't that bad in in our schools, like these rates like $12 or whatever, but that you also have to pay for staff. Um it's it's usually custodial if there's custodial support needed and and often times there is what to lock up the building or whatever it is. Um so we we have to pay for that. >> Yeah. But you need staff for no matter what, right? Because you can't be in the building. >> We always have a building supervisor and we somewhat absorb the majority of that cost in community ed. >> Okay. as you know supporting programming and bringing in the community into our buildings. Um so we don't like we're not making money off of building reserv we lose money or community ed is helping support that because it's really important that we make it as affordable as possible but it when it comes to like the boiler checks custodians things like that that we charge the actual hourly rate. >> Right. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. >> Mhm. Yeah, I guess one question I have is how much does like Oakdale Athletic Association utilize our spaces? Is it pretty common or do they use other spaces typically? >> I don't know that I could give you a percentage. I can get that information and provide it to the board. Uh but yes, they do at all three cities do. Sometimes there is a crunch for space and availability and depending on what high school season it is and all of those things. But since our all of our gyms are now done, it feels like we're able to do a little bit more. Um, and Angie Polos, our coordinator, does an incredible job of working with the coaches. The coaches have been wonderful as we've got our new normal of gym space and taking into consideration that we want to keep our community groups in our spaces because they're building our teams for the future or or an activity for the future. Um, so we're very thankful to the high school athletic directors, uh, and activity directors and the coaches that work with us to help balance that out. >> Yeah, absolutely. I think the Oakdale Athletic Association has been like having issues finding spaces and I'm very happy that we provide the space. Not saying that we're not providing it. I think it's more of a maybe a city issue or something, but >> but it can be hard when it was popular times and um we're not always renting every building in the district. We're coordinating to try and get activities at three or four buildings on the weekend, you know, to coordinate supervision, cost, all of those things. So, it gets tricky, but I Angie and Don Wheeler do an amazing job. >> Yeah. And looking at the price increases, it's very nominal. So, I'm glad we're keeping things pretty affordable for for our kids and stuff. So, >> thank you. Every believer faces moments of doubt and discouragement. [snorts] >> I think that's all we have. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Tamara. >> All right. So, I'm going to go ahead and read the resolution. So, be it resolved by the school board of independent school district number 622. That the fee structure for the use of the district facilities and equipment be revised as presented. Could I get a motion and a second? >> So, moved. >> All right. Moved by um Anderson, seconded by Swore. Um any additional discussion. All right. All in favor say I. >> I. >> And all oppose say nay. >> All right. And so um that is approved. Thank you, Tamara. >> Thank you. >> Um next up we have um an SBA conference. Um so each year school board members are encouraged to participate in board development opportunities. Um our board is recommending that members attend the National School Board um NSBA annual conference which will take place April um [clears throat] 2nd through the 4th in DC. So uh per the guidelines of policy 214 out of state travel by board members uh we recommend approval for board members to attend the NSBA annual conference. Um, so be it resolved uh by the school board of Independent School District number 622 um that Caleb Anderson, Nancy Livingston, Charlotte Nardi, Katie Swart, and K Yang attend the conference. Um, could I get a motion and a second? >> All right. Moved by Yenner. >> Second. >> Seconded by Anderson. Um, any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> And all oppose say nay. All right. So, that one um is moved forward as well. Um and so next up we have our board communications. Um Director Rosemark, would you like to start? >> Yeah. Um let's see. Um got to think about the last few weeks here. Um, well, I had a uh it was a great time attending the Freedom Schools event at Justin Allen Paige Elementary. Um, it was great to hear that of the students that participated in that program um 90% either improved or didn't decrease their their um literacy, which is great to combat the summer slide. Um, and looking forward to another great year ahead for our school district. Um, and also looking forward to the referendum that will be put up as well. Um, I believe if you look at like the standard Netflix subscription, it's about $20 a month for Netflix. Um, so I think uh for a $350,000 home, uh, you know, $20 a month for our schools, considering we haven't passed an operating levy in 10 years, um, is a great investment for not only that homeowner, uh, for