I'm so hungry. >> Oops. Oh, go. >> Okay. Good evening. We're gonna take a moment. Thanks for joining us today. Um, I would like to call to order the February 17, 2026 uh regular school board meeting of Independent School District number 622. First up, we're going to pledge allegiance. Please stand 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. >> Thank you. Um so we're going to approve the agenda first. Um I get a motion. All right. Moved by Len, >> second by. All in favor say I. >> And all oppose. >> All right. So the agenda is approved. So first up we have our recognition for our 62 education foundation. We'll see if this is a really hot mic or not. All right. Well, good evening everyone. Um, tonight I'm very, very pleased. As you know, we like to do some celebrations and acknowledgements, recognitions at our school board meetings. And tonight we are going to be celebrating the members, the board members of our 62 education foundation. Our education foundation is an amazing organization. Um, I'm going to first read off the names of our board members to come on up. I know there may be some that aren't here this evening, so we'll just save their certificates for later. Um, and then after we call up the members of the 62 Education Foundation board. Um, I will have um Doug Lee say a few words about what the organization does for us. So, very excited to be here this evening and grateful for all of you to be here to be celebrated tonight. As I call your name, I'm going to have you come on up and you can stand here. We'll take a photo once we're done and after we say a few words. Um, so we'll just go ahead and get started. Let's see. Um, Troy Woods, Ray Preston. It's okay if they're not here because I know that everyone has a lot of evening things going on. Changing Barb. >> Yay. Did I say your last name right? Barb. Barb. Fire >> pine thinking. This is your certificate. Thank you. Sylvia haven't seen her. Okay. Diana not here. Natalie Meyer formerly Huntley. Yeah. Vicky Kapon. Yay. Heather, Aaron, there's Eric, you're very welcome, go Andrew. Pam Carrie Kelly right I always say it wrong. I get the cars part because I know your dad Michelle Costco and Doug Hunt. Come on up, Doug. I'm gonna have you all just um stand here for a moment. I'm going to have Doug say a few words about what the foundation does and then we're going to do a group photo together and um the board and our education foundation members. >> Yeah, thank you so much, Christine. Um the 62 Education Foundation was founded in 1996 with a mission of enhancing the quality of education for students in the district. We are a nonprofit organization separate from the district but really committed to supporting it. This year marks our 30th anniversary and our commitment to support the students, families and staff throughout the district has never been stronger. We do so with three primary initiatives. The angel fund our foundation works with social workers for each school to identify those students in the district who are in the greatest need and provides the support to help them through financial and or personal hardships. I would argue that is our most important program of all. granted program. We provide grants to district staff members through an application and rigorous selection process to create supplemental educational and development opportunities for students. A couple examples right out the door saw embroidery as a narrative as well as a little free library. That's just two of the many projects that we supported and the award of excellence. This award was formerly called stars but it was reinvisioned and created to honor graduates who have excelled in the characteristics of achievement, community, courage, imagination, integrity and resilience. It celebrates the journey behind the achievement, the challenges overcome, the desire to make a positive difference and the character to do so in a way that inspires others. Our main fundraiser is a click for cause virtual auction each November. We're also great great for donors that contribute directly to support our mission throughout the year. Know that when you choose to support our organization, you are directly supporting the students as we are 100% volunteer organization. Finally, it's the people beside me tonight and those unable to attend that makes this organization special. The volunteer board members of the 62 Education Foundation tirelessly support our local school district. Their commitment, passion, and generous contributions of time and expertise benefit the entire community. It's truly an honor to be a part of this organization. Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. Now, we're going to have you guys come right up here. If I can have our board members stand up so we can see all of your beautiful faces. And then the school board members back there and the foundation board members here. Um, we'll squish together. Mari will take our picture. Um, and this my to say one more thing as our our foundation board members leave. We're always looking for new board members. So, if anyone is interested in joining the board of the 62 Education Foundation, they're always welcoming new board members to join their um monthly meetings and and joining the fundraising and the wonderful celebrations of our amazing students. So, just had to put that plug in for you as well as you're walking out. So, thank you. >> Thank you so much uh for that recognition. They do great work. So, all right. So, we have our public comment. Um this is an opportunity for the public to comment on items. Speakers shall register by completing the public comment signup sheet. State their name and we'll have between two four minutes. Um do we have >> Oh, we don't have anybody today. So, all right. We'll move on to the next um item, which is our consent agenda. Um the consent agenda consists of routine items that are acted on in a single consolidated motion without board discussion. Board members do have the option of pulling items off the consent agenda if they wish to discuss them or consider them individually. Um does anybody want to pull anything out? Okay. All right. So, I will um go ahead and recommend that the consent agenda items listed at below. So, that's A through F uh be approved as presented. Could I get a motion and a second? >> So, move. >> All right. Moved by Anderson, second by Livingston. Um all in favor say I. I. >> And all oppose say nay. >> All right. The consent agenda is approved. Um, and now we have our student reports. I'm not sure if you're going to go first. >> Um, it's nice to see you guys. Nice to be back. Last month, I was gone because I was sick. This flu, it really hit me real hard. Um, to start off, I'd like to talk about the Tuesday, February 24th regional jazz contest. I wish our students luck and I hope we win. We also have auditions for our spring play which is on Thursday, February 19th. And there was a show choir competition held at North High School on Saturday, February 7th. I did not go. And the northern show performed and was very successful. And to conclude the night, our own polar drift had their own set list and played some songs that the audience liked. I heard that they played really well. I mean, like always, don't they? Um, so our Minnesota High School League Excell winner was Lindsay Lamb. And out of 384 students, 34 are picked for this award. So big congratulations to her and I she's going to be honored at halftime for girls state basketball. Last week we had three of our athletes commit to colleges for the sports, baseball, softball, and football. We had Jackson Hickman commit to Vermillion Community College for baseball. Hayden Barry for softball at Anoka Ramsey Community College. And lastly, Matt Ba for football at Dort University. And I don't know if you guys seen these two, but Sydney Johnson and Kaye Hayne are going to be going to state gymnastics for section 4A. And Sydney, which goes to my school, is an all-around gymnastics section champion. So, she's good at all four main events. She's going to be moving on to the state tournament and I wish her luck and the best. She's a good friend of mine and she's going to be competing Saturday the 21st this weekend at Roy Wilkins Auditorium St. Paul. We also have section and dive and as a former swimmer for the North R&T I wish them good luck and I hope they all qualify for state. We also have wrestling sections. And again, as a former wrestler, I wish them good luck and I hope they qualify for state. And Tuesday, February 24th, I'm sure she knows about it. We have our Tartan North basketball game or rematch. We're probably going to be as good as today. I'm excited for the Tart North basketball game because I mean, I know our schools, they love to compete, especially basketball. And last week, our BSU club had their Black History Month showcase. And I'm glad I went. I can't say how proud and happy I am for them and on how successful it was because I know that a lot of work. I know because my friends would tell me they looked overwhelmed, but at the end of the day, it turned out beautiful and it was perfect. And we also have our winter dance on March 6th. The most I can say is it's been a smooth planning process which is a miracle and very unexpected and I'll have more to say about it next meeting after I go. >> All right. Hello everyone. So sadly I cannot say that we're having the school dance but you know what it's okay. I feel like we have prom and that's what's exciting enough. And yeah Tardan and Tartan basketball North are competing next week which I know our schools love. So good rivalry. Um maybe this is like the one game where you guys can get your first win. >> Wow. >> All right. So our theater department, they've been doing a lot of their shows in the new Blackbox Theater, which I know they've been loving, and I've been in it twice. And it's actually like a very nice space. It's like really cozy. Seats are really comfortable. Um, yeah, I just think it's like very modern to compared to our old auditorium. I feel like you can agree on that that not up to date. Um, but our theater department just finished performing uh Men on Boats. They are currently working on the musical Strike. Auditions for Strike run from February 17th, so today until March 5th. And then there will also be two auditions for Pippen which is going to be from March 9th to the 13th. I know our DECA um uh DECA is having like their state uh conference um from March 1st to the 3rd. Good luck to everyone competing. I know like DECA and BPA they have like their own little rivalry. So excited to like see my friends compete for DECA and BPA. Our National Honor Society hosted their sweetheart dance. I couldn't go because I had PSO obligation, so I couldn't really make it. Um, but it was a huge success. Students, many students attended dance. They all had a great time. I know. I saw like some Instagram pictures from my friends and it all looked really cute. Um, NHS prefers also helped set up the event and also take it down and also make goodie bags. Um, our BPA hosted a fun spin the wheel. um where like they gave out options for students to like spin it and like some people won like a free cookie. Some people to win a free cookie they had to do 10 push-ups and I witnessed that and that was actually so funny cuz I was like I know I cannot do a push-up. So if I ever got that I'm like nope I'm not getting that cookie. Um I know our sports registration is coming up soon. One of my subs in uh my AP Cal class. Uh I used to have him as a middle school gym teacher. She's like, "Scarlet, I think you should run track again." I was like, "Actually, no. I'm too short for the 400. These legs are not long enough." And then our basketball team is currently ranked number one in Minnesota, which is kudos to them. They are holding a 21 to0 record. They've also secured 50 consecutive regular person wins. I haven't been able to go because I've just been like swamped with like homework and like studying. But like hopefully like I can go maybe to like sections or state. Fingers crossed. I hope we get there this year. We've been so close. Knock on wood. I know our goalkeeper for hockey, Nathan McGuire. He's a junior. um was recognized as one of the top goalies in the state. Uh the hockey team has their second