Okay, that's behavior. I believe I feel like I haven't seen you. >> You can even go out this way if you want. Really? Yeah, we got >> We have We have We have time. We have space this week. Just like to be a little That's what I said. Are you happy? Isn't that >> a shock? Yeah. >> Could you uh >> Yeah, the Leatherman survey is always far more positive. >> When I say positive, it's just for some reason. >> Yeah. He just lays out years, you know, statistically this party, that party, you know. You guys remember >> more involved than ever? >> I'd like to call to order the Shaki Public Schools September 14th school board meeting. Tiffany, could you please do >> Smith >> here? >> Johnson >> here. >> Aldridge >> here. >> Peterson >> here. >> Here. >> Valdez >> here. >> Zitic >> here. >> Brian >> here. >> Clara >> here. >> Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Welcome to everybody that is here tonight in attendance. We are going to start out like we do uh with most of our meetings with our saber pride and tonight we are going to have a fall activities preview. Andy Brown, our director of activities is here to present. >> All right. Uh greetings everyone. This is uh maybe a little more short and sweet than I usually uh revoke presentations, I guess, but uh we're kind of we are always in the middle of things. There's never quite an end to it. So, um to just kind of recognize some of those things um that are going on, we'll kind of start with some of those. Um although this actually just ended up yesterday, um our fishing club had the state tournament um up at Leech Lake and we qualified three teams out of the southwest region. We had the second and third place teams and then we had another team finish 10th. They got to go to kind of the last chance qualifier and then they finished high enough in that to go. So the three teams listed up there um are the um and it's the three not the one in the bottom right corner but the other three teams all um competed at state and then Tanner Smith and Emma Johnson finished in third. We actually had after the first day we had the second and third place teams and then um I talked to Benny Brigham this morning. He said they just hit a dry patch on uh um yesterday. And so um and he said Le Beach Lake is tough because you're spending a lot of time and gas trying to find the best spots. If you don't settle in, you start to get worried um that uh you're going to miss it and then you start driving and worry that you're wasting time. So um but they're great. So Tanner and EMTT finished uh finished in third overall about a half pound total catch off the off the winner. So they were right in the right in the mix of it. So that's really exciting. So, we'll hope to do a little feature on them and invite them um down the road when we do another recap. We'll get them here um and in front of everybody, but with that being on the weekend, we weren't sure how it would all how it would all go. Um marching [clears throat] band um uh marched in the state fair um as is custom. They got another um brutally hot day um out there. I know some of you were there um and it was it was really really a day, but uh I got a lot of uh feedback um that they're sounding better every through my 95year-old grandpa sent me a text to tell me he saw him on TV. Um and uh and so we're continuing to kind of um work there and we are hoping kind of the tenative plan for next year is that they um have at the some type of field presentation. We won't be quite up to a full field show but at least get out on the get get out on the field at uh the opening football game first home game. So a lot to put in place before we get there but the hope is at least to come out and and play there. So, just trying to keep moving them moving them forward. Um, mountain biking is also kind of in the middle. So, I didn't really do any recap, but just to acknowledge that mountain biking uh has been going strong since uh since July. Um, and uh and has their state tournament coming up in October at up in Cailluna country. I'm trying to think of the name. Red. I knew it was red something. Say it again. >> Redhead. >> Redhead. There you go. Yeah. So, um where everybody comes back caked in red flag. Um coming up um of course we've got uh theater productions. So the high school musical um Come From Away was just cast. Um and uh they've started rehearsals. Um that show just closed at the Guthrie. Um it's the story of um when 38 Planes were diverted on 911 to Gander, Newfoundland. um and the community around them had to take in all these strangers of all different types and um put them up for a few days before they could safely uh fly out of there. So, it's a really great story on 25th anniversary of 911 and I think a lot of relevance to uh what's going on right now. So, it's a really fun show. No intermission on this one. It just kicks off and then all of a sudden you realize an hour and 45 minutes has passed. It's really an exciting one. So, really fun. Um middle school um is actually uh expanding a little bit to do two plays. We've cast had so many kids come out to audition and cast uh in the middle school plays last um couple of years since we kicked it off that they are doing two um not split up east and west just to just brought all the kids together, cast them as needed um and then are doing it. So it might be a thing where we eventually need to just go east and west for ease of uh logistics, but for now this is kind of where we're at. So the secret garden, you may be familiar with the unscary ghost. You probably not. So, um, so we'll see. That's kind of one that's just just sort of a problem. Um, and then of course lots of things coming up in this fall. In October, our group will be putting on the Fiesta Latina. It's kind of a culture fest in um in miniature focused on the Latina cultures that are represented um in our district. HOSA will be heading off to the fall conference. Brian can tell you all you need to know about that um down the road. Um DECA will be doing their back to business. Um obviously it's homecoming week right now, so Unlimited and some other student groups will be performing at the pepfest. We've got the Friday night dance um hall stuff coming up. Um all of those things. Um chess club um will make uh their first moves next week. Um is their opening thing. Um and then jazz band all will have their fall concerts um by the end of October. Um blood drive group getting started and just um as is usual all kinds of things. So we made it through the powder puff football game uh on Sunday without any major injuries. I just saw one bag of ice on the way out. Um so that's always I'm always grateful when that one is over. So um yeah, so we're just excited to be back in the swing of it when we set up our activities fair um last Wednesday um for um primarily for ninth graders, but for everybody else to come through um my official list of clubs um that we put up there numbered 59 um and then that doesn't quite count the things that are co-curricular and so on. So it was it was awesome to see um you know over 50 things represented and just options for kids to uh to come through and join something. So that's kind of where we're at. Like I said, in the middle of things other things about to start um things going. So we're at that point here everything's fresh. So we go back to Sure. There's a rumor that if you finish in the top three at state, you qualify for national. >> I don't know quite the rules about it, but there is it's close. I because um I know Tanner um had said something about they were hoping it was enough to qualify for nationals. So, there's some rule about spots. It's another lecture based on Minnesota state membership of the organization that puts this on that allows you more spots. people from Minnesota. So, uh, yes, he did bring home a medal that said qualifier for nationals, >> which I also understand might be in Alabama >> somewhere in the south. >> I assume if it happens any later than right now, it's headed south. So, >> I have I have a oversized interest in this just so >> Yeah. Yeah. No, it's great. And I think um Paul has a great story. because that's her this is her third year uh qualifying for state and she had um a new uh a new teammate this year because her previous uh fishing partner graduated and so um so she's there and she they were in the um last chance qualifier after finishing 10th so they made it made it again so three years in a row for her in which she is you know one of the only female faces out there is just really really cool so >> and I read on Facebook you know the fishing was tough so I expected photos of like little or something. >> Yeah, it looks like the fish horrible. These none of these are from state because I had these. >> Yeah, it was it was not as good. Um but the the big ones that they have out there are still it still looks pretty good like that for sure. >> All right, any other questions? >> Thanks so much. Moving to 3.2 under Saber Prize. Tonight is our school board appreciation month. >> I am. Yes, I am a messenger. I won't call it a presentation, but um we always want to make sure that we recognize you folks and all the work that is done in front of you timed nicely. And Chris, you probably have better elevator speech than I do on Minnesota Kids Rise and obviously MSBA. um sharing that this is school board appreciation month but in front of you here there are some donations both us being a member with MSBA um one model shirt that says I'm a Minnesota kid these are at the fair thank you Joe thank you friends y >> I don't have um but [clears throat] just a lot of good conversations going around this month specifically in addition addition to the gratitude for our school board members across the state. Uh but just also the importance of public schools. So just really wanted to make sure that you all um felt connected to the work that I know you've all said you do and we have our school board leadership development. You've all shared, you know, the public service component, things that you do. I started a spreadsheet, Joe, and then I decided not to because I felt like it wasn't comprehensive because there's 3600 minutes or hours in a year that you're assigned to board meetings that doesn't include agendas, wraps, events, everything else that you go to research. So then I just felt like I couldn't give a good statistic and then I was going to take that and multiply it by years of service and I was getting really excited for fresh and then I didn't finish. But you all have that math uh that 3600 minutes. And again, I think the big piece is it's been so nice to have student school board members on here to support you folks, to support our students. Um you know, when I look at the stuff that's going out for school board recognition month, the biggest piece is every decision of the school board is centered around what's best and I edit it instead of just students and every student with our compelling vision and it's great to have student voice represented on here. So there a ton of gratitude for you all. I had a little reflection question. We can kind of put it like a a teacher assignment that I hope each one of you can reflect on the impact of at least one experience um that you've had while serving on the board that's helped move public education forward and celebrate students. Um there's a little notepad on there. So I hope you know maybe before you leave jot that down because it's easy sometimes to get lost in the business and the governance but obviously you're all here for students and we really appreciate that. Uh and then I have a quick little 20 second video that's from students across Minnesota that are thanking you in addition to me being the voice for our district. Thank you as well. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for helping me to >> build for my future. >> Get ready for my career, >> prepare to serve my country, >> to succeed on the court, >> in the science lab >> and on the stage. >> You are a role model for kids like me. >> We need your voice to help strengthen our voice. >> I have a wonderful team of peers here. We're all going to give you a round of applause. [applause] Thank you. Moving to item four on our agenda and that is the consideration of the agenda as presented. >> So move second by further discussion. See none. All in favor say I. >> I carries. Item five is our public comment portion of our meeting and this is a time where members of the public can participate in the meeting without being part of the meeting agenda. A member of the public may address the board on an agenda topic or on another topic pertaining to school board business. We allocate a total of 15 minutes for public comment at this meeting. Each individual speaker may speak for up to two and a half minutes. The sign up for public comment has been conducted online and in person prior to this meeting. No one has signed up for public comment prior to this evening's meeting. So we will move on to the next item on our agenda which is item six and that is our consent items. We will see we have some personnel items from our last meeting in August bills and authorization to pay and approval of our report. I'll make a motion to approve second by second by Smith. Any further discussion? >> See none. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Item seven on our agenda would be our list of donations. and you will see that we have a very uh long list of very uh generous donations to our school district. A lot of them uh related to our back to school events and supporting our teachers uh during back to school week uh things for classrooms, school supplies, etc. So, we really appreciate um our community for supporting our our school district like they do. We're very fortunate that we have such a supportive community. >> I'll second. >> Yes. >> Johnson. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yes. >> Item eight on the agenda this evening would be theformational section of our meeting tonight. And our first item is our work group presentation. We have several people here to present. Miss our director of community education. Sarah Pearson early learning center administrator Julie Brad director of special services and the president. Welcome. >> So, we'll uh thank you for having us here tonight. Um we will kind of walk through this. Basically, what we're trying to do in this presentation is just kind of give you an overview of what caused the problem and then kind of how we thought about trying to resolve it. So, essentially we're going to start here with a little bit of an overview kind of the who, what, where, when, why uh this came down. So, uh what was this called work group? Well, it's a group of teachers [clears throat] reps, district leaders who are all trying to address an issue that came about as a result of um the last contract settlement where we reduce the number of days. Funding is uh done differently for Pearson than it is for early childhood than it is for K1. and the cutting of days would have had a significant financial impact and so we had to figure out how to solve that problem essentially. Uh these are the people who served on the team. So we had four teachers one represented representing each of the four programs that are housed at Pearson and then you have two union people myself and Paulson who's also negotiator and then we had leaders from the admin and then adjustments at board rep and surely was there support. So that's who sat in and all these discussions and at different points we brought in other uh people who could contribute like David came in to talk about the budgeting issues and and so on and so um lots of people involved and very good process. So why did it happen? Well, again, we had this settlement that reduced the number of days in the teacher work contract and again the problem is that for Pearson funding comes with the number of days that services are provided to students. So when we cut four student contact days, this is one of the things that all of us in the negotiations process none none of us thought about how Pearson had done differently. And so this was kind of one of those things where we're like, oh crap, you know, once it kind of was revealed uh what are we going to do now? So the idea was to put together this work group to kind of take a look at it what can what can be done at this point. And so we ended up initially doing for this year 26 27 uh we wrote anou to kind of try and resolve the immediate problem because we obviously needed to figure out something for this year since the cutting days began uh with 2627. Uh we had very little you know didn't have a ton of time to do that but we put the the group together in in um January and then began that process. But we came up with the the shortterm um solution uh that we'll talk about a little bit here. But the most important thing was to develop a a process to figure out what are we going to do long term because the short-term solution is inelegant. And we need to address calendar issues, budgeting issues, and how does this how does what teachers are doing at at um early childhood? as I compare with kind of the K12 teacher experience since we're all being paid on the same topic. So we met uh all uh starting last December we kind of organized things and then uh in the spring we were meeting over at Pearson in the mornings and then in the summer we were meeting here at the do and then this fall again back at Pearson. And you can see kind of our list of uh meetings that all took place. Um you know we kind of selected organized got our subgroups did our progress checks, you know, looked at different best practices, whether it was early childhood or special ed, and then the final decision making, all of those various pieces. And tonight, I was presenting the board and clearly one of the next board meetings. We wanted to provide you with enough time. Normally, um, Pearson administrators like to get out the information about the following year in January. So, that means trying to pull all that stuff together by December, by sometime in December. So it's all prepared to go up in January which really um was kind of driving when this process needed to be done by and so we feel really good that we've been able to wrap it up here in September. It wasn't looking that way early on in the process. So so we're happy to be here now. So want to take just a couple minutes to kind of walk you through the three key issues calendar, budget, and alignment um to the K12 working conditions to to kind of get the scope of what we were covering as we went through this. So again, the first issue was this whole budgeting issue um due due to the reduction of days. um the short-term solution that we came up with in thisou for this current year um we did reduce their overall work days but we had to maintain this the the same number of student contact days so we were reducing student contact days lengthening the student contact day so the trade-off in minutes for K12 is this it's essentially actually slightly more minutes in that trade-off where we extended the student contact day by 10 minutes but we reduce four days. There's actually slightly more student contact minutes with that. But again, because of the way funding works here shortterm, we need to figure out how not to cut funding for Pearson for this year. And so what we did is we converted some days. You can see the October and February PD days that everybody else is doing PD on. Pearson is going to have students on those days. And then uh the end of quarter days that normally would be teacher work days to kind of um do grading and planning for the next quarter. Those days uh two of those days the end of first quarter and the end of third quarter also were converted to student contact days to keep the same number of work days for or student contact for Pearson. So then longterm we we obviously we'd like to have Pearson aligned with because you have parents who have in both programs, you know, some in K12, some in the early childhood program. And it is, it just works so much better if you have those things aligned. Um, it also makes it easier from a a fairness standpoint. You know, if we have everybody on the same contract and some of them are having to work, you know, additional student contact over others, it creates some internal problems there. So ultimately our long-term goal is to have 180 total work days and 167 student. The second issue is the budget. So uh Pearson has four programs, four types of program. Early childhood family education which is um uh reaching out to uh families and and kind of introducing them to um the I guess doing training for parents. So you want to talk a little bit about Yeah, it's early childhood family education. So, it's intended for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers to have their caregiver experience the class together and then practice that separating from their caregiver. And we also do programs that are non-traditional time. So, evening, >> stepping stones is the ages three through five. Um, or is it four and five? >> Three and four. All right. So, um, and that's the more traditional like preschool programs where they're coming in for half day or or a whole day of different kinds of programming instruction and other things along the lines. And then you have the two sped programs, special education, birth three, where they're going out into homes and going to other um, like daycare programs and other to connect with families in those environments. And then you have the specialist through five who are working with the students who are in the stepping stone program. >> So of the four programs, stepping stones is the one where there's the prim the primary one where there's the budget problem um where they've been running a deficit as you can see for a number of years. So looking back, here's um the previous uh three years and then a prediction for this current year and then you can see the fund balance of the effect that that's been having on the fund balance. And obviously the goal of any kind of a program like this is for table. So and so the fact that it is not doing that is problematic. And so as we got into the calendar issue, the calendar issue obviously drove us to the budget issue and um then all of a sudden when we were looking at the budgeting issue that became a a bigger part of the whole thing that needed to be considered and so obviously the long-term budget goal was for the stepping stone program to live within it budget and preferably be under budget enough that you could actually purchase some additional things for the program have some flexibility etc. Additionally, There are a number of things that have already been tried in terms of trying to uh improve revenue for where stepping stones in particular. Um so you have implementation of a couple of different program you want to speak to these. >> Yeah. So we um we did start a BPK two years ago with 32 seats. So that was >> you want to explain what voluntary pre kindergarten. So that allows a half day of program for those u preschoolers at no and also four girls for only four and we had 32 seats um this current year and last year as well. Um and then we increased class sizes to 20 and so previous to that some class sizes were lower than that some at 18. So and and it's um it is proper um to have a 1 to 10 ratio at the preschool level. So that's why we we increase the class sizes and then able to serve more students. >> So the 1 to 10 ratio would be a teacher and a pair of in >> Yep. And then we did do a tuition increase this year and then um we had been working on for a couple of years the implementation of chargeback chargebacks for the special ed seats that are in preschool. So um the students that who do come to preschool through special ed do not have to pay for their services preschool. And so then um the district will reimburse stepping stones for the cost of those seats that are being saved for them. And then um a restructure of our family literacy program. That's the program where preschoolers come in with their parents and it also offers sibling care. And so we uh worked really hard to get that aligned this year with um the current preschool program. They um previously had a separate uh preschool teacher and a separate preschool program. And so we aligned that with this current school year. >> So in spite of all these efforts, none of those those those things combined were not enough to address the budget problem. Um, one of the primary things is obviously um there's been a a pretty strong push and we did it here a number of years ago to uh put early childhood educators on the teacher contract and we did that here for the 1517 contract. So 10 years you know they've been as part of that. But [clears throat] one of the challenges in that process is because of how it's funded differently. If you're not increasing tuition to, you know, align with those cost increases, you can see the primary expenditure is salaries and benefits. And so if you're not increasing the tuition at the same rate that you're, you know, increasing the salaries and benefits, that's going to have a significant problem. That's going to create a significant problem. The third issue is alignment with K12 working conditions. So obviously if everybody's being paid the same part of my job is to try to make sure that people are at least having a relatively similar uh work experience. And so um looking at um two primary areas um student contact time and what's the actual teachers instruction time? Uh how much of their day is spent in instruction? And then also looking at prep time kind of what what has been offered, what what does the contract say about these things? And uh obviously a contract is something that's developed over a whole number of years and it's only as good as the information that's provided to the people who are putting it together. And um so there's been some challenges in that in that process over the years. And so looking at the first part, the student contact time and teaching time, we were looking at what Stepping Stones does in their all day programming and realize that the the were primarily more supervision. Uh they were um you know there was a map involved. There was you know going to the gymnasium. There's you know it really wasn't involving instruction. And so when you're paying everybody what everybody else is doing for instructional time when half of the time is supervision time, that's a problem that needs to be addressed. So exchanging uh one of the things we realized as um Lisa was in her program was was bringing on um saber connection uh we realized we had an opportunity um and this happened just this summer where all of a sudden we realized we had this opportunity to address this this problem around instruction. So rather than having a teacher do the instruction in the morning and then kind of do these supervisory activities in their afternoon session, if we actually had them teach in two different groups, you know, teaching one group in the morning and teach another group in the afternoon, then they would meet the same criteria as elementary K5 teachers in terms of instructional minutes. If they were doing 150 minutes of each of those sessions, they'd be doing the same instructional minutes as a K12 teacher. Makes it uh the contract much more defensible. um if they're doing a similar kind of instructional day. And so that was really um a huge find to have that the timing of this saber connection coming on right now as we were in the process of looking at this problem was like fortuitous. I mean really provided us with a a great solution to this challenge of figuring out how do we align with K12. The second issue is prep time. And again, uh just an example of when uh you have people working on a contract that don't have the expertise and we didn't have a lot of people to speak into