South Washington County Schools — Transcript
Thursday, October 22, 2026
District Financial Strategy and Health Benefits
School Safety and Digital Well-being Initiatives
Transportation Staffing Shortages and Future Planning
Votes (6)
Public Comment on District Health Benefits and Financial Planning
Dissent: N/A
Moved by null · Seconded by null
Robert Wescott raised concerns about the district's deficit spending and budget adjustments, particularly for early childhood programs. He proposed adopting a self-insured health benefits model by 2028, citing successful examples from other metro districts like Ashtabula County, Ohio, and urged greater scrutiny and compensation disclosure from current health benefit partners and pharmacy benefit managers.
Approval of Proposed Policy Changes
Dissent: None
Moved by Sharon Vanlier [00:10:55] · Seconded by Sydney Pniaak [00:10:55]
The board considered six school district policies (527, 601, 603, 606, 607.1, 610) that had undergone review. Assistant Superintendent Kelly Jansen noted that policies 527, 601, and 603 received legal updates, grammatical changes, or title adjustments to reflect Minnesota statute, while policies 606, 607.1, and 610 had no proposed changes. The Board Policy Committee and a prior workshop meeting had already reviewed these policies.
Establishment of Park High School Boys Lacrosse Cooperative
Dissent: None
Moved by Sydney Pniaak [00:17:15] · Seconded by Melinda Douls [00:17:15]
The board approved a cooperative sponsorship for boys lacrosse at Park High School due to significantly declining participation numbers, which jeopardize the ability to field both varsity and junior varsity teams. Activities Director Phil Kimmel projected 20 players for the upcoming season, far below the ideal 45, and discussed potential partners like New Life Academy and Math and Science Academy to ensure program viability and provide appropriate playing levels for all students.
Approval of Minnesota State High School League Grant Resolutions
Dissent: None
Moved by Sharon Vanlier [00:21:26] · Seconded by Sydney Pniaak [00:21:26]
The board approved two resolutions to support the district's annual application for grants from the Minnesota State High School League Foundation. Assistant Superintendent Christine Schaefer explained that Form A funds extracurricular participation for students in need, based on free/reduced lunch numbers, while Form B supports leadership development for student captains. Activities Director Phil Kimmel provided examples of past uses, including covering hotel costs for robotics teams and providing leadership training resources.
Approval of 2027-28 Open Enrollment Resolution
Dissent: None
Moved by Sharon Vanlier [00:27:32] · Seconded by Elizabeth Bachmanber [00:27:32]
The board approved a resolution establishing the open enrollment parameters for the 2027-28 school year, allowing the district to continue participation while setting conditions for rejecting applications based on capacity limits. Assistant Superintendent Kelly Jansen detailed that rejections could occur due to program, class, or school building capacity, influenced by factors such as staff-to-student ratios, projected enrollment, and facility attributes. Updated capacities for high schools, including Eastridge, Park (from 2059 to 225), and Woodbury (from 1925 to 2070) were noted.
Approval of Nutrition Services Collective Bargaining Agreement
Dissent: None
Moved by Sydney Pniaak [00:30:57] · Seconded by Louise Hines [00:30:57]
The board approved a tentative collective bargaining agreement with the Nutrition Services Association, effective July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2028. Executive Director Abby Baker outlined economic terms, including annual 2% salary increases for all staff, additional 50-cent hourly raises for managers in larger elementary schools and middle/high schools, and increased district contributions to health and dental insurance plans. She also confirmed the department is currently fully staffed, benefiting from recent recruitment efforts.
Notable Quotes (11)
I encourage you, the board, to follow the example of at least 17 other metro area school districts and adopt a self-insured health benefits model as soon as 2028 if possible.
Ask them to sign compensation disclosure agreements. And ask yourself if you feel that you are receiving the best customer service from them, especially when it's not renewal season.
Tonight we have six policies that have been reviewed and revised to reflect updates in Minnesota statute. Definition of terms, legal references, and cross reference craft ref cross cross references.
Our boys lacrosse numbers have been going down... our anticipated numbers for this year would be 20. And he's kind of looking at eight seniors uh returning from last year, two juniors, seven sophomores, and just three freshmen coming from the youth association.
If we have 20 kids come out for lacrosse, we could field we have enough players probably to field a varsity team. But the problem with that is you don't always have varsity caliber players out of that 20... forcing them into a varsity situation is not a good situation either because they're playing at a level that they should not be playing at.
These are grants that we have applied for every year and have received from the high school league. The funds are generated from ticket sales and corporate sponsorships.
One of the examples that comes up almost every year is in our robotics program... some students don't have the funds to pay for those hotels. So I've used money from the high school league to pay for that kind of a thing.
The resolution allows our district to participate, continue to participate in open enrollment, but having some parameters around that.
The resolution also gives us the ability to uh reject applications under certain conditions and those include when a program class or school building has reached capacity and some of the reasons of those capacity are defined in the resolution...
Negotiations toward a new collective bargaining agreement between South Washington County Schools and the Nutrition Services Association have resulted in a tenative agreement to be effective July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2028.
Effective July 1, 2026, 2% increase. Effective July 1, 2026, an additional 50 cents for elementary cook managers and assistant managers with K through five enrollments over 700. Effective July 1, 2026, an additional 50 cents for middle and high school management positions.
Ordinances & Resolutions (12)
Legal basis for the closed session regarding the Superintendent's annual evaluation.
Policy reviewed and revised with legal updates.
Policy reviewed and revised with legal updates.
Policy reviewed and revised with minor grammatical, legal, and title changes.
Policy reviewed with no proposed changes.
Policy reviewed with no proposed changes.
Policy reviewed with no proposed changes.
Regulation permitting cooperative sponsorships to preserve program viability due to insufficient participation numbers.
Grant assisting and promoting extracurricular participation for high school students, awarded based on free/reduced lunch numbers.
Grant providing funds for activities directors to work with student captains and leaders in fine arts and athletics for leadership development.
Resolution allowing the district to participate in open enrollment with specific parameters, including capacity-based rejection conditions.
Tentative agreement between South Washington County Schools and the Nutrition Services Association, effective July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2028.