Woodbury City Council — Transcript
Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Story
School board approves $54 million in construction and facility projects
Public Comment on School Bullying and Identity Politics
Student Report
Superintendent's Legislative Update
Resolution Directing District Administration to Make Budget Reductions
Lake Elmo Elementary School Construction Bids
High School Athletic Track Rehabilitation
High School Press Box Replacement
High School Main Entry Addition and Interior Renovations
Cell Phone Policy Feedback and Discussion
2025 Legislative Priorities Approval
Votes (7)
Resolution Directing District Administration to Make Budget Reductions
Dissent: None
Moved by Chair Sherman [30:47] · Seconded by Director Thelander [30:53]
Superintendent Funk explained that this is an annual procedural resolution authorizing the administration to prepare for potential budget adjustments due to uncertainty in state legislative funding. The board praised the process for its transparency and proactive approach to budget management, acknowledging the need for fiscal responsibility given the district's fund balance. A minor date correction was noted on the document.
Lake Elmo Elementary Construction Package Bids
Dissent: None
Moved by Chair Sherman [34:37] · Seconded by Director Kelzenberg [34:42]
Mark presented the bid package for the new Lake Elmo Elementary School, noting that 39 work scopes were opened, totaling $49,515,930. He detailed the 'best value' bidding process, explaining that it involves in-depth interviews with the top three bidders for critical scopes, scoring them on price (50%) and other factors like experience, project team, and value engineering. This thorough process aims to ensure quality and adherence to budget and timeline for the Fall 2026 opening.
LTFM Project: High School Athletic Track Rehabilitation
Dissent: None
Mark presented the Long-Term Facility Maintenance (LTFM) project for the Pony Stadium track. The project involves a full replacement of the 20-year-old track surface and the underlying concrete, costing $1,375,500. It is funded through LTFM and is scheduled to begin on June 16th, immediately after the track season. The new track will maintain the traditional black color and quality, with all markings updated to meet Minnesota High School League standards.
LTFM Project: High School Press Box Replacement
Dissent: None
Moved by Director Thelander [46:14] · Seconded by Director Sarah [46:21]
Mark presented another LTFM project for the replacement of the Pony Stadium Press Box, which is over 20 years old. The project, costing $564,610, will replace the existing structure like-for-like, fitting the current foundation, and includes electrical rewiring and an upgrade to the sound system. Superintendent Funk added that a sound study would be conducted to ensure improved and more concentrated sound quality throughout the stadium.
High School Main Entry Addition and Interior Renovations
Dissent: None
Moved by Director Thelander [51:20] · Seconded by Pete [51:26]
Mark presented a combined Bond and LTFM project for the high school. The bond-funded component includes an 8,100 square foot main entry addition to improve traffic flow and safety. LTFM-funded renovations include special education classroom replacements, media center workroom updates, a new Clay Art Kiln with venting, and kitchen floor replacement in the pony market. The total cost is $2,436,154. The project will start during spring break to be completed before the next school year, allowing for a fresh start. Superintendent Funk highlighted the long-awaited replacement of the main Kiln.
Cell Phone Policy Feedback and Discussion
Dissent: While no formal vote, the student representative conveyed significant 'push back' from students for a stricter policy. Director Lower expressed a desire for teaching digital citizenship, but acknowledged the difficulty of control, leaning towards a 'bell-to-bell' approach. Most board members expressed interest in exploring a bell-to-bell approach for the policy committee to draft.
Crissa presented a comprehensive overview of feedback from students, staff, and the community regarding personal device use in schools. The data, collected through surveys and a thought exchange, revealed key concerns including student mental health, classroom distraction, emergency communication, and the need for consistent policy enforcement. While students expressed a desire for more self-control and access, staff and community adults showed serious concerns about the negative impacts. The board discussed various approaches, with a leaning towards exploring a 'bell-to-bell' phone-free policy to foster a more positive school culture and reduce staff burden, while acknowledging the need to address parent concerns about emergency communication and liability.
2025 Legislative Priorities Approval
Dissent: None
Moved by Unknown [1:48:53] · Seconded by Director Lower [1:48:57]
The board discussed and approved the district's 2025 legislative agenda. Members expressed satisfaction with the document's new formatting, particularly the appreciative introduction to legislators and the clear articulation of district priorities. The key message emphasized was the need for the state to fully fund mandated programs or repeal unfunded mandates, seen as a 'very serious and very direct' message given the district's and other districts' fund balance challenges.
