you wouldn't hold it against me. [laughter] Oh my goodness. Okay. So, tonight we're going to start off with a um with a recognition of a couple different soccer teams. So, we're going to turn it over to Dr. Funk. Okay. So, first of all, tonight what I'd like to do is have coach John Towel come up with the adaptive soccer team and you guys can come on up and just stand right here kind of in front of the board and let me tell you a little bit about them. The Stillwater Monidi adapted soccer team adapted to the C1 division state tournament after defeating Mounds View Irondale Roseville 10-0 on October 28th at Stillwater Area High School. Well, [applause] so John, you got a few people up here with you tonight. Why don't you tell us a little bit about what's going on here? My assistant coach, Cindy. Uh, this is my 10th year coaching adapted soccer at Still Water. Awesome. This is our fifth consecutive year going to the state tournament. Wow. Awesome. 28th year working with the adapted soccer. So, wow. Nice. Thank you for that. Wow, that's amazing. And go ahead and introduce yourself. Hi, my name is Chase McCann. I was brought in to help out our goalender Liam Chow and also Xander Hansen who was also goalie to start out the year. Awesome. Very cool. Very cool. Chase is a former player and we like to bring back our former players to help out part of the coaching staff here. Okay. Awesome. Who do we have over here? My name is Jenny and I'm a player. Okay. You're a player. Awesome. That's great. Way to go. She's in the front row right there. If you look at [laughter] the picture, aren't you? Okay. Well, very good. Well, we're very portion of our kids are busy with their winter sports, so they couldn't make it tonight. They're they're all pretty proud of the year they've had. Well, I'm glad you guys showed up. So, what we're going to do is have you turn around. Somebody want to come take their picture. Then, we're going to have you hold off after your picture to the side. We're gonna have the girls soccer team come up and then we're going to picture everybody at the end. Okay. All right. So, so want to do Yeah, you can do it that way. That's great. Yep. Yeah, she's over here. It's fine. Yep. Okay. All right. Next, we've got Coach Mike Huber and the girls soccer team. Come on down. state champion soccer team. Well, I see you brought your goalie coach along tonight, too. I said I see you brought your goalie coach along tonight, too. [laughter] I'm not going to have him here, but of that alone. So, the girls soccer team, uh, was it Weisetta? Wasetta, right? Yep. They defeated Weisetta um for the state championship um with a one zero victory. Uh no, it wasn't wasn't one zero. It was three to three to two. I was at the game. Somebody typed this up. Whoever [laughter] typed this up must have been some other game. They were What's the other one's When was the previous to that? Okay. Well, we have some updating to do, folks. Um maybe that's an old one from I don't know. Um, so anyhow, they won the uh the state championship and you guys were down two zip and you came back and beat them three to two, which I think you shocked the heck out of them because I believe they were undefeated. Um, so that is an amazing amazing job and it was uh it was fun to see the game. Um, coach, turn over to you or or Ricky, you guys want to say anything about the team or Yeah, I run the head coach soccer team. coaching schools for 16 years. We won it twice. We won in 2021. This year we had a group of 17 seniors and five underassman. So they had a great season. Kids should be super proud of what they accomplished down their Yeah. Do you do you want to just quickly introduce yourselves and the students? Ricky Michael. [laughter] This is my ninth year with great I'm a senior and this is my fourth year. I'm Bella Rodriguez and I'm also a freshman. I'm Riley Lawrence. I'm a senior and this is my fourth I'm also a senior. It's my third year. Great. Congratulations, ladies. We're so proud of you. So, good job. [applause] I wanted to open it up if the board had any questions or to ask either team or comments. Okay. He was our bus driver. Yeah. For the semis. Yes. [laughter] I took the band there for finals and thank you so much. All right, let's go turn around and get a picture and then we'll get everybody. Yeah, they can't see you. [laughter] This is so tempting to uh to photoshop it bomb. It's a fault of mine. I I admit. Let's get everybody. Let's get everyone together. Let's get both teams. Why don't you guys go like in front? Yeah. Yeah. Great. [applause] Thank you, Andrew. Thank you. I'm sorry. I know. I thought I heard something. I think it was I think it was good. Okay. You did good. All right. Now, we're going to move on to public comment. We have a few speakers tonight. Um, while I read the public comment expectations, just so all speakers know, they can just take a seat right at the table and [snorts] director Hawker here will hold up time cards that will show where you're at within the three-minut time limit. So, um, our first speaker is Kate Neman and so I'll read the expectations. The school board encourages community input. While comments and questions are welcome, law prohibits the board from discussing concerns about individual employees or students at a public meeting. The board will not deliberate, discuss, or engage in conversation with speakers. However, the board may ask administration to review the concerns presented. Speakers must present their testimony in a respectful manner. Vulgarity, character attacks, malice, or specific complaints identifying staff or students by name or implication will not be permitted. We will stop the proceedings immediately if employee or student privacy issues are raised and direct the speaker to forward those comments regarding individual employees or students to the superintendent. Welcome. Okay. Hi. Good evening. Is this on? Um good evening members of the board. My name is Kate Neman and I reside in Stillwater Township. Tonight you are to vote on the boundaries realignment. Option A would place Brookview at 84% capacity with 548 students. And by comparison, Aptton Lakeland will be at 77% capacity with 386 students. That's 162 students fewer than at Brookview. MCA scores were presented at your September study session. Although there appeared to be some great areas of improvement, a substantial reading disparity has evolved at Brookview. Their reading scores reflect a six-year downward trend and their proficiency is now at 40%. During the same time, after Lakeland enjoyed a steady improvement in reading scores, they're now at 72% proficiency. That reflects a 30% reading disparity between these two schools. The vote for boundary realignment commands your appreciation of the impact of higher capacity environments, especially on ESL children. By assigning higher capacity to Brookview, you risk imperiling an already disadvantaged student population. Dr. Funk stated he expects letters to improve MCA scores. Without pursuing a deeper understanding of how this new curriculum will rectify Brookview's widening disparity, the board chose to take no further action. You need to prepare plan B. If 2026 MCA scores fail to demonstrate narrowing of this disparity, then letters [clears throat] alone is not sufficient. Allowing Brookview reading scores to decline another year is unconscionable. Until that time, I suggest that you be briefed with quarterly fast bridge scores presented jointly with the expertise of your data analyst and your Brookview principal. And if you're not already doing so, each of you directly reach out to Brookview parents on a regular basis. Regardless of what your boundary options are that you choose tonight, the board needs to take a more intentional approach with regard to these reading scores. During your discussion tonight, please tell us what your plan is to asssure that Brookview children are learning to read. Thank you. Thank you. Our next public speaker is Nick Leverson. Welcome. All right. Uh, good evening members of the board. Uh, thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. and for your hard work over the past months in determining the best option for everyone in our community. Uh my name is Nick Leverson. I'm a proud parent of a first grader, a preschooler, and a toddler uh within our um community. I'm hoping you all took notice of the significant input from the members of our community with regard to your decision tonight. It is something that we all have concerns about. We all want what is best for our families and for our neighborhoods while also accommodating the board's long-term goals. Tonight, I'm respectfully requesting that you reject option A and choose option C. Based on the board's guiding change principles, option C is the choice most in line with the short-term and long-term goals this board has designated to be bound by. First, most obviously, option A impacts 135 students, while option C only impacts 39. Taken at face value, option C is clearly the superior choice as it displaces significantly less families, neighborhoods, sports teams, afterchool programs, and clubs, and as such minimizes the impact in our homes and communities. I understand that this is only one of the guiding principles, but to most families in our community, it is the strongest reason why option C is far superior to option A. Second, the long-term goals of option C align more with the board's directives than that of option A. Specifically, option C will keep currently established neighborhoods together more than option A, as one of the guiding principles denotes. It ensures fewer parcel splits and keeps neighborhoods more intact than option A. Option C will also have each elementary school with at least 400 students for enrollment, while option A reduces Afton Lakeland students below 400. Option C also allows for more long-term growth in Lake Elmo area as we all see the new construction and and intended growth of the community via the 2040 plan, which estimates Lake Elmo's population to grow to nearly 20,000 by 2030. Option A leaves El Lake Elmo trending towards 75% capacity by 2829, which is a high given projected growth in that area. Whereas option C reduces it to 62% creating the largest buffer for future development. Anticipating the future needs of our communities by making accommodations now prevents the disruption in the future and will allow the board to be proactive rather than reactive. This significantly aligns with the board's guiding principles. Last, choosing option C and rejecting option 8 tonight will ensure fairness and community trust in the school board's ability to be representative of the community's overwhelming choice. Families within these boundaries, my family included, voted to support the 2023 bond that funded the construction of the two new elementary schools. Reassigning these same families that voted to fund these principles undermines trust, creates the perception and creates the perception of misrepresentation. This risks future bond and levy approvals, jeopardizing long-term funding for school improvements. Honestly, thank you again for your time and serious attention to this decision. It is my hope that you all choose use your positions of authority in this decision to listen to those individuals most impacting the community you represent. Option C meets every guiding principle, minimal disruption, neighborhood integrity, and long-term sustainability. I respectfully you to urge you to choose option C this evening. I wish you all the very best and thank you very much. Thank you. Got it in Exactly. [laughter] I didn't even practice. Thank you. Okay, our next speaker is Ted Snaza. Snaza. Sorry if I'm butchering that. Okay, [laughter] [clears throat] welcome. Uh to begin with, I would like to thank the board for their decisions over the past few years. uh the vast majority of the time you've used a blend of logic and compassion to keep the district pointed in a positive direction. Uh which is why I'm hopeful that the board rejects the administration's recommendation of option A. Option A knowingly chooses to impact the most families. It's over 300% increase of impacted families. I sure hope there's an excellent reason for this