Good evening. It is Thursday, February 5th at 6 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 Midawakington Dakota people. Middleakington means dwellers of the spirit lake. First item on our agenda is roll call. Dana >> Elizabeth Bachmanber >> here. >> Luis Hines >> here. >> Ryan Clark is absent. Melinda Dos >> here. >> Sammy Pnik >> here. >> Sharon Vanlier >> here. >> TA Alvaringa >> here. >> Andrew Chestine >> here. >> Matilda Samuel >> here. Katie Schwarz >> 2.0 pledge of allegiance. Please stand. 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. >> 3.0 is approval of our agenda. Can I get a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Sharon, seconded by police. Okay. Uh, any comments or questions? All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Motion carries. 4.0 is student board representative reports and that will be introduced by superintendent Julie Nelson. >> Good evening and thank you. Um, I'm excited to have our student board reps back. Uh, we know that they come every workshop meeting and so prior to the meeting, I always had the opportunity to connect with them virtually. I will say that they might be three of the busiest students that I know. I think finding 10 to 15 minutes to connect with their superintendent sometimes can be really pushing them. Um, but they did a great job of uh finding me and me finding them this week. So, uh, this evening we're going to start out with TA and then we'll move to Andrew and then close out with Matilda. So, thank you students for being here. >> Um, hi everyone. I have two things to share today. The first is that Park had its snow week last week um, which is the week of festivities leading up to our winter formal and that is led by student council. So, it's all student oriented and student um student organized. So, we have meetings prior to the dance where we organize and we plan and we make decisions. We have conversations, we do votings. Um and student council is grades 9 through 12. So, there's opportunity for all students to get involved. So, it's a really fun experience for us. And the second thing is our induction ceremony for National Honor Society is tonight. So, all the new students that got inducted into NHS are getting um recognized at the ceremony. there will be around 80 students. So, it's a really big um accomplishment for them and it's a chance to um celebrate all of their academic accomplishments. Um so, yeah, those are my two things. I would just really quickly like to share that I'm really excited to hear about our American Indian education plan tonight because I am Midwalk Dakota and I'm enrolled in Prairie Island Indian Community. So, yeah. Um yeah, that's it. >> Good evening everyone. Um Um, I would just like to talk about two main things that are happening at Eastridge currently. Um, we are practicing a new cell phone um or a new cell phone practice where you cannot have your phone in the bathrooms nor in the locker rooms and you have to for you have to leave them in class whenever you were to leave your class during a school hour or a class time. um outside of school obviously and um like between periods it's totally fine to have your phones but between then you cannot have your phones out at least in sight of the teacher. >> Um and then the sec and then the last thing is is uh bands and sports. Our band has their winter concert on or excuse me next Tuesday and as you guys know um sports is in the midst of basketball um and of hockey and swimming and it's just very in in a way it's very influential on younger students and the youth and I think it's very important that we have people go to these games go to these concerts to see if they want to join these certain things again just very influential for certain people to go to these things and understand what it is to be a member of certain things and just to have fun with things and yeah I'm excited to hear about the um sorry the um Indian education plan I have two things to talk about today so the first thing would be that our one act play for Woodbury went to state today. I'm not sure if they won or lost, but hopefully they won. And the one act play is a green river. So very proud of them for that. And my second item is that we've been having a lot of affinity groups at my school having know your rights meetings. And we have like little cards that are being given out to students just to know your rights for like law enforcement with these times and everything. And on top of that, we're having a food drive going on to help people in need all organized by affinity groups joining together at my school. Thank you. And maybe as we wrap up, Andrew, I want you to know that one of your teachers in the audience was giving the thumbs up. You got it right. Cell phones away. Um, and I also just wanted to share too, um, if you recall last time Tea talked about this was the first opportunity I think that Park High School had to compete in DECA and I think she spoke on Thursday, uh, here uh, the last meeting and then, um, presented and, uh, was part of DECA on Friday. And do you want to just share quickly um how you did because shortly after that I saw a picture show up and I thought >> um well five of our 27 um members of DECA are going to state. So I'm going to state in two events. I'm going to state in franchise business plan and principles of hospitality opportunity to have uh student board reps here and it's just so much bigger than even hearing about what's happening at their schools and that's wonderful. but also the opportunity to speak in front of all of us. I know that as a youngster, I didn't stand up in front of people until I was well over 20. And so, thank you for sharing your voice and thank you for sharing what you're experiencing at your schools. >> Thank you. Okay, we will move on to 5.0 and that is our workshop items. We do have three this evening. The first one is 5.1 and that is the American Indian Education Plan and that will be introduced by Kelly Jansen, assistant superintendent. >> All right. Good evening. Uh, I'm honored to introduce our annual update of American Indian Education programming in Sawashko, including informing the school board of the concurrent vote by our Native American parent advisory committee. Tonight's report is a glimpse into the district's ongoing commitment to our indigenous students and families, ensuring their history, culture, and academic success are truly woven in the fabric of everything we do in Swashko. A vital component of this process and requirement of statute, like I mentioned, is the active partnership with our Native American parent advisory. You'll hear them referred to as NAPAC. Um, and they serve as an essential voice for our families, providing guidance and oversight to ensure our programming truly serves the needs of the community. And usually our NAPAC chair, Bob Tweety, is here. You've probably all remember Bob. Um, how many years has he been the chair? My goodness. Long time. >> Yeah, long time before me, too. uh but he is not able to join us tonight but I know um our team our director of diversity equity inclusion James McGee and our indigenous education community coordinator Stephanie Shorty will do a wonderful job so I will turn it over to them to get details thanks Kelly evening everybody um so first just a couple programming notes uh our uh Native American parent advisory committee selected to use the term indigenous uh for whenever we're referring to students families or programming in our district however in this report you're going to see the term American Indian used that is the state statutory language. Uh so whenever we're talking about something that's specific to legislation, we're going to use the term American Indian. Uh and anytime you see the term American Indian parent advisory committee or APAC, uh that's called NAPAC in our district. So just uh the housekeeping things uh we uh because we are a school district that has more than 20 students uh that identify as American Indian uh we're eligible to participate in the American Indian education aid program. Um you some of you may remember that uh the aid package that came in the new legislation starting in 2023 uh resulted in a dramatic increase in funding for uh American Indian education. Uh and so our state aid for the 2526 school year is right around $222,000. Um and this is while it's provided through the legislation, this is a supplement to what is already coming through the district uh through our general fund and other uh programs for American Indian students. So, just a couple more statutory things. Program requirements. Uh, we have to have a a minimum of 20 indigenous students uh by October 1st. Um, that's uh when the reporting deadline goes into the state. Um, and we also have to have uh by statute an American Indian parent advisory committee. Uh, ours meets uh roughly monthly and we've seen the uh participation on that committee grow over the last couple years, especially under Stephanie's leadership. Currently, Swashko has over 400 uh students enrolled um that selfidentify as indigenous or American Indian. It's about 2% of our student population. And as Kelly said, uh Bob Tweety uh is and has been the chair for uh Swashwood's Napac for a number of years now. Um meet monthly, sometimes it's virtually, sometimes it's in person. Um, and we're happy to uh report out that at our re our most recent meeting that the committee did vote that uh we are concurrent uh or to say the district is meeting the intention uh for progress for all of the goals that are stated in our plan. Uh and don't ask any further action from the board. Uh but this is a report then for you all to exactly what we're doing with this plan and how these funds are being used. So with that, I'd like to turn it over to Stephanie, who is uh our American Indian or I'm sorry, indigenous community uh coordinator. I'm blanking. Where is to speak more about the actual focus areas, strategies, and progress toward our goals down, but you want me to do it? >> Okay. So I greet you tonight as my relatives because um it is our belief as Anishnab people and even as Dakota people. Um oh you might have to correct me on this. Makake oasen. How'd I do? Oh yeah still working on my Dakota. Um, but we always greet each other as relatives because no matter who we are, where we are, we were all placed on this earth together. And so we treat each other as relatives when we greet one another. I'm from the Leech Lake uh reservation and I'm also from the Luon clan. So just I was taught to always make sure I introduce myself in my native language when I first greet people because it's just a sign of respect that we we like to hold. So we've got six different focus areas that comes right out of the American Indian legislation. So we vote on five out of these six. So the first one is support post-secondary preparation for American Indian students. The second is and I'm going to go into detail with these two so don't worry. Support the academic achievement of American Indian students. Number three, make curriculum relevant to the needs, interests, and cultural heritage of American Indian students. Number four, provide positive reinforcement of the self-image of American Indian students. Number five, develop intercultural awareness among students, families, and staff. And then number six, which one we don't vote on, supplement, not supplant, state and federal education and co-curricular programs. So, as you can see, we voted on Tuesday night and going through all the data, going through all of the um activities we've done thus far this year, our NAPAC group uh voted concurrent on each one of these pieces. So, to let Oh, I'm like I'm assuming I'm clicking it here. So the focus area on post-secary preparation, this was what our goal was as a district to create opportunities for high school students to attend multiple college visits and or college fairs. We will continue to host and increase participation in the ACT test prep course for indigenous juniors. In the winter, we will host an evening event to assist with filling out the uh free application for federal student aid or FASA and scholarship paperwork as well. I don't know why I keep doing on my computer. So, the way that we do these is uh the first one we invited our indigenous student leaders to attend ACES this fall. It it's uh ACES is the advancing indigenous people in STEM uh conference and it just happened to be in Minneapolis this year. So we were able to get seven uh juniors and seniors and a parent to come to the conference and they c they call it the largest college and career fair in Indian country which I thought was kind of cute but it really was it was an entire ballroom at the convention center. So we were we were pretty tired after that day. We have our ACT test prep course uh starting in about two weeks here. Last year we had five students participate. This year we have 10. So we are moving up with our numbers which is awesome. And then also we want to host an evening uh still in the planning stages for our FASA night um in order to help share some of the scholarship resources we have posted on our indigenous education website for students and as well as the Native American Indian College Fair moved from an in-person fair this year to an online and that's been posted and shared with students as well on the indigenous education quiet for a Focus area two is the academic achievement of American Indian students. So our district goal is to graduate all 25 enrolled indigenous seniors