I also um saw a couple resignations that um um kind of jumped out at me. Um Charles Hunter um and Jenny O'Donnell. Um it's so, you know, we never know when uh people leave our district and for what reasons they're leaving our district. Um but uh Mrs. O'Donnell was the Black Student Union adviser for the last seven years. And Mr. Hunter was a very well-reggarded AP biology teacher. and we are losing uh good staff. Um and I just can't help but wonder if all all of this um all the folks here this evening and all of the various things that are being discussed um ANI changes uh those types of things might have anything to do with it.

Well, I just want to concur that they're both a huge loss to the programs that they worked with. And Jenny O'Donnell was so dedicated and my heart is really sad to see that she's moved on.

for a total of did I all the way? Oh, nope. I better get this number right. $21,334 and one penny in total donations. And I move to approve with gratitude.

I just want to again reiterate how we're in such a blessed community that just keeps giving and giving. We just cannot thank these people enough month after month. So, thank you.

Kimberly Vancou, special education buildings and grounds office assistant three uh at the Forest Lake District Office after 27 years of um service. So thank you very much for her long tenure. I move to approve.

I just would like to add that um for Kim to have a happy retirement. She worked in many different positions in our district and just thank her for her service and flexibility and to enjoy her retirement.

the district population for the upcoming 2526 school year is 50,685. administration would ask that you pass this resolution um adopting that number provided by the state department.

Do they include any demography like how many adults, how many minors, anything like that?

I'm wondering if we could just back it up just a little bit perhaps, Dr. Massie, because some of us are new on the board. I wasn't here when we did the last strategic plan. Perhaps maybe just sort of an overview of how things have been handled in the past just to kind of fill us in.

I think the previous strategic plan that we're finishing up on, the five-year time frame served us really well. Um, I think that's a decision point for the board, frankly, and the committee that comes together. There's a lot of moving parts in our society and our educational world right now. Maybe the window is a shorter window. Um, I wouldn't want to make that call myself, but there are a lot of things that are going to be hard to predict 5 years out.

And and just for clarification, especially those of uh everybody in the audience, this doesn't mean we're going to to decide on a new strategic plan on the 17th. It means we're going to decide as a board on the strategy for how we achieve the next strategic plan.

it was listed on being on May 24th and should have been listed on May 31st. We don't have the authority to move Memorial Day.

administration as a whole would also offer uh the idea and position that student activities have immense value for students and anything that restricts or limits opportunities is not good for our kids. um and I think would be an unfortunate outcome.

I would move to amend that we take out we replace secondary school with high school and community school. And strike 3B for the middle school.

Point of order. This proposed policy amendment was not in our board packet. This amendments are never part of the packet. But if you're prior, it seems to like almost sound like open meeting law to me violation. And this also circumvents the process that the policy committee has done this entire five months.

could could we amend it to include 7th through 12th if if sixth grade is kind of a crux of thinking that maybe the students are too young? I don't know what what why sixth why middle school's not in it.

I kept telling myself, "This is going to die down. Someone is going to stand up and is going to say, no, wait. This isn't what we meant. This isn't the path that we want to be on. This isn't the path that we should be on here in 2025." And yet, here we are again. There is palpable nervousness of the decision that might be made tonight.

I've been following the school board's review of many policies. And in my role as mayor, I find it necessary to speak out against the potential removal of the language of the dress code policy that takes us out symbols of hate, genocide, and lynching. The current policy has served this force lake well since it was in place over 25 years.