Happy birthday. Good evening. It is Thursday, February 19th, 2026 at 6 PM. We are at the District Service Center in Cottage Grove, Minnesota. We would like to acknowledge that the land in which we gather is the land of the Midawakatin Dakota people. Midawakutan means dwellers of the Spirit Lake. Our first item on the agenda is 1.0 and that is roll call. Dana >> Elizabeth Bachmanber >> here. >> Luis Hines here. >> Ryan Clark >> here. >> Melinda Doss >> here. >> Smi Fetnak is absent. Sharon Vanlair >> here. >> Katie Schwarz >> here. Next is 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. Okay. 3.0 is approval of our agenda. Can I get a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. Moved by Sharon, seconded by Melinda. Any comments? All those in favor? I >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes. 4.0 is comments to the board. At this time, individuals may speak to the school board on any item relating to South Washington County Schools. The board will not respond to or discuss your comments. Vulgarity, character abuse, or specific complaints identifying staff, students, or task members will not be permitted. The superintendent may be asked to prepare a response to your concerns. The comments to the board period will be held open for up to 30 minutes in total. Each speaker is permitted to speak for up to three minutes in total. The schoolboard will allow up to three speakers per topic. At the three minute mark, the microphone will be turned off and we will move on to the next speaker or agenda item. We do have two speakers tonight and the first one is Jeremy Riviera. Good evening, Southwestern County School Board of Trustees. Madam Superintendent, we um let's see where we moved here uh after my wife passed away almost five years ago from Los Angeles. My daughter started off at St. Agnes and uh we found that South Washington County offered growing through grief. It was a service that was provided from Park Nicollet to students that had lost a parent or grandparent. So, it was a good fit for us to make the move and we've enjoyed it since. A little bit about myself before I go into why I'm here tonight is that um I started out umpiring little girls softball when I was 14 years old. Didn't realize that I was paying into a public retirement system. And uh that was kind of neat. and I went on through my educational process received my doctorate at Stamford University, graduated summi, top of my class. I've been in public education for over 30 years. I was everything from a teacher to a dean of discipline to a site administrator of an expulsion school and assistant soup of HR and then finally director of testing assessment for the state of California. The reason I'm here tonight is I've been in your district for about a year, a little bit as an employee and then I decided to start subbing as a parah because it just kind of conflicts with my retirement system in California making too much money and I wanted to see what it was about because I wanted to see my daughter going here in middle school and what Ultman was and who the teachers were. And I believe that the most valuable asset that South Washington County Schools has are its staff. From the bus driver to the lunch lady to the paraprofessional to the teacher to the principal is the staff. Why am I here tonight? I don't know if the board is aware of this or not, but the district has decided to relieve the reading specialist of their duties in the district to switch them over to instructional coaches. If it wasn't for a reading specialist, my daughter would not be reading above grade level. I know that the district got a new director of elementary instruction that moved from an elementary school that not performing so well. So, I don't know why that person got that position, but that's not my business. And I wanted to leave the last 30 seconds. This is my daughter Juliana Rivera, and she would like to talk on behalf of the reading specialist that she had. >> I just want to say that my reading specialist when I started at my elementary school, I was at a second grade level in third grade. And if I didn't have her, I would not be above grade level. And my MCA scores on reading were above, what was it? >> Exceeds. >> Exceeds. So if I didn't have one, then I probably wouldn't be at grade level at least. >> Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Okay, our last speaker tonight is Roger Green. Good evening. My name, as you said, is Roger Green. I live at uh 1254 Donagle Drive in Woodbury. We've uh lived in your school district, our school district really since 1991. Our daughter graduated Woodbury High School in 2008. We benefited from the quality education our daughter received in the South Washington County schools. She's part of the millennial generation is now moving into positions of leadership in the business world and increasingly in the civic arena. Each generation comes to our community and schools facing a changing environment. Our daughter's high school experience involved a much more diverse set of peers certainly than mine was in Iowa in the 1960s. That growing cultural diversity was evident throughout Woodbury at the time and as the data shows it is be we are becoming more and more diverse with each passing year. The achievement and integration plan that you're considering tonight is important to my way of thinking for a couple of reasons. First off, you know, my Woodbury community has a major goal of being a welcoming community. And central to being welcoming is respecting the multitude of cultural norms that our growing diversity represents. While the