within four years. So this oh I only did one year because it's I just now realized that 25 is our current seniors. Um additionally we will see an increase in reading proficiency at all school levels. So, elementary, middle, and high school, as well as an increase in the number of indigenous students participating in literacy support. Indigenous education staff will expand the middle school enrichment groups to all four Sawashko middle schools and all three comprehensive high schools. So, the image, oh, if you could go back. The image you see here, these are some of our seniors at our senior honoring ceremony that we hold in the spring. As part of graduation ceremony, students are gifted with a star quilt and that we use as a part of our symbolism to show that they are not alone even though they are graduating and moving on from our system. But that blanket shows that the community is still with them protecting them and and help carrying on with them. So focus area two is still the academic achievement. So, some of the um strategies we have is the one-on-one guidance and tutoring from the cultural liaison. I've been able to meet with some students as well uh between meetings, indigenous education staff supporting students through the IEP 504 talent development and advanced academics or tada or grade acceleration process. Those have been really um wonderful experiences too. just be able to to see the parents and the kids and be with them in that supporting role. It's been really nice. Increase the 101 literacy tutoring for K through5 students from five students to 10. This year we have 10 students signed up. So this is where the students get to read indigenous authored books and they have one-on-one virtual time with a licensed teacher from Sowashkco to help them with their reading. the middle and high school literacy supports through enrichment activities during the school day from one school to all middle seven middle schools in the high schools for uh 2526 school year our current graduation rates um are incredible in soko for the state we have about 62.8% 8% for American Indian students graduation but in soko we have 86.1%. And honestly those with those numbers it's about three students that make up for that that last percentage and two of them went on to continuing their education and one went on to get their GED. So, in case you're wondering, and we also have um our indigenous students are showing up in So, a lot more than throughout the state, which is also incredible. The state is about 51.8% indigenous students with consistent attendance, but in soko, we have 68.3% of our students having that consistent attendance rate, which is really great. Focus area three is curriculum. So our district goal is so co schools will collaborate to embed American Indian cultural heritage learning into existing standards lessons and learning outcomes in part by partnership on the district standards and instructional review cycle or the circ as well as our scope and sequence planning teams or SSP. Additional additionally cultural trunks and corresponding lessons will be utilized by schools the indigenous education community coordinator me and or the indigenous cultural liaison. So some of our strategies include providing books by indigenous authors to all indigenous students. Um consistent membership on the circ and SSP teams by the indigenous education coordinator community coordinator. cultural trunk coordination, professional development for teachers andor presentations. Those have been working out wonderful this year. I've been able to work with several different teachers to empower them to teach to the from the cultural trunks themselves with the different provided lessons that I was able to give to them. And so it's it's really starting to take off, which is wonderful. And then we've got expanded learning components during each indigenous family night events by the indigenous ed community coordinator andor outside indigenous consultants. So we've had a storytelling this year. We've had indigenous game night and um we have some different language incorporated events that happen as well. So OJ boy so far I'll get to focus area four is positive reinforcement. So our district goal is the indigenous education program will create opportunities for all indigenous students to participate in specific programs celebrations and or cultural learning opportunities inside or outside the typical school day. Indigenous education program represent representatives will also offer to attend IEP counseling affinity and mentoring opportunities for any indigenous student who desires this type of support. The indigenous education program will host and honor all indigenous graduating seniors at a ceremony toward the end of the school year. So, our strategies include providing a meeting with indigenous education students at least once a trimester at their school to provide programming information, cultural teachings, craft, and or community building activities. provide at least two evening events to teach students and families the different dance styles and to provide the opportunities to learn how to drum and sing singing in preparation for soko's first pow which might not happen this spring but eventually we'll get there create a clear process for students family and our staff to request support for indigenous students during these meetings or other types of support and of course increase awareness for the senior honoring cere ceremony through newsletters, groups, one-on-one meetings to increase the students being honored because they each deserve to have had that honoring. Focus area five, develop intercultural awareness, increase communication with students and families to boost support from indigenous education staff. We will do this by sending out newsletters to families, events happening in the district directly impacting our indigenous families, and creating an indigenous education website listing resources, dates for NAPAC meetings, family engagement nights, and college scholarship information. Can I go back one? I just have to brag up this this picture. These are some of our middle school indigenous students. We brought um students from all four of the middle schools together to Oakatman for a special storytelling event um just a couple weeks ago and I talked to one of my parents and she said that her two daughters came to the event and the thing they were most excited about was just to see who the other native students were in the school district and if they look like them. And so that that just made me feel really proud like yes this is exactly what I want to do is to bring these kids together. So some of our strategies include creating a website exclusively so for Sawashko indigenous education programming. Before we were listed with part of DEI but then I had some families having a difficult time finding the website. So we created one separately for just indigenous educ education. We have a clear process for students, family and or staff to request support for indigenous students during meetings or other types of support. We'll post it to the website for easy access. Increase our monthly newsletters sent via email and posted to the website. meaningful professional development and teaching resources for indigenous people's day programming with district-wide expectations for implementation and use. We've got some asynchronous learning resources for staff and community posted on our school's district website. We have intentional identification and communication efforts to expand our so's indigenous parent and family advisory committee. The final section we did not vote on, but it's the supplement state and federal education programs. The responsibility for equitable, culturally responsive, and historically accurate expectations belong to all Swashko staff. Our indigenous education program serves as a lead for these initiatives, setting the direction, lending guidance and expertise and consistent advocacy. However, these initiatives must happen even if the department did not exist. Our indigenous education department is able to support all district departments in this responsibility through the funding and support from the state, enhancing and expanding the opportunities for staff, family, and most important our students to be able to connect with these heritages and how they impact our current culture. meet you. >> Thank you so much. Does anybody have any questions? >> Yeah, I do. Okay. First off, I just want to thank you for this report. It was very educational and it's impressive how high our graduation rate is with our indigenous students and that we've doubled the ACT prep students that are involved. So, that's great. I'm wondering do we have particular schools that have higher amount of indigenous students? >> I would say for high school the majority of our students are at park but overall um all 400 are really evenly spread throughout the school district. I would say at least half if not more are elementary age. >> Uh did you have more Melinda? >> Okay. Um so thank you Stephanie for this. Um I did have a question for you sort of a logistical question. So you had mentioned that there's the that NAPAC votes on so are these six initiatives uh mandates from the state and then NAPAC chooses what to prioritize for our district or how does that work? What is what is the voting I guess signify? So they vote on all all five of those focus areas which are provided from the state. We're the ones that choose or APAC helps us choose how we achieve those goals. >> Okay. >> And so the strategies is kind of what they're voting on. >> Okay. So when the the strategy is um supporting postsecary prep, I mean so NAPAC is the one that's decided we want students to have access to ACT prep classes or we want students to go to college fairs. Okay. Okay. Um, and so for these, um, so the ACT prep, it's current juniors. There's 10 current juniors taking this. >> Oh, because they take the ACT in April, right? >> Yeah. >> Oh, okay. >> Big brain. Thank you. >> Are there any other questions? >> Yep. I had one. Um, I was just curious when you mentioned the cultural trunks, could you tell us just a little bit more about that? It sounded really interesting. Yeah, we were lucky enough to get a grant several years ago uh to get a cultural trunk, indigenous ed cultural trunk. Inside of there, we have we actually have two separate ones. One that is filled with different animal furs so that students can actually feel the difference between a buffalo robe, a deer robe, an otter, a rabbit. So, they can feel the textures. They can just kind of they can start to notice those differences of the animals and kind of think about, well, where do they live? What sort of home do they live in? like are they watered, that sort of thing. And in the other trunk, we have a lot of artifacts. So, we've got different moccasins, we've got different medicine bags, the leather pouch, both beaded and quilled. And we've got my my favorite is probably the buffalo ribbone uh sleds because they're quite large and it's I've never seen them before um being OJ boy. And but then there's also several different games. So, deer toe um pin game. There's also a snake game in there. And so, a couple of other different traditional games. >> Any other questions? >> Okay, thank you. >> Okay, we will move on to 5.2 and that is achievement and integration plan and that will be introduced by Kelly Jansen, assistant superintendent. All right, James is back. He's getting uh two two bangs for his buck tonight. Uh James is here to give our annual report regarding the district's commitment to equity, student achievement, and integration through our achievement and integration plan. Tonight's report will cover two critical areas. First, a brief update on the current plan, the goal set forth in the 2326 achievement and integration plan. And also now James is in the midst of our end of planning for our next three-year achievement and integration plan uh which will go through 2029. And so he will give you a preview of that plan tonight and then we will be back at the second meeting in February for you to take action on that plan. So, um, so to lead us through the details, I will let James take it over. >> Good evening. Again, achievement integration, uh, let's get through some of our statutory housekeeping. Again, uh, achievement integration is a state program uh that districts can either opt into or some districts are required to be part of based on uh, some of their racial demographic uh, data. Uh, the purpose of uh, achievement in integration or we'll call it ANI for short tonight. Uh there's a couple things to pursue racial and economic integration to increase student achievement to create equitable educational opportunities and to reduce academic disparities based on students diverse racial ethnic and economic backgrounds. Swashko is actually um required to participate in achievement and integration been identified as a racially isolated school district. In short, what that means is at least one of the districts that we share a boundary or a border with, uh we have uh 20% more students of color uh than at least one of our surrounding district uh or neighbors. And so uh it can sound like a scary thing potentially to say that we're a racial racially isolated district uh when in fact this is actually a testament to our growing diversity and uh and the the inclusiveness of our district. Uh so you're going to hear us talk in the previous plan and in this plan about