##VIDEO ID:uHl1qaaTLnU## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e [Music] [Music] uh good evening I would like to call to order this in okab been school board meeting for today December 9th 2024 please join the board in pledging our Allegiance i al to the flag of the United States America and to the rep for it stands one nation God indivisible witht and justice for [Music] all all right our first order of business is to approve the board agenda is there a motion to approve the board agenda as presented thank you director langfeld is there a second um uh thank you director to Shane um is there any discussion hearing none all in favor of approving the board agenda signify by saying I I any oppos say Nay with six in favor and zero opposed the agenda is approved members our next order of business is item four finance and item 4 a are truth and Taxation public hearing welcome Michelle Vargas Chief Financial officer good evening chair Arco superintendent McIntyre members of the board tonight we have our truth and Taxation hearing um as the last item before we approve the payable 2025 taxes um tonight this is a hearing required by Statute um it is required to be held held within a public meeting between November 25th and December 30th after 6: p.m. can be part of a regular school meeting used to be it had to be separate so that's why that's always stated and then we must allow for public comments so once we go through the presentation we'll stop there are special green cards I believe for public comment and then after that portion we'll come back to approve the proposed tax levy you're also required to talk about the current year budget although this is not for the current year budget it's part of Statute and what they require you to do other taxing authorities the tax process aligns to their budget uh approval so tonight within the hearing we'll have background information on School District funding we'll talk about the current School District budget we'll talk about the proposed taxes for payable 20125 that fund our 2526 school year and then we will open for public comment the Minnesota Legislature sets and is required to make Provisions to fund school districts so our school district the taxation is based in statute and required by the Minnesota Legislature as a result of this funding it is highly regulated the formulas are determined um and the revenue their revenues based are mostly based on per pupil amounts the tax policy is determined for schools the maximum Authority we cannot Levy more we can Levy less the only way we can Levy more is by vote for no in November for our voters um this also the state allows a school board to submit referendums for operating Capital needs um also to the voters just a background the Gen Ed general education formula which is the majority of our funding if you were to look at the general formula and take it from 20 2003 to 2025 had we kept plac with inflation we would have $364 more dollars on the formula so in the last uh bium we had 4% the first year 2% the second year at that point we're still 18.7% below inflation had we kept place um that $1,300 would raise another 56 million for the school district if we were to take that out the other area in school district funding um the cross subsidy there's always the talk about the cross subsidy in the last legislative session they made um uh a significant investment when the projection was 726 million across the state for the the cross subsidy it's still projected to be at 455 million at the end of 2027 um the school district again uh we had a $47 million cross subsidy at the end of 2023 the 2024 one will go down because of that funding we won't know about it until next May the exact amount it's probably projected to be about 15 to 17 million less based on the additional Revenue that we got but we'll still be in the $30 million range probably um when we get that finalized in May the budget information that you're going to see is based on our current budget that we're in um our next budget that this funds will be the one that we have to adopt by June of 2025 um the school district has several funds that we track so when you adopt that budget we have the general fund our food service fund the community service fund our building construction fund we have Debt Service our internal service fund and then we have our OPB debt and Trust so our current budget this is um the form that we're used to require to report out and publish in the paper in November um this form is used the far right columns are our current budget the left columns show um our fiscal year 24 that we finished the actual amounts so the current year budget is a $717 million Revenue budget and a 742 expenditure budget that was adopted back in June of 2024 our revenues by funds um the general fund is our largest fund that is what funds our K12 regular programs it is 89% of what we do and $641 million you can see that our community service fund and our food service funds are the next closest they're both about 30 millions and about 4% of our overall budget each when you look at our general fund our largest fund the majority of our funding is State funding that's why when we talk about the legislature we rely very heavily on the state funding that's 77% we are now back down to kind of the regular federal dollars we've received prior to covid funds where we receive about 2% of our funding is Federal or almost 14 million our local funding which includes the property tax then there would be other miscellaneous fees and revenues that we bring in the majority of that being property taxes at 20% of our funding when we look at our expenditure funds um in the general fund by object code object code is the type so our salaries and wages and our employee benefits that's our compensation we always talk about we are people business it's it's people in front of students that's 81% of what we do the next largest area that you'll see is our purchase services within our purchase Services that's where our transportation contracts are which is another large area um and that area um is nine almost 10% of our budget you can see that um our Administration and District Services oops I'm on the next one then I'm sorry next one um by program level when you look at a program level and you're you're asked about where you spend it the regular instruction vocational speech our special ed and our instructional support those are are direct when we say direct student support those four categories um when they look at profiles and they they they talk about spending 70% we're over 70% that go into the direct instruction our district support services are 2.3% that would be business finance HR um student accounting your Administration the 2.3% is your principal's your superintendent's office to give you how those are are broken down sites and buildings at 73 million or 11% that's a lot of our Construction ltfm in addition to operations which is just your custodial and your utilities so that kind covers the budget portion of where we're at this year um now looking at just the tax levy in general um a change in tax levy doesn't determine necessarily A change in budget because we're funded by taxes and we're funded by state aid and sometimes what will happen is that there's a shift depending on your tax the calculations the formulas and your tax base when your tax base increases you sometimes may still be getting the same amount of money it's just a change between Levy and Aid and that's just to to understand every formula there's a lot there but just because U your taxes going up doesn't necessarily mean the district is receiving more money um as mentioned earlier there is a difference in Levy Cycles the School District budget cycle is a July 1 to June 30th so our 25 taxes are going to be revenue for our 2526 which that budget will be adopted in June of 2025 cities and counties that are having truth and Taxation hearings they are adopting their budget their their their 2025 taxes are funding their 2025 calendar year so it's a difference in um in how we present it's a little different for school districts when this is really for next our next budget cycle this is just a sample of what I'm anybody pretty much um received on their property taxes um looking at it that each owner of a property is going to receive this statement showing the different jurisdictions the only part that I will be speaking to tonight is the school district portion um on that and basically to understand it that your taxes may go up or go down based on your city or your county a school district tax a $100,000 house in any one of our U municipalities is going to be have the same school district taxes because our tax rates on a home value are the same wherever they're located what changes your taxes um from your overall are going to be your other jurisdictions so when we talk about what tonight our portion um is the same for every school or every part parcel within our School District boundaries each school district has limited authority to Levy taxes which is different than a city and a county as a as an elected board you don't get to set a tax rate based on a budget um these are all set in State Statute in law or by voter approval um that's what is going to be presented before you from the totals the tax process starts with the county assessor or City Assessor that is determining the market values of each parcel next SL thank you the legislature sets the formula for tax capacity and school district levy limits the county auditor calculates tax capacity for each parcel and the total tax capacity for each School District the Minnesota Department of Education calculates our detailed Levy limits in each School District based on the formulas approved by the legislature step five which is your portion is to set the levy and approve it then it'll go back to the County Auditors which will then divide the final Levy and collect it and then turn it back to the jurisdictions the approval process was in back in September mde came out with our final Levy limits that's when you did the preliminary approval in September on the 23rd in mid November so just a few weeks ago the proposed tax statements were mailed out by the County Auditors this is our public hearing tonight that's required we will do public comment and then following that hearing you will um be asked to approve the full limit of the proposed tax levy so the proposed tax levy for 2025 is a decrease from our 2024 Levy by almost 1.7 million or 1.2% reduction the changes by Levy categories and reasons for major increases and decreas decreases are on the following slides which is a requirement of the the hearing this shows our overall tax levy um by fund as you can see the general fund is a decrease of 1.8 million or minus 1.5% our community service fund is an increase of 9% um even though that is a 9% increase it's a small portion of our Levy we continue to see increases in um our school Age Care area so those are um our special special age education students that are in after school age care and um the cost of providing the services there our debt service is a decrease of 1.6% or 250,000 um overall the voter approved Levy is going down by 2.5 million over the previous year and the other which are all the other items that are listed by comment um by category are going up $852,000 so our major change is in the general fund the voter approved operating referendum is going up 550,000 um this is a voter approved Revenue referendum that grows with annual inflation so if there's inflation just like on the General Ed formula you're going to see that increase um the increase is also being offset because of our estimate our our declining enrollment so what we had levied at last year was prior to our October 1 and um we had a lower one last year and a lower one this year so it is offset the inflationary increases offset by our enrollment decrease so it is not a full inflationary increase our local optional Revenue that is a a flat $740 per pupil unit has an increase of $432,000 although it is going up that amount um due to our decrease um in our enrollment that also affects it and then our increased tax base is reducing the levy portion so when you look at it and you look at we qualified for Aid of 2. almost 4 million last year we're only getting Aid of 1.6 million this year so we lost over almost $800,000 in that shift from Aid to Levy so that's when you're talking about our you we may not be getting more Revenue we're actually netting less Revenue but our Levy is going up because of that shift the other large prior year um major change is our prior year adjustments it's going down by 2.5 4 million in fiscal year or payable 24 we had a large increase for a catch up on our referendum due to the big growth in inflation so that was a one-time catchup we didn't have that growth for um that included that one year of that had 7% so they had an estimated seven so we saw that big increase last year we didn't see it this year that's why we show a decrease of 2.4 million so what factors um will impact individual tax payers with for our school districts so change in an individual property value will affect your changes in total value of property within the district will affect it um as our tax space go up it's there's more to spread it on if we have new tax space increases or decreases in Levy amounts caused by changes in funding formulas um local needs and costs in voter approved referendums and other factors can affect School District um taxes on an individual taxpayer just a