Mhm. >> Welcome. Ooh. Um we're going to start tonight out with our recognition. We have two students we're here to recognize. I'll um ask them to come up and they can both take a seat, Noah and Audrey. And I'll read this little paragraph about you guys and um we'll go from there. So, Noah Nicholson and Audrey Rogalski each captured state titles at the 2026 Minnesota High School Wrestling Championships in St. Paul, giving Stillwater Area High School a pair of individual gold medals. Nicholson won the Class AAA 127-lb championship in dominant fashion pinning Gabriel Roll of Buffalo in just 24 seconds during the title match. Awesome. Um Rogatski secured the girls uh state championship with a 6-4 decision over Alora Wagner of Bertha-Hewitt Verndale-Parkers Prairie >> [laughter] >> finishing her season undefeated at 26 and 0. Wow. Uh the performances highlighted another strong post-season showing for Stillwater wrestling which also featured several additional medalists and state qualifiers across the boys and girls brackets. So, we want to congratulate you today and take some time to recognize both your achievements. So, thank you. >> [applause] >> And we also want to thank your families because I'm sure they had a little bit to do with this, too. And um and so we they are there as well. So, thank you to the families here who are supporting you. Um I wanted to open up to the floor to um ask questions. Yes, Dr. Funk? So, the people you beat in the finals, had you wrestled them before? Do you want to answer first? Um I actually wrestled the same girl in the finals two years in a row. Last year, I like tech'd her in the second period and then this year, she definitely scouted me out a lot better, but [laughter] um same results, so Awesome. Well, and then I wrestled my kid two years ago, I think. I majored him that time, but it was like pretty pretty easy match. He didn't He didn't scout you out this time, huh? Yeah. >> [laughter] >> I was going to say, 24 seconds is pretty good. Any other questions from the board? Yes. Well, thanks a lot for what you did in that investment. I know what that uh what that room looks like and and smells like, so uh appreciate the hard work there. And uh kudos to the program in general for what it's been able to deliver. Question, what's your favorite takedowns? Gosh, I don't know. I kind of just like see what comes to me. I like to do slide bys a lot, which isn't really a takedown, but it's just like I'm just a snap down go behind guy. I just throw them down go behind them. Fair enough. Appreciate you guys. How how long have you guys been wrestling? I mean, is this something you've been doing for since you were smaller? Yeah, since like kindergarten. >> Okay. Yeah, I kind of started because my older brothers were doing it and I would kind of just like mess around in the hallways and stuff and my dad would kind of just get sick of me. So, he just threw me in the room. >> [laughter] >> He knew what he was doing. Yes. I I know you come from a wrestling family. So, you probably wrestled your older brothers all growing up and thus you become a state champion from doing all that. I did go to this championship last year. And uh it was amazing. It's the ceremony around it. People would not realize there's this whole ceremonial where you all come in together and the music's playing, the lights are flashing and that is something to see. And um I know we have a a lot still There's still a lot of wrestling. It does have a long and successful history and it's continued with your championships here. So, I would also like to say congratulations. Thank you. Future plans? What do you guys thinking down the road? >> Um well, I'm a senior. So, I'm next year I'm going to North Central College in Illinois and I'm going to be studying mechanical engineering and business while also wrestling. Cool. Very cool. I'm just a junior. So, I'm going through like the recruiting process right now. Just trying to figure out what school suits me best. So, Awesome. Exciting time for you both. So, congratulations on graduation too here coming up. Last week of school. Any other questions or comments? >> Congratulations. Yeah, just heartfelt congratulations. We appreciate you making the time to be here cuz we know it's your your last days. I mean, is there anything you want to share with the community or us a favorite moment or anything that you would like to share? I'll just say that I think next year we're going to bring home team title. All right, the prediction is here. It's on tape. >> [laughter] >> That's awesome. Anything else? Well, again, thank you for coming in cuz we know it's a busy last week of a lot of activities for students in our schools and we're just really proud of you. The whole pony community is really quite proud of all your achievements on the you know, in wrestling and in the classroom as well. So, thank you for all your commitment. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you to your family, too. Who is there? And for coming to support you. >> [laughter] >> All right. Well, thank you AND CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN. >> [applause] >> ALL RIGHT, AND NOW WE'RE GOING to move on to public comment. And we have one speaker tonight, Zach Singleton. And Zach, you can come right up here. I'll read the public comment expectations. The school board encourages community input. While comments and questions are welcome, law prohibits the board from discussing concerns about individual employees or students in public meeting. The board will not deliberate, discuss, or engage in conversation with speakers. However, the board may ask administration to review the concerns presented. Speakers must present their testimony in a respectful manner. Vulgarity, character attacks, malice, or specific complaints identifying staff or students by name or implication will not be permitted. We will stop proceedings immediately if employee or student privacy issues are raised and direct the speaker to forward comments directly to to the superintendent. So, with all of that said, Zach, welcome and we're excited to have you share your thoughts with us. And we have a timer here for yep, for 3 minutes. So >> done it before. If you don't get rowdy, [laughter] give me an extra 10 seconds and I'll bring you back. Well, um members of the board and Superintendent Funk, I I want to thank you for letting me speak with you today. My name is Zach Singleton and I am a third grade teacher and school forest coordinator at Stonebridge Elementary. I've been teaching in the district for 10 years now. I do feel very lucky to teach in this community. It's an amazing community. Um as they stated, I am a school forest coordinator at Stonebridge, which means I work with the DNR, the city and also a committee of parents, staff and other community members to get kids more outside. Uh for the last 2 years I have been conducting a type of experiment within the my coordinator role. Over the last 10 years I've noticed a change in our students. I've noticed an increase in every year in behaviors. I have also noticed an increase in students coming to me even in third grade with pre-existing anxiety disorders, depression and also an inability to cope with the pressures of their education. I've also noticed a decrease in critical thinking, problem solving and also mental stamina as well. I wondered if getting outside would help. So I started bringing my class outside to our school forest more often and encouraging our teachers to do the same. Indisputably, the results told me one thing. Kids need to be outside. I want I also wondered that if taking kids outside more, if it helped more and let them become better learners, then why weren't we doing it more often? I did after surveying teachers that I know and that I work with, the number one obstacle to getting kids outside more was the demand of instructional minutes. Every minute of the day already spoken for and it is difficult to find time to get our students outside. After doing a lot of research and collecting a lot of data over the last 2 years, I've kept coming back to one fact. It seems that as though as seems as though there is a direct connection between how much pressure we put on children academically and their behaviors. It is my belief that the reason we see such an increase in behaviors and an increase in anxiety in our children is because every year we do put more and more pressure on our kids as it is as it has to do with what they learn and how they need to perform. I am not advocating to never push kids. Everyone needs to be pushed. What I am asking is that we are more conscious and aware of where we're pushing these students towards. It is is it to get better scores or to become a better well-rounded learner? >> [snorts] >> As we are are we teaching kids what to learn or are we showing them how to learn? Because they won't be in school forever. At some point they will need to think for themselves. As I ask that we lessen the pressure and give kids the space and the time to figure out what type of learners they are. Because children are learners no matter what a state test score might say. I'll leave you with just two quotes that summarize why it is such a good idea to kids get kids outside more often even during the school day. First one is from Nicolette Souder. If we want our children to move mountains, we first have to let them get out of their chairs. The second quote is a little bit more of a practical simpler quote but it resonates. Children cannot bounce off walls if you take away the walls. And that's from uh, author Erin Kenny. Thank you for your time. Appreciate it. >> Thank you, Zach. Thank you. All right. Uh, with that, we will call this meeting to order. Uh, Joan, roll call. Director Grosvich. Here. Director Hockart. Director Kelsenberg. Here. Director Lower. Here. Director Parker. Here. Director Thelander. Here. Chair Sherman. Here. You have a quorum. Great. Let's stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. Our next item this evening is the approval of the agenda. Is there a motion to approve tonight's agenda? I'll make a motion. Great. Sarah with the motion, is there a second? I'll second. Great. Thelander with the second. Director Thelander, sorry. All those in favor of approving tonight's agenda, raise your hand and say I. I. Opposed? Agenda passes, and we'll move on to our superintendent report. Tonight, I'd like to provide a legislative update as the session ended this past Sunday. Um, I would say for education, I'm disappointed in the session. Uh, a couple things. Um, we received um, the district received a total of $2,142 in additional revenue um, from this past legislative session. Um, but our taxpayers throughout the state received $250 million in one-time revenue that they're going to have their car tabs reduced for 1 year. And then that's going to go back to the number it was prior to that. So, um, it's tough when districts are struggling around the state that we see this in play. So, as I stated, compensatory revenue, we had some hope. In one of the houses, there was a bill that provided more relief for us. The other house did not agree, and as a result, we received $2,142 in additional revenue to mitigate the shortfall that was already planned for from last year from on the legislative for 26-27. So, with that additional $2,000 in revenue, our shortfall for compensatory revenue is down $43,000 for 2026 for over 26 for the upcoming school year. Safe schools, we were again in one of the houses, we were looking to receive some additional revenue for safe schools. The other house did not agree. So, there's no additional revenue. They did provide three grant opportunities for school districts to apply for. One is anonymous threat reporting, as you can see the amount there. Behavioral health grants of $12 million and a mental health crisis service grant of $3.8 million. Next slide. Operating capital revenue, we sit did see some minor relief here. We are allowed to pay for utility bills through operating dollars now, which we were not allowed to do before, which will help us out to some degree. Also, in preparation for what sounds like is coming down the road, an attempt at statewide health insurance for educators. The legislation is legislation passed that we will have to do a school survey about all of our health insurance plans that we offer, and submit that report to the legislature annually. And then, finally of note, they're now aligning paraprofessionals in our title programs, which are intervention programs, to have the same requirements for special education paraprofessionals. So, that's a change for a handful of people in the district. So, subject to your questions, that's my update for tonight. Thank you. Yes. Do you have a ballpark for what the utility I don't. Uh Um I mean, I think it'll be six figures, you know, of some sort. Um so, that that is some relief. Um but we're still it's no additional revenue, but it provides flexibility in how we're um accounting for it. Other thoughts? Dr. Becker. Appreciate uh the education here. It's super helpful. Uh regarding the paraprofessionals, is that Am I understanding that that's uh an additional requirement for us that will have some people that need more skill sets or more certifications, or am I Typically, yeah, there's a there's a requirement. They have to pass either a test, or they have to have a 2-year degree. Um I don't know what the impact is. It'll be It'll be small. We had to do this a few years ago with uh our special education paraprofessionals, and it impacted close to 100 of them. Um so, now they're all qualified. Um we have far fewer title para paras. What's that? We don't have any title paras. Oh, well, there you go. Okay. Thank you. Yep. So, we just use it strictly strictly for teachers, then. Okay. >> for teachers, yes. Okay. So, there you go. Sarah. Um Do we have a sense for what the impact would be if if we did shift to a statewide? No, we No, I think what what the uh That's what the legislature is trying to do at this point is gather the data so that they can make an informed decision. Um you know, I think the intent behind