Good evening everyone. Welcome to uh the canvas and regular uh business meeting of the pri Savage Board of Education. Uh if you would all stand as you are able and join us in the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance 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. Okay, first part of the meeting tonight is going to be the canvas, the special election that was held last Tuesday. And you see before you the board member oath, which we will um all have to sign. I think Martha's just going to pass it around after we're we're done with this part. And then the election summary is in front of you. Uh before we get on to uh a motion to approve the resolution, the two resolutions, are there any questions um on the uh any part of the election summary, the abstract of votes cast or any of the other things? Martha is available to answer any questions if you have any. >> No. Okay. Then I will entertain a motion to a approve a resolution canvasing returns of the votes of the school district's special election made. by director Olstad, second uh by director Bullan. Any discussion signing >> hearing? None. All in favor signify by saying I. >> Abstract. >> I >> opposed. >> That motion carries 6 and then I will entertain a motion to approve the resolution authorizing issuance of certificates of election. Is there a motion to approve? So Dr. Johnson. Second >> by Director Bullan. If there's no discussion, all in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> I. >> I. >> Oppos. >> That motion carries. 6. >> Are those roll call? >> I'm sorry. >> Are they roll call? >> No. >> Oh, it is roll call. You are right, >> Dan. >> I thought I maybe read ahead. >> I even highlighted [laughter] it. >> Sorry. >> So, uh, we will have to go back and Roll call the uh the vote on the special uh the canvasing the returns of special election starting with uh director Olad >> I. >> Director Johnson >> I. >> Director Bullan >> I. >> Director France >> I. >> Director Mason >> I. >> And I and now it carries 6. [sighs] >> And the resolution to authorize issu uh the issuance of certificates of election. Director Olstead >> I. >> Director Johnson >> I. >> Director Bullion >> I. >> Director France >> I. >> Director Mason >> I. and I they both carry 6 and and I'll entertain a motion to adjourn the canvas portion of this meeting and uh move into the regular business meeting. Is there a motion >> by director Johnson? Second. >> By director Bullion. >> All in favor signify by saying I. >> I >> opposed. That carries 6. All right. We will now transition to the regular business portion of the meeting and we will start with Laker Pride. Dr. Thomas. >> Thank you, Chair White. Uh board of directors. Uh this evening uh we are going to start off with our annual uh uh showcase with regards to our student um artistic abilities. Um we have [clears throat] Jim Spiker um here tonight on behalf of the Prior Lake Savage Optimist Club uh and teacher Brian Perry and NHS advisor Christy Malgrren. I think she's here. And um they are going to come forward to talk about um the Optimus Club uh purchase of student art. And this is something that we proudly display out in our halls and different offices. And it's really our opportunity to celebrate the artistic ability of our students. And so I will have uh the team come forward and uh I also have certificates. Um and then leaving a little time for the student to explain her uh or their work through their the artist's eyes because I know art is to the interpretation you know left up to the interpretation but would love to hear from their perspective. Hi, I'm Jim Spiker. This is uh Jasmine Deng and she's going to talk about her piece of her artwork. >> Yeah. You just want to go up to the art piece and you can kind of talk to the the crowd and the community. Uh >> yeah. Yep. So, one second. T Hello. [laughter] >> Hi, Jasmine. >> Um, this is a drawing that I made of my friend. Her name's Eevee, I think you could probably guess from the title. Um, I originally drew this for a class assignment from drawing one assigned to me by Mr. Perry, and I didn't really have anything else to do with it. It was supposed to be a gift for her, but she didn't really take it, so I had nothing else to do with it, so I showcased it in the art showcase, and I guess I won. [laughter] Yeah. It's made with charcoal and I spent about like six class periods on it. >> Fantastic. Fantastic. Congratulations on your [applause] work. >> Just put our community's awareness. Um I know typically we've done a lot of showcase pictures up here in the front. But right now, right around the left hand side here, we have a brand new banner um around our Laker Pride. And so now we'll have a consistent background. And we sometimes get large groups and sometimes we get silly and maybe make faces behind the kids. No, but we do have large groups sometimes and we can now all fit out there and have a uniform background. But congratulations to you. U lovely artwork and uh we usually will find a blank wall space somewhere to showcase your talents. All right. And Mr. Spiker, Jim, thank you so much. Uh, and I'm going to hand this to you for the Optimus Club. >> Appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Optimus. >> Thanks so much. >> Appreciate you. >> Congratulations. >> Beautiful. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh just one more. Um so tonight uh is also uh Chair Dan White's uh last board meeting and uh with the elections uh there will be a transition of of board uh directors and I just want to say thank you for uh stepping in third fourth time maybe fourth time who's counting. Um and uh just your your your real centered steady leadership um really served us well um for the time being. And uh I first met you during strategic planning and you and I engaged in a couple of conversations unbeknownst that you would be didn't even know your whole history of how many times you've been on the board. And somebody said, "Well, you know who that was?" I was like, "A community member?" >> Well, that was Dan White. Like the Dan Everybody settled out. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, but I just want to say thank you and um and and I know that uh being on the board and you know is not the easiest thing these days and uh being the chair comes with added responsibilities and complexities. So, thank you so much for being that steadfast uh uh vision for us and uh wish you well and uh I won't say goodbye [snorts] because there might be five. Um, and we have plenty of committees, you know, and other opportunities to always, uh, so I know you won't be a stranger, and I know you're a p, you have a passion for high school sports, and so you will often be at many of our games as well. So, thank you so much for your leadership, and uh, we uh, we'll miss you. >> All right. And, uh, here's your certificate as well. >> Thank you very much. >> And you'll probably have Martha have you step out there or Christine get a guilty shot amongst the backdrop. >> So, thank you for that. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. >> Chair White. >> Yes. >> Just wanted to thank you um for stepping up um and being here. And not only that, but it's just like, yay, welcome aboard here. Have the chair position. Um and >> there was a little bait and switch that went on there. I'm convinced. But that's all right. [laughter] >> Thank you >> very much. >> Thank you, Jess. Appreciate it. >> I'd also like to say something, too. Um I want to say thank you. Um, you are a deep well and I will draw from all of the things that I've learned from you this past year. >> I'd like to say thank you uh also for stepping up um and also uh for the incredibly smooth transition um this year. It was very very helpful. I appreciated your wisdom. >> Thank you. I appreciate it. Okay, let's move on. uh to the superintendent report. Michael. >> All right. Thanks. Thanks again. Um just a couple of quick things. Uh obviously we just had our um school board uh special election and um I would like to congratulate uh uh Dustin Smith for uh um getting chosen to serve the board. Um I also want to thank Mr. Conlin for his tireless efforts as well. Um I I can't imagine um what both of you went through um in terms of the time and commitment um to um share yourselves with our community. And so congratulations to Dustin as he gets appointed um to the board. Um also want to give recognition for American Education Week, November 17th through the 21st. Um people hear me say this a lot in our district. It doesn't matter what your role is. We are all educators in in this district. uh we approach our functions differently, but we're all here to better the educational experiences for our kids. So, this is a time when we honor our teachers, our educational support staff and and for their service and our substitute teachers as well. Um whether they're in building subs or if they're through a contractor with teachers on call, we appreciate all the time that they give um to our students. It's also a time where we uh recognize the importance of public education and the accomplishments of our students. Um, so again, I want to thank all of our PLSAS staff and along with our many parent volunteers and community members who volunteer um that support our students throughout the school year. Um, just a quick note on kindergarten. Uh, obviously we have enrollment that happens all year long, but we have kind of these big windows of kind of kicking off and so enrollment season is upon us. Uh, I I'm proud to say we are welcoming in the class of 2039. um principles are hosting uh information nights uh December 1st at 6 p.m. at Jeffres Pond and then um the Spanish immersion parent panel is uh December 2nd at 6:30 p.m. at Lola and then um the enrollment window if you will for the 2627 school year for kindergarten across the board will open online uh December 11th. And then lastly, um, calling out more folks who are into the arts and in this case our performing arts. Um, our fall musical, uh, Prior Lake High School is presenting Cinderella, the Enchanted Ed edition, and that's November 20th through the 23rd. These tickets go fast and and I'm not just saying that, they go fast. Even I can't swindle an extra one. Um, because I trust me, I've tried when I forgot one year. Um, but I do want to say you can go to the website and get your get your tickets. And again, a huge thank you to Dave Tuma and team and all the staff that are at the high school, our parent volunteers. When you take a look at our performances, they are top-notch. These sets are Broadway ready. Uh, I I just am amazed at the type of work that uh and craftsmanship that goes into this, not only with the set and the scenes, but also the the prep preparation that our our students engage in. um top-notch. So, really want to invite our community out for that. Those are my updates. >> Okay. Do you want to read this? What's that? >> Uh is that on later? Did I get a I kind of jumped ahead. Sorry. >> I'll read it anyway. That's fine. >> I Thank you. Have to read the whole thing, but >> it's short. >> Yeah. Uh back to Dr. Thomas's uh recognition of American Education Week. I'm going to read the proclamation from the board. Whereas public schools are the backbone of our democracy, providing young people with the tools they'll need to maintain our nation's precious values of freedom, civility, and equality. And whereas by equipping young Americans with both practical skills and broader intellectual abilities, schools give them hope for for and access to a productive future. And whereas education employees, be they custodians or teachers, administrators or clerical staff, bus drivers or media specialists, child nutrition staff or support staff, work tirelessly to serve our children and communities with care and professionalism. And whereas our district, the community hub, bringing together adults and children, educators and volunteers, business leaders and elected officials in a common enterprise. Now, therefore, the Prior Lake Savage Area Board of Education does hereby proclaim November 17th through the 21st, 2025 as the 104th annual observance of American Education Week. Thank you, Dr. Thomas. Moving on to the open forum. This is a uh 15minute