fishing right in straight and you know it was just I know it's crazy like to call the regular meeting of the Board of Education to order maybe as we recited the pledge before the organizational meeting we will foro that for the regular meeting um all members are Pres and first on the agenda is the open Forum this is a 15minute period of time set aside for citizen input and we have one speaker for the evening Lauren Harding come up and your three minutes right all right good evening members of the board my name is Lauren and I'm a par of uh this of the district and I am a resident of Prior Lake As We Gather tonight at the start of this new school board term I want to begin by acknowledging the responsibility and trust that comes with your role you have been chosen by members of the community to serve and represent the families the students and the Prior Lake School District as a whole not just to govern but to represent our Collective voice we are all here tonight to reaffirm our commitment to our students our teachers and our schools Your Role is not to represent outside influences and agendas but to advocate for what is best for all children in our district every decision you make shapes their education their opportunities and ultimately their Futures we believe that this community and uh we believe in this community and the strength it holds when we all come together that is why we will continue to show up not to critic ize but to ensure that our Collective voice is heard and to support our students our teachers and our schools we are here because we care deeply about the success of all children in this district and we trust you to prioritize their needs above all else thank you so much for the service that you guys do and we look forward to working with alongside you to build a stronger and a more United Future for the Prior Lake School District thank you thank you [Applause] next on the agenda is the approval of the agenda I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda so made by director France second second by director bullan any discussion hearing none all in favor signify by saying I I opposed that carries 70 next on the agenda is the consent agenda which includes our financials purchase orders above 25,000 the monthly financial report enrollment report approval of the school Bo minutes from December 9th Personnel items candidates for employment ruminations terminations and non-renewals district retirements and leaves of absence I'll entertain a motion to accept the consent agenda as submitted so made by director ainson second by director France any discussion hearing none all in favor signify by saying I I I opposed that carries 70 next on the agenda is the resolution for the acceptance of gifts so I'll read the resolution and this will require a roll call vote whereas Minnesota statutes 1233 b02 subdivision 6 provides the board may receive for the benefit of the district requests donations or gifts for any proper use uh any proper purpose I'm sorry and apply the same to the purpose designated in that behalf the board may act as Trustee of any trust created for the benefit of the district or for the benefit of pupils thereof including trust created to provide pupils of the district with Advanced education after completion of high school in the advancement of education and whereas Minnesota statutes for 6 5.03 provides any City County School District of town May accept a grant or devise a real or personal property and maintain such property for the benefit of its citizens in accordance with the terms prescribed by the donor nothing herein shall authorize such acceptance or use for religious or sectarian purposes every such acceptance shall be by resolution of the governing body adopted by 23 majority of its members Express ing such terms in full and whereas every such acceptance shall be by resolution of the governing body adopted by two3 majority of its members expressing such terms in full therefore be it resolved that the school board of the pic Savage area schools district 719 gratefully accepts the following donations as identified below $6,850 for furniture for Glendale Elementary by Sha greyt $133,000 for 2 years of the Minnesota cyber Summit from Mary France $3,000 uh representing one half of board her board stien by Mary France and $6,000 represented by her board Sten stien by Jessica Olstead so I will entertain do I take a motion for this you do yeah a motion to accept the gifts as presented so made by director France second I'm sorry director ainson okay second second by director Mason and this does require a roll call director olad yes I director Johnson I director France oh did it again director ainson I director buen I director France I and director Mason I and I that motion carries 70 I'll learn your names eventually next on the agenda is ler Pride Dr Thomas thank you chair white um just a couple of uh things I want to share tonight um the last time actually that we were meeting I believe it was our December meeting um we had a middle school concert that was happening at the high school that night and I think I briefed the board in our community about this but at that um at that choir event we had a medical emergency uh in our uh in in the audience that evening and uh there were numerous uh medical staff First Responders School uh some School staff that were there and it was because of the efforts of um some of the folks that were right there at the concert that literally saved a night a life that night and we we often times talk about uh emergency preparedness in our district it's something that our students go through quite frequently with various drills our staff go through it there's mandatory trainings that we all go through we have AED machines that are in um all our facilities um through Partnerships that we have with Community um agencies and and we go through these trainings hoping that we never have to Institute the types of uh measures that we are trained uh to engage in but um that night by the saving of that life uh we know that this is exactly why we go through these drills and these emergency preparedness situations and I just want to um share uh that uh um Anna Brinson who is here this evening um I would like uh to have Anna come forward um because I know that this was the uh the family that was impacted by this and then I would