the expertise related to this. The prep time is another example of just an issue that you're responding to what people are saying are the means, but you don't really have a way to do a good comparison without without that kind of an expertise. So, um, as we seek to do this alignment, one of the things we realize is the language in the contract currently calls for EC teachers to have an extra like 75 minutes of prep instead of 50 minutes. So, that's one and a half times the amount of prep of a K12 teacher. That's problematic. You know, when everybody receiving the same pay and benefits, um, having those things was pretty important. So, that's another piece that we were seeking to address. So the long-term alignment goal again since all teachers being paid the same salary and benefit structure those working conditions need to be reasonably similar and there were these were the two so in the process of looking at that then the team was obviously working over several months to develop uh different plans and so we're going to walk you through three three things that we considered. We're going to start with the one we ended up with just because that's the most important thing to remember. But we do also want to show that we did some other things in the process of getting there just so you're aware uh in case you get any questions at some point. But here's our uh recommended plan that we work together on. So um the full day option rather than being um instruction in the morning and then this kind of more supervisory activities in the afternoons um and a teacher maybe only having 20 students but having them all day now they will teach two different sections. So they have 40 students um and they'll teach a morning session different group an afternoon session and then the opposite time of day for that group of students they would go to the saber connection program and so those supervisory activities would be conducted by the saber connections program the teachers would be doing the instruction part two different groups so am uh uh instruction PM saber connection or vice versa am saver connection instruction. Um, and so that's the the deal the nice uh thing about that is because again that aligns them the teaching minutes etc that uh super helpful. Um, so in looking at that and then the before and after care would continue to be offered through saber connection beyond that. Um some advantages of this plan it uses the K12 calendar with um just a couple of exceptions. there's no early release days. Um, and that's because early release just does not work well with how Pearson is programmed. If you're offering these paid programs that they're having to pay for and then you're cutting those days, you know, short um especially the afternoon, it's like it's all afternoons. The afternoon program is missing four days that other the morning session would be doesn't work well. So this has been uh the way it's been running for a number of years that [clears throat] they we they don't do um early release days at Pearson. They do a one day um professional development day in exchange for that in December. So um after looking at how this change of doing the instruction working with Saber Connection affects the budget, we realized we could reduce the calendar to 267 student contact days. um and with that PE day becoming a student that day. Um so there is a loss of tuition for three days but because of the way that we're changing the program um there actually is a cost savings that take a look at and that part of that has to do with the next bullet point which is teacher FTE is is will become based on enrollment. Now this is something that aligns with what we do at K12, right? Um K12 has always been based on enrollment and it's gotten tighter and tighter over the last number of years as we've gotten a better job. We've done it as the district leaders have gotten a a closer eye on how to to align those sorts of things. And so uh we need to do the same thing at Pearson. If you're going to keep that program viable financially obviously you've got to tie it to the money that's coming to the program. So it would be a reduction if we had the same enrollment as we have this year. there would be a reduction of 1.5 FTE next year, but obviously the long-term goal is to add program to add students. There's capacity and so the goal would be to introduce more sections of and this actually provides an opportunity to do that because you're basically kind of doubling the opportunities for instruction. So, uh really really cool opportunity there. And then the pair piece. I'm gonna let one of you speak to that because the teacher rep that's really not my place to speak. >> Before you jump to that, I I don't want to put words in your mouth. We This plan doubles the amount of preschool available to our families. Is that accurate? >> It expands it to be able to have a classroom that would normally hold 20 would be able to hold 40 >> sessions a day where you used to have one. And to be clear too, we're still offering the full day option. So the full day option would be preschool in the morning and then the supervision just saber connection that piece. It's really not changing for the parent and then those that are [snorts] so that connection in the morning and we would figure out based on mapping needs and things like that which would be part of the program. So right now our paras come for 45 minutes before the school day starts. And so this would put them in a place just like K12 parents to have a little bit of time that 15 to 20 minutes before school um to have that time to um prepare for the day and to connect with the before the students arrive. That would be that reduction of 30 minutes daily for the parents non student contact time to be in alignment with the K12 >> and if they wanted more time >> yeah they can check >> so due largely to the reduction in the FTE piece you can see the budget savings um uh and there are some other elements related to that but but that's one of the primary pieces but the estimated budget impact is a deposit of $262, you know, thousands per per year. Um, and so obviously there's a $650,000 uh deficit right now, but obviously once you start doing that, it would take a few years, but you get that paid off. Again, if you can keep adjusting the tuition and the other pieces as um new contracts come on board, you should be able to maintain that positive budget impact. Previous plans we had been looking at this is before we um did the time study to figure out the instruction minute piece. We were looking at uh the way that the day was structured there and we considered some other things. So these are largely similar with a couple of just maybe key differences. So the the key difference here is we were looking at reducing the FD for all of the teachers in the stepping stones program uh by a proportion of this. So if you were fulltime it'd be a 30 minute reduction and obviously you were halftime it would you know be less than that. But um the whole idea was um to address this problem um through looking more at reducing FD trying to figure out how to make the budget work. Once we got into looking at what the options were that were provided by Saber Connection, we realized that a obviously would be clearly really unpopular with the teachers who are currently there to see, you know, kind of 116th of their day, you know, and obviously a financial cut in the same way as a result. Uh, and yet if you're realizing that they're doing supervision rather than instruction, it certainly is a defensible thing to say, well, we're probably reducing your pay because you're not doing the same kinds of work. Um, but uh, and again, you can see it would save a little you have a little bit more savings if you took this option. Um but once we realized if we did the work saber connection and we could do this where they're doing two sets of instructional minutes um where we can justify that they are working very similar to what K5 teacher is working um then this became a far less viable option people kind of where they are um but doing it in a way that shows that they working you know similar to others was so we eliminated that one based on the time uh and and the advantage of plan A. Plan C was to essentially mess with the calendar um to try and you know keep the uh you know the extra the extra student contact days um to keep the the money flowing from those particular days, you know, keeping that money intact. And you can see that's very similar to the same amount of money as the plan A, the one that we're recommending. Um, and again, we eliminated this one basically once we figured out we could get essentially the same savings by keeping the calendar, but by doing the by doing the plan A, we eliminated this one just because again keeping the calendar aligned is a big plus for parents and for the as well. So those are the key uh the key plans and uh so next steps are obviously just give you a chance to ask some questions here. Our thought would be, you know, you have a month here between now or and maybe not quite a month, but three plus weeks to kind of consider um what you heard and then take some action on October 5th and then we would um I've already been in the process of trying to draft anou around this because the currentou will work for 26 27 but as soon as that contract expires then we need cover until the next contract comes into because this is different than the 26 27. So it would require something different. So we would need to write that and then obviously the goal would be in our negotiations for this next round of negotiations in the future contract we would add the language that aligns with this into the contract and for example that prep language would change etc. Um and uh so those are the those are the key elements and we can certainly go back to any slides here if there's something you'd like to ask questions about. >> I have one question. Yeah. Um how many professional development days are there in the contract? So um generally there for um most staff there are two during fall workshops two full I mean it might be split out over the course of four days but there's essentially two days worth of in workshop and then there's generally one in October February. So there's four total days in the K12 calendar. Um there had been five for Pearson because they didn't do the early release days and they did an extra P you know, because we I guess I I should say there's five total days when you have early release for K12. So, there's an equal number when you just take those early release dates back and then you place it all on one day, December 19th or something like that. Um, and so that is going to be a loss for Pearson. They will be one less than everybody else. That's a trade. >> And what is the Sarah on a professional development day because I know how important those are for our staff especially when we're launching new curriculum state requirements that have to be achieved at the early morning center. So right now we're being creative with some after school professional development. We can also think about leading it into staff meetings and different ways that we can to give people those nuggets of growth. But I don't think it would be a large impact. I think it would be a small impact be able to figure out a plan to overcome that. So looking at plan A savings about $263,000 for that 27.8 compar to projected deficit of 500. So the question then becomes this might be a form of state at this point is that 260,000 is that projected for the next two cycles 89 to effectively get us back to you whole again and then any subsequent proceeds you mentioned reinvesting the program and offering addition Let's start with get us back to being whole again. >> Yeah, if I if I might because there's even a bigger history here and we did not one of the goals for this work group wasn't taking care of the past. It wasn't necessarily going, hey, we got to repay that deficit. It was more focused on moving forward. We need to be economically viable. We running a deficit basically forever >> probably since we did that contract >> probably since 15 to 17 >> and we've made some course corrections they'll talk about in the three years I think showing the magnitude of that is important but really what we want to make sure is we're economically viable moving forward meaning that it pays for itself and if in doing that and coming up with the solution that they did because that wasn't like, hey, you got to figure out how to pay back the the previous deficit, but they've come up with this plan A which really just aligns resources incredibly well, allows us to offer much, you know, many more opportunities for preschool learning for our families and the community. So, there's an expansion possibility there that if it works the way it's designed, and I don't see why it wouldn't, and I think there's room grow over time. Yes. One of the other nice outcomes would be there's actually more revenue coming in than expenditures. And if you compare it to that previous kind of accumulated deficit, yeah, that would go away. But we've been that's one of the pieces that we've ultimately been absorbing and we did something on this I think as a board a while back. We've been absorbing that in the general fund, but that's not I I don't think that's a fair tradeoff because we're pulling from somewhere else and to cover that cost, but we really want to make sure moving forward. So, they've done that and then even gone above and beyond. >> Fair enough. So, it's not designed to be restored some way. >> Correct. assigned to David if you wanted to add anything in terms of what you were predicting 260,000 Dr. But based on what we're seeing, as you talk about the rate as time goes on, I don't see why back >> and I think um can speak to where the tuition is compared to the surrounding >> program >> quite a bit lower than what our surrounding districts are. And so >> so there is