Good evening. I'm calling to order the regular meeting of ISD 622 May 19th, 2026. Uh first up is the Pledge of Allegiance. Please stand. All right. First thing we have to do is approve the agenda. Could I get a motion and a second? So moved. Second. Moved by Livingston, second by Swore. Um any discussion or amendments? All right. All in favor say I. I. And all opposed say nay. All right. The agenda is approved. [clears throat] Um and then first up on our agenda is our Bilingual Seals Recognition. Oh, thank you. >> It's always tricky. Good evening. Um Yes, I'll go first. My name is Amy Lockner and I am the director of research, evaluation, and assessment here. And it is my pleasure this evening to be um honoring our Bilingual Seals candidates, actually awardees now. So, what we're going to do here is first we're going to review a little bit about Bilingual Seals and share some information. And then we'll be honoring our individual Seals awardees. So, the Minnesota As many of you know, the Minnesota Bilingual Seals Program allows Minnesota schools to award a seal to students who demonstrate proficiency in a language other than English. The Across Minnesota, about 90 school districts do offer the Bilingual Seals, including ours, and we offer and um support this program in order to recognize the value and of the privilege of speaking more than one language. So, students who demonstrate proficiency in a language other than English and also complete their English Language Arts credits, they earn a Seal of Biliteracy once they graduate. And they demonstrate their proficiency in another language by taking a pretty comprehensive assessment that includes listening, reading, speaking, and writing in the other language. Based on the results of these assessments, and again, completing successfully completing their English Language Arts credits, they may be awarded one of three levels of Bilingual Seals: the World Language Proficiency Certificate, um the Bilingual Gold Seal, or the Bilingual Platinum Seal. And those three levels um are based on level of proficiency uh with the World Language Proficiency Certificate aligning with what's called an intermediate low level of proficiency. And then the Bilingual Gold Seal um aligns with an intermediate high level proficiency. The intermediate level captures um skills that are kind of at the sentence level. So, they're able to speak in um straightforward sentences in another language um that allows them to have pretty functional uh language in another language um and to be able to have a pretty straightforward conversations. Uh and then the highest level is a bilingual platinum seal, which aligns with what's called the advanced low level. And the advanced level, um, in in for the advanced level, students demonstrate um, more paragraph-level language or skills in another language. So, they're able to have uh, extensive conversation about um, more in-depth topics in the other language um, at the paragraph level. And that's the highest level that we have a seal for in our state. So, students who do demonstrate proficiency in another language, um, do get extra high school elective credit in our district. And then they also may be able to receive college credit. So, if they are moving on to attend the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, they are um, kind of guaranteed a certain level of credits. Other colleges and universities do honor uh, the cre- the bilingual seals as well, but it's up to the individual institution. So, here is our kind of um, history with the program. And this year we had 103 graduating seniors earn bilingual seals. Um, so that is just a fantastic number uh, and we're very proud of them. And those students then to all together would earn a potential 281 college credits if they chose to do that. For free, right? So, that is just a it's just a wonderful program um, for our students. We have uh, this year we have uh, several different languages that our students earned seals in. Amharic, Arabic, French, Hmong, Oromo, Somali, Spanish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese. So, we are very fortunate today that we're able to congratulate in person a several of our awardees. Um, and then we're able to give them their their certificate and pin. So, the first thing we're going to do is honor our world language awardees. Given the number of awardees, our world language awardees, we are honoring just verbally, and then we will go through our gold and platinum level awardees, and some of whom are able to be here in person. So, I'm going to kind of give us a pause. Yeah, we'll pause here to honor our world language proficiency certificate awardees. >> [applause] >> These are students that are not here tonight. Yep. And they will get a certificate and a pin when they pick up their cap and gowns. And there's a second set of our world certificate. ALL RIGHT. >> [applause] >> OKAY. NOW, THE NEXT LEVEL, we have our gold awardees. And our superintendent, Christine Tuchio-Osorio, is going to read the names. And if you are here, we invite you to come up and get your certificate and pin, and then we will take a photo as well. All right. Um, there was a couple that just came in, so I don't know if you can see the mark there. Okay. Oh, yeah, maybe that will work better. Perfect. Okay. Sorry. My apologies. I don't speak other languages besides English and Spanish, but I'm going to just translate for a moment since we have so many Spanish speakers here tonight. >> Gracias. We're going to get right away started here. Students, as I call your name, I'm going to have you come on up to the front. You're going to receive a certificate and your pins. Do you have those with you, Amy? >> Yes. I just want to show them this pin that you're going to receive when you get your graduation gowns, maybe you already have, I'm not sure. When you have your graduation robes, there's going to be a stole that comes with it and you can wear this pin at your graduation ceremony. This is a really big deal. Okay? So, this is going to be our night to celebrate this and Amy's going to help with the certificates. I When I read your name, um not everybody is here tonight, so we're going to hold our applause till the end and everybody's going to come up. We'll take a group photo. Um and let's get started. Okay. Um Samira Adan Actually, we can Let's clap for everybody in the moment. Let's clap for Samira. >> [applause] >> Who has earned Who has earned a gold seal in Somali? Actually, I'm going to change to this microphone. I think it's a little better. Okay. And actually, if you want to come right up over here, we're going to make a I'll show you where we're going to stand. We're going to make a big arch right here. Congratulations. Okay. Next, KEVIN AMAYA MELENDEZ. >> [applause] >> JOEL ARREDONDO VENTURA, SPANISH. I should say the language, too. >> [applause] >> Idara Bucio Sanchez, Spanish. >> [applause] >> We recognize that many of our students have other activities going on, so not everyone can be here. Belen Calderon, Spanish. Rebecca Campos Urrutia, Spanish. >> [applause] >> Emma Chui, Spanish. >> [applause] >> Dahana Cordon, Spanish. Reina Cortel, SPANISH. REINA BIENVENIDA. [applause] OH. THERE WE GO. PERFECT. Stephanie Cortez Carmona, Spanish. >> [applause] >> Jodie Escobena, Spanish. >> [applause] >> Kimberly Flores, Spanish. Marlene Fuentes Ortiz, Spanish. Cadence George, FRENCH. >> [applause] >> CARLA GONZALEZ HUESO, SPANISH. >> [applause] >> Justine Hernandez Espitilla, Spanish. >> [applause] >> Litzy Hernandez Magana, Spanish. >> [applause] >> Breanne Isaula, Spanish. Andrew Johnson, Spanish. >> [applause] >> Tiffany Lau, French. >> [applause] >> Scott Lopez Hernandez, Spanish. >> [applause] >> Brittany Mansilla, Spanish. Dayanari Mansilla Rodriguez, Spanish. >> [applause] >> Duretti Mohammed Oromo. >> [applause] >> Kim Wynn, Vietnamese. >> [applause] >> Evangelina Ortega Teppa No, Teppe- Teppex- Did I say that right? Okay? Evangelina. Okay? Emily Perez Reyes, Spanish. >> [applause] >> Jazmin Reynoso Buendia, Spanish. >> [applause] >> Kevin Rodriguez Fig- Figuero- NO, FIGUEROA, SPANISH. >> [applause] >> MELANIE Sanchez Rosas, Spanish. >> [applause] >> Liudmyla Sheremetyuk, Ukrainian. >> [applause] >> Edis Silva Martinez, Spanish. >> [applause] >> Hugo Solis Guzman, Spanish. >> [applause] >> Caitlin Threat, Spanish. Uh Newart Tierful, Amharic. Edwin Tlaseca Campos, Spanish. >> [applause] >> Chauvin Vu, HMONG. >> [applause] >> ISABELLA VU, HMONG. >> [applause] >> Adriana Safki Chavez, Spanish. >> [applause] >> All right, we're going to move on to the platinum. Oh, I should change that. Thank you. All right. The top level here, are we ready? Karen Castro Hernandez, Spanish. >> [applause] >> Mareli Chino, Spanish. Mariano Cortez, Spanish. >> [applause] >> Aaron Gadea Dominguez, Spanish. Yamileth Garrido Mejia, Spanish. Emily Enriquez Morales, Spanish. >> [applause] [snorts] >> Uh Monica Komatsu Querido, Spanish. >> [applause] >> Yosi Yoshigi Lara Trejo, Spanish. >> [applause] >> Dayanara Mansilla Rodriguez, Spanish. >> [applause] >> Francisco Marcillo Castro, Spanish. Samuel Mendoza Monterrosa, Spanish. Zaide Montano Montano Montano or Hernandez. Daniel Muro Solis, Spanish. Javier Navarrete Quintanilla, Spanish. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Oh, there's one more. Fabiana Raygosa Alvarez, Spanish. >> [applause] >> Eliana Santiago Almazan, Spanish. And finally, Amberly Sosa Rivera, Spanish. >> [applause] >> Okay. Now it's time for a group photo. Congratulations. Oh, I'm sorry. Who did I miss? Please come up if I missed you. If I missed you, please come forward. My apologies. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Angeli Enriquez E Angeli Enriquez Enriquez Lopez. My apologies. She's right here. Thank you for catching that. Okay. So, we're going to take a group photo all together. Um and so for our parents that are here, we're going to take a group photo. We will send you this photo, but you are also welcome to take photos of your own and you're welcome to come up closer if you want to. Padres, les enviaremos nuestra foto, pero también son bienvenidos a tomar sus propias fotos también. Okay. Um we need all of our school board members. Andy, come on down. Amy, you got to be in this photo too >> are good like where you're at in the back. Whoops. Can you get Scarlet so I can see her? Go between those two. There, perfect. All right. Here, I'll go over here. And everybody, I'm going to take more than one, so just bear with me, please. Okay. Let's see how wide I'm going today. I'm going to take several and then my camera went to sleep. You guys need to recognize how truly gifted you are to be this level of bundling will. Okay, Christie, look at me. >> [laughter] >> Wait, I'm going to try to do it over the podium, too. That'll work. Thank you so much. >> Please put your pins in A SAFE [applause] PLACE. CONGRATULATIONS, YOU GUYS. I TOLD YOU THANK YOU. You guys are amazing. Way to go. Don't lose those pins. All right. Thank you, everyone. Have a good night. All right, next up we have our public comment. Do we have any signed up? Okay. So, we will move on to the consent agenda. Um this The consent agenda consists of routine items that are acted on in a single consolidated motion without board discussion. Um board members have the option of pulling items off the consent agenda if they wish to discuss them or consider them individually. Um, so I recommend that the consent agenda items, um, listed be approved as presented. Could I get a motion and a second? So moved. Second. All right, moved by Lemus and seconded by Swor. Um, any discussion? All right, all in favor say aye. Aye. And all opposed say nay. All right, so that is approved. Um, and then we have Give me a second. Our reports. So our, um, first up is our, um, school board representatives. All right, [snorts] you guys. Um, well, good evening everyone. Um, it's really exciting to see like everyone get recognized for bilingual seals. I know like that's like a huge thing, especially like growing up being bilingual. I feel like that's like a huge accomplishment within itself. Um, I'm really glad to be here speaking with all of you for one last time this school year, you guys. Uh, this is crazy. Time has gone by so fast. Um, I I still get the nerves I still get when I was first up here like last year, so it's good that those never go away. >> [laughter] >> Um, but where am I now? Oh, there's only like 3 weeks left of like the trimester, which when I really think about it, it like I really don't know where like life has brought me, you guys. I feel like it was ACT ACT break, um, AP test. Oh my gosh, it was AP tests were really like like heavy on all of us juniors, especially like all of my friends that had like AP Lang, AP Calc, um, and like a bunch of other things. Like they had like back-to-back exams. It's like, um, a lot of my friends were like, "Miss Hires did like a, um, weekend [clears throat] study sesh at the Oakdale Library." And so many of us she was like, I've never seen this many students come to this. Like we were all like so nervous before our test on Saturday and then we all like crammed in like a good like 4-hour study sesh, went home, and then like debriefed within amongst ourselves, and then we were ready for our AP test on Monday. Um And at the beginning of this month, it was our prom and it was hosted at the St. Paul Event Center. It was really fun. Um I'd say it was more well organized and more spacious than the Mall of America venue. I will say that. I feel like the Mall of America venue, like there were so many students and not enough ventilation that like we were all like it was a messy in there. I'll just say that. >> [laughter] >> But there were so many like fun things to do. There was like a mocktail like bar. It's like uh water, lemonade. It was like a Titan punch. It was something like that. And I was I got it and I was like this tastes like blue Gatorade, you guys. This is not punch. Like this is cool blue Gatorade. Um there was like a 360 camera. Um and that was really fun. And then there was like a um photo booth. They had like props in there. The lighting was really good. >> [laughter] >> And then um they had like a backdrop as well. So it's like there was and it was like really like well spread out. So there wasn't like a big group of students just like there like crowding it. Um but yeah, I had a really fun time. I really enjoyed our day of prom because I know North prom was this past weekend. It was so hot this weekend, you guys. I'm so glad I was not in my dress, in my makeup, like in that under that sun. Um I also know that the our Avid seniors at banquet was was last night and my sister went to the banquet cuz she's a tutor and she was like Mr. Jay had made like um their slideshow and there was like pictures from middle school in there. Like and they were looking back and they were like cringing so hard. It was so She's like, "Watch out for next year." And I'm like, "Oh my gosh, no." Um but good thing when I was in middle school we were wearing masks, so you don't I would only see like this up. >> [laughter] >> So, yeah. Um and five new spots are opening up in AVID 11 um for like our uprising seniors for my graduating class, which is really fun. I told all my friends, I was like, "Apply, apply, apply. Let's all get an hour of all of us together." And like give Miss First a headache. I'm just kidding. Um I know like that'll be really fun if they do get in. And I know like a lot of um underclassmen are also looking into it as well. I was kind of there at the one-time meeting. And I was like, "Join AVID. Like I love it here." And Miss First was like, "Yeah, don't listen to her. Like da da da da da. She's just yapping." Um and Relay for Life was this past weekend. And I think it's crazy that like for every event you had to pay $2, let alone you had to fundraise. Um but a lot of people were like having a blast. Like a lot of people were um like fighting for musical chairs, I heard. And um I know that my friends, like my friend group, like their Relay team, they designed like a a cardboard box where like they went out to the track and they did a race. And my my friend's team ended up winning, so they were like, "Yay!" Like we're They were like so happy. Um and I thought it was so funny that when students fell asleep, HAC members were going around with a megaphone yelling at them to wake up. >> [laughter] >> I feel like that like Oh my gosh, I I would have not liked that if I was sleeping. Um and yeah. Um and then seniors' last week of school is already next week, which I'm just like yikes. Like that that means it's just the juniors and then we're just like um the uprising [clears throat] seniors, which is really scary. I'm like, "Uh, I have to think about the common app now for fall the fall." I'm not excited for that. Um and I also know that Miss De Cent sent out a video for all the seniors to talk about like the senior night, like the all-night party at hosted at the burrow after graduation. It's going to be from like 9:00 p.m. to I think she said like 2:00 a.m. Which I feel like that's crazy. Staying up till 2:00 a.m. I cannot do that. I mean I'm in bed by like 8:00 p.m. like >> [laughter] >> Um And then the spring band concert was this past Thursday and I know that the seniors that are in band they got recognized. And it's just the end of the school year. We're trying to push through it. For I don't know. I feel like the last couple weeks of school always the hardest. Um because like you're tired like but it's post AP exam so it's like you really don't have anything else to do in your class. Um just show up and have good attendance. So Um yeah. And I also know that um So last time I was here I talked about like the tutoring center that like uh we were going to make a proposal for Miss De Cent. Tomorrow we're meeting during win time. We have the proposal set up like we just all have to fill out a document, um split up the work and um present it to Miss De Cent. But uh we're planning on presenting it to her before the school year and so we can have it up and going for next fall. So Yeah, it's pretty much exciting. Oh, and I shared to some of you guys here before the meeting started. So I kept a little secret from you guys. So basically my sister graduated uh from the U of M from her bachelor's this past weekend and she was actually her commencement speaker for her class and it was so cute. Like my mom and I we had like a bet like who was going to cry. She wasn't crying but behind my phone I was just like tears on tears on tears. Um it was so cute and I think um just like seeing like the president of like the U of M when my sister addressed to my parents like, um, a little like couple sentences in Spanish, he was just like, "Mhm. I saw that like, yep, this is good." I was like, "Okay, hey." I like, um, but yeah, uh, I took a picture with Goldie. Um, it was really fun. Uh, but uh, she was like the first one to get her, um, uh, like diploma >> diploma. So, after that sitting for like 2,999 students was a little rough after that, but we pushed through it. >> [laughter] >> I have to add, Scarlett, I had actually heard that news as well and I had texted your sister and said, "You care if I share your news?" And she's like, "Sure, go ahead." And I just texted her, I said, "Oop, your sister just beat us to it." Yeah. [laughter] Um, but we should also mention she graduated in 3 years. >> Mhm. Wow. And she's going to she's going to take a little time this next year off and then she's going to go straight on to medical school. Pretty amazing. >> Yeah, she was like, um, well, she just turned 21 like last Monday. So, she was like, "I'm still like too young to go into medical school. Like, I want to work. Um, medical school's expensive, so she decided to take that gap year and um, just take a break." But, she's so crazy. She's like, "Mom, I miss doing my assignments." I'm like, "You're crazy. Like, no." [laughter] I would be the complete opposite. I would be so happy, but she's like, uh, she sees me I'm like cramming in for my final I have my on Friday and she's like, "Oh, I wish I had schoolwork to do." I'm like, "Yeah, you're weird." >> [laughter] >> And for those who don't know, um, Scarlett's sister, Stephanie, was, uh, our student school board representative from Tartan High School a few years back. So, such a such an honor to see her succeeding so well. Yeah. Thank you. Um, next up we have, um, our finance audit report. Oh, yeah, any questions real quick? Sorry. Can Can you tell us more again about the the tutoring center that you're hoping to establish? Yes. So, back when I was a freshman, we had this thing called Titan Academy. And I think just because um Win Time was starting to become like a thing in school now, um they decided to take away Titan Academy and incorporate Win Time. Which I feel like it was a good move, but at the same time I feel like Titan Academy um I really liked how structured it was. Like you showed up, um your teachers are right there, and like you got like one-on-one. Um compared to like Win Time, it's like 30 students um distracted in a room for 30 minutes. Like everything's hectic, the teachers are running around. So, we were kind of just like, how are we able to make a tutoring center that's like there's no like cost to it. We want to do it off like free, where it's like NHS students and avid students are able to run this under adult supervision and get volunteer hours. So, we were kind of just like we had that idea, and I have tutored since I was in eighth grade like um in my within my community. >> [clears throat] >> And I was like, I love this idea. So, I kind of like connected with Ms. First about it. I was like, "Hey, I would really love to be a part of this." Um and so, we're first going to like start off with like avid students. I feel like we want to incorporate a lot of like avid um ideas into it. Like maybe not like a TRF, but like you come in and you kind of like fill out what I know, what I need help on, and like my teacher. And so, we were kind of What's a TRF? A TRF? Okay, so a TRF Actually, I have one right here. I have like my school bag. So, a TRF is essentially this piece of paper. And this accounts for majority of your avid grade. So, you kind of fill out like your last name, your avid teacher, your subject area, which mine is going to be on chemistry for tomorrow. Um and you kind of have like your topic {slash} essential question like you're kind of stuck on. Your the initial question was like, "How am I able to calculate the moles in oxygen?" And then like your source will be like um Tuesday's homework. And then you kind of fill out like academic vocabulary and like what you know about your question. And then back here, you kind of have like it's kind of like you're spitting out like your ideas of like what you know, and you're just jotting it down. You're like, "Okay, if I know that like oxygen is blah blah blah." And you just start writing down. And then you kind of just where wherever you're stuck on is where you leave the the paper off on. And then you and your friends essentially collaborate and help each other figure out like how to solve the problem, which is like really nice, honestly. Um I feel like I've benefited a lot off of TRFs my junior year. I feel like freshman and sophomore year um were a little bit easy for me. So, I feel like junior year where it's like AP Calc, I'm like, "Oh, yeah, I need help on this." Um that's where TRFs come into play. So, we were kind of thinking like students are able to um fill this out. And I really like it cuz it's like straightforward. Like, "What do you need help on?" And then we were thinking about doing it in the media center because it's a really beautiful space, and it's really like it's so big where it's like we could spread off like, "Oh, I had Mr. Satzman. I'll take the Satzman um table, and I'll help them out because I know how he grades, how he teaches." So, yeah. We're kind of thinking about doing something like that. Um hopefully it goes through. I really hope it does because I feel like a lot of freshmen this year have struggled academically, and I feel like if we um bring this into target, I feel like I hope it'll I'll see an improvement in academics. So, yeah. Yeah, that's a great idea and great initiative. And if I can just add learning how to kind of ask for help early, I think is really important. I didn't learn that until too late in college, I would say. Knowing that in college you got office hours where you can go talk to your professor. But I was like, I don't really want to ask for help, and it would have benefited me greatly. And so to see that kind of move into the high schools and have that peer-to-peer tutoring, I think is really great. So, good luck with that initiative. And thanks again for your update. It was really nice to hear everything. Yes, of course. Thank you. >> Good luck with the year for the end of the school year. Oh, thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Since this is your last meeting, is that what you said? This is your very last one. >> Yeah, I think for the school year. >> year. Okay. I was just wondering if you wanted to comment on something that a lot of us heard about when we went to a conference in San Antonio. And it was about cell phone usage in in school. Do you have any thoughts about that you want to you want to share? Yeah. Okay. So, I kind of feel I have a lot of thoughts on it. I think cell phones, I think they are very much abused in my generation with like social media and like algorithms and stuff like that. I feel like a lot of teenagers have a really hard time like setting down their phone and focusing in on like school and like learning how to navigate like, okay, and I have my phone, but like I need to set it down and do my school work. So, I feel like a lot of a lot of the time my freshman year we would Well, students were able to have them out like in my science class. I remember freshman year like a lot of the students, mainly like a lot of the guys, cuz they don't like to listen to teachers. don't know why. Um they were on their phones and then they were complaining, "Why am I failing this test?" Like this could have been like so easy. I'm like, "Could have been easy for you to put down your phone and have done the study guide, but you didn't." Um so I kind of feel like a lot of the time like my freshman year teachers weren't strict on it. Up until like the district set up I think it was at the district that set up a policy last year which like even if I had my phone like this face down in front of me, my teacher took it away for the rest of the class which I like that because a lot of the time um I would leave my phone like this. I would not pick it up and I would get it taken away and I'm like, "Oh, but I don't have any pockets." And then they're like, "That's why you have your backpack." And I'm like, "Okay." I really like that. So um I feel like a lot of students they get a phone early on in like their teenage years and they kind of like middle school it's like, "Oh, it's not hard. Like why? Like do I need to stress out about it like a test?" Otherwise it's like in high school it's like you have an AP test that's kind of different. That shift. Um I feel like um a lot of the time like I just think the the whole problem is like students aren't able to navigate like when to put their phones down. But I do like that how this year and last year teachers were really strict on it and I in my personal experience like I really haven't seen anything. I'm only part-time in high school right now, but like um a lot of the students have their phones out during passing time and the first thing I hear from my teachers are like, "Everyone put your headphones and um phones away in your backpack." And everyone does it. And then they're we're all paying attention. So I don't know. What do you guys think about it? >> [laughter] >> Yeah. So just a follow-up. How would you feel if some districts have taken the where they every student turns in their phone at the beginning of the day. It's put in like a pouch or something and then they can get it back at the end of the day. What's your thoughts on that? So I was put on the spot. No, you're fine. I actually went to a charter school before enrolling into the district. It was called Achieve Language Academy and they actually had that system up. So my brother, it was my three siblings, we were all there. It was a charter school so obviously they had levels from like pre-K to eighth grade and so my mom gave my brother a phone to just be like, "Hey, if you need me for an emergency you can call me." But I do remember even being in pre-K that like my brother had to fill out a paper like a It was like a a form and he had to turn in his phone, shut it off and then at the end of the day he would have to like sign that he did pick it up and then he would get it back for the end of the day. And I do feel like it was easier for him to give it up because he was so young but I feel like now students are going to be like, "Well, why are you taking away my phone? Like that's my property." And I'm like, "But you also like are in school you shouldn't be on your phone." So I do feel like that would be I also have heard from the Stillwater district they do that and a lot of students like they're off their phone and I think they do they don't give it back for them at lunch. That's what I have heard and I do feel like it has helped a lot of like students like focus on like in class and I do feel like that would have been really nice but I don't know how like everyone every student would take it. So yeah. Okay. Thank you. Also just as a quick follow-up So under the heading of the good old days, if you're wondering if you're wondering what prom was like in 1967, it wasn't the lavish event that you described. It was crepe paper cheesy crepe paper in the gym with terrible music and >> [laughter] >> and just um and the my takeaway memory of that was uh uh um fumbling around the punch bowl and spilling punch on somebody's prom dress and getting in trouble. >> [laughter] >> So anyway, so prom sounds like it's a much bigger, better deal than it used to be. Yeah, I think like last year it felt like lavish cuz we got to get like on the Nickelodeon rides. Um and that was really fun. I feel like a lot of students like they were all like lining up to get the wristband and then like once they said you guys can go I legit. You guys, I saw so many students run to the SpongeBob ride where that goes upside down and like there was a line all night for that ride. But yeah, I feel like I feel like I would have loved prom back in back in the day, but yeah. I don't know. I feel like the students now like they're so crazy. Like some people were air sur- like surfing in the crowd surfing. Some people getting thrown up in the air. I'm like, you guys like what if they get hurt? Like >> [laughter] >> yeah. Thank you, Scarlet. Um have a good summer and if you ever decide you can go to HR. Sounds like you like the rules like I do. >> [laughter] >> Yes. Yes. >> [laughter] >> All right. Thank you. >> [laughter] >> Um so now we are going to move on to our um audit report. All right. Well, Cherry Aung, directors of the board, uh Superintendent Tuchi Osorio and cabinet, I'd like to welcome Jackie Heagle from LB Carlson to our meeting tonight. Uh and she will be presenting on our FY25 audit. Um before I turn it over to Jackie, I would like to publicly recognize one of our finance staff members, Janet Dolman, for um guiding our department through these last couple of audits. And so, we've completed now two audits in less than one fiscal year. And so, I just want to give a huge shout-out to Janet for um for helping us get through these when she returned back to our district back in July of 2025. So, welcome, Jackie. >> [cough] >> Well, good evening, and thank you for having me tonight. Um as Josh said, my name is Jackie Heagle, and I am the partner in charge of the North St. Paul School District audit, and here to present the audit results for the year ended 2025. And as Josh mentioned, I think I was here in November, I think it was. So, just a few months ago, um but we were able to get through the 2025 audit, which was great. Um as part of your packets, you should have received some documents. The annual financial report is in there. Uh the special purpose report that summarizes those audit opinions. Then there's the corrective action plan that's required to be submitted to the Department of Education. Um and then the management report is our LB Carlson document that summarizes uh the results of the audit from both the compliance standpoint, but also the financial results of the audit. Uh before I start my presentation, um I'll talk a little bit about the plan scope and timing of the audit and that's required to be talked about. Um like I said, I am here to present the 2025 audit. It was delayed um that you are all are aware of. Um as part of the presentation, um you're going to see some findings resulting from that. Um just with the audit not being submitted timely to the Department of Education, the Office of the State Auditor, and uh also to the uh federal government. Um there's several findings that you see that all result just from that delay in that audit uh results in the submission of the audit, I should say. Starting out here though summarizes my role as auditors. Um As an auditor, my role is to issue an opinion on those basic financial statements over that district audit noting that it is fairly stated. Your district does receive more than 750,000 in federal funds, so there's that separate audit of the federal awards. We call that the single audit. And that's that SEFA, that schedule of expenditures of federal awards that you're going to see in that special purpose report, one of the documents that you have. As part of the audit then we also test the internal controls and compliance over that financial statement audit, also with the federal single audit, and then with the Minnesota state laws and regulations. So each year the office of the state auditor releases what's known as that legal compliance manual. And so as auditors we're required to test those specific statutes that they put in this manual. And they do change from year to year. Some of the statutes that we're required to test for are consistent though as well from year to year. For the audit results over the district's financial audit, you're going to see we issued an unmodified or a clean opinion on that basic financial statements noting that it is fairly stated. So that is the opinion you're looking for over that financial part of the audit. If you do look at that audit opinion a little in detail, you're going to see that there was a new GASB standard that was required to be implemented in 2025. That was GASB statement number 101 relating with compensated absences. So that new standard changed the way that local governments now report compensated absences in your financial statements. Now you're recording a liability for compensated absences based on what employees are more likely than not to use over their service life, not just what you would pay them out at termination or if somebody left employment of the district. That has no impact on those fund financial statements. So, if you're talking your general fund, food service, community service, it doesn't have any impact on that. In those funds, you're only recording if somebody leaves an employment and you have a liability to pay them. This liability for compensated absences only gets recorded on those entity-wide financial statements. So, those are those full accrual financial statements in the front, um, of your report. But, that is a new standard that was implemented starting in 2025. For the internal controls and compliance over the financial audit, uh, you're going to see here we've, uh, noted that we do have five material weaknesses in internal controls over the financial reporting that we did note. Um, these comments are pretty much the same as a prior year for those that were part of the prior year presentation. Um, you're going to see that most of these are similar comments here. Um, starting with the first one, just the segregation of duties. Um, just as part of the uh, audit process, we noted that there are several areas within the finance department that weren't fully segregated for that 2025 audit year. Some of that was just turn, uh, caused by the turnover in staff. Um, so we do recommend now that the district is staffed in that area to review the controls, which I believe they have been throughout the 2026 year, and modify duties as needed. Uh, the second one there notes with the timeliness and the accuracy of reconciliations. Um, so the weakness there is just making sure that all reconciliations are being completed monthly. Um, so you want to make sure that they're being completed timely, and then also accurate, making sure that those reconciliations do tie into the district's general ledger each month, um, specifically in those areas of cash and investments. Uh, some of the self-insurance reporting as well as some of the payroll liabilities. The third comment there then relates with material audit adjustments. Um as part of our audit process, we proposed several adjustments that needed to be adjusted on the financial statements. Um one of the audit standards is if there's any identification of a material weakness, um it is noted as an audit finding in the results of the audit, um that this the financial statements would have been misstated if these adjustments would not have been made. The fourth one there relates with the internal controls over journal entries. Um as part of the 2025 audit, uh there was various journal entries that the district recorded that were inaccurate or did not have proper supporting documentation. Um also some that were just not reviewed and approved, so all journal entries should have a review process um and an approval process making sure that you have the proper supporting documentation on hand and kept on file. And then the last comment here relating with the internal control findings is that regulatory reporting deadline. Um as I mentioned at the start of my presentation for the 2025 audit year, uh the controls weren't adequate to make sure that the financial records in that year-end closing process was properly completed and submitted to both the state and the federal government on time. So that results in uh a weakness in the internal controls relating with those reporting deadlines. Uh for the audit results on over that Minnesota legal compliance audit opinion, uh you're going to see three comments here. Uh these were also the same three for the that you saw in your prior year audit as well. The first relates with the payment of invoices and making sure that all invoices are being paid within that 35-day payment period. Um that's uh 35 days from either receipt of the invoice or receipt of the goods or the services. Uh the second comment there relates with the broker certifications. So, annually prior to a local government completing any investment transactions with a broker, you're required to get what's called a broker certification where your broker's signing off they're going to comply with all state statutes. Um and you're supposed to get that the start of the year and those were not obtained for the 2025 audit year. And then the third comment here uh once again relates to that timely submission of the audited financial statements. So, each year by November 30th, uh school districts are required to submit the audited fund balances, revenues, and expenditures to the Department of Education. And then as auditors, we certify that information. And then by December 31st, you're required to submit that audited financial statements both of the Department of Education as well as the State Auditor's Office. For the audit results and over that single audit of federal awards, uh we issued a clean opinion on that CFDA noting that it is fairly stated as of year end. There's just the one comment in the federal area and that's with the federal reporting deadline. Once again, the late submission kind of hits you in a few different areas here. The internal controls, the legal compliance, and then as well as the single audit. Um so, those single audit opinions are required to be submitted to the government 30 days from the audit report or 9 months after year end. So, it was due to the federal government by March 31st of 2026 year. So, this summarizes the audit findings or kind of that compliance side of that financial statement audit. Um I can't speak yet to the 2026 audit, but I am hopeful that, you know, with the changes in staffing and some of the changes in procedures that the district will, you know, get back on track with the goal of being submitted by that December 31st 2026 deadline coming up in about 7 or 8 months here. So >> [sighs] >> But moving on then to the financial results of the audits. Um as we talk through this, you'll see the financial results came out pretty positive, very positive in all the different funds that we'll talk through here. Um this summarizes that general fund financial position showing that cash balance and the fund balance of the district as well as the line graph shows the expenditures of that general fund. So the general fund cash balance ended the year at about 45.7 million, which was an increase of about 5.7 million from the prior year. And if you're looking at that fund balance area, the total general fund fund balance at year end was about 47.7 million, and that was an increase of about 6.3 million from the prior year. And that's compared to the district had budgeted for an increase of about 1.2 million. This next slide then summarizes those components of the fund balance. Um so taking that total general fund fund balance of about 47.7 million, splits it into those various components, the dollars that are non-spendable, restricted by state statute, and then the dollars that are assigned and unassigned. Um so overall that 40.7.7 million is split into there's about 870,000 in non-spendable fund balance. Those are dollars that are tied up in prepaid. So as of year end, you had prepaid items for next year, those are already non-spendable. The restricted fund balance is at about 16.8 million. Um a few of the areas that are those dollars are restricted for um relate to operating capital dollars. There's about 11.6 million restricted in operating capital. There's about 2.6 million restricted in staff development and about 1.8 million in medical assistance dollars that are restricted at year end 25. That assigned fund balance of 2.9 million that is assigned for a subsequent year budget. Um so when you approve the following year's budget, if you're projecting a spend down, you have to set those dollars in a separate line called a signed fund balance cuz you're projecting to spend down. And then that left about 27 million in that unassigned fund balance at year end, which represents 14% of the expenditures in the fund. So you are in line with the district fund balance policy with which is at that 8 to 10% ratio. Next graph here just summarizes the um ADM and the pupil units served by the district for the past 10 years. Um at year end 2025, the estimated ADM were about 10,400 400s decrease of about 65 ADM from the prior year. Um that ultimate the resulting pupil units all decrease down to about 11,389. These are the ADMs that are used in all the projections when you get into all your general fund calculations. Next couple graphs here will summarize the general fund revenues and the expenditures um showing the current year actual compared to budget as well as the prior year. So overall, the general fund revenues ended the year about 6.6 million over the final budget. Um if you're looking at variance to budget, um most of that you saw variances in federal sources, just spending some of the carryover funds from the prior year that were spent in 2025, uh but not included in the budget. Uh property taxes also came in um stronger than projected in the budget, and as well as the other category, which is mainly the investment earnings. And then you saw an offset there in the state sources. So state sources came in under budget mostly in that general education aid. When you're looking current year to prior year, your general fund revenues were up just under 9 million from the prior year. Most of that was in state sources with some of the funding improvements in the general education and the special education formulas. You also saw increase in that property tax area, which aligns with what was approved with the tax levy that was approved by the school board. And then you saw that offsetting in that federal sources area. Federal sources saw decrease with the final spending of those pandemic related entitlements in 2025. Similar graph here then just showing the general fund expenditures by the various categories here. Overall, the general fund expenditures ended the year about 1.7 million over budget. Most of that is that capital expenditure area and just the timing of the long-term facility maintenance projects at year-end. A lot of those projects, you know, go over the summer and just the timing of when they get that work done. When you're looking current year to prior year, you saw the general fund expenditures increase about 7 million. Most of that's in salaries and benefits with the contractual salary benefit increases that are approved. You also saw the purchase services area up about 1.3 million just for contractual service costs as you did have some vacant positions in the district throughout the 2025 year. And then you saw that offset by your supplies and materials were down compared to the prior year mostly in that elementary and secondary education function. This graph then summarizes those other operating funds of the district, specifically the food service fund, that community service fund. As you can see from looking at the graph, both of these are in a healthy financial position at the end of the current year as well as the previous year. Um, the food service fund ended the year with about 4.5 million in fund balance. It was a slight increase from the prior year. Um, but at year end that fund balance represented about 46% of the expenditures in the fund. And then that community service fund also, um, ended the year at about fund balance about 3.4 million. Had a decrease in spend down of about 520,000. But at year end the fund balance in this fund represents about 24% of the expenditures. Um, so as I noted, as you can see in the graph that both of those funds are in a healthy financial position at year end. That leaves my last slide here that summarizes those district wide statement of net position. Um, so as I mentioned, you have all the different funds of the district that roll up into this entity wide, uh, snapshot of that statement of net position. These full accrual financials include all the capital asset activity of the district as well as any long-term liabilities, any pension activity of the district. Um, the top portion of the table shows those fund balances, the various adjustments to get to the net position. Then the bottom portion of that table shows those components of net position. Um, so at year end you saw an increase in that net position of about 23.8 million. If you look at the bottom portion of the table, you're seeing most of that is in that net investment in capital assets. Um, so as you're doing capital asset, uh, construction throughout the district, you saw the change in the capital asset activity and then paying down some of the bonds that were used to construct those assets. Um, and then the restricted you're seeing an increase there of about 3.7 million. Um, lots of that is restricted for capital asset acquisition. Like I said, some of those operating capital dollars, staff development, um, as well as the restrictions for debt service and food service saw increases. Um, so with that I can open it up if there are any questions. Uh, thank you for all the all the good work and for spending so much time with our district. I think we're really excited um, to get this audit done and and also look forward to seeing you in 7 months again >> [laughter] >> with hopefully an on time audit next time. Um, I I did have a question about the um, the fund balances um, and I was looking for kind of an an explanation of unrestricted versus unassigned versus what our goal of 8 to 10% is. Does that Which one does that refer to and um, yes, if you could just explain a little bit more, please. Yep, so the unassigned is truly just that bottom line on this graph or the table here of unassigned. The unrestricted includes both assigned and unassigned dollars. Um, so when you're looking at unassigned, it's only that bottom line and the district's policy is based off the unassigned and that 8 to 10%. So you're comparing that to the bottom percentage on here of the 14%. >> Okay, and I had seen I saw a line in the one of the reports describing both the um, the healthy unassigned fund balance that we have and also how important it is to maintain that. Um, I was wondering if you could just speak a little bit more about um, as you mentioned, we're we're over our our goal, but that doesn't mean that we necessarily have extra money to spend, I think. And it is over Over our minimum. Over our minimum, exactly. Exactly. And so um, if you could just talk a little bit about why that line was in there in our current environment. Yeah, so I think on one of the pages in the management report, we just comment on just the importance of having you know, a healthy fund balance, um, just the limited resources from the state and any unexpected expenditures. It's important to make sure you're maintaining that uh, healthy fund balance not only in line with your fund balance policy, but also any future plans of the district as well. Thank you. I think that helps put it in perspective because looking at just the total fund balance, you know, 47 million sounds like a lot of money, but as you said, I think it's important that we have that um on hand and unassigned for any unexpected um kind of shortfalls in money coming in or increased expenses that we may [clears throat] have. So, Thank you. >> If I could just piggyback on that, it's a great question, Katie, and I think just for people who might be viewing as well, one of the challenges that happens in um public education in Minnesota is that our fiscal year runs July 1 to June 30th. And so every year beginning as you know in December and January, we start to build those budget assumptions, what what we predict we're going to receive in terms of revenue for the following year as as far as what we predict our expenditures will be. And as you know, revenue is tied directly to student enrollment. There's no crystal ball to know exactly where you're going to be with regard to student enrollment each year. We have historical data, but one of the things that the pandemic taught us is that historical data can go out the window when something changes or something unexpected. We saw um we saw that during the pandemic. We We saw that again. Totally was not expecting, you know, the metro surge impact um with the ice activity on our our enrollment and our attendance, of course, but I think um one of the things that's really important to remember is that when you build budgets for school districts, there's many, many different revenue streams, and there's also um lots of different variables that go into how much we think it's going to cost to run the district. Everything from And I know you know this. I'm saying this because I know there's cuz we've talked about it quite a bit, but like when we make those budget assumptions, we have to predict and our team is amazing at this, I would argue, um as well as you can be, what we think our energy costs are going to go up by, what we predict, um you know, including gas and what we think uh salary cost settlements are going to look like because we know that not only do we have to settle contracts every 2 years with our all the different labor union groups, but we also have people come and go from our district, employees that might come in or leave, and every time that happens, they may come in with different levels of experience that land them on a different point on the salary schedule. And so, everything we do is based on historical trend data, and then we try to combine that with like when we're trying to predict how many students we're expecting to have in our school district next year, we rely very heavily on census data, um and demographic data from our our neighborhood and our communities. We We measure live births from the minute they happen that live in our district boundaries because we we have to try to guess and predict how many we think we're going to come into our kindergarten 5 years later. And when you do that, there's absolutely no way to do and no school district anywhere can do all of that perfectly. I would argue we do a pretty good job of it, but sometimes one of the reasons you may build fund balance or spend more down is because at the end of the day, we always refer to that enrollment count. In fact, when school starts in September, uh we literally are checking every single day, not just who's enrolled, but we call them cheeks in the seats. Your butt cheeks in the seats. Who showed up, right? And And um Andy and Trisha could tell you, I mean, it's every single day. We have a running daily spreadsheet where we're checking, and that's our first opportunity to check our predicted enrollment numbers with our actual enrollment numbers. And then when we were had some students we weren't expecting to show up, we start making phone calls. But remember, when students come and there's all these analogies out there about funding streams, right? So, um there's a a certain per pupil allotment that comes as a general fund allocation. But if there are students that receive EL services or special education services, there's different costs and revenue tied to different student groups. And so, again, at there's an amazingly complex way of trying to predict all of that. But I'm basically saying in a really long way what Jackie just said, but the reason fund balance is so important, um and I would argue in recent years more than I think we've ever seen before is because the world is throwing us curveballs, right? I mean, when you think about the pandemic, nobody expected that. And it was a while before we got some pandemic relief funds. You know, the metro surge that came out. The the war in Iran right now is having enormous impacts on on gas and diesel. And you've got to remember all energy costs, but remember all of the food that we purchase for students, all the school supplies we purchase, all those things are shipped through various means. And so, diesel and fuel costs, like the cost of paper goes up because of that, right? So, like there's all these ripple effects and tails. And so, it's a very complex um prediction system. And I think that is where why we always hear our audit firms talking about the importance of a healthy fund balance. Um and when we do our Moody's credit rating calls, it's the most important thing they talk to us about. And even though we have a board policy that states our minimum the for our unassigned fund balance, our minimum per our board policy is 8 to 10%. Um that's why I nudged you cuz it's it's not just a goal, it's actually what we've agreed the bare minimum is going to be. And when you get below that, you start to be at risk for overspending. And it's not just because of mistakes, there's things that happen. And so we we always try to budget with a little bit of a cushion, and that's where um even though we've had to do a lot of layoffs this year, part of why we do that is because we're also trying to make sure we don't cut too close to that place where you don't have enough um there's so much variability in in the potential revenue and expenditures coming at us that it's hard to know, especially 6 months in advance or even 3 months in advance, what you're really going to need. So, that was a really long explanation, but I think it's important for for the public to also understand how that works a little bit as well, because it's a very complex um process that goes into all of this. And so, um that's that's why a fund balance is important. Yeah, no. I'm wondering if you can go back one slide to the I think page six. Um when I first saw this trend, I was like, "Ooh, green is good, and it's going way up." And I was like, "No, no, those are expenditures." And so, I just wanted to remind people that we've been um we've had to cut our budget, and despite cutting our budget, expenditures still go up. Um and again, for all the reasons that you mentioned, I think you said I think you laid it out. We have a chart that this is a lot of salaries, a lot of purchase services, purchase goods and services. So, um again, thank you for this chart and for the presentation. All right, I have a question as well. Thanks for the audit. Um in the audit findings, I think like my main takeaway is that the the financial concerns we don't have financial concerns with our budget. We're on track. But the concerns are around timeliness and like kind of process controls. And so, although these are important, they're not they don't feel as big as they might feel. And I'm just wondering from your perspectives, what's the kind of damage or risk of having like a late audit or having these kinds of um findings material weaknesses, yes. Yeah, so these are what we call from an audit standpoint internal control, so it's over your internal controls. Um I mean, you want to get your audits filed timely. You know, the impact of not having the federal audit uh filed timely is you're considered a high-risk entity, so there's more testing that goes on as part of the audit process. Um I would say the ones that, you know, they're all important, um but like the timeliness of and accuracy of the reconciliations, I would say is something, you know, the district really needs to get on making sure the monthly reconciliations are being completed. I mean, that cash and investments needs to be reconciled every month, the self-insurance activity. Um because if there was ever any financial concern, not that there is, but if there was, that's, you know, getting it done monthly and somebody reviewing that monthly is where internal controls are going to come into play. I'll add uh on behalf of Josh and his team. I know um and and for people in the audience viewing as well, you know, um we had some turnover a couple years ago in our finance department and it really set us back. And one thing to know about working with in in a number of ways, right? Um things had to be resorted out in some some capacity. Um and then the auditing process, you know, our our audit firms are in such high demand. There's quite frankly some organizations, um public organizations that are struggling to find auditors to work with. And our auditors work with, you know, lots of municipalities and and cities and counties and school districts. And so, that time window for school districts, when we're not ready on time for them to come and do their part, then we also are waiting for them. I poor Jackie has put in a lot of time with us, especially when we had a changeovers in staff a a couple years ago, trying to find time to squeeze it in between all the other audits she's doing with cities and other local governments. And so, it's it's just really important. Um it's a it's a team effort, um but for them to do their job on time, we have to have our job done on time. And um I know our team is super focused now that we've got this wrapped up about being ready on time again to get going again right away um in July working on the next one. And so, um as Jackie mentioned, you know, that is due and it's due to be turned in by the end of December. And so, um I know Josh and his department, in fact, I can't imagine there's a whole a week that goes by that he and I don't talk about these things to make sure that not only are we actually fixing those findings within our audit report, but always always always building a bench. There's an a major shortage, I'm sure Jackie can attest to this, across the state in terms of finance staff. I I know so many school districts that are just panicking trying to find cuz somebody retires and there's not enough people to replace them. So, we need to definitely build a career pathway to get some more people into accounting measures for sure. But, um that's a a very top priority for us, but not just do it well, but make sure that we're always training people to know how to do it when some of our seniors senior leaders in this effort retire eventually. So, top priority. Can I have a follow-up question um to what Michelle said? some of as you mentioned the material weaknesses seemed very familiar. And then when you mentioned the timing, we did our FY24 audit with similar findings in November, which was already after FY25 had started, right? So, in trying to fix them, we wouldn't necessarily expect them um, and it was nice to see that one was, um, taken off, but, um, and this might be more for more for Josh, but, um, are we expecting that in FY26's audit we will not see these familiar friends again? I I sure hope not. We made some changes like we So, our, um, going back to '23 is when we first experienced, uh, staff turnover, again in '24 and again in '25. So, July 1st of '25 is when we we I believe that we've made a lot of these adjustments, so these should But that would have been in FY26, so we might see them again. Again. [clears throat] No, July 1st, '25 was the start of the new fiscal year, which is the FY26 audit. So, we made we made adjustments starting the fiscal year '26. These changes that were findings from previously that hopefully they will not be found again for the FY26 audit because they were they were changed at the start of the FY26 school year. Got it. Got it. Thank you for that, um, and for your team as well. Thank you, Jackie. Um, thanks for your report, Jackie. Um, I'm comforted that we're in pretty good shape with our finances, um, especially in view of all the screaming headlines relative to government, um, fraud, right? And and and I'm not seeing that in [laughter] any of your findings. Thank the Lord. So, uh, I don't know if you have a comment about about that, but it it seems like, um, um, yeah, auditors are now um in a position of uh under the spotlight or you know, in the state of Minnesota. Um, and uh so, anyway, I don't that's kind of a fumbling way to say that I'm glad we're not you know, being accused of that or you know, have that um finding in our report. >> [snorts] >> Yeah. Do you have any comment about that? >> [laughter] >> Yeah, I think all of you know, the comments of the findings we have all relate with the internal control side of everything and just making sure that the district's controls are reviewed and put into place. Um, which I do feel like, you know, I've been hearing stuff for the 26 year. We haven't gotten to that audit year, but as Josh mentioned, there were some procedures put in place. Um, but to hopefully to see some elimination of just the internal control side of the weaknesses there. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you. And then would you classify the internal controls as weaknesses or as significant deficiencies? So, they're actually material weaknesses. Um, and then the level from an audit finding is there's material weakness is the highest and then significant deficiency and then just deficiency. So, they all are material weaknesses um because if they weren't being done timely, there would be a material weakness in your audited financial statements. >> That makes sense. Thank you. I think everyone just wants some reassurance that you didn't uncover any nefarious activity, criminal activity, none of those types of things. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, just internal control weakness. >> Of course, yes. I think that's all we had. I don't have any questions, so. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, Jackie. We so appreciate you. Thank you. All right, next up we have um, Superintendent Tutu-Sherill. Yes. I just have a few, um, a few quick details to share this evening. Um, I don't have a slide deck for you right now. I just want to share a few things coming up. As you know, this is such a busy time of school year for us. Um, we have a lot happening. As we were talking about prom earlier, um, it's worth mentioning that tomorrow is our Community Education sponsored Golden Prom, which is for senior citizens. It's hosted by both Tartan and North students. Um, and that, for those who aren't familiar with it, is an amazing event where, um, older adults dress up in fancy attire. It's a a noon time event. There's lunch. There's a live band. There's dancing. There's balloon arches. There's photo booths. It's pretty amazing. And it's really cool to see the intergenerational interaction between our high schoolers and our older adults, which is really fun, too. So, we have our Next Step graduation in 2 days. Remember, uh, Thursday, this Thursday, May 21st. And as a reminder, Next Step is our high school, uh, for students with special needs, ages 18 to 22. Excited for that. Um, on next Thursday, May 28th, we have a State of the District event followed by a Multicultural Fair, um, at Tartan High School. And then North graduation takes place on Wednesday, June 3rd, and Tartan graduation takes place on Thursday, June 4th. So, so much to celebrate. What an amazing year we've had, and um, just really excited to see all of our our young people just shining right now. That's all. Thank you. Um, we're going to move on to our action items. Um, first up we have, um, Director Swore with the acknowledgement of contributions. Minnesota statute 123B.02 permits school boards to receive for the benefit of the district request donations or gifts for any proper purpose and apply the same to the purpose designated. In that behalf, the board may act as trustee of any trust created for the benefit of the district and for the benefit of peoples thereof. Therefore, the director of finance recommends the following resolution. Be it resolved by the school board of Independent School District number 622 that the school board accept with appreciation the following contributions and permit their use as designated by the donors. From the Maplewood Figure Skating Club, um LED color lighting fixtures and mixing board valued at $17,971.38 to provide a fun atmosphere for annual ice show exhibitions, MFSC events, and public skate events at Polar Arena. I'm super excited. Uh City of Maplewood 2026 Charitable Gambling Award of $5,832.80 to purchase picnic tables to create outdoor learning space at Justice um Page Elementary. Um the total fiscal year 25-26 monetary contributions are $43,448.66. Thank you. Could I get a motion and a second? [clears throat] So moved. All right. Moved by Swore. Second. Seconded by Livingston. Um any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. And all opposed say nay. All right. Um that motion carries. Uh next up we have our uh resolution accepting um the audit report. Can I go ahead and read it? Okay. >> [laughter] >> Um so be it resolved by the school board of Independent School District number 622 that the audit reports for the fiscal year ending in June 30th, 2025 presented by LB Carlson be accepted as presented. Could I get a motion and a second? So moved. All right. Moved by Swore, seconded by Rosemark. Um, any additional discussion? All right, all in favor say aye. Aye. And all opposed say nay. All right, and that motion carries. Um, now we have the adoption of the 2026-2027 Community Education budget. >> Great chair and directors of the board. Uh, so you have in front of you the proposed budget for FY27 for fund four, which is Community Education. The Community Education Advisory Council approved this budget back at their last Advisory Council meeting back just last week on May 14th. Uh, you um, saw the overview and the handouts and the video that was presented. Um, we do have a number of very robust programs in Community Education. I think that we've got a lot of great offerings for our community. Uh, you will note some planned deficit spending for intentional investments um, across the district. And so with that, we do ask for your approval and adoption of the FY27 Community Education budget this evening. Thank you. Um, so be resolved by the School Board of Independent School District number 622, um, approve and adopt the 2026-2027 Community Education budget as per the attached Community Education budget overview. Could I get a motion and a second? So moved. All right, moved by Livingston. Second. Seconded by Jenner. Uh, any discussion? Um. Uh, could you say a little bit more about the planned deficit spending um, and where that fund balance sits? I think we actually just saw it in the audit report, so I know it's healthy. >> [laughter] >> They do thank you for the question. They do They do have a about a 24% fund balance in Community Education and so they they are doing some planned deficit spending. Um, they're intentional investments to support their programming, respond to growth, and to main uh, to maintain equitable access to services across the district. Um and so they're um by by using this money in their fund balance, uh it's not going to hinder any future program because they have a a healthy fund balance to cover these deficits for this next fiscal year. And would you say that these um that deficit spending kind of improves access? Um is some of this, for example, the um what's it called? There's there's a ladder of costs for ECFE, for example. Um is that where some of these funds go? Let me take a look. >> My assumption was Um I do uh see some deficit spending in ECFE. It's It could be some because of some of the the tiered fees that they have. That could be part of it, but they do want they they are experiencing growth, and so this is to um support the growth in programs, and also just maintain the access across the district for our families. It's also an opportunity to kind of broaden and expand what we're able to offer across all different programming within community education. Youth youth enrichment, you know, we have everything from aquatics to um uh senior programs to uh all of those different so many different areas in there. So Yep. I do um appreciate the way that it's broken out in this budget overview. Um and I I just thought of that a lot of the what looks like deficit spending is in school like school readiness, ECFE, youth services, and adventure connection. And so it seems like we're really investing in the youth in our community with these really important programs that um I I fully support and I know benefit my family and and many others. Absolutely. >> Thank you. All right, all in favor say aye. Aye. And all opposed say nay. Thank you, and that motion carries. Um and then next up we have um from human resources the ratification of the 2025-2027 educational assistant agreement. Okay, so the district has reached a tentative agreement with SEIU representing educational assistants of the district for the contract period July 1st, 2025 to June 30th, 2027. The membership has voted and ratified this agreement. The terms and conditions of the agreement include a 3% increase to the salary schedule for both years of the contract. In addition, an increase of 25 cents was applied to the to the longevity pay scale. Uh no changes were made to the district contribution for health benefits in year one, but an increase for those on the district sponsored high deductible plan was made for year two. And so with that, uh our director of human resources does recommend the following resolution for approval. All right, be it resolved by the school board of Independent School District number 622 that the 2025-2027 educational assistants SEIU agreement be approved. Can I get a motion and a second? So moved. Second. Moved by Rosemark, seconded by Livingston. Um any discussion? All right, all in favor say aye. Aye. And all opposed say nay. All right, and that motion carries. Um and then now we have the student transportation contract. Okay. Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board, Superintendent Suchi Osario, cabinet. I thought it would be helpful to give you a couple of who, when, where, what, why's on student transportation before you looked at the resolution in front of you tonight. Um essentially, just a couple big pictury items that we transport over 9,000 students daily on 860 runs, and that is between our 17 sites, our eight non-public schools, and of course our program sites it's 916. But we also provide transportation for middle and high school after school activities, any activities, trips, and charters, as well. And we do that with 95 wonderful transportation employees. We do it as a combination. We own our own fleet and operate our own fleet, as well as contract. And so, our fleet is about 71 buses and 35 type three, which are van-type vehicles. Um and you'll notice that you know, 71 and 35 doesn't equal 95, just so you know. Um we know that. We have float vehicles. So, we have things in maintenance all the time and and things that happen. So, um we know that doesn't add up to 95. We need some more bus drivers. So, if anybody is interested in learning how to drive bus, we do help get a CDL, as well. But as I said, we can't do it alone. Um we do it daily with our contractors. We have two contractors for Student Metropolitan um Transportation Network. And then we do have uh three that are our reliable our our go-tos for our type three vehicles. But just to note, MTN and First Student can drive our type three vehicles, as well. So, what we do is we follow Minnesota statutes in order to follow contractor procurement. So, that statute requires us to go out for a formal bid every 10 years. We did that in 2024. And then after that, we have up to that next 10 years to negotiate with our existing contractors. And to do that, we advertise in the paper letting everybody know that we are going to be advertising with our vendors. And that if any other vendors want to submit a quote to us, they're more than happy to do so. So, we did we went ahead and did that, and we have five current vendors, the ones you saw that we're recommending uh move forward again with the renegotiation for two more years. But also wanted to note that we have 29 additional vendors that did supply quotes and that we're still vetting those and next month we may come to the board with once we get some more information from those vendors with additional contractors to add. So what you have tonight and just because I know the question is, well how much do we spend on contracted transportation? Um there are a lot of numbers on here, but essentially it we asked for the pricing and unit pricing. So what's the size of a bus for 4 hours? How do much is it for a bus for a full day? Um it can be how much is a five passenger van per hour? How much is a monitor? That's a long way to say votes and number of contractors vary on a daily basis. So we do our best to estimate going forward, but I can tell you last year we spent $2.9 million on school buses with contractors and $2.8 million on our type three van drivers. Um and that really one thing that we've noticed and we we have this tendency to start the year with um maybe 30 vans and by the end of the year we have 40. We have a highly mobile student population that we transport all over the metro. But the good thing is we've also been fairly successful of bringing in additional drivers. We're still short drivers. So this past summer you'll notice we went down and we're estimating uh about staying even with our cost a little spending a little less than we did the previous year. We picked up more of our summer routes in house. So we didn't have to contract as many over the summer last year. So that in case we are actually projecting 10% of an increase for um our school buses next year and three for our type three. A lot of that is due to um fuel costs, shortage of drivers, increased um driver paid in order to attract them to stay. Um there's a lot involved in that and then it levels out again to a six and a four percent. So um I guess the good news is we saved money this year and it leveled out and we're going to bounce back to where we were previously in the next year. So, with that you have a resolution in front of you to renew our existing contracts with our five vendors. And that would be for an additional contract years July 20 July 1st, 2026, which is coming up soon here through June 30th, 2028. And I'll take any questions. No questions. Thank you. Um I'll go ahead and read the resolution. Um be it resolved by the school board of Independent School District number 622 that consistent with Minnesota Statutes section 123B.52 subdivisions 1 and 3 um that [clears throat] the student transportation contracts with our current vendors be extended for two additional contract years. Um and thereby directs district administration to negotiate and execute these contracts based on the written quotations received. Could I get a motion and a second? So moved. Moved by Swor. Seconded by Rothman. Um any discussion? [clears throat] All right, all in favor say aye. And all opposed say nay. Okay, and that motion carries. Thank you. Um next up we have our uh proposed policy revisions. All right. Good evening, Chair Young, Superintendent Tucci Osorio, and directors of the board. Uh tonight we have our third and final reading of recommended revisions for 20 of our current policies. Um as I've done in the past, I will identify the policies recommended for revision, share a brief summary with you of those recommended changes, following all of which we will or you will be asked to take action on the proposed drug uh revisions for those policies. So, I'm just going to jump into it. First up, we have policy 410, which is the Family and Medical Leave Act. This the proposed revisions update language that reflects the Minnesota paid leave language as well as some ESST and coordination with other leaves when applicable. Next is policy 503, student attendance. This updates the uh and has additions based upon statutory changes as well as updating or changing the definition of a habitual truant. Policy 515, protection and privacy of pupil records. This change The changes are to the allowability with sharing immunization information as it relates to FERPA. Then policy 530, immunization requirements. Similarly, this has changes as it relates to the sharing of data due to FERPA. Policy 615, testing accommodations, modifications, and exemptions for IEPs, Section 504 plans, and LEP students. This aligns excuse [clears throat] me, policy language to the transition to the alternative MCA requirements. Policy 701, establishment and adoption of the school district budget. The revisions in this are based upon alignment to statute as well as recommendations from the auditors. Policy 721, the uniform grant guidance policy regarding federal revenue sources. This has um many changes [clears throat] as well based upon recommendations from our auditors as well as reference updates. Flip my book here. So, we have policy 211, which is the criminal or civil action against school district, school board member, employee, or student. This has an update to a cross-reference. Policy 404, employment background checks, adds additional language that align with statutory provisions. Policy 405, veterans preference, updates are related to the statutory revisions from 2025. Policy 406, which is the public and private personnel data and form, employee authorization for release of information. It has one correction, but adds language due to statutory revisions. Policy 418 is a drug-free workplace, drug-free school, adds an additional statutory language requirement. Policy 420, students and employees with sexually transmitted infections and disease, adds a resource. Policy 427, workload limits for certain special education teachers, has an update to definition. Policy 520, student surveys, aligns with our current law and adds an additional resource. Policy 604, instructional curriculum, there is a legal reference that's been added. Policy 613, which is the graduation requirements, there are updates to references here as well as the removal of outdated notes. Policy 616, school district system accountability. Updates to the statutory language as well as an update to references. Policy 618, assessment of student achievement aligns with the definition with our current Minnesota law. And lastly, policy 620, credit for learning has a legal reference update. And those are all of recommended policy revisions. Thank you, Assistant Superintendent, for reading that to us for the last three meetings. >> [laughter] >> It's riveting. All right. So, be it resolved that the school board Independent School District number 622 hereby revise the policies as just presented to us. Could I get a motion and a second? So moved. All right. Moved by Livingston. Second. Seconded by Yunker. Any discussion? >> [clears throat] >> All right. All in favor, say aye. Aye. And all opposed, say nay. Okay. And that motion carries. Uh next up, we have to just set the 2026-2027 school board meeting dates. So, um the calendar um for business meetings, work study sessions, and the board retreat um for the period of August 2026 to June 2027 is um listed [clears throat] in the board book um and it's proposed for our adoption. So, in keeping with board practice, business meetings are held once a month, work study sessions are scheduled throughout the year, and the retreat is scheduled annually annually. Um I recommend that the list of proposed school board meeting dates for 2026-2027 be approved as presented. Um, could I get a motion and a second? So moved. Moved by Yanez, second by Rosemark. Um, any discussion on the dates? I don't see the retreat um listed. Is that to be scheduled? Yes. Yes. Okay. Retreat date is TBD. All right. Um, all in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. And all opposed say nay. All right. [clears throat] Um, that motion carries. Um, and then we just have to set the date and time for the June 10th work study session, but we need to set um a location and the agenda. So, I recommend that on um the oh, the June 9th work study session, right? Yes. Okay. Um, that this work study session begin at 5:00 p.m. in conference room 202 of District 622 Education Center and contain the following agenda items: budget overview, activities and attendance committee updates, fiscal year 28 LTFM 10-year plan, overview of upcoming property agreements, um our superintendent check-in, and then the board check-in. Could I get a motion and a second? So moved. All right. Moved by Yanez. Second. Go ahead, Deb. Seconded by Rosemark. Um, any discussion, additions? All right. All in favor say aye. Aye. And all opposed say nay. All right. That is approved. Madam Chair, uh just a I noted a omission here for the June 23rd, before you get to the next vote, could you make sure to mention that there's a closed session afterwards? Yes, that's the next one we're doing. Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm jumping ahead. I just noticed that the very bottom where you talk about future board meeting dates, it doesn't list it there. My bad. That's okay. Uh, so Minnesota um has open meeting laws, 13D.05 subdivision 3A states that a public body may close a meeting to evaluate the performance of an individual who is subject to its authority. So, I recommend that we set a closed session to evaluate the superintendent on June 23rd, 2026 at the district education um center immediately following the adjournment of the 5:00 p.m. board business meeting. Can I get a motion and a second? So moved. All right, moved by Yenter. Second. Second by Livingston. Um any discussion? All in favor, say I. I. I. And all opposed, say nay. Okay, and that one also that motion also carries. Um next up we have board communications. Sam. Yeah, so I also attended Tartan's Relay for Life, which is a really special, really meaningful event um for our district, for our community. Um it's always wonderful to see students gathering together in support of such an important cause. Um it's always especially emotional walking the track and seeing the various um bags with people's names on them that have passed or who are fighting cancer. Um so, it was a really meaningful event. Um it was and this year was in Tartan's gymnasium, which was a great space, beautiful space. Um so, thank you to all the students who participated, all the community members and staff who who made it possible and um helped raise funds for an important cause. >> [snorts] >> Um well, uh I was in charge of the hurdles at track and field day at Webb Weever Elementary School, and I spent 3 hours on last Friday in the hot hot sun >> [laughter] >> watching little elementary kids fly over these hurdles. Some flew effortlessly over the hurdles. Others Others regarded it as a slalom. So they just kind of made their way. But anyway, I I'm so um appreciative of It was like a well-oiled machine to keep this event going and this is just one of our elementary school. This happens at everyone. And I'm I'm so grateful to the work that's put in. The kids It's It's a huge day for the kids. They love it. And all the volunteers are just real troopers. So um yeah, the community really comes out for their schools on days like that. So that it's it's fun to be a part of it. Also, a number of us Let's see, Michelle, Sam, others were part of a a model panel, right? At at Tartan, where we were modeling for students how to participate um in a panel discussion. And the topic was for our panel was when did you discover your passion for education? And so I told people, you know, I really don't have a passion for education. >> [laughter] >> I have a passion for opportunity. Um so and education, of course, as we all know, is the gateway to opportunity. So anyway, it was it was interesting. And um I And Christine was there, too. And it was just some of the staff members who shared with the the students who were observing us shared some really personal things about their trials and tribulations as they got to where they are today. And I I think those stories are they the students were very keyed in and listening. And I think those stories really are meaningful for the for the kids. So anyway, that was a good and and I again, I appreciate the extra work that the teachers at Tartan put up put on to to host that event. So that's all. Thank you. I just want to congratulate everybody on finishing another school year or almost finishing another school year. And congratulations especially to the graduates and I look forward to Thursday's next step graduation night. So that's one of my favorite graduations, if not my favorite each year. So I look forward to that and then a a week or two later is the Turn North graduation. [clears throat] Thank you to all the teachers and the staff and all the school board members and the cabinet and everyone for another successful school year. I want to say congratulations again to all of the bilingual seals recipients again. It's a really it's just it's amazing and really valued and I appreciate that our district also values that and that we were able to meet so many of those recipients tonight. I was able to attend the American Indian Ed honoring last Tuesday, I believe. And then on Wednesday, we did a joint event or we were invited to Mahtomedi's event and our district is a little bit bigger and more established and so having that inner district collaboration I think is really important. Plus my son won two wristbands at the Mall of America. So I was paying attention to when Scarlet said all the good rides and things. So thank you to them and to the A and I budget and and all of the teams working on that. Um we also were at the pre-K party that my son and his friends were looking forward to all week. It was very excited about it and the weather did not really cooperate but the kids did not care. And so thank you again to all of those teachers and staff for making that such a great event and for all of their work bringing our kids to get ready for kindergarten next year. That's really amazing to see. Um also looking forward to all of the graduations to our multicultural fair on the 28th as well and Nancy I just really liked what you said about education being the pathway for opportunity and I think we're just committed to making sure that that that exists in a quality manner for all of our students and families. Thanks again to everyone for a great year. The the teachers, the parents, the support staff, Sarah and all of your team, Josh all of your teams as well. And Tricia and Andy thank you so much. So I don't have much but I was able to go to the the two musicals and plays. So that was really fun. I was also part of that panel so that was also super interesting and a great opportunity to connect with students. >> [clears throat] >> I don't have that much else to add except I echo Scarlet. I can't believe it's already been a full year. It goes by so fast and so I just want to you know shout out to all the the students that show up when even when they don't I mean they kind of have to but even when they don't have to right? >> [laughter] >> And to the staff, the admin, to the team sitting here um for showing up every day um supporting each other and our students. We've had a rough year, but we've also had some great gains, and so um it's it's been a good year. So, yay, happy end of the year. Mhm. All right. Uh >> [snorts] >> so, with that uh future board meeting dates, uh June 9th, 2026, work study session at 5:00, and then our June 23rd business meeting um here in the board room at 5:00 with the closed session right afterwards. So. Mhm. Um >> [laughter] >> Uh could I get a motion and a second to adjourn? So moved. All right. Second. Moved by Mrs. Miller, seconded by Mrs. Mark. Uh all in favor say aye. Aye. And all opposed say nay. All right. Meeting adjourned. Thank you.