their property taxes, like their their their home value, um, but also for our for our district, too. Um, so wishing everyone the very best, um, this upcoming school year. I know the early start is is a little tough, but um it'll be great and looking forward to a good academic year. >> Uh yes, to uh all the parents who are so happy [laughter] to be uh uh sending their scholars back to school. Um I um I understand that that um joy and um I think it'll be um a great year. I think that uh the district's moving in the right direction. I like our our tagline uh um ready for tomorrow. And then and then the >> 62 forward >> 622 forward is the other is the other tagline. Um so there's so many things we could do uh with additional funds and I think people should uh think positively about that. So um yeah, thanks. looking forward to a new and um wonderful school year. >> Um I uh I just want to welcome all the new educators um that we have um and I'm really looking forward to next week um where we welcome back um our uh veteran um educators um and and all of our our different staff. Um, I'm excited. Um, in my family, uh, and there's, uh, many, many families across the district for our thousands of kids that are excited for this school year, and and I think it will be a great school year. >> Yep. >> Um, I don't really have anything, but like Caleb, I'd like to welcome everybody back to a new school year. I hope it's a great year. Thank you to all the teachers and the staff and welcome to the students and the families. >> Yeah, I echo a lot of what's been said. I was also attending uh the Freedom School finale um with my son who I was a little worried about whether or not he'd be able to stay for the whole program, but he was very enthralled with especially the student performances um and clapping along and that was just a joy to see. So, uh, congratulations to all of those scholars and everyone who was in a summer program and then all of the staff um that were working those summer programs. Um, especially the um free lunches that we had for K12 students throughout um many of our buildings this summer. Um, I am um I'll repeat again, I'm excited for the new educators for the new school year getting going. I think we had a lot of good momentum from last year. a lot of really good um you know kind of programs and things that are maturing um and starting to see some benefits from that. So that's awesome. Um I realized when we've been getting a kind of a few co-op agreements um and so one of my goals for this year is I'm going to try and get to um a game from every team. Um I think it might take me the rest of my term to do that. Um but I I do want to see um our athletes and our performers. I love going to when the the plays, the musicals and things like that. So, I'm excited for that to get going again. Um, and then I wanted to mention I'm just really excited about everything. Um, that I I'm excited to kind of we started a new program here amongst the school board um to be kind of liaison to certain program uh certain schools to get out in the community to give people a familiar face um to talk to to bring up any questions, concerns, how does this work? What is happening here? Hey, I have an issue. Is this something that you talked about? So, um I I'm excited to get get into the schools a little bit more. I've been on the board for um almost two years now. Um and I don't think I've quite made it to all of the um great facilities that we have. So, again, looking forward to that. Looking forward to a great school year. And uh thanks to everyone for a great summer. >> Has it been two years, Katie? >> Wow. >> One year and eight months. >> Okay. [laughter] feels like nothing wrong at the same time. >> All right. Um, just echo what everyone else says. Um, I only have one child left in school. So, um, it's going to be kind of a quiet year this year. So, um, but I mean for me, not for [laughter] the all of you. >> It's kindergarten. >> I know. I know. For all of you. So, um, the one thing I did want to mention was, so I'm I'm part of MSBA. I I go for our school board. Um so one of the things MSBA had signed on for is the Minnesota kids rise. So if you start seeing um ads for that and videos that is something that um is a statewide effort to build uh trust, pride and shared understanding um of our public schools. So it is definitely something you know as school board and as 622 um we're all um signed on for um just you know in general. Um, so as you start seeing that, they're kicking that off at the state fair, but you'll start seeing, um, ads [clears throat] for that. So, um, but that's, uh, the big thing I had. Um, other than that, I mean, just welcome back. And to our administrators and our, um, principles and everybody else, um, just welcome back. So, um, but that's it. All right. So, we have, um, just to announce the next, um, board meeting date, which is September 28th, 2026. uh which is a business meeting here at 6 PM in the boardroom. So um could I get a motion and a second to adjurnn? >> So move. >> All right. Moved by Livingston. >> Seconded by Swarore. Um all in favor say I. I. >> And all post say. >> All right. Meeting is adjourned. Thank you. >> I think there's somebody