like to recognize just a couple of Staff um um through their efforts um that literally saved the life uh within her family if you want to come forward Han and share a few words and this is my mom Debbie um so this is it was her mom it was my mom so that passed I'm let her um I'm just going to read very quickly something that I wrote for the people that responded because they um asked quite frequently about what's going going on they've supported Anna in a great deal as has the district the teachers um that my three grandchildren go to have been extremely supportive in helping them manage that my um oldest grandson actually visually saw the accident or incident U my other two smaller ones did not but their teachers have been fabulous in supporting them emotionally um as we've been busy um with my mom so um I'm just going to read this very quickly it'll give you an idea of how I feel about the people that responded and actually the whole Community as a whole um it says um on behalf of mine mofield and the entire mfield family please accept our sincere gratitude I might not be able to get through this um for your immediate and professional care of our Mo our mother meline it is because of your knowledge and willingness to get involved in Mom's medical emergency that she is alive today Mom received um immediate chest compressions by a retired firefighter who remains Anonymous and some people and some other people too that were there helping um one of them is being recognized this evening um that so she and the chest compressions and the AED which you mentioned earlier was actually the Lifesaver um and shocks that so that her brain uh received the oxygen that she needed due to your uh firsthand knowledge mom did not suffer any memory loss uh thank you for supporting her till the EMTs and the police and the fire department she went no longer than 12 minutes without having somebody there so that's a testament to them as well um thank you so much for also following up with my daughter Anna to help her find and reach out to those involved to express our thanks and gratitude um this is how my mom's doing right now Mom was given at best a 15 she's 92 years old um mom was given at best a 15 chance of surviving this incident in the month and a half since mom's cardiac arrest she has met and surpassed the following Milestones surviving uh chest compressions both human and Lucas device uh two AED shocks being intubated waking up while on the ven ventilator which is one a thing that they don't often do um she knew who we were she's breathing on her own now without the venad later uh she survived six broken ribs and sternum um she did not end up with pneumonia which is what they said was the biggest threat to her um she received two Sten in her heart to alleviate 90% blockages uh which I have since learned um is very unusual for them to even do that on a 92y old um but M Health Medical Heart Clinic highly recommend it um she's since moved to the Masonic Transitional Care Unit uh for three weeks where she's received daily OT and PT for strength training and daily functions uh for behaviors when she returns home um she'll be M uh dismissed from the transal care to our home for about a week and a half to recuperate and uh have follow up with several doctor's appointments I will fly her home to her assisted living apartment at the end of January this is all because of your Swift actions and Mom's tough attitude to be appreciative of the time that she's been given we are profoundly grateful for your Swift actions knowledge and caring attitude as you helped our mother's as you saved our mother's life she doesn't remember what happened to her and who was involved but she asked me to express her gratitude for saving her life and the thoughts and prayers for that that followed again we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the gift of life that you have given we call her our Christmas miracle uh Christmas miracle we are firm Believers in the power of prayer and definitely have felt the presence both within the district and with uh friends and neighbors thank you thank you I want to thank you all for sharing a few words on behalf of your mom and letting us know how she's doing I would like to also call up um Rachel liano um and Heidi Burton and I believe I heard officer Kelch is in the oh oh I didn't see okay Officer Kelch you're here tonight um and we also have Nicole T who is not um able to attend but I know she is watching online so thank you to you as well and then we also have a retired firefighter who was very instrumental that night who wished to remain anonymous and I'm sure there were countless others that was as we heard um but these are just some of the names that were brought forward um and again just a big thank you to folks um for um your life-saving measures um on behalf of folks in our community so if you want to come up I have two certificates for Rachel and Heidi and officer Kel I don't know if you wanted to say anything at all I just wanted to be up here with you just to show uh collaboration um I know all of the police officers there that were present that night um you left an impression upon them um and hopefully you know we're reaching out to to do a similar life- saving award at our city council meeting on February 3rd so um we couldn't couldn't say thank you enough as well so and it just speaks to the volume of our partnership you know with with the police and fire departments we do a lot of joint emergency training and responsive uh preparedness training together um very significant for us this year and you all have been very instrumental in in helping keeping our school Community safe um not only during the school day but clearly you know in the evenings as well so thank you and to the whole team that was there that night um Rachel and Heidi are you all here tonight come on forward no no thank you so much and Dr Thomas um also I think it's important to recognize um HEI is a Heidi are you a 2019 graduate or 2020 graduate 2018 2018 okay graduate of Prior Lake so thank you okay move on to my second here all right so the next one I want to call forward um is uh Justin sh who is our Prior Lake um High School band director and um you've all heard our bands I'm sure um I'm a little bi biased uh but they are an amazing group of students who produce just uh amazing pieces