as it's not a very compassionate decision. Um, Afton Lakeland also would be lowered before the ST 400 student limit as the previous speaker mentioned uh, every year every year to receive program funding and assistance. Um, all the other options kept every school above 400 this 400 student floor except for the last year which is hard to estimate as time goes on. Um, it doesn't seem like a very logical reason to choose that but maybe 400 is just a guideline um, and there won't be any funding or staffing issues. But I hope those questions were previously addressed with clarity and guarantees. Otherwise, it opens the door for Aptton Lakeland to be severely limited in the resources available. Also, moving 52n as far away from the school as possible. Now, those are to be a more densely populated area in 52n. Uh that to me sounds like lower income families and forcing them to drive to the farthest possible school seems like it's intentionally causing lower rates of attendance and participation. How that won't negatively affect the also how it won't negatively affect the district's transportation funding deficits is a mystery to me. Shouldn't that be transparent and addressed ahead of time? Why was the boundary committee directed to ignore the funding question when it s seems to be such an important topic? And if not, where is that information? I feel like this is veering off the path of logical and compassionate at this point, but maybe transportation funding isn't as important as we've been led to believe. Uh, but my final point is why would you have a community and family outreach if the board is going to ignore it in favor of the administration's recommendation? The community responses and thought exchange overwhelmingly rejected option A, which again harmed the most families. Many of the comments asked why the change is needed immediately. They call out the administration for completely ignoring the community before they even did so and frustrated with yet another boundary change. I feel if you're going to be logical and compassionate about this, you need to reject the administration's recommendation. And that is my ask for this evening. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much. Okay. Our next speaker is Peter Schuna. Hello, I'm Peter Schuna, parent of a ninth grader and a senior in the district. First, I want to thank the board for your service. I'm speaking tonight because of the school calendar and the proposed vote to approve the 2728 calendar. Today I took time to review the board discussion and vote from January 23rd, 2024 when the current calendar was approved. A few things from that meeting stood out very clearly. First, there was a strong agreement that we needed to address student mental health that was a central part of the conversation. Second, there was an agreement from all seven board members, both those who voted for the calendar and those who voted against it, as well as the superintendent, that if this calendar change passed, its effectiveness needed to be measured and evaluated. Third, there was a clear acknowledgement that this decision required collaboration with the community and with teachers and that those voices needed to be heard. In that meeting, the superintendent was asked about the significant teacher resistance to this calendar and how it will make their lives better. He responded, "Teachers are very stressed and that the week earlier framework will allow for teachers the opportunities to decompress." Has this happened? We don't know because the evaluation and data hasn't been presented. If the board votes tonight to approve the 2728 calendar, that would extend this calendar without the evaluation or data that was promised. I believe in doing so it would go against the intent and commitment made to your constituents. I want to be clear, I'm not in support of the new calendar. However, after watching the January 24 meeting, I could support trying something different. if it was evaluated and if the results were shared with the community. Approving the 2728 calendar without that evaluation sends a strong message to staff, families, and students that collaboration and community feedback are not priorities. As was acknowledged in 2024, support for this change within the community is limited. I understand why some board members voted yes at the time, both to support a newly hired superintendent and to explore whether a calendar change could positively impact student mental health. especially given the strong lack of data on both sides of the issue. However, I believe the superintendent risks losing community trust if data is not presented and openly discussed. Without that transparency, the perception becomes that decisions are being made without listening to the community. As I close, I want to share one additional perspective. I'm a business owner in this school district and operate a summer day camp that serves many local families. Because our district's calendar is now out of sync with surrounding districts, we are forced to delay the start of our camp season by three weeks. That creates a real hardship for working parents who must find child care or adjust work schedules during that time. If the district returned to one of the previous calendars, the issue would be resolved. I'm hoping that one of the board members can also ask or the superintendent can answer how Still Water will be in compliance with the Labor Day law year-over-year if this calendar continued gets approved. My ask is that you delay the vote until you are presented with data on how this change has impacted the agreed upon metrics or vote no. Again, thank you for your time today and considering community input as you make these hard decisions. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker [applause] is Amy Sonic. Um, good evening. My name is Amy Sonic and I am a mother of three school age kids in the district still water community member and I'm also a full-time specialed parah at Stonebridge Elementary School. I'm here to express my profound disapproval of the proposed 2728 start end dates. This is not the direction I feel we should be heading. And I am not alone in thinking this. I quite honestly do not personally know one parent, neighbor, teacher, teacher, parah, or local business owner in the district that is happy with the current dates or proposed dates. And I've asked and now it's proposed to be even earlier. That is not okay. We as motans value our precious summer months. It's our time to connect, be in nature, and spend time together as a family and community. We have planned our summer trips in August since our kids were babies as sports wrap up at the end of July and other family members in different districts are all wrapping up school in the beginning of June and returning to school after Labor Day. Also, as a school Stillwater school staff member, my start date would be even earlier, the first week of August. I value my job and my kids education, but quality family time is equally important. They say we only get 18 summers with our kids. And I'm asking to please vote no on the proposed 2728 school calendar. Give us our summers back and specifically the month of August, which is undeniably the best summer month in Minnesota. Listen to our voices. This is what your community is asking for. Sincerely, Amy Sonic. Thank you, Amy. Thanks. [applause] Our next speaker is Sheri Mgrren. Hi, good evening members of the board. My name is Sheri Mgrren and I'm the project manager for Valley Community Center whose goal is to bring an inclusive community hub that fosters social connection, wellness, and recreation for the entire St. Croy Valley. On behalf of the Valley Community Center board, thank you to the school board for your faith in our organization and for considering the purchase agreement for the Lake Elmo Elementary School tonight. The Lake Elmo Elementary School site has long been a hub for education that could now evolve into a gathering space for health, wellness, and more. This will continue the district's legacy and mission to youth development. Signing a purchase agreement is an important step and Valley Community Center will spend the next seven months conducting due diligence on the site coordinating with city, county, and state officials and identifying additional funding necessary to complete this vision. We will use this time to verify that this is the right location for a community recreation center. We ask the community please stay tuned as we conduct additional studies to ensure that the vision many of you have helped create becomes a reality. We may always be reached at the valleycenter.org. Thank you so much again to the school board for your hard work, dedication, and commitment to families in the entire St. Croy Valley. Thank you very much. All right, that concludes public comment tonight. With that, we will call the meeting to order. Joan, roll call, please. Director Kusovich, here. Director Hawk, here. Dr. Kelenberg, here. Director Law, here. Dr. Parker, here. Dr. Felander, here. Chair Sherman, here. You have a quorum. Great. Let's stand for the pledge. I pledge algiance 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. All right. Is there a motion to approve tonight's agenda? I'll move to approve. Great. I'll second. Great. We have a first and a second. All those in favor of approving tonight's agenda, raise your hand and say I. I. I. Opposed. Agenda passes. We will move to our student report. Hi everyone. Um for student report this week. Um for activities, the National Honor Society had a food drive in each fourth hour and then I think the highest winning fourth hour got a prize. Um, I'm pretty sure it was donuts, so that's pretty fun. [laughter] Um, for athletics, all the winter ones are in full swing. Um, just some highlights. Girls basketball won the park last Tuesday. Um, boys swim had a meet and earned first place. And girls hockey won against Eastridge last Saturday, which is a rivalry, so that's good. Um for arts, um there was an annual winter concert with the band, orchestra, and choir with performances on Sunday and Monday. And then the vagabonds are starting their elementary tours and they're going to sing carols to all the elementary kids. Super fun. And then just for academics, tomorrow we're holding a sip and study. So during office hours, we're student council is going to provide snacks and drinks for everyone and support a finals week because it's a stressful time. But it's a fun time and then everyone's excited for break. So yeah. Great. [snorts] Thank you very much. Okay, we'll move on to the superintendent. Okay, bit longer report tonight. Um, you know, I know you have some important topics in front of you tonight and so I wanted to [clears throat] pro provide a little bit of um long-term perspective on things since I've been here. So when I became superintendent of Stillwater Area Public Schools in 2022, I knew I was stepping into a district that had experienced instability. During my 13 years as a superintendent in my previous district, Stillwater had six superintendent. That level of turnover matters. It leads to a lack of systems, a lack of clarity, and ultimately students feel those effects. Students do best in systems that are stable, aligned, and intentional. With that in mind, our leadership team took a hard look at the district, reviewing more than 20 years of history in teaching and learning. We looked at operations and facilities. Just as importantly, we asked a simple question across the organization. Why do we do what we do? In teaching and learning, two issues stood out. our curriculum cycle and professional development. For many years, when budgets were tight, curriculum purchases were delayed and professional development was reduced. Over time, that resulted in inconsistent alignment to state standards and uneven instructional practices. Those gaps directly affect student learning. Early in my tenure, the board heard community concerns about literacy. Those concerns were real and they were rooted in these long-term systems issues. At the secondary level, the district has also operated with a sixth period high school day for decades. This structure limits flexibility and opportunities to better