game against Irondale this Friday at 7:30. I'm not sure if it's home or away. Um but make sure to come out and support. I I also know that the seniors had their secret night last Saturday at home and I pretty sure like that was a good game. And finals are approaching so students like me, I started to prepare now. Um, I also know that spring break is also coming up soon, which I cannot wait. I know that this weekend the weather was really nice and it's back to typical Minnesota weather. It's very bipolar. Um, and I also know that the University of Minnesota PSO application opened up and we're just talking about that and we both will be applying. So, fingers crossed we both get in. I also know that the ACT is coming up, which I'm not excited for, but we will get through it. And prom is coming up on May 2nd, and I still need to find my address. So, I should probably get started on that. And then there's also a college fair next at Tardan. It's normally it alternates between North and Tartan every other year, but this year again it's on at Tardan. It's during the school day. We're going to be like on a pepfest win schedule. just for like some students or like seniors who can't make it after school. Um they have the opportunity to go talk to their colleges during school. I also know that um avid juniors visit W Stout. I could not go because I had a math test, but from what I heard is that they really liked the campus. They love the food. I feel like my classmates just go for like the food. They're always like, "Oh my gosh, this is so good." Oh my god. I I promise you like college isn't that good normally. And then the avid sophomores, they have their field trip to Hamlin this Thursday. When I toured Hamlin, I thought it was very cute. It's like very preppy and yeah, I think it's like a I think it's an amazing school for forensic science. Yeah. And then I've also started volunteering at Woodwinds. So I'm just getting my toes dipped into like the health care side of things. So far it's been really good. I racked up like 20 hours last month. So yeah, I'm just excited to see where that takes me. But yeah, that's pretty much it. I guess >> anyone >> I'll say something. >> Sure. >> Um, first I'll start with you. Uh, good luck on the basketball. It sounds like you guys are losers. Not really, but it was a friendly banter. I know. Uh, and and I like that. I'll probably attend uh the game because I like I like uh those. So, good luck. But to you, too. Um, thank you for coming here. I know you, you know, we, um, when kids choose activities, they pick and choose what they want. It sounds like you've made a decision, priorities, and we're lucky that you actually prioritize us and that, uh, you're here uh, today. And, uh, to Scarlet, um, where do you attend PSO? It sounds like I I assumed you were at the U of M and it sounds like that's not where you go. >> Um, sadly they didn't accept me last year, which I'm very I'm very shady towards, but it's okay. Um, currently I'm at Bethl. Um, but hopefully next year, next well this fall, I'll be applying to University of Minnesota Rochester. So, um, I really like the connection they have to Mayo. So, um, if I could at least get maybe shoot my last shot at the U of M again for PSO this for my senior year, um, maybe like my my some of my credits will be able to transfer because I know that it's a struggle going from a private school to then like a public school. Some credits may transfer and some may not. So, yeah, but hopefully I get in, but yeah. >> So, I'm assuming you're pursuing a healthcare career with the Rochester and Woodwinds and >> Yeah. Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. Going the premed route, not going as extreme as my sister. I'm like, you can make the family proud, be a surgeon, you do that. But I really want to be like a physician assistant. And I really want to go into sports medicine. But I think first I want to like maybe once I get my degree, start in the emergency department and get a feel of like trauma, traumas that come in and really like be on all my toes and like running around cuz I really like doing that. I like the pressure, but hopefully sports medicine. Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Well, I think uh both of you are certainly making your families proud regardless. So, um but my guess uh my question is um how are students feeling right now in terms of immigration enforcement? What's kind of the sentiment you're hearing from students? >> You want to go first? Okay. Well, um I mean, jeez, I wasn't expecting to talk about that tonight again, but uh >> all you want? >> Yeah. Um >> talk later, too. >> What I can say is that there's still like the sense of what's going to happen next. >> Um is everything going to be okay? Like for example, I still have I have this one friend. She hasn't been to school in the past like month because her mom is scared of I showing up one day and she doesn't see her daughter or her daughter doesn't see her again. And I have um some other friends that were kind of like alternating like one week they were here, one week they weren't. Um in my household, I mean I think we've been all right. Like sometimes we go out, sometimes we don't. Even as a US citizen born and raised, there's still the fear of encountering ice. I've only encountered them a few times, but we're surviving. I guess we're making the best of it. I feel like not only has it uh how do I say this? like it's I guess made the commu my community like bond more like looking out for each other and also see made us see that not everybody's as bad as they seem that there is good people out there and obviously there's still bad people out there >> but yeah that's pretty much how it's been at North and the community all in general >> thank you for that >> yeah so at tart burden. I can say that from my experience, I have seen some students come and go. Um I think it's very it's very difficult for each family. I know I can say for mine, I know that um we're good. I feel like a lot of students had to mature in the sense of going to run these errands for their families. And I think that it's really put into at least into my head like um is this how it's going to be for like the rest of the the the years the president's in office. But I do feel a little bit better. Like I feel like a weight's lifted off now that some agents have left. But there's always the what if and there's always going to be agents roaming around. But I know that Tardan teachers are doing their best with like food deliveries. I know that I've at least put in some input. I know that right now since Valentine's Day passed, I gave candy to the teachers to give out to the students just to have like a sweet treat. Everyone deserves something nice and a piece of candy for Valentine's Day. Um but yeah, I do see students come and go. It's very hard for different families and cuz everyone has a different situation. But yeah, I appreciate you reaching out and asking that question. >> Yeah, thank you for sharing. >> Um, I think that's all we have, but thank you um again for spending your evening with us. So, yeah. Okay, now we have um from our community ed um our AB presentation. Hello, I am uh green >> Scott Helen. Uh I am here for harmony adult education. Uh we have uh English as a second language for adults, GED and career pathways. Uh we give the GED and the high set. The GED and the high set are kind of like the puffs and the Kleenex version of uh tissues. Uh there's kind of two different versions there, but uh the GED is more so the Kleenex. And uh the high set is something that we did because we wanted to make sure that uh if the community needed it, uh it it hasn't really caught fire, but we were kind of one of the first folks to go ahead and and be there in case that was something that motans were were needing. Uh, and we're we're still that's still an available piece to us. Uh, ESL, we deliver that uh at Harmony, at Landfall, um, online, at Glad Gladstone, and, uh, at Normandy Park, uh, which is part of White Bear Lake. Uh, because, uh, Harmony is a combination of White Bear Lake, Madameai, and 622. Uh, we we coordinate together in order to best coordinate our funds and deliver services. Uh and then we also have brush up reading and math skills. Uh this is just kind of talking about a little bit about uh where those buildings are. Uh landfall has been a class that uh has been uh gone in person online and uh a little bit more now in person again. Who are Harmony students? Uh so our adult ed students uh about 30% of them are Hispanic about 27% of them are black or African-American a lot of uh uh African born in Africa students uh uh Asian students uh make up like 37% of our students. A lot of our a lot of our students are learning English as a second language. That is the majority of what we're doing. Uh there's no cost to students. This last year, Harmony became the largest program in the consortium over the last year. Uh the building of Harmony is now we're in a in a beautiful spot. Uh last year we were in a in a part of the uh building and then we moved to a different part of the building. Well, they constructed and made it beautiful. And we did that while there was construction going on with some portable toilets and some different things. and we did that and grew uh about uh and grew to be the largest uh program in the consortium while all that was going on. So it just kind of is a testament to the way we connect with the community and the way the teachers connect with the students and the way the students are finding the things that they desire here with us. And now we're in beautiful spot. We have a we have a area where students can kind of get together January uh 6th that kind of just opened up that we have like a little meeting area for students. Uh and we had over 1500 adults participate this past year. We have GED preparation and testing. That's kind of the background of uh Gladstone there where we often hold where we hold the uh graduation each year where many of you participate. Thank you so much. Uh adult learners can take the GED test. Uh it says on here no cost to do to students because I made this up last week. Since then the state has run out of money. Uh since uh I got here today, the state GED examiner or the state GED uh person at MDE went ahead and texted me and said that they have a $10 off uh piece. So it is $26 per per the for the for each student taking the test. Now at Harmony, we have ways to go ahead and and work with students. So if cost is an issue, we'll we'll work with folks and make it happen for them. Uh we have an official GED testing on site. Uh and uh graduation is May 13th this year. Please come and join. Uh graduation is for GED and CNA. I'm going to skip through this video here. Uh that is uh in your packets though. You could or it was emailed out to you. So you can check that out if you'd like. Uh we do have additional programming. We have citizenship, basic skills brushup, online classes, AM and PM. So, we've had online classes since uh since the pandemic, and they've maintained a high level of interest because what we found was they solved uh the thing that we've always had uh students have had trouble with, which is child care and and transportation. So, those folks have been able to continue on. And then in the past month, we actually took one of my uh teachers that were uh in person, moved them to online in order to uh go ahead and and serve people a little bit better because that's what they needed is we had more online and less in person and just shifted that to meet people where they were. Uh Metro East Consortium is the consortium that makes up uh that we're a part of. We are the fiscal agent for the Metro East Consortium. It's the fourth largest consortium in the state. Uh ISD 622, White Beer Lake and Mama as I described are our our mini consortium within there. But then we're also together along with Roseville, Stillwater, Mounds View, who is a mini consortium with St. Anthony, SCRED, which is uh Lake Chicago Lakes, uh Hankley, East H up there in the north north land. uh Ramsey County Correctional Facility, Lindel Neighborhood Association, which is in Minneapolis, and Forest Lake. Uh as I mentioned earlier, last year, Harmony provided director educational services to over 1500 adults. And beginning in May and continuing each month after during that construction, we serve more student hours than any previous month in Harmony Adult Education's history. So each each month we are serving more and more people. Uh, this record setting streak concluded in January largely due to the impact of Operation Metro Search. This is uh kind of our new space here. And oh, did that get in there? Uh, Minnesota's best reader choice gold winner. I didn't even know that was in there. >> Oh, wow. Minnesota's best, huh? Oh, that's cool. Um, so we were the gold winner of uh Minnesota's best uh reader choice. It's a it's a nice thing that uh people think highly of Harmony Adult Education, the best adult education in the state of Minnesota. And just a couple more pictures of students doing things at the the new tables in the new classrooms there. And this is before we had the the new space. So, we set up a a long line of tables for our feast just kind of in the hallway there to make it happen because it was time to get together. I do not have permission to view view this file. I tell you what, uh that one was kind of a a nice little hey howdy duty. Uh we are Harmony. Just a little bit of celebratory stuff. So, uh, we'll we'll skip on to that one, but, uh, questions for me. >> One thing I'll just add real quick, Scott is really good at advocating at the legislature. Um, he's very well known because he's constantly advocating for our 62 programs. So, just wanted to give a little shout out to Scott about that as well. >> Uh, Scott, >> where I first met Nancy. Yeah, I know. Scott, how how long how long I've been on the board? Since, you know, 1812. But, uh, but how long have you been um doing what you do? >> Um, 19 No, 2006. 