it is if we're in a bigger statewide pool, that should balance the the plan out. So, I mean I think it's a um It's a noble cause. Um we have to just see what the impact is, um you know, at the district level. Um and so then the other concern about that is um you know, okay, if we're going to have a statewide program for this, are we going to have a statewide program for, you know, salaries? How are you know, what's what's >> What's the slope on that going to be? And and so then what's the We have a negotiated contract. >> Right. Uh does a state Can the state supersede that? I That's what we're going to find out. Yeah. Um I don't know. The bill that didn't go anywhere this time because AMSD and MSBA, they are coming out in not in support of this. Um the superintendent's association, um it didn't the bill itself didn't go anywhere, and so that I think there's there was some bipartisan pushback. I think that we need to evaluate multiple options, not just come with the bill that didn't go anywhere this session. Um that what are the what's what are the multiple issues that are out there driving this, and what are multiple solutions? Cuz as it stood, we have very good benefits in our district, and we would be getting less money in state aid than districts who weren't didn't have as good of benefits. So, there's a lot of nuance to that. >> And I think that that's where it's it's hard to pass that any judgment on this at this point cuz we don't have the details. So, let's let's see how it's going to flesh out, and then, um you know, we can go forward But something to watch for sure, and just, um try to advocate for a a solution or for maybe looking into multiple different ways to address the issue, not just coming with one um potential solution. So. But I think we will be hearing about this down the road. Yes. The other disappointing thing for me was um and I think for our district as well as just the 250 million in special ed cuts coming not for next year, but um for the next budget cycle are still moving forward as of right now. Yeah, I mean there's a 250 million dollar reduction and that's going to hit education someplace unless they do something different. Yep. And and the frustration I've got right now with the with the legislature in general is I mean I can you we can use the license tab example as a great point. Sure, we're going to do one-time relief of 250 million dollars. Okay, but what's the long-term sustainability of this program? You [snorts] know, is it higher gas taxes? Is it road taxes? Is it you know, uh um but to just say, "Okay, we're going to give you a relief now and not provide any long-term plan." Um and then everybody else is impacted by that because okay, all the relief is going to go here. So, um I'm hopeful that there's a long-term view um not only for license tab, but for education as well. Cuz the same thing with with the 250 million dollar shortfall, okay, what's the long-term solution here going to be? Yep. Um And and [laughter] and then just And it's regressive, too. I I was you started talking about it. I mean, where people that can afford a nice car getting the best break on their license tabs. Yeah. Okay. Um can you explain really quick or maybe just because I think as a district we're going to start talking about this more. The one thing that did move forward um was the constitutional amendment. >> Oh, for I I missed that. Thank you. >> Yes. Mhm. Yep, so both houses passed the constitutional amendment. And again, so basically it's the school interest amendment. We talked about it the last board meeting. And what this does for school districts is increases our state aid that we receive from uh from the school interest um um investments that we have. And so for this to become a change in the constitution and for us it will impact us positively for the following school year, people have to vote yes that they agree to the change. It will not impact their taxes at all. Okay? But if they don't vote yes, it's a vote no. So people have got to proactively and we will have to educate the community on that um as far as what that means. Um because again, if if you're going to go into the ballot, you see this thing, I don't know what this is about, I'm not going to vote on it. Um that's a no vote. So um we have to do a really effective job of of educating that uh the populace on that. And it's significant for the district. I I don't remember the dollar amount. We talked about it last last month or a few weeks ago, but it is significant for the district. So again, it's no impact on on local property taxes at all. Yeah. And multiple studies done that the fund is is remains preserved and available for generations. Yeah, it's a solvent program. So but again, it'll be kind of a back of the ballot, probably second page kind of question that could get >> have forgot it on here. Right. >> [laughter] >> Great. Any other questions for Dr. Funk? Yeah, on that first page, that $2,000. I mean, we're we're looking for millions of dollars. 2,000 statistically that's zero, right? That's not 2,000 per anything. >> a matter of fact, when I put this together today, I sent it to Cara to approve read and she came back at me and she said, is that a typo? You know, because that is so little. You're not missing a zero or anything. >> No, it's $2,142. Okay. Well, but here's the here's the worst part, all right? There is a So, there's 10 million total. There is a charter school that is receiving $1 million of that 10 million. So. Yeah. Oh, so okay. And then like St. Paul's receiving 100,000, which okay, I get that. But there is a charter school out there that is receiving a million dollars of that 10 million. They separated out one school for extra money? There's some calculation that's being used that and I'm not sure. So, the 2,000 whatever we're getting is that amongst all districts are all getting a similar Some are getting I think St. Cloud's getting $5 million. It really depends on Okay. Wow, okay. So, it's different per Not 5 million, but but they're So, I think they're not getting that much of an increase, but they are getting a significant increase. Yes. Because they fall under a different formula or is is it specifically to that school? I I I don't know what the rhyme or reason is. Okay. But it is some some districts are really um winners in this and some are really they're not being helped at all and we're kind of in the middle. I mean, we're not Our numbers look Our impact actually looks good in comparison to somehow hard some districts are going to get hit. I mean, any hit is is a cut. Um And so, I don't want to make light of the fact that it's a you know, $50,000 hole $45,000 hole here, but there are other districts that are >> Yeah. So, I mean, what I meant when I said St. Cloud, they have a their change in revenue is $5 million more or $5 million increase. They only got a little bit more with this thing from the from the legislature, Um but yeah, I mean most districts are 5,000, 16,000, 41,000. And then you get down to the charter schools. And the charter numbers are pretty unbelievable. Here's one for 367,000. 1,094,000. 162,000. So, I'm not sure how they calculated this. Another one for 588,000. Director Parker. Would you be able to share that with the board? Yeah, I can send this I'll send you the spreadsheet. I just sent it. Okay. Thank you. There's also I think AMSD I think shared it too with some other items. So, I just sent the spreadsheet, but there's some other details. Yeah. So, And some So, anyway, we [snorts] are I mean down 43,000. We're doing pretty good compared to some of our peers out there. Yeah. And we'll just have to kind of hit that constitutional amendment pretty hard and it may be a reason for our um legislative committee to convene and just kind of talk about it. Strategy on the strategy on to how we can help educate the community and leverage I mean there'll be materials both from MSBA and AMSD and a bunch of other um firms that advocate for public education that we can you know, take advantage of and leverage. But great. Um thank you for that update. Uh and uh with that we'll go to the board chair report and the only thing that I have and this would be on behalf of myself and the entire board is it's the last week of school. And just want to wish everyone a wonderful summer uh break and it's always, you know, an exciting time to have this last week of school and so we want to thank our uh students for staying engaged and our teachers and our principals and our paras and custodians and nutrition and um all the different counselors and staff in our buildings uh as well as the families that are there to support our students and and keep them uh keep them hanging in there till the very end here. So, um on behalf of the board just want to thank the community for another great year and uh and a hopefully what will be a great relaxing summer for everyone. All right. Um with that we'll move on to the consent agenda. We've got items A through F. And I'll go ahead and make a motion to approve consent. Is there a second? Great. We'll go with Director Lauer with the second. All those in favor of approving tonight's consent agenda, raise your hand and say I. I. Opposed? Motion passes. All right. We're going to start off with a report this evening under strategic direction A, which is ensure the learning process is adaptable to meet individual student needs. Uh Caitlyn is going to come up and talk to us and before we get started here, I just wanted to give a little Oh, and Chris, welcome Chris. I didn't mean to >> [laughter] >> You weren't on the agenda. Um I just want to explain a little bit of background. This is um in part uh in response to some feedback from internally from staff on the multi-aging um model that we did this last year and just some feedback that maybe it wasn't the best solution that we could do. And so our staff took a lot of time listening to our educators and what was working, what was not working and some better ideas were formulated and we're here to get an update on that today. Good evening. This is um certainly not the first time you've heard about this model um as we talked about it throughout our priority-based budgeting conversations, but uh Chris and I are here to talk about it um in a in a little more detail, and I'm here to represent the learning side of the model, and she is here to represent the staffing side of the model. So, um we will be happy to answer questions as we go as well. Um so, I think as um you probably have understood before that staffing is currently based on um the approved ratios. Um and when enrollment exceeds the range, um then we add another teacher um and classroom section. Um this kind of generates um small small changes in enrollment can really, you know, boost our staffing um you know, across a number of buildings if we just are right really close to the edges. Um so, with this new approach, um we still start with the board-approved class size ratios, and then as enrollment exceeds the range, we have a couple of options. And so, instead of only adding a classroom section, we now also have the option to um add a teaching assistant position. Um you know, with the goal of maintaining student support and allowing us a little bit more flexibility. So, these are examples of what this could look like. Um we gave a primary example for early elementary and a upper elementary grade example. So, for example, if you have 52 incoming kindergarten students with a class size ratio of 25.5, which I always find intriguing, it's not like we're dividing kids in half. Um that old model our our using the board-approved ratios would necessitate three sections. And what we've discussed with you previously is is having flexibility to consider when we're in a situation where you're talking about two students over those board approved ratios, what is a model that allows us a flexibility in staffing, but keeps the integrity of instruction in place and adult support in place, and comes with a lower price tag. So, this is an example of how we could have two sections and maybe in one section you have 30 students with a adult to child ratio of 15 to 1 and another class of 22 students. And there's room for growth a little bit within that as well. So, and similarly at the upper grades where those class size ratios are a little higher pushing those sections a little higher and in this in a incoming 63 students at fourth grade where we have 29 .5 as a ratio, we could look at having teacher assistant supported class sizes of 31 and 32 students. So, again, we're really close to that, you know, what we talked about earlier is that like sweet spot about 14 to 17 ish to one knowing that no there's no one size one right answer for every scenario. And so, we're always looking at what's our overall enrollment, what's the academic and behavioral needs of each class, what is the special ed ratios within each class, what's the overall classroom composition. All of the like there's so many variables. So, we're not necessarily just looking at a spreadsheet and saying what are the numbers and here's our standardized response. We're going to have conversations with principals and conversations about what are the dynamics. Um I have the benefit now of having a foot in the special education world as well. So, kind of looking at what is the makeup on the special ed side and how do we need to respond. So, it really is about giving us flexibility to to the needs of kids in a couple of different ways. Which I I kind of just addressed. I previewed this slide as well. So, I hope what you're hearing is that we don't want to TA our way out of this. Um but we also want to be able to make responsible fiscal decisions um that still keep the integrity of learning in place. So, I've heard already Okay, you are not going to add sections. Okay, I have heard you're just going to add continually add TAs. Um I've heard that in different pockets throughout the district. Do you want to address that? Yeah, that's an inaccurate narrative. So, we're going to look at both We're going to look at both scenarios. So, when we're looking at numbers, we're looking at okay, if we