meet student needs. These instructional challenges were made more difficult by financial realities. In the spring of my first year, our new CFO uh discovered a $4 million budget shortfall, leaving the district with a general fund balance of about 1%. At the same time, a new transport transportation contract that was approve approved previous to my coming on board um increased annual cost by approximately 1.5 million beyond what has been budgeted. Facilities were also a critical concern. Two of our elementary buildings were nearly 100 years old, antiquated, undersized, and unable to support modern instruction or projected enrollment growth. With strong community support, voters approved $175 million referendum to address these needs. This investment will result in two elementary buildings in an addition to Oakland Middle School and safety and security upgrades throughout the district, ensuring our learning environments match the expectations we have for student success. We are deeply grateful for our communities to our communities for their trust and support and making this investment in our students possible. As part of this review, we also examined longstanding calendar and schedule decisions through a student lens. I asked why the district traditionally started school before Labor Day and how that benefited students. I also asked why our high school began at 7:40, a start time inconsistent with what we know about adolescent sleep and learning. In response, the administration proposed student centered adjustments, starting school one week earlier to maximize meaningful instructional time and shifting secondary start times to after 8:30. These changes were guided by research and focused on supporting student learning, engagement, and well-being. State actions have also impacted our work. While there was an increase in state funding in 23 24 and again in 25, that funding has not been consistent. A reduction of about $700,000 this past June required the district to implement combination classes in some schools. In addition, the ReadAct requires extensive science of reading training for our teachers. By the end of this year, nearly all of our elementary teachers will have completed this work. It has been a heavy lift and our staff has met it because it benefits students. As a district, we've identified clearer priorities. We adopted new elementary science and literacy curriculum aligned to state standards. We strengthened professional development by adding four PD days throughout the year. We adjusted the calendar and start times to improve the quality of instruction across the year. Each of these decisions was made with student learning in mind. This year has brought significant change. new start times, a revised calendar, combination classes, schedule adjustments, and the implementation of a new elementary literacy curriculum. These changes have required flexibility and effort, especially from our elementary staff and students, but they are grounded in long-term improvement. As we look ahead, there are signs that this sustained focus is paying off. District literacy assessments have shown positive progress over the past few years. Instruction is more aligned and professional learning is stronger. As we transition into two new elementary buildings, we are planning to move away from com combination classes. At the high school, we'll be implementing a new schedule that expands options and flexibility for students, better aligning learning with their interest and future goals. Every decision we are making is centered on our students. We recognize the real demands this work has placed on our staff and I'm deeply grateful for their professionalism, flexibility, and commitment during a period of significant change. I also want to thank our families for their patience, partnership, and trust as we work through these transitions together. When students are well served, schools are stronger, families have confidence, and the communities benefit. These decisions are about building the systems our students need to succeed now and into the future. Thank you. Thank you, Superintendent Funk. Um I do not have anything this evening, but um we will move on to our consent agenda, which is up on the screen, items A through D. I will go ahead and make a motion to approve consent. Is there a second? Director Kelzenberg with the second. All those in favor of approving tonight's consent agenda, raise your hand and say I. I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Okay. And we're going to go on to our next item, which is under the strategic direction uh utilize systems and align resources in an efficient manner to support learning. We are going to take action on certifying the 2025 2026 property tax levy. Welcome, Marie. Thank you. Good evening, um, Chair Sherman, uh, board members, community. So, this evening, uh, before you is the final, uh, proposed, um, levy for payable 2026. And um again, we've gone through um couple presentations now since September uh when you approved the maximum um preliminary levy. And then uh on December 2nd, we um had our truth and taxation uh presentation. And then before you this evening is the final numbers for certification. I'm happy to report since September the uh final bottom line has not changed. Um so again just up here before you are the final um amounts uh for certification and um in order to certify um the final dollar amount does need to be approved um by the board for certification. So that final total is uh 66,565,7802 uh for that increase of 64%. And that concludes the presentation. Thank you. And I know this is all related to our last meeting and the truth and taxation. So thank you for the comprehensive reporting on that. Um, so this is a action item this evening. I'll go ahead and make a motion to approve the um 2025 payable 2026 property tax levy. Is there a second? I'll second. Great. Director Theelinder with a second. All those in favor of approving, raise your hand and say I. I. Opposed. Okay, that passes. Thank you very much, Marie. Appreciate that. And then we had a public speaker on this topic, but tonight we're going to um take action on a resolution approving the purchase agreement between um with the sale of Lake Elmo Elementary to the Valley Community Center. And um so with that, we have the resolution. Um I'll go ahead and make a motion to approve. Is there a second? Second. We'll go with either one. [laughter] We'll go two and a half. We'll go with either one of you. Um, okay. So, we have a second. So, now this will be a roll call vote. Joan, uh, Director Gersich, yes. Director Hawker, yes. Director Kelzenberg, yes. Director Law, yes. Dr. Parker, yes. Director Theelander, yes. Chair Sherman, yes. Resolution passes unanimously. Great. Thank you very much for that. Okay, now we're going to move on to um the first of two action items tonight. Our first is the approval of the 2728 calendar. This is the kind of the third year here that when a couple years ago we talked about um we had a big conversation pre-LOR day, post Labor Day benefits for students and looking at the academic calendar through the through that student lens. um this would be that third year and then the intent was to measure which I'm glad the community members um who spoke reference that as well um to measure the impact of that. So with that we'll turn it over to Mark to present to the board. Thank you Chair Sherman, members of the board, Dr. Funk. Um here I'm here to present the the final draft looking for approval for the 2728 school calendar. at the last um study session that went through kind of month by month of each um day off kind of the holidays, the breaks, those sorts of things went through the calendar. Since then, I have not um heard any feedback. I I believe the board has heard feedback. So, at this time, I'll open up to any questions or comments that you may have. Great. Um okay, I will go ahead before we get into comments and questions and make a motion to approve the calendar. Is there a second? I'll second. Great. Director Thailander with a second and then open for comments and questions. I'll take it. So, um, when this calendar that we basically we're talking about the early start to the calendar is what's um, got people's attention. And at that time I voted no, not because I had any personal objection to it, but everybody I talked to said no on that calendar. And I looked for people that would approve of that calendar. I went to the schools and I talked to them. Anyway, you don't have to say that that's still the story. So, the people do not want the early calendar. Now, there is one selling point on or there is a selling point, probably the biggest one on this early start is that the semester break lines up with Christmas break and that's happening right now. And of course, I question is that why we're voting on this calendar now because this is the sweet spot on that calendar. But again, people don't want to trade their August time for this calendar. And you know, when I said everybody was against it, uh I still asking people and I got a couple students just to say, "Yeah, what the heck? Fine." You know, and that's probably the most positive thing I I've got on it. And we did have a couple letters as of late today. Um people said, "Yeah, works for me." But I answered about 30 emails today and I'm sure everybody here got those emails saying, "Don't do it and there's a lot of passion in those those don't do it. So I will vote no on that calendar because it is a board decision and all these people are asking the board to make that decision. I would implore my fellow board members to also consider you know voting independently and voting with our community and our constituents uh for what they want. So anyway, no on the calendar for me. Y is there are there any other comments? Andrew, go ahead. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I mean, we have the opportunity to challenge that as a board to make hard choices about what to preserve and what to let go. And so I've done a lot of reflection um, you know, over the last couple years just last year reviewing kind of some of the nuances and also just all obviously all the feedback and uh, what I've been able to observe on my own. Um, and so I don't mean to get philosophical, but it's just the best way for me to kind of frame this. So ultimately, you know, change is hard. Um, and yet, you know, I found that people do not resist change per se. Uh, more so they people resist loss. And so, you know, people can be hardwired to believe that, you know, survival or to to thrive means reinforcing the ways things have always been done. And I think leaders and the board, you know, can be and Dr. Funk can be scrutinized and pushed back against when there is change, especially ones that impact family routines and and traditions. And although I may see with clarity and and passion a a promisy future of progress and gain, uh people will see with equal passion the losses you are taking from them um in in making this change. And so I think it's easy as a result when the systems wants to succumb to the comfort and stability of status quo. You know, we as leaders must keep the transformational work going. And the goal is really for us is not just as a district not just to survive but to thrive. And um I am confident in the work that Dr. Funk and his leadership team are are doing and the direction that he's guiding us in. And I think it's important for us just not to jump just to bounce back, but to adapt and persist in the work that we believe will bring beneficial transformation to our district and result in meaningful change that students we serve can benefit from. So, similar to uh Director Kelzerberg, I would uh rather um implore the board to stay calm, stay connected um and stay the course. And I would be voting for the continuation of uh the calendar for the 2728. And the reason being is this was all was brought forth as a three-year plan that needs to be monitored. I think it's too shortsighted at this point to make that adjustment back because we are finally able to start seeing some of the beneficial data um and outcomes that we believe will happen. And we knew that this first year would always be the