South Orange County School strategic plan doesn't specifically identify becoming welcoming as a strategic priority, it does identify building meaningful relationships through through empathy, kindness, patience, and respect that lead to trust and understanding. It also identifies ensuring each individual receives what they need to reach their full potential. Fulfilling the those two strategic priorities will certainly contribute to Sawashko schools being welcoming to all. Secondly, the overriding goal as outlined in your mission statement is to educate students for success. You are preparing this generation of young people for personal success in careers and personal life and to step up as our community's leaders in civic, community engagement, and spiritual roles. Your job isn't to grow future conservatives or liberals, but to equip them with an understanding of the world they are inheriting and the critical thinking ability to make their own decisions about life priorities. I believe you've been doing a great job in these roles before development of this achievement and integration plan. This plan lays out the innovative and everyday programs and work you are doing to asssure that all students learn respect for one another and have a legitimate chance at academic success. It does it cost effectively utilizing internal resources rather than expensive contracted resources and it fosters collaboration with neighboring school districts. I thank your staff for doing a remarkable job designing an innovative program and capturing it within the criteria defined by the state. I simply encourage you to endorse it tonight. Thank you. >> Okay, we will move on to 5.0 and that is our consent items. All consent items are considered routine and non-controversial by the school board and will be approved by a single motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items. Prior to the board meeting, board members have had the opportunity to review each of these items and may have requested that any item be removed to the action items for individual consideration. That did not happen this evening. So, can I get a motion to approve? >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Moved by Sharon, seconded by Elizabeth, Louise. Okay. All those in favor? >> I opposed. >> An abstension. One abstension. Okay. Motion passes. 6.0 0 isformational items. We do not have any this evening. So we move on to 7.0 and that is our action items. We do have four this evening. The first one is 7.1 and that is achievement and integration plan and that will be presented by Kelly Jansen, assistant superintendent. Right. Good evening, Chair Schwarz, board members, Superintendent Neielsen. Tonight, we are here to request approval of our three-year achievement integration plan, a framework dedicated to ensuring every student has the support to succeed, every school benefits from responsive educators, and every family feels a deep sense of belonging. The plan is aligned with all five of our district strategic priorities from enhancing the student experience and mastery of learning to optimizing our systemic supports, operations, and community partnerships. We are requesting board action on this proposal to solidify our commitment to creating an inclusive environment where every learner can thrive. At this time, I will turn it over to James McGee, director of diversity, equity, inclusion, to review what was presented at the workshop and outline the specific goals and metrics that will guide our progress over the next three years. >> Good evening, everybody. So, as Kelly said, I'm here to speak uh uh and do a bit of a recap of some of the things that we had discussed in the previous meeting uh as well as to point out a couple of changes that have been made uh even since the documents were submitted to you last week. Uh so, you may have received those changes. They all were uh about our AVID strategy and metrics. Um so, those are present in the new document that was uploaded uh and should be uh available for everybody now. So as a recap uh statutory um the achievement integration uh uh program is state legislation uh and this is a program that is available to school districts uh that are seeking to increase their uh racial and economic integration and to close opportunity or achievement gaps. Um race, ethnicity, social economic status, those are some of the um demographic areas that achievement integration specifically addresses. However, when we talk about equity in our district, we look at certainly more uh than just those factors, but ANI uh as we call it shortorthhand is specifically addressing those gaps, integration, and teacher equity regarding uh race, ethnicity, and social economic status. So, Ashkco is uh one of the districts that is required to participate in the program because at least one of our uh bordering districts has um a 20 percentage point uh difference in students of color. Uh and so we have a couple districts that we share borders with. Uh we are a as uh was stated a growing racially diverse, ethnically diverse district. Uh and so being part of this program is actually a testament to the welcoming community that we have in South Washington County schools. Uh and I am representing ANI tonight to speak about it. However, equity is one of our strategic uh goals and diversity is a fact. Equity is our goals and inclusion is our promise. These are things that every department in our district uh is responsible for. And so while I'll talk about achievement and integration, please know that when we talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion, these