some capacity to >> to raise tuition and then we're adding school. So that inevitably will also bring in additional tuition. So I think really when you look at that one number it was predicted for next school year >> without the tuition increases that we intend to make. Well, and you want the services to be accessible, right? This isn't about cash flow. And I certainly didn't intend it to be like, oh, you've got a payback for medicine. It's more as you, you know, project balance that it could be used for reinvestment program and all of those things and any any variables we cost. >> Appreciate that. Thank you. >> I have a question just to piggy back off. Um, You were talking about competitive or lower from a tuition standpoint. What about other preschool programs that we have in that we're competing against kids? Where are we at? Great question. We look at all the right kids and so we are very similar to those around us in the preschool in um in that same arena, if you will. So, we don't want to overpric ourselves and under that sweet spot, but there is room for us to to continue to write raise where some districts and some programs are. >> I also think there's an opportunity here given the facilities that are available at Pearson that are not available say or you know other other competing programs here. [clears throat] we have a real opportunity, I think, to advertise what makes Pearson program superior uh to what else is available. And so, you know, I think that one of the things we we talked about as we were doing this is again the long-term goal goal is to to reach more community with the programs as well. And this really sets up for that. I think provides an opportunity um that even at some point if the pricing were to be a little bit more than some of the if we can do a great job of establishing the advantage of this program, gymnasium, you know, just even facility things like that that nobody else has that that type of facility available to their kids. You know, if we can do a good job of showing what the strengths are, every teacher is licensed. That's not the case in most preschool programs. I mean, there's some very significant advantages that Pearson has over all the other programs we've done. And so that the more we can let the community understand those kinds of things, help them understand that, then I think even if the pricing does get a little bit more on the high end, people know what they're getting for, you know, for what's being put out there. We we have more to offer. So, >> first of all, thank you guys for this. I mean, I really appreciate that you showed us your plan A, B, and C, and it really helps us better understand like how you came to this decision on, you know, not a lot of great choices with the problem, right? And so, um, I love that. I was going to ask more logistics wise, Saber Connection, did we always have a plan to have a saber connection site at Pearson? Was that part of that? I mentioned >> when we originally talked about Saber Connection, our intent was to um look at taking that uh preschool saber preschool a wrap around there and move it into saber connection next school year and it so happened that it ended up happening this current school year as you guys know. So that provided that opportunity to think about this differently. >> So the logistics for those that are signing up for the all day um are they essentially we separating out the cost for stepping stones versus saber connection or be one bill? So full day care would be um and correct me if I'm wrong Sarah but it would be considered full day tuition for stepping stones and the way that we're doing that is providing care that it would be one full day tition option and then if they want the before and after that's a separate tition. >> So we're kind of shifting some of the cost of the pandlet that care to saber connection or it should negatively affect their saber connections. because we would work out the budget as far as you know how would that work because then that tuition would pay for the program that >> and then just last you hit the tuition cost versus our competition is that with the increase that we'll be at the median or you're thinking we're below the median even to some degree even with the increase that we're planning on >> so I would say in our community in shock fe we are very much at the like our neighboring districts they're charging more than so we have a window that we can work with that answer the question. >> Yeah. >> And I would also add to that is there's other districts that are doing this model that we're talking about that we're looking at to gain some information from. So we wouldn't be the first district to be doing this type of a model. >> Yeah. want to chime in and just thank you [clears throat] all for letting me uh be a fly on the wall and and well it's more than a fly on the wall. I ask a lot of questions particularly as as folks here will know I you know what what is this acronym probably 20 times but but just to understand and and uh just really appreciate what a licensed early childhood teacher is and how it's not a daycare person. It's it's 180 degrees from providing daycare and how impressive that really is. U I went to a early childhood advisory committee meeting where where the the teacher presented and and I'm apologize I'm bling out her name right now but just a day in the life and and it just it just blew me away just what's involved with an early childhood teacher and um so just being part of that experience and just going back to you know recognizing schoolboard members tonight but you know who are we what do we do know it's governance but it's really we're all just servants here, right? And we're serving at different levels. And you know, so we provide some servant governance, but I always look at it like we we ask the questions to make sure things are are going well and then we just get out of the way and let the experts do the work. And and that's what I was really impressed with through this process is just watching the expertise of the room from the teachers all the way to the other staff. So just thank you for that experience. Um there concerns about like the increase in teacher workload seems to me like the rotation model now a teacher has 40 kids instead of 20 that's more relationships to manage more active instruction I mean I saw there were teachers in the work group so I'm assuming this was discussed how how are teachers >> great question so there are multiple teachers that are already doing 40 to 60 kids so the majority of the teachers have the 40 to 60 kids have the 20 so it's more of a evening kind of a playing Maybe a little bit of days. >> There's a lot of complexity. >> So there are classes that come two days a week, two and a half hours, three days a week, four days a week, five days a week, full days. There's all sorts of offerings that our families can choose from with Stepping Stones Preschool. And so that comes with some teachers have kids that just come two days a week, 20 kids. Three days a week, 20 more kids. So I would say that more teachers have 40 to 60 in their case load and less teachers have their 20. And so it evens out the playing field. >> Yeah, it does create some complications um when you have the difference between 60 kids and 20 kids. Think about you know I only have 20 parents current groups I need to meet with and I've got 60 but you know so this actually evens out the playing field a little bit more in terms of how and from from my perspective as a as a a union president trying to make sure everybody has a relatively similar experience you know more that we can make sure people are having a similar case load having a similar um number of instructional minutes I mean again If we were um at the high school and one teacher had, you know, put their well, let's take uh you know, if they if they were teaching uh half of their classes were actually teaching instruction minutes and then half of their classes were study halls. Teachers who were having all instructional med classes would be deeply upset about somebody else having half of their not having to study helpers requirement. So the whole idea that we could actually look at this and find a way to say, hey, no, they're doing instruction just like K5. If we're going to pay you the same rates, we're paying K5 teachers, then we should be instructing at the same level. So getting the the student numbers relatively similar, getting the instructions relatively similar, aligning the prep time, uh those are all really really positive things. And I think even for the teachers that where it feels like, yeah, this is a big change and Yeah, it's probably more work. It is I think the advantage to them is that it becomes very justifiable when other teachers K12 are asking questions about what they can look them in the eye and say hey we're doing the exact same uh you know very very similar to what you're you're doing and that they couldn't say that right now you know and so that's that's a problem >> I just have one that the special education I know from a budget perspective that was one of the um issues. Can you speak a little bit to the impact that this change might have on that pro? >> Yeah, you know, for us because we service any kid who shows up in service and so it affects special ed less than it does everybody else always staff based on case load, based on how many kids we have show up that need service. For example, this year we reduce that we didn't have kids that need service and so every That's what I look at. For us, our obligation, for lack of a better word, is that free and appropriate public education. So, we serve every kid that comes through the door, whether it's at Pearson, whether it's at Ladybug or out at Playworks, um, or are two. But when we talked about that charge back, it wasn't a charge back to special education fund because we can't charge special ed to provide special ed. But the only students who are in preschool that actually generate funds are special education students. And so that chargeback is really the funds that they generated as general ed kids are now paying for those. So it's not it's a much smaller impact on our special education simply because we service whoever shows up no matter what. >> And the budget issue didn't exist in specials just in problem. questions. Thank you for all your work on this more discussion. We are on item 8.2 on our agenda and that would be our assessment for learning update. And here to present looks like we have Jeff, our high school principal. Houston Middle School as well. Are you just here in case there's questions on Els? >> All right. Well, thank you, Chair Peterson. Good evening, members of the board, Dr. Red, Mr. McMich, uh, we've been here a couple of times giving you updates on, uh, AFL, assessment for learning, and then also we're going to get into that. Then we're also going to get into AOL, assessment of learning. So, I'm gonna go ahead and kick things off. Just talk give you an update on the assessment for learning [clears throat] TE's. Now, um I've been here a couple of times before, right? We've talked about those AFL, those seven strategies. Um you know, don't need to go back and rehash all of those, but we as Blaine is going to talk about assessment of learning, right? How we assess, we still want to make sure that the AFL, the assessment for learning still has a prominent uh for us throughout the course of the school year. So uh you know with all the learning we've done around AFL very much an expectation that you know we're at the point now those are they should be standard practice right we've done a lot of learning we've done a lot of implementation with it so that's where we're at AFL strategies are standard practice in our PLC's our professional learning communities we are going to put uh a a greater focus or emphasis around the AFL strategy 4 and strategy 7 so that strategy four is that helping students to be able to self assess that strategy seven helping students self-reflect we did we did we got some feedback from teachers and teachers will even admit that is an area that we want to continue to grow and learn on so that will continue to be a focus uh in in our PLC's throughout the year as far as our walkthroughs right admin we do a lot of walkthroughs throughout the year 612 we have a stronger system in place so how we're going to gather that data and and you know have those metrics in place for how we're measuring ing those AFL strategies. Um, we're going to continue to do that and so to be able to measure how we're doing. Once again, we're going to provide teachers during quarter one with an opportunity to do some peer observations so they can see what AFL strategies are looking like in other classrooms. And then, of course, the AFL task force will still very much be into play. We'll be having those monthly meetings as well, too. So with regard to AFL, that is the game plan for the 2627 school year. So now I'm going to pass it over to Clayton and he's going to talk about assessment of learning. Perfect. So with assessment of learning, um we have our AFL task force and we've been doing a lot of work and thinking about going through this change. We have a vision for what grades should be and um that vision will guide both groups. So, I'm just going to go ahead and um just do a little overview of the the vision here and the purpose of an academic grade to accurately communicate each of students grade uh their current level of achievement toward academic standards so students understand where they are have agency in their learning and teachers and families have meaningful information to support the growth. And with that, we have our four guiding principles. So, um, that grades must be accurate, fair, clear, and specific, and also timely as, um, as a report that we're working off of. And when we're talking about accuracy, we're really hoping that, um, you know, a grade should reflect