of music under the leadership of Justin and um when I learned that they were going to be going to a very prestigious um um International music Clinic the 78th annual Midwest music Clinic I think it was um uh Bandon Orchestra conference in Chicago and they were invited um to perform with a renowned um uh composer um and instructor as well um one of their pieces or one of his pieces and it was my honor to travel down there to um observe our students really um wowing a packed Hall of in individuals and um Justin I can't thank you enough for your amazing leadership um I know you were recognized that day as well I'll let you uh talk a little bit about that um but just want to thank you and all the staff that were there I know you've had your colleagues from different districts supporting this initiative um with our kids and uh and I know that uh you had a little travel setback on your way back as well where you had a bus that wouldn't start uh but you made it back you know and uh kids got to sleep in the next morning um but uh you know it was well worth it I'm sure so congratulations to you and your students and I do have um a a certificate for you and I'll let you share a little bit about what happened that day and I know I posted about it um first of all thank you um good evening and for inviting me to reflect and share more on the percussion ensemble's performance at the Midwest Clinic international band and Orchestra conference um I think for many people that don't have background knowledge of the conference the magnitude of what these students have accomplished is hard to kind of comprehend we understand when a team wins a state tournament or a conference tournament because we all tend to have a sports background or we have a community background but really what does it mean for our students to be invited to this International clinic in Chicago that happens every year and so um thank you for letting me share a little bit more about the process that this took for the 14 or sorry for the 11 years since 2014 that this Ensemble has been established and what they accomplished in those 11 years and thank you for joining us Dr Thomas I think having you there was great support for the students and it was great for uh for to see you and be there and see firsthand what these students have really been able to do so I'll make this brief but share some information so um the vision statement of the Midwest Clinic international band orchester conference states to be the premier Global gathering for instrumental music educators musicians and IND industry professionals to gain knowledge skills and relationships that resonate across the cultures and generations for 78 years instrumental Educators musicians and Industry professionals have gathered in Chicago to grow and connect as a profession yearly over 18,000 individuals are in attendance the com com conference has a combination of concerts and professional development sessions this year there are musical groups from 17 different states and four different countries including Lithuania Spain and Japan yearly one of the military bands is featured as an evening concert performer as well the process to be invited to perform requires three letters of recommendations from leaders in our field two audio recordings of differing Styles two video recordings of the same works and three programs from the previous years to show consistent consistency in quality of Works performed this is not just a one-year thing it is showing your program over time and so to see some former students like Heidi who have been part of the program as well goes all the way back to our students back from when we started in 2014 um Additionally the application process includes biographical information on the district the school the instrumental music program and the director the Midwest Clinic board of directors and selection committee analyzes the applications and invites that years's performing Ensemble our invi invitation to perform marked the first Minnesota school to be invited since 2001 the first Minnesota high school since 1977 and the first percussion Ensemble from the state of Minnesota the magnitude this invitation what the students accomplished is what spurred me to apply for the proclamation from the state of Minnesota so I went on their website and filled out that form um and because of how big of a deal and how special of this was December 18th 2024 was named Prior Lake High School percussion Ensemble day in the state of Minnesota putting together the performance for the conference was no small step many many hours many many hours um requirements of L of length difficulty pieces publisher of pieces and the variety of songs all had to be taken into consideration before the conference approves your performance program um our program was titled To Live the goal was to connect how music tells the story of our lived experiences we featured two World premieres and the works and works for large percussion Ensemble to Pieces designed to be played in nature by a uh triangle quartet under a Starry Sky one common aspect of the performance conference performances is to have guest artists perform with your Ensemble I reached out to Michael burrett from the Eastman School of Music to see if he would be interested and he graciously said yes the Eastman School of Music is arguably one of the most pre one of the Premier um music schools in our nation and Michael burrett is something else the Eastman percussion Ensemble also performed that Friday made a that was lights out it was unbelievable um Michael burrett is one of the Premier percussionists and teachers in the world um to put it a little differently basketball players have their shoes he has his own mallets and not just his own mallets he has his own marima that is his mitech MJB that is named and was made specifically for him and so to have him on stage working with our students and he was so gracious and kind and encouraging them and when he wanted he knew they could do something else he encouraged them to play more in the middle of our performance he was it's he composed a the piece that we played called White Pines which is about being home in his state of Upstate New York and he was 7 Minutes in and his top Mallet snapped right in half um we play with his line of mallets on our marimbas but nobody was on marimo he's