small quick example if you had a school district that had a two properties both $100,000 your total Levy was $500 they were equal they would split that $250 each now I'm looking at it if those two properties in the district the next year still $500 is your Levy one went up by 10% one went up by 25% you can see that the difference in the pay the orange house is now going to pay less even though their house went up 10% but because that house that went up 25% their tax capacity is that much more so that's when we look at all the parcels that we have and all the different changes that each individual can have um and what that can play on the values um and tax impact on each individual parcel just by looking at two Parcels in a single district there was also a change in um the legislative law that increased the homestead exclusion so the homestead exclusion it reduces your tax capacity by um home values between 76,000 and 517,000 and it it's uh graduated it phases out as your home value reaches towards that 517,000 it used to cap out at I believe it was 384,000 so that decreased tax capacity for many more houses as it stretched it out so basically brought into more of an inflationary factor into that phase out to reduce tax capacity on that there was also a change for egg homesteads um what the f first tier limit is which is usually the the lower rate um and increase that from 3.5 million to 2.1 million we have very little egg land within our school district we're primarily homes we're over 80% homes um and then the next area would be commercial industrial but we are very heavily um homes in our district do have a quick comparison um that shows four years of our tax rates um on valued homes um then we'll also look at um what has happened over the last three years from 2022 to 2025 um home values have went up about 29.7% we'll kind of look at with what ours um what that does to a home value um from that this is a large one I'm not going to go over every line item but it basically gives you a residential home values commercial industrial agricultural apartments and shows that the progression from 2022 this is if your values did not change at all based on the taxes we've levied what it was that our taxes payable for 2025 um to 2022 are all a decrease going down um that you can see over the the four years and then just the decrease in the far right column shows 24 to 25 that we're living so the these are for all different types of categories within our district um what those changes and the P percentages um that have been levied against the homes we have more individual looks on the next slides um so this is a home value um 150,000 and 250,000 uh Homestead that shows no changes in their property value from 2022 to 2025 um both of them are decreases over the four years it would be a $94 decrease on the 150 or 177% and then for the $250,000 home with no change they actually would decrease 16% over those three years from 2022 looking at um our average NOA County average value home is about 354,000 so that 350,000 is close to our average value um as you can see that one again is about a $219 difference from 2022 to 2025 if their value didn't change or minus 16% the $550,000 home um also decreases about $329 over those years are 15% decrease now if you take those and then take the average increase in homes in our in the district at 29% um they're using 6 20% the first year 6% and then what we saw was about a 2% this past year on our tax base um seeing that progression the $150,000 host did grow by $45 or 11% so their taxes went up 11% but their home value went up 29.7% similar for $250,000 house um the growth from 192 up to 250 the taxes went up $75 about 10% again with a 29.7% increase so your increase in your home value doesn't NE necessarily mean that that's your increases in your taxes because there are so many different things that are going on looking at the $350,000 residential home um there you're looking at an increase of $107 over the the three years or 10% um even the past year it's about a $28 increase um a decrease actually or 2.4% that's showing that we're down 1.2% um so on the 3 $50,000 house and that increase in um the homestead exclusion that we previously talked about um is going to affect those homes again the $550,000 house um is an increase of 184 over all those years or 11% U $22 decrease just to the prior year or 1.18% within the state of Minnesota there are two property tax refunds that people can apply for the homeread credit um based on your taxes and there is an income threshold the special property tax refund there's no income threshold but it does need to be an increase of 12% or over $100 there's also a senior citizen property tax deferral that are all available with the Minnesota Department of Revenue so at this point I would open have the board to open it up for public comments or any questions you have before you do that thank you m do we have any questions or comments from board members director Simon thank you uh Zach thank you Michelle I just wanted to make a comment that at least for me the how you format and present this information just gets clearer and clearer every year so I think this is just outstanding on how you presented it and the examples that you gave and I guess just one comment then um I mean this matches up with what I show and um Rapids where I own a home um you know my city taxes went up my County taxes went up the only place my taxes went down were in the school district part and when I look at this average house it's almost exactly what you say here what I saw on my tax statement of what it went down um like from last year to this year like I think it was like $50 to $60 down so um it just matches up perfectly thank you any other questions or comments all right well okay yeah um hearing none we will move on to item 4B our next portion of Our Truth in taxation public hearing to allow for public testimony um there I do have one green card currently and if anybody else would like to speak go ahead and fill out a green card otherwise um Jody Anderson if you like to come up and make a comment I have a lot of props so I'll have to get ready I even brought a here dear school board members and superintendent McIntyre my name is Jody Anderson I live down the street here I am an anoca Hanahan retired teacher I taught in the district 30 years I'm here to talk about the value of our schools here are my thoughts for a district many teachers have invested for many years our school system deserves nice things previously board members numers we have built wonderful football fields large auditoriums beautiful libraries and More Physical spaces that have enhanced our students learning experience and our communities enjoy enjoyment of their talents and people some people are saying we need to go back to the basics I ask at what cost does it mean eliminating some or all of these programs does it mean that we don't support the students in ways that stimulate their creativity athleticism I got the jacket for this readers and and appreciation of differences readers and mathematicians enhance their creativity by participating in music art and Athletics I will share my personal experience my husband is a mathematician he started his professional career as a loft engineer for McDonald Douglas he continued his career in the defense industry along with being an active and a reserved naval officer for over 30 years did is math background help him succeed yes along with many other skills like determination and cooperation gained through participa in athletics and Innovation and Crea ity gained through music and the Arts his writing skills and ability to Mentor others are equally beneficial to the organizations that develop and use a technology that defends our country he writes military proposals as a retiree I need good plumbers and electricians who can communicate well I need health care providers that have empathy and understanding things that must be taught through the humanities courses our community and our country does well when we have strong schools and that attract good teachers and retain them along with having programs in place that make a difference and keep students in school ask students what they love about their school it is often unmeasurable things like friendships Music Theater art and sports we build programs that ensure students continue to learn grow and graduate with multiple skills and keep them in our schools in District 11 we can do we add and can and do educate students by supporting them the district completed a surve survey so you know the ciens are likely to support a levy not a certainty but it is important to ask them education is an investment that promises great returns failing to invest now would tear down what has taken years to belt I believe we need to partner with the community and encourage them to say yes to a school district that builds for the future and a responsible vision for everyone thank you and thank you for your comment so we will keep moving on to our next part item 4 C final tax certification for taxes payable in 2025 welcome again miss Vargas thank you chair arle superintendent McIntyre members of the board so what I have before you is for approval the pay 2025 tax levy at 138 m286 all right are there any questions for Miss Vargas okay hearing none is there a motion to approve the final tax certification for taxes payable in 2025 as presented thank you director Simon is there a second thank you director langenfeld is there any discussion hearing none will all those in favor say I I any opposed say nay all right with six in favor and zero opposed are on the Lev is or I'm sorry the final tax cerification is approved thank you thank you all right members the next item on our agenda is item five the consent agenda as normal members can remove items for separate consideration and discussion if that is their desire is there a motion to accept the consent agenda as presented soov thank you director Simon is there a second thank you director Shane is there any discussion hearing none will all those in favor say I I any oppos say Nay with six in favor and zero opposed our consent agenda is [Music] approved and that brings us to our next agenda item which is item six Communications delegations and petition section of our meeting this is time for community members to provide input directly to the school board about issues that fall within the school board's Authority we plan this agenda item for 15 minutes our policy allows for community members to speak for up to five minutes but if there are several persons that want to speak the chair has the discretion to reduce the time to comment to hear from all and also keep the meeting on scheduled during times of large community imp input we have been flexible in allowing the meeting to run late um tonight we have 12 cards to keep the meeting on time I will ask individuals to keep their comments to two minutes I will ask co-chair Des Shane to monitor a timer and if you run over your time she will ask you to wrap up your comments quickly we welcome your written testimony if you have more to say than time allows um please and if anybody else would like to speak please complete a yellow card and provide it to miss kovsky so we can provide a written followup um a couple of proced procedural reminders our meeting participation procedures are in place to Ure open open and orderly public comments as well as to protect the due process and privacy rights of individuals under the law if speakers use specific names of students staff or board members I need to interrupt or stop the speaker please remember to direct your comments to the school board chair members of the audience please listen respectfully if the board cannot hear speakers I may reset the timer to allow speakers to be heard audience members that disrupt this portion may be asked to leave for the remainder of the meeting all right all of that being said our first Speaker tonight is roxan tur sorry if I mispronounced the last name yep right up here okay I'm here to talk on behalf of a friend of mine for the last 15 plus years and we met in this school where he was principal and through those years my two youngest kids of my four Sons um excelled under his principal ship he um they every the school had an atmosphere of achievement that it spread everywhere it was was very palpable and while he was here I believe that this Middle School Samberg scored the highest in the district for um testing results and stuff check me if I'm wrong I don't know um through uh so of course this was the school that they repurposed which made everybody heartbroken but he ended up going to Jackson Middle School that had a lot of problems and he was kind of the fixer there he he's a he's good at what he does and he did a great job there came back here to Fred Moore which is needed some fixing also and so he keeps getting moved around everywhere that I've seen him through these all these years he has been fabulous right now I work over at uh for the dist district for the Department of Transportation and my friend comes out a few times during the year and says you how's it going over here because even though I'm not his direct uh supervision whatever he cares about everybody who works within the perimeter whoever works on the campus thank you your time's just about up please conclude your remarks oh I'm sorry I'm so sorry that's okay um he's a great man and one of the things he told me this year was We were talking about a kid who was just causing a lot of problems