supplanting and supplementing. Um in Swashko the DEI department diversity equity and inclusion we oversee the ANI plan and the responsibilities for it. Uh however we're working with multiple departments that crosses over from instructional and operational to make sure that the goals that we have in this plan uh are being supported uh across the district. Um so this is then the annual report for 2425. Um we have three goals. Um and it's in some of the supplemental information that we can provide. Uh but based on the goals and the key indicators that we have for each of these goals, uh all three goals are on track to be met by the end of uh 2026. That's this year. And so you'll get a readout of the results from this year at next year's annual meeting. So that brings us to then 2026 to 202. Uh we're entering then a new phase for ANI. Um but we're going to continue down a similar path. Uh in previous plans um districts including Swashko have done smart goals. uh in the 2023 to 26 plan, we worked with the state uh because we thought it would be more meaningful and um we would have be more nimble with our strategies if we had overarching goals with multiple key indicators of progress within each of those goals. Uh that allows us to then adjust so we're not depending on one goal uh and one strategy, but we have multiple strategies or multiple key indicators within each goal area. Now our goal areas uh for ANI have to have revolve around some general themes uh by the state that's uh reducing uh disparities in academic achievement uh increasing the diversity of our workforce uh and engaging the community. And so our three goals for this plan uh are that everyu student has the opportunity to and support to succeed that every school environment benefits from responsive educators and every family feels a deep sense of belonging. One of the supplemental documents that uh you all should have in front of you now is the onepage overview where we have just a readout of the goals and the key indicators of progress that are on the back. So let's talk first about goal one. Uh the objective here to improve academic and behavioral outcomes for all students while eliminating achievement disparities based on race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status. So the strategies that we have for this goal, we've got three priority uh strategies here. Number one is our academic success coaches. These are highly trained teachers that are uh stationed at our schools with the highest rate of students who uh qualify for free and reduced lunch. Um these teachers then have the opportunity to support tiers one, two, and or three uh based on the needs of the school. When we talk tears and interventions, that's both academic and or social or academic and social behaviors. And so these uh teachers have the opportunity to be bridges for students and their families from students to the school. Uh they're also trainers for other teachers at the school. So when we're talking about culturally responsive teaching, they are people that can do teacher coaching as well. Our second strategy for closing gaps uh is advancement via individual determination or AVID. AVID is a system that we've had in Swashko for a number of years and we continue to see incredible success uh especially when we look at uh achievement gaps or opportunity gaps or success gaps by race and ethnicity and um social economic status. Uh AVID outpaces the rest of the district in terms of GPA for students uh by racial designation. Uh AVID right now is districtwide. We have representation in all of our schools. uh at the elementary it's in the form of avid leads and then strategies for uh specifically in three through five to help students with their organization uh and strategies for notetaking and homework. In middle school, uh we actually start our AVID elective class in seventh grade. I'm the parent of a sixth grader in the district and he just did his interview to be uh an AVID student for next year. So fingers crossed for him uh because I truly really believe in this program uh and what it can do for all students. Uh so seventh and eighth graders have the opportunity to be part of the elective. Uh and then in our high schools is where you'll probably see the heaviest AVID presence both in our AVID elective class and in the strategies that are being utilized uh throughout the school. So even students who are not in the AVID elective class are benefiting from the training and the strategies that are being used by all the teachers. The final strategy for goal one that we're going to talk about tonight are cultural leaison. uh cultural liaison have uh while they're not specifically trained to be academic tutors, they are academic bridges and social bridges for our students. Um some of them work uh in our high schools, others work in our middle schools, and they find themselves all over the district supporting students. Um right now we've got uh sit when situations pop up that would require uh a specific cultural insight, uh we have liaison who then are able to go and support our schools and families. Um and so we use liaison in a lot of different ways. Uh and in the future we're going to see them working closely with our or more closely with our avid teachers, our avid tutors. Um and the work that they're doing both in school and for out of school events and programming has been invaluable. So goal number two, we deviate from the state's language a little bit and I want to tell you why. So um goal two primarily focuses on uh diversifying the teaching force in a school district. We believe that we would benefit from having a district that attracts a wide range of people to come and work and that is diversity by race, ethnicity, language, background, all sorts of uh of backgrounds. We want to be as inclusive as possible. But when we're talking specifically then about what's in this plan and what we're measuring, we are looking at the retention rate for our teachers of color specifically. But we also know that in order for this district to be a welcoming place for any teacher, it requires every staff member to take that responsibility on. So this goal is in two parts where we both uh have strategies for increasing the number of teachers of color that we have in our district but also making sure that every student has access to adults not just teachers but all staff that are culturally responsive trained that we have teachers, bus drivers, pair professionals that recognize and understand how to see students uh culture uh not just tolerate it, not just accept it, but see it as a strength and then use that to have successful communications and interactions with each So, we do training across the board for all of our employee groups uh that's based and rooted in culturally responsive practices. It may not always be called culturally responsive. It comes out in a number of different ways. Social emotional learning or responsiveness, customer service, but at its heart, it's all about making sure that we see our students and that we're valuing their culture, who they are, and making sure that they feel included uh in all the spaces that they're in. And finally, the the the last strategy. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't talk about grow your own. We are starting something new here. Um, we've done some research and it is hard to find a district across the country that has like a really really strong grow your own pathway because there's so many different entities that would have to be involved from uh universities, uh, schools, districts, and a number of other entities. And so, uh, to simplify things, we're playing the long game with this strategy. Uh we're starting uh right now we have a number of studentto student mentorship programs that are running uh where students at our high school will go to some of our elementary schools uh with guidance from our culture leaison our avid teachers uh and they're mentoring younger students. We're going to leverage what we already have in place to turn this into an opportunity for students to get exposure to what it would be like to be an an educator. Um, right now this does not have a scholarship linked to it, but there's a number of grants that we're looking into and applying for that would help supplement that. So, if we have students that are expressing a desire to go into education, hopefully we can have some financial pathways for them uh for this uh goal and strategy specifically, we want to make sure that we're just exposing them and giving them access to the opportunity to see what it's like to be in an elementary school because if you've never been in an elementary school, it may not be what you're thinking. It's um fantastic. That sounded tongue and cheek. It's not. I was I love elementary schools. It's the best. Uh the final strategy that we have for goal number two is our uh retention and mentorship for staff of color. Uh we're very specific when we say staff and not teachers because we believe that all of our staff are educators. Um and so we want to battle the isolation that a number of our staff of color can often feel. uh because in our district we are still something like 90% white. That's not bad. We're not saying that if you're a white educator you are bad. That is not what this means at all. But as we're looking at the makeup of our district, we want our staff makeup to increasingly reflect the student population. Uh and one of the ways that we're going to do that is making sure that the people are here feel like they belong, they feel like they matter, and that they feel like they've got places they can go when they're experiencing cultural issues that are specific to them. I want to be really clear with this as well. This is specifically talking about how we mentor and retain staff of color. We have offshoots of this that also represent uh other cultural groups. Uh our LGBTQIA uh employees. Um we know that there are people that uh experience health issues. Uh we know that gender can be a issue for people in the workplace. This extends across the board. But what we report on specifically for achievement and integration is specifically about race and ethnicity. But our efforts are in an attempt to make meet the needs of all of our employees. And finally, goal number three. This is uh one of the areas that we have the biggest opportunity for growth and that is our community engagement. Um when we talk about integration, part of that is making sure that people from different neighborhoods get to be around each other. Not just neighborhoods within our district, but our surrounding districts as well. So we've got close partnerships with Stillwater, Hastings, Ingrove Heights, South St. Paul, uh, West St. Paul, St. Paul, uh, Rosemont, Apple Valley, Egan. We're working closely with each other on some of the strategies that we're going to have in this. So, uh, if you've been to any of our events, you know that they are a blast and it is one of the highlights of my year every single year when we get to have a multicultural event where people come and get to be in community with one another. There's food. Feeding people is a fantastic way to bring a community together. And uh we're planning on having another multicultural event this spring in addition to other large-scale district-wide events. A change that you're going to see in the plan this year though uh or in the next three years is also allocating funds to each school so they can lead uh or uh we can support their own cultural programming. That may be things that happen in school. So we have a number of elementary schools for instance that bring in authors uh indigenous authors among American authors uh sometimes during heritage month sometimes whenever it feels like the right time to get a representation in front of our students because there's never a bad time to have representation. Uh and so uh all of our schools will have increased access to funding where they won't have to jump through too many hoops. Me uh they've got this opportunity to drive some of the programming at their schools. um our community advisory group. So you heard from Stephanie and that plan for American Indian education is heavily influenced by our Native American parent advisory group. Uh if you had a chance over the past couple years to attend our M new year event this year, that event was almost completely planned by our M family advisory committee. So right now we've got two uh family affinity community groups that are really organized uh and and putting together programming for our entire district. We want to see that increase because we know that there are more communities in Swashko that need and want and deserve representation. Uh and so one of our efforts is going to be to identify who those families are. Uh we're not going to make the call on this because if we break it down by race, race is one of those things that breaks down really fast because all black people do not have the same needs. All Asian people do not have the same needs. We want to be as specific as we can to community needs. And so one of our goals will be to increase the number of advisory groups that we have uh increase their empower uh the power that they have to make decisions uh and hopefully empower them to do more for the community. Then finally when we talk about integration these are the event uh the programming that we're going to have in collaboration with other districts. Um what we're proposing for the next three years will be for elementary students