like somebody grabb me a mallet and he ran over and all the we kind of had a little like what do we do we just broke a mallet um he ran to his seat dropped o jumped over the microphone stand grabbed new mallets and just started back in and the students caught back in right where he was to finish the last three minutes of the piece it was it was fantastic it was it was pure gold um and having our students work with him was a dream for mine having looked up for him for years um the students perform like never before at the conference it really was something special they showed the entire instrumental music education world that they have something special to share through their music while I'm extremely proud of how they performed it was who they were as individuals that truly truly makes me as a teacher smile the comments I got after the performance that came from professionals from around the country were about the students their composure their maturity and their focus as one of the board members of the conference stated in an email to me unsolicited it is easy to become utilitarian for lack of a better word with the hosting of various groups we know everyone is going to play well we know the audience will be impressed but I was particularly taken with the students and their deportment it was so professional and mature that doesn't just happen but is a reflection of some first class mentoring from wonderful mentors good music absolutely the people part can come and go but the kindness of the group was particularly convincing the personality certainly made a positive impression on me I'm not sure a better compliment could be offered so thank you to them and thank you for you to you for giving me the opportunity to share with you tonight the amazing experience that we were able to have in our Band program here in the district thank you [Applause] yes that Mallet uh faux paw was quite uh fun to watch how the kids were they he was prepping the kids for everything for them to be coached but little did we know it was going to be the world renown composer who would need a little coaching and figure out what to do at the at the last minute but very well done very well done um and I also met one of our other former grads who is a University of San Francisco music teacher I think y so he was there and uh I think uh another St Thomas Professor who was there as well of all the hundreds I was standing with I stand next to two motans it was great yeah that'ss great um one last one um I would like to um uh share with you I know that uh right before the winter break um we shared with you that uh our business office under the leadership of Tammy Frederickson um submitted um for the asbo um uh meritorious budget award and this was um an award this is an award that's uh renowned within the finance industry internationally um it is an award that we applied for back in 2017 and did not receive um and this year we did apply for it and uh we did um get recognition and awarded um the very prestigious um meritorious budget award um for fisc year 2425 um there's a lot that goes into this and I know those of you who saw the budget book A lot of it is the discussions that we have here so one would say well what's the ceremonial fact of this well there's a significant aspect of understanding School finance and breaking it down in ways that are very digestible in ways that our um general public and Community can um access um it's something that we've done since um my first year here of an online um real time dashboard as well as now getting U recognition internationally as well I'm going to leave it to um Tammy to come forward and just share a few more words about the importance and other effects of having such an award um under our belt and how this actually helps the districts in in the long run on a variety of factors and then of course you and your team um can come forward uh for a presentation of the plaque and a picture please thank you Dr Thomas um this is as Dr Thomas said kind of the industry standard for school business officials um The Association of school business officials International were also members of the Minnesota Association of school business officials um we decided to apply for this award um my team is here um three of my teams here that were very instrumental in helping put this document together um we do a budget document every year it's on our department website you can look up our budget book every year um but this was a little bit different because when you apply for this award um there is a 10 page checklist document of everything that you have to include in your um budget in order to get this award um they have um a panel that judges it um it is one of the things that um we've tried since I've been here since Dr Thomas has been here to be very transparent about our what what our budget looks like what goes into our budget um and uh we certainly tried to do that and on this one um it helps with our bond ratings when we go out and sell bonds they're going to look at what kind of um kind of awards has this District received you'll see if you come to the business office on one wall we have 14 years of certificates for excellent and financial reporting who also comes from from the association of school business officials we get the Minnesota Department of education's award for financial accuracy um every year for as long as I can remember um it certainly we also have a clean audit so when we go out for any bond sales the rating agencies are going to look at those things so it's going to help um get us a better Bond rating and just give all the information that we we put everything out there that that we could in this document um there is um a fee to submit it which is not unusual in a business uh award program this uh sponsor does not this isn't what they do all the time so they do charge a fee um as they do for the other certificate of excellence and Reporting award we've printed the documents for you this year um as we print the audit reports just is easier to have a um something a hard copy for you to look at um you can certainly look at it online but we thought for this first um kind of presentation that we would print the documents for all of the board um we've been talking about this at my team we talked about last year when we started putting together our budget document that