in my area and he said some of the kids who need love the most ask for it in the most unloving way and I thought that man should be protected and considered to the full extent that you have available to you so you don't lose really really excellent good people and I'm pretty sure going to say it too so thank you for your [Applause] comments next up we have Eric nce again sorry if I mispronounced the last name uh superintendent McIntyre and members of the board my name is Eric NES my wife and kids um my wife and I have lived in Anoka 33 years my three kids went to Fred Mo and graduated from Anoka High School and I now have the privilege of teaching at Fred Moore um teaching as you've probably heard is more challenging than it's ever been I entered my 35th year in the classroom this fall and on the sixth day of school was assaulted by a student punched over 20 times this evening I'm still dealing with a severe concussion have had a constant headache since September 10th can only work four hours a day and I've been juggling weekly medical appointments SE SE since September I started counting up all the administrators that I've worked for over the years and I struggled coming up with a number but what I am sure of concussion and all is that none of them could have supported me more than the man that this woman just spoke about on the day that I was assaulted he personally escorted me out of the building prior to the end of the school day wanting to make sure that I exited the building safy safely he offered to drive me home made sure that I had his personal phone number and told me to call him any time if I needed anything the kind of violent behavior that I endured at school is becoming too common there were multiple fights at our school last week experiencing this assault has been difficult for me but I've only had to deal with one of these fights this year to be fair I've only been teaching part-time since the second week of school so I've missed many of them but you know who has dealt with every conflict every fight every altercation involving every student in the building building our administrative team and I say team intentionally this teamwork mindset and Leadership that I've witnessed is without question the finest administrative team that I've worked with in three and a half decades our building is radically been shaken since this Irreplaceable team has been dismantled they support all teachers all students and it's an incredible daunting task keeping everyone safe in a 20 24 School environment I've witnessed Fair kind treatment to students and staff and it's a very difficult balance that I've only seen one other administrator in the tenure of my education I'm we going to wrap it up right now knowing what I know about the culture and climate of Fred Moore on a day-to-day basis if my own children were still in middle school today and they were led by the administrative team that started the school year I would be 100% comfortable sending them here however if they were not I think I would seek another location for my own children to attend school thank you thanks for com next up is Shannon Fox hello all my name is Shannon Fox and I have been at the amsa Fred Moore campus for the past two years in my 28 years of teaching I have never worked in such a warm compassionate caring environment as I have under the original 2024 leadership the leadership that created a culture a family that Thrive for both students and staff the undignified removal of the head of our original leadership has been detrimental to our school as teachers administrators and other staff of public schools we are constantly being put in front of all kinds of kids there is always a risk that a student is going to become volatile and act on impulsive actions as Educators we must be able to make decisions they're in the best interest of our students and surrounding staff and situations present themselves knowing that we will be supported by our district and given a fair due process that involves open upfront communication and opportunity for explanation and a Cooperative investigation of events a lack of any of those things is unfair unjust and undignified to its staff as Educators we are told that if we perceive a student has made a mistake we are to always listen when mistakes do happen especially firsttime mistakes students have an opport to explain themselves to face consequences that equal the offense learn from their actions and then are fully restored to the classroom with a fresh start however staff are not given the same courtesy we must be anything less is hypocritical if students were treated with the same process that saf are treated with when there is a perceived issue parents would be in an uproar one could argue that the difference is that they are kids and we are adults no it isn't about the age but about the system the system is flawed and currently unjust unfair undignified and hypocritical the future of education is tenuous at best and if you let bad student Behavior dictate District reaction there will be no ability to counter the title wave of what's to come please conclude your remarks fear implication should not guide intelligent reaction teachers administrators staff need protection against increasing bad student behaviors show that the district can support its staff restore our leadership at amsa so that it can once again thrive under a caring compassionate dedicated leader one who gave 30 plus years to students in both heart and spirit who deserves to be traded with the same respect we give students even the most volatile then work on fixing a broken system I am presenting with you a packet of letters written by amsa staff members please carefully read with the understanding that we are all working toward what is best for our students thank you for your comments [Applause] next up is Mickey Paul so thank you for this opportunity tonight um superintendent McIntyre and School Board um my name is Mickey Paul and I am an ESL teacher at Anoka Middle School I started my teaching career in an Noah henpen 19 years ago I am here tonight to talk about the current climate in our building due to the changes in leadership and the big part of that is to tack on to what everybody else is saying tonight about um the change in leadership and how much effect that has had on us um I am asking for the positions to be restored to the additional roles that were assigned at the beginning of the school year um prior to mea this year Anoka Middle School was one school with two well-functioning buildings the buildings were both United yet unique in their own ways there was a well-established leadership team that uh created a highly functioning and positive environment for both students and staff everyone was aware of the expect expectations consistency was the key for our daily routine students were making connections with staff knew the expectations and were held to high standards they were supported and provided with a positive learning environment and the priority was what is best for kids our leadership team worked with staff to make it a reality it was the best start to the school year that I can remember in my entire career um Upon returning from the mea break the routine of the students and staff in both buildings was shattered by the shifting of leadership positions currently neither building is being supported as needed those in leadership positions are being forced to not only adjust their roles um or buildings but to take additional responsibilities as well they are being spread too thin and pushed beyond the limits our previously your remarks thank you our previously strong team has been deeply affected the staff are trying to support the students and help them navigate a new routine at the same time we are trying to not overwhelm the already stretched leadership simultaneously we must all hide our own emotions and stress that have been caused by these changes this is not what is best for anyone our students trust us to do what's best for them they need consistency and to feel they can depend on the adults in the building thank you for coming suddenly so much is gone just please please do what's best for our kids and make us whole again and please restore our leadership back to the way it was so we can continue um doing what's best for our students thank you next up is Carissa simonet good evening members of the board and superintendent McIntyre my name is Carissa simet and I'm a math teacher at Ana Middle School for the Arts over the past weeks I have wondered how to describe the impact of the loss of our principal at amsa please allow me to briefly remind you of a news report entitled Miracle on the Hudson that comes to my mind while at work every day on January 15th 2009 the Airbus A320 was struck by a flock of birds shortly after takeoff from lag Guardia and lost all engine power the pilots Sully sullenberger and Jeffrey Skyles decided to Glide the pain to ditching on the Hudson River all 155 people on board were rescued by nearby boats and there were no fatalities the time from the bird strike to The Landing was less than 4 minutes it has been described as the most successful ditching in aviation history our principal in September of 2024 at amsa is our Scully his co-pilots are our assistant principls at both Washington and Fred Moore campuses this team only works when all Pilots are in the cockpit a safe landing is in Jeopardy without their combined leadership efforts it takes experience to react appropriately in the moment and ensure the safety of everyone who is dependent upon your choices our principal had the experience he had the hours of training and the heart that enabled a teamwork approach to education at amsa you may hear safety should not be dependent upon one person tell that to the passengers of flight 1549 experience cannot be replaced please conclude your remarks the methodologies our principal employed were system were systemic and consistently centered around student and staff safety incidents of violence in school were significantly reduced time spent in classrooms engaged in learning Learning Without distra distractions increased exponentially without his presence safety violations have steadily climbed again thank you for coming thank you thank you for your comment next up is Thomas hegerty good evening school board members my name is Thomas Hagerty I'm currently a school counselor and coach in Noah hopin schools tonight I speak to you not only as a son of of an administrator but someone who has been threatened that if I speak tonight it would be falling on deaf ears that would be making the situation worse I know that's not true it's no secret that our schools have seen an in inrease in aggressive behavior I myself been put in positions where I faced a decision to either intervene to protect students and staff from being severely hurt or let the student continue the behavior up until this recent decision I would always intervene without hesitation not anymore I've had zero training on restraining students I've had zero training on breaking up fights I've had zero communication from the district and what our rle is when these situations happen but what I do know is we need people to be willing to intervene we need people to be willing to keep our students safe we need people to be willing to keep our staff safe we need principles who are willing to keep our school safe and with that I ask I know our principles have our backs have their employees backs but who has theirs what is the threshold to putting a staff member on non-disciplinary leave for protecting staff and students apparently non-disciplinary paid leave means no access to email no communication to co-workers co-workers are told not to communicate with them you even lose access to be able to view your pay stubs no one checks in with you you are completely and totally isolated and they may not have even started the investigation yet as a school counselor in my professional opinion this is extremely disturbing concerning and that a school district would do this to an employee especially one who they know and have trusted to serve and Lead our schools and Community for 20 plus years I don't ever wish an employee in this District goes through this again for protecting the safety of students and staff that is why it's so important to get these questions answered and put out to our community to our schools and employees what is the threshold to putting staff on paid non-disciplinary leave prior to investigating for protecting other students and staff why is it that people put on non paid non-disciplinary leave are treated poorly isolated and lose access to things like their email and pay stubs please conclude your remarks put them back where he belongs com the next speaker is Mariah hegerty next speaker is Mariah hegerty hi my dad was recently put through a humiliating process by District leaders during what they referred to as a non-disciplinary paid lead my dad wasn't allowed to communicate with anyone for weeks trying to keep him busy I brought him to an Anoka volleyball game come to find out our leaders were no longer allowing him on any District property my dad had to then get permission to go cheer me on as I coached at the State volleyball tournament he has lived and worked in this community for more than 30 years and yet our leaders told him that he had stay away from this community that doesn't seem extreme enough District leaders then used me bringing my dad to that volleyball game as a reason why he does not get to