2006. >> 2006. Okay. Well, I love your program and your energy. Um, and um, the GED graduation is always so heartwarming because these students are so motivated. I mean there's no absence of motivation in your program. These people are really really want to improve their lives and the lives of their families and they're so um it's just inspiring to to to be there and hear their hear their words. Um and your volunteers. Yeah. I remember uh you had a gold star volunteer that I connected with years ago and uh and he passed away unfortunately. But do you want to say say something about your volunteers? >> You know, so we do we do have use a lot of volunteers and we use volunteers uh to work with students kind of onetoone. Uhu students uh or volunteers give students that opportunity to kind of read and be heard and and get that kind of instant feedback and also just kind of break out. We have uh um a volunteer who works with folks u to kind of work uh on job resumes and information and uh he's working now uh we now have Merrick Services who's coming over and working with us uh that uh they're coming over and staffing someone just to to pop by and uh go ahead and uh meet with people to talk with about their needs and just so that people are getting more connected to the community, but those volunteers are just uh such a vital vital piece of who Harmony is and and we couldn't do it without them. >> Yeah. Thanks. Thanks for all you do. >> Thank you. >> Congratulations on uh gold. I knew I always brag to uh my colleagues in higher ed that uh we're the highest producers of GED cuz I'm proud of that and uh but >> still true. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yeah. So congratulations on not only being the highest but also doing with gold. So >> thank you. Uh but uh um you touched a little bit about uh January with with um um Operation ICE and how it can you say a little bit more about that? How is it affecting our adult learners? Um and um yeah and I know you said that you have online programming too but some people like learn best by you know having one-on-one conversation. So can you say a little bit more about that? Is it affecting attendance or not? you know, >> yeah, we went from 65 students in December in our evening classes to 13 earlier in January attending in person uh one one evening. Uh it hammered it. I mean, uh, landfall is a area that, uh, that was swarming with ICE agents prior to, uh, uh, prior to Metro Surge and has been consistently there ever since. Uh, today we were, uh, uh, we have a good in the hood food program that we offer each each, uh, month and, uh, teachers were going ahead and, uh, delivering food over that way. And uh there's been families facing things that uh my family hasn't had to face. >> Um you know, every year you tell us at graduation that the GED is harder to achieve than a traditional high school diploma. and I happen to have a kid in my life now who's working on a GED and struggling. So, I'm just kind of curious to know more about like how difficult it is for students to achieve a GED and like what's their success rate, how long does it take them, that kind of thing. >> You know, every situation is absolutely different and and I honestly I tell folks uh I've got two a couple of different family friends who've gotten GEDs. Uh, one of them popped in, you know, kind of took the tests, popped back into their life, you know, and and and moved along. One of them popped in, took three of the tests, passed them, and then failed the fourth test, and then came back about every 3 months for 6 years. And, uh, then, uh, he now has a GED. Uh but uh you know it ultimately a lot of it is uh kind of being able to put away that time in your life to uh we have a couple of great teachers who if they can give the teacher that time and give up some of that beating yourself over the head that uh I I I I can't do this that if you if you allow the teachers to work with you and and take that little big shot of confidence and put it in for you. Uh I think that uh I think that we have a real great success rate. Yeah. >> Um so I just have a quick question. Um so the the GED is a drop in, right? >> Yes. >> Um how does the like the you know not coming consistently, how is that impacted with the other classes? Do they pick up where they leave off when they come back or >> or ESL? >> Uhhuh. Yeah. ESL. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. So, normally what we would have is uh after 2 weeks you'd kind of lose your spot and uh and we're normally clamoring uh with with space to to go ahead and do that. Uh we just received a grant to add a fourth morning class uh to to there. And before that, we actually had waiting lists uh in December. and we didn't have enough space for the students to come uh or we didn't have enough teachers. We didn't have enough space in the classrooms for the teachers and uh then uh January came uh and now I have one of my morning teachers that I switched to online because I had too many students online in order to those classes were too full. So I I switched one of the people there. We still have enough teachers for the inerson currently and both are both are building. So we'll continue to monitor and meet people where they are and uh and right now more people are coming you know we we see every day we go welcome back you know and that's a that's a good thing. >> Thank you. And thank you to to you and your staff for your flexibility with meeting students where they're at. So >> thank you. >> Yeah, that's all we have. >> Thank you. Okay. >> Okay. Now we have uh Director Anderson with the bond sale. >> Great. Well, good evening, Chair Yang, directors of the board, superintendent tutorial, and cabinet. I'm pleased to welcome Matthew Hammer uh Matthew Hammer with our municipal adviserss Ellers to present the bond sale report for the general oblig obligation facilities maintenance bond series 2026A. As a reminder, in June of 2024, the board authorized the district to sell these bonds for the purpose of providing funds for facility repairs across the district as part of the 10-year board approved and MD MDE approved long-term facilities maintenance plan. Welcome, Matthew. >> Yes, thank you. Good evening, everybody. Matthew Hammer here. Uh tonight, uh we did take bids, as Josh said, on the district's bonds this morning and really have outstanding results to share. So, it's a routine issuance for the district. Um, we uh uh issue bonds for the district on a routine basis to fund a portion of those projects through um bond uh issuance of bonds and then the other portion comes through cash. And um where we're really at right now um is the districts used the cash that they have and we've waited as long as we can, right, to issue these bonds. Um so we're not incurring interest costs unnecessarily for the district. Um we ended up with 10 biders this morning. Um typically we like to see at least three. So that's the um interest we've had in municipal uh bonds in Minnesota. In FHN was the low bidder FHN capital markets. Um the cover bid was Piper and there was um less than two basis point or less than a basis points of spread between those bids. So we really ended up with outstanding result. So the low interest cost was 3.13%. Um in total um we were estimating uh an interest rate of 371 in our pre-sale report. So quite a bit better than what we were estimating and we've seen rates come down um to start the calendar year. So um the the high bid was loop um and they had a 3.24% rate that they offered today. So about uh 10 basis point spread from low to high which tells us we we got a really good market rate today. Um when we took the bids, we also uh ended up with a reoffering premium. Um and really what that means is we were able to deposit uh about 1.2 million almost $1.3 million more to the construction fund than we were anticipating pre-sale. So um those funds will be available for the district uh to put towards projects uh over the next few years towards the deferred maintenance needs of the district. Um and all of this is done within the tax rates that we have been trying to maintain uh a level consistent tax rate um as part of our long-term capital planning that we do on an ongoing basis with the district. So um everything came in right in line or a little bit better than we were anticipating. Um and we're on track uh right now to take care of the projects that we were looking to take care of uh for the next uh about fiscal year and a half and then we'll be back looking again at the next phase of projects as we do this long-term plan and as the district's needs kind of continue to evolve on an ongoing basis. So with that I can answer any questions folks have in regards to the bond rail bond sale results. I will just reiterate, we're really, really, really happy with the result we had today. So, um, and you guys should be pleased. 