are things that every department in our district uh helps contribute to making better for every student and staff member. So quick uh recap. Um our achievement integration plan for the next three years is going to follow a similar model to the current plan that we're in where we have three overarching goals. Those goals are um connected to goal areas that are set for us by the state uh which are addressing achievement gaps or opportunity gaps. Teacher equity which is empowering teachers to have uh the skill set needed to teach and reach uh a diverse population of students uh as well as diversifying our teaching force and our workforce. And then finally integration and that is um making sure that we've got opportunities for all students that are not based on their zip code including students who are outside of our district. So making sure that we have opportunities for students to interact with students from other districts. So our first goal overarching goal area uh is regarding closing um opportunity and achievement gaps. Um some of our key strategies for closing these gaps include uh strategic placement uh and training for our academic success coaches in elementary schools. uh the AVID program that is heavily um implemented in our secondary schools but has strategies implemented uh in K12. Uh and then the use of our cultural leaison in our middle and high schools although they also support districtwide for the social emotional well-being of all of our students. Goal area number two is about staff empowerment. So like I said this is in two parts. We want to make sure that every staff member in our district is equipped to meet the needs of our clients today. That's our students, that's our community members, and that's each other. We want to make sure that our staff uh has a responsive skill set, that they have empathy, that they're able to hear perspectives uh and not necessarily jump to judgment, but be able to uh treat everybody uh in a way that they need to be treated to be successful. We also are working on our new grow your own pathway for students. Uh we want to target students who we think uh education could be a good career for. uh there are a number of students in our district that maybe have not seen an example of what it means to go to college, what it means to be an educator, what it means to work uh in public service. And so we're setting up pathways for students to get exposure to that uh as a possible pathway for them in college or beyond. Uh and then uh our final strategy for goal number two is regarding staff retention and mentorship. Uh we want to ensure that the teachers and staff members that we hire want to be here and want to stay here. And so we've got efforts in place to make sure that we've got the proper mentorship uh and ongoing support. uh for our staff and for this plan specifically for our staff of color and staff that belong to other non-dominant uh cultural groups. Then finally, goal number three, this is our integration goal. Uh and for us, we're calling it community engagement and community empowerment. Um we want to celebrate the many uh cultures, heritages, ethnicities, languages that are uh present in our district. Uh but we also want to make sure that there's opportunity to learn not just about the people that are in our district, but about the world. uh we have an opportunity and a responsibility to make sure that our students understand the world that they're going to be walking into when they graduate. Uh so some of the strategies that we have for goal number three regarding cultural learning and celebrations. Uh we also want to make sure that our community feels seen and empowered. This is not the DEI department's plan. This is not even so plan. This is the community's plan. Uh and you'll see that reflected in the fact that we had multiple advisory groups uh sit down, go through this plan, and give their feedback on it. Uh moving forward, we want to make sure that we have more organized groups uh that are able to have their voice be present in all of that we do, not just our achievement and integration plan, but in all the things that we do in our district. Um as well as uh you when we think about events like our M new year celebration this year, that was almost exclusively planned by our M family advisory committee. We want our community to feel empowered. Uh we want to take away barriers so that our community members can do the things that they know are best for their communities. And finally, our multi-dist summer integration. We have a commitment with multiple districts like Stillwater and Roseville where we're going to be providing opportunities to students K12. Uh a to have summer programming at no cost to them or at a reduced cost to them. B uh programming that allows them to interact with students from other districts. Uh and C it's taking away barriers so students have meaningful learning opportunities outside of the normal school year. So those are our three goal areas. Uh each of these goals will have anywhere from four to six key indicators of progress. These key indicators of progress or kips are in the full document that was shared with uh with the board. Uh we will analyze these not yearly. We're going to analyze these frequently. And one of the uh benefits of having multiple key indicators of progress means we can pivot if we're seeing that something is not working or if we reach a goal quicker than expected. We can uh look at okay then what's the deeper learning or what's the deeper meaning uh that we can address um for that specific goal or key indicator of progress. Uh each year I'll