period of time set aside for the board to receive citizen input. Uh we just ask that you we have one speaker tonight. Just ask that you'd uh um honor the three minute period of time and speak as you would like to be spoken to. Our speaker tonight is Rick Olsen. Thank you, Mr. Chair and school board. Thanks for the opportunity to introduce myself. I'm Rick Olsen living at 3051 2002nd Court East Prior Lake just outside the school district. Now I'm the DFL candidate for Senate District 52 54 um which comprises Shakipi Prior Lake and and Jordan. Uh it should be an open seat with the current chair or current senator Eric Pratt running for Congress. So now I went to Sanford Law School to become a better agricultural business manager. Now that may sound weird, but uh I was a farm boy and I wanted to become a agricultural cooperative president, which I ultimately did in Renville in the9s. But in 98, my wife had an opportunity to be a school superintendent in Michigan. Well, that was too good an opportunity for her to pass up. So I followed her this time and I reinvented myself and became a school business manager for over 10 years. So uh during that time um I also enrolled in a PhD program in K12 school administration um because I like knowing what I'm doing. Um I completed all the coursework for the PhD but did not write a thesis. So you can't you don't have to call me doctor. Uh when we came back to Minnesota 11 years ago uh I became a school business manager in Foley near St. Cloud because you need a job to get a mortgage and so forth. >> [clears throat] >> So, so all out of all that, you know, I know education, I know education funding, including here in Minnesota here. Um, and I know money and I know how to balance budgets. So, I also know the problems that school districts run into when you have enrollment declines. When I was a school business manager at Adrian Public Schools in Southeast Michigan, we started with 4,300 students. Six years later, we had 3,700. Now, when you lose $700,000 of revenue each year and your costs are increasing, I know the problems of balancing a budget. You no longer have good options. You no longer have bad options. You only have ugly ones left. Hopefully, we never have that problem here. Um, but uh my passion is education because my dad died when I was two months old, leaving my mom to raise six kids on welfare in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Now, obviously that was not easy for her. Uh, but her passion was get an education and work hard. And that's exactly what my wife and I have done now for 55 years. Frankly, we've prospered. We've lived the American dream. But the reason I'm running is I don't believe it's as easy for our younger generation, our kids and grandkids, to have the same opportunities that we've had both educationally and occupationally. I don't like the world we're leaving for our kids and grandkids. So now Linda and I returned to Minnesota three years or 11 years ago uh so she could be a full-time daycare grandmother and that's been great but uh with my energy and my background I don't feel I can just sit back and hope things turns out well. So thank you. Uh I'd be very happy to meet with any one of you individually uh when you know if you wish to do that in sometime in the future. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> All right. Uh, moving on to the approval of the business meeting agenda. Is there a motion to approve? >> So >> by director Mason, >> second >> by Director France. >> There's no discussion. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. That carries 6. Next is the consent agenda. This is a uh list of items that are considered to be routine in nature and will be enacted with one motion. If there is uh no one in the audience or here at the table that wants to separate one of these items out for separate discussion and action, I will entertain this uh motion as a whole. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented? >> So made >> by Director Johnson, second by Director France. There's no discussion. All in favor signify by saying I. >> Opposed. That motion carries 6. And now we will move down to the resolution for the acceptance of gifts. And tonight we have we have three gifts. um a gift in the amount of $790 from Chris Lyken for adaptive equipment for developmental adaptive physical education and unified programming from Napa Auto and Prior Lake. Uh we have a a gift valued at $2,500 for tools and supplies for the tech ed department at Prior Lake High School and then from the VFW of Prior Lake an inkind donation of a student wheelchair. I will entertain a motion to accept these gifts with gratitude. >> By director France, second by Director Olstead. >> This does require a roll call. I remember one out of three. That's pretty good. Uh Director Olstead >> I. >> Director Johnson >> I. >> Director Bullen. >> I. >> Director France. >> I. >> Director Mason >> I. >> And I. That carries 6. Moving down to personnel. We have a staffing reassignment. Uh Director Ktherm. >> Yes. Thank you, Chair White and board of directors. Uh we just have another uh reassignment of a resource pair to a 1.0 FTE centerbase. It's a costneutral request uh in response to the increasing student needs. The elementary life skills program requires additional centerbased pair educator support. This adjustment will be costneutral by redirecting current resource PAR educate hours to meet these needs. So we are seeking board approval for this reassignment to ensure the district continues to effectively support students and their growing needs. I'll entertain a motion to uh approve this staffing reassignment. >> So made >> by director Bullan, >> second >> by Director Johnson. Any questions or discussion? >> Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I opposed. >> That carries 6. There is no unfinished business. So we will move on to the new business portion of the meeting, the 2425 audit. Director Ryder, would you like to make some introductions? Yes, thank you. Tonight we have um the principal from LB Carlson who is our audit firm for the fiscal year 25 who's here Jim Ike here to talk with us tonight about our fiscal year 25 that's the 2024 2025 school year financial audit report and he has some slides he'd like to walk us through and any questions that we might have then. Thank you. Thanks, Lisa. >> Members of the board, superintendent, uh, members of the audience, my name is Jim Iikden. Uh, thank you for the introduction. I'm with LB Carlson CPAs. Uh, that might not be a familiar name, uh, to you. My firm that I was previously with for 30 years, MMPR merged with LB Carlson as of the beginning of the year. All of our staff and all of our team actually moved with the firm. So, we're working with the same team and the same group just under a new name with uh uh better logo, less name, less letters, um more resources, probably most importantly to the district. Um my goal this evening is to present the uh the audit report for the year ended June 30th, 2025. Um it is a requirement in state law that the district have an annual financial statement prepared. Uh the district has uh decided and and has been preparing for some time. um an additional uh added requirement uh or added bonus to the district an annual comprehensive financial report which is uh submitted to the uh association of school business officials for certificate of achievement in financial reporting. Uh so you'll see that particular uh document has been issued uh to the district um and to the board this evening. Um uh um it is my role with the district to provide an opinion on that financial statement uh and to prepare other financial statement related audit items as as a correlation to the audit process. Uh first and foremost that includes uh testing of internal controls uh of of that financial report that's being prepared as well as your compliance with laws and regulations as it relates to that financial statement. uh those uh requirements are are guided by uh the office of the state auditor here in the state of Minnesota who provides uh us guidance in that area as well as the the federal government the AICPA as well providing audit standards to um the district as part of this process. Um so um as part of the uh audit I did issue what's called the management report and in that management report I summarized the audit results uh for the year. Um so uh I'm going to touch on some of the most important elements of of the audit results for the year so that you can get some sort of uh indication how the audit went um with as part of my presentation. So first of all uh this audit takes place um over quite a stretch of time. We started in June and issued the reports maybe a week ago as part of the audit process. Um uh we didn't change uh the scope of the audit along the way. It's important to understand that we planned an audit using certain risk assessment tools and if we were to change our audit process, we're required to report that. Uh that did not happen this year as part of the audit process. One item of note is we were we were uh anticipating that we would be issuing what's called a single audit of federal awards at this time. Uh which is uh a federal requirement that we audit any federal awards that you receive. Uh the federal government hasn't issued guidance for June of 2025 as of today. Um there has been some delays in in the issuance of what's called the compliance supplement. Uh originally we anticipated it would have been issued by now. Uh but it has not. Um so we're on hold in terms of issuing that particular document. Uh we will follow up Lisa and team with those documents as they are issued. We can't really say at this time when uh but we'll certainly be doing that um at that time. Um continuing on in the my management report, we did issue audit results for the nonfederal award portion of the audit. First and foremost, we were able to issue an unmodified opinion on that uh financial statement. Uh unmodified is a clean opinion. It was the opinion, you know, you're looking for a good uh opinion in this case. Uh in that opinion we did emphasize of implementation of accounting standard Gazsby statement 101 on compensated absences. Uh that particular uh emphasis of a matter really didn't change the opinion at all. It's still a clean opinion. It's just emphasizing there was a pretty significant standard there that was implemented in in that in the reporting of those uh liabilities. As you can see on the PowerPoint, we did issue opinions on your internal controls uh over the financial audit. We did not have any findings to report. No weaknesses, internal controls, no compliance issues to report. Um and then I mentioned that your compliance with Minnesota laws and regulations. We did not have any findings in that uh area as well. Uh also uh um as part of the report I do provide information on last year's audit findings. Uh um if you read the document you'll note that the findings from last year were were were not repeated. So um those findings were cleared and we did not have any findings in those areas. It is a important as a board to to know and understand the prior year findings. We all hope that uh we don't have findings but they do occur and in the p in the in the prior year I reported to you that I hope that I could stand here and say the corrective actions uh that were needed to correct those findings were implemented and they were so that's an important uh good news. So all in all we did not have any findings to report this year as well as last year's findings were cleared. So in my report uh event there's my single audit comment I will not go there. Um so in my report I do provide information on financial results. We have a number of information pieces of information on financial trends that I will look at. Uh just to I'm going to cover some of the basics here. Um this particular graph does show some information on fund balances. Now these fund balance percentages used here are the the fund balance percentages used by the department of education. Uh the the district does use uh different calculations in their fund balance percentages. So be clear about that uh when you look at this data. But uh you can see that fund balances um statewide have actually increased over the last uh couple of years 2023 and 2024. Most of that related to some of the COVID related funding that was coming from uh the federal government um you know at that time to cover some uh uh costs in the in the districts. Um we anticipate going into 2025 that we're going to see some declines there because most of those programmings ended at the end end of 2024. Uh you can see on the blue blue line the uh district's fund balances as calculated by the department of education. Um and then 2025 data. Um and you can see some of declines over the last few years in fund balance. And we'll get to some more specifics uh as I look at the individual funds uh later. Um and this is that graph. So um so for the year ended June 30th, 2025 um the the financial report does report that the district had a decline in fund balance of roughly uh 1 um sorry 1 point 4 million. Um the district's budget did anticipate a decline in fund balance of roughly 900,000. So you're about about 600,000 sorry 460,000 more in decline than was anticipated in the revised budget that came forth to the board. This particular graph gets into very very specific information on the types of fund balance categories and you can see it went from 14.9 million in 2024 to 13.5 million. Most importantly is the unassigned number. the unassigned number uh unassigned fund balance went from 9.9 to 9.6. Why that's important? Um uh the school board has adopted a fund balance policy. Uh this print balance policy states that you'll strive to maintain a minim minimum unassigned fund balance of at least 8% uh of of the annual budget. And you can see on that particular line the unassigned fund balance as a percentage of expenditures is declined to about 7.6 six. Uh so you are below that particular threshold. Um uh so so as an auditor I I've been asked many times related to this um what's next when we have this information and and I always say this this information is now up to the administration of the district to take and look at this the next steps. It's up to the board to take and and make the decisions. It's really not my decision in terms of what to do with fund balances and how to go in terms of direction. and it's only I'm only here to report the information. Uh but it's certainly important for the board to understand and know that there where they're at from a financial perspective as it relates to that policy. So, continuing on, I do provide information on on revenues and expenditures. Uh the district's revenues for the year were roughly um $1.8 million more than anticipated in the budget. Most of that had to do with special uh education aid. There were some additional costs that uh concurred in in last year which were funded by special education aid. You also had some additional federal dollars uh that were uh um received related to some entitlements that were carrying over from from last year. Overall, the district received about 5 million almost 5.7 more revenue that you than than last year. Uh most of the increases were in state sources state sources for uh increased general education funding, special education funding, those types of things. And you did have an increase in the levy as well. That's causing some increases in uh overall revenues. On the expense side, the general fund expenditures were uh were over budget by about 1.8 million. Uh a significant portion of that was in salaries and benefits. Most again to in the area of special education u um as well as um additional staffing needs that were that were necessary to operate the district. Um there also seems some increases in transportation costs. Um that particular statement I've stated probably in every presentation and will continue to say in every presentation of school boards around the metropolitan area. Uh transportation is becoming an increasingly significant cost area that's exceeding expectations in almost all uh school districts. So something to monitor and watch out for. Um on the expense side, the increase in expenses were about 2 million. Again, salaries and benefits uh were being the most significant increases. Uh costs for uh substitutes and special education programming was also stood out uh in the in the expenditure areas. The district does have a number of other funds, food service fund, uh uh community service fund, there's a debt service fund, you have an OPED fund, and a self- insurance fund. But the two that stand out to me are on the on the are that are most important as terms of monitoring uh are on the PowerPoint presentation. The food service fund did experience an increase in fund balance overall fund balance actually exceeded budget expectations by almost 200,000 which is certainly a good trend. And then you can see in the community service fund on that particular page uh that particular fund has seen seen very good financial results over the last five years presented uh uh this year exceeding budget present projections by almost 700,000 in the community service fund and that's really an an important discussion. Uh, I've had discussions at other school boards that community service funds were struggling and they were having to take money from the general fund to support those programs and and you not having to do that is certainly a good position to be in. Uh, so that that uh uh ends the the the short discussion on the financial results. Uh, I did want to touch on some other items in my report. It is important to the district be on on uh aware and on top of um new and and changes in auditing and accounting. Uh this year you had the uh implementation of of the compensated absences. U and next year there will be some accounting and updates for some financial reporting model improvements. Uh, one uh item of note as I um as I maybe didn't reference or talk about uh the district did experience some turnover in uh personnel uh this particular year. I worked with a business manager that was new uh for the district. Um I will suggest and state out loud that uh generally in general um when that happens in a district you tend to see delays uh or challenges with audits. That did not occur here. Uh this audit went very smoothly. The transition from one administration and the business office to another was seamless. Uh we really did not experience any sort of delays or challenges when it comes to the accounting and auditing of this particular district given uh uh so I kudos to the administration and and the team here uh at the district for that um um particular statement. Uh so that's the end of my presentation. So in summary, I was is able to issue a clean opinion on the basic financial statements. We didn't have any findings to report. Uh I followed up on the prior year findings. We did have the decrease in the general fund balance and the fund balance uh policy discussion. Uh also the other areas of improvement um in the other operating funds talked about the implementation of the new accounting standards. And lastly, I just want to point out um uh the statement there that I can't always state and I will and I and I do always state it. The district is very committed to the audit process and the results of the process. Um um uh I I generally and have always felt that uh I'm getting the information I need and I'm getting the requests that I'm being made on a very consistent and constant basis and and that leads to good audit results and and you should all be committed to that. It doesn't always look like that. Uh I'm just saying and if it didn't, I would tell you. So, and that's not the case here. No findings and and good audit results. So, with that, I'll turn it over to anybody for questions. Before I take questions, I will entertain a motion to approve the audit as presented. >> Director Bullan second. Director Mason. Questions? Start. Jess, do you have anything? Let's go around the table. >> Um thank you. Um and thank you to executive director Ryder. Um that's a real testament to you coming and just do the audit please, you know, from day one. Um so thank you for that. Um curious, um and if you don't know the answer to this, completely fine. I just, you know, was curious when you said the community service special revenue. Um you don't get to say that to too many districts and I just it's I mean it's a great testament to our district, that's for sure. Mhm. >> Um but I just wondered why not >> why you're not why other districts are struggling with this particular >> That's a great question. >> I'm putting you on the spot, I realize, but >> just curious. Let's say that for community >> for community education services in districts, it's it can be very different depending upon the community and the needs and what is actually um offered and how receptive the community might be to those um offering of services and programming. Um, if you have a good connection with your community and you're hitting the mark as far as what they need and what you can deliver on, I think then you see the positive results you see in the financials because so much of community education is like running a business. So, you have to generate the revenue in order to cover your expenses in order to run that program. >> Um, they do not rely heavily um on the state aid or the levy process. There's some, but most of the revenue generated in a community education fund is going to be those dependent upon the programming you're offering and the and the um charges you're asking for for that programming and the community being receptive to that. >> I'll add to that when you look at the financial results um the the community ed fund really the revenues were as expected. Um you you look at it is expected 8 million it's about 8 million in revenues but the expenses are quite a bit below expectations which shows strong fiscal management. Um they're not overspending. They're not spending resources they didn't have available to them which is leading to you know good financial results. Um and and that again maybe doesn't look like that way in other districts but certainly does here. >> Thank you. Mhm. >> Dr. France, >> um you had started off discussing uh the federal audit piece and I know that there's a lot of fluctuation, a lot of volatility right now. Um can you uh help us understand the impact of that, what you anticipate going forward and how it will impact us? >> Yeah, that's a great question. So, um um we when the compliance supplement is what it's called. It's issued by the Office of Management Budget of the Federal Government. Um they anticipated that it would have been issued in August. Um and that was well before some of the delays we're experiencing recently. Uh so we were all very surprised that we didn't it wasn't issued previous to then. Uh what's happened since um uh since the the recent developments at the federal government, the Minnesota Department of Education has actually extended the deadline for submission of the single audit to mimic the federal deadline. So um um how do I say it simply that everything is typically due to the state of Minnesota on December 31st. Um they've extended the single audit portion to March, March 31st of 2026. The federal deadline is actually March 31st of 2026. So now the two deadlines are the same. So we anticipate to be truthful that we'll issue the reports by the deadline. So there wouldn't be any impact at all to that. Um now I can't say that 100%. I can't I don't know when I'm going to get the guidance, but the truth of the matter is we've done most of the work. Um we did our work based on a a draft of the supplement. So to be truthful, if they issued the supplement today, I could issue my report tomorrow. All the work is done. Um, but they might change it. So I don't know. >> Does that go to the federal US Department of Education? >> Goes to the Office of Management Budget. >> Oh, okay. The OMB. >> Yep. The OMB is where we submitted to. Yeah. >> All right. Okay. Thank you. >> You bet. Anyone else? Um going back to um the general fund financial position and given that our we are currently under our policy threshold and I know you said that often you are asked what's next and and you also said that that's up to the board and and the administration but I was wondering if you could just share any context in you know at our last study session we did have um some you know we we did uh talk back and forth regarding what you know what that looks like when we're facing all the cuts that we're facing. Um I'm just wondering as an auditor what um maybe highlevel context you can give of what districts may do with that when they are when they find themselves under um the policy threshold. >> Yeah, that's a great question. Um well first first of all we when we had an exit conference Lisa and I did about that you know this um we we we meaning I and her pulled out the policy. I mean it's it policy was pulled out and what does it say? Um I believe there's an action item in there if I if I can think about it again. Maybe you want to drive or talk about this one. But it does say that the board will take action I believe. Or what are the what are the words in there? I can pull it out again. Go ahead. Well, it it states that we will strive to be at that 8.1 or 8%, excuse me. Um, and since we are not, that is something that as we talk about the revision to the current year budget as well as then the development of the 27 fiscal year budget, we're going to want to take that into consideration. As we talked about with the 5-year projections you've seen last meeting, the fact of the matter is that um there is a revenue compared to expenditure difference. However, given the language of the fund balance and the fact that we're below that mark, we may need to consider an additional amount that needs to be considered in order to restore that up to the level that we would expect it to be or even project forward so that it is above that 8% mark. The challenge that you have are the numbers as you increase your expenditures that changes the formula so that you you it takes more to reach that same 8%. Does that make sense? >> Yeah. So we have to be thinking about that and when you project forward consider that in the process and so I think that's part of the work is to firmly understand from the board exactly what that um what that target is going to be and if it's going to be 8% as it has been in the policy then we need to maybe adjust beyond just the revenue less expenditure amount for the coming year as we're planning >> wondering also and if you can't answer it is also completely completely fine. I'm wondering um if in your experience, how many districts um have policy regarding unassigned fund balance? Is it the commonality that is is it most common that there is that policy in place? Um because um yeah, I'm just I guess given this position that we're in um >> I all the input I can receive as we look forward to making um the decisions that we're going to be faced with. I just appreciate any, you know, your experience, your context. >> Yeah. Well, these are actually great questions. Um uh first and foremost the question of do do school districts have a fund balance policies in place. The answer to that is yes. Um I I can't say right off the top of my head of all the clients we have does anybody not and that's the fact that there's probably one out there but all do right the language is different in all of the policies subtly. um the action items are different sometimes. Some boards, you know, have it written differently and that they take certain different actions. So, you know, it's all a little bit different, but generally, yes. Um the percentages change differently in every policy. There isn't a a consistent percentage used um across the board. And the reason for that is why? Well, let me answer my own question. It's really has to do with you as a district. This percentage should be you. It It's your percentage based on what you are as a district, how big you are, how little you, you know, how what are the programming needs you have. Uh what is your cash flow? Um sometimes districts are relying a lot on property taxes, which means they need a higher percentage and some are relying more on state a need a lower percentage. Um so sometimes it comes on the cash flow and how does that look? So um the idea at least from me um is you need a fund balance policy. Yes. Um the content of it is really board and administration's decision making uh and what they should be doing. Best practice in the in the kind of the moving forward um p perspective is um typically audit reports come out right about now. Um typically you'll see districts amending budgets um shortly after the end of the year. typically um January is usually a revised budget and that's when you're shaking your head. That's what we typically see. So, do you need to adopt your budget, change, you know, adapt this tomorrow? Probably not. But best practice would suggest that that's going to be something you'll do in the near future. Um and so that's what I would look for if I were looking from an outside in like, hey, this is this should be coming from administration. Uh um a revised budget for the year that you're in forthcoming. Yeah. Any other questions? All right, we have a motion and a second on the table. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> That motion carries 6. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Moving down to the 2627 budget update. Director Ryder, >> I am going to move to the podium as I would like to share with you a document. And this is um a lot of information, a lot of numbers on one page like this. Uh when we had a conversation in our last meeting around a five-year projection, there was some question and concern around the how large the numbers went from 26 adopted to the 27 projected forecast and um also the the understanding of how does this compare to what was shared with the board in May of 2025. We're only a few months past that. Why does it look like it's so much different? So, I did a little bit of work in taking the first three columns of this, and I'll make this a little larger as we talk through it, but I want to give you context for the whole page. The first three columns, and they say um QRNs at the top there, they have a yellow banner. Those are the dollar or excuse me, the columns and the numbers are coming from your May 2025 5-year projections at that time. Then I took um column T which is our final budget audited. So pulling the budget from the audit report you have tonight that has been received and then also taking a look under the um the audited amount under you for the dollars actually received and spent. Okay. And then column V is intended to be taking that difference between that budget and actual spent for the audited fiscal year of 25. Okay, that we just had an audit report on. So as I mentioned in our conversation last week the or last time we met the fact is that when projecting forward I had two choices. One was to ignore these facts that we knew are coming forward here. That being the results of the finance financial audit for 25 as well as secondly the results of the anticipated budget adjustments for the fiscal year current year fiscal year 26. Okay. there are some rather large boulders as a result of that simply because the over expenditure we had in fiscal year 25 um did surround a lot of the time with special ed and because the funding for special education comes a year in year behind um that expenditures the over expenditure that you saw in fiscal year 25 audit as it related to special education also then generates some additional special education revenue for the current year that we do not currently have in our adopted budget. So the the point of this exercise that I did was to essentially take into consideration column V which would highlight the areas that um need a little bit of work because we are under budget. We don't have enough budget to cover what we know will probably be the expenditures again, right? And then if you look at column X, those are those large boulders I talked about. This is not complete but this will be included in the um recommendations that you see coming forward to you in November on the 24th in the um for the revised fiscal year 26 current year. So with those two areas being noted and considered but you hadn't yet seen right that is the reason why you see the jump as it seems to be in some of these line items. And so in taking those two into consideration, I'm adding column X, I'm adding column R, and that becomes then what I'm then comparing to my forecasted numbers for FI27. And that difference in column A is then showing you, well, what's that percentage difference looking like? So, a couple of notes on that. Um, actually, I'm I'm very pleased with seeing the percentages as they are because it tells me that we're not that far off. Uh, I do see that the line items can be a little bit concerning and I think that's because from year to year things change as far as like you might have elementary and secondary instructors who are teaching certain courses and then the next year as is the case now for 26 that we have more people showing up under the vocational because some of the coursework that they're they're teaching is actually eligible under the vocational and career technical education and we want to make sure that we're recording it under that area. So, it's a different line item, but essentially if you took the elementary and secondary regular instruction, the vocational education, the special education services, and even to some extent the instructional support services, that's your classroom people, right? Those are your support structures for our kids. And if you take those and take a look at those amounts that you see in the columns and the line items in total, those percentages are coming out right where we would expect them to at around 5 to 6%. So, I wanted to share this with you. Um, it is something that if you're going to look at this document, I recommend you zoom in so you [clears throat] can see it better. Um, and just kind of understand then what's the progression. It was my attempt to try and make sure that we had an understanding of where were you in May before I was here. How did I come up with the numbers I presented to you for 27 and kind of helping you get there? because I had not shown you yet the audited figures and you had not and you still don't have yet the um adopted or excuse me revised budget for the current year but there are some major changes there as a result of the audited numbers >> questions. >> No, but I just want to say thank you for putting this all together. I think it's super clear we took some time and walked through it. So, I really appreciate it. >> Very helpful. Appreciate it. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you very much. All right, moving down to the uh elementary attendance boundary final recommendation. Director Powers, we'll do a real summary real quick. If anyone has questions about anything at that, ask it any time because we've all seen this. This is a couple of times now. Why we're doing it. Um, we're closing a location to a neighborhood school. We're relocating Lola Delago to Westwood. Um, we're going to be selling the district services center and we're going to be moving all the people that are housed here over to the site at Grawood. There's our original boundaries, the ones we're under right now, this this current year. Minimum criteria for our scenarios, contiguous boundaries within capacity limits, four sections per grade per building, ensure equitable access to programs and learning opportunities for all, and cannot significantly increase cost of transportation. In order to create these scenarios, [snorts] we had some assumptions. We pulled the Lola Delago students out of there and we pulled the open enrolled students out of there. All IDT students were returned to their home school. This allowed us to create the base numbers that we were able to create those scenarios with. The finance and operations committee advisory committee narrowed it down to two scenarios. We have scenario C and we have scenario E. Um, scenario C. Um, due to the uh locations of the students would require us to do a start time change for two locations. Initially we have 580 students that would be affected by moving location for different schools and 990 students approximately depends on which locations we finally chose for which was going to change the start times which brought up the 990 students on that one which brings up to a total of about 1570 students being affected for that scenario E um did not require um any start time changes But it does affect more students moving different schools. Total of 679. There was something in here that I um we did a little bit deeper dive um and it's not reflected on this particular um page um but I wanted to make sure everyone understood this particular stat that we pulled up. Once all of the students were pulled back in for open enrollment and once we counted for everybody that was in these classes to begin with, the enrollment at every location averaged out to be 85%. That's total enrollment for all locations average 80%. The high in scenario A or scenario E, excuse me, was 80% initially. When we finish out um bringing all the open enrolled students back to where they were, that's not accounting for any changes that they may choose. Um we're sitting at 89%. For the high school and then the lowest one, not counting the Olago, that's a separate little thing. The low we were looking at was 78%ish rounded numbers right around there. So that's where we ended up with the capacity, the overall capacity at 85%. Across the board that still allowed us to have >> [snorts] >> um all the classes were underneath our cap, our discussion cap for all of the locations. Um so we felt that we were hitting all of those little markers that we had talked about the entire time and it balanced it all out. The reason that uh the recommendation from our our committee, a unanimous recommendation from our committee was to shoot with uh to proceed with scenario E. Um part of the reason for that was is that the way it organizes around um the district. It allows for expansion in several areas um that we know we will have growth in and kind of makes it so that each location can absorb those students as we get the growth in those areas. Scenario C isolated a little bit um Hamilton Ridge so that not necessarily the most future proof. Any questions at that point? >> Dr. Johnson. >> Um, do you have the by the number the full after you bring the um open ener back in comparison C to E? >> C. >> Have that posted >> because I think you only told it I know you just told us E. Um, >> for which which number? >> C, >> the open >> letter C. the >> I guess that's I'm still confused on what you're asking for. >> The when you bring in open enrolled >> all the all the all the same percentages are going to be the same. It's still going to be 85% capacity across the board. The only thing that will change is scenario C is the school that will be at 90%. Um changes to a different location but the still overall capacity is still at 85%. That's just the our overall capacity that we have with those number of schools. Anyone else? Or Charles, get another one. >> I can see you're thinking about something. [laughter] >> It's going you you said that and it just things started going. So, >> Director Mason, >> I have a question. >> I think statement maybe. [laughter] >> Right. first um I mean I know we talked about um scenario E and and finance committee and that had overwhelming support. I think that was maybe >> um I guess first of all I wanted to ask you does that align with your recommendation? Um if you had a preference um maybe if you could answer that. Sorry to put you on the spot. I will give my recommendation with the caveat that um I'm looking at this from a very different lens than all of you are. Um there are things that I see about these scenar I mean I created most of these scenarios to try and find different ways we could look at the district and how we could best move the students around with affecting them the least. But I also wanted to look at how the balance was around the district and how that um my overall my personal overall goal was I would love to see this these boundary scenarios last for 10 years or longer. Um is there a chance of that? Yeah, there is. [clears throat] because I as even if we look at the potential growth in all of these parts of the school district, um scenario E still has that potential to be able to absorb all of those areas um easily, not necessarily, but I think it it has the highest potential to survive for the longest amount of time. So my my recommendation would have been scenario E. I think like along those lines, I certainly leaned that way initially, but then I think looking at the recent enrollment numbers that we have like are we actually, you know, given the decline in enrollment, are we actually going to be looking at, you know, reducing even more space in three, four, five years? I guess that's the question in my mind that I just is, you know, are we should we be trying to f future proof um given the decline in enrollment? And I know nobody can project the future, but um that's just the only kind of thought that has come up since our last meeting. I guess >> Director Mason, if I will, and I think this goes to Director Johnson's question. Um our overall fill rate given our open enrollment from scenario C or E doesn't change. So in terms and so so um if you're looking at enrollment changes it doesn't matter which one of these if if if that pattern continues no matter C or E we would have to have future conversations. I think the thing that um scenario E and and and first I'll just say obviously all these scenarios are impactful the ones that we've looked at there there's not a perfect scenario and I just want to honor you know um our community uh and and the work that we are unfortunately having to go through knowing that there's going to be some impacts um across the board. We know that this is also going to be impactful to our staff. And so I I'd be remiss to not acknowledge um that level of emotion and reality that's going to be before us um you know starting tomorrow. And you know, going back to your question, um, when we think about the future proof, if you will, just keep using that term, um, I also lean towards E because, um, if our enrollment does see an uptick, you know, over the next 15 years because that's part kind of what we're talking about. We're not talking in the next five years. Um, we have the the greatest ability um, to be more adaptable. The one thing I'll say in in this scenario or or in any scenario um for future because people are saying well Michael you're you're kind of hitting that 85 to 89% rate and you're saying that's kind of like your sweet spot and it is. So then we'd have to have different conversations about governing open enrollment. Um so that's that's the other factor that you know should we get a surge in the future then that will have to come into a play of the conversation of prioritizing then our resident growth juxtaposed to using open enrollment um to continually fill seats. So there's a lot of eb and flow um that each of these scenarios um has. Um, I would just say that, um, in conversations with people, uh, where you, and we even heard it on our own committee, you're going to have six on one and half a dozen on the other. Um, some people are saying moving a or moving the school is a true impact. And changing start times is not really an impact. And then we hear just the opposite. Changing a start time would be detrimental to our family with our work schedule. Please don't do that. I mean, we've seen all the you've seen all the emails that we see as well. Um, so when I think about impact, I do have to think about total impact, the actual physical move and the redistri redistribution of Westwood. Um, in addition to all the other impacted schools and the potential impact on start times. Um, so that cumulative impact is very real from my vantage point and it's something that I'm very mindful of and like I said, some members of the community or staff might feel different, but that's just a big conversation that we've been having that continually moves us towards E. >> Uh, before we have any more discussion, uh, we have a recommendation. I'll entertain a motion to accept the administration's recommendation of scenario E. >> So made >> by Director Bullion. Second >> by director France. Any further discussion or questions. >> Um yes >> um would you mind explaining you mentioned something about Hamilton Ridge. Can you repeat that again? >> Um scenario C. It isolated Hamilton Ridge more towards the center of the district. Um which is one of the reasons that wasn't my recommendation. >> Why? Um, it doesn't allow for Let me I'll go up to the map again. Oops. So, you can see the Hamilton Ridge in this particular scenario is all the U fuchsia or pink color in here. And as you're looking at it, there's only one area of growth that is going to be happen or likely to happen in that area and that's over by the quarry. >> But you're looking at red tail. Um there's sign significant areas that could potentially grow. If you're looking at Glendale um north of the actual school, there's a lot of property that could be potentially grow. Um if you're looking at the area around 42, there's a lot of different areas over there that could be high growth. High growth. You understand what I'm getting at? The more likely areas to grow. Um but this isolating a Hamilton Ridge in this area. Um, I think that if we went with scenario C, you would or whoever the board is at that time would end up looking at redistricting again to rebalance things or at the very least um closing open enrollment in different locations and causing other challenges with that. >> In how many years did you say? >> I don't have a guess on that, but if I was if if you really wanted me to throw a number out, I'd say within four to seven years. And that's that's just I mean it's there again it isolates one particular area. It creates a tiny bit of an island and that's I mean that is that is a perfectly acceptable map that's it the way things are going if the district didn't change number-wise that would be perfectly fine. Um but when I was aiming for I mention we mentioned this a lot future proofing um that if things were to change if we were to start increasing our enrollment um in that five to 15ear range pick a number um that scenario E could better adapt without having to go through and reboundry again. >> Yeah, this one this one was hard. Um I mean these decisions are never easy. Um you know you just look at the numbers you know total students affected to your point Dr. Thomas you know there's there's not an elementary school student that won't be affected in in some way whether it's you know friends or classmates and things like that and you just kind of look at the total affected and start times is a real thing. I mean, it's, you know, that means an extra hour of daycare potentially and payment for that daycare and a change of work schedule and potentially and, you know, all of those different things. So, start times is is a real concern. Um, yeah, you just look at the the number, the total number, and yeah, this is a Yeah, I'm not being very eloquent right now, but just it's this one's a hard one. This is a real hard one. >> Other questions? Did you ever when you say there'd be uh start time changes that would be required at two locations did you get down the road would those be making the start times earlier later one of each? >> One of each. So the challenge is is that the number of buses available with our company when Westwood only needed five buses. So that one of the bigger schools would need to switch to the time frame of that and one of the smaller schools would need to switch to the earlier time. So yeah, it's going to it would narrow it down. Um Hamilton Ridge is the only one we really would not want to change start time on because of the uh centerbased students and about a few other things that were involved with that. Um, but the most likely scenario that we were looking at was Red Tail switching with Jeff Pond and changing start times for those two. >> Okay. >> Daniels, yes, Director Johnson. >> Um, in scenario E, is that the one I'm looking at? Yes. How close is Hamilton Ridge on your boundary line there? Um, I'm just looking at your map. >> Okay. >> It's basically >> it's Hamilton almost looks like it's in >> Oh, that Yeah, where that boundary is is on the north side. Yeah. >> Um, it's a good question and that was actually one that I really struggled with trying to find a good spot for it. >> So, there's a land divide. If you look over there, >> y >> south of the high school and just north of Hamilton Ridge, there are no neighborhoods that connect in either direction in that area. >> So, it ended up being a really good boundary spot so that I could keep the there again, keep the neighborhoods as concentrated as I possibly could. >> Okay. >> And the natural flow of traffic coming out of those neighborhoods was going northbound versus the Hamilton Ridge site coming from the south side. >> Okay. Awesome. I I appreciate that. I just I figured with the map just the way that you had to do it. >> It's it's a tight looking boundary. I agree. >> Understand. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> All right. There's no other questions or comments. We do have a motion and a second on the table. All in favor of scenario E signify by saying I >> I >> opposed. That carries 6. Director Powers. Uh, we'll move on. You want to just stay put to a brokerage recommendation for the sale of the district office. >> Let me see where that one is. >> Oh, okay. Um, I did provide um all of you with copies of the responses that I got from TransWestern and from Saron. Um, after a a really close review of both of them, there were two things that really popped up um that made the recommendation more solid for me. Um, the first one was the approach that they took. One of them looked at maximizing value for the district. Um the other one looked at more of um how they saw the potential use of the dis this space particular space. And the the other thing that really stood out was one of them actually mentioned specifically having a different um rate a contract rate um if they were both the selling agent as well as the listing agent or the buyers and sellers. So um and that was Saron Properties for both of those um both the approach and the spelling out of the the different rates um to me made a a strong re recommendation for them. >> Okay. Well, I'll entertain a motion to accept uh Sarin Properties for uh the brokerage firm to the sell this building. Is there >> motion by director Johnson, second by director France. >> Any discussions or questions? Um Mary, >> um Director Powers, uh first of all, I totally agree with you when I read over the RFPs about the difference. Um um but I do have a question because there was um an adjoining uh piece of land to hear that was also for sale. Um, I know that they can't put anything in their RFP about that, but I was wondering if there was discussion about that and um maybe a co- sale or whatever based upon use. >> Yes. Um, that's I really don't want to mention more than that. >> Okay. >> I understand >> there are um yeah, there were some other things that I I could talk more privately about. I don't think that's an appropriate thing to bring out in a public forum, >> right? >> But um yeah, that was mentioned. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Did they um and I know that they can't put anything to guarantee because you have no idea what the market's going to do at any one point in time. Um, with regards to their proposed use of this property, it did seem more uh uh towards office space use rather than any other use or somebody gutting it and making it something totally different. Um, is is that the impression that you got and you thought >> that was one of the impressions? Yeah, Serum Properties definitely has the um the approach that this space is usable more in its current function even as a building. Okay. And >> and TransWester Western in reading the RFP and in some of their discussions were looking at more of a redevelopment side. And I'm not disagreeing with either one of them. Um I just think the approach that Sarin was taking is more in alignment with getting a better price for us. >> And that was in in all honesty, that's my that's my higher determinant right there. >> It did seem more palatable towards a more immediate use >> uh and therefore a higher sale point. Yep. Okay. Thank you. All right, if there is no other questions or discussion, we have a motion, a second on the table. All in favor signify by saying I. I >> opposed. That carries 6. Thank you, Director Powers. All right, moving on to the uh school year calendar start dates. Director Kler. >> Um, if I may start, chair. Absolutely. Um so couple of weeks ago we came to the board uh trying to gauge whether or not we should start before or after Labor Day given the statute changes. Um and there you know for for us this really begins uh this would allow us to start setting our staffing and registration calendars. um the overall calendar of the school year, the the committee is still in the works of developing various scenarios, but for us in our staffing, we needed to really kind of set our target date. Um and just given where we're at with the magnitude of work that we had in in our hopper right now um and the confusion that we thought it would also bring the community to do a survey on um start times um juxtaposed to boundaries and school times and all that. We wanted to just kind of keep that separate. So [clears throat] we are recommending that um for next year Oh, I'm sorry. Let me let me just back up. Uh we a couple of you asked about what other districts are doing. There's about three districts that are keeping status quo in the current um calendar format of your traditional after Labor Day. Um and the remaining districts um are leaning towards if they have not already approved calendars to start before Labor Day. Um we [clears throat] have done some surveys in the past in our own community around calendaring specifically around spring break. Um, we've had discussion about before and uh and after Labor Day, but we've never done a survey for that. Our survey actually was around should we do spring break three weeks earlier or keep it in that first week of April. And as you can imagine with probably most calendar ideas, half the community wanted it in three weeks earlier and half wanted it um in the first week of April. So just we we believe u that now that some of this more consequential decisions needed to be made um is cleared um we are going to intend to pull our community um in the Januaryish time frame um to assess the uh before and after uh Labor Day start for the following year not next fall as well as poll around the bookend model of holiday to holiday. That was another conversation you all um asked us to explore. That's not being done anywhere around here. Um that's our our own internal, you know, calls with our colleagues like and I'm talking metro area may maybe outside of metro there. There some of that might be happening. Um [clears throat] we did talk with Martha to do a quick run. Our like I said, our team is mocking up calendars right now and we'll probably finish that and have some drafts for you uh in two weeks at the study session. Um, but when we mocked that up, given our minimum day requirements as well as our instructional hour requirements, the big question will be how short do you want winter break? Um, do you want a spring break and how short will Thanksgiving break be? Uh, so to to make that work, um, again, this is just our first pass on looking at um days and what we have available to us. Minimum teacher contract days are 185. I think I got that 185. Um, so we we can't mess with that number. And we also have state requirements of hours of instruction that I shared with you all a couple of weeks about a week or so ago as well. And that leaves us about a 3-day buffer um in terms of weather inclement weather days. Um, so the reality of a holiday to holiday is going to come with some significant sacrifice, but that's something that we'll bring forward in a future discussion um with you all. So, our recommendation is actually for next year to keep our current status quo of this calendar of where we're at and then do a deeper poll with our community um in that January time frame um for the fall of 27 and beyond as to whether or not we would want to look at the the before or after and then also test the viability of are you willing to make significant sacrifices and other kind of protected break times um throughout the year. Um, so that would be our recommendation. Um, and that's where we would lean towards from our staffing. Um, so that we can begin that staffing process, uh, registration manual process knowing that, um, our current model for next year. Um, we would still be in the single digits of June by the time we get out of school. So, it's not a significant change. It's just it's an option, which we would have never opened up this option in conversation had it not been, you know, a statute that would allow us to exercise that. So, um, Director Catherine, is there anything that I might have left out, um, and with the team? >> No, I just, yeah, we're meeting, uh, this Thursday, next Monday. So, our plan is to then have those drafts ready for you to review, uh, at the 24th, uh, study session. But, yeah, it's my understanding that the big thing is just for our enrollment piece to get going. Um, that they need kind of an idea of of a rough start and and end date so we can get those enrollments set up. Okay. So, we just need a consensus basically on because this this would be a calendar that would be eventually voted on. >> This would be a one-year calendar that we're proposing to keep our current calendar cycle for next fall. Um, >> but you're just asking for consensus on a start and an end >> to to to start um after Labor Day. Um, and to end, you know, right, you know, June 9th >> with the following year 2728 yet to be discussed. yet to be discussed and vetted with the >> scenarios that we're going to bring to you uh in the 20 on the 24th. >> All right. So, we do not need official action just >> official action for next fall that we're going to keep status quo for next fall and that are bigger changes if any will come through community survey data um which may find to be inconclusive but you'll also see uh various formats of what that could possibly entail. >> Okay. um uh next two weeks from now. >> Then I will entertain a motion to accept the uh administration's recommendation uh of a of keeping the current calendar um parameters of starting after Labor Day for the 2627 school year. >> So made by Director Bullian, second by Director Johnson. Further discussion, questions. >> Okay. All hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed? That carries 6. And then moving down to policy. Um, we have a second and final reading for policy 722. Director Co. any significant changes from our last discussion. >> Yeah, we added the the paragraph that director Atkinson um pointed out and so that has been added into the policy. >> All right. Director France. Um, Dr. Cotherarn. Um, in the first draft we had Emily Herman's name was off and now it's back on. In the draft that's here, it says data practices contacts Emily Herman. >> That should not be there. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> She's never >> No, I guess uh yeah, that is not the case. So, we will have to make sure that's corrected. All right, chair. Um, with that, um, quick typo oversaid didn't carry over in the second draft. Um, if the board were to take action on this tonight with the caveat that that name obviously would be changed. >> Yeah. >> Okay, that's what I assumed. >> Thank you. >> Yes. So, I'll entertain a motion to approve policy 722 with said change >> made >> by Director Johnson, second by Director France. >> Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed? That carries. 