return to aoka middle school I was told at a substitute training here that during aggressive behavior that they want to be able to see us on cameras trying to stop it this district has not trained me on those situations and yet I'm expected as a substitute to handle them I subed for a teacher who was out because he was hit multiple times in the head by a student this is the behavior avior we are dealing with and instead of helping us learn what to do and know that doesn't mean a slideshow of dos and don'ts our leaders are pulling up school cameras watching the teachers actions and then deciding that we have to fight to keep our jobs and our license teachers no longer feel comfortable intervening with behaviors because they fear for their careers now our students are less safe due to Decisions by our leaders my dad was willing to intervene in order to protect his staff students and himself and because of this oh and also because he went to that volleyball game with his daughter he was thrown out and treated so poorly and I believe leadership knows this is wrong my dad isn't allowed to communicate with anyone not allowed on District property his staff aren't able to get answers or communication my brother was even facing threats for wanting to communicate and speak about this tonight someone is so worried that they felt the need to reach out to a person's child and threaten them in hopes that they would convince them not to speak tonight clearly there is something wrong going on here and certain people are trying very hard so you all don't hear about it no matter what our leaders do to harm my dad's career and reputation I will be proud to have his last name of Hagerty and that's 100% due to who my dad is I am disgusted with what is happening and no matter how many threats my family receives I will continue to speak up and spread awareness to this community and Beyond something needs to change that starts with getting my dad back at that school and who we have in leadership roles thank you the next speaker is Jody Anderson the next speaker is Jody Anderson oh I already did it oh okay so you spoke on the truth in taxation the next speaker is Darcy Steinberg hello I'm a parent of two in the ah District I'm also an educator in a different District I'm here tonight to plead with a school board to reinstate the principle at amsa Fred Moore the male the male principal is a vital compon component of amsa and it was because of this principle that provides a welcome open a welcoming community and open communication updates unlike the current current female leadership um and has a genuine care for connections with students he has high standards for all students he wants people um he wants the students to be in the school and he does his utmost best to provide every student with a high quality education they deserve not only does the principal make the students feel welcome in the school but shares that same sentiment with parents the climate was warm caring positive and is abundantly clear that the staff that work with the principal are excited and happy to go to work well at least they were which says a lot since we all know how challenging middle school can be not just for the staff but for students too being an educator I've worked the full spectrum of students from elementary middle and high and administratively I know how tough the job can be not just from the staff perspective but from the student and administrative level I know how hard the job is how unrealistic the expectations how challenging the climate inside the building and outside the building too but the importance and happiness of the staff and students is not something one can find in every building it takes time and effort to develop and the principal uh has become a staple the figurehead so to say of amsa when you think of it you think of that principle not only does he have an incredible connection with the students and staff he's genuinely excited to share what's going on in the building and things to look forward to because as a parent although I cannot speak for all parents I do know hormonal uh pubescent students do not exactly go out of their way to share information about their day outside of the guttural good or me the principal is able to and does give the parents a communication and that way we can also support our students in the overall community of the school please conclude your remarks from a parent perspective and you heard you'll hear my son um you need to have uh people who who actually care about the students and the one that's currently there does not and I do definitely miss the hello amsa parents and families this is your principle with an update we don't get those calls there's been no communication at all from anybody at the school or the district outside of an email that came out and that's not fair to the students nor is it fair to the staff and it's not fair to parents we are part of the community you need to all us involve us thank you for your comment next up is Liam Steinberg hello I am Liam Steinberg a seventh grader at amsa Fred Moore and the and I'm and I'm trying to get the former principal in the beginning of the school year as of this year and last year to try to come back to Fred Moore be because they've because they've just been there for a lot of students and UND and they' he's understood them and and will advocate for them and he does a lot for them and the current principal at amsa and I have heard this from other students and I also have been from included in this that the current principal has done unnecessary suspensions uh and in the district guide book which my mom good you're good keep going which my mom had printed out it's it the current principle skipped a bunch of things um you can continue speaking just try try not to defame the current principle please so just keep going honey um start start here ever since the former principal has left the school the community changed into absolute chaos the school is less welcoming Administration is not communitive nor makes me feel safe welcome or a person who can or a person who I can seek out if I'm struggling I don't know what happened with principal with the principal nor do I need to know amsa Fred Moore needs the him back the students of amsa Fred Moore need the principal back and I need the principal back I want my eighth grade year to start as strong as my seventh that can only happen with the with him as the principal please bring him back and Resto thank you for coming and Resto the [Applause] school next up is Dennis Gable Dennis Gable for good evening good evening directors good evening superintendent McIntyre thank you for giving me this opportunity to share my thoughts with you my comments will be brief my name is Dennis Gable my students call me Elbert I think it has more to do with my hairstyle than my IQ please excuse my comments if they tend to move in the direction of factoring a quadratic equation or proving triangles congruent I spend my days standing in front of of math students as I have done for almost half a century I have worked in many of the enoka henen schools and was recently a full-time teacher at Jackson Middle School I want you to know that I always felt safe when going into an Anoka hennipin school I never ever felt threatened I could talk about those days but I won't I could talk about my my days spent as a local EA president working with Schoolboard members like you for many many years but I won't I could talk about my very very close Rel relationship with a former speaker of the Minnesota house House of Representatives a man that I grew up with and admired for many years but I won't my purpose this evening is closer to my heart please begin concluding your remarks I am a local resident a taxpayer a voter and most importantly a grandparent of three former Anoka middle school students students who were so proud and boasted about their teachers and their experiences at an NOA Middle School I am here this evening speaking as a grandpa thank you for coming and if you can you can leave your remarks with Miss kovsky so we could read them as well it was it has recently come to my attention that a highly respected principle of Anoka Middle School a principal that I worked for um if you could please conclude your thoughts sorry can you please conclude your thoughts r at time okay has been removed from his position I'm a very involved grandparent I value the education of all grandchildren I also value their safety in school there was a time when the safety of children and staff at anahin was the number one concern of teachers and administrators I felt that my wife was an anah Hanahan teacher for 27 years I never worried about her being injured by one of her students I don't worry about my own physical or emotional safety or the emotional and physical safety of my grandchildren other students are staff at any Anoka henpen school it appears however that times may have unfortunately changed sir how how much how much longer do you have oh just a few just a little bit I'm almost can you conclude your remarks please in fact I'll I'll eliminate some of the comments that aren't necessary and I'll go right to the most important ones the principle I'm talking about is an experienced veteran of educational leadership and I respect that he understands the unique demographics of Anoka middle school he is able to anticipate and intervene appropriately because of his experience and I hope that everyone sitting before me would respond in exactly the same manner when faced with the possibility of a student being injured the community the students the staff and yes even the School hopan School Board needs his level of exceptional leadership as a grandparent I am deeply concerned for the emotional and physical safety of Anoka middle school students grandchildren and staff it is the primary responsibility of the enoka hopen school board to ensure the safety and well-being of all students the only fix is to reinstate this individual as principal of Anoka Middle School for the Arts thank you for giving me this time next up is Richard B I can't really read the last name Richard B my name is Richard Ball okay thank you I do traffic control around some of the schools part-time I can tell you on one hand how many people I've met in my lifetime I'm 70 years old almost 71 that have gotten my attention because of the outstanding things I see on a daily basis and we know who I'm talking about you don't meet that many people in your lifetime that move you I had an educator who saw I had a problem and that indic that fella is now the principal of the school I graduated from or was he's retired and we stayed in touch for 40 years this individual is that kind of a person I I've never met anyone so compassionate so intelligent so sharp hitting on all cylinders I was touched I can't tell you the last time I said the Pledge of Allegiance those last six words with liberty and justice for all the only Justice is that man back at where he belongs thank next up is Jean Sorenson Jean soron good evening superintendent McIntyre and members of our school board my name is jeene senson I'm a graduate of this school district I attended this district from kindergarten through 12th grade my own two children are students at Andover High School they've attended this District since kindergarten so I speak to you as a parent as a graduate I speak to you as an employee I started my teaching career in this District in the 1995 96 school year at Roosevelt Middle School so do the math I've been teaching for 30 years back at Roosevelt Middle School I had the pleasure to make an acquaintance of many many fine administrators one of whom was a young budding AP at the time and over the years I had the pleasure of watching him grow into many leadership positions and grow into one of the most respected administrators known in the Twin Cities area now I'm going to stop talking about him for a second I'm going to talk about restorative justice Wikipedia defines restorative justice as an approach to justice that aims to repair the harm done in doing so practitioners work to ensure that offenders are able to take responsibility for their actions to understand the harm they have caused and to give them an opportunity to redeem themselves type restorative justice into the inoa hennipen web page on your District issued computer restorative justice is outlined in our anti-bullying and anti-harassment task force reports restorative justice is outlined in our world's best Workforce report again a key component of restorative justice is that the harmer is given the opportunity to repair and redeem that can't be done when a person who has caused harm is kept away from the situation where that harm has caused please conclude your remarks I know that I have sat in hours of training in this District on restorative justice I know this District cares about restorative justice I support that and I applaud that my question to you is why is restor of Justice good enough for our students why are our students allowed to return to their situations and redeem and repair why are our distinguished staff members not allowed the same opportunity thank you for coming thank you thank you for your comments our next agenda item is item seven Board calendar and District update superintendent McIntyre have our screen just a moment here so to lead into my update this evening as the screen's coming down the Winter concert season is here and our high school and middle school music programs have been practicing in