10 bids, 3.13% really good result. >> Yeah, thank you. I'm I'm very excited as I'm also trying to figure out exactly what this means. So, I appreciate the um explanation here a little bit more. So, I'm um mostly excited that because we we thought it would be at 3.71, but it came in at 3.13. So, we don't have to pay as much as we thought we would. So, we get to keep that money for um long-term maintenance and our capital project. I just want to reiterate these cannot be used in the general fund, >> right? >> Um is there and I I I don't quite understand it yet, so maybe you could help me understand. um when we get better interest or when you said like the money has been deposited but we might not use it for a little while. There's a like we can't get a savings interest rate on that, right? There's some >> Yeah, we'll be managing the investments to get as good a rate of return as we possibly can. And part of the reason for the delay right in the issuance to kind of time it with the cash flow need is there is arbitrage considerations that we have to be aware of. And right now based on the spending uh schedule that we have, we're assuming that we're going to be able to keep those dollars based on that draw schedule and invest them based on the needs of when the actual money is needed, right? and not necessarily have to provide any money back to the IRS through a rebate. Um so those monies will be um invested based on the draw schedule and the needs of the district and will earn interest that will go into the construction fund. Won't be general fund dollars. They'll end up in the in the construction fund, but will support projects for the district. That'll also play into the needs as we go forward as we manage the capital plan as a whole, right? Because if we can earn more dollars as part of these construction funds that necessarily uh allows us to kind of limit the future issuance as we move forward and not have to issue as much for fa the next phase of projects as we move forward. >> Yeah, I'm very this is this is great. So congratulations to you, congratulations to us. I think and just to clarify too, we do like this idea of being able to earn interest on it in the short term. Like like Matthew was just saying, you can't hold on to it for too long of a period of time or you owe back money because you can't sit around and earn money on bonds that you sold on the backs of taxpayer dollars. So you got to that's why you have to sell within a certain period of time that you're going to use them. And so that's what our our financial advisors through Ellers help us to do so that we navigate that timing just right so that we can maximize that ability but also not pay those penalties back. So like that idea of being able to earn interest you can in a short period of time. Um but you can't do that forever because then you start to have penalties for it. >> Right. Right. Mhm. Thank you for that. Thank you for that. Um and these the facility maintenance bonds this is different than what we're using to pay for the cow and expansion. Is that >> this is for the expansion? >> This is for all part of it. >> Okay. >> One bucket. Thank you. >> I think that's all we had. Thank you so much for your time. >> Easy when you have good news, right? Yeah. >> Yeah. Thanks everybody. >> Thank you guys. You've been great. >> Yep. Really excited with the result. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> We are too. Thank you. >> Okay. Now we have um Superintendent Tuio with your presentation on budget and staffing. >> Yeah. I just wanted to kind of piggyback on this as well. Um we as you know are just kind of working through um this is the time of year where we're working on budget planning for next school year. As you know, our fiscal year runs July 1 through June 30th. And so, this is that time of year where we're beginning to put together kind of our framework for what next year is going to look like. Um, we always like to remind everybody that, um, as we've been saying for quite some time, um, the formula allowance that we get through the legislature doesn't has not kept pace with the rate of inflation over time. And so that gap that you see, you've seen this graphic many times over the years. Um we finally in the last couple years due to some legislative action which we're thrilled about, we do have um an inflationary increase attached to the general fund formula that we didn't used to have. But that gap is still pretty wide for all those many years that we didn't have that included in there. So that's just explains a little bit of why costs just like in your home, right? Costs have gone up more than your income has come up. you know, costs in school districts go up in the same way that household costs go up as well. And so, um, we're always trying to do more with a little bit of less buying power as as we've talked about in many years over the years. So, um, this is just a graphic we refer back to pretty regularly. Someday, wouldn't it be great if we see those lines match? Um, someday. Um, every year we begin our budget with some budget assumptions. So budget assumptions are like what we predict is going to happen in the next year and it's always a little bit of a crystal ball activity. What we predict is going to happen. Um our enrollment, we're predicting our enrollment projections to be about the same, about flat, which is great because we've gained enrollment a little bit over the last few years. We're excited about that. And we do a whole complicated matrix of how we predict our enrollment based on um demographics, demographic data of our communities and birth rates. And we combine that with our average retention rates and all of that. So, um, and have been pretty accurate with that, um, over time, but it, the pandemic really threw us, our statistical reliability of that became a little bit less accurate because the pandemic kind of yo-yoed our enrollment a little bit. So, um, we're finally feeling fairly confident in our our prediction rates around enrollment as being um, fairly accurate. We were this year and and hope to be the same next year. Um, that basic formula allowance of 2.68, 68. As you know, our legislature funds um every year in a bianium. So, they do a two-year funding year. This is not a a funding year. Last year, the legislature set their funding for this current school year and the following school year. So, um we feel fairly confident about where that number is at. Um we also know that there's been some funding reductions of um ESSER funds compensatory revenue. Um actually, there's a little bit of a thing I need to fix in here. Um that's a little bit of a a question mark right now for us. Um we've got some budget assumptions that we're kind of working our way through right now and we'll kind of adjusting them as we go, but they're tweaked a little bit. Um there's a couple variables in here. We are awaiting news of the compensatory um revenue task force. Um there, as you know, there's a big gap in our um our guesstimate about what we're going to get for compensatory revenue next year. That's based on our free and reduced price lunches and in the compensatory funds. Um the big debate is how you calculate your free and reduced price, your poverty rate in your school district. Um under current law as it's reads right now, it's only based on direct certification numbers, meaning those who have certified through the county for um for meal um services. So, um, kind of food stamp program, the SNAP programming, those kinds of programming that hasn't always proven to be a perfectly accurate count. And so, we've always relied as well on those forms that people turn in. And those are audited, by the way, by the federal government to for accuracy as well. We have been held harmless this year and allowed to count both forms of how we count free and reduced. This year there was a task force set aside to help allow us to continue counting both in the same way that we have in the past. But um that a committee was formed this year to help figure out a better way of calculating poverty rates for school districts. That committee was supposed to bring back recommendations but they are not yet done with their recommendations. So the legislature started again back up this year today. I mean, this legislative session did and we still haven't heard from that task force. So, there's a little bit of a question mark as far as how compensatory funding is going to um land in that area. And the other variable is our contract settlements. Um there are still a few contracts that are out there. We're waiting on um a few of our unions to finalize and those are always part of what we build into our budget assumptions and we don't have all the information in there as well. Right now, we're predicting our right sizing target to be at about $5 million. um meaning that's about what we're predicting that we're going to need to cut from our our budgets. So, we're working right now and we're going to continue to have those conversations in our upcoming study sessions of where all of those cuts will come from between now and June because, as you know, by the end of June, we have to adopt a balanced budget plan for the next school year. One of the challenges in education is that um as you know the legislature doesn't finish up their work until the end of May and school district our fiscal year is July 1 to June 30th and it always puts us in a little bit of a pickle less so in a year like this because it's not a funding year but you know municipalities and other organizations their fiscal year runs January 1 to December 31st and um so they have once the legislature finishes their act act, then they have a little more time to plan. We're always a little bit trying to guess how things are going to land by the end of the end of the school year in time to make our decisions. And of course, we have some statutory obligations in terms of staffing before the end of the school year is out. Um, this is our timeline for our staffing funding right now. Um, I've mainly included here the teacher bargaining group because our teacher bargaining group is our largest funding, our largest bargaining group. And so, um, we're working through those recommendations right now. um round one teacher bidding begins March 4th and that's when the process of kind of bumping and bidding goes on and we go through um the layoff notices and whatnot right now with people who are not fully licensed or areas that were predicting budget cuts in and so um I will tell you that um our principles have been meeting very very very much in the last couple weeks to kind of dig into and roll up numbers. Many of what we're looking at is our enrollment numbers by grade level. Not just districtwide, but by grade level, by section, by class. And then we also look in middle and high school at course registration. That helps us to know how many students are interested in this elective class or this elective class. And that helps us to know how many sections of each of these, you know, um electives that we want to have in place. And so those are the things that we're kind of working our way through right now. And um as you all have known because we brought you through some of those activities about how it looks to organize and the staffing and all of those areas um to try to figure out um how we work within our class size targets that we currently have. Our class size targets have always been um very much within the range of nor of average around the metro. And we recently just received hot off the press um a class size study that's done metrowide and we um have just gotten that information and starting to unpack that information as well right now. Our goal is always to try to maintain class sizes at a very um competitive rate so that we don't overload our our teachers with extra large class sizes and whatnot. We know that how play things play out on paper don't always play out the way they show up in the fall. So, we're constantly monitoring and adjusting those targets and um figuring out where we need to add FTE where we can pull FTE from one area to another. So, we're in the thick of working through all of those pieces right now. And we'll continue to talk about budgets um pretty much at every single every month now through the end of the school year of managing where all of how we're going to, you know, balance our budget and and also trying to await some additional funding updates from um the state and the federal government. We have we're cautiously optimistic about title funding. Um you know last year you'll recall the title funding is um the various funds that come from the federal government and those are um have been up in the air a little bit under the federal administration changing their mind about how much and when those are going to come out. We've gotten some early indications that we can count on federal funding again this year which is good. Um, and of course, um, we compare really regularly with our regular counterparts in other districts to see how we how we compare our budget assumptions with others so that we can kind of all be on the same page with what we think is going to happen. But it's a little bit of a crystal ball activity. So, um, we're working through this right now um, day by day, week by week to kind of comb through, like I said, all of those course registrations and enrollments. As you heard tonight, um, Katie was at our kindergarten orientation. All of our elementary schools right now are doing kindergarten orientation tonight. And so we're um that's another place where we we cross-check what we predict our enrollment numbers are going to be with who shows up, who registers to see if they match, and if they're fitting with what we predict our enrollment numbers will be. So that's kind of where we're at right now is trying to finalize all those pieces in order to figure out where all the puzzle pieces can fit together. So lots more to come, but um