why can't we put together a little more um information make it a little more robust and let's try to get this award so we're extremely pleased we're very proud of the work that we did and we um thank you for acknowledging that we did receive this award we do want to have members of the team come forward we have Jess and Beth and Andrea here tonight needs the meritorious budget award is presented two PR Lake Savage area schools for exceptional quality in school budg presentation F year 2425 um got the congrats thank you all for all the work you put into that and Justin out without his picture so I'll have to get get him on the a different time um and direct uh chair white that is all the um updates for tonight all right thank you Dr Thomas next on the agenda are Personnel items we have an add additional budget additional support Staffing request director Herman excuse me chair white members of the board tonight we're bringing forward an additional staff request um from the community services fund the 04 fund a request to add a08 FTE I think in the agenda it's 08 but it should be8 FTE um which is uh in the memo it has the accurate um uh FTE and the costing is the same it's the 70,000 um 50 per year um this request is um coming from Community Education in order to help all students that are participating in um kids Co um that have additional needs per their IEP or 504 plans to coordinate um those plans ensure those students success um in reducing any burdens or barriers for them to participate all right I'll entertain a motion to accept this additional Staffing request so made by director bullan second by director France any discussion hearing none all in favor signify by saying I I I opposed that motion carries 70 the 2024 state of Minnesota pay Equity report director Herman chair white me chair white members of the board um we're presenting to you the pay equ Equity report this is a report that is required every three years um we have finalized it for 2024 and submitted it um within compliance I'll a motion to accept the report so made by director Johnson second second by director Olstead any discussion hearing in none uh all in favor signify by saying I I opposed that motion carries a 70 we have no unfinished business uh so under new business we do have an annual resolution I will read the resolution and then entertain a motion for approval this resolution is directing the administration to make recommendations for reductions in programs and positions and reasons therefore whereas the financial condition of the school district and a reduction in student course enrollment dictates that the school board must reduce expenditures immediately immediately and whereas this reduction in expenditure must include discontinuance of positions and discontinuance or curtailment of programs and whereas a determination must be made as to which teachers contracts must must be terminated ated and not renewed and which teachers may be placed on an unrequested leave of absence without pay or fringe benefits in affecting discontinuance of positions therefore be it resolved by the school board of Independent School District 719 as follows that the board hereby directs the superintendent of schools and administration to consider the discontinuance of programs or positions to effectuate economies in the school district and reduce expenditure and make recommendations to the school board for the discontinuance of programs curtailment of programs discontinuance of positions or curtailment of positions as per board fund bance fund balance policy so I would entertain a motion to accept the resolution so made by director bullion second by director Olstead all in favor signify by saying I'm sorry disc thank you and it is a roll coote my bad uh any discussion thank you um yes I have a question so for the past two years I looked back and we um approved this in February both years um one one year we are investing the second year last year we were making reductions um so maybe I have a two-part question one why the change to moving it up a month versus doing it in February like we've done the past and secondly this does this memo I'm assuming is for the 2526 school year or is it it does it impact immediately changes to the budget currently Dr ainson members of the board um to answer the last question first it's for next fiscal year for the 2526 um sorry I don't remember the exact order of the questions but um it is um we're presenting to here today because we are continuously trying to um move forward any of the procedural processes with the budget ahead so that we can have more time when looking forward uh looking forward to the next board meetings um this is the procedural memo that starts first any recommendations for reductions in Staffing or um FTE will come come at a later date this is the procedural memo that allows us to move forward in that direction um I believe I answered all the question Yeah Yeah so basically my understanding is by moving it up it's going to allow us we're starting the process and it will allow us more time to discuss the budget changes for the 25 26 school year is that correct director Aon is members of the board that is our hope is to Prov provide more opportunities at future board meetings to have further disc discussions and ultimately um either maintain um our our staffing timelines or move them up so that staff that are impacted um have a have a um additional timelines when when seeking the impact of those positions thank you any other questions or discussion this does require a roll call vote I'll entertain a motion to approve the resolution so made by director France second second by director ainson I'll start with you director Olstead hi director Johnson hi director ainson I director bullion I director France I and director Mason I and I that motion carries 70 next on the agenda is a budget update director Frederickson thank you chair white members of the board uh I just want to share a few um highlights from our monthly financial report that you saw on the consent agenda um it is as you all are aware we're always a month behind um because we have to get the bank wrecks and final payroll so this is a November report um that you have this month um it does reflect the updated revised budgets for fund um one and fund four the all of the covid money which is federal dollars