Now call the Thursday June 26 area school board meeting to order. Please join us for the second 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. Sure. Oh, am I on? Yeah, I think you're on. Okay, thank you. Uh, member Reveline here. Member Corkran here. Member Christensen here. Member Haggland here. Member Tyson here. Member Antonson is here. And member Castle here. All right. All right. That brings us to the approval of the meeting agenda. Motion to approve. Move to approve. Second. All right. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. those opposed. The agenda is adopted. That brings us to scheduled and unscheduled visitors. Um we will start with the listing report. Yeah, we had um quite a few people and we had about 12 people that spoke u mostly about policy 515 and and 1801. Um pretty much the consensus was you know why are we doing this? How it's going to affect the clubs? um why are we allowing why are we going to allow hate speech? It's how it's going to affect our community. Um everyone was very clear about their just very angry about it and how it's going to affect our community and um we don't want to be known as that community and be a backwards community. So, and allow hate speech for sure. um students um um communities some staff spoke a very clear message that these policies should not be happening and they're very unhappy and that concludes my report. Thank you for memory. Anything to add? Um yes, there were speakers on both policies. Um, one of the most interesting ones I thought or I mean the very impactful ones there are multiple but the one was a student who graduated a couple years ago um is part of the LGBTQ community and experienced um said that their memory of Forest Lake is a culture of hate. And I find that very sad to hear. Um, and knowing that we have had these groups in place and um, you know, personal knowledge of people in the community that have had these experiences as well. And um and I know that the previous board chair had said either multiple times in one meeting or over a course of a couple meetings that if we if our kids don't feel safe in our schools then we got a problem. Um saying that you know kind of insinuating that these clubs help make our schools safe and I don't know that that is true. Thank you. Um that will bring us to the uh the green card process and like to open up discussion with the board here first. We have approximately 25 grain carts. Uh if my math is correct here our current rules right now we allow 3 minutes per speaker that brings us to roughly an hour and 20 minutes hour and a half to get through the green card staff. I just like to ask board members here if that's acceptable or if we want to modify the rules or we should just proceed. I think we should proceed. Christ, I was just going to say I think that's acceptable. People are here and they're taking times out of their evenings to be here. There's nothing in the policies anywhere that says that um there's any sort of a limit on the green card. So um we are elected officials and we're here to hear um what the community has to say. So yep. And I also think that we've never limited it before. So I think with this big crowd that is dedicated to being here, we need to proceed as usual. I I don't disagree with that. I just want to open up the discussion in case uh somebody wanted to bring something up. With with that said though, I I will ask speakers to please remain on task. We remain within your time frame and let's keep things moving. Um I have a preamble I'm going to read off uh very important notes in this one. So please pay attention. Uh we feel that public comment is very important aspect of our community interactions and as a result we include that opportunity on our agenda this evening. In accordance with our green card procedure, we ask speakers to keep their comments relevant to the agenda item that they would like to speak on. Comments that deviate from the topic are inappropriate and subject to be being called out of order by any board member. We also ask that speakers remain respectful and use language that's appropriate to a wide audience which includes our early childhood students. Remember, addressing the board during a publicly held meeting is a privilege and not guaranteed under any statute or constitutional provision. Due to numerous recent threats of physical violence against board members, I'm reminding speakers that comments directed towards or alluding to any individual board member are are out of order and will not be tolerated. Violations of this requirement result in the speaker forfeiting the remainder of their time and a directive to leave the premises. Future opportunities for the speaker to address the board may also be impacted. There are multiple speakers who would like to address policies concerning the dress code and student activities. Prior to comment, I'd like to provide some clarification on these policies in response to the overwhelming amount of false information and rumors in the community. The proposed dress code changes are based on the Minnesota School Board Association's model policy and would bring our district into alignment with over 99% of schools in Minnesota as well as the overwhelming majority of schools across the nation. The proposed language is based on directives from the Supreme Court of the United States and provides latitude for both student expression and limitations thereof to ensure that a positive learning environment exists for all students. administration will continue to have the discretion to prohibit anything that materially disrupts the educational process. Based on recommendations from our school district attorneys to ensure adherence with state and federal laws, the board recently approved policy 1510 pertaining to school sponsored activities during our May 29th schoolboard meeting. Tonight, we will be considering proposed policy 1801, which pertains to the limited open forum groups primarily covered under the Equal Access Act. Currently, there are no limited open forum groups in the middle school. All existing groups are sponsored activities, part of school operations or community education offerings. A recent review indicates there hasn't been a single limited open forum group in the middle school in at least 20 years. The proposed policy currently includes the middle school, which would be a new option for these students. I would like to remind board members and commenters alike this is an opportunity for the public to address the board and is non-interactive. We request that everyone here tonight be respectful of commenters and refrain from making their own comments or applauding to keep things moving. Commenters are given three minutes to speak. The clerk will give notification to speakers as their time is expiring and the chair will strike the gavl once your time is expired. I have shuffled the deck of green cards and will call speakers by first name and last initial. In addition to the speaker, I will also specify who is next to speak. To keep things moving, please be ready when it is your turn. Again, comments directed towards or alluding to any individual board member will not be tolerated. All right, starting this evening, we have Jenny R. And next will be Lynn Dan. Thank you, Jenny. Hi. Hello. My name is Jenny. My husband and I have two children, one at Forest Lake High School and another at Forest Lake Middle School. School board members are elected to represent the community. Well, I'm a community member and I'm extremely embarrassed and frustrated that in 2025 we have elected officials who are even considering the idea of allowing hate symbols in our school. It frightens me to think that you may decide to change policy 1801 at the last minute before voting tonight to something other than what you've presented on the agenda. Real leaders are clear in their communication and do not make lastminute changes to favor their personal agendas over the people that they were elected to serve. The chair is quoted in today's Pioneer Press saying that Forest Lake has the most prohibitive and ambiguous code in the state. Let me be clear so you are not confused. There is no room for hate in this community. You've heard the community voices and seen our protests. If you are unable to leave your personal religious, ideology, or racist, transphobic, homophobic, etc. views at the door when sitting in those chairs, I cordially invite you to resign from your position immediately. You're addressing individual members. Please leave the premises immediately. That brings us to Lynn D. On deck is Mora L. I'm nervous. My name is Lynn Drain. My husband and I have lived in Forest Lake for 52 years. Our three kids attended Forest Lake schools K through 12. I worked for the Forest Lake School District for over 30 years. I'm here to ask you not to change the current dress code. You are too young to remember the civil rights era. I watched the evening news with my dad and saw people marching for the right to vote. They marched for equality. And I saw the people who marched against equality. They carried the Confederate battle flag. They carried that flag because it was a symbol of white supremacy. And that's what they were marching for. And here we are over 60 years later. And you want kids to be able to wear symbols of white supremacy because that's what you are voting for. and I read that our board has spent hours researching policies at other districts. I wish you had spent that time researching the history of the Confederate battle flag, the Ku Klux Clan, and the Nazis. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mora L. And next is Lindsay W. I think Mora L is name Lay, but my name is Maria Lay. Maria, I'm sorry. It's okay. Um, I am an educator at Force Lake Area Middle School. Um, I have lived in Forest Lake for 27 years. Um, and the green card asks um, children at which school, and I don't have children of my own, but I would tell you that your children who have sat in my classroom and the ones that um, the hundreds that are there every year are my children. So, I'm here to speak on their behalf tonight. Um, especially about policy. I believe it's 515. If my numbers are wrong, I'm sorry. Um, it is not redundant and mundane for the language in this policy to stay the same if there is a history that we need to acknowledge in this community and take a stand on. It is not redundant and mundane to keep that language in there if it makes our dayto-day with students proactive instead of reactive. It is not redundant and mundane for that language to be in there if our administrators are on record at policy meetings saying that it removing this language makes their roles of maintaining an educationally welcoming environment infinitely more difficult. Um, as an educator, I want the people who are operating my school to be focusing on other things than deciding whether or not something is materially whatever the language is. Um, this needs to be black and white um for our community. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Lindsay W in Andock is Rob R. And please hold your applause. Hi, my name is Lindsay Wido. Um I live in Forest Lake School District. I also graduated from Force Lake in 2003. Um I'm kind of on the bubble of the White Bear Lake School District and Forest Lake School District. Um and recently in the news with all of this, it really impacts my decision on where I want to send my children. So, I have a four-year-old and a 2-year-old, and I just want to read the policy on White Bear. It states that specifically, but not exclusively, wearing and displaying the Confederate flag, a swastika, and KKK symbols are prohibited. That's a white bear lakes policy, and it saddens me that this is being debated at First Lake, and it will 100% impact my decision on where I send my children. Thank you. Rob R on deck is Kate L. Welcome, Chair Raphael. Thank you. Uh my name is Rob Rafield. I'm from Scandia and I've been on this board. I was on the board for 20 years. And over that time, we did everything we could to make kids feel like this was a safe and loving home for them. because when they feel safe, when they feel like this is a place for them, then they respond and they're able to learn. Everything that's been happening on that board is pulling that back. This club thing is just it's a ruse to make make kids that are gay, make kids that are uh minority feel like they're second class, feel like that they don't deserve the same kind of thing. This is a purposeful policy that is made to move backwards in time to a time when those kids felt afraid, felt like they weren't part of the community. Every one of those students is a ranger. They deserve to have the clubs with advisors that they deserve. And secondly, let me just talk about the Confederate flag. The Confederate flag is a symbol of racism. It's a symbol of white supremacy. It has no place in this district. I don't care for white students, minority students, LGBTQ students. For us to say that the Confederate flag has a place in this school is to say that we are open and okay with the lynching with the with the unamerican behavior of seceding from this country so that you could keep people as livestock. That's what the Confederate flag represents. Keeping people as livestock. We don't need it here. We've got history classes that teach all about this. It's wrong for our district. We need to start going back to the direction of making every child feel included. And that means that we need to stop this chipping away at the rights of these students. Thank you. Thank you, Rob. Thank you. again, please. Um, no applause. We want to keep things moving. Kate L on deck is Jennifer C. Great. I'll keep this reasonably brief. Okay. So 515 and 1801 are already a compromise. Not an official compromise, but many of us have sent emails with, "Hey, this is good. How about we change this? I like this part. Could we work on this?" And I know that I wasn't alone in sending emails like that. I had great discourse with some board members. I had some discourse with other board members. I had crickets from some board members, but you know, too many cooks in the kitchen. Maybe the policy committee did weigh in. But I was sad to hear that we had so many policies that these really important policies got like 10 minutes at two meetings. And that type of rushing gets this type of outcome. unintended consequences come up when you don't fully do this. It's not on my green card. However, when we worked for the boundary adjustment, it was long. It was well thought out. There wasn't a person here who wasn't complimenting it. And that is the work of this board. And that is the work of boards. Big groups, big table, big tent, everyone voices. I don't think we should only have voices on one side of the table. I think we should have all voices. And I personally feel that I have been pushed aside. But in the end, some things got through. Like on the first reading, it did in fact have middle schoolers included. And it did in fact have a progressive ban on hate symbology. Except that might not be for long. And that's what you've said. And so I came again because of hearsay technically and I don't love hearsay. I have double checked and triple check and said what are you talking about? I want to hear firsthand. So I do a lot of asking and talking and listening and I keep hearing that it's going to get changed at the table. We need to worry about it getting changed at the table. That shouldn't be a worry. This should be regimented, predictable, well researched. And it's very sad that the status is DIY spaghetti against the wall and flood the zone. So I expect more. I hope for more. I pray for more. I am ever optimistic that we will do the right thing and make sure we're doing the right thing for all the kids. Thank you. Jennifer C and Shaye D. Hi there. Can everybody out there hear me? Okay. Just want to check as somebody being out there, please when you talk in your microphones, please get close because it's so hard to hear. Um, I came to talk specifically about the groups tonight, but I just want to mention one thing as far as the dress code policy. When we still have kids in our elementary schools being called the n-word, that is a sign that this fight is not over. Being anti-racist is the whole point of putting those terms in that policy. So, it's a very clear message that we won't put up with it because there's no way that a second, third, or fourth grader should ever be called that name ever. Secondly, so the school um the school groups I don't understand why this is even being considered. There's study after study after study that the more that these kids who might identify differently than your normal straight white student need to have a community. And when they don't have that community, suicide risks increase like 30%. So is it really worth for whatever end goal that you guys are trying to achieve by excluding these groups at a very pivotal point? I mean, let's think about it. I have a child going into middle school next year. We're talking periods, emotions, drama. What better time than for them to meet their core group of friends who share the same values. Um, that is it. Thank you. Thank you. Again, please. Shaylee D. Claire L is next. Hi. Uh, my name is Shaylee Deneski Ponquist. I'm currently a stay-at-home mom. Um, but my career is as a middle school English teacher. Uh, I'm particularly fond of seventh graders. They are old enough to be wildly interesting and young enough to have some fear and wonder leading their lives. My first teaching job was at Century in Forest Lake. I loved it. If you would have told seventh grade Shaye that I would be teaching seventh grade in Forest Lake, I would have never believed it because seventh grade in Forest Lake was one of the hardest years of my life. It was in the late 90s and my personal relationships were very inshed in the reason why we're here right now. The blatant racism that filled the halls of Central Junior High was palpable. As I've been reflecting on that experience in order to speak today, I'm horrified. I imagine my fearful seventh grade students, my wonderfilled seventh grade students listening to that racist language that was everywhere. I weep thinking about those impressionable babies watching another baby, a 12-year-old get beat. It's almost like we're reading a story from so long ago, but it wasn't. It was my childhood here in Forest Lake. The language you are looking to change is a direct, appropriate, and necessary response to horrible events in this town's story. Teaching English is so much about helping students understand stories. A student's personal story, a student's town story, their country's story, stories that are similar to theirs, and stories that are people very, very different than them. By changing the language and allowing for symbols that are undisputedly intolerant is erasing a part of Forest Lake's story, a time when this district said in response to a heinous act, "Hate is not allowed here. Don't make Force Lakes incredible teachers and administrators respond to more hate. I believe it was said that the revised policies would give school administrators broader discretion to determine what con constitutes a disruption in a learning environment. As a teacher, I can tell you a swastika disrupts my learning environment. As a 2001 graduate of Force Lake Area High School, I can tell you a Confederate flag disrupted my learning. It is not to be determined. Teachers and administrators have enough going on. Please do not change the language banning Confederate flags, KKK symbols, and swastikas and offer no amendments this evening. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Claire L. Nicholas F. Hi, my name is Claire Luger. Uh, I live in Wyoming and I'm back again with remarks about policies 1801 and 515. My remarks tonight are quite candid because frankly, as we can see here, the Ranger Nation is tired of being disregarded in this manufactured culture war based on a political agenda. We expect and we demand better for our students and our schools. There are countless examples of district business that should be the focus of this school board. We could be talking about boundary changes, changes for special education transportation funding, or our 2025 graduation rate, for example. Instead, here we are. of all of the things that we could possibly be discussing. We are here again talking about whether the Confederate flag, SWAT stickers, and KKK symbols should continue to be prohibited in the student dress code. We are here again defending students who have the opport to have the opportunity to find community in our secondary schools. After all of the committee, student, community, educator, parent, guardian, administrator input, we're still here talking about it because apparently we cannot trust that that input will be reflected at the end of this meeting. Most, if not all, school board members here tonight had something to say about improving test scores and focusing on academic achievement when you asked the community to to put you at this Diaz and oversee district policy. Parents and guardian rights and transparency were notable themes, too. Although neither have been honored in the adventures of policy 515 and 1801, and that is unacceptable. That the discussions have dominated community conversations is embarrassing. It is embarrassing to explain the path of these two policies, not just to community members, but to the bewildered and dismayed members of other communities and the media. This district has better things to do. This community has shown up time and time again. We've sent email after email. We've cringed while reading article after article. The people with the highest level of expertise have educated you all on the value of these things. There's just no possible way that this board as a whole isn't explicit aware of how the majority of this community feels about these policies. And to say otherwise is just a lie. Our district is a place for all students, not just the ones who look a certain way or believe a certain way or identify a certain way or come from a certain socioeconomic status. You have a responsibility to all students, families, and taxpayers in the district. The lack of ownership, transparency, and responsiveness of the community is unacceptable. My youngest graduated with honors from this district three weeks ago. I may not have students in the district anymore, but I am a product of this district, started my teaching career here, and will continue to be a taxpaying community member. And I refuse to sit quietly and watch while the responsive and educated work that has been done over the last 30 years gets dismantled so that bigotry can rear its ugly head. Our students and our schools deserve better. We will continue to watch and we will continue to hold you accountable for amendments and votes that either harm or enhance our schools tonight. Thank you. Thank you, Nicholas. have Allison R. Hi, I'm Nicholas Fox. I'm uh going into 10th grade at Forest Lake High School. And I've been to eight different schools over five different districts. And I have never seen anything like this from any school district I've been to, even though three of them were elementary schools. Feeling not safe in my own community as a trans man hurts me. It ma makes me and my peers feel like we don't have a safe place to be when these things are removed. It makes us feel like we don't want to be there and it makes suicide rates go up. H having opportunities that I have had has helped me but my friends don't have those opportunities and my peers don't have those opportunities. I was invited to join Mung an Asian club by one of my teachers and one of my friends and I decided to go and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made being able to go there and talk to people and make friends outside of my own community. And it's not just um students of minorities going to these groups. It's students of all minorities wanting to learn and wanting to see what other cultures are like and wanting to go and do things that they didn't think they could do before. Thank you. Thank you. Again, please no applause or we will have to stop public comment. Allison R. Jesse J. [Music] Um, hi. I spoke um to just the listening session, but I wanted to address the entire board and the uh much larger group of people that is here. Uh I graduated Forest Lake Area High School in 2022. Um and while I have seen hate and I have experienced it firsthand in Forest Lake, this is not about my experience. Um, as has been mentioned, um, the reason that this policy exists is because a black kid was beaten for being black in a Forest Lake high school in the '9s. And then in the days following his fellow students wore symbols and clothing that's uh beared uh Kuclux Clan symbolism and Confederate flags and all of the like. And I just can't help but think that that's awful and that's a little pathetic. Just one or two generations before him. uh we had black people and other minorities fighting for their rights in in some cases fighting for their right to exist and their right to vote just a few more generations back and his great great grandparents did not have the right to vote and very well could have been enslaved owned by another person. And now we're a generation later. That was in the '9s. It's now 2025. And why are we looking to take a step back? I mean, our country is based on the idea that no matter the circumstances of your birth, no matter your race, color, or creed, no matter what, you have the same fundamental rights as everyone else, we are all human. We are all rangers. And if you want Forest Lake to embody that, if you want it to follow what this country was founded on, you cannot enact any of this. We want a culture of acceptance, a culture that welcomes people, whether they're a cishat white man or a trans woman of color. We want everyone to be welcome as a ranger. But I don't I didn't experience a cultural culture of acceptance. And from the people I know who still live around Forest Lake and go to the schools here, there still isn't one. What I see in Forest Lake is a culture of hate. If you're going to ban affinity groups, if you're going to allow people to wear hate symbolism, that's just awful. Um, Mayor Blake Roberts commented, and I believe his exact wording was, "This kind of crap is what makes it embarrassing to be from Forest Lake." When I talk to people about being from Forest Lake, they say I'm from a backwards backwater. And if we want to change that, if we want to have better rangers, we need to get rid of hate and stop teaching hate. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you. Again, with applause, Jesse J. Point of order. Linda M. Yes. Uh, Mr. Chair, if the public is not going to respect or the board chair's wishes or no applause, uh, if I hear it again, I'm going to move to end the listening session. Point taken. Did everybody in the audience hear that? If if we have applause delaying public comment again this evening, we will take the consideration of ending public comment. Can I make your comment? No. No, this is not interactive. Jesse J, Linda M. All right, Jesse Johnson. I'm grateful for the opportunity to share my perspective on the topics being discussed this evening. I'm here as a parent of three Force Lake High School students, a lifelong resident, and a 23-year business owner in our community. My profession provides me the opportunity to connect with other business owners from around the metro. And on more than one occasion in the past few weeks, I've been asked what the heck is going on in Force Lake. You guys are all over the news. Again, this idea of revamping our dress code and removing symbols of hate is something I just do not understand. It is bad for our businesses and bad for our residents. We need to recognize that families and businesses have dozens of wonderful options to call home in the Twin Cities. And we put at jeopardy them choosing Forest Lake when a simple Google search pulls up articles of us cutting student opportunities and debating the allowance of swastikas confederate flags and KKK symbolism. With that said, like the majority of this board, I do view the world from a conservative lens and I share your concerns around outside groups and their messaging. I believe that several of the before mentioned, not student groups to be confused with are at best playing identity politics and creating divides in our country. But I also recognize and respect other people's rights to disagree with me because Lord knows that I'm wrong on a few things. It is a gigantic leap to compare a kid wearing a pride shirt to a swastika. Clearly, we can draw a distinction between the two and the dress code does not need to be all or nothing. The red wave that occurred last fall specific to school boards was motivated by parents wanting to make sure that their public schools were not forcing an ideology on our students. If that happens here, I would expect you to hold the educator responsible. Absent that, our students should be able to express themselves in their own way with a few guard rails. If some of those expressions make us uncomfortable, that's the point of free speech. The Forest Lake District has a budget of over $90 million. It consists of 5,500 students and over 1,000 employees. You are faced with a significant task in leading it. I hope that you pick and choose your battles wisely and consider the downstream impacts of them. The prudent choice this evening is to keep the present language that was deservingly added years ago and look ahead to other ways to improve our district. Thank you. Thank you, Jesse. Linda M. And next is Karen M. Excellent. Well, thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening. My name is Linda Madson. I graduated from Forest Lake High School in 1977 and returned in 1981 to begin my 36-year career in Force Lake schools. from junior high teacher, mentor and curriculum coordinator, director of teaching and learning, and superintendent. I've had the privilege of observing and being part of many thoughtful decisions that have been made over many years. I was a junior high teacher when the incident in the mid90s involving a student of color occurred, which was described by the superintendent at the last board meeting. It was disturbing, frightening, and unacceptable then, as it is now. The school board wisely took policy action to specifically call out the Confederate flag, swastikas, and KKK is unacceptable and prohibited. Having these unacceptable words and symbols in policy adds clarity to what was expected of students and guided administrators. That policy in its specific wording has served our district well for 25 plus years. It is wise to review policies, their wording, compliance with the law, and how they effectively and justly serve students, families, staff, and the community. As you have considered over the last few months the removal of these words, you have experienced speakers of all ages, a student walkout, a petition with hundreds of signatures, articles in many newspapers, and recommendations from the policy committee to name a few that all point to keeping this policy, which was wisely crafted so many years ago to deal with our district concerns. As our forest lake mayor recently stated, it's typically appropriate and respectful as leaders that we stay in our own lane. And I agree most of the time. I have stayed in my lane as the past superintendent so as not to interfere or publicly comment on district decisions. However, I'm compelled to speak this evening. If anyone thinks that removing these words from our policy is a step forward and is what is best for our students, they are wrong. What is best for our students and our community is to keep them clearly stated in the policy that was needed so many years ago and is still needed today and into the future. Hopefully, when this agenda item is discussed and voted upon, the policy will stand as presented in the agenda with the words Confederate flag, swastika, and KKK specifically included. Your credibility and your leadership will be reflected in your vote. Thank you. Thank you very M. And next is Ashley B. Thank you for listening to people tonight. A group of people that I've never seen as masses of this. So I hope you put the numbers along with their comments. I've spoken to you personally. I've spoken here publicly. And tonight I have met with the group. I attended a chamber event today that included all schools in our district, all city representatives, the county commissioners, our businesses, our police, and our civic groups. All were there to listen to the reports on what's happening in their individual areas and how they work together. The uplifting message for all who attended over a hundred people was how we have quality people working together for the benefit of all. They all agreed that the special partnership that they've had with the district is unique, important, and has worked well for years. As I listened to their reports, I thought, "What's happening now?" confusion, anger, frustration that a majority of our board has so far re refused to listen to our students, teachers, parents, and community. I hope that ends tonight. You could put aside your ideas for one year and work with the administration. you are new on the board and it would be good for you to take time to listen, go into the schools, talk to all kinds of folks in the buildings, and if after a year you find something that isn't working, definitely bring it back. But right now, you're still trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist. Right now, unnecessary negative stories are surfacing about our district instead of our great programs, staff, and the collaboration that we