just wanted to kind of provide a basic overview about that piece of it. I also was going to add in I know there probably might be some questions about um how we're handling remote learning right now. I didn't put this in our slides right now because we were you know when we were looking at this last week we weren't hearing that there was a major change in um predicted ICE activity or ICE withdrawal and draw down. And so right now um it's a little bit of a wait and see game. We do still have students right now in in remote learning. Um we are down from a number that we had last month significantly. We've got about a hundred more kids back in person than we had a month ago. Um so little by little that's improving, but again we're waiting to kind of see longterm how that's going to fit into our picture for the remainder of this school year. So, um, that could have some minor, um, budget implications for us for the remainder of this school year, which we're kind of we're taking a little pause to see in the next few days before trimester 3 before we start kind of finalizing what trimester 3 is going to look like. But we'll be talking more about that for sure um, at our next study session. So, questions. Um, thanks Christine. I know you uh um gave us this sobering news at the at the schoolboard retreat. So um >> we we uh have spent some time processing that. >> Um do you think if we had passed the referendum we would be in this position? >> Not at all. Absolutely not. Without question. Um and that's a conversation obviously we're going to have to have again as as a board um at our next study session and upcoming meetings to talk about for next fall. But without question, that is dramatically impacting um our finances here. Um when you think about the fact that there's school districts um that are bringing in more practically four times as much in um referendum revenue as we are, um it's a dramatic impact on what we can afford to do with our resources. And so without question, that's something we're going to have to continue to have that conversation about what that looks like. And it's really unfortunate. It's challenging that in Minnesota we have to consider that your zip code will determine how much funding you get for your students. Um would love to see that change. Um our school finance system in Minnesota is very complicated as you all know incredibly if you think about even it's kind of like you think about tax law. People want to simplify that but it's very complex and there's tales to everything. And um in fact Sam and I were just had a check in this morning. we were talking about the complexities of school finance in Minnesota um and elsewhere and I think we just have to continue to think about how do we advocate in a way um we know that our families and our communities are really hurting under the current inflation that's been experiencing you know the cost of groceries and whatnot even though gas prices are are fairly good right now grocery prices have not come down costs have not come down energy costs have not come down and so it's always kind of a balancing act. And in the same way that for our private um personal lives, those costs are high, they are high for school districts as well, right? And so um as we try to settle contracts, our goal is always tried to do fair by all of our employees. And at the same time, our cuz our employees are also facing all these rising costs in their own lives. And so it's always this sort of cycle right now. and things got a little bit um out of whack when inflation rises that quickly in a short amount of time as it has in recent years. You know, there's sort of this um yo-yo effect. You then try to have contract settlements that help match the need of that, but then if you don't have funding from the state that matches that need that we're getting because we're largely state funded, um it's it's a really tricky um balancing act and it's a little bit out of whack right now. um the yo-yoing that's happened in terms of costs and revenues are really challenging for us right now. But then you add in, you know, and that also makes it harder to pass a referendum as well because of course for those same exact reasons. So, um we're hoping for stability. We're hoping that inflation rates come down. We're hoping that we can start to see some traction with this, some balancing out, if you will. Um, and that's part of what, you know, our job is to continue to advocate at the legislature to try to continue to prioritize education funding, especially um, in communities like ours where we have much more students in poverty than much higher numbers of students in poverty than other places. Um, we have to really advocate, I think, more than more than some other places do. And that's we'll keep doing that. Thank you for the presentation. Um, I am also on the 916 board and I know that I I asked the question about the equity and with the zip codes. I know some of the school district in the 916 are so wealthier than we are. And I found out that we all pay the same amount per student for them to uh provide the services which is really >> not equitable if you really think about it but you know it is what it is. So um uh but my question about the kindergarten does does it the kind the class of kindergarten does it predict how many seniors were going to what what what are the type of researches have been done around the class size of the kindergarten to all the way to uh graduation >> in terms of the number of students enrolled. Yes. >> Yes. Well, um, we've actually got a lot of statistical data for every grade level. The percentage of students that we would expect in our kindergarten that will progress to first grade to second grade. Um, and Josh and his team are really, really good at those enrollment trends. Um, and they've got a whole bunch of statistical formulas for that. Um, it varies by grade level. And and also um one thing we haven't done and might be really interesting of our graduating seniors, what percentage were with us the whole time? Because you got to remember the enrollment numbers are different kids. Some move in, some out. So they're different kids. But it just makes me think that that would be an interesting thing to look at as well as terms of how many of them actually started with us in kindergarten. But um I know Josh and his team have a there's a whole statistical formula for each grade level. How many? But I'm not quite sure we have the exact correlation between kindergarten and 12th grade. We haven't run that yet. But that's something we can certainly look at because it is interesting. Um but we do have a look at we have a bunch of data regarding birth rates 5 years ago like current four-year-olds coming into um kindergarten next year. We do have some pretty consistent data around how many of those kids the numbers born in our district birth rates from four years ago enter our kindergartens. Um it's in the upper 60s I think percent something like that. We can pull it up. I don't have it in front of me but um because you got to remember we also have a lot of private schools in our district boundaries as well as some charter schools too. So there's a lot of options inside of our district 62 boundaries. But what we have found is over the years there's some strong consistency there. Our enrollment is fairly flat, but we are noticing um that our number of our birth rate, the number of students of school entering school age in the coming years is actually looking to go down. We're pretty steady with enrollment right now, but the number of students that live in our district boundaries right now, correct me if I'm wrong, Josh, we are looking at a predicted decline down the road based on current birth rates numbers now that we may see later. And of course that can also change based on um you know as demographics of neighborhoods change right um I know we've seen in some of our neighborhoods and communities that when um for example if empty nesters move out and families with young children move in we'll see densities of neighborhoods change which is part of why we also end up having to do um boundary adjustments periodically because the density of neighborhoods. you know, a neighborhood that might not have had a lot of school age children at one time might have a lot more school-aged children in, you know, 5 10 years down the road. And so, we're constantly re-evaluating the density of our neighborhoods that way, too. But that's a great question to look at. Those enrollment numbers are um there's a lot of math and statistics that go into it and we rely a lot on historical trends, but you know, there's always factors that can throw those trends out of whack like the pandemic, right? So, great question though. >> We do graduate more seniors than we bring in with kindergarten. That's been the that's been the trend the past couple of years. So, our our kindergarten classes are smaller than our graduating classes. >> And one thing to know about that, a lot of our local church schools, many of those are K8 programs. And so, like if somebody did enroll in those private environments, you know, many of those programs don't offer a high school option. And so, we do tend to get people back in high school who might have been in private sector through those younger grades. So, that happens as well as too. So, >> yes, >> I have a couple for you. Thanks again for the the presentation and I know um uh budgets are important and I appreciate Dancy's question and um kind of setting setting up the disappointment that we had when the referendum didn't pass um back November and the impacts that we're seeing now and going to see. Um kind of continuing with one of the themes that we've been hearing tonight, the impact of Operation Metro Surge on the current budget. Nobody, we did not predict this, right? >> Um when we set this year's budget, I I know that we've been very blessed to have some >> um a lot of community support and a lot of support from things that could have cost us more money. For example, the number of kids going to remote learning. Um can you speak a little bit to the current impact on our current budget? >> Absolutely. In fact um just today we received uh a survey through Minnesota School Boards Association. Um they just sent out today a school a district I mean a statewide survey to try to quantify the financial impact of that. If you recall during the pandemic um it took a little bit to get there but we eventually got some additional funding COVID relief funding that came from a federal level. Um and so one thing we're trying to advocate for are the unintended costs that came with this activity and and looking for additional support from our state. Um we're actually um meeting about that later this week to try to put that into numbers. One of the impacting factors is going to be whether this continues or not. Right. So we've gotten this word that they're going to be drawing down and the the impact of Operation Metro Surge is coming to a close. Um we're continuing to check the iceout.org org map because that gives us kind of a daily view of where that activity is happening and until we see those numbers really go down. Um seeing is believing, right? And so we're all waiting to kind of see what the impact of that is going to be. But there's a few things that we're going to be looking at and we haven't yet quantified obviously um students who just stopped coming to school, right? Cuz that that reduces your enrollment for the year. It reduces your average daily membership and those are the kids that are part of the 15-day drop program. like if they've been in online and we're still counting them. There's academic learning loss which is a huge huge issue that we're going to have to quantify. Part of how we quantify that is going to depend on how quickly we get kids back in person. I just mentioned that we've gotten a lot back already which is wonderful. Um but we also have had conversations and we're actually going to have some more conversations tomorrow about this is what are ways that we can provide additional resources and support um for those who've lost a lot of learning in the last month and a half. When you think about the fact that even during the pandemic when we went to remote learning you know remote learning