is now complete there it had to have been spent by September 30th uh we got everything spent there was a couple things that are uh we were unable to spend all of um around some summer programming that we were um not quite able to spend at all so we gave I believe it was like $6,000 back um that we w't unable to spend um the um unassigned fund balance is right at 10.86% the total fund balances if you take the uh all of the general fund for unassigned assigned nonspendable restricted we're at 12.37 which is at the high end of what our um board policy is uh we have not received any title dollars yet for that's federal dollars there's been some issues around reporting in the mde serves report so we haven't gotten some of that Revenue yet um we anticipate that it will be fixed in the next couple months um the if you look at um the year-to-date spend we're right in line with what we've spent for the last couple years with the exception of federal sources again that's um mostly related to covid last year our federal budget was about $3.9 million this year it's 1.8 again there are no more Co dollars uh so last year at this time we were making plans to spend all of that additional covid money and it hadn't all gone through because most of it was for summer so um you'll see later in the year that the year-to date comparisons as we move forward through this year is going to be more comparable just because of those Co dollars getting spent our uh PMA balance right now is higher than it usually is you can see that we're about $49 million but at the end of January we have um our principal in interest for all of our bonds due so after we make that payment at the end of this month then our PMA investment account will drop back down um other than that um unless there's other questions about the monthly financials the enrollment numbers we're looking at for 2526 and we haven't gotten all of the kindergarten numbers but we're we're sitting right now as of this morning about 350 students and if we compare that to the last several years at this same point in time uh last year we were at 332 the year before 386 the year before 358 so we're right within that range of what we've been seeing um I don't think we'll see the same as we did the 2324 uh but we're at least right within the range of what we have been so hopefully the next few months we'll see many more kindergarten students to get up to our usual of around 500 550 um but we are at 350 right now so that is all of the updates I have currently we'll be presenting at the next study session much more detail on the 2526 budget okay any other questions questions or discussion yes t uh director Frederickson can you clarify did you say we're spending the same amount as what we have been spending when we had the covid dollars no it's the same P if you look at the percentage in the financial report the percentage that we compare year-to date um the federal dollars last year a year to date we were about 4% spent of our total budget but the budget was also 3.8 million we're at about 19% spend but our budget is 1.8 but we also have spent all of our Co dollars got it um I also would just like to mention um if you look at our financial statement for our financial report from last year from our Auditors I think there was a comment made earlier that we were um a negative we overspent our budget by $7 million that in fact is not correct um we overspent the budget by about 4.3 and 1.4 of that was authorized by the board so um the grand kind of aside from what the board approved was a little less than $3 million that we had overspent and as we discussed it the time that we did the audit that was mostly in special education and transportation thank you any other questions okay direct sorry one more question um director Frederickson the the title money that you said we haven't received yet what kind of categories would that be coming in that we're not getting and and why uh so the title money we get Title One title two title three um title four so title two is professional development can only be spent for professional development Title One is based on students free and redu lunch so it's for students in poverty title three is elll um we haven't there's been issues around we have to enter the budgets into the um mde serves report and then every month you report your expenditures but you can't report to your expenditures until they approve the budget officially and the serves and they haven't done that yet so we haven't been able to enter our um expenses because there's no budget to apply it to and mde knows that we've been working with them and they're they're working on the issue and hopefully we'll get it resolved shortly so we can those expenses in there right thank you okay there's no further questions we will move on to the next item on the agenda a proclamation um in regards to Minnesota par Educators appreciation week and we have a proclamation and if director ainson would mind reading that he would appreciate it sure thank you um Prior Lake Savage area schools recognizes January 27th to January 31st 2025 5 as par Educators Appreciation Week our par educators are vital to our District's Mission and our students success this week we express our heartfelt thanks and gratitude for their dedication whereas we recognize they collaborate with teachers to provide care support and a high quality education our parent Educators contribute to instructional support and individual Student Assistance that Foster educational success and whereas the support and services provided by par educators are essential to student achievement enhancing the effess of effectiveness of our schools and whereas Prior Lake Savage Area Schools is committed to Excellence in education and recognize the important role that par Educators play in ensuring educational success and whereas Governor Tim Walls has proclaimed the week of January 27th through the 31st 2025 as par educator recognition week in Minnesota therefore let it be resolved the Board of Education extends its appreciation and encourages the entire plsas Community to join us in expressing personal thanks to our par Educators for their unwavering dedication and commitment to our students thank you for reading that director ainson um chair white and board I want I'm here because the bulk of our our Paras our special education Paras but