preparation for their seasonal concerts which are ramping up now we have a total of 62 concerts for school choirs bands and orchestras that are being hosted throughout the district over the upcoming weeks residents can find a complete listing at ahschools.us on our website student performers at an NOA High School in champan Park High School were featured as part of holiday tree lighting events in the respective cities held over the weekend want to take a moment to say thank you to the students involved for being such strong ambassadors for our schools and helping make those special events extra special for our community members one of our area's newest authors is a sixth grade student at at Roosevelt Middle School in Blaine 11-year-old Hau Siro has written his debut novel novel agent Ace Young spies hidden powers in a world to save Hau wrote the book while he was at a a student at Sunrise Elementary and where staff were there to support and motivate him through his efforts more information in a video story from North Metro TV about his accomplishment are posted on the website and as far as this book that is available where youd find most books many of you are at the Ali and AV Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting recently here and we're U just taking a moment to highlight that the store recently open provides hands-on experience for students who receive special education services as part of our District's work-based learning program team or teaching employability through assessment and Manufacturing which is a program designed for high school students aged 18 to 22 is there for them to learn how to grow additional skills before seeking paid employment you see some of the photos there from the from the um shop and where they um do all their work the new location in Anoka is a part of the relocation of District programming from least space in Andover to facilities already owned by the district Ali and AV is located at Samberg education center here in this building in inoka uh enter the from the Second Avenue side of the building from the alley it's right on the corner there and hours are Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. except on school release days along with some periodic evening hours I know they're in high demand here in the holiday season furniture furniture donations are also welcomed during operating hours Anoka hennipin has been invited to share the legislative priorities developed by the school board along with u 41 School District members at The Association of Metro school districts or amsd at their legislative event set for January 10th this presentation will include the district's advocacy positions regarding funding formulas paid leave and unemployment redact implementation and support matters involving student safety including Kinder gardening through grade three discipline rules for Community awareness Dr U Michelle langfeld serves on the emsd as a their our rep for the district and finally board members tonight I'd like to to uh I'd like to invite Cindy Harris to come out from back in our studio as she comes out for a special recognition I'm going to start talking about Cindy while she's walking in the room didn't know if I needed to get Debbie to go get her but there she is I think Cindy is a person who takes the lead on ensuring Schoolboard meetings are shared on cable television and streaming Outlets along with her job in the district's Media Services Department when she began service in okah hennipin her job was to Route 16 mm films to schools it's true as a part of her role in the media Services Department Cindy Harris brought years of Schoolboard meetings to cable television to streaming outlets and to ensure that residents are informed about Schoolboard actions tonight was our final meeting as a full-time employee as Cindy will be retiring from an okah henan following 41 years of of service I'm going to present you Cindy with the Schoolboard Medallion in honor of your impact to our schools it's hard to put into words how to say thank you but thank you for your dedication and commitment to the school district and the community and congratulations on the job well done thank you and board members if you you want to get in that corner you come out here whatever can I get one more one more thank you [Music] director arel that concludes my superintendent's report this evening thank you thank you very much board members are there any questions for superintendent McIntyre all right our next agenda item is community and government relations item 8A volunteer service coordinator model reorganization welcome Michelle Trad executive officer of Community Education and government relations good evening co-chairs Des Shane and Arco superintendent McIntyre and directors um this evening um after further discussion and consideration from the board following the November 25th board meeting I'm bringing a proposal forward for a reorganization of the the volunteer services program which is under Community Education um this proposal would keep volunteer service coordinators the VC's at the elementary level and centralize the secondary level Services centralized centralizing the secondary Services would still allow for a positive budget impact it would provide centralized Recruitment and vetting of volunteers for secondary schools and it would allow us allow them to have continued access to resources and education opportunities for our booster clubs and our vol uner coaches at the elementary level um keeping the school-based elementary Services would allow for school-based recruitment of volunteers as they do now it would allow for the continued opportunity to build relationships with partners and buildings building parent groups it would allow for continued assistance with events such as family engagement night it would allow for the continued opportunity to develop relationships with staff and determine best uses of our volunteers and would allow for the opportunity to build relationships with our external Community groups that being said if we did move forward with this proposal to keep our elementary um services at the school level we would be looking to make some adjustments and some changes to our elementary level um this proposal we would need we would want to focus on resetting resetting the vssc role expectations and bringing more consistency to their job duties as well as exploring some additional funding opportunities that would allow us for more consistency with these positions across the school sites um we have discussed the current structure as well as scenario one and scenario two this is just the budget layout for you to review once again um and at that point I'm open for questions thank you Michelle um are there any questions or comments from board members uh director langfeld thank you Michelle and and thank you for um providing us with another opportunity or option for the volunteer service coordinator model I think one of the important pieces that I know that um we talked about at our previous meeting is just the critically important role that the volunteer service coordinators play in our schools particularly I think at our elementaries where students are first uh joining the district and are welcomed in and we have many families coming from varied backgrounds who have not had the experience in our schools so to have that welcoming opportunity and to make those connections at the elementary level in addition to and you pointed it out um speaking directly to the teachers the the level of volunteer experience that um exper and volunteers that come into our elementary schools I think is very noteworthy I know that we talked about the inine dollars that were posted last year of being over $5 million in volunteer hours so I don't take that lightly but I also look very carefully and and reflect on the impact at the elementary level I serve as a volunteer at one of our elementary schools and the volunteer service coordinator goes above and beyond on to greet not only parents but grandparents as well to provide um additional resource and support for our students in our schools doing everything from making copies to all of those important tasks that keep that teacher in that classroom in front of students so I'm very much in support of this option and I appreciate the offset opportunity rather than making additional cuts and other spaces thank you um director Shane thank you uh just wanted to Echo a few additional comments and and Express gratitude to my fellow board members for the continued conversations that we were able to have on this topic um throughout the last few weeks as we as we led up to our last board meeting and until this one today I think you know I believe the connection to our community of parents and volunteers is vital to help us through this difficult Financial time that we're facing um I saw firsthand during my time on the elementary school PTO board how well it works when we have a connected High performing and visible um person as this volunteer service coordinator in the buildings to bring in those community members that may be brand new to our schools brand new to our our our community uh of District opportunities and I I think that's a really valuable uh way for us to stay connected and to lean on that help so just wanted to share that perspective any other thoughts or comments or questions from the board I want to add just one thing also I just want to assure um you as well as our schools also that just because we are centralizing the secondary model um we have a a talented team that is looking at how to best do that we know that relationships are also very important at our middle and high schools um and so we are looking into that and we'll make sure that that is handled appropriately also all right is there a motion to approve the volunteer service coordinator model reorganization as presented in appendix G so moved thank you director desane is there a second second thank you director langenfeld is there any discussion hearing none will all those in favor say I I any oppose say nay all right with six in favor and zero opposed the motion passes our next agenda item is item 8B the legislative platform second read welcome again Michelle Trad thank you once again um being this is our second read of the legislative platform I know that we have had lots of discussion around um both the content of the platform as well as the layout so first I would like to go over the content of the platform and then at the conclusion of that we'll go over um how we made the formatting changes that we had discussed within all of our meetings so first of all um we have two different areas that we landed on after discussion um and we decided to have two different headings one was student behavior and support um was our first heading and the ask that we have for our legislators under the student behavior and support um number one is to repeal mandates that interfere with the safety and the students of our staff and mandates that go past and beyond our federal requirements um the second Point under student behavior and support was to modify the K3 discipline statute to provide a additional time for staff and resources for parent planning for Student Success and provide funding to address the need for additional staff and space needs that's mostly dealing with our um dealing with our our K through3 students and the non-exclusionary discipline policy and the third one was to maintain flexibility in the tier licenser process to help us meet those staff shortages and those hardto fill positions especially in our special education and other hard to fill areas next next those are behav student Behavior next under our education funding um we are asking for the following we we we're asking for an increase in the basic general education formula by 5% even though it is now linked to inflation um we know that our funding is not keeping up with um our Rising costs this would offset the $26 million budget shortfall by $15 million um we're asking to um for additional funding to implement the react we know that we will need 3 to 5 million in curriculum and a continued need to continue to trade train staff we are also asking under the funding um heading to eliminate the special education and English learner cross subsidies um we know that our English learner cross subsidy is 10 million and even though um these were decreased um during the last session or 23 the education cross subsidy is still an estimated $28 million and lastly we're asking to provide funding to cover the cost of mandated Minnesota unemployment insurance and the paid lead leave programs and refrain from passing additional um unfunded mandates um last year the district had 2.4 million in summer unemployment claims this amount will continue to grow and we have heard that this funding is running out and we will end up with a shortfall our paid leave is estimated to cost us between 1. 