is not the best way to learn especially if you don't have an infrastructure for it. Um so the idea that students have been you know doing remote learning um without a dedicated staff to actually teach those students which we're looking at right now for third trimester. How many are going to stay in remote learning that we can actually move more um longer term into our online high school? High school for sure. Like we have a high school that's online already. We have an online high school, but again, that staff already has full classes that they're working with in our regular online high school. There's added um cost related to um programming um curricular needs and resources and supplemental materials. There's added cost related to if and when we can get to more tutoring to help kids catch up. And and that's something we're still quantifying right now. We'll have a lot more information in the next week or so what that cost is, but there's a major cost not just financially, obviously academically um and learning loss. And we know that particularly for low-income students, being in school is incredibly important. As we've talked about during the pandemic, the learning loss that was experienced in in academics, you know, achievement was much greater in high poverty school districts like ours. and it has taken much much longer to recover from. We're 5 years out from the pandemic and we're still trying to regain ground that was lost then. Um and we were actually on track this year to have one of our most successful academic and um attendance years ever since the pandemic and then this kind of showed up like a little bit of a sucker punch to us in the middle of January or December it started actually. So we'll know more in about a week but there's definitely academic cost. there's um a major we're going to be quantifying all those areas. So >> yeah, not to mention like the just the loss of the sense of safety and the trauma and the like the counseling and the mental health and >> um in our last meeting we had the presentation from the high schools talking about like behavior improvements and all that social emotional learning >> long-term impacts. >> Yep. Um, so we'll definitely be be keeping an eye on that and again, yeah, as you said before, right, student safety and student learning, um, will I think continue to be our priorities. Um, more on some nitty-gritty on the the budget work. Um, can I just say it is looking at the timeline of everything, it is really hard. Um, so I want I give a shout out to um, your admin teams just throughout all the schools. I mean, going from here's what we think the budget target is to 3 weeks later needing to figure out what that's going to look like. >> Um, especially like staffing and personnel and the impact to >> um programs and things. I'm I'm wondering the impact of those estimates because I think we try and estimate a little bit more cost so that we don't get super surprised and >> have a huge loss. Mhm. >> Um when we have a $5 million hole on top of last year's what 10 10 or 12 million hole on top of the year before another >> we're get it's hard >> $4 million $10 million and now $5 million >> in 3 years. And so when we're looking at these projections to come up with that number, how do how exactly does that translate from here's the number, here's the personnel, the programs, like how how do you how do you find $5 million? >> I will tell you, um, this year has been the hardest because of its it's on the back of previous cuts. Um there have been tears already amongst administrators trying to be you know I think um the efficiencies that we can have you know anytime you have a to to you know trim your budget if you think about in your home life right trim your budget you can find some efficiencies we're going to eat out less you know we're going to do less of a vacation uh you know we'll stay in state instead of you know take an out ofstate trip those kinds of things we've done those things already as far as efficiencies Um, I will tell you that as we're kind of working through options, this is so much more painful. We had a bigger cut last year than we do this year, but this is even more painful because we've already cut so much um that and again remember that um like you mentioned earlier when Matthew was presenting, there are certain funding streams that you know that the the bond sales he's talking about that can't save teachers, right? that that can't be used for staffing like you said. And so the categorical funds that are are u restricted have to be spent in certain ways in certain areas. Um and so the general fund um anything that's paid for through the general fund is really uh um up for review, right? We're trying to figure out how can we save efficiencies? Where can we combine um positions? You know, um we've had a lot of people pick up other duties. Um, I I always tell people, you know how like in in England you've got working royals and the non-working royals in royalty, right? We're a wickering cabinet. Like we're a working cabinet. We actually do the stuff, right? Like we're holding parent like, you know, holding parent meetings. We're running professional development. Even as administrators, like it's not like we just delegate the work. We do the work here. And so, um, anytime somebody comes new on to our team, I say, "You got to remember, we do the work here. We don't delegate it to people. We actually roll up our sleeves and do it ourselves, right?" You know, I just ran a parent meeting last week with with interested preK families about immersion programs. And I did it myself rather than handing that to somebody because we have to um we all have to pick up the load. But right now, what's happening is a lot of people are doing many, many extra duties and it's getting tougher. It's getting a lot tougher. And so we're constantly brainstorming, you know, what can we combine? We we can this person's retiring. Can someone else pick up that job, right? Um we're looking at all of our retires. We've done retirement incentives with some groups trying to figure out um but then you also lose that expertise when you have veteran people retiring cuz you know, you have to backfill that. But then we're trying to find people to do, you know, two people's jobs. Um maybe give them a little bump in pay, but you're going to do this and this person's job. And it's tricky. It's very tricky. Um, I wish we had an easy answer for it, but this is going to be probably our hardest one in a long time because of the cuts we've already had to do. So, um, I would say it's it's something that's keeping me up at night right now. All of us are. I mean, every meeting we come out of, we're like, we, you know, I've had principal say, we can't do it. We can't. I'm like, we have to let's let's come up with some more ideas. Right. So, not easy. >> Yeah. And and to that point, if some of our estimates were a little bit too harsh, um I'm seeing in the timeline that cut letters, I I assume that's the you don't have a job next year kind of cut letters, a February >> in some case, yes, it means that technically you don't. I will tell you that um a lot of that timeline is really due to different bargaining groups. We have different contract language about how soon we have to notify people and um like for example our teacher bargaining group is the very first group we have to give notices to and in order to figure out how to even get to that point you have to organize some potential buckets but um sometimes and and we'll get more you know we don't want to some of those cut letters are people that are maybe um not fully licensed they will possibly have a chance to come back next year but we have to issue them a cutlet because they're not fully licensed and then we can possibly bring them back. But it's always a gamble because when you do cut letters, then you try to bring people back, they might already find another job. So, um we do a lot of um trying to read the tea leaves about where we think this might land. Um but it's like if you think about it, it's kind of like developing all of your stuff on a bit of quicksand because the assumptions are changing along the way as well, right? like we weren't expecting this in the middle of all the ICE activity and all of the students, you know, disappearing from us, you know, like like Scott said, even with the adult programs, like all of a sudden they have less students than they had a month and a half ago cuz some have just disappeared and um trying to figure out if they're coming back. There's a heck of a lot of phone calls happening right now to find out where people are at um what the situation is looking like, but um it's very very tricky >> and like you said there there could be an opportunity to bring people back if numbers go the right way if the compensatory >> right I mean absolutely things change and that's the one thing about um the challenges with the legislative season is that of course this is a non-funding year but there's always some funding ing that comes out of non-funding years as well. And so trying to figure out what those implications might be and get a prediction of where that will land is always a little bit tricky. We'll be talking about this every month from now till June. Since you're going to be talking about it every month, can I ask what kind of um employee services we have because I know this is uh our teachers did a wonderful job during the pandemic and worked really hard at uh being flexible and adjustments and everything. Um they must some of them are probably going through the same thing right now too with all the uh absenteeism going and I even heard I think Scott was saying that uh uh some of the teachers deliver the meals from good and >> absolutely >> yeah so teachers are working very hard so what kind of uh services do you have because I know I'm at work uh there's I attended a workshop about uh being one of the group that's being sought by ICE, but you're showing up to work for the other people that that are also just as afraid. How do you >> how do you um do both? >> How do you navigate all of that? Well, a few different ways. We've been trying to help our um each of our buildings is kind of keeping us posted on what their individual needs are, right? We're we're our principles and their admin teams are doing a lot of work to kind of navigate all of that. We've done a lot of things like helping people who need um some people are car pooling to work because they're not comfortable driving themselves to work. Um escorts to and from people's vehicles. Um we're being very very clear. It is not expected that anyone who's not comfortable doing so doesn't need to volunteer their time to deliver food to homes and whatnot. Um, but for those who are volunteering, we're just making sure people understand we have community people to plug into those as well to those opportunities as well. So, we've got a whole network of volunteers to try to help with that so that teachers aren't having to carry that burden on their own. Um, those who are comfortable doing so can, but those who are not comfortable by all means do not need to do that. And we're making that really clear in all of our communications. Um, our employee assistance program, right, is obviously something we always remind people about. um when it comes to managing your own mental health because you got to make sure that you're taking care of yourself before you can show up and take care of these other needs. And when you think about the the stress um and the existential fear about our whole community and society right now, it's so palpable right now with our staff. I mean, they're really really on the front lines and trying to support students. Um, but to make sure that our our admin teams are checking in on who needs support, who needs backup help. Um, that kind of thing. Trying to figure out, we've had some folks who said, "I need to take a leave of absence right now." And we've managed to work that through and we've said, "Well, keep your job. If you need to take a leave right now, we'll welcome you back when you can come back." Um, we've had a few of those cases as well where people just said, "I just can't do this right now." Um and so continuing to um you know navigate that through each of our each of our contacts through each building on what's happening and what our what our staff need. But it's so raw so raw and painful right now. Um and people are tired. They're very very tired. So, continuing to welcome the support from our community members who are reaching out to help and and keep us focused on how we can get through this and and honestly hoping and praying it ends soon so that we can get back to learning. It's been really really really a disruption we were not anticipating this school year and it's tragic quite frankly. Um, but there's some really beautiful and amazing amazing things happening with our folks who are come together to support each other and our community. And we'll just keep taking it one day at a time. You know, as I keep reminding everyone, you have to put your own oxygen mask on first before you help others like the airplane um flight attendants always tell us. Um, so we're just continuing to try to stay afloat and and hope this kind of starts to wind down pretty soon. I think that's all we have. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, we have our action items. First up is our acknowledgement of contributions and director Gmark is doing that. All right. So, for the uh let me pull it up here. There it is. All right. So, um, we have three, um, items that were contributed to the school district. Um that includes uh Minnesota Vikings uh $7,200 for North girls flag football uh VFW Post$1350 uh $600 uh for North High Wrestling Equipment. Uh and Patricia uh Sevenstead um sorry if I misspoke the last name. uh $1,400 uh for um Castle Multicultural Program uh was $400 and then $500 for Harmony Adult Education as well as $500 for uh Community Bridge. Um so that brings the total fiscal year 2025 2026 monetary contributions uh to $35,11586. All right. So, I'll read the resolution be resolved by the school board of independent school district number 622 that the school board accept with appreciation the contributions as read by director Rosemar and permit their use as designated by the donors. Could I get a motion in a second? Second move by second. Um, any discussion? I remember this from last year, but thanks to the Minnesota Vikings for getting the flag football uh program going and um I don't know if I'm allowed to say this, but I hope to see a similar contribution for Tartan soon. >> All right, all in favor say I. I. >> And all those same. >> All right, that is accepted. Um, next up we have the bond sale resolution and I'm going to put this up. U be it resolved by the school board um of independent school district. Well, should I read it the rationale or can I go ahead and read the resolution? Okay. Um so being resolved by the school board of independent school district number 622 um Ramsey and Washington counties uh Minnesota that the school board approved the resolution awarding the sale of general obligation facilities maintenance bond series 20226A in the amount provided by Ellers Financial. Um could I get a motion and a second? All right. Move by SW second by Yenner. Um any discussion. >> All right. All in favor say I. >> And all oppose say n. >> Okay. Um and so that is approved. Um okay. Uh next up we have teacher learning. Good evening, Chair Yang, Superintendent Tuchio Zoro, members of the board, and fellow cabinet members. I am Heidi Lee. I'm the director of teaching and learning, and I have the honor tonight to introduce Becky Bug. She's going to be walking back here. She had to step out to start coughing. Um, but Becky is our American Indian education coordinator and she is absolutely amazing. and um she is here tonight to share about APEC which stands for American Indian Parent Advisory Council and they recently met and um as a group had to vote for concurrence or non-concurrence. So she's going to share that information. She will also read the letter or statement to the school board. So when she gets back here I will hand it off to Okay. Thank you. also both the annual compliance document and the letter is in board book along with the resolution as we're waiting for Becky text to see if she's got her coffee but just a little bit of background Um every year school districts that received Indian education committee um must convene a regular meeting of Indian education parent committee and that committee reviews every year um how they feel the district is responding to their community's needs and put together sort of a written response on how um how they're feeling that their community is being served. And that letter of concurrence or non-concurrence is a piece of the process of what has to go to the state. But every year um whether it's a vote of concurrence or non-concurrence, we always um await a feedback form that the comm the parent committee comes together around and discusses what's working well, what's not working well, and what are some recommendations for consideration in our plan for next school year. And so that is what Becky's going to share with you this evening. And um we'll let her take it away. >> Oh, thank you. I mean, um, this letter was, um, formed the night of our parent committee meeting. Um, when was that, Kate? Last Wednesday. Thank you. Um, the American Indian Parent Committee has voted to file a letter of uh, concurrence for ISD62. This decision comes from reviewing the new and existing initiative that have been addressed that have addressed many of the concerns. We see many areas of improved results in the academic attendance data for our children. This indicates a significant effort and meaningful results on the part of ISD 622 in fulfilling its duty to its American Indian students. There does however remain much work to be done. So while recognizing the gains, we also renew our request that 622 commit to continuing its work in this in these and symptomatic programs. Increased transitional support for incoming 9th grade students. Increased reading testing and intervention work especially for elementary students. the OG by Dakota language and culture fight program when um when I need help or when I need sorry when I need um programs math master flight programs increase professional development for staff from the Indian education office focus on early intervention and support systems. We also recognize and acknowledge the ongoing and important work the district has done in aligning standards and adding American Indian curriculum throughout the school through all our schools. Collaboration must be ongoing. I'm sorry I'm dealing with it. Okay. Um therefore we renew our request that 622 to continue this work by ensuring the continued input and consultation of our Indian education program Indian education curriculum specialists that they be included in the district's alignment of minimally revised standards in all curriculum areas that have specific standards for Minnesota tribes. the inab and in elementary, middle school and high schools. Lastly, the AI PAC strongly requests to see improvements in community communications, especially when regarding safety and security issues impacting families. We hope that the superintendent's office and the Indian education program will work to increase their pro proactive community outreach efforts. lessening the need for families to have to navigate sometimes the challenging communication channels to receive attention to our services. Migua, American Indian parent committee. Thank you. >> That was a tough one tonight. >> Any questions? Migwitch, Becky, thank you for presenting that and um for all of the really really great work that you and the American Indian staff here do. Um it's it's really important and I just wanted to highlight um a couple things. Um the most important and the most like impactful to me was that we all do better when we all do better. Um and I think we really saw that in some of the recommendations that um Apac has provided in the in the last couple years in the letters of concurrence and seeing that effort work not only for the American Indian students but for all the students. I think that attention to 9th grade and that that just huge transition while kids are in the middle of big changes right in their lives coming into into high school in 9th grade and having grades suddenly be really a lot more important than they may have been in junior high. Um I I I think we're seeing a lot of um the reports that we heard last time from the high schools um in in terms of attendance, in terms of grades, in terms of um interventions of behavior um and things. So um and so again, thank you um and the committee for bringing that up and having the district work to implement it and then to see the gains that I hope um will continue. Um >> yeah, that was that was so huge for us um to to actually start seeing the improvements in in attendance and grades and um the deaths the have went down tremendously and the the good grades are coming up substantially. Um and so we're really excited to see that data. Um and you know that that's the teamwork between the district and the program. Um, so we bridge to the district as well. >> Thank you for the presentation and um I'm glad that you're seeking renewal requests uh to continue the programming and I'm glad that uh uh we're showing improvement. Uh this question is mainly probably for Christine. I was um since I'm on date 9:16, I watch some of their school board meetings too so that I know what's going on. And at one of the uh meeting I was watching online uh the school board was hesitating on voting for it and I'm I was thinking what why would why would a school board hesitate is because the funding because of the funding or is isn't the funding coming from >> yes >> yes the um state and federal funding. But but I'm not quite sure why someone would be hesitating because what what we're voting is to accept um from the committee their report their letter of concurrence or non-concurrence. I will add um our team's amazing mo most districts it's a vote of nonconcurrence. That's always been my experience before coming to 622. Um, we also invest a lot more resources in our Indian education program, I think, than some school districts do. I'm not quite sure why a school board would um have a debate about whether to vote on that because what we're voting on is accepting their report. Um, typically what happens when we receive like this letter of concurrence or non-concurrence. In this case, it's a letter of concurrence. That said, we still are going to review all the recommendations that came out of it and that'll be incorporated into all of our planning going forward. Um, I'm not quite sure why someone would other than maybe they were they had a vote of non-concurrence and they were trying to vote on the remediation factors that might go into it. I'm not quite sure. It's possible that was what it might have been. >> I think it's more like this individual was this individual was against DEI programming. Oh, I bet that might be what it is. And quite frankly, it's not an option to do this work. It's it's legal requirements to do so. I bet that's what it could be. And and um we follow the law here in district 622. So, um that that you're right, that must be what it was because I I can't think of any other reason why you would not accept the report. you know, it's not a decision of whether we're going to we're going to spend the required funding the requirements that we have to because it's legally we're legally obligated to. Um, but I have heard stories of of folks where people are trying to pressure not to follow state and federal laws around certain things and and that I bet I bet you that might be what it was. Thank you. And there are the um school districts that um their relationship with their AP pack is not as great as ours. Um and sometimes the concern is that a vote of non concurrence is going to look really bad um for the district. And at the same time, uh, the APA, um, sometimes doesn't want to go against the district cuz they feel like that's that's, um, putting them in a in a situation that might bring negativity. So, there there's that part, too. However, um, our relationship with the district is great. I feel like some of the things that we have in our program um we are the only ones that have um we have created our own um curriculum that's embedded into the Minnesota State Center for Elementary. We