most difficult. It was going to be a late finish, an early start, and we haven't be able to see the early finish um yet. So, um I think we need to stay the course and stay true to the plan that uh the board had previously voted upon. Great. Thank you, Director Thailander. Um, are there any other comments or questions? Yes. So, I I mean, one thing I'd like to just I I get the impression from some community feedback that people are under the impression that maybe we're voting to push this another week earlier than than even this year. And that I I was getting I just in reading some some emails, I kind of felt that way. And that is not the case. We're we're maintaining the same calendar that we've had this year and we'll have next year. Um I am inclined to vote for this calendar because we we said we were going to give it the time to to work out. Am I skeptical that we're going to be able to find meaningful data that supports changing it? Yeah, I I am. I I don't I I have a hard time seeing that. But we as a board made that decision and we owe it to that decision- making process to to see that through to its completion and and then make a decision. I mean, obviously we're going to have to make a decision in year two for, you know, following. But it's it's not because I love the idea of of starting earlier. It's because we said we were going to do it and so I think we should stay the course. Thank you. Is there um anyone else? Sure. Yeah, I can jump in. Um I don't have a a ton more to add. Um director Theander and Director Laauo both kind of covered my points. Um basically my I am in support of this calendar. We said we would try this for three years and at this point we haven't even made it all the way through our first year. So it feels like we've been talking about this forever because we kind of have. We put it um we pushed it off for a year to give folks a an opportunity to prepare and um get ready for the change. Um and and in that year we heard more of the same conversations that we had um when we vetted this idea to begin with and those same arguments are coming back again um in our in our um in the emails that we are getting. So, I'm always listening and paying attention to um new ideas that are coming forward that are proving that this is not um the right direction to go in and I have yet to really be convinced that we are heading in the wrong direction. At this point, it feels like people are really upset about um the change that is happening and struggling through that change, which we were all expecting. I was definitely expecting this to be a tough year um to figure out all the new logistical changes that have to happen to accommodate this this systemic change that is designed to um benefit students and to give them real legitimate breaks at MEA and winter break and spring break and then be done at Memorial Day to really align with the academic eb and flow of our calendar. So that's why I supported it to begin with. Um we have had one of those breaks so far. we've had MEA, we're about to have the second break. So, at this point, I want to support this to continue the three-year um commitment that we made and then be go back and evaluate once we have real data at least from an entire year um worth of information. And then at that point, from the information I'm getting from community members, it's looking like do we then go back to a post Labor Day start? I don't see us going back to a one week before Labor Day. um because I think the community is either this one or post Labor Day. So at this point I want to see this through for another year, give it the full three years um and then we can have this discussion again next year. So that's where I am. You want Yes, director Parker. Well, first uh I am grateful for the administration and the board looking at the various systems. Uh I think we've seen a lot of investment and that change is hard as as director theander uh brought up and we are going through that and I'm I'm very expected that many of the changes that we've made will have great impact like director I am somewhat doubtful of this particular change and I'm interested to see what the the data shows um there has been some confusion on with district communication as far as the time period of the experiment. We looked at there was mentioned of of three years during the board meeting, but in the calendar uh presentation that the the district put out, it says a couple of years. To quote, "Board members agreed to try the calendar out for a couple of years to see if the impact of mental health outcomes in academic achievement." Um so there's some I understand angst in the community whether this is a two-year or three-year experiment. Um historically, we've also approved calendars about 9 months in advance instead of 21 months in advance. Uh, and while I agree that 21 months in advance is advisable during a steady state, I suggest that for the next two years that we stick to probably a 9-month in advance while things are still in flux. With that, I make a motion that we table this decision until November 2026. Can you just because tableabling is typically something according to Robert's rules when we're there's something interrupting the discussion. Can so can you just tell me a little bit about like what are you trying to maybe it's a postpone instead of a table? Well, it seems like there's a lot of angst in the community about this. There's lack of data on how this will go and there's a lack of understanding of the the time frame for the experiment. So to me those would say that there is a problem that we don't all have a good understanding of and that that would make us make sense to delay this decision. Okay. So you're you to postpone then is kind of because what you that's different than table. Table is according to Robert's rules it's um when and I consulted with a parliamentarian today. Table is actually to take it up later on at the meeting. So if we postpone like what you're saying that's more of a postponement. Would that be accurate? To take to let's postpone it till November of 2026. Perfect. Okay. So there's a motion to postpone to November of 2026. Um, is there a second to that motion? Right. Direct. Sure. Okay. Um, so now we will, this takes precedent over the original motion. So now we will disc. Yes. So now we'll discuss the motion on the floor, which is to table it till November of 2026. And we will be discussing just the motion to um to postpone. So, not the calendar itself, just the motion to postpone before we vote. Yeah, thank you for bringing that up. I actually researched tableabling also. And yes, table Robert's rules means you're going to put it off to later in the meeting because something is like a guest speaker's coming, whatever. Um, and I was wondering, is there a way to to to delay it? And I'm imagining if we if we can pass this, that'd be great. uh otherwise we'd have to vote no with the idea that we could reconsider it, you know, once we get within a year of it rather than 21 months out. I think we owe a fairness to the community to really review the calendar in its current form. We haven't even made it to a semester break yet and we need to give it time. Sorry. Okay. Mhm. Um my recollection from all the pro the comprehensive process that we had taken um gosh what two years back um through community conversations uh the online forum email. Um my recollection is one of the main takeaways was you know whatever you decide to do like just give families enough time. You know I think they want to be able to have an extended uh expectation of what they know they can plan for. Um and sometimes a year is not always enough. And I think that was one of the takeaways I recall is that making sure that we can give families enough time of whatever the calendar is going to be. Let's make sure now they can know what to expect. Um, so I um plan to uh vote against the the motion the it's a motion to postpone to postpone. Thank you. Yeah. To November of 26. Okay. Is there really quick is there anyone else that wants to speak to the motion of November 26? Oh, sure. Um, for me, I feel like as a student, like I haven't seen what it feels like to have that break in between like semester. I mean, as of right now, I'm feeling pretty good about it. Like, I'm getting stuff wrapped up and I know that I get to just chill and not think about anything for a couple weeks and I think that'll be really good. But at the same time, I don't know how everyone else is going to feel. And then especially since everyone just experienced and for me it was hard cuz it I feel like junior year summer is the best summer cuz it's the last with your friends. So I might be a little biased but having that like late um end and then early start obviously wasn't the best but it had to happen to a group of people. Um, and I just feel like kind of that postponing is just going to like let people see again like what the calendar is going to do, like having that finished that's like normal and then having that like normal amount of summer. I feel like having that postponing and seeing how people feel about break and then feel about summer. Great. Just Yeah. Thank you. Anyone else? Yeah, just in reply now that we're going back and forth. Um, time. Yes, time time is great. You have 21 months to to plan for this. Um but only four months to actually look at what we've done. We haven't even got to our first major break yet. And um you know, I'm really suspect of the timing of this vote. We're doing it right before break, which really is the happy time on this calendar because it's, you know, you're putting the break and the um and the semester break together. Um, I say give it more time and then I might even come around to to some of this, but uh it's too soon for that. So skeptical. Um, I just [clears throat] want to make sure that staff can address like the timing of this vote and where this falls in line with others. I mean, typically this is the time we do it. It's kind of the right before winter break to give people out. In the past, we've done two calendars. We've done different things. Sometimes we do two calendars at a time to give people that extra time. Sometimes we do it the year before. So the this time of year is the typical time we do is kind of late fall heading into a winter break as people can start plan and make plans and those sorts of things. So whether it's a one year, whether it's two year, the timing of calendars, typically this is when it happens. Any other comments before we vote on the postponement motion? I'll make one one comment. Um I'm not going to vote in support of postponing this. Um, I feel like the board set a very clear direction that we were going to give this three years and that is what we are following through on. Um, whether we vote now or in November, we should pass this calendar and give it the full three years and allowing it to have another year of people being frustrated with it potentially. Um, it just doesn't seem to serve the purpose of actually seeing this through to fruition. So, um, I do not feel that a postponement is necessary. Um, and I will not be supporting it. Okay, seeing no other comments, I just want to make sure. I'll just say something um quick. I was going to wait until the original [laughter] uh uh topic, but um I I'm I mean I hear the the I I understand um the kind of impetus behind um the motion. Um but ultimately um and I do plan to vote in favor of the uh proposed calendar uh for all of the reasons I think that um others have have really touched on. The original directive was for three years. Um and I think uh it makes sense to give it those three years. And when we are at the point at which we're voting on the 2028 2029 calendar, um that is when um you know my expectation is that we will be critically looking at um data and measurable outcomes and really thinking seriously about is this achieving what we wanted it to with respect to uh alignment with uh exams and breaks and professional development and uh student mental health and and other data points and of course community feedback is going to be an incredibly important piece of that conversation as well. Um so that is my intention. Um but I think that that uh in belongs uh uh later