come back and give you a report uh annual report of our progress toward all of these goals. Uh we'll be looking at the composite for each of those three goal areas based on the key indicators of progress. So part of the requirement of achievement integration is that we have uh two specific bodies look and give feedback on this uh plan. Number one is our uh Native American parent advisory committee who had an opportunity to review and give feedback on this a couple weeks ago. They gave us a thumbs up. They agree with everything that's in this plan. And the second is you. Uh so the school board does need to approve this plan uh for us to move forward. Um, we also did bring this to a number of other feedback groups, uh, trying to get a representative cross-section of our community and our staff to make sure that everybody sees themselves reflected in this plan. So, the action for you tonight, and this is taken from the legislation, is that we as the board certify that we approve this achievement integration plan. There's some more language after that, but uh, for now, I can turn it over to, uh, board chair Schwarz for the next action. >> Thank you. Can I get a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved by Sharon, seconded by Louise. Any comments or questions? >> Yeah, I have a question. >> Uh, so your KPIs or KIP, whatever. Um, what metrics are you trying to measure towards? How do you know if this is going to be successful? >> Um, great. Do you want to ask on a specific uh key indicator or goal area? >> Pick a couple. >> So, um, let's go with the ones that we uh modified recently. I'll speak to those. Uh so when we're looking at um the impact of AVID in our district, we're looking at uh two specific areas though AVID and the AVID metrics have many more. Uh the two that we're going to be looking at and addressing specifically is looking at addressing disproportionality. Uh so we want to make sure that uh students regardless of race, ethnic or soio economic background that there is no gaps in uh GPA or in access to rigorous courses. So we'll be looking at uh making sure that there are no gaps between any of those groups. Uh and then we uh wanted to like beyond meeting that compliance uh what does it look like beyond that uh we're looking at uh demonstration of post uh post-secary success and so are we seeing those markers in place for students uh post high school >> maybe a follow-up so for like science right >> so Kelly you did the science summary a couple months back right and if you break it down by demographics which I assume that this is we're trying to speak to that here with The ANI is speaking to demographic differences, right? >> In part. Y >> so if I recall correctly, the science proficiency was what mid20s to 30s. And so if you if you're trying to to make everyone kind of equal as you were saying, bringing them up. So my question is what are the things you're going to do to say increase math for the disenfranchised groups if you want to call it that or the science or the reading so that people are getting to >> Yeah. >> Right. If that's the goal. So that's what my question is like. How do you know if you're successful? Are you you talking a 5% year-over-year 10%? Is it is it a 10-year plan? Is it a 20-year plan? >> Gotcha. So this one is a three-year plan, which means we're going to have some smaller short-term goals. So, some of to speak to some of the specific subjects that you might be asking about, um, when we're looking at, uh, the the work that our academic success coaches are going to be doing in elementary, um, they have, uh, part of their job description is working with their principles to determine both academic or social behavior interventions that might be needed. So, we're not saying necessarily that every kid that a or every student that an academic success coach works with is going to reach their reading proficiency because that not might not be the need that that academic success coach is addressing. What we are measuring is that every student that is working with an academic success coach will make their expected growth as a response to that intervention. And so this plan is not uh how do we um close our science MCA gap um uh hole. So like that's the work of the entire district. The things that we're measuring in this are specific to the strategies that we've put forth in the plan. Any other questions? >> Okay. All those in favor I >> opposed. Motion passes. Thank you. Okay, we'll move on to 7.2 and that is our proposed policy changes and that will be presented by Julie Nielson, superintendent. >> Thank you. I thought I had a little more time here. Um, this evening I am bringing forward uh the 13 policies that were reviewed at the last board meeting. Um, as you were made aware at that time, a number of these policies do slide right into our student handbook. Uh, which is why those policies are coming forward this evening. Um and this evening I am asking for board approval after board review last meeting as well as an opportunity for public comment. So again this evening asking for approval of the 13 policies uh in your board packet. >> Can I get a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Moved by Louise, seconded by Melinda. Any comments or questions? Okay. All those in favor I >> opposed. Motion passes. Okay. Okay, we'll move on to 7.3 and that is our bond sale results and that will be presented by Chris Blackburn, director of business services. So, I feel like we should have a drum roll this evening, but good evening, Chair Schwarz, members of the board, and Superintendent Neielsen. Tonight, I'm