have um Robin Nelson who has um the curriculum specialist position um for American Indian which I know most districts do not have. And so we do do have a lot of things that um really help propel our program um to do great things for our kids. >> Can I add to what I think is great is how much of that gets shared with other districts and with other communities and the way that um I don't remember what it's called that 622 host for um American Indian Ed in the area. >> Oh yeah. Which by the way we host >> Yeah. Yeah. And it's a great place to sort of exchange ideas and see what's going on. And um uh acknowledging that less than 3% I think of our students um identify as American Indian. The support and the just all the programming um I remember Scarlet talking about some of the college visits that some of the places take the ones that are organized by this district's American Indian education program. Students who participate in that end up seeing colleges, tech programs, tech community colleges from all over the state in tribal colleges. >> Yep. Tribal colleges. Yep. Um I I don't remember the the number, but it's something like 20 25 that they see in person, get to taste the food >> and see what they have to option. And that's just a great way to um bring it all together, I think, and help help launch our students for success. Um I don't have much either. Um just as a cue and you know I get the opportunity and the pleasure to attend TE twice a year with um the staff. So I get to see all the work that folks um put in together. Um I feel like we have a great system and structure and foundation here atu um which creates a really good um um like it's it's the systemic piece um that helps our our students. So I think that that's um you know you know um relevant based on these things and so thank you. Our Indian education team is recognized throughout the entire state of Minnesota as one of the absolute best. So, we're very very fortunate. >> Thank you. >> Um, so I'll go ahead and read the resolution. Um, so resolved by the school board over Independent School District number 622 that the school board accept um the American Indian Parent Advisory Committee vote of concurrence. Could I get a motion and a second by seconded by Swore? Um, any discussion? All right. All in favor say I. I. >> And all oppose say. >> All right. Um so that is accepted. Thank you. Uh all right. So we just have to set the next um agenda location for the next work study session. So the date is set as March 3rd um at 6:00 p.m. Um and so we have to set the location and agenda which I would recommend start at 6:00 p.m. here in the district education center conference room 202. Um the agenda um contains achievement and integration plan policy work the superintendent checkin and board checkin. Could I get uh do I have to approve this? Could I get a motion? Second. Yeah. >> Did you say that? >> No. No. >> Are we adding? >> Yeah. Okay. >> Oh, sorry. I didn't see anything. >> Um, and budget. >> So, we're >> Okay. >> All right. So, um, motion by swore, second by Anderson. Uh any any additional discussion? >> All right. All in favor say I. >> I. >> And all oppose say nay. >> All right. So that is um approved. Board communications director. Anything? >> Uh I have the pleasure of going to Weaver on Friday to deliver over 100 dictionaries to all the third graders um at Weaver. It's a part of an initiative that the Rotary Club does every year. Um I remember getting my dictionary when I was a third grader in I think Miss W's class at Cow. Um it's something that all the kids definitely look forward to. This year we're delivering over 800 dictionaries to all of the um elementary schools within ISD62 as well as the uh private schools too. Um, so, uh, many thanks to our Rotary Club for supporting that and for the volunteers who help support that. Um, so that's that's my report. Um, I I'm excited to be a judge at uh, we STEM uh, project uh, day on Thursday. So, um I know Milo's been working really hard on his turtle project and uh so, uh you know, it's just another example of how our teachers and uh staff go over and above to put on these events that engage parents and kids and do all the the good things outside of what what you would um uh think of as a regular school day. Um, so anyway, that'll be that'll be fun. Glad to glad to do that. Um, as a school board, we met at a retreat last Saturday and uh um went through the budget u um um with uh with the superintendent and um uh and started processing that. That's as I say, that's sobering news. So, we um will hear about more of that every every month. You know, as a as a board, um the Minnesota School Board Association says that uh the most important thing we can do as a school board is our relationship with each other. And so we had a a a woman come in and conduct a a session where we explored our our our uh various skill sets and uh personalities and um and and that was really um interesting. It was indepth and interesting. So I appreciated that. Thank you for setting that up. Fun fact, Nancy, um we talked about teachers going above and beyond the science teacher who's hosting this whole science event on um Thursday is Natalie Miner who was here getting an award tonight recognized through the education foundation. So one more thing she does in the evening is volunteering with the 62 Education Foundation. So like many of our staff, she's one of those puts in a lot of extra hours. Right. Okay. Okay. Okay. Um I I echo what Nancy said about our uh schoolboard retreat. I think it was very um helpful um in terms of just gaining a deeper understanding about how each of us um kind of ticks and um it was just a good time to kind of um strengthen the bonds that we have with each other. Um, and I am also very excited for Thursday um to get to um participate as a judge and uh just to get to see all the all the uh creativity and academic excellence that uh our young um people at um Weaver are are going to put on display. Um, I think I'll just say that this is my 16th year on the board and every once in a while we get mail and when we get mail they leave it at our places here and I got a postcard and I'm guessing other board members did too that says we the people oppose unchecked federal police power. No troops in cities without state approval. No ICE raids without judicial warrants. due process for all, including non-citizens. And then it goes on to explain how this is these are constitutional protections. And then in the back, somebody wrote, I hope you have a plan to keep your students safe. So, in some ways, it feels like this isn't it's like a little bit too political for school board, but in some ways it doesn't feel too political at all because the administration and the teachers have to make these plans to keep students safe. In my day job, I work with the University of Minnesota and they're having those same conversations. So, I guess I just want to appreciate whoever sent this postcard and keep up the good work. Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, sounds like a Weaver. >> One, two, three, four. >> Okay. So, most of us uh are meeting at Weaver for breakfast. No, for the science fair. So, I'm going to also be uh a judge at le uh seeing the um uh the uh the projects that our young people put together. Um I, you know, I've also been uh one of I I can't say I'm a volunteer. um elementary school helping uh with parking lot duties cuz I don't I don't see it as volunteering because as a school board member it is my job to keep the kids uh safe too. So, but I've been going there volunteering for uh the parent uh the parent line, the cars and and all that. And and I get to try out my um a skill that I never thought I would, which is directing traffic in the in the parking and wearing my cool vest and everything. So, I really I like I like being able to help in that capacity. uh and also seeing the kids and parents and all that um the community that we serve. But um last but not least, I I was convening my uh caucus on caucus night and I was really encouraged by the large attendance that we saw at uh on caucus night. So I'm really hoping that uh the excitement about um um attending those those current events will also translate into voting uh to keep some of our programs essential programs uh going too because as we know we talked about the referendum tonight and everything and and uh so seeing many individuals show up and uh really was encouraging. urging for me engagement >> kind of a wide things I want to say um one just again on on natural surge I think we're um we've heard recommendations from a bunch of different um places and people and I think I'm hoping that we'll never really need this these skill sets again um but you can't who knows right so um I I would hope that at some point we can do a little bit a SWAT analysis and see what did it do really well at, what did we kind of um miss perhaps? Um what opportunities like the tales like you said, what are we going to see and how long are we going to see the impacts from this? Um but I do think that that is really important to support our students and our families. Um on uh I guess brighter notes, um something we don't always hear about is the district owns two uh hockey arenas. I'm excited ice, sorry, ice arenas. Um, and I I'm >> I mean, just saying things for more than just hot. >> They sure are because and um they are available to rent for birthday parties. I'm just going to throw that out there and something we're looking at for my son. Uh yeah. Yeah, he's super excited. Every day we're going to go skating or we're going to go swimming. Um but today he got to go and see where he's going to kindergarten next year. So, um shout out again to everyone who's doing the the kindergarten info night. and especially the immersion teachers and the immersion programs just having this available to us. Um I I so excited about and then hearing people who have incoming kindergarteners but also have older kids who are going through the program and being able to alleviate some parents concerns about how are they going to do on tests and how are they going to be able to like integrate and if they learn the word for Q in Mong, how are they ever going to learn it in English? the teachers say they'll they'll learn it in both languages. They'll be able to um kind of grow up um with this and also how fast it seems that the these kids are just incredible um how they learn. So, we're really excited that our son will be able to be involved in that program next year. Um he biked there today, I will say. Um and in the wind and the cold and he was super excited/ stubborn. We were late because of it, but it's fine. Um, but I do think um I don't remember if it's through the district or if it's just another program talking about safe walking and biking to schools and that Yeah. And I think that's amazing too because that's that's our hope and our plan that um he will have a safer bike ride um as he as he grows up. There's not sidewalks on all of the streets >> through the Minnesota Department. So, thank you to the district for applying and getting that grant and the work that they're doing and also from the state for making it available. Um, and also I'm looking forward to the spring musicals. Just going to say that. Thank you all. >> Um, all right. So, I was also at the retreat. It was great time. I I forgot the colors already. I think I'm yellow, so that's my that's my color. But it was it was really informative. uh love getting the opportunity to to get to know everybody a little bit more. Um I just wanted to end my by saying happy Lunar New Year. If you celebrate the Lunar New Year, it is the year of the fire course, which means there'll be a cosmic reset. So, lots of change coming up. So, um and Ramadan. Oh, yeah. There you go. So, so lots lots going on. So just wishes for everyone for wisdom and balance as we tackle the changes ahead of us. So um all right so I just want to set the next the future board meeting dates um our work study session is March 3rd 2026 and then the next business is 6:00 p.m. March 17th here in the boardroom. >> Could I get a motion and a second to adjurnn? >> Right. Right. Second move by Lson, second by Anderson. All in favor say I. I. >> All opposed. >> Meeting adjourned. Thank you.