9 and $2.6 million per year so I'd like to stop there on the content area and see if there's any questions any comments um on our content any questions or comments from board members director Simon thanks um thank you Zach just one quick comment uh the educational the special ed cross subsidy I'm glad that we put in an estimate um I did hear Michelle Vargas tonight at the truth and Taxation said it would be 30 million she may have just been rounding up yeah maybe exactly 28 but I would just say if we think it might be higher than 28 if we want to put a range in there that might be good too certainly okay thank you director adette thank you Mr Arco um I just like to talk a little bit about what we've proposed to say related to um Behavior and discipline and I I I actually shared shared this with um this feedback for but I I I really would like to I guess bring it out here publicly and advocate for some language that in my opinion would be less ambiguous which I think would be needed to really communicate what we're talking about here or at least what I think we should be talking about um so I want to advocate for wording that says that we need changes to statutes that have taken control of student behavior and discipline out of the hands of local duly elected school boards and created unworkable and I'm going to emphasize unworkable restrictions on the ability of our school staff to control disregulated children at school and that restrict the ability of schools to suspend children when the Board of Education deems a suspension is appropriate um and I think we should add that current law has led to a substantial increase in the number of Administrators required to operate schools uh and that we should share the numbers that we've added in an effort to deal with this discipline and Behavior Uh because um you know in some it can't it can't be denied that what we're forced to do is failing and it's also expensive and I'm not interested in letting the legislature off the hook for the poor laws that they've passed um they didn't do it by accident they they did it on purpose uh they did it based on any number of ideologies or beliefs that they that they hold but the result is and we've said it and we've heard a lot of it tonight we have adults in our school systems who cannot control the children uh who need to be controlled in certain situations and the and the result is the word has been used before some bristle at it but it's chaotic so I would like us to use language that is less ambiguous I think that there's a chance people read what we have here they don't understand what we mean there's specific stat statutes that need to be revised um that they're they fall under section 121 of the state statutes and 125 um I at a previous board meeting I handed out the statutes I know all the board members have them but they're 121 a43 12 a. 58 121 a582 121a 611 and under 125 it's 125 a. 0942 the law dictates what schools can do uh in this regard and it has it has led to the situation we're in and I don't I don't see why we wouldn't be very specific so they can't misunderstand so I I would I would be happy to I guess I kind of have propose different language but in my opinion we should we should call out the statutes that are a problem so they know we should take a strong stand on making the change so they know that we want to and we should use our position as a very large school district to try to influence what the law says they need to know the struggles we face and we can speak on behalf of many in that regard thanks any other thoughts or comments from board members uh director Hulan uh I agree with director adet sentiment that we need some clarity here um to say repeal mandates that's just so Broad in general or to say modify the discipline statute um something that was been that in particular this K3 discipline statute new um took schools by surprise we weren't prepared to handle it and still kind of reeling from that reality so to Simply say we should modify it I don't think is provides the clarity um necessary to ensure that our students are safe at school um especially in that situation in the elementary schools we they're they're small kids but they have concerns we need to make certain that they're safe and that their peers are safe and that our staff members are safe and so I think all of this requires that we're specific to the legislature to say our schools need help these laws these statutes are tying our hands and the staff can't act in a manner to keep the student safe so any Clarity um as proposed or suggested perhaps by director Deb would definitely help direct to Pro provide that direction thank you any other thoughts or comments from board member uh director langenfeld thank you co-chair erle the conversation around K3 discipline and that statute has come up at the Minnesota Association of school boards and we can talk a little bit more about that the the statute was put into place and there this is one of those cases where things can be ju opposed against each other and yet the intention around that was to address um a disproportionality and suspension of students particularly at that grade level so the intention was good that I I stand behind that however as we listen to our staff and our our leaders in our schools um the space to address this need as as you mentioned uh director hulman the space and also the resources and the time to reset the time to reset has has not been included in this discussion and so I think that as we listen listen carefully and we know that these children come to us um and and they have many great needs sometimes and they come into our classrooms and it is disruptive and it is difficult if we don't have the time as the adults to have those conversations with the parents and have them to be able to reset so bringing a child into a situation day after day after day without having the resources and the time time to really reset and plan for that student so that they are successful has been a really challenging problem for an NOA hennipen and it was part of my discussion with the directors of the dist districts when this came up as a possible resolution that the delegate assembly would be voting on on Saturday now I'm not a voting member we had uh co-chair Arco uh representing as a delegate on Saturday as well it created a very robust conversation because two things are true that it was intended in a good way to support students and yet at the same time we are finding without resources time to reset and space that we cannot do the student the justice and the disruptions in our classrooms and our teachers we have to do something different so the local control issue is also one of the issues that arose as well I'll stop at that any other thoughts or comments from board members director Des Shan just a a few a few brief comments for us to to keep in mind as we're discussing this legislative platform um our legislative priorities or platform are always meant to be kind of a brief one-page high level prompt document that we can use when we're in person with legislators or that they can keep kind of on their person as they're at the capital and doing their work uh in addition to that kind of one-page highle document that should be crisp and to the point we've often used in years past a supplemental document that expands on each of those bullet points provides the exact numbers to to your point director that the exact numbers of Administrators the exact costs that go kind of go into the weeds a little bit further into the details so that that discussion prompt and that high level legisl priority can be further fleshed out when when the topic comes up with the legislator when they're talking about it on the floor I think um that's just a an important piece for us to remember as we're kind of deciding here where we want to land um on the priorities and then the work that comes after that is building out that supplemental document with all of the further details that will support that conversation so thank you for sharing uh I think guess I director I that first go ahead director Simon I defer back no just kidding um thanks Zach uh yeah I think going off of Casey's comment I guess I'll put Michelle on the spot here so do like that first bullet point there where it says repeal mandates um like Casey said in the past we've had kind of supplemental materials if you will and I would say even in the past we've had um like on that referring to the second a point where it says modify that specific statute um we've actually provided wording and uh potential the potential revision right because sometimes lawmakers might look for that um so I guess do we have that as the first question if not I think that at least from what I hear in this conversation of the board we we should get that from you to make sure that everything's addressed and then the last thing that I will say is that one thing that I guess I'm not I do not have the data on I have a lot of anecdotal data I have teachers saying this happens and I have people saying this happens but I don't really have a um specifics from our district leadership that says specifically to this mandate this is what we are experiencing in school and what has to change I think I hear a lot of highlevel talk about oh this really doesn't work and we need a few things but it it's not really detailed to me so I also want to make sure that what we're saying to the legislature is what not only we as a board but what our leadership and our teachers are actually experiencing and what we need done and then I am all for giving all the details we need to give to legislators on that so just a few comments I think that there's there's two different things so repealing the mandates I agree that if if we wanted to list here are the specific mandates that are interfering with with what we are doing in our schools right so I think that that is an an easy you know supplemental document I think as far as the K3 discipline goes you know what what we're hearing is that we need time we need space and we need we need resources right for that um I know that amsd is going with the modify language msba now is going with with repeal the K3 discipline um so that's kind of all over the board so that would be up for you to you know decide if you want to stay stay with modifier or actually put repeal in there for that one in particular so I think that that that would be easy to explain again underneath this is what we need and this is why it's not working and this is why we need the control for that for that K3 um statute um as far as you know like I said the the rest of them the the repealing mandates there's so many little pieces of mandates that we could absolutely work on we we did that before in 2023 when we were looking at you know so many changes happening we we put together a document worked with the board wor worked with um the superintendent at that time and we did put together a document that laid everything out exactly what what we are talking about and what we are thinking as an internal document if that answered all your questions but director adette I just want to add further I I I'm not I'm not comfortable with completely comfortable with the way that what they did was characterized because uh director Langell mentioned uh disperate impact and things like that that were behind it but what what has changed in the law is it it amount it it is not first of all it's um it's not based upon things that are universally agreed upon so so uh the the the intent behind it was leg it's legislative activism they they believe that the disperate impct as a result of systemic racism they believe that the Educators in our schools and the administrators in our schools are guilty of uh systemic racism and that is the reason that the disperate impact exists and then because of it they felt they needed to legislate in a space that didn't need legislation because it can be controlled um at school boards and so uh I know that I do I do agree with with the statement that they believe they were doing a good thing but they acted in a legislative way uh based upon a point of view that is not universally shared and the result is a huge mess we've talked about it at length so part of what we're saying is to me very heavily focused on this K3 discipline statute which is a new thing that we don't like but it it started long before that and it's it's just way more it's way more involved than that so that's I I I don't it's like that's the most recent thing so we're really going to hit that uh we either believe that the other statutes that are in place are all fine and good or we don't and I I don't feel like we've really uh reached any kind of consensus or thought on that so uh you know to me this is a board priority or it isn't Administration uh I love you but you're exerting a lot of influence into the process and you can see how I feel about it we got to get something done here and you don't do it by trying to play nice about the situation or you know somewhat complimenting when when we just sat through a meeting that was really hard to sit through and I get it there's people involved in that that makes that that much harder uh and but but the the problems that are being faced uh they come come to light more and more we don't need to treat them like it's it's just our problem here this is a problem that the laws creating all across the state and in and probably all across the country it's based on a strong belief system of of you know like I said this disperate impact thing and it's time for someone to take leadership and take a stand on some of these things to try to turn them back so we can try to repair the damage that's been done of course we want to do great things for our kids we don't we don't I can't believe anybody would suggest any of us would tolerate uh discipline based upon race or any other thing and um I don't know it's it's it's a hard topic to talk about it needs to be talked about director Des Shan thank you um just just two two quick things that I think are important to the conversation one I don't see any compliments in our written legislative platform