and I think uh we it it we owe it to the original proposal and the original direction of the board. um uh just to give the calendar those three years and learn what we learn um and then evaluate after that. Thank you. Um did you have I'll wait till your motion discussions. Okay. So right now there's a um postponement motion on the floor. Um if there are no other are there any other comments on the postponement? Okay. Um all those in uh favor of the motion to postpone raise your hand and say I. I I I opposed. Nay. Okay. The postpone postponement motion fails. So now we go back to the original motion which is to approve the 2728 calendar. Um and with that I'll turn it over to you doc Dr. Funk. Yeah. Just a couple couple comments. Um and you you saw it a few months ago when we added courses to the high school schedule to basically in effect create a new schedule and I was asked you know are we going to measure this? The answer of course is yes and again I recommended measurement period of three years. This is consistent with what the the recommendation is for the calendar. Now, having said that, you know what we've heard? Well, okay, we're adding another year. Okay, we're we're we're piloting the third year. Um, so I would imagine you will see sometime later this summer some significant feedback from year one on what people thought. Okay. And we'll we'll get here's where we're at with year one. Um, and I would imagine the same thing will happen at the end of year two. And then at that point is when we will have two solid years of data and we can make a decision. And there's nothing at that point that that stops the board from saying okay we have two years that really aren't looking very good here. Uh why do we want to move on with the third or do we want to give the third another chance? So I mean this is not you're approving three years now. Um so that we're we're on that trajectory to but there's nothing that says okay at some point in the future um if this is you know if Pete you continue to hear that nobody in the district that you talk to wants anything to do with this calendar then okay um not to say that the board can't reconsider at some point. So I but I do think that the data piece and I as I said it to you previously um is pretty important and I know um some things that we're really going to take a hard look at um are some of the softer social emotional things. I mean, you know, Aurora, just what you said tonight. Okay. What are students feeling after that, you know, during that break? The other thing that I I would take a significant look at as we're looking at school safety is what are thing every single year I have principles in late May call me up and say, "Can I send somebody home for 12 days because they are done with school and we can't have them here anymore?" and I say, "No, you have to stay outside that there's a 10-day window that they can be gone and you can't do that." Um, so those type of situations, what are we what are we going to see? Um, you know, we will we will evaluate teaching in May versus, you know, dealing with teaching in June is same thing with teaching in August versus, you know, September. So, we'll have a lot of different things that we can talk to with staff about, but uh to to imply that we are not going to take a hard look at this moving forward um as far as trying to get um community data, staff data, student data is is just not accurate. Thank you. Any um other questions for Mark or Superintendent Funk? Um I am I just kind of wanted to say, you know, it's it's interesting. Last year we voted on this calendar and it was I looked back and it was unanimous, the entire board. I think we had um director Hawker absent um and I we were without our two newest board members, but it was a unanimous vote for who was here. And I knew going into this year, this was going to be the toughest year. And I I am grateful that Dr. Funk actually prepared the board for this when we approved the board the board approved this three-year trial and he said, "And it has come to fruition. this is going to be the toughest year because you're coming off a loss of that summer week. Um, change is difficult and for all of those reasons. So, I feel that this conversation is really truly about a pre-LOR day start and a post Labor Day start in our community. I want to give this pre-LOR day start, which we've been doing for a decade, um, one shot to work better for our students, which is changing it by one week. Um, this was a oneweek change. I just want to an already pre-existing Labor Day start. If the data isn't there to support it, the board will then have to look at, does it make sense to just go back to post Labor Day? But those conversations are really divisive in the community. So continuing to bring two calendars for to fight with at the board table with a pre and a post Labor Day isn't really doing the community a service. Um I just think we need to evaluate, follow through, evaluate and make a determination after that point in time. And that that will include community voice. It will include student voice. a lot of hopefully academic um and behavioral indicators, but for me, I read every email we got today. And I want to acknowledge it was a lot of email and that matters and it was read and when it come came to the end of the day for me, it was very reminiscent of where we were when we started this vote. Um people just want have strong feelings on traditions and state fair and vacations and um and sports and camps or so. And I also do want to acknowledge that um and I did share this, we have a lot of really good um community education programming that is going to be offered to really help plug that one week differential that we have with this calendar and our old calendar. So, I know that um those that information will be coming out to community members, but I know that there's been a real thoughtful approach from our community group on um supporting families and students through these through this change. Um so, I just wanted to acknowledge that. So, I will be in support of this. Um uh we have a motion. Yeah. So, we have a motion and a second to continue with this third year. And um and then again just to know that Dr. Funk and his team will be coming back to us periodically with um data and review as it makes sense. Um so all those in favor of approving the 2728 calendar, raise your hand and say I. I. Opposed? Motion passes 5 to two. Thank you. All right, we're going to move on to our next agenda item which Mark you're going to stick around for here. We're going to do boundary changes. Another topic. Good evening, Chair Sherman, members of the [snorts] board. Um, tonight we're here to look for um approval of the um boundary adjustments for the 2627 school year. Um just kind of do a quick little um recap of previous meetings and kind of where we're at and then we'll open up for questions and comments that you may have. So, just a reminder why we're here. Um, as we prepare, we talked about the bond a lot here with in this meeting already, but as we prep prepare for the new Lake Elmo and the new Bayport schools opening up next fall, we need to take a look at where we're at um with all of our schools in in the southern end of our district. And we have to look at balancing our enrollment across all those schools. We can make sure that we keep room for future growth, not only that's happening right now, but things that can be happening here in the near future. Just a quick recap of the guiding principles that we established in September. Um, we base the decisions best on all kids in the district. We ensure the schools in southern part have the capacity to meet the current and future needs. We consider the demographic makeup of our schools, gather feedback from various stakeholders to gain insight, provide safe and efficient transportation system. I know there's a question that came up before. Um, just want to reiterate that Tom Riz, our transportation supervisor, was a part of the um, boundary committee. So his input was um sought after as we went through this process to the extent possible to keep the feeder system to middle schools. This one wasn't so much because it just stayed in the southern end. It didn't cross between um Oakland boundaries and store to middle boundaries. So there is no adjustment no matter what option we choose here today. I'll be very clear. There is no change to the middle school feeders into next year. So the boundaries for middle school stay the same. We're really just talking elementary schools here this evening. To the extent possible is keep our neighborhoods together. And then lastly, to the extent possible, is to try to get each school as close to 400 as we can. Again, that's not um a number that we have to get to. It's a range that we want to try to strive as we can as we look at projections. We had a couple schools that were trending down below that and we want to try to balance it with our um developments that are coming in to beef all of our schools up to try to hit that um 400 as best we can. Now, just reviewing the options real quickly here. Um, looking on the map on the right, the map on the right is if the option was chosen. So, it's not the the the map as we sit here today. I'm just going to kind of go clockwise. So, looking at the upper right hand corner, that purple is the Bayport um attendance boundary. Just south of that in the green and the bottom right hand corner is an Aftton Lakeland boundary. To the left of that, the bottom left, that blue is Brook. And then right above Brookview, that peach is Lake Elmo. And the green that you see above Lake Elmo is Rutherford. So, you just got to get a sense of what schools are which. So looking at option A, they'd be moving um four parcels. Um neighborhood number 44 would be going from Lake Elmo to Afton Lakeland. Neighborhoods 53 and 54 be going from Afton to Bayport. And then currently 52 is one neighborhood as a group. We talked about splitting that into 52 north and 52 South. 52 South would stay at Brookview. That's where Brookiew resides is in 52 South. and then taking that top half of the Brookview boundary in this instance would be moving it to Afton Lakeland Elementary School. So just kind of understand how to read each one of these maps as we move forward. Looking in the bottom lefthand corner, you kind of see all the schools and then just taking our uh our educated guess of what enrollment could look like next year and then the building capacity for each one of those schools. So this is option A. Looking to option B, if you look on the right hand side, that's what the map would look like on all of our schools here if option B was chosen. The moves would be moving parcels uh or neighborhoods 4041 from Lake Elmo to Bayport and then splitting 52 north again splitting 52 and north and south taking the north part of that and moving that up to Lake Elmo Elementary School. And then the bottom lefthand corner would be um those schools based on our um estimated enrollment if option B was chosen what the enrollment would look like and what the capacity of each one of those schools would look like in option B. Moving to option C, it's very similar to option B. there's just one difference. So looking at uh neighborhoods 40 and 41 is the same thing between B and C. The only difference um is 52 north. In B, 52 north would go to Lake Elmo. In option C, 52 north would go to Afton Lakeland. And then looking at the bottom lefthand corner again, you can see what the enrollment and the capacity for each one of the schools are on option C. With that being said, um administrative recommendation is option A. Looking at solving our longerterm capacity needs within our district helps us balance our enrollment and prepare for our future growth. Um looking at that with enrollment and future growth of minimizing our future disruptions or future boundary changes as neighborhoods and as developments u mature over time. And then also maximizes our student enrollment, our newest buildings um both at Lake Elmo and the new Bayport Elementary School. Now, since our last meeting, we've got feedback on um our recommendation. The first one is is process and and decision- making. Um there's been questions