I don't want to um not include the rest of our Paras so I just you know we have EC Fe um pair assistants we have lunchroom supervisors media support um we have a CED language trans literator um and then there's a few more on here too but so I just I'm going to express appreciation for all of them even though it'll come off with a little bit of a special education twist so our special ed um Paras work tirelessly with um our students and sometimes spend more time with them than even our teachers do so I want to thank them for all the work that they do sometimes it probably appears is a thankless job but we truly could not do the work that we do without them whether that's in the special education classroom or in the lunchroom or an early childhood so thank you for recognizing them and we'll be celebrating them the week of the 27th so if you're around and you see AA thank AA thank you thank you thank you all right uh moving on no policy to discuss tonight so that moves us to administrative reports superintendent report Dr Thomas thank you chair white um just a few things to touch bases on um we have our annual Town Hall that we typically do right around January coming up on January 29th that's Wednesday um that's the same week as our board study session so we timed it uh kind of reflect back and Report out um it'll be at Prior Lake High School um in the old lecture hall just um next to the um main office area at 6 p.m. um also just want to share that coming soon um we are are developing a new initiative to start recognizing and connecting work directly to our strategic priorities and Dr zush um is developing a method to highlight District successes and priority different uh driven efforts um it'll allow us to also start to share practices from one building to another and really build this Warehouse of promising practice um from instructional aspects um and special ed support aspects that you know you name it we'll be um building that up um also um developing connections between staff from one building to a next and being able to replicate success over time and um so we're looking forward to that um we'll be releasing that um shortly uh just a quick update on branding um with our new strategic plan part of our efforts was to go through and start um uh being more on brand and that includes updating signage throughout the district and so there will be some signs that we have that will be coming down while we're um putting up new signs reflecting our strategic plan um both the actual plan itself as well as some of the learner profile aspects and really focusing on the attributes that we're looking for versus what we don't want to see um we've had lots of conversations with our administrators um particularly those that are steeped in positive behavioral uh intervention support or PBIS and you always lead and model with what you expect versus telling students not to do something so as an organization we're leaning into that as well and so there will be um a transition of removing of um signs and then resurrecting the new ones that are aligning to our new strp plan and um that will be starting we're getting our final bids on produ printing Productions and sizes and all that so we'll be looking forward for that um and then we kicked off um our legislative uh convening um with amsd last Friday um it was a packed house in St Paul um where um superintendant uh and many elected officials convene to have a preliminary um showcase of the amsd um legislative platform which is the Association of Metro school districts um you all have probably seen your msba one um it's it's literally the same um so and that is the dominant um that is the dominant platform that's coming out we'll be sharing an updated version of our platform uh next uh study session um that uh will be uh put into packets for you also when you have your day at the capitals or day at the capital you'll have your packets that you can bring forth and also distribute and speak to that as well so we'll walk through that um at the end of this month um but I was also um uh joining um Corey superintendent from Anoka as well as Renee from St Anthony New Brighton um to contextualize what do these aspects of the amsd platform look like like in the field in practice so you have all these policies floating around in all this jargon but what does this mean at the end of the day um for kids what does this mean at the end of the day for budgets Etc so it's a very um a very pointed discussion that we had um with a variety of our elected officials and then we also had a legislative panel that we listened to um and folks it's going to be it's going to be dicey I mean there's it's not there's not a lot of money to go around um and you're all probably seen this same news lines that I'm seeing there's already tensions you know between parties Etc so it's going to be an interesting go but we're committed to staying focused on what's best for our kids here in prake Savage area schools um as well as our uh affiliate um advocacy organizations namely msba and am amsd that kind of dominate a lot of the conversation right now um I will also be going to DC um as the chair elect of the federal advoc advocacy committee at the end of March there will be a contingent of delegates that will go out there to better understand what's going to be happening at the federal level you all know that there are going to be some changes um with new Administration and what will happen with regards to the Department of Education impacts changes there as well um title funding that we were just talking about that those are big conversations that we're having and so um be going out there to gather and learn more from our federal um colleagues and then bringing that information back here to the state of Minnesota and specifically you know with you all as me being um the incoming chair for that um advisory committee or advocacy committee and then lastly um just a reminder of our MLK our annual MLK celebration January 20th 10 to noon it's open to the public um and this year we'll be having poetry competitions with our students um I don't know if you're going to speaking to that but uh there will be our our students will be speaking to that um uh recogniz and then um they'll be recognizing I have a dream poetry winners um as well um later on that afternoon so I'm looking forward to