what a student actually knows, um, and what they can do, not what um, when there isn't evidence. So, we want to make sure that it's it's very accurate by fair expanding on that. um the opportunities to demonstrate what they know and what they're applying uh with the with consistency with the expectations. And the one [clears throat] part I want to talk about too is with our students and with our families to be clear and specific what is encompassed in that grade with consistency no matter the content area. Very important. And then timely, especially with that feedback with our formative assessments, um trying to get back to the learning. Where are students currently at? How do they know where they're at so when we do get to the summited part that um that they have what they need to demonstrate their knowledge? So that's that piece there. Um and then what's been done so far, um we've had our August 4th retreat. Um that was with uh several different representation uh from our built committee and also AFL and leaders and we were together with first educational resources for that. We did a deep dive on looking at um you know what are some of the inconsistencies and what did we find out and um our current systems just aren't serving kids well um as well as we want them to. And part of that just has to do with um well I'm going to back up. I wanted to start with saying that teachers aren't doing anything wrong and we recognize that and we have discussions saying that it just has to do with the inconsistencies over time without having clear guidelines of what's necessarily encompassed in a grade. So, we went through some u some exercises where we even found that two students could land with two completely different grades, having the same um assessments and the same formative, but based on um how the students were being graded, they could end up in two different spots. And that was really a fun and interesting exercise to do. Okay, so um that's that's one piece. And then during workshop week, we had some clarity um with all of our sixth grade or 6th through 12 teachers and um we talked about the vision and we talked about the timeline and we talked about the process just very clear. And then we began during workshop week with our vertical teams and they were pri prioritizing standards. That's where we're starting and once we prioritize standards throughout the year then we will move on to the next steps with guidance of our AFL task force and u our leaders. There's just one more and then what we're doing next. So um with teachers, the AFL task force and the admin team, uh the vertical teams, they're uh again talking about prioritizing the learning for each course by the standards because we are talking about standard based grading. The AFL task force will determine the systems and provide feedback, how we're going to provide that feedback. And then the admin team will meet throughout the year and determine closure and next steps of where we're going in lock >> there. Just like in that. >> All right. Um so going back connections to assessment for learning. So on the right hand side you see the seven strategies that are right there. In a nutshell, if we are working if we have been spending time working on these seven strategies and embedding this, it only makes sense that we create assessment systems that align with AFL. That that's really that's really what it is, right? We want to be able to provide teachers, students, and families with clear learning targets. Providing them with families that clarity on uh on on what success looks like, what are areas that I'm struggling, what areas that I need to grow in, and uh and that clarity is necessary. It's a necessary foundation for all of those AFL strategies. So, just think of a practice where you could have those conversations with your student, right? and and and that student can really look in and hone in on, okay, here's this specific area where I need to get stronger, I need to get better. So, that that is definitely that major connection with the AFL work that is already happening. Um timeline and deliverables. Clayton um started talking about this like you said, right? What we're working on this year 2627 is prioritizing those standards within the task force. We're going to be internalizing that just the philosophy of assessment practices. We're going to be doing some learning, research, evaluating, looking at universal grading practices. Then as we get into next year, um those vertical teams will determine the learning targets, define those student observable indicators. The task force is going to determine those universal grading practices for each gray band. And in that area there will also hone in on that's where we'll be getting feedback and input from various stakeholders during that time frame. Then going into 2829, we'll do refinement work with the vertical teams and then uh the task force will be training teachers in those new practices, communicating changes uh to families. So, it's a it's a three-year process. It's, you know, but it's it's very purposeful, I think, in order to do this work, right? You you've got to you've got to go steady. You've got to move, but you got to make sure that you're taking those times to provide that feedback to listen, to refine, to learn, all of those things. But we're we're in it. We're diving into it and and we've been off to a great start to the school year and looking forward to continuing to work. So with that, I think that was the last slide. So if there are any questions, we'd be happy to answer it. >> Questions for the team. >> Well, thank you guys for your work on this and and this is actually the the timelines what I had questions about essentially. You know, we just kind of acknowledge that our current system has some flaws, things we'd like to improve. And so, you know, if we want accurate, fair, specific, timely changes. I get that the decision, this is a long-term change, right? We want to get it right the first time and not find out we have equal flaws versus, >> you know, the Vikings have two more Super Bowl opportunities before our kids are going to have testing. That's, you know, or new new assessments. That's all I'm just curious if there's any way that this could go quicker if the problem is needed. >> Well, we're using a lot. Do you mind if you get all So, we're using um our professional development time to be able to have our teachers a part of this process and as we develop. And so um you know, we think about the time dedicated that they they have to do this and then our feedback loop and and being um consistent with it. Um also with our our guidance that we've had um with with working with first education, they're they're really helping us out with this timeline that they've gone through this process many times and feel that the right way. >> I'll just add on. So, there are so many steps that need to be done so intentionally and so pacing it out this way really allows us to give if we're thinking about who our early adopters are. They're going to be implementing that timeline. thinking about [snorts] every single person in the organization. This is a little more reasonable because this is time to get everybody on board and do that mindset work that is going to be pretty important precursor to any of these changes experience. So we share that urgency but we think that this is the most realistic time frame for the entire organization. Thank you. I was just curious how the how the professional development uh works because you've got the defined professional development days, but that doesn't seem sufficient to integrate all these changes. So, I'm just I'm curious how what that looks like from a from an outsider perspective. Part of this is from our AFL task force doing the work um and then also the leadership principles that we're working together. So, there are some things that we can some recommendations moving forward and then be able to condense that work to smaller bits and pieces rather than taking it all. Lots of touch points and cycles. >> One question is it the AFL task that defines what the like standards are because you know you said you're going to prioritize. I'm just kind of curious. Sorry. >> Oh yeah. Yeah. So start that prioritizing standard. So that that's work that takes place in in those content level PLC's. >> So for example, so what we were doing during workshop week on that Tuesday morning is I was with the math department and so right you had intermediate algebra, you had geometry and so you have those groups of teachers that are working together and they're working on prioritizing those standards and like a good analogy that our consultant gave us picture of fence post. Yeah. >> You write the post in the ground then you have the supports. So what we're doing, what we're spending this year doing is let's identify those really important deals. And so those are going to be the experts. Those are going to be the teachers that are going to be doing it. Now LT&E will, you know, definitely help support that work and help move it along. But we definitely want the experts that but but the animal task force though should have representation from all of those core areas so that all every everyone is represented in that work. >> And I think part of why LC could do this work for teachers. It's not going to be it's not internalized and honestly teachers are deeper level of expertise sometimes on the content and on the students. So we wanted to make sure teacher voices in many places as possible. So having all teachers come together as part of this team that is outri that was our happy to see this move forward to see forward this on our priorities list since I think about as long as I've been on this board. So, you know, I I agree with you. It's like, can we speed this up a little bit because, you know, for seven years, I think I've seen this assessment for learning and now just started to see and now it's going to be another two or three years before it's really fully in place. So, and I know it takes time. I'm not saying that we should rush because we want to do it right. Um, and I also know that We're probably one of the few districts that don't have promotion. Is that accurate? I had heard that at one point that district was in place. A lot of the pack and I think one of the things that we're learning from there are some districts that so far with system back and we don't want that to be something experienced. That's also we want to make sure that we slow enough to engage the voices of all of our stakeholders that really matter. I just question it universal practices and I know all subjects are different from whatever else. Um, so has there been any challenges that so far has been that will be a challenge there are some questions of task force like 80% of your grade assessments% polic We're going to ask is that the right does that make sense or does that make sense? Another practice is no zeros. So in right now a lot of classrooms don't assess you% and it takes so much more work for you to give up and it's not a reflection. It's more reflection. So that is another question that does. >> So then does this really help with students that when they struggle when it comes time to take a test because of anxiety or whatever, will this help give more of a clear assessment of what they really need to learn versus a quarter Yes. Yes. priority instead of the game who test well I think it's going to be a really fabulous opportunity just to refine what those are students learn right now so I think it'll be a lot easier for us to give that clear to kids and families about I mean really really quick is like math was a struggle for me in high school right in like the way we all did math right it's like what what do I got to do to to get it up right and it's just like well there weren't retakes there weren't anything like that but now in this system you could dial in on what what is it specifically the area of math that I'm struggling with and just really hone in on that and then really it focuses it on the learning rout I need to get x number of points to get this or how do I get extra credit or can I do these things? I think it helps narrow like when I was talking about clarity. I think that's what that's what I'm excited about. This really helps students with that and it helps teachers, families, everybody. >> Well, thank you for your work and we look forward to hearing updates. >> Thank you. Moving on to 8.3 which is anotherformational item and that is in regards to our payroll and bank services and our financial operations here. >> Good evening. As you might have seen, [clears throat] read or heard 821 we had a payroll issue related to timing that our employees receive their checks in the morning. early afternoon, some later till 3. September 4th, we encountered the same issue, different issue, caused the same, you know, outcome with employees receiving their checks later on in the days of waking up in the morning as most of us wake up and see pending around 7 a.m. for me for Wells Fargo. Employees didn't see their checks clear the bank as pending until around 3 or 4. Um, in working with the bank, uh, we got this letter that you previously seen that there has been some issues with national bank and that going forward we're going to be processing the payroll update additional 24 hours to give us some proactive time while also going out for a request for proposal for new bank services with that request for proposal we'll you know we'll define the district's requirements we'll outline the payroll direct deposits federal payments deposits online banking fraud detention fraud pretention financial reporting and giving our recent experience will also place a particular emphasis on our payment process deadlines and confirm that the files have been accepted and emergency support and backup procedures the systems exist. So with old national they cut the deadline off for banking hours is 5:00 we have until 7 p.m. to issue a payroll deposit file but if we hit any issues during that time they have no support. So we'll be looking for something that has 24hour access support by district we had that there's been times and moments where I was on the phone with our previous financial institute at 10 p.m. to figure it out and they were there for us to work with us and make sure that file got out. So that's what we're looking forward to as we move. So both Fridays I came in hoping for a nice Friday. Uh both Fridays I stayed late and also calling people till 7 p.m. to make sure they got their payroll. No payrolls in their account and very appreciate to receive that call. Me and Dr. Evans received five emails. everyone that responded to me that they said they didn't get it. I followed up. They didn't respond. I followed up with a personal call. Make sure that that payroll. So, we will be doing as we go forward the RFP. We'll get those back. We'll place emphasis on what our requirements are. then score those reports back to the board for approval to move financial institutes real quick as somebody who has done payroll for let's say a long time [snorts] I know and I I've said this about tax dollars you know people have a close personal relationship with their money and for not I can't tell you how many times people Because with with where I work, we see our deposit on Wednesday for a Friday, but sometimes it's not there and they're like, "Why is it not there?" So, I had to like give them an explanation. I don't even do that payroll, but I know the answers. And uh to to change banks to do better processes needed because every teacher and everybody deserves to have that feeling that when they want to look at the bank account, it's there. But thank you for doing all the followup with with calling and everything. That was above and beyond. Thank you very much. >> Yeah, I actually was worried when I was calling. I was it was around 7. I was like hoping I'm not interrupting someone's dinner, but I figured it was good to do that outreach. So >> did anyone from National Bank out? >> Uh so initially we had to do all the outreach. Um on the first one there was no outreach. They just blink it on other financial institutes. So to explain the process. So we send an a file to the bank. They debit they they credit our debit our account and then they send the funds to the automated federal automated clearing house where other financial institutes have an automated process that sweeps that federal clearing house. It pulls those funds in and then shows up in your bank as pending. Well, they proceeded to blame the other institutes that they had not pulled in the payments. But every institute has most part you know they're pulling their money in as fast as possible. Um the second one was an issue of their system went down. So Friday Thursday night we're sending out the system went down. We tried to contact them. They said the range from 5:00 to 7 a.m. to 5:00 and said we have to wait till 7 a.m. to call. I mean I would think how serious concern is that someone to hear that such a response. Old National if they meet the new criteria are they be considered for an RFP or they just off the table? >> Uh they can they can submit their proposal. >> Okay. >> Um but I would say they probably wouldn't be on the table. >> Remind me quickly David again of our payroll cycle. Um we'll be paying rears I assume right or for time service. Just I'm saying moving up a day in advance to submitting the payroll. That won't cut anyone short a day of payroll. >> No, it wouldn't cut it will not cut anyone short day of payroll. So, it'll just be issued a day earlier. You might see it in your account pending a day earlier as well. Um, which would be great. Employees would probably love to see that a little bit earlier, but it wouldn't cut anyone's time by day. >> What's the downside to doing that a day earlier? It sounds like a good practice to do just so that we don't have this issue >> where it could impact somebody. We process like stipens and reimbursements. So it shortens the time to process those. Um typically most places you have plenty of time one day out doing this because that hasn't worked well. >> My my comical compared to what yours is. So like I that's why I'm trying to grasp what it looks like >> and it and it's the part of there are some things you can do day off and whatever but it's just it's more the I think it's to Chad's point the first time you know we check and I believe David and correct me I've learned way more than I ever thought I would learn about this. We know when our accounts are debited and on the August 21st one, our accounts were debited for payroll by 700 p.m. on the 20th. >> Yep. >> So something happened between Old National and the Federal Clearing House. And that's the part where, you know, to be quite frank, my level of trust in the answers we were getting, it's pretty unusual for the federal clearing house not to process money in a timely fashion when they get it. That's then, you know, the second one, it was more the hey, our system went down. Yeah, you can. We'll get back after it at 7 in the morning. [snorts] and processed I think the payroll was debited like 7:30 a.m. something roughly like that and then it took three hours to get to the Federal Reserve clearing house again which you seems excessively long. So there's even within that you've got to be able to trust that people are doing things in the f the timeliness the fashion you expect. So I think yep shortterm we have to do that long term we just have to have somebody who's operating at a different level in terms of expectations >> which is our reliability right that's probably the most important piece um and I think if I remember rightse two things >> we had uh we had one issue I don't know three four years ago that was the uh we've got one big payroll where we're doing lumpsum payments and they were we put a cap on how much they they will process for us kind of like a lot of us have a can't take more than x amount of dollars out of your account without whatever but we had the cap and I think there was a shared thing there but some of that was us because the one time payment we should have raised the cap because it was a it was a built-in stop but again think Even looking back on that, some of the timeliness of when did we recognize that? What happened? Could we correct that? And truly if that overnight services probably could had it corrected by 10 p.m. the night of but no, we we own I mean that one I think we owned the bulk of that responsibility and it was, you know, it was an oversight. It's an oversight that shouldn't happen. Yeah, because you should know where your cap is and you should know if you're trying to take more money out of your bank account whether and get that one. >> Just on top of that, we, you know, where I was previously, we did the lumpsum payments at the end of the fiscal year, but um the bank would reach out to so they would see that come through. It'd be something that was out of the norm. They would call um we would authorize people who were on the account and say, "Hey, is this authorized?" We'd even reach out the night before, a couple days before telling them to file. They would still reach out and let us know. So, it's something that your financial institutes as it comes through not just >> how many years have you worked with >> I would say now it's been about three or four years >> where we were climbing before >> hometown or climbing before they got bottled >> and then before that was I I do appreciate David's effort not a situation you want to be in when you're in a tough situation, how you react, how you handle things. Really appreciate efforts that Friday most recent a weird floating holiday for me up on Rainy Lake. The only thing I'll add to Chad's point, I had to take a a shed down with a sledgehammer. It came down much faster than I expected. So, that's kind of an up north therapy thing. It's wild to me. It's such a base level service. Like I went to a concert and I got an email from Capital 11. Like looks like you were charged twice as she bought a drink earlier in the night, bought another drink later in the night. Same place. But even they can't take the time to go, hey transaction with us and something isn't looking right. >> So what will be the process? What's our timeline? What are we looking at for transition? >> Working with capital sourcing solutions to do the request for proposal. We'll build in what our requirements are. We've started this. It'll go out to the financial institutes out there. We'll also post on our website. They'll come back in. I would say that's probably going to take a couple weeks. We'll review it and then it's going to take a couple months after that to move over everything from our system that is in Old National. But it's going to be everything from community to processing payments, food services processing payments, everything credit accounts, the IRS, 403b, that will all have to switch to new things. Yeah. >> And they we're planning to have updates whether it's the RA facilities. >> Thank you. We are going to transition to our action items on our agenda this evening. And the first one is our storm lease agreement is um yeah um you have in front of you the lease agreement for 2627 for Storm. Um pretty much the same lease as previous years. Um we did raise the rate by $300 a month due to uh increased usage from last year to previous year they are using 10 to 15 hours more per month and so we just adjusted that based on what we would like for instance charge someone so that's changed to questions This is our third third >> just a and I know we've talked about this in general with us facilities and the revenues that are coming in to offset and those things that's taken into consideration needed to keep safe that's all kind of a correct I will make a motion to approve. >> Second. All those in favor say I >> Madam Chair, could I I just want to interrupt this is later in the district update, but since Lisa is here and going to leave I open my email maybe an hour before the policy committee. Um so this was hot off the presses and since she's sitting here and I'm sure she loves this kind of attention. Um but I received a message from Minnesota Community Ed Association. This is their message. They're excited to inform us. Um well, actually there's two of them. I got the wrong one there. But um you go one forward. Ah, that's the one. Thank you. Um this is also a message from the Minnesota Community Ed Association, which was sent to Lisa Ron today. Uh where they they are thrilled to inform her that she has been selected as the 2026 Minnesota Community Ed Association Community Educator of Excellence Award winner. So while she's here, Thought I would share that news with you. >> Appreciate that, Mike. It's a pretty humbled by that, but it's pretty pretty neat honor. So, thank you. >> And also the honor that you just had about early childhood is equally as wonderful. >> Well deserved, too. 9.2 on our agenda would be our parent human resources here. >> Good evening. We have a two cycles of negotiations and the cycle we're in right now is the 2026 to 2028 contracts. So these are last two contracts for this. So we're happy about that. The first one here is our professional group and that's makes up 229 care professionals. That's our second largest teachers. This settlement is very similar in number total settlement as other groups but everybody's contract is different. So it sort of processes differently for this group. It's as you can see from the chart it's 2.4% increase in wage schedule both years health insurance 4% 4% both years increase to the district's contribution and then this groupity kind of longevity to their contract. So we were able to fit into the the settlement. Thanks. This I mean the MSP calculation looks like it's the 220. Uh how many of that I'd say this is one of those groups that has higher than normal for people who are working um you know part-timeish. This group works about eight and a half hours a day for about 186 days out of the year. With the early learning program, there there are some folks who are able to actually expand the number of hours that they work. Um, you know, because they can do a shift in the morning and then do their six hours. So, they might do a two hour shift or do it the other end. And we do have some staff members doing that, which we're kind of excited with that opportunity that So insurance [snorts] some people are some people are carrying health insurance for their families. That's sometimes what happens to we have a lot of through my years of experience a lot of um it seems like a lot of people professionals have, [snorts] you know, a family partner that might be self-employed and so having our insurance is a pretty significant deal. In fact, not so much here, but in my previous district actually that was the reason they were even working for that. >> How many people are impacted with the 202 uh you know not that many. So it wasn't really a very costly thing. We do have a you know this is one of those groups we have turnover and partly we have turnover in this group because they're people sometimes people early career you know like we have people who actually working jobs to see if they like this kind of work and then might go back and get a teaching degree might even participate in some of our programs that we have to be able to But yeah, I mean, you know, some people some people think, well, it's just it's not a good job. No, a lot of people are actually taking it to understand that it would take, you know, be a teacher or some some folks actually do it as a we had an individual or two who were doing this while they're working on their masters, you know, so it's kind of like I can in my schedule and still go to school. So, there's lots of transitional reasons for turnover, but we do have a fair number of people. This