have with all of our partners. Let's put our egos behind. Give us a year, work together, listen to the community, respect the administration, and invite the press to come out to talk about our national award-winning FFA, our great music program, the opportunities we have for kids with the trades. We have so much to brag about. Let's tell CCO, KTP, anyone you want to bring out about all the good things that we not make up stories that aren't happening. So, I appreciate your time and tonight I hope it's over. Thank you, Karen. Thank you, Karen. Ashley P. on deck is Aaron S. Mr. Chair, Dr. Massie, members of the school board, my name is Ashley and I am speaking tonight as a member of the community uh as a parent and a local business owner. I employ many students in this district. Um and I also have two children of my own who I hope to have a long, happy, successful future uh within our schools. uh which is exactly why I'm speaking to you today with concern over the matter at hand which there are a few. The proposed changes to the dress code, particularly allowing symbols intertwined with hate both in historic times and present day is deeply troubling to me. Symbols such as the swastika, the Confederate flag, the KKK insignia. Symbols associated with horrible violence against marginalized communities. These are not neutral symbols. Allowing students to endorse a message of hate by making these by by allowing them to wear these in a public school funded by taxpayers, it it it changes the equality of our students education. These are not just expressions. They are symbols of terror, violence, and exclusion. And allowing them in our school sends a clear message about who is welcome and who is not. Your mission as a school district is to prepare and empower every student to thrive and to contribute to an everchanging world. Excellence for every student every day. I want to emphasize every student, not just the ones who feel emboldened to wear hate symbols, not just those that feel safe enough to endorse hate itself. Prepare and empower every student. Every student including those who are black, Jewish, LGBTQ community, or part of any group that these hate symbols have historically targeted. There is no version of thriving, and there is no path to excellence that includes tolerating hate in the hallways of any grade. To suggest that displaying these symbols is a matter of free expression without acknowledging the fear, trauma, and exclusion they represent is irresponsible and dangerous. As someone who works with teens every day, I can tell you they are paying attention. They are watching the adults in charge and wondering if they will be protected or ignored. This proposal does not protect. It puts them in harm's way emotionally, socially, and in some cases physically. I see the direct impact their school culture has on their mental well-being, sense of belonging, and overall development. I may not be a district employee. Um, I may not uh be a student, but I am a taxpayer. Um, I am part of the community. And when you serve the community, guess what? The students, they're part of the community that you serve. So, I I just I I urge you to reject this policy. Keep your commitment to the mission of the school district. You guys, thank you. Aaron S. On deck is John K. Hello. Um, again, my name is Aaron Sey, and this is the first time I'm going to say this, so this is weird. I'm a senior at the high school now. Um, I, as I mentioned before, I have two sisters who are Native American. They were, um, my parents are the legal guardians of them, um, out of foster care. Um, and these statements about the um, hurtful symbols and hurtful things that have been said deeply scare me for my sister's sake. Um, I know these aren't directed at specifically Native Americans, but there are many, many varieties of people in our school district who are going to be impacted if these are allowed. and putting it deeper in the policy just feels like you're burying it a little bit and trying to eliminate it almost. It really it makes me sad and it makes me nervous because my sisters are only in second grade. They have 10 years left in in school and they love school right now, but I don't want them to be those kids in high school that drag themselves out of bed just to get to school every day because they have to and they don't have a choice. um with the clubs and the groups. I think that it's very very important for us to have these. I'm wondering why the um advisor part has been removed for um limited open forum I believe is what it is called. Um I'm just curious what you guys think the benefits are to that or the consequences of that. Um and why that has been removed um from those limited open forums. Um I also I think it's just very important to have all these opportunities during co um I had lost two of my foster brothers. They went back to their home. We had them for 18 months. Um and I had nobody to go to. Um and I was in sixth grade at the time. I was moving into seventh grade and seventh grade is when I met pretty much all my close friends. I mean, I have friends that I had from elementary school. Um, my closest friend I met in preschool, but everyone else that I'm super close with, I met seventh, 8th, 9th grade. Um, and I just think it's very important to have connections. And although you can have connections in a classroom, you can also have connections between similar sim people with simil similar interests rather than oh we're in the same class so we have to work together and we might end up friends and I think it's very important to have be with people who have similar interests rather than just people of everybody and you can also collaborate with other groups. I know many have done that where like the G or the um one group collaborates with another group to put on something and I think that is very very important. Thank you. Thank you. John K and next is Paul P. Greetings and thank you for providing the space tonight for comment. I'm Pastor John Clower from Faith Lutheran and I've served at Faith for over nine years while also serving as an Army chaplain for the last five. And I would like to reiterate I'm not here on behalf of the Army, but I can speak to my role in defending the First Amendment right to freedom of religion as it pertains to our free speech. I often receive requests from soldiers that are seeking religious accommodations to freely practice their religion while serving our country. And it is not automatic. Not everybody gets what they want. I interview soldiers to vet whether or not they uh whether or not the religious practices that they follow are aligned with hate groups or would potentially cause irreparable harm to the relationships within our organization. Some who are defending our country would not be permitted to wear visible symbols of hate or intolerance. Symbols that our country has fought wars to defend. Why? It's because we know that this is not how you build a cohesive and united force. Rise of anti-semitic incidents rose 361% following the start of the Israel Hamas war. By allowing explicit language of discipline policy 515 to be removed, we are giving students tacit permission to express themselves in ways that contribute contribute to further anti-semitic behavior. It endorses racist language and it creates an unsafe environment for our students. In the coverage of the schoolboard process, I read comments about how the rainbow symbol was used as an example of an offensive symbol. As a religious symbol, a rainbow is a reminder of God's promise of love. As a pride symbol, a rainbow has never been used as a threat to someone's life. Nobody ever saw a pride rainbow and feared for their life or safety. A rainbow is a reminder that no matter who you are, you are created and a beloved child of God. Please do not make this decision tonight as a defense of your religious and moral superiority. Reinstating hate symbols is not the world that God intended. I pray that you have not made up your mind tonight before listening to all of the voices who have gathered here. We care about our students and we need you to hear that this catastrophic policy change will have severe consequences. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you. Paul P. And next is Kathy B. Good evening members of the board and Forest Lake area school families. My name is Dr. Paul Peas. I live in Scandia and have two children that are here in the middle school. I serve on the district equity steering committee and volunteer with the community education ranger space camp program. Before moving here in 2018, I taught high school math and science and earned a PhD in molecular biology. In short, I spend my life helping students succeed. Tonight, I'm deeply disappointed by recent proposals that have been discussed here uh changing the policies around banning or uh symbols of hate and cancelling student clubs. In the brief time allowed, I will make three points. My first point is there is no educational benefit to these changes. Supporters of these changes have never shown how they improve learning, safety, or fiscal health. Not a single metric of student success is elevated by displaying hate symbols or shutting down enrichment activities. If there is a benefit, let us hear it clearly backed by data. Second, these changes cause real measurable harm. Allowing hate imagery creates a hostile environment for students, likely violating both Title Six and Title 9 and exposing the district to costly lawsuits. Eliminating clubs strips kids of belonging and mentorship. These are voluntary clubs, so the fact that they exist is already strong evidence that students and families want them. It isn't free for me to drive 40 minutes round trip from Scandia to bring my kid to the club that they feel they want to be part of that community. We are adults. Our job is to shield children from the hate and expand their opportunities, not the reverse. My third point, and this one should be of particular interest to people who support these changes, is that these changes will financially damage every family in this district. Nearly half of US home buyers say they would avoid a district where Confederate flags are visible. That figure jumps when the flag is endorsed by district leadership. A conservative market analysis shows reputational decline of this kind can shave 5 to 10% off of local home values. That is tens of thousands of dollars per household. We will be impoverished by these policy changes. Uh my call to action to every neighbor who believes our school should be welcoming, uh rigorous, and free of hate. Stand up. That's not clapping. You can stand up figuratively or literally and be counted. Tell this board, one, keep the existing ban on hate symbols. Two, restore all student clubs. Our children are watching and so is the wider world. Thank you. Thank you, Kathy B. And after that is Doug L. Good evening, chair, Rebel Alliance, Superintendent Massie, and schoolboard members. My name is Kathy Bystrom. I'm a near lifelong resident of the Forest Lake community and a Forest Lake High School graduate. I'm here tonight because two proposals before this board uh after school and affinity clubs and allowing hate symbols in schools threaten the very foundation of student safety and success. Let's start with the clubs. These aren't just extras. After school programs are critical spaces where students build connection, confidence, and a sense of belonging, especially in middle school where those needs are most urgent. For many students, clubs are the reason they stay engaged in school. For others, especially in affinity groups, they're the only place they feel safe being themselves. The research speaks for itself. When students feel connected, their attendance improves, their grades go up, and behavioral issues go down. These programs help students succeed academically, socially, and emotionally. Eliminating them sends the wrong message that their means of connection doesn't matter, but it does. Now, on to the proposal around hate symbols. First of all, I want to thank members Tyson, Corkran, Antonson, and Christensen for responding to my letter on this matter. I would like to reiterate from that letter that these symbols, specifically the Confederate flag, swastika and KKK imagery are not abstract political expressions. They are symbols of violence and racial terror. They cause fear, not dialogue, and allowing them in schools is not neutral. It is harmful. The attempt to equate Black Lives Matter or the pride flag to hate symbols is a false equivalency. The pride flag says you belong here. The swastika says you're not safe. There was also a recent quote saying that prohibiting these symbols is unnecessary. Even if the Minnesota Schoolboard Association doesn't name specific symbols and model policy, our community context demands clarity, especially given our history. When policy language is explicit, there is no ambiguity for students, staff, or parents. When threats are explicit, silence is not neutrality, it's complicity. Mayor Roberts recently spoke out against hate simples, and he was told to stay in his lane. Schools and communities are inextric in inextricably linked and our city and school district has always had a good working relationship. I commend the mayor for speaking out because what we allow in our schools shapes what we see more broadly within our communities. Every policy passed here sends a message far beyond these walls and our kids are paying attention. We owe them better. We owe them safety, inclusion, and connection, not fear and division. do the right thing. Protect these programs. Protect Prohibit these symbols. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Doug L. And next is Regan B. Hope I got that right. Members of the school board. I'm Doug L. We just all s stood here a minute ago and put our hands over our heart and pledged allegiance to that flag of the United States of America, not the divided states of America, which is symbolized by the Confederate flag. We also pledged um liberty and justice for all. That's hardly what a swastika stands for. And so I say the one is we have exclusive. if you you don't belong here. And then we have inclusive the ideas of these clubs. Um they didn't just go to include everybody. Lost my notes here. Oh, Minnesota's Department of Education mission calls for schools to have positive climate and conditions with equity, antibbias, and anti-racism. Students need to feel safe here, not threatened by a symbol that stands for the ugly and tyranny that our parents fought for in World War II. Fought against. Let me say that. Um, please make sure that the Confederate flag and the Nazi swastika are not allowed or tolerated in any Forest Lake Public Schools. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Reagan B and Mara B is next. Hi, I'm Reagan Bane. Uh, what do we owe each other? In 1969, the Supreme Court helped us answer that question with their decision in Tinker v. De Moines. Their decision, which supported the freedom of speech in public schools, also supported schools ability to regulate speech that quote materially and substantially disrupts the educational process. The Supreme Court decided our children's education is most important. Above speech, above expression, teaching students our past so they can lead our future is most important. Students are exposed to the Confederate flag, the swastika, and KKK symbols the moment they begin to learn US and world history. Their lessons and textbooks teach the horrors that occurred at the hands of those bearing those symbols. those symbols which represent pro-slavery, anti-Jew, and white supremacist views. We all learned this history and now we teach it to our students. How is it we can teach these things, the horrors that happen in our country and around the world, and expect our students to take them seriously and learn from them if we allow these wellestablished hate symbols to be worn and displayed in our schools? to go back to Tinker v. De Moines's political expression, particularly minority political expression in schools is protected and it's supported under US law and the Supreme Court. That being said, hate symbols, speech, and actions do not constitute protected political expression. Uh they've been deemed to negatively impact the educational environment within schools and are thus not necessarily protected. Wearing and displaying these symbols reinvigorates the hate they created and propelled and disrupts our students ability to truly learn and grow beyond history's failures. I ask you again, what do we owe each other? Can true learning and discussion occur in a space where hate is allowed? Do we really think that our students deserve to be in spaces where hatred is allowed? Redundant, over complicated, and unique policy helps keep the Forest Lake community clear on where our values are. We should constantly aim to keep those values strong and protected. Similarly to past, uh, speakers, uh, I tell people I'm from Forest Lake, and there's a little bit of a wse. I've always been proud to be from Forest Lake. I love this community. I love where I grew up. I've come back here after graduating college. I plan to stay here for a bit. And yet I'm constantly disappointed at the state of the politics in this town and the way that they're impacting our school district. Um so I urge you to consider the safety of students, the comfort of in their ability to learn. Um and I hope you listen to the people that are here tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mara B. And next is Jennifer H. Good evening. My name is Mara Bane. I'm a Forest Lake resident of 22 years and I just wrapped up three terms as Forest Lake mayor. Thank you for taking full public comment tonight. I think it's important that we're here and I think it's very important and we're very appreciative of your um willing to listen to what might be a very long meeting this evening. Um I have to say I can't believe we're here. Um I've watched this story unfold. Um, I've tried to retire from public service a bit, take a step back. Um, and 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. Um, and I'm just so disappointed that we're here, that that this isn't an obvious answer. I keep telling myself, no elected official is possibly going to vote to remove language that prohibits hate speech. This isn't just something that elected officials who are in tune with their hearts and their community are going to do. And yet, here we are. I can't sit by and just let this happen without standing up here tonight and bringing my daughter and saying, "We don't agree." And I'm so glad that there's so many people here tonight that are going to do the same thing. I appreciate that your work is really hard. It's massively hard, but tonight is really, really easy. All you need to do is to say hate speech and hate symbols are not welcome here. It's as easy as it gets. And I hope you'll listen to your hearts and listen to the hearts of this room. And I want the world to know this does not represent this community. This is not who we are about. Thank you. Thank you, Jennifer H. And next is Kaylee M. Good evening, head chair, Dr. Massie, and school board members. Thank you for taking time to listen tonight with open minds. My name is Jennifer Helmgrren and you may remember me when I came in to speak about how students cannot learn unless they are safe, loved, and that they belong. Tonight, I am not coming to you as that kindergarten teacher. Tonight, I'm coming to you as a parent and as a taxpayer. I'm here to talk about 1801 and 515. It has been stated in this room that some may feel that taxpayers would not want taxpayer money spent on certain groups. As a local taxpayer, I am here along with I believe many others to say that I am thrilled that the district is spending my tax dollars to provide opportunities for all students, not just my sons. And with that, I'm excited that they're spending taxpayer dollars to provide opportunities for students by paying advisors that don't fit into those four categories that were listed earlier. It is my job as the parent along with my husband who's here to decide what groups our children will be part of. That's our parental responsibility. It is not the board's responsibility. I understand there are four categories of groups that will continue to have paid advisors. they fit into specific categories which I understand. However, there are many amazing groups that already exist in our district that are not going to fall into those four categories and my heart is saddened by that. Students cannot learn if they do not feel like they belong. my son, a now first grader, we were sitting in the high school cafeteria enjoying a cupcake after we had watched uh the Black History Month annual presentation in the in the auditorium and all of a sudden all of these middle school and high schoolers come down the hallway and he looks at them and says, "Mom, they they have like fishing stuff on their shirts." And I said, "Yeah, there's a fishing club." And he was in awe. He was like, "You can fish at school?" And I said, "Well, yes, in a group, but there has to be a teacher there that leads you." That's where our taxpayer money comes in. There are other many groups that are going to be missed because those paid adviserss will not be there to safely guide students. Now, I had to answer many questions about how old he had to be and all those pieces and how he had to wait. And then I started thinking tonight that when other clubs get brought up, you might say, "Well, if we have fishing club, then we have to allow other clubs and those other clubs might not be positive clubs." Well, that falls into the school administration and other leaders of our district to uphold policies that prohibit hate towards others. And I was shocked when I stood in this room and I heard the language of banning the Confederate flag, the swastika and the KKK were even discussed. Please finish up. Yeah. Thank you. My last bit is all you making decisions tonight, please provide opportunities for all students to feel safe, loved, and that they belong and represent the parents and the community, not your own agenda. Please. Thank you. Thank you, Kaylee M. And next is Blake R. Hello again. Since there's no possible way you wouldn't be able to remember me, I'm just going to get started. So, as we all know and have established, policy 1801 in the dress code is absolutely insane. I, for one, as a student, would not feel comfortable if I were walking down the hall and saw the swastika on some random kid's shirt. As one who's been raised in an ethnic descent, I can say that hate symbols being allowed is absolutely unacceptable. On top of that, even if it were to go through, our safe spaces would be invaded or even destroyed, which again is unacceptable. Safe spaces are necessary for growing and developing minds. Clubs and history are not something you can just change at the drop of a hat. People fought for these rights before, and they'll fight for them again. These clubs are what makes school easier for me and others. Activities like theater are a big part of our community. Theater is not theater is what makes me who I am. It's my passion and what makes me feel like I can continue continue laughing, crying, living. And if you as the board feel necessary for these policies to go through, then so be it. Make this school a place where nobody can feel welcome. As I plead for you to reconsider the image you're making for this school, I want to invite you to this year's community theater performance. I hope to see you there in an effort to make you realize just how important these activities are to not just children but our community. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Kayie. Thank you. Um Blake R, that's the final green card I have this evening. Welcome, Mayor Roberts. Thank you, board. I'll I'll keep my remarks brief as I know I'm certain that most of you on the board know how I how I feel. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I'm doing so as a graduate of Forest Lake, a parent that has three daughters that graduated from Forest Lake with an amazing experience and wellprepared for the next stage of their life. A local business owner and the mayor of the city that I love and I'm proud to serve. 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. The idea in 2025 that we are even considering taking those symbols out of this policy is absolutely sickening. How the potential change affects students is mo is most important. But even consideration of this is absolutely counterproductive to everything we do to promote and celebrate Forest Lake. People and businesses do not want to live and do business in communities that are not welcoming and don't discourage hate and racism. One only has to Google Forest Lake to read the comments and comments and comments in today's Pioneer Press to see what people's perception is of our city. Here are just a few. This is why people don't move to Forest Lake. Only the best from Forest Lake. I hear banjos. This is a good one. Forest Lake, you say? That tracks. This is an embarrassment for our entire town. These comments are exactly why I have no choice to engage in this issue and why I had to get out of my lane. This is not Foresake and we are better than this. We have so much to be proud of here. Our schools are some of the best in the state. We have an up and cominging city with many opportunities for residents and vis visitors to to live in this community. And this is the perfect mix of small town feel with big city amenities. And we are welcoming of all people. I'm asking you to make the right decision this evening and not let perception become reality. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. like to thank all of our speakers this evening and for the audience. [Music] All right, we will now move on to student achievement. That brings us to the Forest Lake Area High School Principal Caldwell. [Music] Thanks, Rene. Uh, Mr. Chair, Mr. Superintendent, the rest of the school board, thanks for allowing me to come tonight. I I feel like the high school is here every single night, and I appreciate everybody that came to watch the presentation. Yes. With us. I don't think I've ever given a high school presentation other than a graduation to this many people. So much appreciated and thank you everybody for your comments as well. Um it's sometimes hard to figure out as a high school principal what to bring to the school board. Our groups are often here. Our college and career people are here. Our CTE people come. We have multiple presentations throughout the year. This year I decided maybe there. Um, to give you a snapshot of the high school's graduating class, they had quite the road and enable to get our high school there to follow a vision and a mission that was casted by this school board through our strategic plan. Every decision we make is based on this vision and mission. And we continue to do that as we move through our all of our stuff. the graduating class of 2025. Um, what a class. This class did not attend middle school. They were in and out. They did not have the ability to attend clubs to do the things that we're talking about tonight. They were at home. They were on social media. They were learning through through online forums and things like that. They started their senior year with only 75% of them on track to graduate. And because of this school board, Dr. Massie, Mr. Jacobson, the rest of our directors and their leadership with Kelly Lefine at the community school, we have the things in place that we were able to catch these kids up. We had over 94% of our high school graduating seniors that walked across the stage. We are set and these are estimated. Nobody knows how the state comes up with our graduation rates. Um there's lots of things that come and go. When did kids move? when did they move in and all of those things. My calculation, so that's why it says estimate, we are well at 94% as a high school. As a district, we're at 90%. That's an increase. The community school is up to 68%. That is an increase. That's phenomenal work from our teachers. And it's not just the high school teachers. This is kindergarten, early childhood all the way through. We have programs in place to get our kids going into the future. Honors of distinction. We had 40 Suma Kumaria students with a 4.0 GPA or greater. 39 that had a 3.8 through to a 3.9. 55 had a 3.8 to a 3.799. Our average GPA is 2.8. So we have lots of kids that are doing phenomenal. And our average students are almost at a 3.0. Our academic scholars, these are students that are taking college level courses in three different areas. We had 155 different students taking that. Our academic letter with 3.5 or higher, 134 students. Direct admissions was new this year for this class. We had zero optouts. Direct admissions is a program from the state. We collected all kinds of data on the junior class. We send letters home to families saying, "Look, if you do direct admission, these are the possible schools that you could go to." Zero families opted out. We had 364 seniors that f that were accepted into a college. All they had to do is apply and their applications fees are waved if they follow this program. That is huge. We have stories of students who got these letters and they said, "I've never had anybody go to college in my family before. I didn't think I could do it. I can do this. This school said they're going to take me." One of the coolest programs that we've signed up for in a long, long time. We have three words that we pound through everybody's head starting in 9th grade with our families as they come in for their their orientation. Enrolled, enlisted, or employed. Those are your only three options. You don't get to drop out at the Forest Lake High School or in the Forest Lake District without us throwing a lot of things at you. We had 45% of our students decided to go to a four-year school. 21% to a two-year school. 5% of our students entered apprenticeships. 5% went into the military. And 23% decided to go right into the workforce, a gap year or other. What does that look like? Enroll 45% 21% 5% in apprenticeships. Our top five schools for the graduating class, Century, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, University of Minnesota, DUTH, Mano, and North Dakota. And there's several top majors listed. Our students are going to do incredible things. Some spotlights of those students. I chose to pick the kids that aren't going to Minnesota schools. These are kids that took a leap. They went through our career our career programs. Um they identified career pathways and majors and schools outside of basically the five state area. You have University of Tennessee, West Virginia, Utah, University of Pittsburgh, Arkansas. It is hard to go to a different school outside of the state. Madison is one of the hardest schools for our students to get into and we have several students there as well. And there's just an example of five students Why did they pick those? Because of our career exploration, career field trips, their pathway courses, or career job shadows that they're doing. And they get excused absences to go do those job shadows, too. Enlisted. We are one of the only schools that allow the military to come into our cafeteria. Most people say yes, you can come in, but students are going to sign up. We do have a rule. You can't come out from behind the table. students have to come up to you. You don't get to go walk around the cafeteria and recruit kids. So, kids are coming up and having conversations with our our military armed forces at their discretion. We had seven students go to the National Guard, five into the regular army. Um, Navy, Air Force, Navy, we had one Air Force Reserve one, regular Air Force 2, Marines, two, Coast Guard tried their hardest. They could not get anybody this year. Um, a story many of you, William, my son graduated two years ago and he has a friend that went into the army. This will get emotional. Um, he texted his friend group. He always wanted to be a ranger. He's a ranger now. He texted his friend group and said, "Guys, you're not going to hear from me for a while." After the events of the last couple weeks, I texted him said, "Hey, we love you. We're thinking about you." He said, "Callwell, thank you." He's out serving our country because of the programs we have here. His name's Andy Klesky. kit. Snapshot of our other students. Matthew, US Air Force, going into fire protection. Brianna, pre-farm pharmacy. Landon, aviation technician. He's going to be a mechanic. Chance wants the infantry and so does Blake. Employed. We have students that take a gap year. We have students that aren't really done with school. They're on an IEP and they decide to go to STEPP because they have things that they need to learn at STEP. They're training these students to go out and be employed. That's why I included them here. That's also why I say that some of this data is duplicated. 33 are going to work and we have 36 students that still don't know what they're doing. Okay. But they do have they have ideas. They just were not ready to put it in our student survey. Snapshot of these students. Tristan, none of this is confirmed. All of this is information that they put on their student survey. Gonna be a carpenter. He's headed to Wyoming with the job employed. He got that through our career pathway courses. Aiden, he's going into HVAC. He is going into local 10 sheet metals union. Josh Hayek, I met with him just the other day. He's going into pipe fitting. Already been accepted into the union. Got that experience through work experience. Brady, automotive tech, again, career pathway course. and then Triggy Rosenbar. We have several students that are staying in the Forest Lake area, continuing their employment through some of our CTE programs and things like that. Amazing. This is our career pathway wheel. We have all of our courses are divided up between these career pathways. This is also self-reported from our students. We had 16 seniors say that they're going into the agricultural food and natural resources. 