looking at scholarship opportunities for summer programming. Some of this in the past has come through community education. Uh, Camp Invention is something where we've been able to offer scholarships to elementary students, specifically from our schools that have the highest rate of free and reduced lunch eligibility. We're looking at a new program for middle schoolers called the Business Innovation Academy, which is a multi-dist um uh week-long camp uh that is held by the U of M, where students get to go and meet with professors and current business school students uh to put together projects uh and ending with a capstone. uh it all the communication that we've done with surrounding districts that are already doing this like uh Rosemont Apple Valley and they rave about this and so we really want to get in with that and have our students be collaborative with students from other districts as well. Then finally um for our high school students we're going to continue our AVID summer offerings. Um, an important thing to know about AVID students, when they uh are selected to be an AVID student and they take an AVID elective class, that leaves less room for electives and other classes that they may need to graduate like fine arts credits or a FIAD. And so we offer those at no cost to AVID students in the summer. So they've got an option to continue being an AVID student, be in the AVID elective class, and then meet those other um requirements during the summer. So we do those with Roseville. We're offering Avid FID in the summer uh in collaboration with Roseville and we're offering Avid Fine Arts in a collaboration with the Stillwater School District. So as I said before, uh we're not doing these in smart goal style. We've got three overarching goals. Each of those goals has about three to five strategies and each of those strategies has one to three key indicators of progress. One of the cool things about achievement and integration is we as a board, as a district, as a community, this is brought to our DEI advisory committee. We have the opportunity to call what success is for us. This does not have to be based on MCA or um graduation rates or ACT. We have a a number of other measures that look closely at those things. So, we get to drive a little deeper at some of these actionable strategies that we have like community engagement uh or how we're utilizing academic success coaches or liaison uh to bridge academic or social behavior um gaps that may exist. Um and so, uh what you'll see when we finally submit the full plan for the vote with you all on February 19th and then what gets submitted to the state is a full readout of all the key indicators of progress. what's a one, what's a two, what's a three, what's a four, what is the target, what's the baseline? That will all be laid out in the plan. Uh, but tonight we wanted to give you a preview of what these goals are, what the strategies are, and what the key indicators are. It's also important to point out that this is a supplement and this must by statute uh not be a double lift. So, we're always looking at reducing redundancies and increasing our efficiency. Um we it's really important to us that we're being sorry I'm looking at you that we're fiscally responsible with what we're doing. Um and so we're consistently achievement integration is one of those budgets that it's a moving target a little bit. We get what five different numbers during the course of the year. So we we really have to be on it and Chris has done a fantastic job of working with us to make sure that all the things that we have written into the plan are sustainable and are not really at risk of going away say for something catastrophic uh with our budget or with legislation. But right now we are very confident that the strategies that we have written into the plan we can fund for the next three years. I keep looking at you like right. All right. So the next steps for this um any final edits? Um I'm not too proud to say that there's no typos in this. There might be some typos in this. We want to make sure that this is clean, readable, and then easily communicated to our entire community because we want everybody to have access easily to what this plan is. This plan is for everybody. By definition, this plan is for everybody. It is not only for specific students, though, we intend that if we're doing these strategies, well, it will increase the achievement for all of our students. Uh I'll be back here on February 19th uh for the final vote, and if there's any changes that are made to the plan between now and then, uh we'll communicate those then. Uh but we want to give you all an opportunity to see this uh before we get into the vote. So if you have any questions um about the intent, the way we're measuring or any other components of this, we'd be happy to address that. Uh and then this gets all this along with the budget corresponding budget is submitted to the state on March 15th by this year. And then we start July 1st technically, but March 5if March 16th is when we'll really start in earnest of implementing these strategies for next year. All right, you can tell I love talking about this. So, if you have questions, uh, I'm ready. >> Thank you. Does anybody have any questions? >> Yeah, I have one. Um, I heard you say that you're the funds are well, first of all, the funds are given to us by who? The state. >> Yes, state. These are state funds. >> One for me. Okay. So, um I heard you say you're going to uh uh change how you're using the funds that the schools will get the funds themselves. >> Yeah. So, right now we've got a bit of an application process. So we have uh in our current budget set aside dollar amount uh for cultural learning and celebration events. Right now sites typically through a cultural leaison or academic su success coaches submit like a an internal grant request to us and then if we can fund it and if it meets the the the letter of the law then we can approve that. We want to empower sites more to be able to drive some of that funding because since we've had this grant process over the last two years, almost every one of our sites has taken advantage of it and had some form of either celebration or cultural learning that they've implemented at their sites. So, we want to let them loose to do what they're already doing well. >> So, that way you can monitor and ensure that the funding is not disproportionately um given out but it it goes across the boards and then funding different initiatives. Okay. Good. Okay. Does anyone else have any questions? >> Uh, I do. Okay. >> Hi, James. Um, so you had mentioned that uh typically we do smart goals, right? And I'm a I'm a big smart goal lover, right? Um, with that you worked you had to work with the state to kind of change how we did our goals. Can you describe the process of what that's like working with the state or how you convinced the state that we needed to take a different approach? Uh it was less about convincing and more about just uh explaining our rationale. Smart goal um can be a really straightforward way of talking about what it is that we want to do. Because of the size of our district and because of the diversity of initiatives that we have, we thought it would be better for us as a district to monitor consistently um to do it by key indicator. Um so then if we are finding that there is one strategy or one key indicator that is off base, we don't have to throw out the whole plan or the entire smart goal. we can pivot if we need to and that's something that the state has said that we can do. Um so for me it's kind of like standardsbased grading where we've got multiple standards. We're trying to meet all of these standards and by having multiple key indicators of progress it's a lot more work on our end for sure uh but is more meaningful because then we have better data to use to determine if our strategies are making the intended impact on students and families. >> Okay. So the idea would be then if you're so like Avid equity you're looking for zero gaps right between groups of students based on you know a variety of indicators or variety of status. So this so that's a that's an outcome we're looking for. But the um how we get there I guess is part of like that's where you will be doing various trying various initiatives and seeing kind of what sticks >> correct. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. And you know some of these broad key indicators um the this is a key indicator that's going to be across four high schools. Uh, and so we might need to work differently with each high school on what those strategies are going to be in order to meet the school's specific needs that would then contribute to the overall goal. >> Okay. Um, and so as you when you're thinking about changing those strategies or changing changing what you're doing, um, is there the the board doesn't have to do anything with that, right? that's something that you'd be able to >> if we had to make a modification to the plan that is submitted that would have to come back to the board. Uh we've tried to write it in a way that the management pieces of this that we can change if we need to. So not all of the management strategies are going to be in the plan. It's really the overarching and the goals and the key indicators. Um so if we had to change a key indicator that is something that we would have to uh bring back to the board. I don't anticipate that we're going to need to do that. I don't want to do that because I want to give some of these key indicators time to like see their life cycle through through three years. Uh and based on the work that we've done over the last three, six and nine years with these plans, we think that the key indicators that we have are um right where they need to be. Uh this was also we had uh our DEI advisory committee also was able to give feedback on this and they agreed with that. >> So, okay. So, that was actually going to be my last question because I know you presented it to them on Tuesday. >> Y. >> Yeah. Mhm. >> So um what was their feedback or what what did they how did they feel about this plan? >> They felt empowered truly. I mean it we don't mean to do things in secret but sometimes things move fast and it is hard to communicate uh at times and that's why we actually have community engagement written this plan. We do not want to create a plan that does not have our community's uh voice fully in it. And so their feedback was, I would say, spot on because Tuesday wasn't the first time this group had seen the plan. They've been contributing to what this plan was going to be for the last two years now. And so it really was just a representation of the work that they put in as a committee. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else have any questions? >> I do. >> Yes. So >> I have two questions. So first, for goal three where you had the summer integration program thing, um I really like that idea. I think it's great because I know that I did Avid Middle School and I chose I wasn't able to continue because of the spots I took up in the electives um section. So what sort of classes does it consist of for like the program? >> The summer of programming. >> Yeah. >> So the two that we offer to AVID students in Swashk right now will be summer fied um which will be online and asynchronous uh and with uh Roseville students and then summer fine arts and I think that one is a music uh music and arts class. I believe um the teacher that has taught that for the last couple years is fantastic and we do that with Stillwater students as well. Part of that is asynchronous, part of that is synchronous. So we've got some face tof face with students which is a really important component of achievement integration. We don't want everything to be online. Part of integration is making sure students have the opportunity to interact with each other and students from other districts. So uh fine arts and fiad. >> Okay, great. And the second thing is for goal two, you had the grow your own pipeline for the mentorship opportunities at like elementary schools. Is that only offered for AVID students or is that offered for any students? >> Great question. That will be for right now. Um it is there's not a group of students that can't be part of it. It's just limited based on the staffing right now. So we have two different mentorship groups. We have um AVID students as part of their elective the elective class. They do a service learning project where they're uh doing mentorship with students that are in kids club after school. We also have a mentorship program that is run by our cultural liaison at the alternative high school and Park High School where they'll go to surrounding elementary schools and work with students. Um sometimes we try to match students uh by race, ethnicity or cultural background. They get to uh them and their uh their families get to say if they want a mentor that matches their race, ethnic or cultural background. If we can do that, we will. Uh, and then there are students that are there because they're fantastic at working with younger students. Um, and so we we try to do it both ways, but right now the one that is run by the liaison, it's really based on who's got availability in their schedule. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> I just have one quick question. Speaking of the grow your own program, do students have an opportunity if they're interested in like um shadowing and going out to the middle schools >> also or is it just elementaryaries? Um, right now it's just elementary. Part of that was based on our best guess at what would be the best exposure for high school students. The age gap might present some challenges, but we don't fully know yet. So, that's one of those things where right now we're planning on having high school students work with elementary students. Uh, however, we'll be open to if we see a need in middle school, both for middle schoolers to either be mentors or to be mentees. uh we want to be able to uh change on that as well, which is why we didn't write that specifically into the plan. We just know that we're going to have the mentorship and now we've got some flexibility to adjust as needed. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thanks everybody. >> Okay, we will move on to 5.3 and that is our transportation update and that will be introduced by Julie Nielsson, superintendent. >> Thank you. I can see the excitement, Carrie. Uh this evening, the board and community will be hearing an update on transportation from our director, Carrie Olsen. Uh we have awardwinning mechanics, if you remember our perfect scores when it comes to the safety of our buses, exceptional drivers, and leadership and support staff that work tirelessly to safely transport our students. In South Washington County schools, 14,000 students start and end their days on our buses. Uh this evening, you will hear from Carrie about recruitment efforts, the opt-in process, challenges, and considerations as we move into the future. And so this evening we welcome Carrie Olsen, director of transportation. Thank you very much. Good evening everybody. It's nice to be here. Just want to give you a little bit of recap of the last uh first half of the school year where we're at and then what we kind of anticipate um the beginning of next year and actually into 2627 looks like for us. As you can see, we transport about 12,000 riders twice a day. There's about 18,000 students in our school district. We have 24 school programs and locations. Um that's within the district, not outside the district. um another non-public and charter which is MSA about another thousand students a day that we transport twice a day there as well. There's five school locations districtwide. And then for transportation this school year we've got 88 morning routes, 94 afternoon routes and then special education routes approximately 76 of those. Obviously that's a moving number as that fluctuates constantly. We do have 16 of those special education routes that we service inhouse um only at the midday because quite frankly we haven't had a lot of special ed routes the last probably five six seven years um due to the just the number of drivers that we haven't been able to have to be able to fill those. So that's kind of what that looks like. Transportation staff and this is interesting because in the 20 years I've been here um the office staff and administration those numbers have not changed. So, we've gone from about 12,000 students in those 20 years to probably close to 18 19,000 now. And again, we've got same amount of office staff and um administrators. We've got 98 full-time bus drivers, 12 substitute bus drivers. And of those 12 sub bus drivers, there's probably eight of them that consistently sub for us on a daily basis or take what we call a long-term sub route. Somebody that's out for a week or month or whatever on surgery or maybe a medical leave. those um long-term subs filled in for us. And then we have five bus assistants currently, seven mechanics. That number has fluctuated over the years, but it's pretty consistent with six or seven mechanics, five office support staff, and then four of us administrators. We're very lucky and very proud that about 80% of our entire staff lives in South Washington County School District. So again, you know, a lot of word of mouth, a lot of people, u neighbors and so forth, friends. Um, so we're very happy with that and pleased with that. We also have someone that I think furthest away right now comes from Ardan Hills every day. So recruitment to date, this is how we advertise and hire. We do local advertisings and some of our local publications. Um, job posting site, Indeed, that has been a pretty good source for us to get applicants. attendance of job fairs and that's both within the district that we usually hold one big one in July I think it usually is and then sometimes we have another one as well that's in the spring of the year uh social media campaigns on Facebook typically and that has been a huge draw for us when we make that push we usually get quite a number of applicants off of that um applicants this was taken about a week ago so there's a little fudge factor here uh total applicants since July 1 of this past year have been 89 we've interviewed 31 since that date. And the reason for that is we do a license check or a background check, whatever that looks like. And those are the number of people that really get through that system. And then out of that 31, 13 drivers were actually hired and three were currently in training. I think we're actually now 14 are hired and down to two currently in training. And again, as you can see from that 31 to 13, um, again, it's a it's a stringent process that everybody goes through and not everybody always makes it. So, that's quite frankly the reason those numbers are the way they are. Salary and benefits, we're proud to say um wages start at $28 an hour. Were one of probably the highest districts that are paying that right now. We have benefits that start at 20 hours uh worked per week. So, basically, if you take a morning and an afternoon route, each route is a guaranteed two-hour minimum. So, that qualifies you for benefits. And then we have paid training. We have fantastic trainers in house that help our folks get through that. And then we all also have um an on-site tester. Andy Smith is state certified to actually do the actual bus testing in our district. So potential new driver doesn't have to go take that driving test at Ardan Hills or Hastings to actually do it right here in our district. And then the retirement contributions as well from the district. What you need to know for the transportation opt-in process. We started the opt-in process in 2324. Every year I think we've gotten better at it. Um it gives us accurate information and data. It's more efficient routing and services that we can offer to students. We still have a ways to go on that. We still are finding that especially the high school runs. Um quite a few families sign up and not really use it. So trying again to get to that data to really um hone in on that. And really it's getting the word out to families that just because you don't sign up now, you know, I think they're fearful that if I call in three months from now, you're not going to have a spot for me. And that could furthest from the truth. We would always have a spot for them. 2627 opt-in campaign is going to start on Monday, February 9th. Communication, I think, is just going out today and tomorrow on that to families. And then that will run through March 6th of this year. And then families will receive that opt-in information early February, which like I said, is going to be today and tomorrow going out. So, um, best cancellations to date. We had, as the board is aware, um several cancellations um November 19th, 20th, 21st, as well as three days in December, the 8th, 9th, and 12th. We had three afternoon routes for three days um in a row. And at the first in November, it affected 185 students at six different schools and 130 students at five schools in December. And if you're curious, how do we choose what routes get cancelled? Um, we try to avoid routes that have elementary runs on them, knowing that that's a difficult piece with daycare and so forth. Um, try to focus where we can high school routes. The unfortunate part is they're in that middle tier. So really that it's it's a tough thing to do. We've got mostly middle school first tier, some elementary and those high schools at that second tier and then the third tier is um also a mix mostly elementary at that third tier and then charter school. So that's kind of how we look at doing that. Um, currently we have a number of late arriving buses and the whole goal this year is for 2627 is to um get to school and get our kids home on time. We're not achieving that right now. Late arriving buses then we define that as greater than five minutes. Uh right now we still have one Bailey Elementary, two Valley Crossing, St. Ambrose. Remember Valley Crossing and St. Ambrose students are um but bus together. We drop off at Valley first and then drop off at St. Ambrose. Afternoon buses, and this is where it's really difficult for us. Uh, Cottage Grove Elementary, we still have one running late. East Ridge High School, there's two. No Frontteras, there's two. And Valley Crossing and St. Ambrose, again, there's two. This is an example of um these routes that I'm talking about. This is an Eastridge High School run, for example. And we're supposed to be there at 3:05, 306 actually. the bell rings. Quite frankly, 7 8 n years ago, we were getting in there 5 minutes even prior to those bells ringing. So, if it's ringing at 3:06, we should be in there about 3:01. All right, we that's gone by the wayside a long time ago. We just don't have the time to be able to do it in the time frame we have right now. So, it's pulling in there every day at 3:10. The uh next day on the 20th, it pulled in at 3:11 and then on the 21st, you can see 313. So, it's pretty consistently we have done everything we can to get that bus on time and it's just not going to happen. Um, that's a result basically of that first tier, that middle school tier running just it takes us so much time to get those kids and they're just not able to get to East Ridge on time to be able to pick up. Next example, please. That is a New Frontier. Similar situation. I took the same three dates for all three of these examples. Nois Fteras uh that should be there at 350. Again, theoretically 3:45, but 350 is when that bell is ringing. 401 2 days and 405 um that third day. And again, that's been consistent all year long. We've we also try during the year to take stops off from from one run if we can and put it on another bus to try and get those things on time. We're just not able to do it right now. And then the final example, please. Um Valley Crossing St. Ambrose, similar situation. Their uh time arriving at Valley should be 3:45. again 353, 354 and 359. So these are some of the considerations for next year. Um buses are still arriving after scheduled school start or dismissal times. We do not see that changing. We are adding kids. We never um are you know subtracting kids which is a good thing for us but at the same time our schedule is so tight that we're not able to really add routes. Um the other thing with that is you know our driver shortage has caused that to happen as well. So there'll we anticipate they'll still be arriving after scheduled school start and dismissal times, especially those dismissal times. The expansion of math and science academy will add additional bus stops potentially throughout the district. Again, that's district-wide. That means it's going to be more time added onto those routes that are already running late in some cases. And then we will have a staggered arrival and departure time with the two different sites. The um elementary K5 is going to be I believe at the existing building for math and science right now right near the YMCA on radio if you're familiar with that. And then the new site is going to be there 6 through 12. Um so potentially again we'll have to stagger those start times. We're anticipating maybe 7 to 8 minutes between the two. Um Valley Crossing and St. Ambrose we've got allotted about five six minutes in between right now. That hasn't been enough either. So we learned kind of our lesson on that. Um we know with math and science we're going to have to probably do seven to eight minutes um in between those two sites. And then there's been ongoing district-wide road construction. Anybody that has driven in Woodbury the last how many years that's still um anticipating going on. There are roundabout plans coming down county road 19 at some point. Um so that's kind of just ongoing for the foreseeable future. I would say not even just next year I would say a year or two probably beyond that. and then also the ongoing work in the city. Woodbury, that water pipeline project. Cottage Grove has one as well. Uh more considerations. We continue to review the data to determine possible solutions for those late student arrivals and dismissals. Like I said, we try to cut and paste where we can move stops around. Drivers have been great with picking up extra work when we've needed them to. Um, and we, you know, people say, well, you can, if we get drivers, which is true, we can add routes, but it's very inefficient and very costly to just put a bus on the road for maybe one school run. If we need help with a valley crossing run in the afternoon, and we don't have a first tier and a second tier, to have a driver pay them the two hours and then to go out and run that route that might take 15 minutes, it's just costly to put a bus on the road. Um and this may so as we look to next school year for for the possible solutions for those late buses, this may include a shift in school start and end times for some. Also, we'll continue to utilize the opt-in information for purposes of routing students. We'll really try to dig into that. We have been doing that more and more as we get familiar with our software system. We'll also continue to utilize the bus passes for scanning students on and off. That has been helpful and our drivers have been really really good about doing that. um which has been extremely helpful for us to look at the data. And then finally, it's our goal to fully implement the tracking app for student bus ridership as well for 2627. Um we wanted to roll that out, but I'll be honest, after spring break this year and in the some of the testing that we've done, um there have been some glitches in that system, especially when we switch buses. So, we are going to hold off on that. It's not going to happen in March. We want to make sure that that system um is up and running as best it as it can be before we actually introduce that to our parents. >> With that, any questions? >> Thank you. Does anyone have any questions? >> Yeah, I do. >> I do. >> I figured myself. >> Let's start with Melinda. >> I just have one quick question. This might be something more for you, Julie. I'm concerned about the the littles, the elementary students at uh Bailey and Valley Crossing. As far as if there's students that really rely on that breakfast if they're missing that with the late buses, how are we dealing with that? Yeah, I would just say that um our elementary principles, we have spoken with our elementary principles and every student that enters regardless of time has access and our um nutrition services staff is excellent at making sure that students still have the time. Sometimes that means it might be a graband go to their classroom just depending on time, but students should always have access to breakfast. And we have Melinda. I know we had a several schools actually at the start of the school year that that was happening too probably into October, November to be honest and we made every adjustment that we could to try to get those kids on time so that they could in fact have breakfast and work with the principles like Julie said. >> Elizabeth, thanks. Uh, thanks for bringing this data to us tonight. I was question for you. If you did adjust the start times and end times by about 10 minutes for some of these specialized programs, would it actually solve the problem that you're seeing? And uh the question would be how much additional cost would that actually bring with drivers having those additional minutes on their routes every day? >> Um 10 minutes will not be enough time to be honest with you to do it. Um and so I can't give you a cost on that. I could run it really quickly, but 10 minutes will not get us on time next year. I think as we consider, you know, um the need to do some slight adjustments to start and end times, I think what we see is we already have some of these buses running late. And so, um drivers are getting paid for that time. Um and we just want to be upfront with what is it actually taking them versus some of the extensions that we'd we've had to pay. >> Okay. Sharon. >> Okay. um is it? Well, she already asked it if it was possible to adjust the routes, but how are families informed? And then that's a large number. 185, that's a lot of kids. So, um what do you have in plan that in in your plan to cover these routes? >> Are you meaning Sharon for the um the cancellations that we had? Yes, the cancellations. >> So, right. So, every Wednesday actually, and we're still doing this, every Wednesday, we sit down and look at those routes Tuesday night usually. And if we anticipate any cancellations, we work with communications to get that information out ASAP. And I think that communication usually went out like on Thursday or Friday at the latest. So, it gave families a chance to plan. >> We try to get them at least Wednesday or Thursday for the following Monday. And then I would say we spam people. I mean, you know, and I think we had a pretty good expectation, but we did robocalls, we did text messages, it would be on the the the day of we would do all of them so people could see um the the the scope of it and then we would go to every single school and we would ask the principles to also share that message and then we were doing emails every day. We would do a text message on the Friday, the Monday or the Sunday depending on when the day was. And then there was one of them where there was like a day in between where we had a couple days where they were um cancelled and then then they ran and then it was canceled again. And so then we would do that again. So we would send an email, a robocall and a text message. Um this is a hardship on families. I think we can all agree to that. But I think we really didn't get any complaint. I mean we really were trying to be really transparent. We were trying to be really honest and we really communicated heavily for that. And so we really didn't catch a whole lot of people saying at least to us um that they didn't know or or you know things like that. >> And I think the district's done a really good job of communicating that to people that in fact we have been short of drivers so for so many years. We probably got in the November and December cancellations. I think I took like three or four phone calls which and last time last year when we had cancellations we had a lot. I think I don't want to see people have gotten used to it, but I think they understand the situation, not just with our district, but others that we're in this situation. And the good news is right now, I shouldn't even say it, but staffing is looking good. I I don't anticipate anything right now and hopefully for the remainder of the school year for cancellations. >> And I think if we looked over time, um while we had 6 PM routes canceled, if we were to look back at last year and certainly the year before that and the year before that, there were significant cancellations. And so our families have been very gracious in the district um knowing that there might be a day or two where they have to have a neighbor or a friend do transportation. Again, communications, working with transportation, they really look to not impact elementary kids. >> Okay, Simmy. >> Um so my question is you alluded to that we pay on the high side for districts in the metro. Our benefits look good. Um, and we're still but we're still not able to recruit. What is it as a board we should be thinking about to help bring on more drivers? >> Um, I can tell you what has worked at least that we've seen. Um, the social media blitz when we need it. The Facebook push gets applicants in. Again, getting through the process is another thing, but it does generate applications. The other thing is our benefit eligibility. I don't think anyone that I'm aware of, any district has that benefit package at 20 hours a week. That's been huge for us. Um the other thing we've gotten creative with this year, Simei, is we actually we had more afternoon routes than morning routes. Okay. The 94 and 88. Um we offer right now a standby position in the morning to create that package for people. So the if they want to come in with full-time status, we're able to create that and then they are a standby driver until routes become available if they come become available. and if they don't, they'll stay a standby for this whole year so that we can in fact at least offer people those things. >> Um, and then you had mentioned to Elizabeth that 10 minutes shift would probably not be enough to address this and it just sounds to be honest it sounds really tight and really stressful for our drivers, right? To try to be >> and it is. Um, so how do we like what is the driver um what has driver feedback been on what their needs are as we're going through this process? Like there I mean because I what I would hate is that we are inadvertently stressing them out and reducing morale or making them feel like they're not that that we're not able to accommodate their needs, right, as going through this process, right? Um, and certainly as a parent who put kids on the bus, like I'm extremely grateful for for the drivers that we have. So, how do we um what is it we could do or are there things that we can do that, you know, if 10 minutes isn't enough, do we need 20 minutes or is it like we need different routes or we need more drivers or what is kind of how can we help drivers be less um have less kind of stuff to deal with as they're they're going through their routes. >> I can safely say this. One thing we tell drivers, even if you're running late, run it safe. I don't care if you're 5 minutes, 10 minutes late, just run safely. I also have two drivers here I know tonight that will tell you they are very diligent and want to get to their places on time. That piece of paper says, "I need to be there at 802. I want to be there at 802." And it's very frustrating to them. I mean, we've heard that loud and clear. And we've also heard that they do not have enough time in between those runs going from middle school to high school or whatever that looks like. And in fairness to them, um you know, they they don't have enough time and um we ask them to do a bus check after each run if possible, right? You want to make sure if little Johnny is sleeping in the back, it's easier to turn around right then and there to go back and get him to school than or home than it is you get to your next school and realize it. So yeah, we're they're feeling it. they've been feeling it for a long time and it is stressful for them. >> Um, and so with the the staffing up that we've done, so it looks like we have what 10 more drivers than we have routes or 15 more drivers than we have routes. Um, is that just how high the absentee rate is on any given day then? That's kind of the >> the slack that we need. >> We we actually average about probably eight to 10 people per day that are off for whatever reason. So that is where that number comes from. >> And then what is our can you remind me again what the backup plan is? So the we have substitute drivers and then beyond sub sub be I speak English. Beyond substitute drivers um what is kind of the next step of >> Sure. So we have standbys that are included in those driver numbers that you're looking at. All right. So the standbys go out on our routes first and then office staff and mechanics go out as well to cover those routes where we can until we get to the point of cancellation. >> And then how frequently are office staff or mechanics driving >> the last probably six weeks it hasn't been much at all. The beginning of the school year it was quite a bit. >> Okay. Um I have one question. I know last year was it we talked about Pine Harbor and um I know we made adjustments for that to have just one bus and have a shuttle. How is that where is the wrership enough or is this something that is just not cost-effective and we need to look at >> Pine Harbor expressed that I think about probably 15 students are using the bus. All right. Um, and quite frankly, it's due to the way that it's set up because again, they're going from Pine Harbor in the afternoon up to New Life and then they disperse from there on the New Life buses. And the biggest piece is they are assigned to a New Life bus stop. So that bus stop could be a mile, two miles, three miles from their home. It's their responsibility to get back and forth to that bus stop. Thus, parents are not using it. So, it's still still running that way. So, is this something that we could put into our plan? I mean, it would save a driver and when we talked about that we were cancelling three routes. I mean, we have one >> and I don't know if it necessarily saves the driver. Remember, we're still running the the um New Life stops, but what it it would save is it saves the shuttle time back and forth. it. We're still making the stops, you know, because they're just assigned to a new life academy stop, but it would save the shuttle time. >> Okay. So, is that something that you're considering as well when we're talking about >> We've had conversation um about it, but nothing specifically for 2627. >> Okay. >> Katie, I had one more question. >> Um, thanks. I just had one more question. So, for the charters for MSA, you had mentioned that for St. Ambrose, we go from we drop kids off at Valley, then we drop kids off at St. Ambrose and that for MSA we would drop kids off at the elementary and then the high school or or whatever. Right. Um for the non 833 schools, do we get to choose what time their busing is or do we try to keep them similar to what they've had before? >> We are able to shift the non-publix. Pine Harbor we are not able to shift because >> they're not in our school district. Correct. >> Okay. So for uh MSA like because it's right next to Eastridge, right? The new MSA high school. So we could just theoretically stick them on a bus with Eastridge kids theoretically >> or >> No, because they're the um the way we've got them sequenced now, they're in the third tier. Eastridge is in the second tier. And quite frankly, we wouldn't be able to accommodate all those schools in the second tier. We we wouldn't have room to move math and science to that second tier. >> Okay. Thanks. So with that, how much do you anticipate things are going to be a lot worse next year when that school opens as far as finding more drivers and everything because we'll be responsible for their transportation as well? >> Um it's hard to look at right now. Um we are going to be meeting with Math and Science tomorrow, so we'll have a little bit more of an idea of that. Um but yes, I would anticipate there's going to be additional runs for them for sure, which will mean, you know, additional routes somewhere out there. Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay. Now we'll move on to 6.0 and that is our information items. We do have two this evening. The first one is 6.1 and that is the pre-sale report for 2026A series presented by Chris Blackburn, director of business services. >> Well, good evening everybody. Not too often am I this late in the meeting, so it's kind of, you know, Jody got to sit and listen. Um, I'm pleased to announce that we've are um to have Jody Zba from Ellers's Invest and Associates tonight with us to present the pre-sale report for the 217,265,000 general obligation school building facilities maintenance and refunding bond series 2026A. So, this was the um we passed the amending resolution at the last meeting um amending and restating that to include that refunding component. The bond issue includes then the remaining authority of our voter approved um from the two building bond questions that were passed in November of 2023. And again, you've seen a lot of construction going on run on around the district related to that um those projects. This also will include bonding for projects in our board approved 10-year long-term facility maintenance plan, which is approved annually um in the kind of late spring, early summer. And then it also includes the refunding of the two um previous bond issues 20 series 2016A and 2016. And again the reason for that is that will result in a net reduction in future property tax levies. So I know Jody has all sorts of fun information for us and she's always um kind of the has a connection to Woodbury as well. So it's always fun to have her back in district and so we will ask just to note that at the next board meeting we will seek um we'll be asked to adopt the resolution ratifying the sale of the bonds which will occur between now and then. So, um, with that, I'll turn it over to Jodus. Thank you, Jody. >> Thank you very much. Yes. Boy, >> no. >> Was not in choir. I was in the uh accounting world there, too. So, yes, math and accounting was my thing back in the day. All right. So, um I guess I do have fun information to present because it's always fun when we can talk about refunding bonds and saving money for the taxpayers. That is not money that you'll be able to keep for your budget to use for other things, but it must be passed on to the taxpayers in the form of reduced debt service levies in the future. So, just to get that clear, when you refinance your home mortgage, um you do get to keep that money for your budget, which is nice, but not so in a school district. So, as Chris mentioned, this issue is financing the remaining authority from your election in 2023. We issued 100 million of that previously. So, now we're issuing the remaining from the two questions that the voters approved at that point in time. And uh moving forward with the facilities maintenance bonds which we generally issue those every other year to finance projects for the next two years. Those projects are financed with a combination of three sources of revenue. So in addition to the bond proceeds, you have an annual tax levy and you get state aid every year from uh the funding formula in LTFM, which is great. So much of those projects do get paid for with help from the state. And then um just want to point out I'm just going to walk through the the pre-sale report which I assume that you have handy. So I'm on page one right now. And the purposes then are listed. There are four different purposes as Chris mentioned. So the school building bonds, the alter the uh facilities maintenance bonds for deferred maintenance projects that you approve every year um in July and then the two refunding components. And just as a little background, those bonds were issued in 2016. So the 2016A was all about middle schools really at that time. Um the new middle school in Cottage Grove, repurposing Oldman, and then improvements to the other three middle schools at that time. And the 2016 C was a facilities maintenance bond issue that we did along with a refunding later that spring. So the uh 2016A was um shortly after that November election in 2015. Um you'll notice the authority is listed there in the reference to the state aid that you receive as part of the long-term facilities maintenance program. And that's close to $3 million every year. So it's pretty significant which is great. Every time we sell bonds, we do have a call date and you'll see that the call date for this bond issue will be February 1st of 2034 for the 35 and later maturity. The next page then summarizes the refunding savings. So, shows the interest rates that you're committed to right now, the um true interest cost rate that we think we'll achieve on each of these bonds that had a little cushion built in at the time that we put these estimates together. And we uh have seen a little reduction still in rates. So, we're hoping that continues to be the case as we move forward toward the sale date. But with the estimates that we have, the savings to the taxpayers for future debt service levies would be a little over 3.3 million. Um, you'll participate in the state credit enhancement program. That language was included in a resolution that you already adopted. As part of that program, the state guarantees the payment of your debt should you not be able to make a payment. And so with that, you get a separate credit rating from Moody's, which is a double A1, one notch lower than the rate that they assign to the state of Minnesota. And the state of Minnesota has their highest rating at a AAA. Uh you'll also have your underlying rating um um moving forward with a new rating on that. Again, it's currently at a single A1, so we're still hoping for movement up always on that. Um, years ago the district was at a double A1, so we're going to try to inch our way back up there as best possible. And then on page three, uh, we always move forward with competitive sale of your bonds. We've been getting a lot of demand for bonds since the new calendar year started, which has been great and really coming up with some favorable results on refundings that we've already moved forward with. We'll talk about the premium in a little while as we look at the financial schedules. And then just know that we're always reviewing your existing debt. We do give updates to Chris and Julie pretty regularly on how things are looking and have been watching these two bond issues for quite a while. So nice to see that we're going to be able to move forward to achieve some savings. Then we have some regulatory disclosures with uh continuing disclosure, arbitrage monitoring, a little bit about the investment of bond proceeds. The refunding bonds will be placed in an escrow account and we'll invest those in state and local government securities. We'll lock into that rate on the day of sale. So, we'll know, we need to know exactly how much we're going to have because that allows us to make sure that we have the right amount to call your bonds and we're assuming that we'll earn about three a little over $300,000 in that escro account between the closing date and the call date. We're working along with other service providers. So, your bond council Dorsy and Whitney um bond trust services as the paying agent, Moody's as the rating agency, and then Zans will be the escrow agent for the refunding bond proceeds. A little bit about the schedule on page five. So, you approved the approved moving forward with the school building bonds and facilities maintenance bonds in a resolution last July. You adopted a mending resolution to include the refunding component at your January 22nd meeting. Tonight, we're talking about the pre-sale report. We have the conference with Moody's on Monday. Um, so Chris has been gathering a lot of information for that, I know. Um, and then we uh will be receiving the bids for your bonds on February 19th. The school board meeting that night is when you will have the results. Then I will be out of town. Shelby, who you've met from Ellers before, will be here to present those results to you that night. Then we'll close on the bonds March 12th. We have to give the investors at least 30 days notice a uh with the call notice um before we call the bonds. And so we're anticipating the call date of uh April 16th. I will talk a little bit about the financial schedules and all the attachments. Then first of all is a sources and uses schedule. That is where you can see our estimated reoffering premium. What we think the underwriter will give us above the par amount of the bond issue. And with your school building bonds and facilities maintenance bond components that can be used towards project costs. So that will be deposited in the construction fund. For the refunding bond component, we reduce the principal amount of the new issue. So we're calling bonds, for example, on the 2016A of just over 79 million. We're expecting the new issue to be a little under 72 million because we're expecting to get a big premium on that. So the premium will be determined by the winning bidder on the day of sale. These are just our best estimates at this point in time, but likely we will be receiving a relatively significant premium which then will be used again for the refunding bond components to have lower principal amounts going forward. Um the next are the financial schedules. So page eight is bind uh so combined debt service schedule for all four purposes. Page nine is the school building bond portion only. This is your remaining authority of 101,225,000. The facilities maintenance bond issue is next on page 10. Um, and that is uh scheduled to be 30,595,000. The existing debt service schedule for the 2016 A bonds is on page 11. The uh estimated new um portion of this issue that will refund the 2016 A bonds is on page 12. Page 13 is the existing debt service schedule for the 2013 C. And then the following page 14 is the what we expect the new schedule to look like. And then the escrow account is on page 15. And that will have the proceeds from the refunding bonds. And that is where we will make sure that we match to the penny to the amount that you will need to call the bonds on uh April 16th. The favorite page is page 16. This is where all the fun is, I guess, if we're going to talk about fun with uh the presentation tonight. So that's the 3.3 million in savings, which is great to see. Uh page 17 is our detailed schedule where we are um bringing everything together in terms of all of your existing bonds, other capital levies. So your lease levy and capital project or tech levy. The uh and then the uh the bond issue now for the remaining authority on your school building bonds and facilities maintenance bonds. The goal of all that is to bring everything together so that when you look at page 18, we have a nice level debt service tax rate or declining unless the voters approve an increase. So that's always our goal as we're bringing all of this information together. So as we factored in the reduction in the debt service levies from the refunding bond components, we're able to pay off principle more quickly on the new bond issue and still maintain that level tax rate. So effectively that saves more money for your taxpayers too because we're paying that off more quickly than we anticipated. So all good news there. In addition to having a level tax rate for the foreseeable future, we have a couple of stepdowns in the long-term plan to provide some capacity for future capital investments because it's a growing district. There's lots of things that come up. So we just want to make sure that we've got some flexibility in the future to for you to address any needs that come up at that time. Thank you. Do we have any questions? >> Yeah. Um, hi Jody. Thank you for coming. Um, so when we So the bonds that we're reissuing were issued in 2016, they expire in 2035 with the um, this is our only opportunity to re reissue. Correct. Like we that's what we said back in 2016 is like the call date or the the interim date is 10 was 10 years was the halfway point. Correct. >> Yes. So, we are at the call date now. 21 February 1st of 2026 is the call date. So, we are at that call date now. Yep. >> Um, what percentage of our bonds that we've issued recently have we, and I realize you may or may not know the answer to this, um, have we ended up reissuing at the interim call date? >> Yeah. Almost always. Because, um, you'll see that um, different than a home mortgage where you lock into an overall interest rate. you do lock into an overall interest rate, but each principal maturity has a different interest rate associated with it. We talk about the overall interest rate, but as you look at the schedules, you can see that's the case. Often those are um are higher as the years go out. We've had a little bit of an inverted yield curve for a while, but generally the pattern that we see is that the um the shorter term bonds have a lower interest rate. So by the time we get to the call date, those bonds that had higher rates now are, you know, a one-year or two-year or they're at the short end of it. So often we are refunding those bonds. It's it's uh very uncommon for us not to do that. >> Okay. And so since we have we've paid already 10 years, we're in the second 10 years, it's a 10-year cycle or 10-year interest rate is lower than a 20-year interest rate. So that's basically where all