align pretty much from previous negotiations, right? for this cycle. Y the contract dates on this go back to July 1st to 26. So am I assuming we some >> Yeah. So David, you're have to send the bank a note quick. >> Yeah. the early well the early the early earlier time frame that we're in solution to approve contract Further discussion in favor say I >> motion carries the next you know this is one of our smaller groups it's 38 staff members again looks very similar they They uh that 2% increase to the wage schedule each year. They wanted 5% 6% insurance. This is a group a couple of years ago that almost put very little money on health insurance. So I think that's part of it. I don't know all the rale but I think that's part of it. And then they also had an interest in longevity for this group. So you see they also represented by the same party or same. So that also has something to do that question. discussion. See, all those in favor say I. >> I 9.4 on our agenda is the truth. >> A little more exciting topic. I presented on earlier. So tonight uh we will take be taking our first steps in the annual truth and taxation process for the 26 27 payable. When I talk about 26 payable 27 I'm talking about what was certified in calendar year 26 the revenue will be collected by the district in 27 but will be used for FY28 revenue. Uh I want to explain when we talk about certifying we'll certify at the maximum. The maximum is the district's law will let me limit determined by Minnesota Department of Education under state law. It's never been my favorite language when they say the maximum because it makes it sound like we're going above and beyond, but it's just what the district is lawful state law. Certifying at the maximum preserves the district's available levy authority under the calculations as they are updated. So, as of this moment, I'd be still running calculations and updating the levy limitations report, and that will be more finalized as we get closer to September. The final dollar amount will come back to the board for consideration in December. There are two upcoming steps for the board and the community to be aware of. In November, property owners will receive their proposed tax notices showing their estimated taxes for 27. They'll payable on 27th. And in December 7th, we'll hold our truth and taxation presentation. At that meeting, we will review the district's levy, explain the changes from previous fiscal year, and provide an opportunity for public comment before the board considers final certification. For tonight, the administration recommends that the board approve the proposed taxes for taxes payable in FY27 at the maximum amount authorized by the Minnesota Department of Education. Happy to answer any questions. >> Joe, is it too early to ask the question? >> Yes, it is. ask. >> Okay. >> All right. I'll I'll ask one then just out of curiosity. I don't know the answer to this and I probably should. Um do other local uh government bodies such as city councils and counties also have to do the treatment taxation? >> They do. >> Okay. Questions. Has there ever been a school district? >> Well, it just takes away the flexibility and if you put in a dollar amount, you'd have to do that dollar amount in December by saying letting the option >> especially with also doing calculations. If you were to brought a dollar amount tonight, that might be not the dollar amount we see next week. When when did you get the first dollar amount from MD? Was that last? >> September 8th and it was wrong. So >> So they they're doing corrections moving forward which is another very valid reason. >> The history lesson here. This there's a political element. Somebody thought it'd be great to make people say that word at the September meeting. And really what it does keeps everything on the table until you have all the numbers, all the d bring it forward as a final product at December 7. >> All that work was picked on purpose and politically motivated. >> Any other questions for David? I'll make a motion to approve the truth and taxation as required. Second discussion say I thank you. Yeah, he's going to put the actual lease itself up there. And we're not going to read through this before. This coming school year is our 10th year of a 10ear lease with the city of Jakina. Um, we will, what we're asking to approve is a fiveyear lease which will start end of next spring. It will run through June 30th of 2032. Um, and the language stuff in the lease we work through is any any two partners would if you've been in a lease for almost 10 years. Kind of go, hey, what are we really doing? Uh, and so really, you know, a number of things were cleaned up. None of them were really like a part of the negotiation. Like we're going to want this language and you're trading off or whatever financial accommodation. It was more let's make sure we understand the rules we're playing by. Uh, and it was really I think it was a positive experience. And then if you go to page seven, what we really had to do in this 10-year lease, uh, yep, right there, perfect, is we were paying a lump sum of $125,000 a year. First few years, I would say we were probably overpaying. We might have been paying beyond the market rate. The last handful of years, we've been underpaying. You just kind of look at, hey, what people charge for ice and kind of the facilities. So really what we we had to do was kind of a what is kind of the the going rate the market rate for the the services um that we use. Uh and we determined that you know together in partnership it's right around when this kicks off. Everything all included about $150,000. And once we got that set, we broke it into the different parts. Cost of the lease. Typically isolina costs have gone up at 3% or more per year. So these go up uh 3% a year for the everything that's 26 game blocks. There's 43 practice hours. And then if you go to slide eight, uh locker room cost. So, we broke out our costs more than previous lease. Um, there should be right there and feel that it's a fair deal both ways. We're the premier tenant of our ice arena. Uh, we book uh really the prime time and to be quite right, we book the ice time that we want, which is incredibly valuable. And because we're, you know, a prime customer, if you will, uh, we get a slightly discounted rate of what, rent to somebody else. So, all in all, I think it's a very fair deal. I don't know if I missed anything, David. You were part of the negotiations and discussions. >> Yeah, I thought it was very fair. Both sides came together as a group. Wasn't, you know, city vers, you know, public schools collaboration. I thought, you know, Bill, Dr. fantast. >> Well, one, I'm not a hockey player, but I can appreciate that ice time comes, you know, scarce, >> right? So, the fact that we have a great facility in our district and it's certainly more cost effective than entertain that conversation. Uh you mentioned though in terms of practices so this is pretty equivalent in terms of the services that were previously it's just more kind of right sizing and rental of the space in the lock room but nothing changes in terms of just term dates now runs from July 1 to 30 so it runs our They will do that next. I don't know if it's as soon as tomorrow night or not. >> Who receives the back? Not I don't read that tickets and everything. So I was just wondering if city does or district I'm looking around hoping somebody's been part of the hockey booster. I'm not sure. I just I know that wasn't part of the association at that level. So I'm not sure at that level >> this is way back but I know that was 10 years ago. volunteers. >> That would be my guess. It's just not specific here. >> I can look into it and let you know. I just honestly don't know how that wasn't part of working through all the other spaces and the locker rooms and you know cleaning up and doing that question as president. Second 9.6 on our action items would be the consideration to approve a budget policy turn. >> Sure. So this is our third reading and approval. just the last chance for questions. Um did send me a few questions prior to the meeting so I can address those. Does anyone else have any questions on that? Um so uh luckily had policy tonight so we're able to discuss these group um but so regarding policy 208 section 5 letter D talks about where our policies available so the two things raised were one policy doesn't say anything about the fact that policies online should Um and also the consensus was that it's probably not true that physical copies are available in every school office just because thinking about maintaining a printed copy in every building in which these are refreshed. If they have printed copies, they're probably not so policies are all available online. When you click on it says red line or blue line and go down to policy 208 >> section five, I think 5B right there where it's in blue. to make that larger strike through through the language and put put the website address which is much more efficient and effective. We'll make sure that people in all those locations have access to that and if somebody came in and wanted they'll print them. But this is where we're going to get the most up to date where kind of what we got rid of as a school board with the three ring binder. Yes, >> I'm not even sure why that's still in the recommended policy. So, just this has been added into the final version of policy 208. So, great question. >> So, yeah. So, that was a good catch. The next one, policy 509 is related to district transfers and um you asked about does this align with state high school policies and it's impossible for us to answer because we don't even have those policies in front of us state high school. Um but kind of the consensus we arrived at was that state high school rules about eligibility would be on top of our existing district transfer rules. So it be like you know everyone's obligated to follow all the policies that we have and then on top of that question and such in addition to Um and then the last one policy 901 section was newly added and 901 is about community education and then just adding a section care about education. So that was the only ad at this time. There's no specific uh additional policy language about that yet, but we've gate that on our next uh January approval to like recheck that was your everything else has another >> and we checked the the footnote or the side note on the just that as an ad. We're going to look and make sure January that was a great question [snorts] >> and I I just brought up the eligibility because I know that such at the high school that policy. I just want to make sure that the language worked together against each other because so those were the three questions. policy changes. >> Any further discussion? >> Say I going to go back to our lastformational item and that is our district update. Lots of lots of shout outs here. This was this was a lot of fun. One of our one of our teachers does a lot of work special Olympics and other things and Josh Fish was recognized as the group part of the North Star of the Northed. at a recent home soccer match. I was able to see him both on his way onto the field and his way off the field and was really really cool. Just love, you know, the work that Josh does for us and how he connects with kids with special needs all the time. pretty fantast. Drew just like every time you see him. >> Love it. Love it. >> I was gonna say he's my neighbor. [laughter] [clears throat] >> Love that. to school ribbon cutting. Really appreciate the work of the the city uh and then all the partners and again the funding uh not school district funding uh but coming from safe routes to school grants and great partner with the city uh to really move our move the traffic off of Adam Street by by Sweeney was the main project uh to to be able to turn in by kind of sand park and then not have cars backing up on Adam Street waiting to turn into this lot. There's also projects done in other parts of the district by the high school over by Sun. >> Yes. >> Perfect. And then speaking of ribbon cutting, we had some of our CAP students cutting. Pretty awesome across the river. >> Oh, David is still here. Good. I'm gonna I'm gonna say nice things about him, too. Uh David was uh one of the the main presenters at uh the meeting last Friday did a fantastic job. Lisa Ryder, the director of business services at Fire Lake, uh shared a lot of great information on school finance with all the different uh folks, you know, legislative folks and local government folks that scale the executive director schoolboard association presented on the constitutional presentation. I'll be going to the city council meeting tomorrow evening to share information on the constitutional amendment there as well. We're uh celebrating I guess kind of the grand opening of Saber Connection this week uh at six different locations on Wednesday. Uh we now actually changed this number. I got Lisa told me that we're up to 341 students in Saber Connection. They're pretty excited because I've heard that number is more than were served previously. Um so really excited about what's happening and just lot it's a great service to have and uh really really pleased with the launch and things you know seem to be going very well. A lot a lot of hard work behind the scenes. So school board election and all the other things on the ballot this November. Early voting starts this Friday. So just reminder of that list of candidates there and list of places to get information. We held last Wednesday we do a monthly instructional leadership meeting community room over at the high school. really focusing this year on, you know, building making classrooms, part of math instruction and then the math curricula uh curriculum itself. And so fantastic opportunity for leaders across our district to get, you know, do some learning together, kind of, you know, share get information about