about process, which is understandable because boundaries impact people and change is is not um something. And this is my fourth boundary change that I've been through. I was a part of a participant in the first one in 2011 and then 2017, 2022 and then here in 2025, I was a facilitator um of this process. The process that we use this year is the very similar process that we've used in years past um of how we've gone about having representatives from each of the the schools K through eight um have school staff, district personnel, community input um and then really creating options and deriving options from that group organically. Again, we that group we discussed 11 different options. Based on those 11 different options, we whittleled it down to three which we voted on to say three to move forward that we see the option A, B and C and then went out for feedback and got um community conversations presented here at the schoolboard meeting had online feedback. After that um as we get the feedback um as we look feedback I I I I know we think that feedback is is a vote. you know, the feedback is not a vote because a lot of the feedback we get are from people impacted and what that looks like to them and how that feels from where they're at. So, when we looked at the feedback, it's um what does that what's the real world impact? What's the pulse of what people are saying? What are some possible obstacles and challenges that people see with these options? And then for us to be proactive to look at some of those and what are things that we can do to pro proactive before we get to this point to help families and help things along. So that's then where that last boundary meeting came aboard and we looked at those um um feedback both online and in person. We talked about pros and cons of each one of those. But then some of the things that came up were legacy students meaning you know are we going to let people in their last year or two in the school stay there and that's where legacy students came in and say the current fourth grade then we're going to make sure that they have a spot in that school from fourth grade to fifth grade. Um, looking at transportation was something that came up as a real world concern, a potential impact. And that's something we've worked with our transportation team about as quickly as possible. How how can we get that? And we'll talk about this here in a second. Get that information to families so they can help make a um positive choice talking about our enrollment options. And so what does it look like if your if your boundary has moved, what does that look like? Um, and we talk through some of those sorts of things. Also, adventure club has come up a lot. Um, in years past there's been difficulties with the weight list and having the commitment from our adventure club that if you're currently in adventure club this year, no matter what school, if you stay at the school or if you're going to a different school next year, you'll be guaranteed a spot. If you have in adventure club this year, you're into next year. Some of so some of those real world impacts that we really to try to look at and how that um plays out um with each one of our families to be proactive about that. And then after that meeting um we took that feedback and then as administrative team we made a decision and here we are um giving our decision um or recommendation here to the board. Also there's talk about staffing considerations about what staffing can look like and what this will be cut and that would be cut in those sorts of for us. Staffing doesn't start until February um because we have to look at registrations um from an elementary standpoint. We have to look at where our kindergarten numbers are at. There's a lot of aspects that go into staffing that just we're not ready to look at next year's staffing yet. And so we have not run any scenarios about what that could look like for any subject, whether it's classroom teachers or specialists or any of those sorts of things. Um, also there is talk about if um combination classes and what that looks like. I want to reiterate that no matter what size the school is, class size ratio does not change. So it doesn't matter if it's the biggest school in the district or the smallest school in the district or something in between. Our staffing rate ratios stay the same. So it doesn't matter what school where you live. Those staffing ratios apply across all of our schools. And then as we look at combo classes, you know, we have a few combo classes here district-wide and we actually have combo classes in all different sizes. Our smallest school has combo classes. Our largest school has combo classes. A medium-sized school has combo classes. So it really doesn't come down to how many students are in the building. it's really look at students per grade level and then what the grade level above below um some of those sorts of things. So, I just want to to throw out there that we have not looked at any staffing considerations as of yet. And I don't know if you heard me earlier, but we are looking seriously everything we can do to move away from combo classes for next year regardless of this or absolutely. Okay. Um that minimum enrollment target again we have um schools that are below that and what our goal is to balance it as best we can to beef up all our schools around 400. 400 is not a magic number, but as we get to 400, you start to get around three sections per school. And that's what we're trying to get to is all of our schools is around that three section goal. So, it doesn't mean we have to hit it. That's why it kind of says to the extent possible. And that's what is kind of kind of that conversation within the committee was we may not get everybody there, but let's try to look at our numbers and beef everybody up to get to that enrollment target. And then lastly, just really understand and and see there is a student and a family impact. Whether your boundary is moved or your boundary doesn't move, but your friends and your classroom and those sorts of things, it does have an impact. And so we don't want to do this every year. And we want to prolong this as long as we can. And so as we look at this, we say, what can help us sustain as long as we can so we don't have to keep coming back and moving people from school to school or from neighborhood to neighborhood. Now, looking at next steps, um, after decisions made, there will be an email out to the families that are affected that has their new school assignment and what options they'll have. That'll be coming this week. And then, so it'll be a mailing for the legacy students, so what our current fourth grade, what they're going to be in and what their options are, as well as our current preschool through third grade, what their new school would be, and what their um enrollment options are. Again, we we want to try to have this before winter break because of that January 15th deadline. And we urge people they want to do the alternate enrollment process. If your boundary has changed um or impacted because of boundary changes and you are a higher priority in that January 15th. So once you January 15th, there's seven different priority buckets. Um board impact of a boundary change is higher priority than somebody that isn't impacted. So if they get in be on or before January 15th, they're in that first bucket. anything after January 15th is just kind of a first come, first- serve. So, we want to give families that that time to go through that if that's something they they want to do for their family. The second part is the transportation information. In an ideal world, we have that here and we'd be able to roll that out. Um, as we look at our routing structure, we've talked about many times here by the end of March, we'll be able to communicate with families where where that looks at looks like from a transportation standpoint. And then the last part is um that new school welcome. So, kind of the end of the year, want families to enjoy where they're at, have a great school year, but then as the year comes to an end, how does that transition look from where they're at to a new school? And what are some messaging and um welcoming activities we can have? Just really quick, one question here. What um because I know legacy transportation is something that you're looking at. Is it feasible to do it? Um, how does how would you recommend a family handle that? Um, if they're transportation dependent or if they're waiting for that decision and enrollment's January 15th and that decision comes in March, I mean, that's really up to them. If they're really dependent on it, they can, you know, alt enroll because you always have a spot of where you live. So, your neighborhood school, you always have a spot there. And if you want to do an alternate enrollment, if you're accepted, then when transportation comes, you kind of make the decision, does it make sense for me to stay at the school or to go to the new school? Every family situation is different. So they should they could then register as a legacy student, wait for that transportation decision in March and then if they decided to go back to their home school. Yeah. If you're a legacy student, you actually have it both ways because you're already in your current school that you're in and then you'd have a spot in the boundary school where you go. So you actually would have a spot either way. Oh, got it. Okay, perfect. Thank you. So and then with that, um, we do have a website up and running here. some frequently asked questions and some of the information we shared here and in some previous meetings for people to get more feedback. So with that, I'll open it up to any questions or comments that you may have. First, we need a a motion and a um second jump for discussion. I know. So, is there a motion? Director Hucker. Um I'll make a motion to approve option A. Is there a second? Second. Director Theander with the second. Okay, so we have a motion and a sec. second and then Sarah. Thank you. And I just I wanted to make sure I understood that last question. So the for legacy students, they will have transportation. Nope, that's not what we said. Legacy students will Sorry if that was a mistake. No, that's okay. I just that's why I was clarifying. It wasn't Thank you for asking. I appreciate that. It wasn't the transportation about what school they're assigned to because legacy students then automatically keep their SC spot in school A that they're attending right now. Also, they live in a house that is in boundary B. So, in theory, they would have a spot in school A because they're going to be in fifth grade in their legacy student, but they also have a spot in school B if they chose to go to their home school. Got it. Not transportation. It's about where they'd have a spot in the school. I hope that makes sense. Transportation independent. Okay. Okay. So, they would have transportation to their home school where their new assignment is, whatever number they're in and they're going to school A, they'll have that because that's where they live. That's where they boundary are. You have transportation to that if they live outside the the district. Um, okay. So, it's the alternate enrollment that guarantees them the transportation to their pre their current school. Correct. Because they're the legacy back to where they are currently today, not where they are boundary to in the future. Okay. I got it. Thank you. Sorry about that. No, no, no, no. It was me. Thank you. And I just want to recognize really quick, Mark, um I feel like I've had you on speed dial between you and Mike. So, um over the last couple weeks since that, look at looking at all these options. So, thank you very for being patient with all my questions because I know this is this matters for people. I mean, um the impact is it's a smaller boundary change than we've done in the past, but that it doesn't feel like that way if you're a family that's impacted. So, um I think that the board always takes this responsibility very seriously as I know you do as well. So, thank you for that time. Um any questions or comments? Yeah, questions or comments? Yep. Sure. Um so with this option A, option A affects Afton