of our savings are coming from. And so how can you remind me again of how the premium because the premium just seems so large, right? >> Right. Relative to the amount of debt we're issuing. So can you remind us again how that >> absolutely >> um works. >> Yep. So you'll see on those new debt schedules for we showed the um existing debt schedules and the new debt schedules, the new debt schedules actually have 5% coupons on them. So um you they and the premium that you will get from the underwriters is giving you the uh interest um to pay that uh larger amount. So to so the the premium that they're giving you is um in effect bringing it down to that lower interest rate which is lower than 3% because they're giving you that um money upfront to make those interest payments over time. So those coupons that you see on the new debt are actually a little higher than what you have on the existing debt, but they're going to give you that premium or all that cash up front toward the interest. >> Okay. So then, so sort of like points on a Yes. mortgage. Okay. Perfect. >> Yes. >> And um so when they are buying down, so they're buying down the future interest rate. >> Um >> and so that's just money that just acrus to us. there is no like >> you will use that money to um issue less in bonds. So that's where those new refunding bonds are going to be at a lot lower amount than the callable principal. >> Okay. So by issuing 72 million versus 89 79 million, right? Um >> okay, perfect. Mhm. >> Um and then um one of the questions I had was you mentioned our rating and that we're trying to get our rating back up and I know Chris and Dan before her worked super hard to to do that. Um how frequently do can districts go back to Moody's or S&P or whoever to get to get an updated rating and what is the impediment to us having a higher rating? >> Sure. So um every time you issue new debt you need to get a new rating. um while your bonds are outstanding, Moody's can initiate a surveillance process at any point in time. Most often that would be when they get your new audit report or if there's something significant that's happening in your economy that they find out about. But generally when they get a new audit report if you haven't had a rating in a you know in a in the most recent past they will they may initiate a surveillance process if they're seeing something that looks out of line to them on their metrics from what they have assigned to you. >> Okay. And so because our finances has been pretty consistent for several years. I mean improving but still generally speaking consistent. We're not going to get a new rating from Moody's until we have some sort of material internal change. >> No. Or when we issue. So, um >> the phone call that we have on Friday, >> um is where we go through all of the information and um they have multiple questions. We have to talk about our enrollment, um our previous debt, uh just a whole host of questions that Chris gets to answer and I get to help her with. >> Um the housing starts will again set the rating for us with this. >> Okay. >> So, we go through the whole process right now. >> Okay. >> The only thing I might add is so with that long-term facility maintenance piece that we issue by annual um because that frequency, right? So, every two years we're issuing debts. So, we have a Moody's rating every two years. I think that helps mitigate a little too like they're seeing our audit in between, right? Even if absent any other debt issuance and so I think that helps as well because it hasn't been maybe four years, five years. >> Okay. Yep. >> Okay. And then is there any like um uh I'm actually just looking at my notes and I realize I think I might have answered all my questions. Um we've never issued we don't issue bonds for anything other than 20 years, right? That's not true. So um 2016A bonds were 20 years, but the 2016 C were shorter as facilities bonds. And I'll direct you to this issue. So, the school building bonds, if you look at page nine, are 20-year bonds. Um, the facilities maintenance bonds are shorter. On page 10, you can see that debt schedule. And we set it up that way for a couple of reasons. Um, one is that we are very, uh, we watch the useful life of the projects that are being financed. So, generally, your school building bonds are financing new construction, things that have a longer useful life. in the facilities maintenance bond projects. Some of the projects have longer useful lives, but you're doing parking lot projects. In Minnesota, the parking lots generally don't, you know, last for a 20-year period. So, that's the reason that we are generally issu issuing your school building bond portion as a 20-year, but then shorter on the facilities maintenance bonds. And that was the case back in 2016 also. So, the 2016 A bonds were 20-year, but the 2016 C was a much shorter issue. I think it may have been only like six or eight years. >> Mhm. >> Okay. And so and so when we do that, do we need So then and do we still build in then the halfway point the reissue or do we say it's six or eight years it's already low enough as an interest rate? >> Yeah. So this overall issue is combined and we'll have a a call date on the overall combined issue. So by the time the call date comes up, the refunding portions will have been paid off. So we will we will not be refunding the 2016 A or 2016 C bonds for well let's see 20 we might on the 2016 A >> because the A is the longer term correct >> the A was the building bonds rate. >> Yes. So we do have one maturity I think that will be callable on the 20 the new 2016A portion of this issue. Yep. Okay. >> But the 2016 C I think will have been paid off by then. >> Okay. >> Yes. Because that gets paid off in 2031. >> Okay. Okay. That's what I would see. >> We won't have callable maturities on that portion of this bond issue. Those will that's too short. Sure. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Perfect. I appreciate that, Jody. Thank you so much. >> Of course. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. So, you will see Shelby with the results of the sale at your March meeting. >> Sounds good. Thank you. >> Thank you. I think February 19th actually. >> Yeah, February 19th. >> February 19th. No, it's coming too quick. >> Thank you. I was thinking a month away, but no, we are at the work session and not the regular meeting. Yes. Thank you, Chris. >> Thanks again, Jod. Thank you. >> Okay, we'll move on to 6.2 and that is the first reading of proposed policy changes and that will be presented by Julie Nielsson, super. >> Good evening. I am bringing forward 13 policies this evening that have been reviewed by district leaders along with schoolboard representatives who make up the policy committee. Uh moving forward this evening, policy 410, family and medical leave. Um you will note there were no s suggested changes. I should also share that as you look at the dates of revision on these policies. They are all within the last many of them are within the last year uh because they are required as part of our handbook andor two years. Um, so they're they have all been recently updated. Uh, policy 413, harassment and violence. Um, the updates just reflect changes uh with MSBA. Policy 414, there are legal updates. Policy 415 is mandated reporting of maltreatment of vulnerable adults. There were no suggested changes. Uh policy 506, which we know this is a big one in our student handbook, is uh student discipline updates reflect changes in the MSBA policy and the removal of procedures. And when I saw that, I was surprised that we still had procedures in a policy because I kept thinking we've worked so hard to get those out and to have those in a different area. So, u moving forward with policy 506, those procedures would be pulled out. Policy 514 or bullying prohibition, no suggested changes. Uh 522, Title 9, sex non-discrimination. No suggested changes. Uh policy 524, student internet, technology, and cell phone acceptable use and safety. No suggested changes. 525.1, harassment and violence. Again, no suggested changes. 616, school district system accountability. No suggested changes. Uh 612, summer school instruction. Updated language is provided um in the policy. Policy 722, public data and data subject requests. Um there's updated deadlines, terms, and titles and the resources. And then policy 806, crisis management. There were no suggested changes. Um this evening, it is just being presented in information. So as information, so at this time, I would take any questions. >> Does anyone have any questions or comments on these policies? >> I have one if that's all right. Um, uh, Julie, do you mind speaking a little bit on policy 506 on the change to the the willful language that we chatted about earlier and what that might mean for discipline for students? >> And I'm trying to think, Kelly, did you have student discipline? The willful definition. I'll let you go ahead. >> Um, again, as Superintendent Nielsson outlined, these were all MSBA language changes. Um, the willful came into play a little more prominently in the 23 legislative session when they talked about willful. um and um non-exclusionary discipline. And so just ensuring that um a student understands the behavior that they have done, you know, that it's not a part of their perhaps their disability. Um and it is it is it is a reminder for administrators to have those conversations with kids about willful acts versus accidental or things like that. So >> thanks. So just so I understand right the the inclusion of the word willful will mean like including students in increasing inclusion in our schools by using that language. >> Absolutely. That's our hope. >> Okay. So this will come forward at our next meeting to vote on. >> Thank you. >> Do we have any Okay. 7.0 reports and comments. Superintendent Neielson. >> Uh thank you. Just a couple. Um I'm trying to think about where in Thursday. Yesterday I believe uh we met with our local legislators. Yes. Yesterday. Um and we shared our district priorities. And while we took a look at uh all the various platforms that are out there, we really wanted to make sure that in communicating with our local legislators uh that they were priorities. And of course the top priority uh dealt with uh stability and funding. Um second dealt with our high school PSO and online. And the third um highest priority was around our early learning. Uh so information was shared with legislators. Um the second one is that on Sunday evening uh many of us attended the SEC music festival. And really just the reminder is that next year South Washington County School gets to host. We are to the letter Ps. So it's Park High School. And I've already shared with board members that for that particular event on the Monday um of the event, we will need to have online learning just for Park High students as all 10 SEC schools come to Park High School for that day. Um the third um I don't know if you felt it, but there was a little buzz. Um and I think it was Mr. McGee who talked about elementary kindergarten enrollment tonight. Tonight was the big night where the kindergarten students Yes, Mr. Melany. Did you make it there? >> Yes, Mr. Mr. Melany has a kindergartener. Um, so just an exciting night, it's always nice to know that this is kind of the beginning for our kindergarten students. Um, and while uh we've had a tough week and people around the table in the community know that, um, we had a situation at one of our schools dealing with a weapon, um, which we communicated out to our community. Um, I want to reassure the people that the educators and the staff we have in our schools, um, always want to do the right thing and just how people wrap their arms around our kids, making sure our students are always at the center and are always safe. And so, thank you to the Cottage Grove um, elementary school leadership, um, the staff there, uh, just incredible response to, um, a very difficult situation. Um, and I'm always reminded that we do hard things and then we have amazing kids. And so I don't know if it was just the week that I needed it, but kids said some of the funniest things to me this week. Um, and it's I love to read month. And so I had done some reading with different groups of students, and I think this was my favorite. Um he came up to me after I got done reading in third grade and he said to me, "For an old lady, you're pretty humorous." And so at my age, that is just so hilarious. Like he meant no ill intent to me except I'm an old lady and I'm super funny. And I try to tell people around this table that I'm funny and they don't always believe it. But I want you to know this little third grader, he thinks I'm humorous. And so in the middle of some really difficult situations, many of us around the table um have interactions with kids and we are reminded that we just have some of the best kids. And I think right here, the three that we had here tonight, um their intentiveness, ability to ask questions is incredible. Um so, thank you and thank you to our entire staff for um a a long week um but a good week. >> Thank you, Julie. Okay. Do any board members have any events coming up with any committees they are on? Okay, seeing none, we will move on to 8.0, future meeting dates. February 19th, 2026 is a schoolboard business meeting here at the district service center at 6 p.m. Then March 5th, 2026 is a schoolboard workshop meeting also here at the district service center at 6 p.m. And with that 9.0 and we are adjourned.