look for and then go out and see math instruction in action. the class I saw. I wish I wish I would have had that teacher class when I was in high school. I would have learned much more. And then we continue to celebrate at the welcome back years of service. So these are in the slides. We got the 20 the 20 year groups pictures of who they are, where they're from, uh the 25 year group. We got 30 groups a little bit smaller than 35. [snorts] Just really want to, you know, share my level of appreciation for all all the folks that have been serving our district for an extended period of time. Uh it's great way, it's part of our welcome back. It's a great way on that Thursday to help kick off the year, but to recognize, you know, the service of folks and uh get a bring them all up on the stage. So, really just cool stuff. Um, I said we could, so we signed a contract and the amphitheater here in Chaky. So, um, I knew, you know, I thought it would probably be well received in the community. I think it's been incredibly wellreceived. There are folks going, "Oh my gosh, that's my kids graduation here. That's my graduation here." Um, at least person I know pretty well. He's really happy about it, but which is, you know, which is we're going to be on the school board for that event, I think, maybe. But, uh, >> possibly. >> I I don't know. I don't know, Joe. Just, you know, but no, I think this is just uh lot lot of good work and a great thing and uh really excited to uh partner with the Live Nation folks and I think we're have a great great graduation back back in Brian. So, >> so really excited about that. And then I kind of well I added a couple slides to this right before the meeting, too. So, hot off the presses. I think look at the font I used. I think I really did some nice work. Um I know I know it's not great. I apologize. Uh but the message was what was important. We uh I got news via email this afternoon. Um not for the policy committee, but uh our our community ed group uh that early childhood screening community outreach with Scott County and the Reed Mobile and all of that was recognized um you know as a statewide project award. So it's really nice when other folks look at the work that uh we're doing here and go, "Hey, that's that's pretty cool." And then uh I thought it was appropriate since when Lisa was in the room to uh you know share that she is the 2026 MCA Community Educator of Excellence Award which is really recognition and uh it's always a great day to be a s and we've got this is this did somebody say this is one of the earliest homecoming weeks. Um and uh pretty awesome homecoming week. One of the one of the coolest events as we bring back folks recognize them to shock the alumni on Friday. Uh nice nice event recognition. Our uh Tiffany and Amber have been working in partnership with the alumni association. So they've got to know the the three folks who are going to be honored and just share wonderful things about each of them. Uh so there's an awards part and they go over and there's another kind of little award celebration at the high school. Uh they go into a high school gymnasium for the pep fest which uh I think when you haven't been there for some time that's a different volume in life. Uh pretty normal maybe if you're a junior and a senior in high school that's the best fest when you been to one for a while and so that that energy is contagious and then they typically don't attend the football game in the evening. So, uh really looking forward to this entire week. We've got lots of groups celebrating homecoming. Uh wish them all the best and uh and this especially cool week to be a s. Thank you for the updates. Item 11 on our agenda would be our committee reports and other information. >> All right. Um, couple weeks ago I had the AMSD legislative committee meeting where we talked some of the priorities for our legislated legislative folks that would be bringing out to them. We also highlighted and kind of looked over how many different districts are going out for levies and bonds and referendums this year. so thankful that you know for once we're not in that situation but it's clear that it's it's something that's affecting all the schools in Minnesota. Um which also reminds me to connect with you guys before our next meeting to make sure I'm not missing anything that that potentially help out schools Jackson PTO event last Thursday night which was fun. We had great weather. It's just a fun like literally at the beginning of this school year. Everyone's got so much energy and enthusiasm especially in elementary level. Um then we also did AMSD business meeting last Friday morning where it was all about early election season topics polling where the things are going there. It's quite fascinating. um with the policy committee earlier today. We did talk about adding another committee meeting to cover, you know, potential additional policy that we might adopt here next year as well as revamping or looking at the early changes to the 506 policy as well. That's all I got. >> No committee reports, but I did go to the city council meeting last month and it was really great. We talked a lot about a very interesting meeting. And then I went to this meeting also policy committee. I was involved at um I also attended the day at the state fair and that was really we had a great response. Um it was interesting to see all the people that came through came through didn't a teacher family of teachers and I learned that we had a great conversation and fun fact that >> anyway so you'll probably see more information there were a lot of videos that were captured of people in the booth and talking about their experience with public schools and things like that. So, I thought it was really a good event. Tomorrow meeting and next week I will be in Washington DC. I'll have our congressional members to talk about some of our federal funding requests. And then I just want to tell David thank you for representing the school district at scale on Friday presentation with I appreciate I wish I could have been there but appreciate your efforts that you put into that collabor. Um, other than that, >> I don't have anything. >> Great. Planning to be at the uh the alumni hall of lunch on Friday. Um, and then yeah, policy committee was a little different. Um so there's this really long policy that MSBA um I suspect the help of others drafted regarding AI usage and it's uh I will say it's really not ready. So like we had Brian come in and he kind of reviewed this and marked up and his impression of this stuff a lot of which I really agree with. Um, this needs a lot of work still before [laughter] >> I think that policy came to be collaboration with other state. >> So it's the mark of a group project >> Terry is like Terry MSBA like he's so good training sessions with him like he's really sharp this doesn't feel like this if it was just and there's just a lot it seems like maybe a good start maybe a good first draft but um some heavy work >> was Thursday. >> Okay. I thought I know you mentioned homecoming and as much as I love that's kind of a hellish week for me. It's where bulk of my time is going this week um weekend about 10 hours after school just doing stuff for deck the halls for all the different committees at lunch today. for student council. I did get after school every day for this. I go to recruit tomorrow. Got to help with Peps. Just everything's going on this week, but I'm sure it'll be super fun. So, that's kind of what me and I also just work a lot per usual. About 30 hours this week. So, just very busy this week, but after it's over, I'm free. So, Um, also pretty much for me, but I think my aunt, she overdid the social media promo a little bit at the start of the fair. She likes to post a bunch of videos. Um, one of which mega viral. Um, I think she got over two million views. >> Um, and she just kept posting and posting and posting and she didn't realize the repercussions of that much. And so on the last day, we actually sold out um a food. So we turned into a shop. I asked my I was like, "Hey, so since we sold this much food and we're all sold out now, how much sales, what's the numbers on that?" Um she said that we were up 60% in sales from last year. >> And that last year we were up 30%, which Um, so that was my summer. >> Yeah. >> Is that the one? >> Yeah. Yes, that one. >> Yes. Um, she's been posting all over Tik Tok, Instagram, Facebook. [snorts] That's pretty amazing considering the third attendance. >> Yeah, >> we thought it was going to be up a bit since the first two days broke the attendance record. But yeah, and I also thought that maybe this was just my ignorance. I just thought that she was another vendor. But um she's actually a top vendor, which I never so which is like so crazy. But the start of my school year has been pretty well. Senior year been great so far. At the end of this week, I will also be in DC for um HOSA. I'll be representing but also Minnesota for five days. So, I'll be meeting >> I'm leaving this Friday. I'll be there until Tuesday. This is why I don't follow this. [laughter] >> Don't let me follow the student board because that's awesome. Mine is but a little more mundane. But um I got to participate in the community education advisory council for the first time. Um which was Lisa Ron and her natural elements. night. Um, and that was that was great to be a part of that. Um, the one uh neat thing about the meeting that night was we had a presentation uh from Susanna Meyer about magnifying abilities which I wasn't familiar with and this is uh the social and recreational program for persons with intellectual and physical disabilities and uh they serve people in Scott and Carver counties. Um and there is uh information about it in the latest education mailer. Um, so that was neat to get a a presentation about that. It seems like a great program with uh uh you know just the slideshows that everybody involved with it seems like they really enjoy it. Um [clears throat] and then um I will put in a plug for David. He doesn't know this is coming, but I got to witness him on Thursday uh at Palmer last week wearing both wearing our other hats. Um but you know, leading transportation on the first day of of K through 12, you know, everybody taking buses uh and just the elementary kids, a lot of them placed on the wrong buses, which is normal every year. Uh but David was there late at Palmer calling parents directly, reuniting kids with with their families uh and and just just watching you uh do your work was was impressive. So thank you for for all your extra work. >> Well, when I was making the calls, I saw you there and I was like, "All right, he's in listening ears. [clears throat] Perfect." >> But I knew you were doing that even though >> made me sweat a little bit more. >> [laughter] >> So, that's it for me. Thanks, >> Jim. >> Uh, first of all, I had the opportunity to see our marching band at the state fair. They were fantastic. Um, I'll vouch for how hot it was. I had to find a tree for about a half an hour to hide in the shade so I could stay for the uh the news broadcast at 5:00, but it was it was brutal, but the kids were were amazing. And then the other thing, um, Mike and I had the opportunity to attend the National Hispanic Heritage Awards last week at Orchestra Hall. first time the event had ever been held outside of Washington DC and um our our friends at Mikasa were were sort of honored that evening and so we had the opportunity to go and be in the audience and that'll be coming up on PBS soon. The other thing I'd like to add is just on the homecoming week training here of just being able to support the Hall of Fame um videos this year alumni association. I'm really excited for our district to have that opportunity because there's so many stories that they're sharing that I think is really important and that alumni voice is so important. We have all the way from 1982 I was And then we have 2013. We just have all these things in between. So, um, and I thought I was supposed to bring it up when I honored you folks earlier, but a great thing that Tess Michigan, uh, she's the Hall of Fame for from the track and field side. Her favorite part about Sable Pride, when she described it, is that this community just shows up all the time. She actually had tears in her eyes when she said it. She hasn't been in school obviously for for quite some time and she just said this is this is really important. >> Don't say quite some time. I was the principal at East when she was when she was winning state titles. It was just yesterday. >> So I do hope you can't make it. I know Chad you said you're going. Um they will honor them um will honor them at halftime on the field on Friday. And then those videos they're only about five minutes each. There's three of them. many people watching people in this community. >> David, anything else that you'd like to share with us tonight? >> No, just excited for the new school year. projects and I think there's a lot of fun potential. >> Yeah, I would just we kind of started the meeting with schoolboard recognition. Would like as we're getting towards the end of the meeting to echo that sentiment. Um, I I get a I get a behind thescenes look at how much time and energy you put into serving our community, our students, their families, uh, and and our entire community. And I I appreciate it greatly just hearing you talk about things that you kind of take for granted. Uh, but as a group, uh, you show up and, uh, you know, we go above and beyond routinely in terms of service to our community. So, on behalf of our Thank you. >> Um, and I just wanted one thing I forgot to mention. I just appreciate Junication. Um, our next meeting is October 5th. there will be a business meeting here at the district office 5:00 that night we will have a finance and facilities meeting as well. Anything else? Further discussion. All those in favor say everybody.