24 into arts and communication. 76 into business management, engineering, manufacturing, technology. That's STEM. 112 kids are going into that area. 82 health science, human services. 78. That does not represent the entire class, but those are kids that have said we got into our pathways. We have um trying to think of a word. Britney, help me out. We not articulated but kids that take multiple courses within their concurrent concentrator. Concentrators. Thank you, Molly. Um concentrators, kids that are taking multiple classes both in the core area, CTE area, some of them are college level within their pathway. Those are kids that are committed and they're not wavering. When we started our pathway work, I remember sitting around a table over eight years ago and saying we're not going to do career pathway where kids are pigeonholed. They have to be able to choose with what their different ambitions are as they take courses. Forest Lake has afforded us an opportunity to keep all of our electives, our CTE. We have 55, I believe, college level courses. We have over 17 AP courses. There is something for everyone. And to end three student spotlights, Annie Buff got into Madison incredibly hard. Annie also got into seven other schools. She had a 36 on the ACT. She's going into material science engineering. She's going to make new materials. I had to look that up. Like it's chemistry. It's physics of energy. She's making new materials to make new things out of. Dominic Holton could not be prouder going into the US Navy. He's hoping he doesn't get put on a sub on a sub. I said, Dominic, I don't know if that's going to happen. Nuclear propulsion technician is the job that he's already been identified for. That's because of courses that he's taken at the high school. And then finally, Michael, he's going into the 40, 49ers with a heavy equipment operator, already been accepted. He's already out there learning how to do this. So, we have phenomenal things going. It's because of the support of all of our teachers, early childhood all the way through. But there's a snapshot of our senior class. With that, any questions? Yeah. Thank you, uh, Prince. Before I turn it over to questions, I I have one quick request. If you could go all the way back kind of the beginning of the presentation where you have the uh the graduation rates that that uh the academic success that you highlighted there. One of the other things you mentioned here early was uh this was a class that struggled. This class never went to middle school. Is that correct? Correct. This class was in and out of middle school. They never attended full-time in seventh and eighth grade. So, this class saw more challenges probably any of our recent high school graduation classes. And these are the numbers that they were able to to put on the board. That's impressive. And and I can now see why the boardroom is full, why the parking lot is full. They were here to see this. This is something to celebrate. And uh if everybody would join me. I mean this is a applause for these students. Yeah. This is why we're here. With that, I'll open it to questions to other board members. Member Tyson. Well, I'd like to applaud how now Forest Lake Area Schools is an absolute premier district and I hear it all the time. Mr. Calwell, how did you get all those certifications in your high school? Gail, how did you get dual enrollment courses? Gail, how are you up to 17 AP courses? Gail, tell us how did we get there? We have arrived and I've never been so far. Well, we know that we have all worked hard. Teaching and learning got rebuilt and has grown and grown. Our superintendent has been a visionary. all of our teaching staff and and the the foundation for that was laid before I took over the high school. I mean, you've got to give Dr. Massie huge kudos with Dr. Mass. I I did not take over a failing high school. I took over a high school that was well on the road and then we happened to have a strategic plan that came through at the same time that said, "Whoa, wait a minute. Let's swing that pendulum back." Dr. Dr. Massie and I just had a conversation today. Keeping that pendulum in the middle though means we have to celebrate all of our career pathways. Fouryear, two-year, CTE, all of that. And it's important to bring these things forward. So, thank you. Yes. Wonderful work. Member Castle. Uh, yes. So, when you look at the state's information about our district, it looks pretty dismal. But unfortunately, if a student does not take the MCA, it actually counts as a zero. And how many of the sumakum laudy or the the folks that were in the in the That's a great question, Mr. Cassel. Um, I don't have the exact number. I can tell you we had 40 plus optouts and many of those optouts were topnotch. Yes. I can also tell you that we had students that failed the MCA. They got fives and fours on AP tests that are receiving those those awards because the test you really can't get kids to buy into that test. But it's important that we continue to try because that test manages that test measures how well we are doing with our standards and those types of things. So, it is incredibly important that we don't give up, that we do get the buyin from our families to take that test because imagine if that test, and I talked about this at last year's presentation, lined up with the rest of our data. Our ACT test scores are above the national average, way above the state average. Imagine if that test matched the MCA, which it should, which it should. Yes. Well, I would be for removing the link to the to the state and putting all that stuff there instead. Amen. Yeah, absolutely. Member Corn. No, I was just going to say I mean that it's a true testament that we after co that these are the students and how well they've done with the extra support, the staffing. I mean, just the extra time that was probably spent to get them up after the I mean, I'm sure there was a lull. I think there was definitely student achievement was low because it wasn't their fault. It was just the the way the world was. but that these students performed so well because of the testament that the staff, the support we gave them and it's just it's just wonderful. Very exciting. This does not happen without being on the backs of our teachers. I mean, let's be honest, this was not Jim and his administrative team. This was this was our teachers in the classroom, working extra time, dealing with families, working extra hours, working right up to the minute. I was talking to Mr. on today, the elementary schools, and I'm not ripping on my elementary friends, but at the end of the school year, it's a huge celebration. We're done. At the high school, it feels like you're dragging an anchor trying to get everybody through. And on that last day, everybody's like, "Oh, thank goodness." And and we're done. But our teachers have to work right up to that minute. We were clearing kids from graduation right up till the time when they were putting their robes on down in the Northfield House. Wow. Well, congrat. Great. I mean, it's just such a success story and that's what our district is the things we should be celebrating and not spending too much time on things that aren't as positive. So, thank you. I have a question. Um, what do you see because I know that one of the biggest well for trade stuff, you know, we have all these trade options in our in our high school. What do you see as um the big garners of who's going where like as far as trades winners like what Yeah. What what's overwhelmed or is there I would say nobody in our trades is overwhelmed. Okay. Um the trades when we have our advisory groups, our trade groups are constantly asking for more and more employees. We met with the chamber today. I actually got pulled out of the the bullpen to be on a panel for someone else who didn't show up. But the whole conversation was there is how do we prepare these students for jobs that we don't even know exist and we still need to do you still need thinkers. You need kids that are literate. You need kids that can use AI. You need kids that can do all of the things because we don't know what jobs they're going to. Yeah. We have our relationships with all of these different advisory boards which span college all the way through industry and they're just screaming for employees but they want kids that know how to work. They want kids that know how to think. So there isn't really one that's taken them all. Okay. All right. Say one more shout out. I was say um how the career pathways has blossomed over the many years because I know when my kids they didn't even have that. We had a part-time person working. It was Heather Heather Karstens. Is that who it was? I mean when my son and it was there was none of the as much college readiness and helping get them to this next level. and Ma Molly Bennett Bennett and their group has just done amazing and I just want to give a shout out to that group and and how how much it's grown and thank you for that Mike and Molly Molly is our college and career coordinator. Yes, I want to just say that we were asked by high schools all over the metro, how did you do this? Yeah. It happened with grants. It happened with Dr. Massie, myself, and the school board allowing us to hire a CTE coordinator, allowing us to bring in a full-time college and career coordinator, giving them parameters, and not micromanaging. They don't do a thing without having conversations with with me or one of my assistant principles. They don't do a thing without it, but they do have permission to go and create and whatever. And I I said to Molly, this was way back when we were talking about this. She kept saying, "Yeah, but this school. Yeah, but this school." I'm like, "Molly, they're not doing it. And we will not go out and talk until we are doing it. We have the data to prove that we are doing career pathway work. And it's not just about CTE. It's about rigor. It's about college. It's about two-year. It's about the military. And it's about being employed. It's amazing successful program. Very proud. Any other questions or comments? I see a lot to celebrate here. especially the uh like you mentioned at the beginning of the school year only 75% of students were on the path to graduation and I look at that number I see 94 that's a 19% delta that speaks not only to the work of the teachers and the staff and administration but the parents we have some parents of graduates here tonight and closing that gap for 19% of students that's an amazing accomplishment for the school for the community and especially for the students so I'm I'm very proud of what we put up here this here and look forward to continued success next year. Thank you for the presentation tonight. Thank you. All right. Although I feel like we just had positive happenings and I don't know how much gets any more positive than that. Does anybody have anything they'd like to add for positive happenings? Member Tyson. I do. I'd like just like to share how every year the foresight high school graduation is such a ne dear event for me. Um just being on that stage handing out diplomas and seeing them in that moment. It's just something that I treasure every year. And I also want to mention another graduation ceremony I never miss is our community school. And there were 40 graduates this year and the band came over and played pomp and circumstance when they walked out. The whole thing I just could have cried through. It was so touching. Um, Principal Lefine gave the best speech ever about you will go out into the world. Look back on this time when you had these friendships and you had this support. Pull yourself up. Go after it again when you need it. You're going to be successful. It was if she's here, it was just a touching touching um graduation speech. So, if you haven't gone to the community school graduation as well as the high school, it's just something that is really going to touch your heart when you go. Thank you, member Tyson. Anything else for positive happenings? Member Corker. Well, I stopped at Arts in the Park real quick. I after our TEFL meeting and I did see a little bit of the community band. I got there late. I missed the marching band, but I heard the community band and they were amazing. And Barry Selwalt was the conductor. So, I just do a shout out. They were awesome. They just sounded amazing. So Jake, I'm sorry. No, no, the commute the No. Oh, okay. Sorry. I got messed up. I got there really late and I just saw Barry. That's all I saw was Barry conducting and I wasn't sure what band, but they were fabulous. And I got to hear just the very end. I actually sat at a picnic table right by the symbols and that was not a good spot to sit, but it I did move because my ears were ringing, but they just were sounded great. So, I would recommend everybody if you can go see them. They were terrific. So, great. Thank you, member. Member Christensen. Yeah. Again, excuse me. I just want to um mention the wonderful graduation ceremony. The weather was wonderful and the speaker um Linda Penn was wonderful. Um sorry. Um and also Dr. Dr. Massie, I'm sure we'll talk about, but the academic awards um event is just always amazing at how talented our students are and all the scholarships they receive and all the places that they're going, the different colleges. I mean, it's just it was it's it was really wonderful. So, thank you. Any other comments, member Hagland? I would just like to take a moment to recognize you, member chair, for achieving your master's degree. Thank you. Congratulations. Yeah, since you brought it up, I guess I'll I'll speak to that a little bit. Uh when I ran for school board, um I would actually almost kind of joke uh about how I was the college dropout that was running for school board. How strange is that? I went to two or three years of college. Uh was a triple major. I believe it or not, I got bored. I studying computer science, mathematics, and physics. And uh part of my encouragement to go back to school was the work that I'm doing here and all the great work that I see our high school kids do and the bright futures that they have. Uh so I decided late last fall uh to go back to school and complete my bachelor's degree. Uh so I finished a bachelor's degree uh uh in December and immediately after doing that I went and got a master's degree and um it's ironic that you bring it up because my diploma arrived in the mail today and uh it was an eventful uh occurrence at my house. I took the diploma, I dropped it into my file, but uh um so now I'm the college dropout with a master's degree in cyber security and information. So um yeah, I guess that does fit for positive happenings. as it ties into academics, but uh the inspiration that I've seen from a lot of our students uh was part of my motivation for going back and doing that. So, I owe the school a debt of gratitude as well, even though I'm not a graduate of Forest Lake schools. Uh it will definitely have an impact on my life. So, congratulations. Thank you, member Hegeland. Congratulations. Um gosh, with that, I'm humbled here. That brings us to workshops and conferences. Does anybody have anything for workshops and conferences? Kind of a slow time of year. All right, seeing none, we'll move to a 9:16 report. Uh we ended our school year at uh Northeast Metro 916 as well. I have a couple of updates here. Um we had a presentation on our literacy and math update and um this is impressive, but you got to remember the really the different uh the different mission of an intermediate school. A lot of these kids are are really challenged. They're working really hard. So, the the numbers, although um maybe not quite as impressive as Principal Caldwell just presented to us, this these are amazing accomplishments for these students. But, uh we were presented with literacy and math update for the 24-25 school year. And overall, uh 71% of students demonstrated growth from fall to spring. It's an incredible accomplishment for that cohort of students. And um I would argue that it's 71% of students demonstrating growth in any school is incredible. Uh but especially when you put into context uh the challenges that these students uh are faced with on a day-to-day basis. Um we also had a number of schoolboard policies that we we approved and that finished out our policy work uh for the year. We will begin that work again in August. And gosh, uh, June is contract month at, uh, 9:16. So, we had contracts that we uh ended up signing off on for food services, math curriculum, the Ivante Center, um ISD14 partnership, uh a contract with Canvas Health, Bamboo Professionals, um both CDW and Apple for IT infrastructure, um Aerrow Contracting, we had a a significant contract for enhancements to the new Metro Heights Academy ALC, and then we um did our initial um FY Y26 budget approval of just under one underneath $91 million. Um we also had uh we established the uh tuition rates, the membership and the access fees for FY26. Um that concludes my report for 916 unless anybody has any specific questions. Member Tyson question chair since I served on the 916 board as well. I was curious if you got to go to any graduations of our students from their programs. I didn't make it this year. I had scheduling conflicts for each one of them. I I had them each lined up on my calendar and uh it was unfortunate that that every single time I had a conflict. Uh um as we just talked about in positive happenings, we had a number of events going on here from our Hall of Fame induction to our student awards and stuff. So, it just it didn't work with my schedule this year. Okay. Um but I'm looking forward to hopefully doing that next year. Great. Thank you. All right. That concludes 9:16. And that brings us to the city of Forest Lake. Uh, member Christensen or member Tyson. Member Christensen. Um, yes. Um, um, on the January 23rd uh, meeting, I have some things to mention, but I just do want to say that starting in July, the new meeting start time of the city council will be 6 p.m. um, instead of 7:00 p.m. And then also they moved the July 28th meeting uh, due to a conflict. So that meeting is July 29th. Um the main um point of discussion um is there is um there was a concept plan review for a new development McKinley Creek Estates 13 single family lots um on the southeast corner of uh Clear Lake um which would be really great and they're going to be able to connect uh some to some of our trail work. Um and as we uh mentioned uh Mayor Roberts expressed some concern during that meeting about um some schoolboard upcoming policies. That concludes my report. All right. Member Tyson. I just have a couple of things to to add. Um I think these dates are important and the city has them on their website as well as they talk about them. The Fairforall is a nonprofit that provides quality produce and meats to families or whoever wants to. The upcoming dates are July 25th and August 22nd, but I don't know the location, so you can look on the dis on the city's website for that. Um, I also wanted to comment that Chief Peterson gave a great report about the upcoming festivities in Forest Lake around the 4th of July and how they're busy preparing and what a collaborative job it is with everybody that needs to be involved and hands-on with getting all that ready for the parade and everything else that goes on. So, we thank our police department for all that hard work on that and the chief. And then I also want to advertise this that the save the date is out on the city's website for the night to unite which is a great event. There's an online application. Um it's collaboration with the Forest Lake Police Department and you can fill out that form and get a group of families and celebrate that night to unite in your neighborhood. That concludes my report. All right. Thank you, Member Tyson. Are there any questions? Member Hegland. Uh, Member Tyson, member Christensen, with the expansion of the housing developments, did they talk at all about what this going to do to tax rates for the upcoming years for the residents of Forest Lake? Um, no, not that I heard. And there could have been other discussions that I did in here, but this was um what did they call it? Um, um, excuse me, a concept plan review. this development I was talking about. So, it's it's working its way through the planning process. Um, so I'm sure there were other conversations in other meetings that I wasn't um there for. Approving too. Thank you. All right. Any other questions, comments? Okay, that we will move on to the report on the May 29th, 2025 close session on the superintendent goals and evaluation. Um, I will uh supply that report. In accordance with Minnesota State Statute 13D.05 subdivision 3A, the following summarization of the closed session following the May 29th schoolboard meeting to discuss the goals and performance of Superintendent Steve Massie is being provided. All seven board members and Dr. Steve Massie convened to discuss various items in relation to the superintendent's goals and performance over the 2024 to 2025 school year. During the closed session, the board provided Dr. Massie with feedback concerning his performance on key initiatives, shared gratitude for tasks that were particularly well done, and shared opportunities for ongoing growth and success. No final conclusions were reached, and no official board action was taken during the close session. This concludes my report and brings us to the superintendent report. Dr. Massie. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a few brief items. Uh I won't highlight the graduation that was already mentioned by a number of board members, but what a beautiful night uh to celebrate uh such a culminating experience for our kids. But I will highlight at the academic awards ceremony that week on Monday, June 4th, throughout that ceremony, we identified or or shared uh the success of our kids, where they're going next year, their success in high school, and the scholarships and grants that they received. In total, that night, $2.3 million was identified and awarded to our senior class. uh just a staggering number. Credit to the community scholarship foundation that awarded $185,000 of money raised this year within this community in addition to the $135,000 from local scholarships that were also awarded to our students. The generosity of this community for our students is awfully impressive and certainly appreciated. Next week we wrap up summer school. So a short stint for summer school. Um longer days but a shorter stint so we can get our schools ready for the transition for the start of the next school year. Um I as well attended the Forest Lake Chamber member event that took place this morning. provided a number of school district updates uh and was also able to interact and network with many of the the business folks throughout the community. At this stage of the summer, we're excited to see strong enrollment um begin to formulate as we begin to look forward to next year. We ended this year with an average of 70 students over our budgeted number. We have not been able to say that in over a decade. that enrollment is stabilizing and increasing. So, we're extremely excited to see that trend and that trend appears to be continuing into next year. Uh, a reminder that every Tuesday we have a spot at Arts in the Park. If you want to swing by for half hour or two and a half hours, please plan to join us. And we will have our bus and the roadster and the marching band and a number of us at the 4th of July parade will assemble at 9:15 9:30 and we'll be taking off in route at 10:00 a.m. So please plan to join us and that concludes my report. All right. Thank you, Dr. Massie. That brings us to the consent agenda. Is there any items that anybody would like to have removed from the consent agenda? Member I would like to pull item 74, please. Item 74. Any other items? Seeing none, I want to entertain a motion to approve items 7.1 through 7.3. So moved. Second. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed. All right. Consent agenda is approved. Brings us to item 7.4. I would entertain a motion to approve. So moved. Second. All right. We have a motion and a second. Member Christensen. Yes. I would just like to um congratulate Katie Schultz. She's out there somewhere. Who is the new um principal at Lo Lakes Elementary. So, that's very exciting. She has strong ties to the district and um we're really looking forward to her um joining the staff as a principal. She's already been on the staff, so thank you for that. 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. I don't know. I I'm just I'm just I just can't help but wonder. And I'm also wondering um does administration um Dr. Massie do any exit interview type of things? Do we gather information on why people are leaving? Again, I I know there's various reasons people leave, but um I'm just I'm just wondering. Yeah, sometimes it doesn't logistically line up, but we do try to have conversations as people make decisions to leave our district and go elsewhere. Um I wouldn't get into those conversations at this time, but yes, we do have that. Of course, of course. I was just speaking in generalized, but yes, I just wanted to bring bring up um those significant resignations. That that's all. All right. Is there any other discussion? Member Tyson. 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. Thank you. All right. Any other discussion? All right. Um, seeing none, I know we need to introduce uh Principal Schultz, but let's approve consent. I was just going to say I think let's make it official and then we'll we'll bring her up if that pleases the board. Absolutely. All right. Absolutely. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed. All right. Motion carries. Welcome, Principal Schultz. Katie, before you grab the mic, let me say a couple things by way of introduction. Through the consent action just approved, I'm pleased to introduce Katie Schultz as the new principal at Lina Lakes Elementary. She earned her bachelor of arts degree from Concordia University in Morehead in elementary education, a master's of arts degree in elementary education from Hamlin and her administrative certifications from Hamlin University as well. Katie started her teaching career in North Branch and then moved into several years of teaching at the elementary level at Wyoming Elementary. She holds the state reading certification and the K12 administrative license. She is regarded as a literacy expert not only in our district but statewide and has served as an instructional coach and curriculum coord coordinator in Forest Lake area schools where she has worked with teachers across the district. She has also worked closely with the science and math instructional coaches in the district. Katie has tremendous skill and experience supporting and leading instructional work. She understands school systems that promote student success and operational efficiencies and effectiveness. Congratulations, Katie. You are going to be an amazing principal. Thank you. So, if you want to say a few things. Uh, thank you, Dr. Massie. I would just like to um first introduce myself. Uh, Katie Schultz. I have lived in Forest Lake uh pretty much my whole life. Um so I'm a product of our system. I went to Columbus Elementary. I went to Century Junior High and graduated from Forest Lake High School along with my husband. Um so this place is home to me. And ever since I got into teaching and education, my goal has always been to teach in our system, to teach in this community. Um once I got into teaching, I had a huge desire to just make an impact. I wanted to make an impact anywhere I went and I wanted that impact to be large. Um so then I sought a principal ship and um I really just feel very honored. Um this is something I've wanted for a very long time. Um I've been working towards for a very long time. So I really just feel immensely uh grateful to both Dr. Massie and the board. um everybody that's helped and supported me along the way. Um it really feels like a dream being checked off. So, thank you. Welcome to the leadership. Welcome. All right, that will bring us to action items. Uh we'll start with donations. Member Christian. Um yes. Um we have a long list of donations again which is so wonderful. So, um, $8,272.84 84 from the Forest Lake Dugout Club um for assistant coaches, $2,000 from the Forest Lake Lions for outdoor recreation disc golf at the community school, $1,500 from the Forest Lake Lions for a middle school social club, $750 from the Forest Lake Lions for Forest Lake Area High School activities for SAD, $667 from the LO Lakes PTO uh for the LO Lakes Elementary bus and student fees for field trips, $334 2017 from Mark Castle to the Forest Lake Area Schools Teaching and Learning Department, $300 from the VFW Post 4210 uh to support HOSA participation and recruitment. Um and then we have all of these are for the marching band and the flag core C. um $2,500 from the Halberg Family Foundation, $1,285 from the Forest Lake All Lions, $750 from Ice Smile Orthodontics, $500 from Charlie Olman in the Music Connection, $500 from Dr. Brenda Feifer from Feifer um Chiropractic, $400 from John Darling, $250 from Jesse Johnson from State Farm Insurance, and then for Ranger Space Camp, we have $500 from US Bank, $500 from the Lake Community and Senior Center, $150 from Forest Lake Family Dental, $100 from the Sassy Song Songbird Music LLC, uh $50 from Jennifer and Brian Tolsman, $25 from the Shelene team, Greg and Theres Shelene, 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. Second. All right, we have a motion, a second. Is there any discussion? 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. All right. Any additional discussion? All right. Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oh, my bad. Got to do a roll. I retract that. Please. Roll call. Member Cler. Oh, we're all right. Thank you, Member Corkran. Yeah. Uh, member Corkran, I. Member Rebeline, I. Member Castle, abstain. Member Antonson votes I. Member Hegelund, I. Member Tyson, I. And member Christensen, I. The eyes have it. Motion carries. brings us to Force Lake Area School staff retirement notice. Member Christensen. Yes, we have one retirement this evening. Um 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. Second motion in a second. Is there any discussion? 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. No, I just I just want to echo that. I think 27 years and like being in all the different positions that she did that she's got a good variety of uh exposure in our district. So, thank you for all the many years of service. 27 years. That's impressive. that is especially moving through a number of uh number of roles. It makes me wonder if we should approve it. What's going on? All right. Any additional discussion? Seeing none. Uh all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed. Motion carries. Um I would suggest we go through uh the certifying the school district uh population and then maybe we have a recess after that. All right. Um so that brings us to certifying the school district population. Uh Dr. Mass uh Mr. Chair and board the this is an annual process where we go through for the purpose of funding community education. The state demographer identifies the district overall district population and then the community ed um funding and levy is based off of that number and 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. All right, to entertain a motion. So moved. Second. All right, we have a motion in a second. Is there any discussion? Member Castle. Do they include any demography like how many adults, how many minors, anything like that? For the purpose of this number, it's a straight headcount. Um we can get those that data but this number and this data does not provide that. Thank you. All right. Any other discussion? All right. Seeing none, member clerk, would you please take the roll call? Sure. Member Castle. I. Member Corkran. I. Member Antonson votes I. Member Haggland. I. Member Tyson. I. Member Rebeline. I. And member Christensen. I. The eyes have it. All right. Motion carries. Um with that, unless there's an objection, uh we will recess for 10 minutes. Seeing none, we are in recess until 8:06. X. I now call the Thursday, June 26 meeting back to order. Uh, member clerk, if you'd please take the roll call of attendance. Okay, now be quiet. Can't hear. Okay. We are back in session. Where's Gail? She's stuck back there. Oh, member Tyson's not even here. She probably can't get into the room. Oh, here she is. She comes in the vote. All right. Member clerk, please take the attendance. A minute here. Okay. Uh, member Corkran here. Member Rebeline here. Member Antonson is here. Member Tyson here. Member Christensen here. Member Castle here. And member Hagland here. All right. All right. That brings us to 8.4. Appoint school board member subcommittee to advise on the strategic plan. Um, I I will take this one here. Um, I added this to the agenda and it's not necessarily to uh appoint a schoolboard member uh subcommittee, but to start the discussion on how we're going to handle the uh strategic plan moving forward. It does expire uh at the end of the month here. My initial thought was that we would appoint a a three board member subcommittee to work with administration to come back and advise the board on how we should handle the expiration, what our next steps should be. Um, in discussing it with a a couple of board members that reached out, uh, it sounds like there might be an interest to instead of having a subcommittee to workshop that at our next board meeting uh, in July. Mhm. I'm open to ideas. I'm open to options. I I have no no bias either way. No personal desires on any of it. I I'm more interested in the what the seven of us come up with. Member Christensen, 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. Yeah, good question. So, our current strategic plan that expires at the end of June uh was written as a fi a five-year plan. We contracted with the Minnesota School Boards Association. They've got a very wellestablished process for engaging many many stakeholders across the community through focus groups and then through their process brought a large committee together of community members representative of many different sectors of our community that worked through a guided process to identify mission beliefs um focus areas and specific goals for the strategic plan. There was a working group, an internal working group that took all that input and wrote the language based on the input that we received. So, we weren't writing mission statements with 40 people in the room, but taking the input of the community. All that information was um actually the school board participated in that large group of 40. So they were involved in that process and then ultimately the strategic plan that was developed was presented to the board for board approval. Uh and frankly uh the process began with a workshop session of conversation around um options ways we may may want to proceed and move forward. At that time, I presented the option of the Minnesota School Boards Association and their process and provided the recommendation that we work with MSBA. Okay. Thank you. Do do you recall the timeline when when that occurred because our our plan now is 2020 to 2025. I feel kind of in a pinch here knowing that it expires in what, four days, five days. Yeah. I I would say that we've got the luxury of the summer and early fall as we start the school year to put something in place. Um, not to get ahead of the process, but if we were to begin the process in early fall, uh, late summer, early fall, uh, bring a plan to the board in November, December, which I believe is consistent with the timeline for adopting the current strategic plan. Oh, okay. So, that was done immediately. Well, that was done in the CO area then just before the CO20. Yep. Just before that. Okay. All right. Member Tyson. So, I would like to see us follow a similar path that we've done in the past and 40 members. I think at one point the one prior to that had more people, Dr. Massie, but it it's really important to be inclusive of community members, administration, a mix of board members. we need to have all of those um people in the room kind of collaborating on our strategic plan. So, I'd like to to um see that it's facilitated again by MSBA if they're available to do that and start it as soon as we can, like you said, summer into fall. So, I'm not sure if just having a couple board members on a subcommittee would work. I think we'd need the help of our superintendent or administration to determine, you know, what community members we could reach out to and all of that. And and just a point of clarification, I was proposing a subcommittee to kind of make this decision like what make this decision, advise the rest of the board. This is what we should do next. Yeah. It wasn't it wasn't to to go in and say this is what the strategic plan should be. It should be just, you know, the the three board members, superintendent, and maybe some administrative staff to to kind of sit down and brainstorm these ideas that we're kind of talking about right now to determine and advise the board on this is how we should proceed. So that so that was my intent uh behind the agenda item here tonight. Member Corbing, I've been on the strategic planning and I think um I think each board member should be part of it because it's a very integral part of our school district. I mean it it's our pathway to what how we work and and the schools. So I think everyone here should have a voice in it as as a group and then how we proceed from there. I like I said MSBA did a fabulous job and we had stakeholders, we had business owners, we had such buyin that our community really took it to heart and really that's so important for our district. So I don't think we should just have a couple. I think we all need to have buyin in it. Okay. And work through that. Member Castle. Yeah. Well, I believe the current strategic plan would be a starting point to jump off on. Mhm. Yeah. And just maybe perhaps modify from that. So, it seems to work. It seemed to work well. That would certainly be an option. Member Hegel, I agree with all those comments. I think we should work on it together as a board workshop it and as member cast said, MSBA and the strategic plan we already have, we have the framework is already there, right? Um, I don't even know that we need a as large of a group. Maybe if we're just going to look at it and modify or change or maybe you just keep renew renew it. So, I don't necessarily think that we need to have the cost and time of having MSB involved since the framework's already there, but at least for sure start with workshopping it as a board. Maybe in the next board meeting. Member Tyson, one thing I forgot to mention. I know the goals right now we've had are five years and I think the previous strategic plan was five years. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it would be more effective for us as a district to have two to threeyear um in duration of goals rather than the fiveyear. It just seems like things are fluid, things change. Five years is a little bit long. So yeah, I I had debated that point as well, member Tyson. I was thinking maybe a a shorter one two to three year uh stick with fiveyear it seems to work or um we know what our current levy expires. Do we extend it and and look at the full levy window? I all all things worth discussing. Um, I I don't want to cut off any discussion here, but I I think that the consensus that I'm hearing in the room is this would be a really good workshop item for our next next board meeting where the seven of us sit down, decide what direction we're going to take, and then uh go from there. So, I was just going to ask the superintendent if what he thought about the length of the goals or if he had Oh, yeah. some input around that. Yeah. 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. Um, I think that lends credence to a shorter plan, but I think that's a decision for the board and a broader committee. I like the idea of a workshop. Give us time administratively to put our thoughts around some of these topics, bring recommendations to the board for the board to consider. Uh, we'd bring a recommendation for process, timeline, um, structure, and at least a point for the board to consider and provide direction for the administrative team. And if my schedule's correct here, our next board meeting is on July 17th. So that gives us that's when Gail is gone. One, two, three full weeks to kind of work internally, gather our thoughts before we have a workshop. Does that Does that seem adequate? Uh does that feel right to to board members that we we workshop this at the end of our uh July 17th meeting? Sure. Yeah, I think it's good to f uh address it now and then we we have time to work with it. 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. So, I want to be clear to board members in the community alike that that's the intent of the workshop, not not to lay down the new strategic plan. That that would be a very heavy lift. I have a question. Is there a sum up uh any kind of thing or that somebody does looking at the old strategic plan and saying here's where we're we've rocked it and here's where we're not where we would like to be with these goals because there's a lot of goals in here. Um, yep. We have provided um ongoing updates along the way and I think as we determine the process, I think that's the starting point is an evaluation of the accomplishments that we've achieved with the current plan and let that then drive and guide the work as we move forward. Okay. Does does the the schedule that we proposed the 17th, does that give you and your staff adequate time? Yes. Okay. Okay, that member Tyson, I'm sorry. I just have one more quick question. Was there anything else scheduled to be on the July 17th meeting? The only thing that I really had in the back of my mind to schedule it for the 17th was to workshop the MSBA uh 300 series policy that deals with administration and um uh job descriptions that would replace our current 200 series. That's all I had. There's there's a small handful of them. Um but we can forgo that until August as well. There's no hurry to get those uh workshop. This is definitely a priority. We've also, Mr. Chair, had some conversation around um a deep dive into our financial situation, financial needs. Um if there's a determination for addressing long-term financial needs for the district, that conversation needs to happen this summer. So I'd recommend we look at the July or August mid meeting to workshop that topic preferably the uh July meeting. Okay. So in that case we would um we would back burner the 300 series policy. We'd look at uh uh the financial workshop and uh the strategic plan workshop on the 17th. So it' be a very light agenda but very heavy topics. Okay. Okay. So, you're recommending having them both on the workshop? Um, unless Dr. Massie doesn't think that Yeah, I don't I don't believe the strategic plan conversation is extensive. I think we can tackle that in a relatively short period of time. uh probably a couple of hours on a lot of background, financial background with director Ren Bgiti, uh possibly Aaylor's in the room to just do a real deep dive and background on our financial situation with an eye toward the future and letting that guide some decision- making for the board. Okay. And again, I'll pose the same question. Administration feels that Okay. Yeah. I don't want to overburden administration with with tasks, but uh I think those are two really important topics for us to tackle. Um there was no active question on 8.4, but I want to make sure that every member's had an opportunity to speak or if they have any other questions or comments before we move on. I think we'll move forward with the plan to workshop this at the 17th. Sounds good. All right. Um, we will move to 8.5. Then recommendation to approve revisions to the 2026 2027 academic calendar. Dr. Massie, this is a fairly easy one. I suspect the 2627 calendar was approved on May 1st. Um, after review of the approved dates, it was realized that Memorial Day for the 27 for 2027 was listed on the wrong Monday. Uh 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. So um administration is recommending that we adjust the calendar to reflect the accurate date for Memorial Day. Move to approve. Second. All right. Motion in a second. Do we have any discussion? All right. Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed. All right. Motion carries. That brings us to 8.6 Six, equal access to school facilities policy 1801. Dr. Massie. Uh, Mr. Chair, the purpose of this policy is to asssure equal access to specific school facilities during non-instructional time. Um, as the board is fully aware, the policy committee has spent quite a bit of time on this policy. There's been conversation at the board table, um, a great deal of public comment. um as you um initiate a conversation around this table tonight on this topic, um I would rec I would offer and um 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. So I would ask as you have this discussion that you keep in mind um the value of activities for kids. Um we heard a lot of testimony from our kids of the value. Um member Antinson spoke to the culture that gets created um around safety through the activities. Again, clubs and activities have immense value, and I think as a system, we should find ways to support those activities. So, with that, I would turn the conversation over to the board and their deliberation on this policy. I would entertain a motion. Move to approve. I would move to amend. Uh, we need a motion and a second on the table before Okay, we have a motion, a second. Is there any discussion? member. I would move to 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. All right, we have an amendment. Do we have a second? Second. All right, we have an amendment and a second. The amendment is to uh modify the policy section 2B where it reads secondary school to replace that with high school and community school and to strike definition 3B. Is there any discussion? Okay. 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. It circumvents their work and it should I make a motion that it goes back to the committee when they reconvene. Uh we have an amendment on the table at the moment. So you you're moving to commit. Is that what I'm hearing? Oh, could I move to amend the amendment? One one moment. Member Corkran. Member Tyson, did you make a motion to commit? No. Okay. In that case, member Corkran, yes, an amendment to the amendment, okay, would be in order. So, I know some people might have an issue with middle school and I and we and that is really disappointing. And I know maybe it's because of sixth grade. That might be the crux of of the problem of not wanting in middle school. 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. So I'll second that. Okay. So now we have a motion to amend the amendment. I don't know. Hang on. I just I I want to I want to make sure I get this right. So the original amendment was to strike secondary schools and uh replace with community school and high school and and to strike the definition. So, if I'm understanding the amendment correctly, you would your motion to amend the amendment would be to re to reinstate the language secondary schools, but to amend the definition for secondary school to only include students in grades 7 through 12. Yes. Okay. So, um, Joy, I hope you got that because it it changes the the definition significantly because, uh, right now the policy is written to work on a school, but what we're saying is that the the sixth graders would be excluded, which which is fine. it it's absolutely in in in order, but uh the language that's required to make that occur uh is a little uh little bit more verbose than we probably want to lay down in the in the boardroom tonight. Um but as long as administration understands clearly what our intent is, then the motion is certainly in order. Yes, because you could clearly say excluding sixth grade. I mean, you could say secondary school excluding sixth grade. Yeah, we we just have to we just have to figure out the verbiage that ends up in the final policy, which is which is fine. So now, is there any discussion on the amendment to the amendment? Point of order. Yes. Before we get there, I'm assuming, but I don't want to assume I want to make this very clear that we're talking about item 3B on page 104 because the numbering is out of order. Yeah, it is in the policy. There's two B's. Oh, I have three B. Oh, there is two B's. You're right. Three. Okay. So three be on page 104. Page one. Page one. Excellent. Yeah. Yeah. Excellent point. So just that there's no confusion. We're all talking about the same I mean it's pretty clear but Yes. Thank you for catching that. Thank you. Page one. On page one. On page one. Okay. Good. I I never flipped the page because everything we were talking about was still on page one. Okay. Is there any discussion on the amendment to the amendment? Member Tyson. Oh, I would like to hear your reasons, Member Antinson, why you want to circumvent the work of the policy committee. We have a policy committee person in here tonight that even said these kids are too young in the middle school to do this. I have talked to numerous, you know, students and teachers who feel that middleage or middle age, middle school kids are too young to run their own groups. So this means that a sixth grader can't be in a Lego club or start as a Lego club with a group. So you changed the policy to take the advisors out. So that's on you guys. So why do you want to circumvent what the policy committee has put in that it should be sixth grade and up the whole secondary? Okay, member, really, really quickly here, member Tyson, we're speaking on the amendment to the amendment which would which would limit groups to grades seven through 12. Um, that was made by member Corkran. That's the current motion on the table. Um, we we do have limitations to discussion in place. You have spoken twice on the amendment to the amendment. No, member member Christensen. I would like to move um to make a motion to suspend the rules so that we can speak more than two times on a topic. Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second to suspend the rules. Um all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed. No, of course. Okay, the motion fails on suspending the rules. Wow. Okay. Awesome. So, that brings us back to the amendment to the amendment. Is there any additional discussion? Member Hagglin. Um, so talking with people in the community, hearing what I've heard to have sixth graders, and I understand member Corkran's amendment here to pull out sixth grade and leave it as seventh and eighth. I don't know what kind of administrative burden that puts on the the principal and the staff there to try to coordinate that. I question even some of the maturity level at the seventh grade for some of the clubs that are out there. Um definitely the sixth grade level. A lot of these kids are going through puberty and a lot of changes. And I don't don't know that they I'm not talking about all clubs. I'm just talking about some clubs that they have the um the capacity to fully understand the topics that could be dis discussed at some of these clubs. And I that's why I would support member Antinson's motion. Member Christensen. Um Oh, excuse me. Point. Are we still speaking about the sixth grade? We are on the amendment to the amendment which would limit uh the club participation at the middle school to 7 through 8. Okay. Well, I'd like to speak on that and I have a few things to say because I only get to speak twice. Um so I would like to say that um I've heard um members specifically member Antinson speaking about how sixth grade you know that this was the impetus I believe for changing some of this stuff is that the sixth grade was going to the middle school. So if that is the concern about sixth grade we are willing to compromise here. I mean it's not great but we're willing to compromise and take out sixth grade. So then it would remain what it was, seventh and eighth at the middle school. So that's sort of point number one. Point number two, which is huge, which I think that I cannot state enough. These clubs meet after school and they have parent permission. We're not cancelling English class to talk about the Open Minds Club. That's not what we're doing. It is after school and it has parent permission. And if I'm not mistaken, a lot of uh the majority of folks on the board ran on parents' rights, parents rights. And and I just order, please. Order. Order. So if if you're if you're behind parents rights, you cannot be behind parents rights only for the parents that agree with what you agree with. If you are for parents rights, you are for parents rights no matter what. I cannot believe that we are talking about taking away parents' rights and if my kid wants to go to a club, the Lego club, the kindness rangers, whatever they want to do, and I say it's okay, I'm the mom. If I say that's okay and I sign a parent list or parent permission and it's after school, I I I literally I don't understand if you're for parents rights, that is that is huge parents rights. And I would also like to say one more thing on my two points here that I get. I would like to say that in attendance this evening, we are overflowing. We are out into the lobby. There are so many people in here, you can't even get to the restroom on the break. We have the current mayor of Forest Lake was here. We have the prior Forest Lake mayor here. We have a We had a prominent member of the clergy. We have the former superintendent here. We have former schoolboard members here. We have at least two city council members here that I can see. The former schoolboard chair, teachers, and has a single person stood up and said that we want this. We want to get rid of of middle school. Who has said that? Who is for that? No one. I I just I don't I just I don't I'm I'm done. I'm done. Thank Thank you, Member Christensen. Just a quick point of clarification. The the kindness rangers is a school activity and the Lego club is a community program. So they are not middle school groups. Is there any other discussion? I would speak to that, but I can't. I already want to speak to that too. Anybody can speak to that at the moment. Uh we only have one point of discussion. Um member I can still speak one more time. Um I just want to read you actually have two. Oh, I have two. Oh, good. Can I borrow one? you can I'll give you one. So I when I was researching all you know as member Christensen had said very eloquently and passionately um all the things and the reasons that we are upset about this um I was reading the school member oath of office oath of office which we all signed and we all are in favor of and it says we must strive to work together with the superintendent and staff to lead the district toward fulfilling the vision we have created. Fostering excellence for every student in the areas of academic skills, knowledge, citizenship, and personal development. Personal development to me, isn't that what clubs are? Personal development. It's what they feel passionate about. What helps them grow as people? They form friendships. They are that is the core of why some reasons the only reason they're in school is to be with their friends and develop those relationships. As we've heard from students and parents and staff, it's very upsetting to sit here and be all the things positive things we could be doing and this is what we're arguing about. It seems like we're not using our our minds and our what we're on here for as board members to make this district a better place. So, I just wanted to make you guys aware of that because that is what you signed on for. That's what you ran on the platform and why we're here. Now compromising I'm well you know compromise part being a board we're all board we're all here for should be for the same reason to help students achieve and be good people and good citizens for the future we can compromise if you think sixth grade I know that that some people feel like they're too young they don't want those they wanted to wait but I'm willing to compromise 7 through 12 that was what we all talked about I believe that the sixth grade was a problem in some people's eyes. So I think why why stop the seventh and eighth graders from forming clubs then you need to we can differentiate the groups by age. It's probably not an administrative big problem because parents have to sign off on it. You know how old kids are, what grade they're in. Administration knows that. I don't see the problem and I'm more than willing to support that amendment if if you guys would be on board with it. Thank you. Member Corker. Is there any additional discussion? All right. I I have a point of inquiry here uh for Dr. Massie. Do you protect any administrative uh complications with excluding one class at a single building? First of all, I I would would offer if I if I wasn't clear, administration has provided the policy as written. Uh we would support 6 through 12 if that gets amended here tonight. Um we're quite adept at managing all sorts of detail and we would make that work. Okay. That that is one of my concerns. Um Member Tyson, you've already spoken twice on the amendment to the amendment, but I do have a point of inquiry for you. I want to ask you directly. Um, do you have any concerns about students in seventh or eighth grade being able to uh manage these groups, self-direct these groups and self-lead them? These are supposed to be studentled groups. Um, do do you have any concerns with seventh and eighth graders being able to do that? Well, to back up the ship, this policy originally didn't even point of inquiry. Point of inquiry, please answer the inquiry. Do you have any concerns about Thank you. with the sixth grade even. Do any other members who still have uh opportunities to speak have any concerns? Member Christian, I guess I have one more turn. I just would like to speak um just in generally that I think um I think we want to be good faith partners in leadership. I think we do as a board and I frankly think that this was kind of crummy um to bring it up this way because if if you look at it, the administration recommended approval for secondary schools. the policy committee recommended approval for secondary schools. So, I think it's just kind of, you know, kind of crummy to bring it up at the table like this going against administration approval and policy committee approval. And I just feel like that does not bode very well for this board to continue to be good faith partners in leadership cuz I don't know that we can trust each other if if you're bringing up these huge things which we're not in the policy again administration recommended policy why do we have a policy committee if we're not going to follow them why you know and so now we sit here and you just drop the bomb I mean how how are we supposed to trust each other how are we supposed to work together and get along and everything's great. I'm I'm I'm really concerned about that. I'm I'm very um very concerned about about that. All right, member Corkran. Well, like I say, I'm all about compromising. I think as a board, we're all bringing strengths to the table. Everybody has passionates. They feel certain way. They they have different upbringing upbringing. But I think as a board, we need to compromise. We need to work together if we're going to be successful and to show this community that we can work together. That's very important and it represents our whole community. So we that's how I feel. Thank you, Member Corker. Member Hegland. I've heard from numerous people in the public. They might not show up to meetings or be as vocal as some other people, but order, please, or we will have to clear the room. Uh, but just because that those people don't show up to meetings or send in emails or sign on to pet petitions doesn't mean that their their voices aren't as important or shouldn't be heard. I've heard many of those people that have said they don't want it in the middle or high school. Um, but to member Corkran's point, I'm willing to compromise. I don't know what that is. That can't to member Corkran's point. I'm willing to compromise and support member Antinson's amendment to limit it to just the high school. That that is a compromise for for me and for PE the people I've talked to. All right. Thank you, member. Okay. Um, hold on. I I'm gonna address the audience here very briefly. This is our work time. This the eight of us up here, we're working and we cannot be interrupted and if we are going to continually to be interrupted, we will either have to clear the room or we will have to have certain members removed. If there's any additional outbursts, any additional in interruptions to our meeting, we will need to start removing members of the audience. We are excited that you are here. We want you to be involved but that does not mean you can interrupt our work. I hope that is understood. All right. Member Antonson. So with these policy changes, it is essentially the affinity groups that are getting left off the list of where do they fit in besides student interest. Right. Right. So I did go out and and visited and multiple people you looked at me like you were shocked would one of the people that spoke at the listening session who is from the school said that these kids are too young to make this happen when they're at the middle school level. That's what I heard that person say and other people as well. like even the students, high school students were concerned that these kids are going to be able to get things going. Um, I have other concerns too that came up during those visits that another thing I ran on was transparency about what's going on in our schools and being transparent with parents and that came up and unless you know we we need stuff really written in policy to make it clear what the school's policy is and how they deal with issues as they arise. Everything is dynamic with these kids. they're going through so many changes and how they're going to communicate with families or if they're going to at all. And I don't think that's very clear for parents. And um there are I've shared studies from Harvard. Yes, I got berated for that. But uh I think it matters when giant institutions are doing studies on what can happen when these kids are participating in affinity groups. And I did see some positive things happening there. I'd love to keep what they have going and build on that and bring it to more kids, but there's also negative things that can happen. And I experienced those things too during the last two months. So, you know, if I can't ask a question to a child because it's the wrong question and I'm telling them they have to do something by asking them a question, that's not great open communication. And we do have sixth graders going into this school. And it's not just the small minority of people that have trouble adjusting to middle school. I'm sure it's pretty much everyone. you know, they're going from their, if they're lucky enough to be in the same school district their whole life, they go from their small little school and maybe they've met some in football or hockey or whatever, but they're going to this giant sea where they know nobody and they may very well not see a friend for the entire day. And so, what are we doing for the majority of all the kids in our school? I mean, we do have lots of offerings. I think we need to look at doing more. This isn't about being anti or phobic anything. This is about really wanting the best for all these kids to have these opportunities to connect with people because I also agree with you that they are too into their screens. And um if we don't as parents and schools start addressing this stuff right now and giving them more opportunities and to everyone, this this fighting thing that's been happening the last two months is just going to keep going on. And we have to be willing to listen to each other. And I will tell you that I I don't feel well listened to either. It's an immediate attack. So, I'd love to sit down and have conversations if people are willing to actually converse and not just get on the a defensive and attack. And I do appreciate the students that have talked with me the most because they've been the most open and and willing to listen, I feel. I guess I Yeah, that's it. Any other discussion on the amendment to the amendment? All right. I'll I'll throw my my two cents in even though it's more on on the the amendment itself. But uh I'm I have gratitude that the uh the amendment to the amendment was brought forward by member Corkran and that uh were willing to to discuss ideas around how we can make this work within in the schools because none of us at the table here want to take away opportunities from children. That that is absolutely not what we want to do. And I think like member Antonson alluded to that uh when you're in attack mode and you come after board members and you make threats to them, the physical safety of them and their families that that's wrong and that puts us into a defensive mode where you almost dig in your heels harder. So I I appreciate the fact that we're here actually discussing possible options to make this happen. I think that's really important. Um my concern at the middle school um that I've had pretty much since the beginning when I first learned what what it meant to be a limited open form group that it had to be student initiated that it had to be studentled that these uh students needed uh to have a lot of leadership skills has always been the middle school. And are those kids ready for that? They're going through a massive transition. They're moving from their um K5 schools. they're they're finally getting to that that transition point where they they're about to become adults. And I think that's a really difficult time. And to throw the burden on top of them where now all of a sudden they they have to figure out how to organize a group and they have to to lead it and they have to get together. That's concerning to me. And then I look at uh part two of that. Um part two of that for me is and and I know people say that I'm I'm splitting hairs here, but we've never had limited open form at the middle school. Um I've expressed that I've shared that with a lot of people over time. We've always had paid adviserss at the middle school and we have a lot of different groups at the middle school. still have a great assortment of groups and I've worked with administration at the middle school and I've challenged them to bring us more find us more sponsored activities find us more things that we can do through community ed find us find us more things that we can tie to curriculum to give these students opportunities but to remove the burden from the students to initiate it and to lead it I think that's a really big lift for even eighth