were to add a TA or two to these sections, what would the class makeup be or as opposed to if we add an additional section, what does that do to the overall class makeup? Again, using multiple variables to make that decision. Um so, it really isn't a if this then this response. It's an if this, let's sit down and have a conversation with the right people on what what's the the capacity and what are the needs and then make a decision about TA or add a section. And we're doing that right now because enrollment is so variable, we're we're looking at those numbers weekly and saying, "Let's watch this grade level at this spot for a few weeks and see what happens." Um because we'll gain a kid and we'll lose a kid and we'll gain two kids and we'll lose one kid. So, it's we're just monitoring and then we will respond um accordingly and that could be an additional section. Dr. Parker. Um I I it's sort of two questions. So, I'll start with the first one is historically uh like pre-2024 would we sort of hold a certain number of teachers aside and then sort of distribute them or can you talk about that? Um I they weren't held aside. Teachers were assigned based on the staffing ratios and it was it was pretty pretty pretty much this is this is how it goes. So, we would add sections over the summer. And where do those teachers come from? They would be hired. >> They would be hired. They'd be new teachers and I'll give you a great example. This has probably happened in 2024. In one of our elementary schools, we were watching it all summer and late July they passed a threshold. And it was a kindergarten class and we finally said, "Okay, add the teacher." Within a week of adding that teacher, hiring, posting, hiring, whatever, we lost about seven kids in that grade. And so we had class sizes of about 15 um in that school for kindergarten. And so that I mean, that's the reality of what happens when when we have to add a um licensed teacher. If that were the case, okay, we could have hired a paraprofessional to help us reduce it and then and then it would have provided us more flexibility and it would have been more fiscally responsible. Thanks so much. >> that's what happens. And so the problem last summer and everybody's talking about the uh you know, the the combo classes, we didn't have any additional funding at all after the legislative move and so rather than as class sizes are shifting where we normally would have hired additional staff, we have no funding to do it. So, that's where we said, "Okay, we're going to have to instead of having a really large class sizes, we're going to try some of these combos. So, um that That's another example of where we're at. Thank you. Yep. Yes. We currently do not have any TAs, so this will be a new thing. Is there a new category? I mean, we have paras, we have teachers. Does the TA fit somewhere in the middle there? So, the TA, the para teacher um assistant position is a para position. Um so, it's within the bargaining unit. Um but we do have um an MOA with the para unit to make this a pilot program, so that um we're not long-term obligated to the position if we've decided that this is this is a one-year thing. Um but that um they are within the para unit, um and so they will be subject to all of the para um contract So, talk about their qualifications. Um yeah, the qualifications are a little bit different. Um so, they do have to have a four-year college degree. Um and then they do also have to have experience working in a classroom in like one-on-one support or small groups. Um and then they are also um we are also requiring them to participate in the science of reading training um over workshop week. Is their pay going to be the same as a para on that schedule? Um so, their base pay, yes, would be on that para schedule, but um they will also receive an additional $2 an hour. Okay. Because of the um because of the overall qualifications and the differences in the job. All right. So, I again, I hope you hear that we're we're not trying to to say we're going to TA our our way out of this. Like, we're not going to solely look at, "Oh, we're over the class size ratio." and automatically say, "It's a TA." We're going to sit down, we're going to have conversations, and we're going to decide is a TA the appropriate support, or do we need to look at adding sections? Um it does allow us to be more flexible, like in the situation that Dr. Dr. Funk shared, where we we do have the ability to to be more responsive to those enrollment shifts, especially those enrollment shifts that happen so close to the start of the school year. And so I I'm excited about the opportunities that this could provide with allowing us the ability to really respond and respond quickly where there are needs within our um enrollment. Mhm. It's not only the enrollment shift the start of the school year, it's throughout the school year. >> Yeah. So we can have sometimes I think we had one school where we had 10 kids come in in one grade level this year. And you know, trying to uh hire a teacher mid-year um is very difficult, where we think we have the flexibility to be able to hire a teaching assistant uh much easier to to adjust. I jokingly had a conversation with maybe one of those teachers that was impacted by the incoming 10 students, and she said, "Well, next year it'll be great cuz if I have this a number of students, I'll have a TA." >> [laughter] >> And I was like, "Okay, great. I'm glad you're looking at it that way." Um so um what we have is this proposal, and we are asking the board to authorize um a little bit more of a flexible staffing support model. Um the staffing ratios are currently listed on the screen for your review, um but we hope that this model will provide us with the flexibility that we need um to address both the start of the school year, as we talked about, and the mid-year changes that happen. And I do think Oh, sorry. I do think it's important, like when you're looking at the high end of these ratios, that's what we're looking as a decision point. And so, you know, for fourth and fifth grade, where the high end is already 32.42, those, you know, when you look at that, that could be an intimidatingly high, like, large classroom. Um, but but we're not and we haven't said anything about caps, but I do feel comfortable saying we're not going to have a class of 40 kids. Like, that's not going to be a thing. So, we're really trying to look at the the student to adult ratios and what makes sense for the needs of that class and what are they, you know, what is that class size ratio to begin with. Well, and I would assume also it's making it fair within the team of teachers so that the one that doesn't have it the ones that maybe don't have a TA have less students than the ones that have that that pair of extra hands kind of helping out. >> Right. Right. So, in like that kindergarten example, you would have a class of 30 with two adults, but then you could have a class of 22. So, we're trying to keep the non-TA'd classes towards the lower to mid-range of those ratios. And as we toured the new buildings, you know, we noticed, you know, we talked about that they have set aside collaborative space and just more space in general. So, um, and open concepts and things like that. So, the the slightly, you know, adjusted numbers you know, upwards is, um, account- accounting for those spaces and for the growth that we anticipate. Do we know yet, um, how many classes that were like, do you have an estimating I know you're evaluating it, but do we have a number now or something you could share? 22 Yeah, it's about 22. 22 22 sections Okay. >> across the seven elementaries. Okay. So, like, in >> that would require a TA. Like, based on today's numbers. Okay. We're looking at about 22. 22, yes. And that's K through 12. No, K-5. Oh, that's K-5. Okay. Yes. Does this require us to vote on a policy change or how does our student to staff ratio currently exist and is it staff or is it teacher? Like is there a is there a semantical thing and a number thing that we need to do or how how's this work? That's a great question. It's a Currently it's a I don't know if it's considered staff or student but our teacher. Um There's the current It's so the staff ratio and it depends on how you define staff. Okay, so what the proposal is is if it's a if that were considered a teacher ratio, okay, we are asking the flexibility to hire teaching assistants in some cases and go over that ratio. Um so that's what the that's what the proposal is. Um But I mean you could you know I I know one of our competitors they advertise that they have a 17 to 1 you know adult to student ratio um but they use a TA model. Um so it depends on how the what the board wants to do with it. That's totally up to you. Um we can bring you a couple different proposals regarding that. Well I mean we could because this is the first time we're doing this. Um I and obviously there's flexibility within staffing ratios as I mean on an on any year, right? I mean how you address it. I don't know I mean like we multi-aged this year and then we didn't. I don't know if we want to take a a lot of time developing a policy. Um you know like I was thinking originally this would just be one year of flexibility. Come back to the board. Tell us what worked, what didn't work, what you see um if we want to have a firm policy. I just don't want to limit flexibility Sure. during when you need it to be responsive, but I am open to what the board thinks. >> those are your staffing ratios, right? Those are board approved and they've been that way, I don't know, for years and years. >> Yes, I mean I don't [clears throat] ever remember them being addressed. I guess a different way to ask the question is if we're going to break policy, do we just say, "Hey, we're going to break policy for a year?" Or like can we just do we can we as a table just vote and say, "Hey, this just doesn't matter for this year?" Or do we have to change the policy for a short term? I don't even know if there's a policy. I don't know if there's a policy. Yeah, is there a That's what my question. Is there I I think this is just a board approved this as an action item years ago. I don't think there's actually a policy, so yeah, I think the board has complete flexibility >> Right. um to what to do what they want here. It's within board parameters. Yeah. >> Is that the way to say it? Right. And I think if we did offer some flexibility um for this year, we would want to have a report back to the board um to see how did this model work? What were the key learnings? I mean obviously with the multi-aging um it staff feedback significantly impacted this new direction and so we wouldn't, you know, we would want to have the ability to pivot again if necessary, I suppose. Um but hopefully the the the key learnings have are have been kind of thought through and are reflected in this TA model. Um but I guess the way it was here, it was going to be flexibility for the one year to address the TA model in, you know, similarly to but I just want we wanted to acknowledge it's going to be a little different than the flexibility staff currently has um within their staffing ratios, but um but yeah, more of a one year kind of granting the flexibility and then check back in with the board um to see how things are going along and and obviously you'll you'll be providing updates, I assume, as the school year starts. Absolutely. I have an answer for you on this. Somebody who's been here for a while. How many does it take to >> [laughter] >> Good evening. When you look at this, I don't think it's a specific policy where this is built in as budget assumptions. So, when they do build in the the revenue and expenditures for the year, they talk about this school board approved ratio is kind of built into what the expenditures will be for the following year. And so, kind of that's been I want to say probably mid-2010s, 2014, 15, 16, probably somewhere in that range is probably the last time we've came back to take a peek at this in terms of board and have the conversation, but it's not policy-specific. It's built into our budget assumptions as we make the budgets for the following year. And we have And we have went to like when we've looked at um budgets, we've asked what do you what to the community we've done like surveys, Morris Leatherman surveys that have said, "What do you think about the class size ratios? Which which areas seem high to you, low, just about right?" So, we have kind of that anecdotal feedback, but it's just a really it's about the most expensive thing you can do to adjust to lower class size ratios. So, um I think that's probably why it's stayed the way it's stayed for so long. Mhm. And it's kind of started out as practical, you know, implementation thing. So, you I mean, this is a great tool. It's just a tool, you know. Maybe you use it, maybe you don't. Great. If you have bring on a TA and 3 months later things change. And you don't need that TA anymore. How does that How does that work practically in hiring people and retaining people and getting new people when you need them next time? Yeah, I think, you know, I think that's going to be something that we kind of have to work through. I mean, initially, um might anticipate that, you know, if we don't need them in this spot that we very well may need them in another. Um and so, we you know, we'd like to have the flexibility to kind of shift them um to another spot if that's if if that's the direction that we need to go. Um, but I would suggest that um it's less likely that we're going to you know, not need them um or that we wouldn't be able to find a spot for them. But it's a lot cheaper than adding that teacher. For sure. And then the kids you know, go away or go somewhere else. So I I have been corrected again by somebody else who's worked here quite a long time. Um, 2012 was the last time uh 12-13 school year was when we did the uh the budget revisions to the staffing ratios and that was part of a budget cut. Right. Um, I guess one worry I have is that this is a spreadsheet approach to uh fixing some problems, which may be fine, but I'm want to look at the boots on the ground. Okay, you're you're a teacher and I'm just imagining this cuz I have not talked to any teachers about this. Uh you're the teacher now you're going to have a TA come in, you might be thinking wow, I got extra help. That's great. Or you might be thinking I have this extra load now. I now I also have to supervise a TA as well as teach these kids. Do we know what kind of feedback do are you getting any feedback? Yeah, absolutely. Uh first I want to be clear that the principal is the TA supervisor. The teacher will provide work direction and there is very specific training that we can provide to both our TAs and our teachers on how to how to have that collaborative um teacher TA relationship and and I'm working on that with our teaching and learning supervisors currently and planning for that. Also, to your point there's some teachers that are going to view this as an opportunity and some teachers that are going to be like, "Yeah, no thanks." And our principals know that and are working to try and make appropriate assignments based on interest. Um and and kind of working relationships that are already in place. It doesn't necessarily mean that it will work always, that we can accommodate everybody's request. But principals are um acutely aware of of who's like all in on I would love to try this. I would love to be a part of this pilot or like I'd like my colleague to try this and be a part of the pilot, right? So, we're we're trying to make those accommodations because generally I think things are more successful if people are invested in them being successful. So, it's a very important thing to consider placement. As a follow-up to that, um the teacher that's going to have the TA, will they have a say in their TA since they'll really have to work closely Or is it just their relationship with the principal that will determine who they're going to get? It's their relationship with the principal. We're in the process of hiring TAs currently and and many of the principals are hiring paraprofessionals that are already working in their building. So, they they know, oh this individual has worked closely with this teacher off and on for X number of years. I already know that could be a good match. Um so, a lot of these are known entities. Of course, you know, we might have external candidates and and then it's a little bit of where you think it will work the best and um and really the the right person to make those assignments is the principal because they have the kind of scope building-wide of what the needs are by classroom. Okay. So, can I ask just backing up because we're here in this model because, well, one, I mean we're in a budget situation that's familiar across the state. I mean, there isn't a district that isn't looking at I think I just read an article that um a neighboring district was going to multi-aging next year like we tried last year. Just aren't one of our neighbors. So, these are strategies to try to best serve students, um protect the integrity of the classroom, but also acknowledge the real financial challenges and burdens public schools are facing. Um the there was feedback from staff that the multi-aging did maybe just miss the mark. Correct? That is correct. Multi-aging can be done and can be done well. Where it's done well is often a multi-year commitment with a a much longer amount of time to prep for that. So, you're looking at like you know, we're definitely going to commit to this for the next two, four, six years. And a lot of times they're looking at it in ways where they're very creative with a curriculum structure they're providing maybe some looping. So, I have a K1 class, a 2 3 class, a 4 5 class, and I'm going to creatively build a curriculum that includes those kindergarten and first grade standards over the course of two years as opposed to now I'm trying to hit both the standards from kindergarten and first crammed into a year. So, it can be done and it can be done well. But, with with our new curriculum adoption for literacy and all the additional literacy um professional development that we've done and rolling that out and moving into the need to do similarly with math, the feedback was very strong of like, I want to be able to do literacy well. Like, that's important. I want to be able to move into this math implementation well. And to do that and multi-grade seems like too large of an ask. Correct. And I agree, which is why we're like, what is another creative solution we can consider? I also think that we do have a competitor that uses this model, and they are a strong competitor of ours, and they're very successful, and they're getting really good academic results. So, you know, let's let's learn from them, and and see if we can get a similar outcome. >> So, it's not just a spreadsheet solution. >> It's not just a spreadsheet solution. Yep. Well, then I appreciate the fact that you've listened to our teachers of what because that actually explains it really well, that multi-aging is a commitment. And this is more going back to the to maintaining adult, you know, well-trained, highly trained educators with to the students, and it's a little bit more there's a there's a you can plug it in when there's a need, and do so quickly. Um so, I think that might be I'm excited to see what this does. Mhm. Uh if we're approving this for a 1-year um trial, or I don't know the words you use, I apologize. >> Not tonight. Okay. >> That's fine, yeah. Uh would we when would we look at extending that trial, or um making it more permanent? My ask would be as we go into next year's staffing conversations. So, um Next Next month. Late winter. Late wi- Yeah, late winter, so February, March, maybe. I feel like we'll have a reasonable amount of uh anecdotal information, and we could have even um some initial academic screening data by that point, and then have a conversation about continuation. Thank you. Yes. Yeah. Uh so, thank you for bringing this back. Um as I mentioned last time, you know, I'm I'm really excited about this. I think this model can work really well. Uh Having a spouse as teacher, she's taught historically both in a multi-age classroom. She's taught also with the you know, TA type of model. And like you said, I think both can work really well. Just takes a commitment and and what I'm hearing and what I appreciate is you know, something that we talk at a board level is wanting to have more localized control, you know, from us you know, from what we have to work within and I think that's what we're showing. You're listening um you're giving control and empowering the different elementary school principals and the teachers to figure out what's the right model for them and who who may have a TA or not. So I think that's a really thoughtful and helpful approach. So um I do think this will have a good outcome and I know last year we were you know, due to some timing concerns and enrollment issues that you know, we had a pivot and I think that was a great way to pivot and under some challenging circumstances. Um and I think now having a little bit more of a one runaway, I think this will be a really helpful model that I do think it'll be helpful to support unless you know, the data comes back that it's maybe not working or whatever the reason. Um I think that we need to make sure that we're staying flexible to meet the realities as you know, Chairwoman you had mentioned. Um there's a lot of headwinds that we're facing but there's also a lot of opportunities and you know, what can we do to put our students in the best position to be successful and having another highly qualified adult in the classroom, I do think also is helpful. You know, if the main teacher is out maybe on on leave or other circumstances, well, you have that consistency and I think that consistency is really important for students as well. So um I appreciate the work that you're doing and yeah, you kind of mentioned with Chairwoman it was a question of you know, based on the um multi-age um uh of um classroom last year um you kind of answered that well and um and I appreciate your willingness to pivot and find new ways to do things better. And I think as a board, I think it's good for us to continue to make sure that we empower um the subject matter experts to who are boots on the ground to put forth what we think is going to be best. And if we have to pivot next year, we have to pivot because that is just the reality of what we're facing. And I'd rather be proactive than um and find better ways to do it than than not. So, thank you. Thank you. Um I will add one more thing to that. We um have been working with the SCEA and then also with the para union um throughout this process. Um so, we've had lots of conversations about what this could look like, what are their concerns, what are their expectations. We just had a QSC meeting where we talked with the teachers again. They gave us all kinds of things to think about, different scenarios, then how we might address those. Um and so, we didn't have all the answers for them yet, but it was really good to have that conversation to be able to think of, you know, oh, well, these are the things that we hadn't thought of yet and how are we going to address those. So, um that um that collaboration has been really good. And the para unit um has had lots of questions for us as well. And so, we've been working with them all along to to answer their questions as well and problem solve. I'm also glad to hear we have current paras applying for these jobs cuz it it is kind of a a potential for a track of development and opportunity within the organization. So, that's nice, too. Got your hot card? Thank you. Um As I apologize for coming in late. I was actually trying to listen to you guys as I was driving over >> [laughter] >> so that I'm a little bit caught up. So, um the question that I had sent ahead um was around the staffing ratios and um particularly if we're going to add a cap. And right as I walked in, you're talking about we're not going to add a cap, which is a good answer, very clear answer. But what I was also understanding is that we're still shooting for the kind of 14 to 17 um um student to the staff ratio um and that we really want that flexibility um especially for this first year to try to figure out what works um and I really appreciate that you guys are looking at it holistically and that we don't want to be necessarily pinned down to a number first time around um and just to echo what a lot of people have been saying um the little bit of feedback I've been getting from our uh staff who've done multi-aging is please don't do it >> [laughter] >> Me, too. And and I appreciate that that we are pivoting already and I I understand the whole context of the budget issues last year and I it seemed like a great option um but it really in retrospect seems like something we want to do a little more intentionally going forward. It might still happen some someday in the future, but this feels um like it is more of a um budget-friendly adjustment that hopefully will be more sustainable going forward. So, I'm I'm really excited about this new model um and the one teacher I was talking to, she was like, "Yes, this sounds great." Like, "I don't know what it'll be like, but um at least it's a new direction to try." So, um I appreciate that open-mindedness and and I appreciate all the work that you're doing. So, am I understanding everything okay? Yes. With Okay. [laughter] Excellent. Just getting caught up here. Okay. You have your hand up. Yeah, um how common is this? Has this happened in other districts? Is it a lot or a little? Um well, I know of two. One is a larger metro district that does this and I will tell you that they don't push the TA lever until significantly higher than we're pushing the TA lever. And then um one of our competitors In Bayport? In In Bayport uses this model and always has and boasts on their website that they maintain a 17 to one student to adult ratio. So, um yes, it is done. Thank you. Did you have to >> [clears throat] >> I just wanted to um kind of echo um just others' thoughts that I think, you know, we're not living in a in a perfect ideal state and and in giving kind of the constraints and the the limitations of of just the broader, you know, landscape, I'm just really impressed with just the level of receptiveness to feedback and research and thoughtfulness and creativity. And it's like data-driven, it's um feedback-based. I mean, it's it's it's all the things you would hope, um I think, for creative solutioning in a challenging situation. So, I think this looks really promising. I'm excited to see how it plays out and just want to thank you both. Mhm. I think it's real important that we are very purposeful and we are we're already planning to be purposeful in the rollout. And by that, I mean two things. One, this is going to look different for our teachers. All right? You may have, you know, early younger elementary teachers with, you know, over 30 kids in their class. All right? What is that going to mean for that teacher? All right? Well, the biggest thing is they're going to have another adult in the class to help them and help the students be successful. So, it's real important for us to ensure that our teachers who have TAs are prepared to receive them and have uh understand what best practice is and utilize utilizing a TA. And then it's also important for us to onboard our TAs properly cuz you're not another para in the classroom where you're just going to watch these couple kids. All right? You are a partner with the teacher. So, if we're going to be successful, I think it's really um taking a methodical approach to to onboarding folks. Cuz this is going to look different. Okay, now all right. I mean this one of the things that came up in QSC last week. Okay. Now I have 31 or 32 kids in class. Well, now I'm going to have 32 conferences. Yes. Okay. So what's that going to look like and and how are we going to support those teachers like that for ready set go conferences? Uh but we already have enough time for you know, that many in in the older grades. So I mean there there's there's things we're we're going to be mitigating. But again, I think it's being purposeful, developing the plan, and ensuring that A, the person who's receiving the TA, the teacher, is as comfortable as the TA is in in operating in this environment. And so that's uh again the we're going to be intentional about this. That's good. Is there anyone at the um board table who has an issue with just um kind of a one year just offering some flexibility to staff, you know, obviously checking in along the way throughout the year, and then really heading a solid check-in um prior to the hiring season to see if this is something that wants to be continued. Because at that point then maybe staff has an idea of what you know, how they're pulling the lever in in a solution like this. Or if it becomes necessary, this may be something that um knock on wood our school districts can kind of get out from under some of this um budget deficit that's going on. But um How do I guess I was just assuming one year. Um let's gather some learnings and have some flexibility and Yeah, I'm always for one year. So that's what I would uh that's consistent with how we're approaching >> Right. Mhm. Okay. Well, we'll bring >> we'd be back in 2 weeks to ask for that action. >> Yes. Yep. Okay. Yep. Great. Thank you for this update. And um if anyone has any other questions, they can go to Mike and and Caitlin and Chris. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Okay, our next report for this evening is an Amigos Unidos program review. A new face. A new face. [laughter] Hello everyone. Hi, I wanted to start this evening by taking the opportunity Hannah Reyes. Hannah is currently a first grade >> First grade. first grade teacher in our Amigos Unidos program and she is transitioning maybe faster than she wanted to into the role of our K8 immersion coordinator district wide. >> Yes. So, um selfishly I'm extremely excited to have her on board to support with our um Amigos Unidos program district wide. So, she's also here to help me tonight present some of the the findings from our recent um program review that we hired a consultant to do. And I don't know if you want to share anything else about yourself. Yeah, I've been here for 8 years. I I was started when the program was 2 years old and so I've really been here through all the the growth and change and um I'm really excited to take this on. We've already started. Um we have some plans going for onboarding new teachers, etc. So, it's been great. So, thank you for having me. Yeah. Okay. So, this is a um Amigos Unidos program update. We did employ a consultant this year to kind of dig deep on what are current practices, what's working, what's not working and best ways forward. >> Great. I just want to Yeah, so anytime anyone hears consultant, okay, why are you spending money on an external entity to come in? So, I want to address that up front. So, we originally posted for a 0.5 coordinator for the program um last year. Due to the uh minimal applicant pool that we received cuz it was only a half-time position, we we didn't fill it. So, we had budgeted half of a teacher salary for that position and rather than fill it, Dr. Ikbamu has a colleague who is an expert in immersion programs that she knows from St. Paul. And so, we hired this consultant to come in. I think she cost $18,500 to to really take a top-to-bottom look at the program for us and provide us recommendations. Cuz again, for those of you and and Hannah just mentioned it we have just kind of built this program, the airplane's been flying and putting it together. And so, this is really the first time we've had somebody come in and say, "Okay, how can we you know, we're doing a lot of good things here, but how can we really take this to the next level?" So, that's what you're going to hear tonight is really feedback from the consultant and she had she talked to teachers, she talked to parents, I'm sure she talked to kids, I met with her. So, really just a lot of insight into our program and how other immersion programs work. And so, that's that's kind of the background of of this report tonight. I appreciate you saying that, cuz I did ask that question. So I know I know people, I appreciate the public answer of it, so. Thank you. And I think it has been the best thing that we've done in a long time for our program, so it can really lay out what we need to do in the in the coming years. So, I'm excited about it. Thank you. Okay, so we've we've kind of talked about this already. Um, so current context, this program launched 20 17-18 with the intention to grow it K-8. Some of the things she highlighted as really great strengths that we already have in place that we can continue to leverage is that we have very talented, knowledgeable, committed staff. Anna can attest to that. She works with many of them daily. Um we have a fantastic, very engaged uh family community group um and students. In fact, we presented this to families Last week Thursday. >> Yep. Oh, a week ago Yeah. Yep. And the media center was packed. I mean, it was 65 families 65 people were there. So I'm usually like just scrounging to get 20 25 people to show up and it was great. Um and then she also identified for us what are gaps that we have gaps in resources, that we have gaps in alignment, and you know, we we've talked uh recently about and I'm here tonight also to ask for action on the Amigos Sinidos literacy curriculum and that was definitely a a gap. Um Liz, our consultant, did participate very actively throughout the entire literacy adoption committee process. And this is you know, we we're also having a lot of enrollment conversations and this is a program that brings us enrollment. It has an oppor- We have the opportunity to grow and expand and we do capture a good amount of out of districts that's within this program. So again, she included she looked at student learning, she looked at language development, she talked to parents and staff, um she evaluated our program structure, our instructional model, how many minutes we're teaching in Spanish versus English at the different grade levels and how that aligns with best practice, um and just to things that we can put in place to ensure sustainability um for future. So the vision is really that K8 dual language program. Our 20 uh and then having, you know, there's a lot of conversation right now because our our initial cohort of students from that program will be ninth graders next year. So, that's really exciting and also really scary for our parents cuz they have very much voiced like what happens with a K-8 program when our eighth grader goes off to high school. So, having those high-level Spanish experiences, which we'll address a little bit more as we we go through this content, um with the goal of having our 2030 graduates and beyond be bilingual, biliterate, biliterate, culturally competent, and academically strong. And we want all of our kids to be college, career, and global ready. Um I think dual language instruction does a really nice job of setting students up from from day one to to be that. So, our focus by level, um when you're looking at what should be your focus within dual language instruction in those earlier grades K-6, you're really looking at developing strong Spanish literacy skills. As students matriculate up, you want to increase that focus on explicit writing and academic language instruction. And then the ultimate goal is to have students graduate with a seal of biliteracy. So, meaning they can read, write, speak, and listen in two or more languages. Uh one of the things I really appreciated about her um work is this this five-year plan. Like, how do you take all of these recommendations and make it something that is feasible that we have the capacity to kind of take micro bites at a time and and continue to work towards. So, she really gave us a good idea of like where to start. Start with alignment. Start with And that's a lot of professional development and a lot of procurement and alignment of resources. And then um that's a lot of what we've already started to do this year and then moving into launching those ninth grade courses next year. And then again, as the students matriculate up, it's an opportunity to continue to expand that. I am really excited about the opportunities that are the timing of moving to a block schedule at the high school with our eighth graders moving up for ninth grade. I mean, like it's like meant to be. If things were fated, this was fated, right? [clears throat] Because one of the difficulties that we've had um in middle school is students really do need access to Spanish language arts and English language arts. And so, students are faced with that hard decision between do I give up an elective? Um and so, now when they get to high school, they won't have those They'll have more electives available to them and they can continue to take these courses without um limiting maybe passion courses. So, areas for improvement K-5, and you will see professional development through out her recommendations. We have not had a kind of district-wide look at professional development specific to dual language instruction. It's one of the first things like when I met with the head of talent she got the job before we even left that meeting, she was like, "So, can I put together a PD plan?" And I'm like, "Yes, you can." It's what our teachers want. They want to learn more and want to learn new research. So, that's our first step for the summer. They are hungry and it's exciting. Um and then, kind of second bullet, not surprising, is we needed a literacy curriculum. Um and we need consistent student experiences. Again, some of the resources that we're starting to adopt and get in place will allow for that. We continue to need to look at how we can better support our special education students and our ML students within Amiguitos Unidos. And then, just an overall understanding of dual language immersion. So, for our immersion teachers, yes. For our teachers on the English side who are colleagues within the immersion program, um and for families, just understanding what are what are the appropriate expectations to have developmentally as students matriculate through a dual language immersion program. So, next year we've kind of already hit on some of these. We're looking to adopt the Benchmark Adelante program. So, that will come with additional professional development right out the gate. Um planning time is a huge huge thing. As we already commented on, we have amazing staff already in place. They come from lots of different places in in America, across the world, and we need the opportunity to give them time to leverage their expertise and share that with each other and kind of train each other. Um so, those to me feel like I call it low-hanging fruit. Like, we can figure that out without a sub- substantial cost, finding the time for collaboration. Um we have a teacher already at the middle school who is super passionate about creating collaborative student experiences, so it was super fun to hear her make that recommendation cuz she's already building out kind of a curricular scope and sequence that allows the our eighth grade students to come down and do some mentorship type um integration opportunities in the fourth and fifth grade classrooms at Amiguitos Unidos. And thanks to um the partnership plan and with help from Principal Doe, we were also able to secure a grant for additional uh Spanish language texts within the media center. That was a huge need that was also identified through this work. So, for the middle school, similar. There's I kind I sort of addressed that there's this English language arts and Spanish English language arts gap. Um we're we're currently providing Span- Spanish language arts, and we're trying to also embed ELA within that. It's It's working, but there are areas for improvement there. So, we're going to start looking at how can we be more creative, whether that's with scheduling or creating a scope and sequence within English language arts and Spanish language arts that allows for a little more fluidity. And then we have to develop some Spanish social studies curriculum. I believe I saw an email like that's already in the works for the summer. We offered this year the stamp proficiency assessment at eighth grade. And our students performed above the national average, which was great. They also performed above the national average in fifth grade. So, is stamp specific to immersion then? I don't know if we've ever heard as a board heard. It is a Spanish specific It's to test your reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills just to make to see where you're at in those different levels. And our kids did wonderfully. So. And it's nationally normed, so it gives you an idea of like here's at this grade level, developmental level, what are most students scoring. And then we have to start preparing and we are for that transition to high school. So, this is just another way of of looking at kind of what we've already addressed. We need time for staff training and professional development, planning time for collaboration. And we've already created some some really good things in place this year. One of the things that we were able to do as well both elementary and middle was create a late entry assessment. So, if a student maybe moves into the district or shows interest in a family shows interest in having their child be in a Spanish our Spanish immersion program and say they're in third grade, you know, usually we're kind of like, "Well, we don't know. Do they have the Spanish language skills to get dropped into a third grade Spanish immersion class. So, Hannah with a couple of representatives at elementary as well of as the middle school staff at middle school were able to create an assessment to say, "Yep, you are you have the reading, writing, speaking, listening skills that would you would need to just pop right in maybe mid-track." Um we've already used it for we have some GATE students who were in Amigos Unidos and then left and went to GATE and are now returning back to their um middle school and we were able to use that assessment to say, "Yep, plug right back on in." So, it's exciting. And I would like to say we never would say parents, "We don't want you in our program." This is just the information we can give you based on that assessment and this is what your student isn't needing to do to be successful. So, I just want to put that in there. Thank you. And then high school, the much awaited what happens when you go to high school? Uh so, we need to continue to work on course development that includes authentic text of text from Spanish authors um and that we're aligning these to the test for language profi- proficiency targets. Um we when we are scheduling our students from Amigos Unidos, we're looking at cohort scheduling so they move matriculate through their class schedule as a cohort. Um looking at uh providing assessments to kind of just check on how they're moving with their language development at grades 10th, 11th, and 12th so that we are not surprised at 12th grade when they take that um test for the seal of uh bilingualism. And then continue to just look at what is how are students entering and if they're exiting why. So, kind of monitoring those things. Oops, Director Parker. Can can you go back to last slide, sorry? Thank you. The um what is the purpose or need for the cohort scheduling like I would assume once they're at the high school level they would be sort of integrated into the high school. Can you talk about the co- what what's what what do you mean by cohort and what what what is why is that? >> there's specific courses that are being developed this summer targeted to the language proficiency skills that our eighth graders are coming in with already. So our eighth graders from Amigos Unidos are coming in with Spanish language skills that exceed their peers in their same grade level and so in fiscally it's very responsible of us to to schedule them together so that they have access to we don't have to run two or three sections of a class we can run one section of a class cuz we're not talking about a high volume of students. We're talking about a cohort of I think 35 students. Right now and then we are growing at the elementary so we will get more students in each cohort as the years go on. And then to your point it we may be able to have more you know cross-pollination for lack of a better term. Thank you. Can I ask a follow-up on that one? So are AU students then registering and expected to stay in the program or is this an opportunity for exit? How will that work? We always lose a few along the way. I mean families make choices. Students are certainly still going to be faced with the choice of do I take you know Temas Globalis which is a social studies content class taught in Spanish aligned that we're going to be offering to ninth grade but it is an elective credit. So it does take an elective spot. So yes those are like pressure points that students and families um might have might choose to do something differently. Although they're very invested, by the time they get to ninth grade they're they're very invested. So, I don't anticipate we'll lose a lot. We're certainly not forcing anyone to do anything. Okay, that was just something that I was thinking about in previewing this was how are we going to have enough students since it is a very specialized group and if we're creating all of these great new classes, if kids are deciding they want to choose something else, will we have enough kids left to continue these great new classes? And my answer to that is yes because if you look at how students are matriculating up, every class before is larger than the class ahead. So, I think are we up to We have three kindergarten sections this year. Yeah. >> So, when we started it was just two sections and now we're up to three to four depending on the grade level. Um with a weird little COVID bubble in the middle. I don't know where that's little, but Okay. Thanks. Can I ask how many students do we anticipate seeking the seal? Um is that the ultimate goal for for students, I mean, or is I don't know. I mean, I know we don't know because they're just coming into ninth grade, but It carries weight for college. >> Yeah. Mhm. Um and I believe even some college credits associated with it. >> Absolutely. And also when parents really put their kids in, especially in the first cohort, they really had the belief of this will go till Okay. getting the seal of biliteracy. So, Okay. I think we have invested families and students. Okay. And just one other question, the class size ratios that we just discussed, I mean, we don't have any that they would follow the same ratios that we have established, correct? Okay. Yes. Sorry. So, getting into this program, any kindergartner can choose to go into this, right? After that, they either got to move up or apply of some sort, especially anybody open enrolling. So, somebody wants to open enroll, they're a fourth grader, they would have to apply, right? And they have to have enough proficiency in Spanish, or else they got to open enroll for something else or not open enroll, right? So, kindergarten we allow students to come in without any previous knowledge. Um and then second and above we do like to see what their proficiency is just to be like, "Family, this is where they're at. This is what they're expected to do." And then they can make that choice. Um because by second grade it really is you are learning in Spanish and you're no longer learning I mean, you learn Spanish the whole time, but it's it's become more rigorous by second grade. We would have to turn some people away, right? Unfortunately for them. Yeah. And I mean, yes. We I don't want to say that, but if for your student to be successful in by second grade, you need to have some sort of Spanish proficiency. >> And how many open enrollers do we have that we might not have if it wasn't for this program? Uh I want to say last year we had about 13. I think we are looking at around 15 to 16 this year of open enrolled students that are not Stillwater district students that are coming to us for And that's a higher number than a non-Spanish immersion program like your normal 14. That is a lot. Okay. >> isn't right. This is an enrollment opportunity for us. Okay. Um so, I I kindergarten it's like, "Yep, come in." Great. Thanks. We were. And now that we are moving into the new beautiful Lake Elmo, the limitations environmentally with space are are going away. So, we have even more opportunity for growth. It's good news. So, currently we're continuing to evaluate the needs for high school and develop those course descriptions and scope and sequence. Those courses have gone through the district curriculum advisory committee and were put on the registration guide and advance. The work this summer is really building those out. Um and I'm super grateful that we have Hannah to do it because I do not have an expertise in dual language. So, you'll see those sometime this fall the board will. Okay, and that was And I apologize [clears throat] if I So, these are all net new. 9 10 11 12 All the ninth the ninth 10th 11th. So, our incoming first class ever will be ninth graders and we're going to offer a course called Temas Globales. Right, but like AP Spanish that's new and that Okay. I believe we've had AP Spanish um before. College in the school Spanish five and six. Sometimes these things are dependent on enrollment. >> Sure. >> We don't typically necessarily get kids that have matriculated in that are at that level. We're anticipating that changes now that we're we're seeing our um Amigos Unidos students move up to the high school. So, we're preparing for that. Got it. Um we have a little bit of time to prepare prepare for that, but I do believe we have offered AP Spanish before. Temas Globales one and two will be new. Brand new. And the focus of development this summer is one for that ninth grade cohort. Um also new is having more of a district level look at this which Dr. Fonk addressed. Um is it's really been a grassroots kind of Lake Elmo movement and it's grown and grown and grown which is a good thing and it's required us to at least have a systematic look at how how do we better support our Amigos Unidos program. Hence the addition of a coordinator this coming year which is super exciting. And then looking at um what does it mean to have more uh immersion leadership or a more advisor a more formal like immersion advisory group. These are all things that Hannah and I will continue to have conversations about and and build into the plan. And then uh recruitment and hiring of strong bilingual staff. I think we've been fairly lucky. >> Very lucky this year. >> Mhm. Or in the past too, we've been very lucky. And I think Chris might know all of our most if not all of our immersion positions for next year filled. >> They're filled. We're still waiting on the 0.5, I believe. And then um we're working on dedicated and sustained funding for curriculum writing, which I feel very confident we can provide. So, takeaways is we value this program. It is an important program at still our schools. It is important to our families. It has been a an opportunity for us to grow some enrollment for outside families. We have fantastic teachers um in place. We have a good foundation to build from. We were lacking that systems level look at it. We are lacking that alignment and we were lacking just coordinated resources. So, those are all the things that we are focused on now and into the future. Okay. Unless you have questions. >> Yeah, questions from the board? I have one more, sorry. Um and I apologize, I should probably understand this better than I do, but can you help me understand what the difference between the AP Spanish language and culture versus College in the Schools 5-6? Like, they seem like that they would have a high overlap and cannibalize each other, but I I just don't know enough to understand it. I don't either. So, one is College in the Schools is part of a college system somewhere in Minnesota. It might be Minnesota State, it might be Bethel, it might be the U of M. So, our teachers who teach that course are certified by the college to teach a college level course. Students take the course and they grade or they they pass the class, they get college credit. An AP course is uh AP national curriculum. Teachers don't have to be certified by college to teach it, but they have to be certified by the AP Institute to be able to teach the class. And the way the kids earn credit in that is they have to score a three, four, or five on the AP exam that occurs every early May. So, it's a high stakes test. Whereas the college in the schools basically you pass the class, you you get the college credit. So, those are two different approaches to earn college credit that the high school offers. Let me ask Paul. Sorry. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have other areas where we provide both the AP class and a college in the schools for the same course? >> We we do. I I think I'm trying to think uh if we have some English classes perhaps or maybe government. Um history. Um we might have something and they might not be identical. Um it may be European, it may be American, but um yeah, there is some overlap and the high school um has had quite a bit of success with AP over time, but I think we're seeing a a growth in college in the schools enrollment because families are A there's a test there's a a fee to take the test for the AP test. And then it's high stakes and so that really stresses some students out um and so there's been kind of more of a shift to the college in the schools approach, but there is some requirements. Teachers have to have a master's degree and they have again they have to have approval by the the university to teach the course. Thank you. >> And I'm hesitant to say that the content in Spanish language and culture is the same as the content in Spanish five and six. I suspect one is more around um the language of Spanish and one is more around the culture and the differences in Spanish culture. Without looking at the syllabi of the courses, I can't speak to that. Right now, but I can certainly give you an answer in another way. Thank you. Any other questions? >> Yes. Yeah, first just some comments. So, Ms. Reyes, thank you for leaning in and and stepping into this new role. So, congratulations. You know, I know you do some amazing work in the classroom and I think now from assistant's level, I mean, how cool is that to be able to have you bringing those skill sets and passion to the full program as a whole. So, so thank you for that. And so, yeah, I mean, a lot of great work is happening. I think again, it's just a great thing that we're doing as a district of just giving family choices and opportunities to find whatever their passion is. With the high school schedule coming forward, having, you know, the continued and more in potential investment into, you know, the Spanish immersion program. I think that's really great and you've been a part of it from, you know, the ground level and when it was just kind of a bootstrap, let's just do what we can do to keep it going. But, so now you have this kind of public format. What would be your sales pitch to families to say, "Hey, check out uh >> [laughter] >> uh you know, the Um I think Amigos Unidos is really special because we are a family. Um Lake Elmo's a really special building and we are really grateful to have found a family within the whole school. We're not just Amigos Unidos, we really are one school. Um but, it's a wonderful place where kids learn. Um do we make mistakes along the way? Yes, but it's it's a great place for kids to learn and grow. So. Yeah, well, thanks for the work you're doing. >> And become bilingual. And I would be um I meant to mention on the front end, but I would be remiss to mention um I did receive a question earlier today about the dual language um committee that MDE has put together. Hannah serves on that committee. So, we have a direct liaison between the work that MDE is doing around giving guidance around dual language instruction programs within our own system now. So, that's a a fun extra we got. Well, Hannah, welcome to the new position. I mean, you're going to knock it out of the ballpark and we're so grateful that you're that you're working alongside our wonderful staff to make this happen and be such a great experience for families and for our learners. So, Yeah. Well, thank you very much for this update. And if we have further questions, the board, feel free to email Mike and and Caitlin. Thank you. All right. Now, we have Caitlin, you're going to stick around some more. We're just going to We're just going to stay right here. >> Exactly. So, last meeting, we had a update on a report on curriculum adoption for AU. This is an investment that we are making. Um Uh what was it? 100 and just under 100 >> $72,593.50. Perfect. So, Oh, yeah. No, so I was just going to go ahead and and make the motion to approve. Is there a second? I'll second. >> Great. Director with a second. And then I just thought I could turn it over to you. I know we already had the report and so probably you've gotten some questions from board members and but if there's any additional questions remaining before we vote? No, I think the the question that I've received more than once, which is always a good indicator of I didn't cover it well enough [laughter] if it's asked more than once, is what is the guidance around the science of reading for immersion curriculum. And it's actually a fairly complex question, right? Because there is a lot of types of immersion programs. You You know, German, Hmong, Mandarin, Spanish. And so, what the State Department has said with this um advisory group that they're pulling of immersion experts, not necessarily specifically Spanish immersion experts, is that they're not going to weigh in like they did on the English side with here's curriculum you can adopt, here's curriculum you can't adopt. What they're saying is when you go in to looking and evaluating uh your curriculum, you need to look for these science of reading characteristics. What are the foundational aspects that are built into the that curriculum around phonemic awareness specific to what the that language needs are. And similarly for knowledge building components. So, the the science stands, but the application of that science to the to the curriculum, you really need people living it and teaching it to weigh in on does this work for the program? Which was why having um the committee of representatives from our Amigos Unidos program was so important in this curriculum uh evaluation round. So, those were those were the questions I had. So, we've we've the ones we considered met those requirements. Our teachers felt really, really good about the Benchmark Adelante adoption. And they especially felt good at the upper grade levels around the how well Benchmark Adelante pairs with Benchmark Advance. So, as they're doing both ELA instruction and Spanish language arts instruction, they're able to to have a curriculum that partners well with the English side. And I'm sure an integral part of the PD that you'll be planning this summer. [laughter] Yes. Great. Any other questions? >> Yes. Thank you for this and I apologize for missing last uh meeting so I couldn't ask this question then. Um looking at the cost, how much of that is year one and how much of that is incremental? Like uh see is some of that professional development or staff support? How much of this is new cost and how much of that is year one? Most of that is going to be a year one out the gate cost is that 172,000, but it covers a 6-year implementation. So, it covers the materials for the 6-year implementation. I believe it covers two, maybe 3 years of PD and consultation from the curriculum company. And during that time we're also then developing people internally who can sustain that that training, Hannah being one of those individuals. Thank you. Mhm. I just want to make a comment. Um I so appreciate all the work that is going into um evaluating our program, the AU program, and then also investing in literacy. Um I feel like this program has really um grown so much over the years and so much of the work has been done by individual teachers and families to support um and find the resources for our kids. So, I very much appreciate that our district is stepping up and really evaluating, figuring out where we need to add additional support, and then hopefully, if we pass this, which I'm sure we will, >> [laughter] >> um investing in literacy as well. So, thank you for all of your work that is going into this. We really appreciate I particularly appreciate all of that. Thank you. I appreciate that. Okay. We have a motion and a second. See no other questions. All those in favor of the um Amigos Unidos curriculum adoption, raise your hand and say I. I. I. Opposed? Motion passes 6 to 0. Okay. Um now we're going to have an update on middle school athletics and activities. So, we have Annette coming up. Are you up by yourself today? >> [laughter] >> Okay. Welcome. And superintendent Funk and members of the board, thank you for giving me this opportunity to update the board on middle school sports. We are Why are we here? I think you know why we are here. >> [laughter] >> But you may be less familiar with the fact that middle school sports are currently operating at a loss of about $150,000 a year. And that's being covered by the general fund. And so by looking at how could we find some cost savings there, one of the ways was by shifting this cost away from the general fund to community education. So I wanted to stop for just a second and look at the community education mission. Our mission is to provide lifelong learning opportunities that promote the health and well-being of our community. And you can imagine that middle school sports fits well within this mission. We've heard from some of our community members that they're concerned about community education taking over this program. Probably fear of the unknown, right? They're not sure what community how maybe how community education runs their programs, and they love this program. So they don't want to see it change, and I understand that completely, and I think it is a absolutely exceptional program as well. So we decided we needed to seek some community feedback. So we put together a survey, Crissa, thank you. And asked our community, what is it that you value about this program? And the good news is is they really value it, and we knew that. We knew that that it was a good program, and they absolutely value this. Um but that uh we we needed to use this information that we decided we needed to use this information from the survey then to build our goals for how we were going to address the um middle school sports because as you can imagine community education doesn't have a fund sitting someplace of money that we can uh uh um contribute to supporting this program. So, we used it to build out our goals. Um I think everyone understands why we would want the highest quality programs, reasonable cost, that one's pretty straightforward. What might be more difficult to wrap our minds around is how to build a budget that will maintain stability and long-term viability without compromising accessibility. To answer this question, we looked at how the current program program is functioning. And the good news is is it's actually uh functioning quite well. The program is already employing a lot of cost-saving techniques and is an example example of a well-functioning program. The bad news is is that that will make it that much more difficult for us to find some cost savings, right? Um but that consequently we will need to charge higher prices for this program. We know that, we've been talking about that for some time now, but we want to keep that cost down as much as we can. So, I want to explore that a little with you tonight. First and foremost, here is our current circumstances. We have our On the left side, you'll see those are the sports that we're currently offering. Assuming interest in those sports remains strong, we will be able to continue to run those programs. On the right side of the slide are is our current fees followed by our proposed fees for next year. You will see we are proposing that we would maintain a free and reduced price, although they are not the free is not exactly free. We did look at other programs to determine what is a common price being charged at that free rate and $25 was the number that came up and so we built this model based on that idea. Question. >> Oh, yes. I'm sorry. Right here. Yes. Um so Go back a slide. >> All right. So, I have not yet asked you this question and I don't know if we have somebody in the room who may have it. How long have we been $95? Great question. So, when I looked at things, it appears that this is the first year that we have been charging $95. Prior to that, we had sort of a staggered amount. It was $75 and $85 depending upon the grade of the student. Thank you. So, this is the first year at $95. Can I ask a question while we're on this slide, too? So, you kind of alluded to this, but looking at um all of these different programs, I'm guessing there's going to be an enrollment cap or limit for able being able to actually run all these programs. Is that something that you anticipate that a cap of how many kids can participate? >> Oh, I guess not so much a cap or more of a minimum. A floor minimum. A floor is what I'm looking for. Yes. Right. And [laughter] they're actually, as I did my research, they already have a minimum. Okay. Okay. Okay. >> is a common practice that they're already using and we would not anticipate changing that. So, it would be about the same amount to run the program. Do you anticipate adding any additional programs to this list in community ed? I wouldn't be opposed to it. The question has not come my way this thus far, but I wouldn't be opposed to it. Okay. Yeah. Thanks. All right. So, we want to manage our costs. The actual cost to run the program as we were looking at budgeting for next year is about $285 participant if we maintained the free and reduced structure, which as I've already said we want to maintain. And this is again keeping all the elements that currently exist in the program. So transportation stays, all of the coaching models stay nothing changes. All of those things would remain the same, correct. And that we want to maintain that, right? That that accessibility requires transportation. We have excellent staff and want the students to have the same experience that they have now. But we will need to do a number of things in order to address it. As you can see, the cost for next year is projected at $285 $285. We are grateful that the school district has identified a small pocket of funds from which they will be able to cover transportation and the coordinator cost. This will help us out and quite a bit, but in addition to that, we have started talking with our cities and some of our community service group organizations in the community. In fact, I've had the opportunity to meet with the Bayport City Council in addition to the Afton Bayport Lakeland Lions Club and I am pleased to share with you that the Lions Club has agreed to provide some financial support for the next 5 years. >> Wow. Isn't that terrific? That's amazing. And we this is only the beginning. We're going to continue to do this for the foreseeable future visiting with different service organizations in the cities if if we're so allowed the time and see what we can do to bring that cost down with additional funding. >> Can I just I want to put a plug in here that these are exactly the reasons why this is a good move to to move it to community ed because we've got you who is you are so familiar with us and when I was reading the deck that was probably the most exciting thing because it's such a natural ask. It's doing so much for the community when we offer these things. So. And we are fortunate in this community that there are a number of organizations that one of their primary purposes is to support youth. >> Yep. So, I believe there is opportunity that exists there. Thank you. Uh, some people have asked, um, what is [clears throat] what are what does this compare in other school districts, right? So, you can see in the middle column that tells you where community education is actually already providing this program. And as I mentioned earlier, um, it is a good fit. So, we see a number of districts that are doing it. We really only analyzed the East Metro, but that I can tell you it goes well beyond that. And that, um, uh, what uh, you can see that $200 does put us near the top of this list, but what we can say is that, um, that doesn't capture all of the information that is included on this slide. So, understand that some of the programs represented here have reduced what they're offering Correct. as a result of not being able to maintain them. And and that that's not what we want to do. And that's why we're seeking out this additional support. We want to continue to provide, uh, the variety of sports that that we're already offering. So, um, And for example, I know some of these that are lower do not offer transportation. Yes, correct. And then you can see South Wash and Mahtomedi if you look at that, it says in-district only. So, they're only, uh, because they have multiple middle schools, they're uh, having the students compete against each other, but they are not going outside of their school district. And that Chisago was interesting that they've outsourced all of their sports, uh, and that as a result of that it is it has eliminated their free and reduced model that that the sport the in uh, organizations that have picked up those sports in the community are not providing that option and so we didn't want to see that happen either. So what to expect? I shared all of this I share all of this with you tonight understanding that we are still building the bike. We got a little work to do here but we're getting close. Of course we need to start right registration in mid-July so families should plan on registering in the same way they have in the past. We will still have a free and reduced pricing and look forward to working with the same great coaches and staff that make this program what it is. Questions? Dr. Funk? >> Just a point of clarification and you had a great slide there showing all the different districts who have gone to community ed for this. Um you know, I have heard that because community ed will be overseeing the program that it's not a district program anymore. People are making the the assumption well now it's a community program. Okay. Community education is part of the school district. It's just a different department with in the district. So this is still a district program. We're funding it through a community education channel instead of the general education budget. So I think that's important for people to understand. >> Thank you. Any comments here? Yes. No, I think this is a really good outcome. I know there was concerns especially from access and equity standpoint and all those were alleviated. Obviously some of the fees are have to increase but I mean that's just the reality of where we're at and I mean go to the gas pump. I mean it's more expensive than it was. So but yeah, no I think there's some opportunities and love to find out ways that community members can help maybe make those connections and trying to reach out to all the different organizations and cities to make sure that we're trying to raise as much money as possible to make it even more accessible and equitable for for kids. So, but thank you for the work that you've done with this. So, you definitely have taken a lot of thought and effort and been very purposeful. So, you know, like Dr. Funkhouser says. Yes, Dr. Funk. I yeah, I want to really emphasize and thank you for saying that. Um that $200 is the ceiling. Okay, so if if we get more community education or community groups saying, "Hey, we want to support this." Or cities, "Hey, we have recreation dollars we want to support this with." That fee will go down. But what we're talking about today is worst-case scenario. Families will will be you know, full price will be $200. So, I think it's important that you know, that you know, and that's doing a great job of going out and meeting with the different community groups. Um so, um hopefully we can continue to to whittle that number down. Now, we had um during our budget priority conversations, we had identified and I don't have it in front of me a dollar amount that this move was going to save the district because >> $150,000. Okay, so our we're achieving that. >> $200,000. So, we're we are going to be contributing about 50,000 from the district for the transportation piece and for the AD for for consistency um from the general fund. Um but the the rest of it will be um coming through community education. Okay, so we didn't quite get everything saved that we wanted to, but we're pulling it off. >> able to identify uh another uh $50,000 that we could utilize somewhere else to pay for it. Okay. Can I ask just a clarifi- clarification question? Um at the very end you mentioned registration will be done the same way. Will it be through the schools then or will it be through the community ed booklet? Well, you No, it will be through the schools. So, the experience is not changing. Okay. Using the exact same uh registration system. Wonderful. Okay. Thank you. Cuz the booklet's actually it's really good. It is a good booklet. [laughter] And we thought about trying to put it in our in our catalog, but because we don't have all of the details yet, we weren't and we're actually almost done with we've completed our uh design for the fall. It's just not the time. The timeline didn't match up, so. Thank you. Great. Chris. I was just going to say back to the finding the money for the transportation. I think that's huge. I mean that that was something that had the potential to impact absolutely everybody. You know, that that that participate. So, uh $50,000 well spent. You know, wherever it came from, you know. That that's that's great. That seeing that I wouldn't while looking at the at the deck before I was like problem solved. Right. Awesome. [laughter] And and I and I don't think $200 is is, you know, you at the at the at the full freight, you know, it's not out of line. You know, I mean based on sports just in general, it's you know, seems fair. So, and hopefully we can bring that down. And I appreciate just knowing what the cost is to run a program like this and knowing because I think a lot of times people wonder, well, what do you spend your money on and what do you you know, where are you putting the dollars that you're allocated from the state, federal, local and this is an example where we do subsidize that. And so, I don't think we've always done a good job really talking people about the cost of what we do and then in something like this and it's a really important part of your school community experience. Um I just think you've done some outstanding work and I'm sure it's not just you. I'm sure I'm thinking of the athletics department and um Nate Cox I'm sure was involved in this. I mean just a bunch of different people probably involved in this. So, thank you to everyone that came up with this really nice solution. So, I do Go go ahead. >> wanted to mention really quickly, um if you look at these goals, these are the goals for the community education program in general, providing the highest quality programs at the most reasonable cost. That is always our goal, creating a budget that ensures financial stability and long-term viability of all of our programs are always at the forefront, and then maintaining as much accessibility as we can. So, it is again, it isn't a stretch for us to apply these same um goals and an understanding of these programs. So. Dr. Funk. I just want to say I appreciated the responsiveness of the community. I was surprised by the community outreach on this. I think it was 60 or 65 to one as far as emails that I received on this versus letting, you know, a number of teachers go, which I was rather shocked by the the outreach. Um so, just really appreciate the responsiveness and and creativity. Okay, well, thank you for this update. We appreciate it. Um we're going to move on to our next item, which is an action item this evening. Um it's kind of a wrapping or I guess updating this year's. So, you know, we're always working on multiple budgets on any given time. This is 25-26 spring budget revision. Um and today our finance director is Dr. Funk. Okay, here we go. Um So, this is the Go ahead to the next slide. So, this is the second um budget revision we've had during this school year. Last fall, of course, we had our budget revision as a result of the legislative session um and the changes that came out of that. This revision will include changes to both revenue and expenditures um by fund, and at the conclusion I'll just be asking for the board to uh approve the spring budget revision as part of the district's audit requirement. Uh so, the slide you see in front of you in blue, um this is the spring revision, and you can see that the the changes there are in blue. Um and this is for the revenue side of things, and over the next few slides, I will um be going through the through the different pieces of this. So, go ahead to the next slide. So, changes to this um So, the first one there is state aid. So, that first number, $673,000, this is our special education reimbursement revenue that we received from from prior years. This is mostly transportation related. So, we get that back for uh you know, we're we're always 2 years behind in what we receive in transportation. And just for the board's information, this is the percentage that will be going down for the next So, we will see next year it'll be 95% of this number um or or of the the total. This This showed 100% and then uh I think the following year it'll be 90. Um so, >> Correct. that is an impact for us. Um hourly unemployment, um this is the money received for summer unemployment for for our hourly employees. So, we receive that reimbursement from the state, so that's additional revenue. Um grant revenue, these are for um individual grants and and grants we receive in the partnership plan um that are included in that. And then you also see we receive some federal grants there. And then um we also have um some local other revenue, which are um smaller donations that we receive to the district. And then at the bottom of the slide there, you see food service fund. Um there's an adjustment there, um which was mainly due to increases in sales and and in interest in the fund. Next slide is the community service fund. That one includes revenue changes due to tuition and fees that have gone up and increased to state aid for early childhood family education and also non-public aid money we received for our non-public students. And then you see the the building and construction fund. That was uh due to the recent school building and facility maintenance bond sales. On the expenditure side, um, you can see we got the blue column there on the on the changes to the expenditures. And um, of significance there our food service fund has a healthy fund balance and they will be utilizing that where community service is likely looking to increase their fund balance. Uh, next the 25 26 expenditure changes. Um the grant activity, both individual and from the partnership plan, is included in the budget revision as we received the money, now we have spent it. Um, the uh program and site site adjustments. Um, that includes different levy funded programs. Um, you can see what that is. Um, you can see the compensatory aid uh adjustment. Um, and then the the federal grants. Again, the expenditures related to that. And then salary and benefit adjustments, both from unemployment, our unemployment, and voluntary pre-K. So, that expenditure is 1.8 million. And the next slide Um, food service fund You can see that uh we have an expenditure to include increases to food costs, milk costs, and supplies. And with a slight decrease in salary and benefits, that's related to staffing. You know, if we have a we don't hire people and we are are short uh um we just cover it internally. And so, we have had a struggle over time as the board is aware um and competing for hourly employees. Um particularly in the areas of food service and in custodial um services as well. And then, as far as the community service fund, um you can see the increases to salary and benefits, fees for service, and supplies. So, if you add those together, according to Marie and her numbers, uh the budget revision balances um based upon those those first few pages that I shared with you. So, that is what I know regarding that piece of it. Um questions from the board. And just to be clear again, this is a requirement from our audit for our audit process. We independently audit, so it's just another in the the series of updates and revisions that we approve. Correct. >> Um we will see this again to approve for a final I believe you're going to approve your final budget in June, and then you will approve approve your uh projected 26-27 budget in June as well. June as well. So, kind of we'll be talking about wrapping up the 25-26 and then looking ahead to the And I and I know that, you know, Marie had initially had talked wanted to give you a projected budget update, and since she wasn't going to be here tonight, so I had to put it in the the board update that you received on Friday. Um which projects out for us. And And the good news with that projection is we're actually seeing our fund balance go up uh point two or three percent, um which is great news in this I mean, it's we're moving in the right direction with our fund balance. It's not great news, but it's it's positive. >> Right. Um So, this um before we get going here, um I'm going to make a motion to approve this um as presented. Is this update to the budget? Is there a second? I'll second. Great. Director Hackett with the second. Uh questions for Dr. Funk on the uh budget revision. Seeing none, I am going to go ahead and call for the vote. All those in favor of approving the revision, raise your hand and say I. I. >> I. Opposed? Great. The revision passes 6 to 0, and we will move on to our next item. Um And is this No, this is you. Okay, we're going to do the uh resolution >> this is normally in June, but we're getting getting ahead of ourselves here. >> Yes, well, we've been behind in past years, so this is good. >> the uh resolution for membership in the State High School League, this is an annual requirement, and so um I recommend we continue our membership in the State High School League. >> [laughter] >> I think this is a a pretty good call here. Um is there a motion to approve the Minnesota State High School League membership? So moved. Great. Director Theelander, is there a second? I'll second. >> Okay. Director Hackett with the second. This is a resolution, so we'll do a roll call vote. Director Chrispich? Yes. Director Hackett? Yes. Uh Director Lauer? Yes. Director Parker? Yes. Director Theelander? Yes. Chair Sherman? Yes. Resolution passes unanimously. Great. Or actually passes 6-0 cuz we have one um gone, right? >> Our high school league member is not here. >> [laughter] >> He missed the vote. Okay. Um now we are going to have another resolution here, and Chris is going to come up. Um we've done this once before, and these are This is good news. We have a teacher coming back from an unrequested leave of absence as a part of our budget cut um priority process. Yes, so before you is a resolution to rescind the uh ULA status of um our last um elementary licensed teacher who was put out on ULA. So, we are very happy to um get her back. Yeah, that's awesome. That you all will approve the resolution. Great. Um is there a motion to approve the resolution? Great. Director Lawler and a second? I'll second. Okay, Sarah with the second. Uh this is also a roll call vote. Director Griswold? Yes. Director Hackett? Yes. Director Lawler? Yes. Director Parker? Yes. Director Thelander? Yes. Chair Sherman? Yes. Resolution passes 6-0. Great. Thank you very much. Good news. All right, with that um we are adjourned. That's it. Thank you guys.