Notable Quotes (15)
we asked the board to pass resolution similar to this because we don't know what the legislature is going to do all right so um um we have to be able to prepare ourselves as a school district for potential options
I appreciate this process it's not a form that we have filled out in the past but I have appreciated the budget priority conversations that we have we all know that we're Below on our fund balance and so when we allocate a budget it is the board is um trusting in the delegation of authority to the superintendent to manage to that budget because there's not a lot of room in one 1.1% to go down
in a normal bids if we just take the the bidder um our construction manager will have a conversation with each of the um low biders to talk about here's the the specs that are Bid out to make sure from a material standpoint from a Time standpoint that they have everything covered within the bids when we look at Best Value we take those conversations deeper
at the end end of the day we get a much better product out of it by following this process rather than just okay we're going to take the low bid
This is a long-term facility maintenance project with the high school um with pony stadium with the track resurfacing so it's replacing the track surface as well as the binus or the concrete underneath there's cracking um and just wear and tear from 20 years old of the track so this is just a full replacement of our track surface at the high school
I guess I just want to again thank tax cares because ultimately the long-term facility maintenance is something that the board um decides to go to taxpayers for we are grandfathered in in this program and I would argue that our buildings are as pristine as they are not only due to the hard work of our staff um but also to the generosity of our taxpayers who really I mean our buildings it's there's a reason why we have a couple hundred year old buildings and we take good care of them so it's money well spent
our Press Box um is over 20 years old and just needs to be replaced um where it is so the foundation sits on top of the bleachers so the foundation will stay the same it's literally just taking the current Press Box off and replacing it almost literally like for like because it has to fit the same dimensions that the current Press Box is on because of the foundation that it sits at
I've asked Mark to do a sound study so the miles away are not contacting the district about hearing it in their front porch uh when we can't hear it on this side of the stadium so um so I think as part of the upgrade there will be a sound study and we will figure it out
on the Kil one of the things that when I initially came I had a tour of the high school Mark took me around and we our Kil has been shut down our main big Kil that we fire since I've been here um due to some cod issues and so we are um on track to get that replaced this summer which I think um pay huge dividends for our kids who do the the pottery and the art the artwork so the clay work so that's a it's a real positive for us
the portion of this Bond project approved by taxpayers so thank you again taxpayers um was to really enhance the safety at a really tricky spot in the high school it's a lot of kids in a small space with a tiny office and um I it's nice to be able to share those upgrades with our students I think they appreciate that as well too
overall I think parents were balancing that idea of safety versus the distraction the consistent enforcement we talked about um some of these same things you were concerned about mental health that social skill interaction um they want something that's really clear uh as far as a policy so that it makes sense and people understand it
they are designed to be addictive and to hijack your thinking like that is a feature not a bug so to have an opportunity to allow students to put it away allow and expect students to put it away and take a break so that they can fully engage in their educational environment I feel like that is the value of that cannot be understated because it is not something our students have had the opportunity to experience up to this point
at the end of day at the end of the day I do think that they're going to struggle with it I mean it's it's really hard when your cell phone's just right there it's right there for you to grab and use it and scroll on Tik Tok and social media and all of that things um so I mean a and I's personal opinion is that yes we need a policy and we need it to be gone but a lot of push back from students and they would like it to just be class to class
I appreciate kind of the the new formatting like the the introduction with the thank you and the for the significant investment I feel like that's a really good opener um to kind of level set of we appreciate and recognize how much the legislature has moved the needle in funding but also not quite far enough
I think that the most important thing is from just a mission for for our board as we're talking to legislators is really to fully fund or repeal and it has to be a strong message because we you know we're not the only district with a low and depleting fund balance and if they don't start repealing or fully funing we could be in a really tricky position here so I think our message has to be one that is very serious and very direct
Ordinances & Resolutions (8)
An annual procedural resolution authorizing the administration to plan for budget adjustments based on legislative funding outcomes.
Bid package for 39 work scopes related to the construction of the new Lake Elmo Elementary School.
Long-Term Facility Maintenance (LTFM) project for replacing the track surface and concrete at Pony Stadium.
Long-Term Facility Maintenance (LTFM) project for replacing the Press Box and upgrading the sound system at Pony Stadium.
Combined bond-funded addition of 8,100 sq ft main entry and LTFM-funded interior renovations in special education, media center, and kitchen areas.
The district's formal agenda outlining key requests and messages to state legislators for the upcoming session.
Existing district policy being revised to include guidance on personal device use, including cell phones.
District policy stating the goal to strive for a 5% fund balance.