that uh to hear some of our kids and I don't believe any of our ad oh you do have one one admin report CH white thank you Dr Thomas um members of the board I just wanted to give a additional shout out to our two retirees that we have on the agenda today um Jean that served over 16 years with us as a building administrative assistant and then Bonnie who served over 25 years as a sped perah I'm just wanted to give some extra attention and shout out to those two amazing individuals that have um dedicated many many years of service to the district and community so just want to give a quick shout out thank you yes thank you you good y all right we down to board reports and we'll start with Ann thank you chair white members of the board um I'm an if I haven't met you before I'm excited to work with all of you this year um in regards to the school right now obviously winter sports and activities are up and running you've come to our basketball games and hockey games I'm sure door but everything's going well um I just want to speak on the mural project that our student Advisory Group is currently working on um it's where we're creating a mural that paints a picture of a diverse and unified student body to go along with um a lot of the things that we've been working on as a school and a district and we got all of our Affinity groups involved and we want to make sure that every background and culture that exists at our school is represented so we're having a meeting this Wednesday to continue talking about like the actual mural and what we want to see on the wall um and as superintendent Thomas has t Dr Thomas has talked about we do have MLK Day celebration I think you touched on everything perfectly so I hope to see all of you there um and then in regards to student council right now we are in the midst of planning our Winter Dance this year we're doing a snowball instead of a sweethearts dance and we're really trying to increase the school spirit in the time prior to the actual week so that everyone is energized and excited when the events come um I just want to highlight one of our events that week is going to be the winter carnival on that Thursday February 13th if any of you and your families would like to come we'd love to join you it is a fundraiser for Make A Wish Foundation so it is a great cause to support thank you that's all I have thank you and if there's any other board reports we'll just work our way on the table director olad sure thank you um I my daughter and I had the great pleasure of going to the one act plays this past weekend that our drama uh students put on at the high school that was amazing uh as always I always leave those things with my mouth wide open um at the talent of our kids so thank you for a wonderful evening um uh really appreciated my time on the equity advisory committee um as my one of my last duties um the coffee and conversation is coming up January 23rd next week um and this is going to be kind of a profile of all kinds of Learners all the different kinds of Learners we have in our district so we're going to have a panel discussion and some presentations um this is going to be at Westwood in the allpurpose room so I encourage everyone to attend if you can make it um as the uh board representative for Southwest Metro um the first meeting of the year will be next week so apologies you're getting some of this a month later um but the first wave of their International teachers uh are on board they started teaching last week um and they're very excited about the cold um I disagreed wholeheartedly at that um but I'm really happy for them they started last week um The Culinary class I think mentioned this last week um or last month uh they're going to be featured in the students showcase at msba uh the conference this week um on Thursday so check them out um they're also uh we are looking at revising their strategic plan as well with a new superintendent um aboard um and so they're looking um at potentially doing that as well um yeah so that's what's going on at Southwest Metro a lot of stuff thank you nothing director a nothing to report thank you Amy uh the only thing that I'd like to say is uh to share my appreciation of the strive program at Bridges ALC um I just appreciate that program so much the community involvement um it's just been a real blessing to be part of so that's I just want to shout that out right and director FRS excuse me I would second what director bullan just said about um about the um strive program they had their first meeting of the year um again for the mentees uh and mentors um last week it was um it's always exciting and it's always heartwarming um plus the good that you can do with these kids and for your community is is just immeasurable um I do have an update uh scale meeting was last Friday uh in the scale meeting B PL who passed their building ly uh last year uh gave us updates on the construction progress and everything that they are doing in their elementary middle and high school and the stages of that uh the superintendent was very very excited in her presentation um I'm sorry in the um other person's presentation on behalf of the superintendent and then we had a panel discussion on the 2025 cannabis decisions uh and the go live of uh cannabis sales and the various potency levels Etc and then had a panel discussion um uh with County Health Representatives uh the county attorney and representatives from most of these cities within Scott County so it was a very very exciting uh and robust discussion uh showing that each city um is pretty much doing things polar opposite of each other all right nothing thank you okay we have reached the end of the agenda we have some future events there's no school on the 20th in celebration of Martin Martin Luther King Day Dr Thomas alluded to the event at the high school that morning the Teacher of the Year celebration at Hidden Oaks is also that day at 3:00 end of the second quarter for grade z12 is January 23rd and we have no school on the 24th for a staff workday and then note the next study session on the 27th at 6 and then as Dr Thomas alluded to the finance Town Hall um on the 29th at 6:00 there's nothing else to come for the board I will entertain a motion to adjourn so by director bullan second by director France all in favor signify by saying I I I our meeting is adjourned