graders I think it's a really big lift for 9th and 10th th graders, but the ninth and tth graders, that's when they get the opportunity to learn. And now I'm drifting off topic, so I'm I'm going to pull it back a little bit, but uh it's the seniors and the juniors that are leading these initiatives and running these clubs in a high school. And you don't have that those leadership skills in seven, seventh, and eighth grade. And that's my biggest concern with this. I can't talk anymore. Member Christensen, you've spoken twice on the amendment to the amendment. Can I say like point of inquiry or something? Point of inquiry about the comment I made. Yeah. Yes. Point of inquiry. I think um when you said that the students aren't ready to form their own groups, you guys made the changes to make them form their own groups. So if we didn't have those changes, we would have had the adviserss to help them. So I don't think it's fair. that that's not a point of inquiry, but just to be clear, that is a federal law. We did not make those changes. That federal law was passed in the 80s. So, we have we have opportunities here for members Heglin, member Reblin, and member Castle to speak on the amendment to the amendment if they would like to do so. All right. Seeing none, we will move to a vote. All those in favor of the amendment to the amendment that would limit groups to grades 7 through 12 signify by saying I. I. Those opposed? No. Okay. That brings us back to the amendment. The amendment now in summarization will essentially strike the middle school from policy 1801. Would allow a limited open forum at the high school. That's that's where we sit right now. All members have an opportunity to speak. The only member who has spoken on this question is member Tyson. Member Tyson. I believe one of my comments, if you roll back the tape, was a question for member Anton, which is why I only wrote down one up. I still have a comment. You You still have one more comment on member Antinson's amendment. Yes. Okay. So, I just want to talk about what member Jill just brought up. We have had our groups in clubs for decades the way they are. Um, out of 343 public schools in the state, you'd be difficult to find a school district that takes a hard line with the EAA, the Equal Access Act that dates back to 1984 and limited open forum. You changed the policy, so now they don't have advisors. So, we all know that clubs bring tremendous value to school. We've heard it in I've never had so much email and personal conversations and texts and messengers regarding how they bring so much tremendous value academically, socially, enhance learning, critical thinking, leadership skills, and foster a sense of belonging in their school building. It offers a safe space to make friendships and feel connected. Our groups are connected in value valued. They bring community and a richness to our district with dance, music, various cultural influences. Like member Christensen said, the parents give permission. It's after school. It's a parent decision, not ours. We have made concessions with 1801, this policy that leave our affinity groups in limbo and feeling inferior. and our teacher advisors who have cultivated relationships with their groups feeling dejected and demoralized and some moving on from our district. So, I want to talk about who's not in the room that was always here. And it is sad and appalling to me that we choose to pick on the marginalized students in our district, failing to see the positive results they shared with us for five months, coming to our meetings, inviting us to their events, the AAPI event, the Black Heritage Month and program. It's heartbreaking listening to their personal stories and seeing this them in this room for five months. Losing out on five months of their school year to be in this room so that they could try to get you guys to listen to them. It just almost could make me cry looking at their faces meeting after meeting. losing out on this when they could be enjoying their activities, their clubs or academics, creating friendships, not being in this room with this adult crap, experiencing joy in their school life. And we took that away. This will forever be a dishonor on their school year and when they reflect back at this time at Forest Lake Area Schools. And I don't want this to be my legacy and it's not going to be and I hope you guys don't want it to be yours. So I urge you to vote as we see this policy here tonight or vote for the amendment. But whatever it is, hold in your heart. We are elected as public school board members and we serve all of the students in our district. This will affect our teachers and our community in a harmful way. I can't urge you enough to vote as we see it in our packet right here. That's it. All right. Thank you, Member Tyson. Is there any other comment on or discussion on the amendment that is before us at the moment? All right. Seeing none, all those in favor? Can you just repeat the the amendment? Yes. The amendment, if you don't mind, I'll summarize it here. The the amendment um essentially changes the language from secondary schools to uh the community school and the high school. So eliminating, just to be clear, we're eliminating clubs at the middle school. It would remove No, it would not eliminate clubs at the middle school. would move remove the equal access uh limited open forum groups at the middle school. So this Yeah. Which would which would essentially bring us to the status quo where we sit today um with way our policies are. Um member do I have a um do actually all all members but member Tyson have two opportunities to speak on the amendment. So just or other than member Christian I'm just commenting on member Antinson. She said she wanted to add more clubs. you had mentioned that a couple times and you want you're not sure what. Yeah. But so if we take out the middle school, we won't be able to add any more clubs either if you're taking out those clubs. So I'm just playing on what you would say. No, it's if they tie them to school function or if they tie them to curriculum, they can add whatever they want. But no special interest like clubs for the middle school unless they were to come up with some sort of like everybody's invited to a social gathering and like then we can go into their groups or if they want to. But I mean they you know we have these specialized cub clubs for I get what they get out of it and why you know when I heard multiple times I like to go be with my people. I don't know any kid in middle school who wouldn't want to go to a club where they get to hang out with their friends when they're not having to perform or do academic stuff or you know whatever if it's an interest learning based interest thing. So yes, I would like to see more um so but more curriculum based on one. Well, I mean, sponsored. Yeah, sponsored activities. And, you know, we we talk about learning organizational skills. I mean, you know, I would say that in middle school, that's like the crucial time. And hopefully they've learned a little bit in the elementary school because it's going to be fullon game to go to middle school and have six, seven, however many different classes. I can't remember how we're doing it now, but it's a lot going on in a young person's life and they do need the community. Um, and I I see sometimes when we have just these smaller groups that were limiting people from actually branching out more and and engaging with people that aren't similar. And I I don't see that as taking something away. If we provide them space where they can just be, they will find each other. And just and if you don't mind, member Corker, I I'll Am I done with my Well, no. I I'll come back to you. I just want to respond to your your inquiry because I I said very much the same thing that I I would like to see more clubs at the at the middle school and I'd like to see more sponsored clubs at the middle school. More more clubs where the students aren't initiated and they're not leading them. they don't have that responsibility and that's a challenge I brought to a middle school administration a few months ago and said you know start brainstorming this because um like I mentioned before we don't have studentled groups at the middle school right now we haven't and I don't want to put that burden on students I think that's something that they may be able to learn through that development process while they're in the middle school but they'll definitely learn that process when they get exposed to student led groups in high school should this policy pass um at the end. So I just want to respond to your and then you you may continue and it's still the floor is still yours. And we've also address the fact that there's administration to help them at least set up their group. I mean it's not like they're not going to have assistance in some way because we will would work that out and that like we said that's where they meet their friends. That's where they get their passion. I just and mental illness as we have not talked about tonight too much is a huge factor in the middle school and by taking away those that is their community and that's I mean suicides are on the rise and that is the most terrifying thing in this middle school era and by taking away the support and the friendships that they develop in these groups they're going to feel alone and I that just terrifies me and that is something someone had mentioned it's like without these groups it's like a 30 I mean it was a huge huge amount of increase on suicide rates by not having those friendship groups and they feel alone and they're sad and they don't have any support like that. At least with the group they can have that even they won't have an adviser which still makes me incredibly sad but they at least would have each other to kind of talk through problems and they have problems at home. That's I just hate taking that away. That is my biggest fear for the middle school by taking these groups away. Now that not that would not be a curriculum based group. I mean, it's it's mental health, right? So, that is M's the point. So, I don't know. Memberland, I just want to point out, it's been mentioned many times that we're taking this away and as as you've pointed out, Mr. Chair, that we've never had or for a long time haven't had limited open forum. The groups that we're discussing here with the affinity groups were sponsored under the achievement and integration plan which changed which a majority of this board voted for that change. So it can't be pinned on one two or a certain group of people. It was the board had the decision and voted on that change in the affinity group. One of the overriding themes I've heard from many of the people and many of the students that have spoken um from member Antinson's report tonight of the listening session and one of the people who spoke tonight is is that um bullying is still going on and that there's still hate here and people say that well you went to Forest Lake there's there's racism there's sexism going on. If these groups have been around this long why is the bullying still there? Why is it still getting worse? again order. So when I hear that the groups are there to to talk about their commonalities and because they're being bullied because they're being called names, it leads me to ask the question of are the students themselves not reporting it to administration? That's a student problem. If students are reporting the bullying and the problems to administration and and the staff and they're not taking it higher up, that's a staff problem that we need to address here through the administration. If it's getting brought to administration level and it's not being dealt with properly, that's a problem that we as a board need to handle with Superintendent Massie and his team. And I think that's uh an avenue that we need to investigate because I hear the same theme over and over again that the bullying is there. There there's name calling. I agree. We're all rangers. The entire school should be a safe space. There should be no name calling based on race, sex, gender, anything. And if it's happening and the groups have been around for this long and it's still happening, that tells me that the problem isn't being solved and we need to look at other measures or other possibilities to to correct that action. Um, bear with me a second here. I leading up to this meeting, I I did some research about other top ranked schools in the state and a lot of them only have the affinity type of groups only in 9 through 12. Mhm. So I feel now that we're talking about the amendment that uh member Antonson proposed, this would bring us in line with a majority of schools in the district. And again, we are not limited open form now. The groups that were there were based on the old ANI plan. All right. Is there any additional discussion on the amendment? Member Tyson, you've spoken twice. No. Mrs. Mrs. Morehead, please. It's our live in this community long enough to tell you that. I've been on the board long enough to tell you that Mrs. Mrs. Morhead, please. You know better. Please, please, please exit this evening. Okay, let's let's bring this back together here. We are still discussing the amendment. Um, point of order, member. Yes. Could I ask member Hegelin a question if you have a point of inquiry? Yes. Okay. point of inquiry. So that um research that you did, I'm on the MSBA board. I'm part of their director group. I hear a lot of data and feedback about schools. I'm just curious where you got that statistic. Which statistic are that you said the majority of schools that you looked at just have affinity groups in 9 through 12? Well, the one school that comes to mind off the top of my head was Minnesota. Yes. Minnesota. Okay. Minnesota. And the one school district that comes to mind right off the top of my head was Weisetta. And when I looked at the affinity groups, it said 9 through 12. But you said many affinity groups. That was I didn't write them all down. Remember Tyson? That was the the one that was most prominent in my mind because they were the top ranked school in the list. So one one then. Okay. There were many, but that's the one that comes to mind the most because I'm not aware of that. But thank you. Okay. Getting back to the amendment. Is there any other discussion on the amendment that would limit it limit limited open forum to the high school? Just climbing for Could we have could we have a roll call vote please on this one we're ready? Um we can and and member Christensen you do have an opportunity to speak on the amendment again if you'd like to. Oh I do. Well, um, yes. The only the only member here that has exhausted their right to speak on the amendment is member Tyson. Well, I guess I would like to say one thing. Um, it's been brought up multiple times, um, that the vote on the ANI, um, changes was 70, and it was, it was 70. Um, and what I would just like to say I feel like that was um a little bit in the past. Obviously, we voted that in the past, but in my mind in the past um I was still hoping for um good faith leadership and I was hoping for compromise and communication and moving forward. So, I don't know if I'm allowed to say that, but um based on how everyone keeps bringing it up, um I regret my vote to vote 70. I wish I would have voted differently knowing what I know now. Not that it matters, but I just wanted to say that. Is there any other discussion on the amendment that would limit this to I agree the high schools, the high school and the community school? Just for clarity. Mr. Chair, if you would permit me to I guess add a a point to the conversation. Um, with respect to student experiences, um, we would administration would be the first to recognize that the students who come to our school every day um have challenges and are there conflicts between kids? Yes. Are there kids who bully? Yes. For every kid that's involved in an activity, a club that makes connections is a way in which we create capacity with kids and minimize bullying. We recognize that we aren't a finished product. We work tirelessly every day. We get new kids every year. Um and we address it every single time it comes to us. um our clubs and connections is a vital way in which we do that. Um I know you've got a decision amongst yourselves on the extent to which we allow limited open forum. Um I respect that. I just want to make sure you understand, as I'm sure you do, that student connections is the way in which we address student growth, mental health, um, student capacity, and indirectly or directly, uh, the impact of bullying. Um, so it's it's an emotional topic. I get it. Um, but I also would add that we have to be a bit careful that a student interest group may or may not have a curricular connection and that's not going to be our solution for every student interest group because it's got to be a legitimate connection to meet equal access and limited open form. So, we've got to we need to understand that there will be interest. Um, I'm not trying to put my thumb on your scale. I just want to make sure that you understand this point of view. Um, there there will be times high school and middle school, if they're permitted there, where limited open forum will will not have a a curricular connection uh for a group to legitimately exist. Thank you, Dr. Massie. Um, I guess if there there's no other discussion here, I'll I'll speak to the amendment here. Uh, member Christensen, I'm sorry. I just had one more point of order. Um, I was thinking, you still have an opportunity to speak on that. Oh, well, it's just a point of order. Um, okay. I think I think I got a little confused there because I think there was a motion going all the way back. There was a motion, I think, and a second. And then member Antonson um mentioned her amendment quickly. So, did we ever take a vote on the original or how does that work? Did we did are we doing point of order correctly? So, let let me help you whittle down the procedure because uh I' I've had to take notes myself and I typically follow this quite well in my head. So what we had is the the question of 8.6 came up. The only member that spoke on the original question uh was member Antinson and shortly thereafter she offered an amendment but she did speak on that that topic. The amendment is what we are considering now. That that was the amendment that would essentially uh strike the middle school from limited open forum. Member Corkran then made an amendment to the amendment. We have settled that business and we are now back to the original amendment with member Corkran's amendment to the amendment failing. So we are we we we end up stairstepping up to an amendment. We have an amendment to amendment and now we're working our way back down to the the main question. Does that answer your your your question? Are you are you following where we are? Okay. That there is some confusion when you get to an amendment to amendment. I'll admit that. And uh I'm even debating in my head complicating things more and offering an amendment to the amendment um which will only confuse things even more. But uh I have some questions that I'd like to to ask administration first before I would do so. Uh and hopefully Dr. Dr. Massie knows this because I I hate putting him on the spot, but do you know of any situation where we have let's say eighth graders going to the high school for after school activities today? Is that a regular occurrence in our on our campuses for activities? Yes. whether it's um a state high school league activity that they're eligible to participate in um theater, all sorts of activities. Yes. Okay. If we I'm I'm going to speak hypothetically here because I'm not offering an amendment yet, but if we entertained the idea of allowing our eighth grade students, I I fear doing younger grades because now we're talking about mingling with seniors here, allowing them to cross campus to to participate in limited open forum activities at the high school that would allow them to learn the leadership skills that they need to run their own limited open forms when they become nth graders. Is that something that it would be administratively burdensome for the high school and the middle school to work together and coordinate to figure out these are the students that come across these are the activities they're part of. They're in the building. They're I'm kind of looking at principal Caldwell because the question might be for him as much as it is for Dr. Massie. I'm just trying to brainstorm ideas uh because I like member Corpin's idea of we need to compromise. We need to find a solution that helps our students. Would that be feasible? I would say administratively we can manage that. Yes. I would need more consideration on the logistics and the appropriateness of a high school activity and an eighth grader. Um I would be reticent to commit to that at this point. um logistically, administrative, we could we could manage that. I would want conversation with the high school team on um the fit for the different high school groups. Okay. Now, now I'm really glad that I didn't offer the amendment. One one moment. I want to I want to chase down this and then I'll come back to you. Um, I I think what I'm going to do then is I'm going to hold back that amendment that would allow middle schoolers of any age to to cross campus and go to the high school to take part in these activities. Um, I support member Antinson's amendment and and I hope it passes and I I hope 1801 passes, but what I think that I would be comfortable committing to as a chair is to let administration work on this. Think about it and maybe even bring it back in in August, late August, and see if that if that's a feasible solution. If we can make that work and it works within the confines of equal access, that's an idea I'm willing to entertain. And I I would suspect that the board would be willing to have further discussion on that matter as well. Um so that that's where my train of thoughts going. I'm not going to make an amendment to the amendment. Um but uh member Corker, no, I was just going to say I really I mean since we're talking about compromise, um could we table or wait until we get answers from administration about maybe add an eighth grade? Do we have to approve this tonight? Does this have to happen tonight? So, I'm just giving us a little more time, do a little more research, figure this out before we adopt this policy. Is that something that we could get behind? I don't know. Well, would it be even Well, I suppose we you can amend to the policy at any time, right? But either way, I mean, I'm not trying to make it happen. I just and I'd be willing to compromise on that eighth grade eighth grade moving over. Yeah. Remember Castle? So the thought is then that the high schoolers would actually do the organizing of the group and they would be able to invite the eighth grade. That was my thought process. is the eighth graders would be able to participate and it would give them the opportunity to participate in limited open forum and in doing so they would then have the opportunity to learn those leadership skills from their upper classmen. Yes. To help them prepare for when they are ninth graders because I I do recognize the fact that uh um you know it's not always seniors that organize these things. Sometimes freshmen come in, they have great ideas and they want to do things but it would be brand new brand new to them. uh but in this case they would have the opportunity to to participate in the uh limited over form and they would have that ability and Mr. Chair I guess I would add that I'm inclined to say if that's an opportunity that we can create we should do that but I don't want to create programming at the board table and I would need more time to do that um okay I I have a point of inquiry for Dr. Then let's assume that I I go back on that I make that amendment and I say we're going to allow the eighth graders to cross over to the high school and everything passes through after that. Um and we need to remove that because we find it is administratively burdensome. Um is that something that you can work out prior to September so we can put that back on the agenda? I my only hesitation in doing that is I I hate to put something into the policy and say, "Hey, we're going to do this." Then we find out it can't be done and we have to take it away. Um my preference would be to to to pass the amendment to pass it as amendment amended and then add that back in if it's a possibility. So I guess the the question I have is how burdensome do you think that could be logistically? And if you were going to make a bet, where would you like to see the board uh fall? I want flexibility in providing opportunities for kids. Um I wouldn't be surprised if we come back with the we can make it work with seventh and eighth grade um participating. Um but again, I I don't want to get ahead of a lot of really good minds on this. Um, so I would want time to engage our broader team on that topic, folks who have led these groups and get their input. Um, we aren't running groups this summer. It could wait until August if you're inclined to do that and that would give us plenty of time to have that conversation. Is there any other discussion on the amendment? Your amendment. Uh member Yeah. Member Antinson's amendment on limiting it to the middle school. Why don't we settle that? Because if we settle that, we will back be back to the status quo for discussion with the exception of member Antinson and and then maybe we can explore another avenue because we can always amend it or we can always uh postpone action. Um, so if there's no other discussion, can you I'm sorry. Can you repeat it again and ask for a roll call, please? Yes. Yeah. Absolutely. Of course. Um, and then I have questions about your proposal. Can we discuss that? I just We can, but let let's settle this amendment and then let's go back and we'll discuss my proposal a little bit more. Okay? Because we all have opportunities to speak and uh um I could even make an amendment and and that'll give us even more opportunities to speak. So, why why don't we do this? Uh, let's vote on the amendment. The amendment that's on the table right now is to amend section 2B 3B. Section 2B to replace the words secondary school. It's 3B with high school and community school and to strike 3B. Oh, I see. Yes. It's a two-part amendment to replace secondary schools in 2B with high school and community school and to strike 3B. And member Christensen has requested a roll call. So, member clerk, if you please take a roll call. Point of inquiry. Yes. Um, since the numbering is Oh, yes. 3B on page one. Right. So since the numbering is improper, this will have to be redone anyways as far as numbering goes. Not as long as our intent is clear with administration and Joy understands our intent would be to strike 3B the definition on secondary school. So the reing could be done as a clerical issue. Correct. Okay. Yep. Yep. That that can be handled at the after the fact. So again, just to reiterate, I I want everybody to be very clear about what we're we're voting on here. We are voting on an amendment to 8.6. We'll come back to the main question. The amendment is as follows. To amend section 2B where it reads secondary schools to instead read community school and high school and to strike definition 3B, secondary school. With that, member clerk, if you please take the roll call. Okay. Um, member Corkran, no. Member Rebeline, I. Member Antonson votes I. Member Tyson, no. Member Christensen, no. And member Castle, I. Member Haggland, I. Okay, the eyes have it. The motion prevails. So, now we come back to the main the main motion here. And the main motion is to approve 1801. Um the significant difference would be the secondary school would be changed to the high school and the community school. Um no other changes have been made at this point. Mr. Chair. Yes. I would like to offer additional amendments here. Um find the right spot here since this is a little bit different. I move to amend by adding V dot so 5.B.6 make sure this is minutes of all meetings must be taken by the student leader to include location of the meeting date time meeting begins list of all attendees and supervisors items or issues discussed and time the meeting adjourns. Minutes must be turned into the building principal the next school day. And to amend item V or 5.D.6 to read, keep a record of written parent guardian authorization of student participation for all minor students and minutes from studentled meetings as listed in item 5.B.6. Okay, we have an amendment on the table. Do we have a second? I'd second that. Okay. We have an amendment and we have a second. Uh member Hegel, there was a lot going on there. Yes. Would you please repeat that so the members here have a clear idea of what it was you are proposing? Yes. So what I'm So those that want to follow along on their laptop, it's on we'll be adding on page three um right below 5B5. I would be adding 5B6 to just ask this meeting minutes of all meetings must be taken by the student leader to include location of meeting date, time meeting begins, list of all attendees and supervisors, items slash or issues discussed and the time the meeting adjourns. Minutes must be turned into the building principal the next school day. And also to amend item V.D.6 six to read, keep a record of written parent guardian authorization of student participation for all minor students and minutes from student led meetings as listed in item V.B.6. So basically what I'm I'm just asking the students to if they if they're having these clubs or groups to be responsible to take minutes, record what's being what's happening. Um the the amending the v.D.6 six. All I'm adding in there is that the minutes from the student led meetings must be or retained. Okay? So the and the purpose of this is just so that if something was to ever come back and uh let's say a parent comes back and says, I didn't know that my my child or my uh somebody who they're a guardian of was at this meeting or they came home and they're they won't tell me what was discussed. at least they would have some sort of ability to come back to the school and say, "Could you at least show me the minutes and show me what was discussed?" Covers us, covers the the parents and the guardians, and it also brings leadership skills. Okay. Um I'm going to check in really quick. Joy, did you get the contents of that? FBI. Okay. Oh, let me help you out. That helps. Thank you. Okay, we are now back to discussing an amendment. Member Christensen. Yeah, I have a few questions. Um, this will all be one comment, but um, so to member Hegel, um, so what happens if it's not? Is there some sort of ramifications, punishment? Um, because I'm just thinking there's a lot of rules there. So, you got to take the notes and then you got to turn it into the principal the next day. You know, what if the principal's gone? What if you go home sick or something? So, is there is there some sort of teeth behind this? Is that a point of inquiry or is that that was a point of inquiry? Okay. Yeah. Um I imagine it just as it would be with any other responsibility of a job or a student that they take these minutes and they turn them in. If somebody isn't there, the assistant principal is going to be there in the school or uh a counselor, somebody will be there. And if they don't take it, then yeah, they're they're failing to meet the requirements of the group. And and then what happens? Well, that's something that administration would have to determine, I guess, if they are allowed to meet anymore. Huh. So, another question then. So, we just um member Raaline did, you know, was very kind to Dr. Massie and asking like, oh, does administration have time for this? Would administration have time to think about eighth grade? Now, we're asking administration to make sure the kids turn in the notes. If they didn't turn in the notes, you better hound that kid. You better find the kid or the club is discontinued. And then someone else has to hold the notes. So, who's who's the keeper of the notes? And then another question uh for Dr. Massie or someone student privacy. So, if my kid comes home and tells me they're in a club, but they don't want to tell me what they talked about, do I I I mean, I'm just asking. Do I have as a right as a parent to call um Mr. Caldwell or someone and say, "I demand to see the notes of what was taken in that club." Can we do that? I don't know. I mean, I'm just asking that privacy. Actually, member Christensen, that is a phenomenal point. Yeah, I think there are data privacy issues there that we'd want legal guidance on. Yeah, I agree. Okay. Member Corkran and plus the next day I mean that seems very strict and kind of I mean especially if it goes late and they're going I mean I don't know there needs to be more more clarity and a little more give and take on that. It seems like it's very restrictive to me and I I mean these like you say they're not going to have adviserss now. They're they're already losing their adviserss and so it's going to be such a a big hurdle as it is when they're first starting these groups. So, I think there needs to I mean I understand they have to be accountable and that's you know have whatever but it seems to be it's very very restrictive. I think they need to have a little more give and take on that like timelines and things like that. I just think that's very strict but I mean it's good to have rules. I know that but maybe give it a little more time like the next week or you know something the next day and if they don't follow like I say that's like member Christensen said that just seems very excessive to me. Member Tyson. Yes. So plain and simple, this is creating barriers, member Hagglin. You're creating barriers. You're making it more complex and you're circumventing the work of the policy committee. We have a policy committee that has gone through all the work over five months with this and now you're picking it apart. It almost feels like there's some violation of open meeting law where you guys came to just bulldoze and pick it apart and give it all your personal feedback after our policy committee that is made up of community members, administration, policy members, and you're circumventing their work. It's just a slap in the face. I I don't understand what's going on here. Me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me member Tyson I have a point of you here um an accusation that the open meeting law has been violated as a hefty accusation. Do you have any evidence of this or are you speculating? I'm just saying because if you're speculating it feels like something was okay that would be a violation of our member code of ethics. So, I would ask you to please refrain from doing so. That that is an incredible accusation that has ramifications beyond any individual board member here. It has ramifications against the district. It is a very dangerous thing to be saying in the middle of a meeting. I'm just saying it feels I can assure you that I have not participated in any violations of open meeting law. So, if that is part of your assumption, then uh I think other members would say the exact same thing. Um, but I would please ask to refrain from that unless you have evidence that you can bring forward on that topic. Did you have more comments to make because I did cut you off? No. Okay. Thank you. Is member Heaggland. I would just like to point out that I'm not on the policy committee so I haven't had the opportunity to to give feedback and offer ideas to these policies. So, this is my opportunity to offer amendments and feedback and first and second meeting. It sounds like to me from what I've heard is that what you're saying is that these students aren't responsible enough to take minutes and no, it's not what I order, please. No. To turn them in on time. I I agree with member Corker. Maybe the the next day is maybe too strict. Uh that that could be lasted. But I'm just, it sounds like now all of a sudden you're saying that these students are mature enough to have all these clubs, but they're not responsible enough to take minutes and to turn them in and be responsible for that. I think that's a a great job of it's a great opportunity for them to provide organizational and leadership skills to member Corpin's plan. I agree that maybe a date next date is a little bit ownorous and I don't even know I didn't even think about what the um the timeline would would be, but that's something I'd be willing to to to change or amend. Any other discussion on this amendment? All right, I'm going to throw in my two cents here then. Um I like the intent behind this. In fact, uh um we we have something very similar that the policy committee did propose in uh 5D7 that we ensure that student groups remain predominantly consistent with their stated subject matter and general objective. If a group's subject matter or general objective changes, students will need to reorganize. Um I feel that kind of covers it to be honest. Uh I think this is getting kind of crossing the line from policy into procedures and trying to set up uh specific directives on how another point in policy is achieved. Um one of the things that does have me probably the most concerned about this is that the potential data privacy act uh concerns. So, while I I don't think that the the intent is to to block groups or to make it burdensome, um I would disagree with that assessment. Uh I I do think there are concerns here that uh we've already turned over a procedural level to administration. So, I I have concerns with the amendment. Is there any other discussion on the amendment? All right. Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. No. No. No. Okay. That the amendment fails. Um Joy, did you get that? Was was the only affirmative of member Hegel? Okay. Okay. All right. That brings us back to the main question. 8.6. We're back to uh um it has been amended now to limit limited open forum to just the middle school. Is there any additional uh discussion or amendments that anybody would like to bring? Member Tyson. I have one thing. I'd like to move to strike B5. V under procedures. V as in Victor. Yes. the five under procedures and then it's B5 under page three. Oh, so Victor Bravo number five on page three. Right. I would like the language um be reinstated annually removed. I feel like that's a barrier. So I would like it to just read the goo groups must be student initiated. Period. All right, we have a motion. Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Um, having another amendment. Uh, member Tyson, would you like to speak to your amendment first? Yes. I I would I just feel like that's a barrier. I think that just is another obstacle that's created with that being in there. I think that it just creates more flow and more paperwork and adding on to what other amendments are doing and that should just be taken out. I think it's unnecessary for them to reestablish annually when they've had their group started. It should just be ongoing if they're meeting the other criteria of course in the policy. Okay. Is there any other discuss member Anton? Is the annual renewal part of this, you know, part of the I can't remember. EA is it part of the actually just looking that up myself. I don't have it. I can just barely hear you may member. Sorry. What did you say? I asked if um if this yearly thing, the up the updating it yearly or renewing annually was uh part of the EAA or No, it is not. No. Okay. And I'm I'm reading EAA my right now. So I I have it in here. Um there in EA um section C1 does require that the group be student initiated. I do not see any text that requires in federal law that it be reestablished annually. However, the federal law does clarify that the student groups must be student initiated. Y too. So if correct students start at 2025 in the fall and it just stays and there's more grades than just seniors and they want to keep it going, they can talk to the principal and say, "Yeah, we definitely want to keep doing this next year." And just have that be the plan then. Right. Correct. I don't know if I see any problems with that. I don't I don't think that's Well, like me. Well, like we had said it, member Tyson had said, if they're following all the other rules and they're kind of complying with procedure and policy, it would just be something else. They don't because like it's already going to be different. They're going to be studentled, right? Not going to have an adviser anymore. So, it just helps it more flow and not have to reapply every year. I just think it just makes it easier and more it flows and it's just less burdensome on the students. So if there's a problem, I'm sure it'll come up if they don't adhere to some of the other rules, right? So yeah, I think it's a good idea. Member Christensen, sorry. Well, again, I have a similar question. So what if they're not reestablished annually? What if the membership turns over and someone forgets to do the paperwork? So, if you haven't reestablished yourself annually, then you're just done. Or again, like what's the ramifications? What's the Yeah, I I'll actually answer that point of inquiry since I've spent way more time studying and researching this and working with administration than I ever cared to. Um, unlike a lot of school districts in the state of Minnesota, we are not specifying a window in which you must apply. Uh there are a number of school districts that say that uh you have to reestablish these groups annually, but you can only apply during like the month of May for the next school year or the month of um I think many of them said May, September, and January were kind of their open windows for registration. We didn't we didn't put that uh requirement into this policy proposal that they could only have certain windows. So I think in that case where if a group wasn't reestablished but they they got together in October and decided hey we want to we want to form they could spin themselves up right then and there in October they they go talk with principal Caldwell um or principal Lefine and say we want to spin up this limited open form group. So I almost feel that that annual reestablishment helps administration because they're not trying to carry forward or realize what groups are still active, what groups fell off, which groups did or didn't. Um that that's my my personal take. So I'll even mark my down is making a comment here and then I'm going to add to it. Uh I do have a concern with the the amendment striking the entire language of the groups be student initiated since that is a requirement in federal law. So I won't support this amendment as it is right now. No I didn't. She just said annually. Just annually but she wanted to stop that student initiated period. Oh I heard that incorrect. I'm sorry member Tyson. Okay. So you just struck reestablished annually. Yes. Okay. because it is in the federal under Thank thank you for the clarification then I apologize for getting the or my interpretation of that. Um so then it the question really becomes one of uh does that create an administrative burden to have some groups roll over and others not and Jim just shook his head no principal Caldwell. So yeah, um I guess in that case I I don't know that I see a problem with it personally. Member Hegeland, since I'm not on the policy committee and wasn't around for this development, was that language in there from the policy committee or how did that get taken from a different policy when this got roll over? How did that end up in there? Even the reestablish it was presented to the policy committee in that form. Yeah. Okay. Mhm. Yep. Yeah. I don't see any reason why we can't I mean, I'll support member Tyson's amendment. All right. Is there any other discussion on this? All right. Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed. All right. The amendment passes unanimously. So, we're we're going to have the uh um section uh or item five at the very top of page three has been amended to read the groups must be student initiated. Period. That will bring us back to the main question. The main question is now um Mr. Chair, yes, I'd like to offer one more amendment. Member Hegland. Uh I move to amend by adding uh Roman Roman Roman numeral 5.B7. Students attending or active in any group or activity under this policy shall have a minimum grade point average GPA of 2.3 or higher and have a minimum GPA of 2.7 or higher in all non-elective classes. So procedure 5B oh that would be 5B6. member Hagglin on the top of page three. Um, mine's clear where this is. Mine's No, it's not. The rules. When I looked at this, I I guess yes, it would be 5B6. Okay. 5B. So, this has changed since I looked at this before. Um, would you mind rereading that, please? So, I move to amend by adding item Roman numeral V.B.6. Students attending or active in any group or activity under this policy shall have a minimum grade point average of 2.3 or higher and a minimum GPA of 2.7 or higher in all non-elective classes. Okay, we have a motion for an amendment. Do we have a second? Oh, all right. Um, well, I have a question, but you have a question. Okay. Well, does anybody have any questions about an amendment? Was there a second? I'm sorry. There hasn't been a second, but we do have a point of inquiry. Does it? It fails without a second. Right. Right. Correct. But we have a point of inquiry. Okay. Is this standard operating procedure for sports and other Good question. Sports. It is the sport requirement is that they're making progress toward graduation. Yes. Okay. This is stricter. Okay. So, I would Well, you got to get deal with your amendment. Okay. We have a we have an motion for an amendment on the table. Is there a second? No. Okay. Seeing no second, that amendment uh the motion fails for lack of a second. Okay. Brings us back to our original question. The original question has now been amended. Member Tyson's amendment is simple. Um it strikes reestablished annually. Uh the other amendment that we have that's incorporated um in summarization limits this to the high school and the community school. Is there any other discussion on the 8.6? Member Christian, could we make a roll call vote, please? Yes. Yes. When we get to this, we we will certainly have a roll call vote. Um, now that we're back to the main question, do we want to explore the option of allowing eighth graders to go to the high school or do we want to have the consideration of postponement? I hesitate to postpone personally. Um, my hesitation to postpone is that we have a lot of community members here that are really interested in coming to some resolution this evening. I would like to come to some resolution this evening. Even if that resolution even if we agree at the board table, that resolution that we come to this evening is temporary and we're going to readress this once we get more information from administration. That that's my personal thought on that and I would love to hear what the rest of the board has to say. The only members that have spoken on the main question are myself, member Antonson, and member Tyson, each speaking once. Member Christensen, I guess I have a couple points about um eighth grade. So, first of all, I think someone mentioned here, I've heard it say we're not making these types of ad I believe including eighth grade, that's sort of administrative decision because you're asking if like it can be done. So, I don't think that's necessarily our business here to be talking about that. So, I think we're talking about two things. Either we want to say we're going to direct administration to see if it works for eighth grade, that's one thing. Or and which means we postpone it, or we're just going to vote on it. And I guess my other question is, you know, if we could do both. What? We could do both. We could vote on what we have in front of us while giving administration a directive to see if we could expand it later. We can do both. Okay. But um so also I guess my question would be and and believe me I would love to include eighth graders or whoever we can include but I it's just sort of a question I have like if some folks if some board members feel like sixth and seventh grade oh they're too young for these clubs but now we're okay sending eighth graders across the street to meet with seniors. Yeah. I get you know like if my little middle schooler can't you know can't do that. I mean then I'm just wondering. So now now they don't have an advisor, right? Someone has to be taking minutes. And now my eighth grader across the street and he's meeting with a bunch of seniors or juniors or whoever. I don't know who any of these kids are. They're not in any of their classes. I don't know any of the parents. No advisor. I don't know what they're talking about. I mean, I guess to me that I'm not I'm not I I guess I or someone explain their thinking of that. Ju just a point of clarification that the the motion for the minutes did fail that that that's not part of the the final proposal here that we're discussing but still an eighth grade someone help me understand that it's okay for this senior I would say that we just had a graduation you know another year has gone by so the and especially this year we're have you know kids that were in seventh grade aren't now the eighth graders they were in the clubs with the next grade with them. So, weren't they? I mean, that's my understanding from having gone there was that at the middle school anyways, it's both grades in Sure. But or sorry, another one. So, so I I understand what you're saying and that's totally true. But I'm just saying like if one of the main reasons we're doing this or some folks are doing this is cuz we're worried. We're worried or concerned that they're too young. They can't handle these adult or whatever you think goes on in these clubs. You know, they can't handle it. I'm just struggling with but then I'm okay sending my eighth grader across the street. He might know my might know the ninth graders that were in the club with them before, but they sure don't know senior or junior. And again, there's no, you know, we got rid of the adviserss. There's no adviser in the room. Well, somebody be more worried about that. There's somebody supervising in there. That's Well, have we determined is there a single supervisor for each club or is there some sort of a roaming supervisor? Have we determined that? I don't think we have. I We've left that up to administration to to determine. And and just a point of clarification on my It's not even a motion. It's it's just a suggestion that it's something that we could consider. Um, my biggest concern with limited open forum at the middle school is that those kids don't have the leadership skills at that age to be able to run their group. I I'm not even considering the the content of the groups. The the contract the the beauty of limited open forum is we don't really involve ourselves with the content. We involve ourselves only with whether or not the students can create the groups and can self-manage the groups. Uh um but I thought we were concerned with the content. I thought that's how we got here. Okay. Okay. Any other discussion on 8.6? Well, member Tyson. Yes. So, I just want to concur with member Christensen. It seems a little like just disturbing to me that we want the eighth graders to go over to the high school and through snow and rain and just to walk and into the building that navigate this building. It just seems like that's another barrier type thing. And when my daughter went to clubs at the middle school, she wanted to be in her own building with her teachers, her advisors, the familiarity of it. I just can't imagine that eighth graders would want to go across. And again, it just seems like a barrier instead of a logical idea for that age group. And I just want to repeat again that this circumvents the work of the policy committee. And to member Hegeland, we have first and second readings. We've been looking at this policy for five months. So now we're here just amending it left and right. And I just do not feel comfortable with this idea of eighth graders going across the road to the high school. They want to be in their own building, their own school, have ownership, have community. They want to be in their own building. I just don't agree with that idea. Thank you, member. Okay. Well, so we talked about the my motion originally was not including sixth grade. Well, could we have eighth grade at the middle school? If you're wanting them to go across the street, I mean, honestly, if you think they're old enough to handle having a group, but they they're older than the seventh, would would you consider having them have clubs at the middle school at 8th grade? Because they will eventually ne the next year they will be and they'll be seasoned to go into the ninth grade. And I mean, it's it's it's a it's a compromise again, but I like I say, it's better than walking across the street. Just a point of clarification, are you offering an amendment? I am. Yes. Okay. I guess so. I offer an amendment for eighth grade to have a club. Second that. Okay. Okay. We have a motion and a second. I'm going to see if I can I don't know encapsulate the the intent of the motion here. Yes. Um essentially again, we want to modify the text of the policy to allow eighth graders themselves to participate in the limited open forum at the middle school. See, did I did I capture that? Member Corkran, I'm sorry. Yes. Oh, I guess it's B. 2B. 2B. Okay. So, in 2B 2B, um right now, um as amended, it reads high school and community school. It would then read high school, community school, and eighth graders at the middle school. Yes. Yes. But it would be limited to eighth graders. That's the motion and the second that we have on the and then would also have to change that. Um 3B we would we could leave stricken because we're not using the language secondary school above. Okay, perfect. So it could read simply high school, community school, and eighth grade graders at the middle school. Okay. Yep. I that's what my amendment is. Okay. And we had a second that was provided. All right. Do we have discussion on the amendment? Member Corker. And I of course give you the opportunity to speak first if you'd like to. It is your amendment. I know you keep making amendments, but um well, like you say, I mean, it's an older group that you know, we're trying to build leadership skills and you know, your idea was to go across the street, which I thought, you know, at least they'd be at least have something and have better than have something than nothing. So, for me, they would build and they're older. So, I think the eighth grade is definitely old enough hopefully that this would be a compromise for them to at least have the club and then they'll be ready to go into the ninth grade. So, it'll just be a stepping stone for them and you know, they could work. I mean, who knows? Maybe they could partner with the high school in some ways. Maybe they could come over to their group. Maybe they could kind of meld a little bit between the high school and the middle school. I don't know. They could have maybe a couple representatives or something come over or whatever. We could work that out. I'm sure it could be worked out as a compromise. I I have point of inquiry for Dr. Mass. I feel terrible. I keep putting him on the spot this evening. Um, do you see any logistical issues with eighth grade limited open form groups forming at the middle school um, exclusively and working with or partnering with counterparts at the high school? And and whether that means moving back and forth or um, any any concerns that you have there from a administrative or logistical standpoint? The I guess the reason I was I hedged on eighth graders at the high school is for the reason discussed here. I would want input from those who have run these clubs um high school administration, middle school administration. If the question is is it logistically feasible to manage eighth graders in limited open forum at the middle school, that is certainly um a task that the staff could take on. Okay, that's a good idea. Okay, in that in that case, um I don't think we need to clarify the amendment because your amendment is pretty clear. It doesn't include any type of uh co-mingling between the two schools. So, I I think we're okay there. It's an interesting idea, but I I feel like that would be left to administration to determine if if it was something that was feasible or allowed. Um, you mean the back and forth? Yeah. Whether or not they were allowed to go back and forth, that that's something that uh principal Caldwell and principal Miller can can can figure out. The board certainly doesn't need to be involved in that. That that that's an administrative uh decision, assuming this amendment passes. That that's my take on that. Is there any other discussion on member Corkran's amendment? Point of inquiry. Could you clarify? Member Corkran's amendment is for the eighth grade to stay in their building for their right. Yeah. Yeah. For their member Corkran, that's that is your intent. Is that correct? My thought said something different, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around it, too. Did you have a access 1801 from 8th grade to 12th through high school? Yes, that's what it is. Yep. So, it's it's limited open form for for grades 8 8 through 12. 8 through 12. And I like what you community school. Yes. Yep. Yep. That group being 9 through 12. But they're okay. Any other discussion on the amendment? Well, I can make my own again. Yeah, you you get two. No, I really think that that would really be powerful between having even to have someone to come there and kind of help them start. I mean, someone from the high school, maybe from the same kind of grouping to get them a start and to kind of start them on their way and to kind of mentor them. I think I I think it's a good compromise. I I I'll use my second opportunity to speak here, too. Uh, member member Corker and I I've been very vocal that I don't think students at the middle school are ready for this. And uh for that reason, I've I've been gosh, I've been chastised in the public for how how dare I take this away. And and I I keep reiterating the point. We don't have limited open form at the middle school. And we've heard a lot of public comment on maybe there's a way we can ease into it. I think you might have just found the way to ease into it. And then this is why I think these conversations are so valuable. And uh I guess I don't want to set a directive to administration, but I would like to challenge administration, especially the principles, to to find a way to help the older students to mentor these eighth graders and bring them up to speed because uh um I fear like, you know, if we we allow this for the eighth graders and they can't handle it that the groups will they'll spin up and they'll fizzle out and they'll die because the the students just don't have that leadership ability yet. So I I would challenge administration that if this amendment passes and the policy as a whole passes that uh they find a way to to get these students student supports because uh um you know that the limit the whole concept of limited open form is that student led we need to to remain within that framework but uh I guess what I'm saying in short is you may have convinced convinced me at least is to to be open to allowing some middle schoolers the opportunity to participate and build leadership skills because I think that is critically important and I think this is a this is an opportunity that we can give our students to help build that leadership skills they can and and leadership skills at the end of the day drive academic performance and uh I guess personally this is a this is a compromise I can live with in the middle school. Great. Is there any other discussion on the amendment? All right. Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed? No. All right. The amendment passes. We're finally back to the main question again. Um policy as amended. Um, member Tyson's uh, amendment strikes reestablished annually at the top of page three. Um, section 2B strikes the word secondary schools now includes high school um, community school and 8th grade at the middle school. Is there any further discussion on the main motion now that we are finally back to it or any further amendments? Can we take a roll call? Yes, we will have a roll call vote as he requested earlier. Um I do have a few statements I want to read on uh policy 1801 in large part. I think it's all applicable still even as amended. Um so I'm going to read it off quick here before we go to roll call, but uh Um, when our school district legal council first expressed their concerns with inconsistencies between federal law and our legacy policy 507, I didn't expect that adopting MSBA model policy was going to be as eventful as it has been. I didn't expect that making minor revisions to policies 510 and 801 to align with current Forest Lake District practices would generate any concerns. After all, we were simply transferring our long-standing practices into a framework that would ensure ongoing compliance with state and federal law. Our intent with adopting policies 1510 and 1801 was to create a framework that aligned with the law and current district practices. The policies that were initially proposed to the policy committee were the result of extensive collaboration with district staff over an extended period of time that were presented to the committee at the earliest possible opportunity. As with any policy, there was an expectation that the committee would propose changes. We saw even more of those tonight. That process plays out with virtually every policy that the committee considers before finally presenting it to the board. After all, the purview of the policy committee is to provide the board with recommendations for consideration. The process exceeded our standard practices of transparency. Unlike the vast majority of our district policies, policy 1801 was unexpectedly given multiple months of consideration before the proposal was deemed accept acceptable for presentation to the board. Unfortunately, as this process played out, various groups and individuals continuously defamed our schools and our communities by deliberately misrepresenting the proposals, spreading lies, and fanning the flames of fear with reckless abandon. The vitriol and hate speech from this group was beyond anything that any reasonable person could have ever expected. The hyperbolic lies and fear-mongering led to such extremes as public smear campaigns unlike anything we've ever seen in Forest Lake before. Students being manipulated to abandon their academic pursuits to garner attention and repeated threats of physical violence against board members and their families. These behaviors are unacceptable and are not constructive in any way. This is not how we resolve our differences of opinion to reach a consensus for our students and our community. And I will be the first to say that I condemn this behavior and pray that it will come to an end at the conclusion of tonight's vote. I would ask these individuals to reflect on their past behavior and consider alternative methods that promote collaboration in the future. We have more work to do and it's better if we strive to work together. Despite this less than ideal journey, I'm comfortable with how policy uh 1510 turned out and I'm satisfied that it obtained board approval last month. Likewise, I feel that 1801 as amended is a satisfactory compromise that accurately represents our long-standing practices and provides a solid foundation that we can build on in the years to come. Member clerk, please take a roll call. Okay, so we're 1801 as amended. Um, member Christensen, no. Member Corkran. No. Member Hagglund. No. Member Tyson. No. Member Castle. I. Member Rebeline. I. And member Antonson votes I. The nays have it. Motion fails. 1801 is defeated and there will not be any limited open forum available in any of our schools next year. We will now move on to 8.7 discipline policy 515. Dr. Massie. [Music] This policy requires annual review prior to the start of each new school year. The policy is intended to communicate expectations regarding acceptable conduct in school in order to provide a positive learning environment for all students. This policy was introduced at the May 29th meeting as a first reading and it was proposed that the existing policy be replaced with the Minnesota school board's model policy. Replacing the district's existing policy with the MSBA model policy would result in a substantial and concerning change by eliminating specific wording identifying the Confederate flag, swastika, and KKK symbols as prohibited symbols. Tonight, this proposal ver this proposed version of policy 515 is being presented with these items remaining in the policy. specifically listed under item 2C number seven. I acknowledge that the model policy states that symbols and clothing that cause a material disruption to the learning environment may be removed. I also acknowledge that many districts have adopted the straight language from the MSBA model policy and do not specifically list the Confederate flagas or KKK symbols, although there are districts that do. However, the courts have upheld that the Confederate flag, Swastasa, and KKK symbols can be banned in schools because of the history of these symbols causing material disruptions. The most recent case was the BWA v. Farmington case heard in the eighth circuit court in 2008. Using the Tinker Standard, the ETH circuit concluded that districts can restrict these items if the district can reasonably forecast that the symbol will cause a material and substantial disruption to the school environment. Last month, I shared details of a of a tragic incident involving an assault of a black student. In 1997, an incident involving an African-American student took place after school and on school grounds where the student was surrounded by a group of students and physically assaulted. The following day, a group of students wore white t-shirts to school in solidarity of their involvement in this racially motivated assault. As a result of this incident, the family moved out of the school district and additionally several other African-American families also moved out of the school district. The Confederate flag, Swasa, and KKK symbols were added to the discipline policy at this time and in response to this incident. Given this history, it is relevant and important that the district continue to prohibit these specific symbols from being displayed in any manner on school grounds or school activities. Furthermore, listing them in the policy enables administration to address issues proactively before disruptions occur or harm is caused to others. The Forest Lake Area School District, I think we would agree, is an amazing place to learn, to raise a family, and to call home. Our communities have come a long way, but this does not erase the harmful history of this sad and tragic event and the related issues surrounding the incident. An outright prohibition of these symbols will represent the district's commitment to providing a safe and welcoming environment for all students and families. Administration recommends that this policy be adopted as it is presently presented tonight with the inclusion of the language banning the Confederate flag, swastika, and KKK symbols from school grounds and school events. Thank you, Dr. Massie. I would entertain a motion to approve. Move to approve a second. All right, we have a motion and a second on the table. Is there any discussion? Member Castle. Point of inquiry. Uh, so you said that the students wore white t-shirts. What symbols were on them? I don't have that information. All I know is from um educators and that was mentioned by um speakers tonight as well who were there at the time um identified that there were kids that indicated that they were wearing white t-shirts in solidarity as a group who were involved in that incident. But it had nothing to do with these three symbols that we are micromanaging according to some folks that have spoken here. then we will be micromanaging this area as opposed to allowing the administrative staff to have those not be allowed because we're not allowing them whether they're specifically stated or not. Right? There are folks that have escaped communist Russia and communist China and they wouldn't want to not have the hammer and the sickle or the star in the crescent. So if we micromanage these, we should micromanage them all or we should not micromanage them at all. So I move to strike number seven and not have those specific words there because what if somebody had a circle and a and a line through it that says no swastika? The swastika is in the middle of it, but we're saying no, we don't allow that. So the the person is indicating that they don't support that by having the circle and the line through it. But nonetheless, that so-called symbol would be there and that would they would feel powerful in order to make their statement that they don't allow that. And if we take and if we say that the symbol itself can't be there, then they would not have the opportunity to do that. And I would even support folks to say that they don't with that such of a item surfing a line through it and anything that they don't like. Yeah, member castle, I would just answer by saying that by specifically listing these items in the policy creates clarity around the district's position. it's upheld in the courts that they can belong in the policy and be stated in the policy and it creates clarity around administrative response to those symbols appearing in school. Okay. If I can Yes. Um member Castle, could you please reread your amendment or your what you were striking? would I would move to strike number seven under what page is on page 12 on page 12 okay I was going to ask the same question here again we have a administrative lettering numbering issue it appears so these are already covered in two and in four we do not allow things that comm communicate a message that is racist, sexist or otherwise derogatory to protected minor groups or approves, advances or provokes any form of religious, racial or sexual harassment or violence against individuals that define a policy. That's number four. Number two, clothing including emblems, badges, symbols, signs, words, objects, or pictures on clothing or jewelry bearing a message that is lewd, v vulgar, obscene, lielist, or overly indirectly denigrates, harasses, discriminates against others on the basis of protected class or status under the Minnesota Human Rights Act, or violates school district policies prohibiting discrimination, violence, harassment, or other harmful activities. It's already covered in those two. Why would we micromanage that? Okay, I'm going to pulse back here. We We have a motion on the table to amend by striking item number seven on page 12. Do we have a second? Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Do we have any discussion on the amendment? I I I would just like to say something about what has been going on in our community because this policy as written, you know, with the MSBA standard has been written like this the entire time. It has said those two paragraphs that you just wrote. Yet, I got a call from my my middle schooler saying, "Did you hear about this walk out?" Um, yes. I I heard about it that morning. Um, and he he said, "Well, I knew something was not right because I said,"What have you heard?" And he said I said, "Did you go?" And he said, "No, but I I thought maybe I should." And and then he said, "I heard that the school board was now allowing hate speech and hate symbols in the school." And I said, "That is not at all true." And that is not at all what this policy says. And the fact is that we have received numerous complaints and I've talked to kids that are still bullied. So whether I with whatever I'm and I'm not saying it's okay to wear it and neither is this policy. And I think the interpretation of it that way is outlandish to start that firestorm of discussion saying that's what we're doing. So, I mean, it's it's it's overwhelming to me to think that people read the policy and then could say the school board's now allowing hate speech and hate symbols in our schools. Thank you, member. I'd like to speak on this one really quick here. Um, give a little background. The proposed changes to policy 515 were based on current district practices in MSBA model policy 504. This proposal was part of the board's adoption of the MSBA policy framework. The extreme reaction and misrepresentation of the proposed changes by a few community members resulted in significant consternation for me. I did not expect that adopting MSBA model policy would be such a contentious topic. As a result, I spent significant amount of time researching dress codes across the nation to see for myself if I was failing to see the bigger picture. I concentrated on the 330 other school districts across the state of Minnesota and I read every single dress code policy in the state. Here's what I'd learned. There's one school district in the state of Minnesota that provides clo examples of clothing that may cause a disruption to the education process. Here's one. There are two school districts in the state of Minnesota that like Forest Lake have a prohibition on certain specific named items. Unlike Forest Lake, these districts have a more comprehensive list that call out individual items and they also define categories of items. I printed every single dress code policy. I collapsed them all down to one page so you can see what I am trying to express here. as well. There are 327 school districts representing 99% of Minnesota schools that do not attempt to itemize offensive or disruptive items. Instead, these districts utilize the proposed language in the MSBA model policy that gives administration the discretion to proh prohibit any item that causes a disruption in the classroom, either reactively or proactively as they deem necessary. of paper. As many of you are aware, I met with the mayor of Forest Lake last week. Mayor Roberts and I discussed the difficulties in formulating good policies and city ordinances that can be effective and universally applied. One key topic that we agreed upon is that we should always avoid the extremes and that we should not be an outlier among our peers. Our current policy is an extreme outlier. And although I will support the notion that sometimes it's good to be a trailblazer, any critical thinker quickly concludes that attempting to find offensive items is an exercise in futility. What might offend one individual is often celebrated by another. Items that may be offensive are also dynamic in nature. What offends an individual today might not offend them tomorrow and vice versa. As it pertains to symbols, context is also of utmost importance. The feeling of being offended is an emotional response. Ultimately, choosing how to react is a conscious decision. It's not always easy, but individuals have the capacity to control the reactions and not let themselves be consumed by it. The ability to handle a situation like that is a critical life skill for every single one of us. Administrative discretion are also critical factors that should not be discounted when formulating policies. Attempting to whittle every possible situation down to a discrete right or wrong at the board table undermines the authority that we've vested in administration and the trust that we've extended to our students and their families. As I've stated, I think any attempt to create any sort of list is counterproductive, redundant, and totally unnecessary. However, if that's the will of the board, I would encourage us to take the necessary steps to ensure that the list is complete and comprehensive as impossible, especially since a list of any kind undermines administration's authority and imposes unnecessary limits on their ability to ensure that our schools are free of disruptions. Is there any other discussion on the amendment? Member Christensen? Yeah, I I would just like to reiterate um my earlier point. Um, we had the current Forest Lake mayor here, the previous Forest Lake mayor here, a prominent member of the clergy, former um, superintendent, two city council members, former school board chair, uh, two schoolboard former members, teachers, um, and I haven't heard anybody in support of this at all. And, um, I don't know. I don't know how you just Yeah. I mean, you guys have the votes and you're going to do it. It's clear. So, I mean, I don't know um if we should be wasting our breath, but um I do feel um like John Clawer, the pastor that spoke. I mean, he's he had a great message. He he is in the army national guard if I understand correctly and I know he wasn't speaking for the army but he said allowing those kinds of things gives tactic permission tacit permission for people to do those things and I but we have we have a history in forest lake with these symbols we we have a history the history is clear it has been laid out under Tinker it says if a symbol leads to real or reasonable forecast disruption the ban can be constitutional And so we we can ban those things. And I find it a little bit ironic that now we're talking about we better follow that MSBA model policy because it doesn't include the KKK, the Confederate, and the swastika. But when we want to have middle school clubs and it doesn't say who gets the clubs, we put in secondary and we put that in. That's not in the MSB policy. So we want to follow the MSBA policy here, but we're not going to follow it in what we just did for the clubs. And if we're going to talk about these other symbols, I mean, I think we should keep this germaine into the discussion. We're talking about three symbols, that's what we're talking about. If we want to talk about other symbols that people may or may not find offensive, we can send that back to the policy committee. Um, if we want to do that, and I would also reiterate, I think there is a false equivalency. I can't even talk. false equivalency trying to compare, you know, some of these, you know, the pied pride flag, some of these things with these known and listed hate hates, you know, these these clear symbols. You It's not a I mean, to try to compare those two things, it I don't know. It just doesn't even make sense. But, I mean, it's clear what we're here to do. Um, I was hopeful with the middle school thing, but we didn't get that. So, I mean, this is this is, you know, what we're here for. So if we didn't get the middle school, we're not getting this. So whatever, you know, whatever. Member Corkran. Oh, I guess I I don't see the problem of having it in there. I don't I mean, by being more clear with our policy, like we say, sometimes we want to be over um and we've done with other things. What is it hurting to leave it in there? I mean, I know it is also like said, it's redundant is what you're saying, member Castle. It's redundant because it's already in another spot that says we can't have these symbols anyways. But our like member um Christensen said, we have history of these problems in our district. So why wouldn't we want to go the extra mile and make sure that we don't have this terrible stuff happen again? I mean clearly we've had multi I mean this is not a one-time thing and we've had trouble in the past. Not I mean I remember many times. So I don't see what the problem is of leaving it in there. I I just don't understand. Well, can I one one moment just to interfere? Uh there's an audience member at the moment that's holding up a poster that currently includes items that are prohibited by our policy and unless they are going to stop re displaying those in our boardroom, they will need to exit the premises immediately. Thank you. That is currently prohibited in our policy. Mhm. It's important that we follow our policy. Member Antonson. Okay. Well, so we've had these things on our policy for a while. I don't know how long. Um 20ome years you said. Um I I can answer that inquiry because I um I asked administration to pull uh uh the history of this one too. This is part of my homework that I did on this policy as well and I read 40 years policy history on this one. It was sometime between 1996 and 2001. Okay. That it was implemented. There were no records of uh those half a dozen or so amended policy. So I can't tell you specifically when but it was in that window. Yeah. And I would add that in 1998 um we we weren't able to locate the policy revision but there was a letter submitted to a student following an incident from HR um referencing the language specifically in the policy. Okay. So there was a letter referencing 1998. So between 1996 and 98 within the window of the incident that I referenced. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Massie. I'm glad that correlates. And so some somebody sent me a picture and said, you know, they were very upset that we could possibly be removing these from, you know, the policy, saying that we are going to be allowing it all now, which again is not true. um and sent me a picture of a car with the N-word painted on it and then a red swastika on the back and said, "This happened in our district several years ago and some people brushed it off as just kids being kids." And I said, "Well, I have zero context. You're just I I mean, I'd like to understand what happened here better. is, you know, I said, but you know, if if we're going to it's a it's a fine line, I think, here to to have context about something and I mean, yes, somebody walking around with the Nazi flag and yelling things or whatever is very worrisome. You know, if if my aunt has a picture of her dad, my grandpa on there who climbed the cliffs in Normandy during World War II and met up miraculously with some other men on top of the hill and then took over this little town in France from the Germans and a picture of them holding a Nazi flag and that's happens to be up in the house and somebody's just I'm automatically mad if I see a swastika not having any context and not, you know, being brought up in an era where you can't ask questions or the right if you don't ask the right questions you're going to be in trouble like maybe you don't talk about it and you go home and say oh so and so has got a swastika hanging in their house and I know I'm being like this is a oneoff whatever it's not going to happen very often but it's it matters to me that people understand the difference between the swastika symbol which is thousands of years old and in multiple different uh continents across our globe and the Nazi swastika that matters to me. I want my kids to know the difference so that they don't go to somebody else's house and see their grandparent or their lost or you know ancestors and a picture with some symbol and think something automatically just because they see a symbol. So I'm not married to this policy either way that it is. I mean, there are a lot of people concerned so about taking the language out, thinking that's going to solve everything. We've heard from kids for the last two months about being called names and it's obviously not fixing the entirety of our problems here. And that's the bigger picture that I would like to point out because I think it's important. It's like putting a band-aid on an arterial wound that is gushing everywhere. If we have these kind of problems in our community, that needs to be addressed and whether or not we have these words in this policy isn't the fixing that we need. Member Castle, another point is that we must trust that the parents will properly attire their children and if they don't, it's up to the administration no matter what that symbol is or issue that they have. to handle it. It's not up to us to micromanage it. Member Tyson. Well, I'm really taken a back at just the blatant disregard of the history of our district, the story we've heard, the stories I've heard when I was out in Scandia. And I'm just frustrated with the counterintuitive logic. Member Antonson, you are so worried about Boeing, yet you're going to approve this policy with the amendment. And member Castle, we are talking about three symbols. We're not talking and delving into ones that didn't matter to our district in 1997. So this is just a destructive footprint and just the wrong path to go down. And again, we're not listening. This mom over here read White Bear Lakes policy. And to member chair's point about the model policy with MB MSVA, member Christensen made a great point that we go with it when we want it and then we throw it out when we don't want it. But it's meant to be a guide. Mhm. And individual districts are different and you build your policy around your history and the progress you've made in areas. You don't just put things back in willy-nilly or take them out willy-nilly. So, I find it interesting that you've brought up the Tinker Standard and this is the perfect example of how we can reasonably forecast this disruption because of what has happened in our district in the past. And why would we want to disregard that? And we know that these symbols are explicitly linked to hatred. and we experienced it in our district in 1997, but we're just not feeling it that it's true in our heart and we just want to pull these symbols out and make judgment statements about how we'll be fine. You didn't live through that day. Did I say we'll be fine? What the superintendent lived through that day? Mr. Caldwell did. We have people that have testified and given us their heartfelt feedback and we're just not listening. I don't understand it. We're also legally obligated under civil rights laws to have inclusive environments and we're just going to oh, let's take those out and see what happens. Have a free-for-all. So, if you want to create hostile environments, go ahead and take them out. So why if you want to violate I'm talking I'm sorry dear. If you want to violate anti-discrimination and harassment policies, take them out. If you want to undermine educational goals and lead our students to feel trauma and fear in school, take them out. If you want to conflict with core values of education for our students and go ahead take them out and also if you want to have this disgraceful legacy which I don't think you guys do take them out. I urge you guys to vote together and leave this policy as is and show respect for the history in our district and not go down this path where we could be going backwards having events occur that you've heard about that people have lived through. Why do we want to go backwards? A point of inquiry for member Tyson. Um, it sounds like you would be in support of expanding this list. Like member Antonson mentioned the the nword. It's particularly damaging. I I don't believe we allow that in our schools at all at this moment. Uh, I I think the the policy is clearly call that out. But uh are you saying that we should Are you saying we should? No, that that was my question. But that was my question for you. Are you are are you instead of support of expanding this list to attempt to build an exhaustive list of anything that could be offensive? And um no, but I want to respect the history of our district and I think the three do. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Member Christensen. Um, I have a couple points. So, I um to member Castle's point, so so you are asking and trusting that the parents can make sure they know what their kid is wearing before they go to school, but we're not trusting the parents that they think their kids are good enough to be in a middle school club. Just just to clarify. So, parents rights, you know, they're not Yeah. So, that was just a little bit of a contradiction there. I don't know, maybe you could speak to that a little bit more. Well, that policy was voted down by y'all. We were going to bring it to into the eighth grade. Oh, but but you voted that down. So, well, um you guys were the ones that brought it up. So, so with the apparel any Yeah. Go ahead. When the when the when a student wears something offensive and causes a disruption, it doesn't matter what it is. Nobody's allowing these symbols. Mhm. Any statement to saying that that's the case is false. We're not going backwards. There's none of that going on. None of that's going to happen because the administration is not going to have that happen. And the story that was talked about in 1997 did not include any of these symbols. It was white t-shirts. That's not That's not what I heard. It's a point of inquiry. They I and I asked what symbols were on these white t-shirt. If they were just white t-shirts, then it that's not has anything to do with those three items. Any item. It doesn't matter if it's those three. the n-word, what a a flag from a communist country that somebody had escaped from or any other symbolism from that country that they escaped. You know, people that went through apartheid, any of these horrible things are not allowed. We don't have to spell them out and micromanage it. The administration takes care of that. It's not allowed. Nobody's allowing it. Could I finish my point? Yeah, I was just finishing my point again to your point, Mr. U member Castle. So, we're not going to micromanage what symbols we can use, but we're going to micromanage our clubs and who can be in them. And so, just doubleeing that. And I just, you know, we don't need to badge this because I think it's clear what's going to happen here, but we're supposed to lead by example, right? We're supposed to be adults and we're supposed to act professional. Everything we are supposed to be doing is for the kids, not for our own personal agendas. Again, I will say, is there anyone here way out in the hallway, anybody that is here for supporting um removing these symbols? Is there any I haven't heard anybody who's for that? So, again, you know, what what are we doing here? What what we're not listening. What are we doing here? So, I you know, let's just call the question. I feel like that's we're just not making a list. Just call it. Pardon me. We're just not making a list. Do we have a call to the question? Do we have a second by the new board members? No respect. Okay. Calling question fails due to lack of a second. Is there any other discussion on the amendment? Member Hegel. I I just want to address before I share my thoughts one of the comments that uh member Tyson made about um MSB model policy is a model and it's not doesn't mean that we can't amend it yet. I remember distinctly when we were workshopping the the board policies, member Tyson was quite upset about many of the modifications that were made. So I'm just it seems kind of contradictory there. But when I look at this, I agree with what member Castle is talking about. I mean to the incident that happened here long before my time here, if it was just white t-shirts that were being worn with no symbols on them, why weren't white t-shirts banned then? because that seems like that was the symbol that was being given to portray their stance that without the symbols on them. Um I am clearly 100% against racism, uh communism, any of the hate symbols. I believe that the administration has the tools available and the wherewithal to know what belongs here and what doesn't and they would handle it. I fully understand that. I know there'll be people in the media that'll claim I'm a racist by uh making those comments, but I don't see how we can have just these three symbols. I mean, especially if it comes to uh slavery and racism. If you want to talk about slavery, well, first of all, I want the Confederate flag that we're talking about here is obviously the Confederate battle flag. Everybody refers to that as the Confederate flag. There were actually three Confederate flags that were adopted during the Civil War. So, the Confederate battle flag is the one that's widely symbolized and known as the Confederate flag. If we ban that, does anybody realize that that Confederate flag has very huge significance for Minnesota history as capturing the Virginia battle flag during the Battle of Gettysburg? So, I mean, I understand we're wanting to not have these on t-shirts and stuff. What are we going to do about them in history books? That's a huge part of Minnesota history at the Battle of Gettysburg with slavery. Portugal and Brazil transported over 2.4 million African slaves between 1801 and 1866. Are we going to ban the Portuguese and Brazilian flag? Great Britain transported over 250,000 African slaves between 1801 and 1866. Are we going to ban the Great Britain flag? France transported over 200,000 African slaves between that same time period. Spain and Uruguay transported over 775,000 African slaves. The United States transported 110,000. So I'm giving example of six seven other countries that transported far more. Not that that makes it right or better, but maybe we should be banning their flags as well. Great Britain, Great Britain, Ger Japan, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria have all declared war on the United States. Are we going to ban their flags? uh China, India, Pakistan, North Korea hold political prisoners and ethnic minorities as modern-day slaves today. Are we going to ban those flags when they're actively involved in slavery? Iran has called for the complete annihilation of the Jewish people and openly called for death to Americans. Are we going to ban the Iranian flag? Hamas also has called for elimination of the Jewish state and brutally killed, kidnapped and detained Jewish and American citizens on October 16th of 2024. The raised uh clench fist symbols used by socialist Marxists communists. all the symbols listed in the Anti-Defamation League website, including numbers to and I just bring this up to kind of support member Castle's argument of if we're going to have a list, that's fine, but then let's make it an exhaustive list. Where do we stop? And and that's the problem I have with having anything in there is because you're never going to cover every single thing that's offensive or has a a bad history to it to everybody. So that's where I trust administration to make the right judgment calls of what is materially disrupting the educational process. I would offer uh the board for your consideration that yes, I would agree the model policy provides strong language for us to address um the symbols that are currently listed. Mhm. If we were starting our district from scratch in the ground up, we'd probably adopt the model policy, but we're not. Um, we have a history in Forest Lake. We do. These three symbols found their way by the board at that time and administration at that time into the policy. Um, I can't speak to why they went to those symbols when they were white t-shirts, but I can only suspect that they found a connection to the hate that was involved in the incident involving the student. They're there in policy. I think we would agree that they're offensive um, racist symbols that are associated with violence and they're currently in policy. I we administration would offer that they're there. They have a purpose. They have a role. I think we're in agreement that the symbols are um not appropriate. I I just fail to see the the rationale for pulling them out when they found their way there because of an incident and by the rationale of the board members and administration at that time. Any additional discussion? Member Tyson a point of inquiry with member Hegeland. So that was an extensive list and you did that just now to reference his point or I I didn't get what you said then. If you could repeat what you said that you you want me to read through the list again? No, but you said after you read your long long very long list that to his point you you wanted to read that list. Is that I'm just asking you what you said and I can listen to the tape later. I was just reinforcing what member Castle's point he had made earlier that if we ban three, where do we stop? I don't remember exactly what you said, member Castle, but I'm summarizing what you said in your opening statement. That is the administration's job and just pointing out three things. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Is there any addition member Corp? Well, I know everyone said a lot, but and I and I know it's in the policy to ban, you know, I know it's it's specifying again. It's just being more clear, but it's just it's keeping to me it's like, don't you want to help administration not have to micromanage all the time? I mean, they're busy enough. they they they're underworked, overworked, underpaid. I meant to say not underworked, but that our job as schoolboard members is to is to make this district better. And I they have more important things than to sit and micromanage all the kids and looking out their t-shirts and worrying about it. I mean, I know it's part of their job, of course, to watch that, but if we spell it out clear, then I mean, now it's such a hot topic. And you tell me if you don't take if you take that out, people will start wearing them. And you know what? They will because someone a young student even said, "If you say you can't, they're going to want to do it even more." Well, then what if that just it's just going to blow up and we're going to have more trouble if we don't leave it in there. I I really believe these people understand. We all understand. We're all adults. We know that kids will push their buttons to do things to get attention. And I'm just saying it's such a hot topic now in our district. We cannot take that out. It's just going to cause us so much more trouble in the in the future. So, please just consider keeping it in there. It's not hurting it being there. It's going to hurt it to take it out. Agreed. Well said. Any additional discussion? You've spoken twice, Member Christensen, on the amendment. Any additional discussion on the amendment? No. No. You are out of order. This is our meeting. This is our meeting. No, this is our meeting. Please have a lot of racism in this city. Can I have law enforcement please remove this individual? They are interrupting our meeting. Let me tell you. No. I'll be back. I'm never going to end here to end me. M we we can't keep having disruptions by the audience. I don't want to clear the room. Please. No other disruptions. Another disruption by any member of the audience and we'll have to clear the room. Is that understood by the audience members? Okay. So, member Tyson, thank you. So, I just want to urge my fellow board members to vote for the policy as it's appears in our agenda on our board packet. Respect the history of our district. And don't go down this and leaving this destructive footprint. I don't think you guys want that. I think you don't want to leave a legacy of this because this is going to be what you're remembered for. Look at how passionate our community is. Look at how passionate they've been for five months. The students, the parents, the community members coming here, green cards, emails. I just think we're all better than this and we need to lead by example and I think we need to respect the history of the district. So I urge all of you to vote how we see it in our agenda tonight and show solidarity in that. Thank you. Thank you, Member Tyson. Um I'm going to use my second opportunity to speak here on the amendment. I I've been personally attacked on this one. Personally, and that should never happen. I understand that when you sit in the chair, you're the you're the representative of the board. I I see former chair Rael out there nodding his head. You take the heat. That's part of sitting in this seat. And I accepted that in January when I accepted the nomination for this spot. But to member Tyson's point, the community has been extremely passionate about this. They've been so passionate about this that I've received physical threats of violence against me and my children because I'm such a racist that I'm such a bigot that all I want to do is spew hate and I want to bring these offensive materials back. I've even had people send me cartoons of the board chair who's trying to smuggle in hate propaganda back into the schools. And I want to be very clear, the MSBA policy and the policy that's in force in 327 schools across this great state, they don't allow this symbolism either. The proposed language here with or without that line item doesn't allow these symbolism. It doesn't allow hate. It doesn't allow bullying. It doesn't allow this this type of objectionable material whether that they're called out in the policy or not. But I I came here cuz like I said, I I've been I've been personally attacked on these things and and I I even get called out because uh God forbid I I own a movie car that happens to be a probably the most famous movie car in history that includes a bastardization of one of the items on this list. And I have never ever received any negative feedback on that car. Never. Not once. Not a single time has anybody come to me and said they were personally offended by my vehicle. And I bring it to hundreds of car shows. Context matters. Context matters when you're talking about hate, when you're talking about things that are offensive. And as as I stated before, being offended is a personal choice. Somebody was here waving those symbols around earlier tonight and apparently I was the only one that noticed. I didn't see anybody in the audience get up concerned about being offended because they were being exposed to a schwastika or a confederate flag this evening and it was in everybody's face this evening and I was the only one that stood up and said that's not allowed with our policy. Now, at the same time that I don't believe that this language is necessary within the policy and that whether it's included or not, the the feeling I'm getting from the board is that we should go one of two directions. Either we should strike this and accept the MSBA model policy that is apparently effective or we should have a a list of prohibited items because we can't trust our administration to uh make that call and we need to make their life easier. So, I'm going to actually I'm going to throw a motion out on the table here that uh we commit this back to the policy committee with a clear directive that they either create an exhaustive list for us that represents the community's desires or they strike it. I have a second to the motion to commit. Point of order. Yeah, there's already an amendment on the table. test this. Oh, members amendment still hasn't been settled. Correct. Yep. I I stand corrected on that. I will then resend my motion to commit. We can settle the amendment and uh member Christensen, you've spoken twice in the amendment already. Um, member Hagglund and member Castle are the only ones with the opportunity to speak on the amendment at the moment. Do you have member Castle or member Hegeland have anything to add or should we vote on the amendment? All right. All those in favor of the amendment signify by saying I. I. Those opposed. No. Can you I'm sorry. Okay. Ray the amendment. Can you repeat? There's so much going on. If you could just at least repeat we're supposed to be voting on here. The amendment that's on the table is to strike item seven on page 12. So, we're voting on the main amendment. No, we're we're voting on that amendment. We will then return to the uh the question. So, could we redo that, please? Yeah. Can I Could we do a roll call vote on that, please? Um, what I would like a roll call on the amendment, please. You asked to do what? Sure. What? Okay. So, the the motion that's on the table is the amendment to strike item seven on page 12. Is that clear to the board? And it's Member Castle's amendment. Correct. It's member Castle's amendment. It's specific to the three items. It's specific to to just the amendment. We will then consider um the main question of whether or not we approve 8.7. Um okay. Member clerk, will you please take roll call? All right. Member Tonson votes no. Member Tyson, what are we voting on to take out? We're we're voting on the amendment to strike item seven on page 12. Other items that display the Confederate flag, swastika or KKK signs or symbols that correct? To strike it out of the policy to strike it and I just voted no a yes vote means and a no vote means. A yes vote means that we should remove those items from the policy and consider the policy without that item. A no vote means that we should leave that text in the policy. Thank you. Okay. I vote no. Okay. Christensen? No. Member Hagland? Yay. Member Corkran? No. Member Rebeline? No. Member Castle? Yes. Okay. The amendment fails. Okay. Hang on a sec. Can you clarify just I thought I heard a no vote from member Antonson. No, she did. Correct. Yep. She voted no as well. Yeah. Okay. Sorry. I didn't hear member Hagin vote. Yay. Okay. The amendment fails uh 5 to two if I if I caught that correct myself. I am now going to repeat my motion to commit this to the policy committee with a directive that they reanalyze this and either create a more exhaustive list that is in line with what the community is asking us to do or give us the recommendation to strike it. Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second and a motion to commit. Discussion. Yes. So, you're saying you want Did you say you want the policy committee to come up with an exhaustive list? I want to send this back my my motion is to send this back to the policy committee and I want them to do one of two things. I either want them to give us the recommendation to strike item seven on page 12 as member Castle's motion was initially or I want them to look at item number seven and I want them to give us recommendations for a more comprehensive list of objectionable items. A comprehensive list or an exhaustive yes comprehensive and exhaustive list of items that should be banned. So more than just the I know but okay sure it's going back to policy. Okay. Is there any question on the motion? Can I ask that you modify the the motion to indicate that this policy will remain in effect as written? Yes. At the start of the school year. It's an annual policy. Yeah. Unless we unless we approve it that policy 515 carries forward um unchanged. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. That that that's absolutely the case. Yeah. And I think that's an important distinction, Dr. Massie. Thank you. Because the policy committee will not reconvene until September. So, the school year will start with the the language that is currently published online. Yeah. Should the motion to commit pass. Okay. Are there any other questions on the motion to commit? Any discussion on the motion to commit? I I I would just like to say that I think an exhaustive list is going to be just kind of impossible. I mean, I think we've talked about this before. We talked about it in the policy committee. Sorry. I mean, you guys are always telling me to get closer. Um, you know, ultimately this all comes down to a person's behavior. We can put anything in here in the policy and that doesn't mean it's not going to happen. I mean, then it gives us something to follow the guidelines and that's what we're here to do. But in in acknowledging the fact that hate speech and you know picking on kids and bullying which I 100% abhore in towards anyone any any of the protected classes or not I do not condone it. So, I just think it's a waste of people's time to send it there for an exhaustive and comprehensive list because it's an impossible task. there. I'll I'll respond to that briefly just by saying there there is a district in the state that uh I mentioned earlier that that list specific items and then they they actually group items together and um so there may be a good middle ground there. But uh it seems to me that the the prerogative of the board and and the community is that the they want to keep these in here. And if if they want to keep these in here, I I respect that and I can I can support that. But uh we we can't just cherrypick a couple of things off the top. Then I I I think we need to be clear with our intent and and that's the the reason for my motion to commit. Any other discussion on the motion to commit. All right. Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed? No. All right. The motion to commit uh st passes. So um policy 515 has been committed to policy committee. It's something that they can consider in September. Bringing us to action item 8.8 multicultural gender fair disability sensitive policy 529. Dr. Massie. The purpose of this policy is to ensure that guidelines concerning multicultural, gender, fair, and disability sensitivity concepts are followed in the development of curriculum. The policy committee has reviewed this policy recommending just two language changes you can see in the policy. Administration recommends approval. Entertain a motion. Move to send. I have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. I didn't hear member Hegel. What did he say? Move to rescend. Rescend what? The policy. What's the number? Oh, policy 529. Item 8.9 on the agenda. 8.8. 8.8. Sorry. 8.8. Right. The multi-ultural gender fair disability sensitivity policy. Okay. Okay. So, the motion on the table is to resend policy 529. I assume effective immediately. Yes. Any discussion? Member Christensen. Yes. I would just like to say Oh, I'm sorry. Member Christensen. Member Hagglin made the motion. So, it's his prerogative to speak first if you'd like to. Yes, please. Okay. I would just like to clarify the reason to rescend. Um, I don't see that this is MSBA model policy. I don't see that it's required by state or federal statute. I might be wrong. I might have missed something, but I don't see that it's required in any of those. And uh I see the Prior Lake Savage School District which is actually a little bit larger than us better or bigger very similar student demographic makeup and actually much higher test scores in math and reading just rescended theirs. So I just I guess I don't see the need for this policy when a lot of the language in there is covered in a lot of our other policies including the discipline policy. Yeah, without this policy, um we are um required through Minnesota rule to to follow the provisions of this policy whether they're written in policy or not. Right. So I I see it as not necessary, I guess. All right. Now, now member Christensen, sorry about that. Yeah. Thank you. Um Member Hegeland is correct that if we resend this policy, it does not change the work we do one iota. Um so that's fine if you want to get rid of it. It's all covered under the Department of Education. We need to do these things anyway. But I would also like to say again, we're going against administration is recommending approval of this policy. And also, um, I'm just not sure what the Fire Lake Savage School Board has to do with what we're trying to do here. You know, I mean, we got all these people here, you know, these are our constituents. These are our folks here. So, I mean, if other school boards want to do things that I mean, it doesn't seem germanine um to what we're trying to do here. Thank you. Okay. Member Corker. Oh, and I guess I just I mean I don't understand if I mean a policyy's there. It's just to have I mean even even if we still have to do it, it's very clear and concise and I don't see what the problem is to not just have it. I I don't know what the negatives are to have it. Member Anton, I mean, I'm I'm okay either way because like member Christensen said, we do all these things anyway. We have a lot of policies. Things can get redundant and and whatever. so we could take it out. Um, I'm wondering uh when this came up in the committee, the policy committee, I said if we do anything, I'd like to keep the language and we will measure our success by how well every student learns and how we students, staff, and community members treat each other. So, I'm curious how we measure that as a district. How are we doing that? Okay. Unfortunately, that's not gerine the discussion to resend. Oh, shoot. Okay. But member Tyson, I have a question for member Hegelin. So, you mentioned the Prior Savage. What school district did you mention? Prior Lake Savage. Okay. So, we know that in Oka Henipan Forest Lake there's collaborations. They're kind of doing the same things. Is that correct? Is that why you mentioned rescending this? No, I'm rescending it to Dr. Massiey's point that a lot of these are already required for us to follow. This just seems redundant and unnecessary since we already are required to follow these. But again, do we feel like we're circumventing the work of the policy committee? Again, I'm not on the policy committee. So, well, yeah, you had a first and second reading and this comes from the policy committee. Administrative administration approves it. Second reading. the first reading, we don't have the ability to discuss like we are here. So, this is my opportunity to provide my feedback. Just seems like we're circumventing the work of our policy committee. So, anyway, I'm not for this based on that. That's disrespectful and a slap in their face. Um, and I think going back to member Christensen, it's crummy. Let's just have all these policies come up that the committees worked on and we just pick them apart with our personal ideas. So, I'm not I'm not fond of your motion to resend. I'm sorry. All right. Is there any further discussion on the motion? No. member Anton. Well, I mean, I guess my reaction or support or not thereof to resend has to do with what I what I read. So, still not gerine to the discussion. Well, it it is now I suppose. Yeah. Yeah. Well, so how how I mean I I'm curious how we measure our success in this deal here. I mean, we've we've had by how well every student learns and student, staff, and community community members treat each other. You know, I'm curious how we measure that. Do we have a a way? Well, we've got um data on Swiss data with respect to student interactions. We have um discipline data that would give us in incidences and anecdotal information on uh interactions that take place between students or among staff. Um it's a certainly a point of ongoing uh work and consideration. Um, so yeah, there are mechanisms in place where we're paying attention to this and responding to situations that arise, which correct me if I'm wrong, we're obligated to do whether this policy is part of the stack or not. Correct. All right. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed? No. No. I said no. I'm going to call division myself. Will you please take the roll call? Could Could you call the question again? I'm sorry. Are we voting on the We're We're voting on the motion. Voting on the motion to resend. And I was unable to ascertain exactly how the votes fell. So, I have now asked member clerk to please take a roll call. Okay. Oops. Okay. Member Christensen. No. Member Tyson, no. Member Corkran, no. Member Antonson votes no. Member Castle, hi. Member Haggland, hi. Member Rebeline, hi. Nays have it. Mr. Chair, before we get to the next item, I am Maybe it's just me, but I'm not sure I heard the roll call vote on the motion to commit correctly. Maybe Joy, you heard that correctly. I thought I heard a no from Antinson. I did say no. So, I think you indicated that the motion passes to commit. I thought I heard four no votes. There's no four nos. There were four nos on the motion to rescend. We're not resend. No, I'm back to the on policy 515. Yes. Oh. Oh, I had that all but Tessa said A. That's what I heard too. Yeah. I I thought it was six to one on that on the motion to commit. Mhm. That's right. Okay. The Okay. So, we we did commit. Yes. On 5:15. Okay. That that feels like it was several hours ago. I know. Got tired. Okay. So, the the motion to resend policy 529 uh fail. Okay. Which leaves us in a um quandry because that is now settled business. But, uh it would then go un unmended. Would you need a motion to approve the original policy? I'll take a motion to approve the original policy. Second. Okay. We have a motion and table a motion and a second on approving 529 as presented. Is there any discussion on that? Mr. Chair, fun. Isn't that settled business already or is that considered settled business on a motion to rescend? I don't know. Not asking to be difficult. I just want to make sure it gets done properly. Yeah. I don't know. I I believe you still actually it I think you still have to vote on it, don't you? The regular policy then. I believe and and I'm I'm not a parliamentarian here. Yes, Rob. I my interpretation of the rule is once a motion is on the table for a piece of business that once you vote on that that piece of business is settled. If we wanted to have a motion to approve with the changes that would have needed to come through an amendment, we did not get amendment to approve. Thus, the motion on the table was to resend. The motion to resend failed. It is now settled business. The only motion that would be in order in this case would be the mo the individuals who were on the prevailing side. So, the four individuals who voted no would have the right to make a motion to reconsider. That would need to be seconded and a majority of the board would need to vote in favor of reconsideration which would bring the original question of a motion to resend back to the board. That's my understanding of the procedure. Or we just bring it back in the next agenda or we bring it back in a future agenda. However, it is settled business. So being settled business bringing it back in a future agenda requires a process requires going through the policy committee requires doing a lot of things. So unless there's an individual here who just voted no prior to moving to 8.9 that's willing to make a motion to reconsider. We will then move on to uh 8.9 and the mot and the policy will stay as it is. Okay. So if I say reconsider, that means we you voted no. Yes. So you can make a motion to reconsider and then we can revote to approve it. We would Okay. So if it is approved, no. So here here's how this would work. I don't understand. A motion to reconsider would bring member Hegel's motion to resend back to the table. Should the body agree with the motion to reconsider, four individuals would have to vote in favor of the motion to reconsider. The motion that would then be in front of you would be the same motion that we just voted against, which was the motion to resend. Okay. If the body would then want to amend that to be a motion to approve, they could then offer a motion to amend the original motion to approve, which could then get voted on, and then we could go back to the main motion. So, there's a lot of like procedural juggling that we need to do here. M and why want to do this or we can leave 529 exactly as it is and just move forward and uh no changes would be made is exactly like it is the way that it's written here with the strikeouts and the new like no oh it's the old version. It's the old version that's currently enforced today is the way it would remain. I mean the only two things that are different are changing stressing from respecting and handicapped to with disabilities. That's the only things that are different. But I just want to clarify the only members that have the ability, the privilege to make a motion to commit are the members who are on the prevailing side of the vote. They can make a motion to reconsider. All right. I'll make a motion to reconsider. Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second to reconsider. And now the question that is now before us is do we would the motion that is before us is on rescending policy 529. Move to Can I amend my rescending to move to approve? Yes. All right, that's what I do. Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second to amend the original motion to approve the policy instead of resend the policy. Is there any discussion on that? All right, seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed? Okay, we have now unanimously approved to amend the main motion. Now, we're back to the main motion. The motion on the table before us now is to approve the changes to policy 529. Is there any discussion on the main motion? All right. Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed. All right. The motion prevails. The amended policy has been adopted. Now we will move on to section item 8.9. Approve the 24 to 26 Force Lake Area Schools general employment benefits terms and conditions for classified employees. Dr. Massie. The agreement between Forest Lake Area School District 831 and Forest Lake Area School staff members employed under the district's general employment and benefits plan expired on June 30th, 2024. The school district and staff members employed under this u agreement um have an updated agreement in front of you and it would go for the terms of July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2026. It really is an agreement that pertains to the individuals listed on the cover sheet. Uh the terms um apply across the board for these individuals and then there's an individual uh term sheet for each of these individual employees. This is um the this would cover all the employees that are not covered by collective bargaining groups. Administration would recommend your approval. All right. Entertain a motion to approve. Move to approve. Second. All right. A motion and a second on 89. Is there any discussion? All right. Seeing none, um, member clerk, would you please take the roll call? All right. Member Hagglund. I. Member Tyson. I. Member Castle. I. Member Antonson votes I. Member Christensen. I. Member Corkran. I. And member Rebeline. I. The eyes have it. All right. The motion prevails. Um, Mr. Before we move on, is it proper for me to make a motion to reconsider 8.6? No, that's settled and it's already Well, no. Yes, it is. We are We are within the same session. You can make a motion to reconsider 8.6. Assuming you are on the prevailing side, member clerk, was member Hagglin on the prevailing side of 8.6. Did he vote no? I did uh vote no 8. We did two things on 8.6. So Joy, did I see a nod from you? Yes. And and member Hagglin. Yeah. So I I move to reconsider 86.6 as it was voted on in its final version. I'm going to Okay. I I will second that. So now the question of 8.6 has just come back up. Good. Um, I have to find I have to find this because what the motion to reconsider does is it brings back the motion that we finally voted on. We need we're talking about 8.6, but that didn't it didn't get approved on the losing side. 8.6 failed on the winning side. Member Hagglin was on the prevailing side because the U motion failed. Oh. Um, and I think I remember what we have here, but uh, Joy, I may need some help on where we finally settled this. Yeah. Yes. We had a motion and a second on the mo on the, uh, um, motion to reconsider. So, on this, you would have high school, middle school, 8th grade, middle school. Yes. So if I'm recalling if I'm recalling that the final question that we worked on was uh member Tyson's amendment was included that the groups were only student initi must be student initiated but we struck and be reestablished annually. To summarize, we did strike definition 3B on page one, and we amended 2B that read secondary schools to instead read um high school, community school, and 8th graders in the middle school. So, it would essentially bring limited open forum to um 8 through 12 within our schools. And I will I will remind the board that when four individuals voted against this earlier tonight, that eliminated eliminated limited open forum across the entire district. Now we have a motion to reconsider on the table. Um if everybody understands where we sit, I will ask if there's discussion. Member Christensen, can I ask a point of inquiry? Why? Why? Why did Why did you want to open it up again? Don't First of all, don't we have to vote on the motion to reconsider? Yes, we do. Thank you, Member Heaggland. That would be okay. I lost myself there. Um, we have a motion to reconsider and a second to reconsider the question. And the question was, do we want to do we want to readress and rethink voting against policy 1801 as it was amended. Is there any discussion on the motion to reconsider? Thank you, Member Hegel, for that. Can you clarify why he wants to change his vote or can you I didn't say I want to change my vote. I just say I want to give the board the opportunity to reconsider the vote. Oh, okay. Yeah. And I I will point out that once this session concludes, and by concludes I mean adjourn, once we adjourn this evening, we will not have another opportunity to reconsider policy 1801. We will have to find another way to bring it back procedurally. Yeah. And perhaps in hindsight, you should have done what you did on one of our other votes where you clarify voting yes is this, voting no is that. That is so helpful when things get convoluted with a bunch of details and amendments. So, well, and you get tired and you you can always ask for clarification. I'm I'm happy to. I'm obviously getting confused. It's a a quarter after 11. I missed the fact we need to vote on a motion to reconsider. So, if the board wants to to reconsider this, I'd say second. Yeah, we have a motion in a second. Is there any other discussion on the motion to reconsider? Member Christensen? Well, I just have a little bit of I mean this was kind of what we talked about when we rescended what was it 506 or something whatever that was. we rescended that before we had these um the new policies in place and I remember asking you at the time member chair you know you are pretty confident that this will pass and you said yeah you know without you know you were extremely confident it was going to pass and now it didn't pass so now we're kind of opening it back up and I was just you know yeah I I was I'll admit I was very surprised it didn't pass so now we're I I thought it would I I absolutely thought it would pass I I was extremely ly disappointed at the conclusion of the vote um on 1801 and uh earlier this evening when it failed and I realized that meant that we had no student groups across the the entire district and I was very shocked at the distribution of votes. So, I am in strong support to the motion to reconsider, and I I'd like to thank member Hegeland for for bringing it to us because, as I stated with the the motion on uh rescending 529, I I was on the losing side of that. I I was not in a position where I can make the motion to reconsider. So, I I thank member Hegel for giving this a new opportunity, giving it new life. Member Tyson. Okay. Well, I I feel like I got punked, honestly. in that vote and then I recall member chair you just oh there's no clubs next fall and you just happily put I move to the next order of businesses is my my job in in this case so yes so you feel differently now is what you're saying or as as I've stated from the very beginning I am not opposed to student clubs and I want them especially in the high school. Um, I can accept the compromise of bringing them to our eighth graders as well. I I I think that's a great option and it's a great opportunity, especially if administration is able to find a way to uh to make it work where the the high schoolers can work with that eighth grade group to help them learn the leadership skills they need to run the clubs. Um, it may have looked like I nonchalantly moved from one topic to the next, but that that is the job of the chair. Unless a member that is in the majority makes the motion to reconsider prior to the session closing, I was not in a position where I had the right to do that. So I moved on to the next order of business. Okay. The the only four members if I recall that had the right to make a motion to reconsider would be member Hagglin, member Corkran, member Christensen, and member Tyson as they were on the winning side of uh voting against it. Member Cork. No. And I I appreciate you bringing it back because I don't think we fully comprehended what was going to happen as far as our no votes. I thought maybe it could go back to policy. Maybe we could talk. I mean, I didn't realize that there would be it'd be done and we wouldn't have any clubs. I don't think I fully comprehended that and I do apologize for that because that is not what any of us want and thank you. Member Christensen. Unfortunately, I I will say that I knew what my no vote meant and I don't want to get rid of the clubs, but I didn't appreciate all the, you know, all the all this going on with the policies and everything. And then, frankly, U member chair, you're, you know, you're reading off of all the litany of things that these folks have done wrong by showing up. And um you know I certainly don't want any threats against anyone but I you know I don't know the extent of the threats. Not that even a small threat is is not an important thing it is. I don't mean to minimize it. But people are throwing around how there's threats. I mean I I have I don't know. I mean I'm sure there are but I haven't received any threats. I didn't know if if there's been police action or I'm not really sure. But anyway, the tone and tenor of how you were reading that basically chastising people for not understanding what you know your grand vision of all these pol I mean I just frankly I just didn't really I thought the tone was quite condescending um is not gerine to yeah it's not gerine to the motion to reconsider. I will address the threats against me and my family though it it like I said stated before when when you are in the chair you accept additional responsibility and I'm I I see former chair Raphael out there and I'm I I don't recall specifically it was him or uh former chair Peterson that was in the chair during co but I'm I'm sure there were threats to the board at that point in time and that's never acceptable. I should never have to worry about the safety of my child when I send him to school because of something that I I'm I'm trying to do here. I'm trying to to improve the schools. We all are. That's our prerogative. And yeah, I I I guess in a way I was chastising the group for for their hyperbolic reaction and for the misinformation that's going around and the personal threats and attacks towards me and my family. That is deeply concerning. Um, in the interest of full disclosure, I have had deputy sheriffs tell me straight out with some of the threats that I've received, do not leave home unarmed. Carry a firearm everywhere you go. It was in Noa County. It wasn't the individuals in this room. It was in Noa County. Is this Germaine or Vote? No, it's not. But I'm responding I'm responding to member Peterson's comments and or member Christensen's comments that it's it's deeply hurtful to me and I look at this group, the seven of us here, we we are a team and I would do anything to protect any of you and I hope you would do anything to protect any of any of the rest of us here at this table. So when any board member is being threatened in that manner, it's never acceptable. Never acceptable. And if they speak choose to speak out against it, I think that's their prerogative. But as member Tyson just said, we are off topic. We have a motion to reconsider on the table. Is there any discussion? Any additional discussion? Motion to reconsider. Tyson, make one more quick thing. So I'm just so curious because member Hegel, you made so many amendments and some of them didn't go. None of them did. None of them did. But you're willing to come back now and open it up. You just kind of had a light bulb go off. No, you just really want this to happen. A revote. That's the motion to reconsider. Is a revote. Yes. Okay. Okay. All right. Any additional discussion on the motion to reconsider? Does anybody have any question of what the motion to reconsider means? All right. Seeing none, all those in favor of reconsidering? Call or sorry, you'd like a roll call? Roll call. Well, is this the final vote? Is this what we're No, this is just the motion to reconsider. Okay. Excuse me. If the motion to reconsider passes, we will reconsider policy 1801 in its amended form. If the motion to reconsider fails, then 1801 is settled business. It failed and we will not have um equal access to school facilities next year. Are there any questions on the motion to reconsider? All right, seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed. Okay, the motion to reconsider prevails, which brings agenda item 8.6 back to the table in its amended form. In its amended form, policy 1801 reads as follows. Under section two B, secondary secondary schools has been stricken and replaced with high school, community school, and eighth graders at the middle school. The definition 3B on page one is stricken is in its entirety. And on page four, item number five at the very top of the page, the groups must be student initiated and be reestablished annually has been modified to read, the groups must be student initiated. Are there any questions on the motion that are is before us? If not, I will open it for discussion. Call for the vote. Yeah, I'm tired. Okay, we have a call the question. Do we have a second on the call the question? Okay, we have a motion and a second on calling the question. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed. Okay, the question has been called. Member clerk, please take a roll call. Okay. Member Antonson votes I. Member Corkran I. Member Christensen. I. Member Haggland. No. Member Tyson. I. Member Castle. I. And member Rebeline. I. The eyes have it. All right. The motion prevails. Policy 1801 in its amended form has been adopted and limited open form will be an option for students um in grades 8 through 12 uh going into the next school year. Um on a personal note, I'd like to thank member Hegeland for bringing this back to the attention of the board. um even though he was obviously um opposed to it by his final vote, I think that that shows a great deal of character for him to recognize that the the board felt differently than uh the vote went down member and also I'm thankful I mean like I say I didn't fully maybe I was tired I didn't quite get it and that made me incred incredibly sad not to have groups I I mean I said a compromise is a great thing at least we groups and I think that's so important to our students. So, thank you for bringing it back. Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Member Hangland. I I I think that is a testament to how we are trying to do the very best that we can for all of our students, whether we personally agree with the board's prerogative or not. Um, we have new business. There's no new business on the agenda. Uh, reviewing upcoming calendar dates. If I recall from several hours ago, our next meeting is July 17th. Um, with that I would entertain a motion to finally adjurnn. Move to adjurnn. Second. Second. Any discussion on the motion to adjurnn? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed, we arejourn.