pleased to have Jen Chapman of Ellers here with me to present the sale results for our series 2026A bonds. This issue includes, as a reminder, the remaining portion of our hundred million, $200 million authority, which was approved by the voters in November of 2023. It also includes bonds to um fund our long-term facility maintenance projects in 2027 and 2028. And then finally, it's a portion to refund two prior bond issues, and that's 20 series 2016 A and 2016 C. And the exciting part after the sale today is that um we will I think initially we thought maybe three million little over three million in savings um in future property tax levies to our taxpayers and that number as a result of um declining interest rates will result in about 5.9 million. So that's exciting. Uh but following Jen's presentation, the board is asked to adopt the resolution ratifying the award of the sale of the general obligation school building facilities maintenance and refunding bond series 2026A. And with that, Jen will review the results of the sale. So, I'll ask her to come up. >> Good evening. Um, thank you for having me. My name is Jen Chapman and um, as Chris mentioned, I am a part of the team of financial adviserss to the district along with Jod Zespa and Shelby McQuay. And we do have great results for you tonight. and Chris uh did a great job explaining um the purposes of the bonds. So, it's the rest of those school building bonds, the facilities maintenance bonds, and then two separate refundings. Uh we received seven bids this morning, and of those seven, uh the Bank of America was the winning bidder on those bonds and there the interest rate was 3.45% to the district. Um, the highest bid on those bonds was 3.55. So, you can see that that spread was very tight and very competitive between the seven underwriters that bid this morning, which is great for the district that you want a competitive sale. Uh, the district also um was a part of the rating call. So, a part of the issuance of the bonds means that the the district gets rated. And so, you are participating in the Minnesota credit enhancement program. And so through that program, you receive a uh a double A1 rating on the bonds and then you also received an underlying rating for the district which was an A1 with a positive outlook. That combined together with the low interest rate um provided well that provided a lower interest rate to you by receiving um the credit rating um on for the district to today. Sorry about that. Um there is a summary of sale results in the sale day report that was provided to you and that just gives a little bit of the details of the sale today. But the two main components in what was beneficial to the district was that you received a a premium that was larger than was anticipated during the pre-sale amount and you also received the lower interest rate. So, what that means um to the district is you will have additional uh funds available for those project costs and then for the refunding piece of those you ended up saving additional dollars and Chris mentioned that um we it was anticipated that the district would save approximately 3.3 million at the pre-sale uh report at that time and today that came in closer to 5.9 million of savings to the district. And the true interest cost uh came in below the pre-sale report at that time that was 3.93 and now it came in today this morning at 3.45%. So it both of those just great great results for the district and um what that means for you is like I said uh additional savings to the taxpayers and also additional dollars for your project costs. Uh the bonds will be callable and so in the fall of 2034 you'll be able to take a look at interest rates at that time and you may be able to refund these bonds again um in order to achieve some additional savings for the taxpayers. The closing date on the bonds is March 12th. That's when the bond proceeds will be available for the facilities maintenance and school building bond portion. And the redemption date on the uh 2016 A and 2016 C bonds will be April 16th. And so that's the date that those will be put out. Tonight you will be adopting the resolution to award the sale of the bonds. Um and that's an action item here this evening. Uh we have a lot of attachments to this sale day report. So the first one is a bid tabulation that just sets out the um the biders from this morning. And I had mentioned that the winning bidder bidder was Bank of America and then you had um JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Jeff, Wells Fargo, Baird, and then truest was the highest bidder on those. So that's all set out there as the first attachment to the sale day report. And then we have a series of schedules that were provided um in the pre-sale report that Jod would have gone through and presented and explained to you. Those are all just updated with the sale results today. And then pages 17 through 30 are the rating reports. As I mentioned, the district had gotten a rated as part of the bond issuance. And so I will just note with that positive outlook um that was a revision to the rating. You received that positive outlook and that had to do um with stable finances and a strong economic base with growing enrollment. So those were some of the the main reasons for the change to a positive outlook. Do you have any questions? Can I get a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Move by shared. Seconded by Louise. Any comments or questions? Okay. Seeing none, this is a resolution. So Dana, can you call the role, please? >> Elizabeth Bachmannberg. >> Louise Hines. >> Yes. >> Ryan