comment commentary so like what we say or how we talk about it here might be different different perspectives that we all bring to the discussion and I think that's fair and and valid and and relevant to the conversation but I don't think we're putting down in our document any compliments um in fact asking for repeals or modification or repeal depending on where we land for that language on the second bullet uh that's pretty strong language uh in in a written document to the legislature at least in my you know three years on this sitting on this board with you I haven't seen it be that strong of language before uh secondly I know Zach and I have spent a lot of time as co-chairs in conversations with each of you about this doing the reviews and the revisions kind of behind the scenes we've definitely taken in and considered all the feedback talked with each other one-on-one and I just I at this point in time I don't know that we have a board majority to move any further in the direction that you're asking for at this conversation um it's it's good for discussion and I think having us continue to figure out what goes in that supplemental document as the talking points to support each of these bullets will be the next step of this important work so I just wanted to sh kind of share that context as as to how this process has been going on in the behind the scenes conversations that we've all had with each other to try to land on language that could be supported by most of us superintendent McIntyre maybe just to help add a little context too I I do want to thank all of you for sending in input to the co-chairs thank you for Michelle to try to capture six different perspectives and landed on one document this is the state and federal legislative auditor report of the 34 laws that exceed the federal law that include behavioral issues but beyond that in special education and I want to be really strong about this that um that first bullet really opens the door to the things you're talking about along with many other things that as we are looking towards Cuts these are extra elements of work that impact students and our staff because of the requirements that come along with the categories in here and I believe there's actually more than 34 from my own experience but this is um I I want to be able to leverage with your help eliminating as many of those to me all of them that many other states do uh and it's a especially to with our situation along with many other districts that we can't afford to have additional requirements in the space we're in and it does capture the conditional procedures that are that's the terms for the behavioral intervention pieces that you've been talking about so there's that and many more that it's been really hard to move the needle and they've um they meaning the legislature have been pushing on this for a long time um I want to keep coming back and to say we need to repeal all of them to really give our staff less time on paper more time with kids and more time on the right things with kids so I hope that's helpful but um I I it's like I want to be specific and I also want to be specific to a very broad set of rules that I don't think has resulted in um really great outcomes by having them so that's a just a piece of the puzzle um now that can be in our talking points as well if you want to go another Direction I just need the majority of you to be on one page when we go to talk about this and many of you've been with with me and Michelle this is the conversation starter the real conversation what you have when you get have their attention whether it's 2 minutes or 30 minutes that's the impactful part this is the part you can leave behind as a reminder of the key themes so hopefully that's [Music] helpful any other thoughts or comments from board me uh director Simon uh thanks Zach uh I get I'm a little confused about this conversation because I I don't think we're it's seems like there's a big disagreement but I don't when I when I think of the details it doesn't seem like there's a big disagreement to me it it seems like what we're saying is that these are the high level bullet points but we're going to go back and have documents that point out the actual mandates point out specifically what we want done about them and I know Michelle you talked about and I agree it is ultimately the board's decision on whe we say repeal or revise that K3 discipline my stance is still I'd like to hear I'm not I'm not in the schools personally I'm not a teacher um I'm not an administrator in the schools I would like to hear from our experts on what they think would be best so I would like I would like to get that um expert opinion before I make this board member's decision so I I personally don't hear huge disagreement with with the exception of maybe that maybe I don't know if I heard this or not but we want this front-facing document to have all the details which I which I kind of think gets a little messy I think having a back a back backup document would be better um and maybe I heard this I I'm not sure if I did but um you know I don't we do not control the philosophy of people who were elected to represent Minnesota about why they want to bring laws forward so I I'm going to I'm going to assume good intentions but I do know that the data does show um for whatever reason that students of color are uh suspended and expelled much higher than other students so regardless of what's happening out there I just think we always have to look back to um we have to look back to we are public education we are government education and we have to educate every student that comes to us so if we see that um students for whatever reason let let's say students in poverty don't do as well we have to figure out how to structure our public education best to serve those students now what is that I'm not sure exactly what that is and I don't think we're there yet but I'm going to assume good intentions of everyone and legislators legislators that that's what they're hoping for for and that's what they hope their laws are going to change but we it is incumbent upon us to tell them when they create a law that doesn't work why it doesn't work and what we need changed so uh director langenfeld just a point of clarification to the superintendent would not the modification or the K3 disciplin statute fall under the repeal of the mandates it can be if we want to make sure we talk about it that way I think it is a matter of how we talk about it right and to director Simon point i' just love to add that yes we we definitely need to have those data points ready to go as far as number of incidents especially in this K3 space um you heard you know at our August work session our experts those Elementary principles are the ones living it with their teams every day um they I think our legislature also needs to hear we've been in a time of cutting still need to invest resources in new program options as a result of this law so there's a true cost that has also come with it in the form of um those things so I think we can dial that in in a supporting document that has those factual elements behind this if if that's the wish of the board thank you I have some thoughts I'll add to all of this um so first off document looks great I I think the way it was formatted kind of with all the input that we were giving looks it follows what we were asking for it looks great I appreciate putting it together um so as director langenfeld had mentioned I was one of the delegates at the msba delegate assembly over the weekend um and there's kind of two things of note to mention from that the first one on day one I actually have the agenda from the meeting here they had a guest speaker um David Schultz who is a as it says here a distinguished University professor of political science and legal studies at Hamline University he gave a very interesting speech on um just how where we are at politically both nationally and at the state level and how we got here and he filled in the context of the last 50 years to describe where we were and how we got here and just how all of that connects together it's very interesting speech I I thought it was very valuable um one of the uh delegates decided to ask him at the end because it was open to Q&A um they just said you know you're very familiar with Minnesota politics what do you expect given this strange split house scenario that's I guess only happened once in Minnesota History um what do you expect they're going to do like in terms of funding schools in terms of mandates and to to give a very concise summary of what he said he gave reasons for it but essentially his prediction was all of the mandates are going to remain and the funding is going to be less for schools than it was the previous year so I I I I say this not because I'm happy about it it's terrible but I guess almost a cautionary note brace yourself that's what a political scientist thinks is going to happen I don't actually tend to disagree I I think that's a pretty accurate prediction so that's kind of a taste of what's to come I think that's just you know just being a realist just acknowledging probably what's ahead of us so it'll be hard stuff to work through but just kind of keep that in mind um the other interesting thing of note that came from the msba is as director langenfeld and mentioned um they voted uh in favor of repealing the K3 non-exclusionary discipline mandate so that I think is encouraging because I you know I I do want the data as director Simon had said and I I could be wrong I maybe we talked about maybe you gave numbers at like a work session Cory about some of the suspensions we have at the K3 level but whatever the case um my understanding is it is kind of wreaking havoc on the schools so I'm very happy to see that I I'm happy that our priorities Aline with that I'm happy that the msba took that stance um do I think it's necessarily going to change that I'm going to be honest probably not but what I do know and this is true about anything you know even outside of politics is sometimes or not sometimes almost always you got to start the process somewhere sometimes the process just starts with a conversation starts with just sending a message and just because we send the message doesn't mean they're going to act on it immediately but as long as we start sending that message I think that's what's really important because again my understanding is that man mate and a lot of these other statutes that director adet had mentioned they I mean plan and simply put they just tie our hands and they allow chaos to kind of rain which is really unfortunate nobody wants that in the public school system so all of that to be said I I do think we're heading in the right direction with these um priorities um but one last thing to note and I kind of want to tie all this together because we have you know we're faced with a lot of problems in our district that we're trying to solve I think we're doing it as best a job as we can improve literacy at all grades is one of our strategic priorities improve student engagement connection and behavior and then increase employee Recruitment and Retention and then so those are three strategic priorities and then the one that also takes a lot of space and rightly so on this strategic priorities card is the budget budgetary items we need essentially the monetary shortfall so the way I kind of look at this is you know there's a variety of reasons that all of these things are problems the perhaps in my again from my vantage point the single biggest one that is a root cause of perhaps all of them is the behavior issue and the reason the behavior issue exists there again there's a variety of reasons but the the biggest thing hindering our ability to deal with it are these statutes and if you think about it just go through all of our priorities one by one so improve literacy at all grades okay we definitely want to do that but the reality is if in K through three and remember we want every student reading at a third grade level by third grade that's one of those key benchmarks if we have disruptive behaviors that we're not able able to deal with that's going to take away from students who do want to learn that's going to stop them from learning if we create you know hostile and dangerous environments for teachers it's going to make it hard for teachers to teach um improve student engagement connection and behavior well that's quite literally what we're talking about right now increase employee Recruitment and Retention I mean we just heard from so many staff and teachers tonight about just various let's just say disciplinary and behavioral issues that they deal with it's it's hard to make a pitch to anyone to be a teacher when the environment that you're going to be teaching in is one where you might be subject to abuse that I have never had a job in any in any industry from fast food and on to everything I've worked in where that type of behavior would be tolerated and it it fascinates me that Fascinate is not the correct word but it's sad to me that the the one place that bad behavior is apparently mandated is the public school system because we just have to deal with it we have no no opportunity um and then the last thing our budget shortfall well I know for a fact we spend many millions of dollars on both positions and um plans and programs to attempt in the best way that we can to address the behavioral issues that we have so and whether or not they're working you know some of them work to