really. So let's talk about Afton. Um 135 people. First of all, even before I say that, what I really like is people like their school. Wherever they're at, they like their school. They want to stay there. So, at Afton, we're going to have 135 victims of this change and they're going to have to go elsewhere. And um I thought, okay, so they're they're going to have to go to another school, but actually there's more to it than that. Um we're going to be losing a section at Afton, right? So, we're going to have two sections at Aftton. So, you go ahead. Yeah, answer that. I'm going to cut you off. Um, they wouldn't be losing 135. There's 135 affected. So, there are aboutund and some that would be going to Bayport and they'd also be gaining um a neighborhood from Lake Elmo. So, that wouldn't be the total number they would lose. Those are the total number affected within this boundary change. Okay. Well, I'll still address those people that are leaving Afton that would really like to stay there. And um but it's also um it's going to change the culture of that school. And I'm going to share a story with you. So when I'm at schools or anywhere, um, usually my opening for a conversation is, "How's it going?" Or if I know the person's a substitute, I say, "How are you treated at this school as a substitute?" Because that's quite often a problem is we need substitutes. So I talked to this one gal and she's a substitute at A Lake and she says, "I love working here and this is why I choose to work at this school because the culture is so good here. uh they welcome me, the principal welcomes her, the staff welcomes her and um so I think we have a culture at Afton, a lot of history there and I hate to see that disturbed like it's going to happen after the vote here. So um with that in mind, uh I would really like to consider what we're doing for those people. Then also to know that we put a committee together and the committee was charged with something, right? was to come up with some options and they came up with options but they were stopped short of recommending one of the three options. I would bet and they can speak up afterwards that if the committee was to meet again and say now we got the three options put one of them forward. I don't think they would have option A. I I I've heard from some on the committee that would not they they were short of that uh uh decision. So, um, again, just like the last thing, it's a board decision and I will not vote for option A, but if if option A was to fail, what what happens then? Because it looks like you're kind of prepared to implement option A, you know, as soon as this meeting's over, uh, would we then go to option B or C and make a decision, or would we take it away and come back later to, uh, it's right now the motion on the table is to approve option A. If it fails, then we would look at B or C immediately. Mhm. Okay. All right. Anyway, so anyway, I am not in favor of option A just because of uh a lot of the feedback. Again, I'm getting feedback from a lot of people and that's kind of what I uh respond to. Uh I don't have any kids at school, so I don't have any personal effect, but so I'm I want to listen to these guys. Um let me make sure I covered all my notes here. So I will vote no on option A. And uh again, it's a board decision. I would hope the board would also think independently and u listen to our constituents. Yeah. Thank you. Um, so I was uh, Director Lowour and I were the ones who got to sit on on the boundary committee. Um, so back to your comment, Director Kellenberg, I wouldn't necessarily guess I wouldn't even guess where that committee would have landed um, in putting forth a recommendation. And in the committee, it was very clear that this was an advisory committee and that they were putting forth the three options and that the positives and negatives were discussed of each of these options and that the administration would ultimately have to look at the whole picture and u make a determination to bring forward to the board. Um so I wouldn't necessarily assume anything about where where that committee would have landed. Um in terms of actually observing the committee um it was a great experience. It was fascinating to watch. We had some really really smart people. Um it was a humbling experience in order to follow all the multiple um ideas being thrown around and the the various options. I don't remember how many options we we looked at Mark, but it was 11. 11. It was 11. Great. Um and then the three that we were brought to the board. Um there was a lot of deliberation at that point. um figuring out where the values of the district are and kind of what are the main priorities and um I really respected the group kind of pulling back and being like we're not entirely sure where all those values are so we'll bring forth two or three options instead of two that was the big discussion at that particular meeting so um they were very thoughtful people um and they had a lot of good experiences um a lot of them had been on the committee before so I have a lot of respect for that committee um and I also So my big takeaway from and I said this in the the previous meeting um with the community feedback session um the thing that really stuck with me was how much people were very much upset and impacted by these changes and the desire to not do this very often. Um so that is where I feel like option A is our best option. Yes, it does move the most kids at this point. Um it's 135 kids and I appreciate Dr. Funk actually sent us some historical data. Um I think chair Sherman might have requested it. Um but looking back, the board got all this information already. Looking back at the last several boundary changes. In 2011, we we moved 250 kids. In 2017, it was 916. In 2023, it was 379. And now in 2025, we are deciding between 135 or 39 kids. So that helped me kind of put it into perspective. Even though this does feel like a bigger change by choosing option A, um ultimately I feel like it will hopefully give us more longevity in our um in our boundary change process which will pay off in the future even though it's a short-term pain right now for a few more families. So I I very much feel for the families impacted. Um but I do want to recognize the benefit for the greater um district. So, I will be supporting option A. Thank you. Other comments, Director Parker? Sure. Um, given that I live in Afton Lakeland Elementary School boundaries, uh, the district made a proactive decision to invest district resources and seek legal counsel. They recommended that I recuse myself from this vote. And I agree, as I live in the boundaries of the affected school, that I recuse myself. I don't think this should set precedent for all future votes as I think uh this is unique since I'm the only person with a student uh in a school that is impacted. Um from there though I will say that uh redistricting is always difficult and uh and is always unpopular. Um and I appreciate all the work that goes into it. Um as is the case with a few of the other recent changes. I do have concerns about the process that was taken. I I spoke with five different community members uh committee members and uh they had very uh specific dislikes with with the process. I also dislike the outcome. Um although I will not be uh participating in the vote. Um the community voice seems like it's overwhelmingly against commu uh version A and whether it's the thought exchange or the board outreach um uh the people calling me and talking to me while other times just going against the community thought is important. Um I think when we go against community input uh we need to have really strong reasons for doing so. So far the the arguments for it have I have found difficult. Um first balancing enrollment uh the understanding balancing enrollment is is is an interesting process with capacity. However more important as was discussed in the November meeting um as Dr. Funk and the advisory committee discussed uh that efficiency in programming is is the more important factor to think about uh when it comes to our student counts not capacity itself. It is the numbers uh the actually hard numbers that matters. Um the fact that it prepares us for growth. I struggle with this as an argument as we have not seen projections outside of the next three years. Um so we don't really have good data to make a decision on past three years. Um the data that I have seen on this shows that that we do have uh AF and Lakeland will be dropping in their enrollment down. So that is a potentially further drop that we would be impacting if nothing changes. Uh so I'm curious uh how that will be impacted in long term. Um the issue about staffing up our or in adding more uh attendance to our new schools that was not part of the guiding principle. So that uh point of support does not hold water for me. Um and so that these that these really are the concerns that I have for this. Um while I appreciate it's a very difficult decision. I would not support a if I could vote, but I will not be voting. And I just want to make it clear too um the I the I think it was three options. You you can vote. It's just the importance of disclosing. But you don't there's no I just don't want you to feel like you're forced to recuse or you can abstain, you can recuse, or you could just disclose. It's totally up to you. I'll reread the email from No, the right now to check what it was, but I think it said it recused. I'll double check that though. Thank you. Yes. Um Okay. Can I can you answer any of those questions like in terms of um the the 400? I know you've said that it's just a number and that also was a range. I mean because as we look at our projections we had a couple schools that would significantly fall below that 400 target as we look at if we did nothing. So in looking at growth we had schools that were growing and we had schools that were decreasing enrollment. So for us to balance that out, that was one of the the guiding things is try to get to them get every school as close to 400 as we can and then looking at the future to make sure that's sustainable. We don't want any schools to become smaller than that and that's not the goal and that's not where we're at. We're trying to beef up all of our schools to stay at that 400 number as best we can. Okay. Yes. I am concerned about the comment that um people were negative or or critiquing the process particularly when Mark this is what your third time you've led the district do this. Have you heard these comments about um led this process before? No. Okay. That is concerning especially when we have board members who are in the meetings. I have heard from people on the committee that uh didn't did not like the process nor the outcome actually, but you wouldn't have heard of them publicly, but just in one-on-one conversations I have. But that's the question I have. Are they upset with the outcome or are they upset with the process? The process. Okay. And they went to set it if the outcome would have been different of course. Yeah. Um yes, Director. Yeah. I I mean I would um counter some of the thoughts around the process. I mean that's I think as a board what we want to always focus on is having a sound process. Um and I think it was well stated by one of the committee members um around the [snorts] fact that the process was rigorous data driven and focused on the district's long-term health. And I think unfortunately boundary changes are multiaceted. They're complex and they're personally impactful to families. And similar to director Hawkert, you know, I share the same sentiment that, you know, anytime we have to affect families like that, that's really hard. Um, but I know, uh, Director Kellenberg, you shared that our last meeting, how how resilient you were growing up and moving schools far often than what you know, um, is being asked at this point. Um and hopefully, you know, the goal is the last time in that child's uh metriculation through Stillwater Schools. So, um yeah, it's it's obviously a hard thing and and it's unfortunately a necessary thing that we have to do. Thankfully, we're having the conversation around growth in the district and having two new brand brand new schools. Um, you