Clark. approved. >> Melinda Doss, >> yes. >> Simei Pnik >> is absent. Sorry. Sharon Vanlier, >> approved. >> Katie Schwarz, >> yes. >> Okay, motion passes. Thank you. >> Okay, we will move on to our last action item and that is the superintendent contract and that will be presented by myself. Okay, so the board is asked to renew the contract for Superintendent Neielson. The contract is set to begin on July 1st, 2026 and expires on June 30th, 2029. The 3 years is standard lengths for contract for school superintendent. The proposed contract includes a salary increase based on market conditions and the review of salaries for the 14 largest school districts in the state. The salary increase places Superintendent Neielsson in the average range of the top 14 school districts with a 2.5% increase in the following years. The proposed contract includes an increase in the amount of the district's 403b matching contribution from $7,000 to 10,000. The proposed contract includes an increase in the amount of the district's car allowance from 500 per month to $700 per month. Superintendent Neielen will use her personal vehicle to conduct all bis district business and is not subject to any mileage reimbursement. The proposed contract includes one additional paid holiday for Junth. The board's legal council has re reviewed the proposed contract and recommends approval. The board chair negotiated the contract and also recommends approval. I suppose I could have read that as I also negotiated the contract and recommend approval. Okay. So, can I get a motion to approve? >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Okay. I missed that because I was not looking. Louise >> Louise >> and Sharon >> any comments? Okay, seeing none, all those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion passes. >> Okay, now we will move on to 8.0 and that is our superintendent report. >> Thank you. Just a couple of things to share from across the district. Um, first to highlight on Monday, um, we had our first Black History Month student social that was actually facilitated and led by Natokai, one of our multicultural liaison along with Ashley Acasta, who works out of DEI. Um, that event held at Eastridge High School, excuse me, included students from all three of our high schools and there was that opportunity to celebrate who they are and many opportunities for breakout sessions. um everything from gaming and streaming to mental health careers to songwriting to arts and of course leadership. So just a nice day on Monday at Eastridge High School celebrating our students and making them feel valued. Um secondly, just wanted to highlight that this week I also attended the Park High School job fair. Um, and while there were a lot of different vendors there recruiting for summer and even for now, South Washington County Schools was loud and proud, um, trying to find every bus driver, nutrition services worker. And interestingly enough, some of the vendors that were there and had other jobs were actually also considering South Washington County schools. I won't mention any names, but there were other places that were also looking at South Washington County schools. But it really, excuse me, a very nicely organized event. Of course, we had our very own Krauss Anderson, Koma Architects, who's working with us, looking to hire um 916, Cottage Grove Police Department, the fire marshall, um McDonald's across the street. So, a lot of people out wanting to hire our students. And then finally, um this is the week of celebrating our bus drivers and transportation staff. And so, having an opportunity, um and knowing just the importance and actually I spent the day with them, uh not the day, but the morning with our bus drivers on their professional development day. and really just an incredible group of professionals. Um, I wish there were more opportunities to interact because they just really are a great crew. And as I shared before, 80% or I think Krie shared, 80% of our bus drivers actually live and reside within the school district. And so that's also something that's really neat. Um, but our students and our staff treated them like royalty on that day. They got treats and donuts when they were out dropping kids off. But one of the highlights were all of the notes that students wrote. And if you know anything about kindergarten and first grade spelling, you know that it's typically phonetic. And one of the bus drivers couldn't figure out what one of the students wrote. And they said, "You were the best driver in the United States." United spelled phonetically, kind of und United. Uh, and the states was like st I don't know what the ending was, but I could figure that out. And I said, "Come on, you have to understand young kids." Um but just all of the messages sent to them and they really felt the love in transportation sometimes an area of operations that's really very underappreciated but they are transporting 13,000 kids across the district both regular general education as well as special education. So um if you have the opportunity those in the community or schoolboard members shoot a thank you to our transportation department. Um they are very grateful um for the opportunity to work with our kids and we are very grateful for them. Thank you. Okay, moving on to 9.0 and that is our future meeting dates. March 5th, 2026, schoolboard workshop meeting here at the district service center at 6 PM. Then March 26, 2026, schoolboard business meeting also at the district service center at 6 p.m. With that 10.0 and we are adjourned. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey.