Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Mhm. >> It is Thursday, August 20th, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. We are at the District Service Center in Cottage Grove, Minnesota. We would like to acknowledge that the land on which we gather is the land of the Mde wakanton Dakota people. Mde wakanton means dwellers of the Spirit Lake. First item on our agenda is 1.0, roll call, Dina. >> Elizabeth Bachman-Ekberg. >> Here. >> Louise Heinz. >> Here. >> Ryan Clark. >> Here. >> Melinda Dols. >> Here. >> Simi Beg. >> Beg is absent. Sharon Van Leer. >> Here. >> Katie Schwartz. >> Here. >> 2.0, pledge of allegiance, please stand. >> I pledge allegiance 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. >> Okay, 3.0, can I get a motion to approve the agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> And >> Ryan, any comments? All those in favor? >> Aye. >> Opposed? Motion passes. 4.0 is comments to the board. We do not have any this evening, so we move on to 5.0 and that is consent items. All consent items are considered routine and non-controversial by the school board and will be approved by a single motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items. Prior to the meeting, board members have had the opportunity to review each of these items and may have requested that any item be moved to an action item for individual consideration. That did not happen this evening, so can I get a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved by Sharon, seconded by Melinda. All those in favor? >> Aye. >> Any opposed? Motion passes. On to 6.0, information items and we do not have any this evening, so we will move on to 7.0 and that is our action items and we have one this evening and that is 7.1 and that is proposed policy changes and that will be presented by Julie Neilson, Superintendent. >> I was wondering what you were going to call me for a last name there. Good evening. Thank you. This evening I am bringing forth seven policies for final approval by the school board as reviewed by our policy committee and reviewed at our last meeting. 515 protection and privacy of pupil records, grammatical and legal updates, 516 student medication and telehealth, 516.5 overdose medication, 519 interviews of students by outside agencies, 520 student surveys, 530 immunization requirements, and then 625 just to point out that is a new policy for South Washington County Schools, responsible use of artificial intelligence and board members will hear a presentation in October around that policy. This evening I am asking for approval of those policies. Okay, I'm going to ask for a motion to approve all but 520. Um, Clark did find some language in 520 that we do want to have reviewed. Um, so we the motion is to approve policies 515, 516, 516.5, 519, 530, and 625. Can I get a motion to approve? >> I'll move. >> Second. >> Ryan and Sharon, any other comments? Okay, all those in favor? >> I. >> Opposed? Motion passes. 8.0 is our superintendent report. >> Thank you. I feel like I should take at least an hour or a couple hours. Um, just to start off by sharing thank you to board members who were able and our community members who went on construction tours. Um, I'd like to say that we saw really nice clean buildings and they were all beautiful with furniture and we didn't. We saw wires and dust and walls not up and a lot of things. Um, but the good news is we were reassured by the question, are you sure this is going to be done? I think that question was asked at least a hundred times and Alex Slocum said, yes. And so there's a lot of weight on his shoulders as we go into this construction slam, but um, the tours went well. I think it was good for our community to see what's happening inside of our busy schools as well as what's happening in our community with the roads. Um, also I know board members got uh, the frisbee, um, but everybody who attended got frisbees and these are being passed out at all of our parades. And so on the back is our logo where you can scan and get all of the information as we move ahead with our next five years and as I break my microphone here. Um, this week has been busy. Uh, leaders in back if they look a little tired, we have all been engaged in a number of different sessions. Uh, today and yesterday we had our school improvement planning. We had Dr. Anthony Muhammad in talking about PLC's and anybody who's been in education, you've heard the word PLC's for at least 30 years. And we want to get it right. We want to make sure that we are focused on student data and then that also our teachers have support from our leaders. So, two days of school improvement planning. Last week we had a safety day that um included reviewing data, going through our cardiac response plan, taking a look at the scenario that happened at Cottage Grove Elementary School when the individual brought the knife onto school property and really using that as a um a case study for other principals in what went well and what we could improve on. Um on Monday uh the 24th, we welcome new staff. That's our first year staff. I believe we have around 85 to 90 brand new staff. Um and then we will also welcome your two and your three staff on Monday. Uh bus drivers come back on Monday uh for a session and then they will out be out doing their practice runs on I believe it's either Wednesday or Thursday or Thursday or Friday. So, if you see buses out there and know that we don't have teachers in the school, it's okay. The bus drivers are just making sure they can make the routes work. >> [clears throat] >> And I think again, it's going to be ever so challenging because of road construction and we know we have those big buses moving through some really really tight spaces. August 30th is Woodbury Days and again, we'll be passing out the frisbees at the parades. Um Monday the 31st, we welcome back all of our staff um and those are our licensed staff back in many times our paraprofessionals and other staff are also invited to that welcome back. And then we also are hosting our nutrition services staff on that Monday. And finally, September 2nd is our all staff welcome back. Of course course board members, our executive cabinet, student speakers are all lined up for September 2nd. We will have the band playing. We will have our mascots and it will be just a great day to welcome everyone to a new school year. So, excited to get things underway and excited to get kids into the schools. >> Thank you. Okay, 9.0 is future meeting date, September 10th, 2026 is a school board workshop meeting here at the district service center at 6:00 p.m. September 24th, 2026 is a school board business meeting also here at the district service center at 6:00 p.m. With that, we will move into 10.0 and that is a closed session. Minnesota statute section 13D.05 subdivision 3C allows for school board to close a meeting to develop or consider offers or counteroffers for the purchase or sale of real or personal property. While in closed session, the board will be considering an offer for the district to purchase a leasehold interest of a portion of the property located at 4204200 Pioneer Drive, Woodbury, Minnesota 55129. Parcel ID number, oh boy, 2802821130002. There will be no action taken following the closed session. Can I get a motion to move to close session? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Sharon, second by Elizabeth. Any comments? All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes. >> Hey.