know, there's districts that are in the metro that are closing schools, multiple schools. Um, there's districts in in our neighbors in Wisconsin that are closing schools. Thankfully, we're not doing that. That is a far more difficult, more uh impactful, very emotional um impact. And and I do, my heart does go out to the families that are impacted. Um, I'm not going to diminish that. I think any family would feel the same way. Um, but again, that's just a part of the difficult challenges that we have to do. And I think we need to rely on, you know, the the specialized perspective that we can get from our district leaders that none of us have because we're never going to be the subject matter experts. And, you know, Mark, I appreciate the work that you did. I appreciate the work that the committee members have done. I appreciate the board representation that we had from Director Lowour and Director Cochert. Um and so um outcomes and process are different and I would counter based on my feedback that it's more outcome related not process related. Thank you. Yes. And I will just add I I mean I think you know I think everybody you know at in the committee having watched it you know there was you know goodwill from all parties trying to figure out what can we do to best support the the needs of the district and um you know you'll notice one of the things that isn't in the guiding document is impact the fewest number of families and I think whether intentional or Not the fact is it does maybe come out to be a hard choice. You're right. And I think that if there was more support for the lower for the B or C, it it is it comes from that that human nature side of us that where we don't want to put more families than we than maybe have to, you know, if that's how you feel about it, you know, that you don't have to hurt more families. Um, so I I I think that back to outcomes versus process. I think the process was from my perspective very clear from the beginning through through to the end. Um, and so I I I I don't did not see that um as as as a problem. Um, so I, you know, I I'm also comforted by the fact that it's not like the students that are being moved from one school to another are being, uh, you know, put in a shack somewhere and left with a pack of wolves to get their education. I mean, we're, you know, they're going to be moved to a really, really good school. I'm confident of that. That's one of the things that's great about Stillwater about school district. So, I am supportive of option A. Any other comments before we vote? Okay. Um I just again I want to thank everyone involved in the process because it's a lot of time commitment um to participate in the committee and um and that that is valued and I understand I appreciate the three options. I also appreciate Mark, you and your team's work to kind of really analyze those options further from the lens that you have in the day-to-day work and the conversations that you have with city council people and um city planners and people of that sort. And um I I this is my second boundary change and it's one of the most uncomfortable votes that I have. I remember it last time really heavily impacting Lake Elmo. Um, I mean, we were moving, you know, twice the number of kids out of that building. Um, and it was gut-wrenching. These are like, I don't want to minimize the the nature of these decisions. It's difficult. And there is no staff member who is happy to ever have to do boundary changes or recommend more than they have to. So, I I know that you're um having your recommendation come from a really good student- centered place. So, I will um also be supporting this and I'm really looking forward to our families feeling that support through this move um and that there's a plan in place and we have excellent teachers in all of our buildings and excellent principles who are there to support these families. Um so, uh we have a motion and a second. Uh all those in favor of approving option A raise your hand and say I I opposed. I um any abstensions or recusals? Great. Recuse or recuse? What's the difference? Fine. Okay. Um great with that. Um, let's move on to our next agenda item, which is policy. Hi, Paul. Thank you. Good luck in the finals. Thank you. Good evening, uh, Chair Sherman and members of the board. So, we are here for a second reading of policy 605, alternative educational services. And this is a a new policy to the district. And we had the first reading a few uh meetings ago. Uh just a reminder that this is uh a policy that does contain legal requirements um and will serve the district well by um adding this to our uh group of policies. Um so in in brief it the purpose of the policy is to recognize the need for alternative educational services for some school district students. Um I have not received any feedback on this uh brief uh to the and succinct policy. Um I don't know if anyone else has. Okay. So with that we would uh and I know the committee would uh recommend approval. Right. Um are there any questions before we move on to the action? Okay. Um, we'll conclude the report. We'll move to action. I'll go ahead and make a motion to approve policy 605. Can I get a second? Second. Great. Director Lowour with the second. Um, any other comments for uh, Director Lee? I'll go along with this one. [laughter] Seeing no comments. Okay. Um, we have a motion and a second to approve policy 605. Um, everyone in favor raise your hand and say I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Thank you, Paul. That's it for tonight. And then we're going to right now have an action item um on the custodial master contract. And we're going to have Chris come up and talk to the board. Good evening. Hi. Good evening, directors, board chair. Um, so I am here today to talk to you about the custodial master contract. Uh, we are pleased that um we have um come to agreement on that. Um so on the screen before you are the highlights of uh that agreement. Um so those include um step movement um in each year of the contract and then we did consolidate um two of the what you might refer to as the lanes or the levels um to one rate um so that's level um five and level six sorry level five and level four are the two that we condensed. One was only two steps anyway and the other one had several steps on it but there was only one person that was impacted by the change. So, um, next up, we, uh, talked about medical insurance. Um, and so we did go with the, um, um,ou language. The district pays the first 6 and a half% of their renewal increase. Employees pay the next six and a half of the renewal increase, and then any increase over 13% will be shared equally between the district and employees. And then we did salary schedule increases of two and a quarter% in year 1 and two and a quarter% in year two. And this includes an important market adjustment. Um, our custodial staff continues to uh be behind the average. Um, and that's an average of the school districts in our area. Um, which doesn't account for the competition from the hospital um or the um clinics in the area. So the bigger um the the bigger organizations are able to you know uh attract our custodians. Um so we did attempt to adjust their salaries up a little bit um to help offset that. Um and then lastly we have um the elimination of the short-term disability benefit with the implementation of Minnesota paid leave January 1st. And so this agreement does match all of the parameters that were set by the school board financially. And so um I would um recommend that we approve this collectively bargained agreement. Great. Do you want to do your thank yous to every [laughter] So yes, I do want to thank the team, the negotiations team and the custodians are always um they're always a pleasure to work with. Um they are a somewhat colorful crew. Um but they are um dedicated and they represent their their group really well. Um and then on our side of the table um Ashley um Jeang my HR supervisor was very instrumental and then of course Marie um and McKenzie were very helpful um in this process as well. So thank you to them. Great. Um I'm going to go ahead and make a motion to approve. Can I get a second? Second. Okay. Director Hagert with a second and then any questions for Chris? Okay, seeing none, all those in favor of approving the contract, raise your hand say I. I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Thank you for all your hard work and your whole team. We appreciate it. And thank you to our custodians. Yes. Okay. And then thank you. We're going to move on to a negotiations update. So, you're going to stick around for us? Yes. Um, so this is um an overview. Um, we have this this is a slide. It's a little bit slightly altered than the last time we saw it, but it just has the update with the custodians in it. So um you can see that um all of the groups that whose contracts have expired in the um in June of 2025. Um you can see which ones are settled. um coordinator, supervisors, directors, technical support u principles and custodians. Um so we have not begun negotiations yet with nutrition services at their at their request. Um and we are um as you well know well into negotiations with the um SCA. Um so the next slide um this is um this is our update. Um yesterday marked our 10th meeting. Um to date we've reached a tenative agreement on three proposals. Actually it's four. Um but one of those is also around importantly I just want to mention that is around Minnesota paid leave. Um so at this point because we we have run into um some of the um sticking points if you will um we have mutually agreed that a third party a neutral third party would be a good idea. Um and so we are going to jointly file uh to the Bureau of Mediation Services to enter into uh mediation. Um we also know from um consulting with Mick that uh we are unlikely to get a mediation date until close to the end of January, maybe the first week of February. Um and in the meantime um both sides um the SCEA and um the district team have agreed to continue meeting um to see if we can still come to some um sort of um settlement in the meantime. Um so that is our that is our plan moving forward and as it says on the slide we do have two more meetings already scheduled for after the break. Um, and then this is just a reminder of the the schedule of the meetings and um where we have been um and hopes of where we're going to get. And when is the next um meeting date that you have? I'm assuming it's after the holidays. Okay. Do you have a date for that? 12. January 12th. Okay, great. Thank you. Any questions um for Chris? One question. What does the mediator do? Uh do they have any authority in the uh or is it just trying to get agreement? Yeah, we don't we're not required to accept um you know what they say. Um but they do provide a neutral they go back and forth. We're in separate rooms and so they go and they get information from one side and then they bring it to the other side. um and they you know present it with a you know a neutral perspective um to help you know maybe see it look at things a little bit differently. Um you know a mediator can also you know apply a little bit of pressure to both sides to kind of to work together a little bit more or you know make some make some different decisions. All right. Thanks. Yep. Great. Any other questions? Okay. Seeing none. Um, our next item on our agenda under strategic direction D, which is develop strong partnerships with communities we serve, is a closed session. Um, so I'm going to go ahead and read the closed session. Pursuant to Minnesota statute 13D.03B, the governing body of a public employer may by a majority vote in a public meeting decide to hold a closed session to consider strategy for labor negotiations, including negotiation strategies or developments or discussion. and review of labor negotiation proposals conducted pursuant to sections 179A.01 to 179A.25. Um I will go ahead and make a motion to that we move to close session. Can I get a second? Second. Great. Um Sarah with a second. And all those in favor of moving into close session raise your hand and say I. I opposed. Great. We are we'll move to close session. What do you think? Join Thank you. Thank you.