6. Are there any administrative reports? Director Ryder. >> I have just two comments. Um the first being since u Mr. Iikton had mentioned the fact that there was a smooth transition from their perspective for the audit. Love to take credit for that. But to be honest, coming in here, we have a very strong team and Andrea Bradford did a wonderful job of managing and completing that audit workpapers and getting everyone else to get their work done as well. So just kudos to her because um she made that happen. Um secondly, I do need to share with you some information that we have learned. We have learned from MDE food ser uh food and nutrition services that their interpretation of the federal regulations have changed and in order to comply with the new guidance, Prior Lake High School must participate with the national school lunch program and the breakfast program within this school year. Breakfast [clears throat] will continue to be free on school days for Prior Lake High School students, but menus will be updated to meet the National School Breakfast Program requirements. Lunches will soon be free for the Prior Lake High School students on school days, and menus will be updated to meet the National School Lunch Program requirements, consistent with the rest of the district. Beginning on January 5th, when students return from winter break, breakfast and lunches will be free. >> Thank you, Director Ryder. Any questions or anything? >> Yes. >> Go ahead. >> Um, does this I mean still there for middle school and this is just for the high school, correct? >> Yes. So want to make sure this is coming down from MDE. I just want to make sure that how will this be communicated to students. We did that survey last year and and there were there were some you know comments about the survey and things like that last year duly noted. Um but since going off of it in the first place was student driven, how are we communicating that to the students? Free is free and it's great. Don't get me wrong, right? But >> yeah. Yeah. Director Olriven, we have uh Oh, director Malone will come forward too. Just know that uh we've been working uh uh with uh Christy team to get a comprehensive communication. U we've alerted um leadership. We've talked with uh food service staff. Um, and I'll let Emily speak to a little bit about that, but we also have a more comprehensive public facing uh, message as well that will go out to the families. With that, I'll direct Malone if you want to chime in on that. >> Hi. Hi, everyone. Um the Pri Lake High School staff will get an email tomorrow and then we'll be sending um in that they'll have we'll have the details of what we're going to send to families and then after that is sent we will send to families grades 8 through 12 the same general message. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Johnson >> question. >> Yes. Um why? >> Um so the Prior Lake or I'm sorry the um Minnesota Department of Education Food Nutrition Services team has grown um over the last few years. We've had two administrative reviews since going off of the National School Meal Program at the high school. And because we were off of the National School Meal Programs, we were not the Prey Lake High School was not in the matrix of any of those reviews. Um, and this year, um, the way that the team is interpreting the regs, the Prior League High School expenses and revenues are in a restricted fund with all of the other funds. And therefore, their interpretation now is that uh, Prior Lake High School would need to follow the same rules as the restricted fund um, defines. It's it's a very complicated thing. Uh so yeah, so it's a big pot of money. Fun too. Um yeah, everybody's in it. All the expenses and revenues for child nutrition services are in that pot of money. And because the high school's >> expenses and revenues come in and out of that same pot of money, um it is in the restricted fund and therefore has to follow the restricted fund regulations. >> Okay. And I assume that [snorts] you you weren't breaking any rules last time. >> It's a new interpretation of the regs. The regs have been the same >> uh for as long as >> somebody new came in. >> Perhaps >> there's new interpretation of regulations. >> Okay. Got it. >> May or may not be new people, but there's a new interpretation. >> All right. Um, so just correct me if I'm wrong because I wasn't sitting here before, but didn't the board vote on this and shouldn't we vote it vote to do it now? What happens if we say no? >> That's I mean it's just a question, right? >> The question that I I have asked as well and do you want us to know >> what the ramifications would be? No, I I personally like I I thank you and I re thank you because I know this isn't your choice and I know it's not your choice to sit here and take these questions from us. Like I would love the person who did the audit to come here and explain this to us and why it is. Um because we're one of two schools in the state that are doing this. >> One of one now. >> One of one. Thank you. one of one school in the state that are are choosing this program and it just feels like we're being targeted to in my personal opinion. >> Uh so Byron also got the same news that we got. So now they are going back on the national school meal program as well. So they've interpreted they're being told the same thing that we're being told and they've just really made it impossible for us to stay off. >> Yeah. >> I don't know what the answer to your question is though. What would happen? I really I don't know. >> And I Director Johnson, I um we've been asking these questions for several months. Um Emily and her team um have really been advocating for what we believe is the voice of our community in terms of what they wanted. Um we, as Director Olstead said, yep, there are some that might have wanted the universal meals program. overwhelmingly we had the support um to to doing this uh and this was heavily driven initially by our students and families and that's something that we honored and going back to our strong desire for local control. Here's a great example of when it's not um the challenges that we're in. I almost said pickle, but I don't want to have a food a food pun here. Um but it just presents the challenges when we don't have local control and then we have to carry this message to the community of which this is would not be our our choice. I asked Director Malone what would happen. >> Um and you all know and I'll say this publicly and I know it's recorded. I will never willingly break the law. Um, will I really push the parameters to do what we believe is best for our communities within those laws? Absolutely, I will. I I I will not stop doing that. Um, but the interpretation of the regulation is state is the department's law, the equivalent of the department's law. Um, it's not something that I or Emily or anybody else um would willingly do. Um I think the infrastructure also required that they would expect of us. We don't have the resources to even go through the process of kind of bifrocating financial systems. Um figuring out figuring out how we would have internal controls to address staffing chargebacks. So I can't charge all of a custodian salary only portions. So who will track and monitor that? We don't have the resources for that. We also are part of big group or co-op bidding for milk, bread and other food, you know, big systems. We would be on our own and competing in a market that we would never be able to get competitively priced for. We probably wouldn't even be able to afford to do it because we're not getting the co-op, you know, prices. So, if I'm being honest and just giving you Michael's response, I think we've been backed into a space where we have no choice. Um, but to comply, even structurally, ethically, yeah, we could debate this all day long. Um, but structurally, we don't have the infrastructure to do it. Um, one of the things that I would just encourage the board, uh, one of the things I would encourage our parents, uh, when we talk, you know, in a couple of weeks, we're going to be talking about a very skinny legislative agenda. Spoiler alert, local control. No more unfunded mandates and fund the ones that you have or repeal them. Pretty simple. And this is where our community's voice actually matters. And so I would just ask all of you if you have a thought or a perspective to bring that voice into St. Paul collectively. Many of us will be doing that. Um but I think that's where the conversation you know can be directed. Um, but it, you know, we will still provide high quality food, lunch, and all that even when our students are probably eating two or three meals, our athletes, right? Um, we're going to do what we need to do um to make sure our students are taken care of. Um, but it's not the ideal state. >> Yeah. I just I no disrespect to to anyone here, I just don't like that this was thrown on here. And uh we >> we'll have more opportunity director Johnson um you know to to provide you know context you know in a different format but we we also knew that communication was out there and was already starting to float through circles. So we wanted to at least bring this forward for awareness so that we can do our due diligence to properly notify folks. Um but I do believe this conversation may not be the last. Director Mason, >> can I just ask a question about the impact to sort of the meals we're offering or nutrition that we're offering students? Like what types of changes can they expect? >> So going on the national school meal program at the high school will mean that we serve more meals and less alocart. So we're kind of changing that um that uh business model. Um so we're going to have more lines that are reimburseable meals um and less lines that are alle cart. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> And the >> cafe would still remain with reduced espresso or something, right? >> You can do you can do certain things. You can do, for example, a skinny latte, eight ounces of skim milk, sugar-free syrup, and a shot of espresso. >> You can't mousse it though if you don't want to. It's a caribou thing. Like you can't you can't like you can't moose it, right? like two shots or three shots like you're kind of um it is real. >> It's a real [laughter] thing. Um the uh like right you can't you know if you wanted a triple espresso or something like that you're going to be told no or you know something like that. >> Yeah. >> And then like extra pumps even if it's a sugar-free syrup it'll still have calories. You can have a certain number of calories per 8 ounces per 10 ounces per 16. >> And there's portion issues right? Like the portion sizes are going to be different. portion sizes of part of the reason the students wanted to not be on this program >> was for things like that >> too. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> And paid extras is still an option. >> Paid extras is still an option. When we switch over on January 5th, it's going to be mainly meals because we're just going to try and feed everybody and then we'll add things back um >> possibly at the c coffee shop and possibly some hot allocart and cold alle cart and stuff. the the cafeteria itself was is not really set up for this. So, we have to figure out lines um stitching lines and kids and stuff so they can all get in there quickly. >> Sure. White, that's that that's I'll just say I mean that's essentially the update that we wanted to provide and I would just invite any of you to sit with uh Director Malone and myself uh as necessary for contextual as well as potential future conversations and where you could uh bring your voice. >> Okay. Thank you, Emily. >> Yep. >> Can I ask one last question? I promise. >> It takes less than 25 seconds. >> Yep. Um, you got praise this evening from the the auditor um on your your finances. >> How much is this going to impact you? >> Well, that's a tough question because there's so many variables going on right now. Y, >> you know, um, >> uh, you know, we just kind It's okay. Yeah, it's a little bit longer. We're third year into free meals for kids. So I just almost have a trend of two years in a row. >> Um and so I can kind of project >> I can kind of project but I can't really answer that question right now. So >> okay, we'll we'll connect. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> If there's no other administrative reports, we do have director >> in the consent. There was a retirement. So, we just like to uh draw attention to that and recognize that here in the in the report. It was uh Joan Freriedeland who is the child nutrition site manager at Red Red Tail Ridge for 26 years she's been with the district and uh speaking of director Malone, this was I asked her for um a quote or some insight and she said that Joan has been at many schools. Her longest term was at Greenwood before it was Loago. She's a great leader in our department and always willing to be our test kitchen for testing uh new recipes. And so she just wanted to thank Joan for her dedicated service to the district. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Okay, moving on to board reports. Obie, do you have something this evening? [clears throat] >> So, a bunch of great things happening at the high school per usual. Students just finished off the first quarter strong utilizing um resources like Laker time and peer tutoring. Um students are ready to start second quarter off strong. get a good push going towards Thanksgiving and winter break. Um, fall sports are wrapping up. So, girls volleyball got second in the entire state, so that was pretty awesome. Girls soccer got third in the entire state. And then our football team were section runnerups. Boys and girls cross country also had great performances at state. And so, a really good fall um athletic season for Lakers. And we got winter sports coming up. I know girls hockey, they just had a win on Thursday, and boys hockey trouts were today as well, and basketball and wrestling will be prepping for their seasons as well. Um, like Dr. Thomas mentioned earlier, you got the Cinderella play coming out next week. I know I'm pumped to go and watch it. Um, hopefully you guys can go and get some tickets as well. And our choir is prepping for their winter concert as well, so that'll be big. And finally for arts band has had the opportunity to perform at US Bank because of the girls soccer and then Grand Casino Arena or formerly known as XL because of the girls volleyball. So our band has been playing at some big venues and they've been doing a great job. And then finally for student council, we've been doing a lot of great community service, partnering with our Junior Optimus Club and National Honor Society. For some upcoming stuff, we have Feed My Starving Children on the 21st. We are hosting a turkey trot on the 26th. And our vice president actually had the opportunity to go to Farmington to meet other student reps at a leadership conference. I know Martha and Dr. Thomas were there. Uh she came back with plenty of great ideas to connect the board more closely with students. And so we'll be conducting more student surveys to gather real student feedback and really just trying to bridge the gap between the board and the students to connect it all together. So thank you. >> Thank you. >> We'll just go around the table. Director Olad, you have anything this evening? >> Sure. Although it'll be so all of mine. Um, that's okay. Um, uh, very quickly, Southwest Metro, um, I sent you all a board meeting recap. Um, but just for the public's awareness, a few highlights. Uh, Dr. Thomas was our guest superintendent last month. So, thank you for being there. Um, during this meeting, Dr. Horton, the superintendent, um, presented his annual meeting, which is kind of like our state of the district, um, and went through a couple of highlights. Um, one of my favorite stats from that was um, a lot of things, but one of my favorites was that staff is made up of five different generations, which I thought was really interesting. Um, you don't see that very often. Um, their audit started last week, so we'll get a report on that pretty soon. Um, and the board voted to put in um, some paid leave language to some contracts, including Superintendent Horton. So, um there's going to be more um next month for Southwest Metro, but that were um those are the highlights from last month's meeting. Um and then, um teaching and learning. I don't want to steal all the um updates from director uh France, but we discussed the new reading pilots. So, was really really great hands-on, looked at materials, passed around the books, um all of these different all of the things and had a couple of teachers there, elementary teachers there to really walk through what they're doing in the classroom, which is really really beneficial um as we look to um uh approve those materials so soon. >> Thank you, Director Johnson. >> Um our student rep gave a lot of the ones that I wanted to. However, um just as fall sports kind of are are over and winter sports are are coming into um and we've got plays and everything. Just want to give a quick shout out to all of our parents and volunteers for everything that you have done to um assist especially when it comes to sections and state tournaments. I know that there is a lot that goes into that especially with coordinating off-site locations and things like that. Um, so thank you for everything you're doing when it comes to volunteering. We can't do it without you. So, appreciate it. >> Director William. >> Uh, yeah. Um, last Thursday we had our community ed advisory council meeting. Dr. Thomas was there to give an update which was um, well received. It's always great having him um, there. Um, some other highlights I I just wanted to say. community ed since my since being on the board, it's just um really come to um my awareness how much community ed supports our district. Uh they also were given kudos uh during the audit tonight and um uh regarding their strong fiscal management and just just their program is incredible. Their team is incredible. Director when you asked about why maybe other communities, my my thought, my answer was just the team of our community ed team. Um, a couple other things, um, noted was just their brainstorming and trying to figure out how to turn the their space, uh, their, uh, the space that they're at to um, have the most impact and most opportunity for the community. So, just again falling in line with their great stewardship. Um, and then my second report would be on strive. strive uh the Bridges mentorship program um the biggest ever >> and um yeah, I just am so impressed by that program and the impact that it has on those students. I'm so grateful to be part of it and I'll leave it at that in case. >> All right, Mary. >> Well, I was preempted twice now. Um [laughter] um so So, uh, scale, uh, I'm wasn't able to speak the last board meeting, so I just wanted to update everybody that, um, the scale presentation should be online soon, but the scale presentation from a couple weeks ago, not only dealt with the legislative priorities, which are going to be very much in line with ours with no new mandates, take away all unfunded mandates, that's the one thing that they are absolutely from the county perspective supporting uh, the school district on, and we're going to go over those again this Friday. But they also discussed uh school mental health along with Scott County mental health uh with help from the superintendent plane which is superintendent Holden. Um I highly recommend as soon as that PowerPoint presentation goes up that people uh review um those statistics and how the county and schools work together and what they have found over the years. Um it was very informative and extremely relatable to our own district. Uh this uh week and scale on Friday the schedule is also to do a final review of the legislative mandates that are going to be supported by the other members member cities and municipalities within Scott County. And then the other piece of the agenda is to uh talk about the Prior Lake Spring Lake watershed which should be very uh insightful. Uh, also considering the changes and the um and all of the um um interactions obviously between Spring Lake feeding into Prior Lake and the actual wershed and where we are with our water tables. Um on the other side, the Minap's business um um partnership kicked off. Um my business is sponsoring another one this year. So, I'm really looking forward to working with these students and I encourage everyone in the community if you have a business whether it's located in prayer leak or not that you consider uh working with them. They're also looking for partners in healthc care and the other uh pathways. So, um one of the best ways you can you can uh partner with our students is actually give them some real world experience. Uh so I hope other um businesses um um people in health care uh anything that anybody that has an idea actually kicks in um and supports this program. Strive kicked off uh as uh director Bullan mentioned um Strive is sponsored by Rotary. Uh this will be my sixth year being a mentor. It's one of the most uh uh rewarding um times of my weeks when I'm able to go and meet with those students. It is absolutely incredible. You do not have to be a Rotary member to sign up for this. Um they're always looking for mentors of some sort every single year. So, please um take your time, go to get a free lunch and sit down with the student and make a difference in someone's life. And believe me, they will end up making a difference in your life as well. So, um, as far as the teaching and learning, I don't want to take the shine away from Dr. Anderson because we haven't had a review of that meeting as well as the combined notes. But to um, piggyback on what Director Olstead said, uh, we did go over a very detailed drill down into the, uh, reading requirements and the curriculum choices that our teachers are currently uh, vetting. uh and um the books a and the workbooks of the different curriculums are available for parents to review. So I highly uh suggest that you go and read and understand the different types of the science of reading and how it's coming across in those workbooks and the different reading materials. It was very enlightening and it was um uh very encouraging I would say. Um, and then I'm also looking forward to attending the play this weekend and uh the tickets are available. I got them right away, but they are going fast. I think at least one night's almost sold out. >> Yeah, there was a little glitch, but I think they're going to fix it. And there's tickets right that Sunday. Wasn't that kind of a weird one? Anyways, yes, there are tickets available. >> Okay, >> go out. >> Um, but please get your tickets now as soon as the system or glitch or whatever comes back up, which I didn't know because I already had my tickets. Uh and um and then I want to say congratulation to our state uh volleyball, our cheerleading squads that made uh also are going to go on to state from what I understand from the last competition. Uh and of of course um uh soccer. So um congratulations to them and congratulations and thank you to all the parents and coaches. >> Thank you, Dr. Mason. Um yeah uh we did not have a finance committee this since our last meeting but um I guess the only update I had is just I did my school partnership visit with five hacks. So um went there for their readathon on Halloween and that was really fun um to sit with the students. So thank you to that administration and the PTC and everybody for welcoming me in there. Um and then I wanted to save my thanks to you Dan for last. So, um I really appreciate your leadership on the board and um willing to serve again and um all of your mentorship over the last uh almost year. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh I have nothing prepared, but I just want to thank you all for entrusting uh me uh with this role this last um almost 11 months. Um as you all know, this is my this is my fourth goound here. Um, and uh, I always take this job very seriously. Not myself so much, but the job for sure. And um, again, I appreciate you entrusting me with this. I appreciate you disagreeing with me respectfully when the times came. Um, and um, as I've said publicly many times that, this is the fifth superintendent that I've served with. And, uh, without trying to rank them, I just want to put it this way. We have the right person in the right place at the right time. And so, uh, whatever you guys you guys can do moving forward, um, to to support the kind of work that I know he wants to do, uh, you'd be very wise to do that. Dustin, best of luck. Congratulations. I'm sure you'll do just fine. Um, and and wish you nothing but the best. So, having said that, um, I will entertain a motion to adjourn our meetings. We can move into a closed session to discuss, uh, negotiation strategy. Is there a motion to adjourn? by Director Bullan, second by Director Johnson. All in favor signify by saying I. I >> opposed. That carries 6. And why don't we take five minutes and everybody can clear out and come back.