varying degrees but the point is we spend many millions of dollars on that the behavioral issue that we're talking about it is quite literally the root cause of virtually all of the problems that we're facing all of the things that we're going to stress to our legisl ERS behavioral issues are at the root cause of that and if the state would permit us to deal with it we would be doing so much better in all of these areas and this is why again I I share the sentiments of director hulman and director edit this is why we stress it so much is just because that is the rot cause of so many of these problems and it it's heartbreaking to hear the stories that go along with it so all of that is to say I want to keep up the fight keep you know pushing to get the legislator to Hope legis legislate to repeal these laws I think we're on the right track um and yeah hopefully they'll act in this legislative session and do some good for the school system so that's all does anybody else have any other thoughts or comments uh just one way we can frame this and honestly we all going to have a 30- second elevator opportunity with lots of people on how to talk about this and our three priorities are clear and there's two prime primary reasons for us not attaining them it's the student Behavior piece and the Educational Funding and the funding if you add up this these bullets that's $74 million worth short as a district and there's your elevator speech if you add up the you know those four bullets and the estimates we have there if you take the highend to lower that if you take the low end so we need something that you can say in just a few seconds and then if you get 30 minutes or more you can go deeper and you can really explain that with more more of the data and more of the examples able to tell our story but there's many hallway opportunities everywhere that um this is the tool for that this is the tool to make an impression that maybe opens the door for more time later with somebody so I I I've felt that like I get 20 seconds in the hallway to say what we need to say and hopefully get their attention to buy some additional time later um and we can all do that right um so hopefully that's this is this the door opener and then we we can flush out the things that we really want to explain deeper right so thank you perfect uh director Simon thanks Zach um so so one thing to go off your comments first of all I absolutely agree and hopefully you know and everyone knows I believe that uh student disruption is the number one thing too so absolutely agree with that um I and I agree that we should continue to tell legislators uh the laws that that they have put in place that um interfere with us being able to do that at our schools one thing I'll say though is that I I'm not sure I'm not convinced that any law that the state has made has created the situation in our schools uh we we had increased student disruption um well before the k33 discipline statute went in place um and and it had been increasing even preo so it was increasing I believe it's um it's more of a societal thing that we're facing um and I just want to I want to let the public know an Noah hanapin isn't waiting on the state legislature to change all these laws for us to try things and do things and try to create better environments for our school which I think we have done over the years and I'll I'll mention two brand new ones um we are doing a pilot in middle school right now to help with that hopefully that is successful that started second trimester of this year hopefully that's successful and can be a model that gets rolled out to secondary um and we are working on the superintendent has been working on and I don't know if he wants to comment on it but um a k through3 solution um that will abide by the current law if it does not get changed so I just want to make sure we're talking about all these things and a lot of times um the public may hear that you know it's just bad and getting worse I just want them to know that we are taking steps to improve um um that situation thank you uh director hulman yeah I do appreciate that there's been a lot of quality effort um by people working to make certain that we are providing really uh quality safe environments and thinking outside the box to to work within the framework that we given but I I think these idea of repealing some of these mandates so that we can do the important work necessary to make certain that all kids are safe without incurring extra um expense the expense necessary to create new programs on the Fly because the legisl lative process reached in and took away our independent control um has really just been difficult for us so thank you to everyone who continues to work hard to make certain that our students are safe uh I want to make certain that our staff are protected as well in this process and I think that all comes together with um keeping these ideas concise and clear so that we can communicate them with our legislators thank you all right well if there are no other comments if there are please let me know um believe we have a vote on the legislative platform all right so is there a motion to approve the legislative platform as presented in appendix I so moved thank you director to Shane is there a second second thank you director Simon um is there any more discussion director Simon um I seconded it but I I had a question so I was waiting for someone else a second I just want to make sure that that that as part of what we're voting on today will include the backup material we talked about with the details I believe everyone nodded on that but I just want to make sure so I can vote on I believe that's the case yeah okay thank you okay um any other discussion all right hearing none will all those in favor say I I will all those oppose say nay n all right with five I believe five in favor and one opposed the motion passes thank you m thank you Michelle Tron so our next agenda item is elementary and secondary education item 9A resolution to close specific School sites for non-resident enrollments welcome Dr Joel Verdu Chief technology and information officer thank you co-chairs Arco to Shane and superintendent McIntyre um tonight before you I have a resolution to close certain schools to new open enrollment um applications and as part of the presentation I'll just um touch on a few items that were not included in the board briefing and reemphasize a couple of important points uh from that uh board briefing document um one one distinction I and I want to do so with the understanding that some people may be sort of new to the discussions around open enrollment and um make a differentiation too for another process that we have for IND District transfers they somewhat sound the same um there's there's differences to it that are important and um I just wanted to point some of those out so open enrollment uh as mentioned in the board briefing is a statutory requirement of school districts all school districts in Minnesota have to participate in the open enrollment program um in District transfers which are students that actually reside in an okah hennipin but want attend a school that they don't physically reside in um is a very similar process and we actually run them at the same time because they they affect the school's capacity and Staffing um and so we um have students applying for IND District transfers at the same time open enrollment students but the statutes address Open Enrollment District transfers governed by our own board policies um just uh as of last year which is the most recent year that we have numbers from the mde we had um about 1,500 students open enrolled in our district um and we have 3,000 resident students that are open and rolled out um so about it is a two to one um at least in this this previous year um one um thing that I would draw attention to though is when students open and roll out that does not mean that they were students of ours um it is highly likely that they didn't attend our schools at all and have been open and rolled out for the majority of their careers um School careers um so it's that's an important distinction because it's not the same as saying that somehow we lost three, and students um we have um as long as I've been keeping track of numbers we have um have had that um disparity between the students who open roll out and the number that we have open and rolled in um just wanted to make sure that that was something people had in front of them um as part of that statute we do have the um ability as a school district and School Board um to limit the Open Enrollment um students based on a variety of factors including the programs that we have in their capacities um school buildings in their capacities um we can even choose to um limit by grade level um although I think that works in a district that has um maybe single high school single middle schools a little bit better than it works for us it doesn't necessarily make sense to say we're only going to take so many sixth graders or we're only going to take so many um eighth graders but that isn't um that is an item that's listed within the statutes that we have an opportunity to limit um open enrollment by um students when they apply they are applying to attend a district they are offered an opportunity to request a school um but that is something that a school can take under advisement and Grant or not Grant um we don't have to necessarily um place them at a particular school but um the application is to attend a Noah hanapin as a district and in fact throughout their career they you know if they come in at the elementary level they'll move through to middle schools and to a high school um and we just move them with their cohorts to the best that we that we can um do to keep them with the fellow students that they're with um parents may also list a second and a third option for schools and we do the best that we can to honor those um for parents who want to come uh or for the parents who want to send their schools to our district we do the best to try to honor the requests that they have but there are times when some of our capacities can be a challenge um with that um another aspect of the statutes one once accepted um students remain a resident um not a resident but a um they they maintain that in status with the school district that accepted them um throughout their career there are um exceptions to that students who are are habitually Trent um can be sent back um to their U previous District students who are over 17 and are truant for up to 15 days can also um be sent back to their uh resident District um otherwise students are a part of this District unless uh some other intervening Factor um sends them back um tonight there are considerations for closing three sites uh to open enrollment applications uh and those um determinations have been made after our associate superintendent review um numbers and talk to the schools um about their capacities um just to make sure that there aren't any um uh things that we may not be aware of in terms of how schools are used and and how they're using their sites because sometimes people and programs move around and we want to make sure that we're in touch with principles before we make these decisions um so those discussions have been had um our uh associate superintendents are recommending that we close Dayton Elementary School Blaine High School and Champlain Park High School to open enrollment um those sites U particularly the two high schools are um just right around the 3,000 Mark a little bit higher for Blain um high school and uh that is um that is a high capacity probably one of the highest ones that I've seen um in the time that I've been here Dayton Elementary School is at around 560 although their first three grade levels are are a bit bigger than their Upper Grade levels which means the Upper Grade smaller numbers will be moving out the bigger numbers will be moving up and so they should see continued upward enrollment um at that site um I mentioned that the way that this process would work is once the board has determined to close sites um any new applications that we have for those sites um will be offered to a um alternative um for those uh applications um we will make exceptions if a student is a is a sibling of another student so that we can keep siblings together um and um for Blain high school because it's a Northwest Suburban integration School District um there are still slots that are offered to that program um and students do uh um attend Blaine um what what we often do is offer a smaller number of slots um as a school's capacity um reaches where it is currently um so that's that's how that would um that would play out for students who are already here um as open enrollment students they continue to matriculate with their with their cohorts um that's accounted for both in our projections and it's accounted for in Staffing so they're known numbers that are mov moving on um to those School sites uh so if there are no other questions I would seek an approval of a resolution to clue to close those three sites Blain uh excuse me Dayton Elementary School Blaine High School and Champlin Park High School to new open enrollment applications all right well thank you very much board members are there any questions for Dr verduin Dr Simon thanks Zach uh thanks Joel so I have a question about you had mentioned early about state law requires us to um receive applications and accept open enrollment out of district is that correct something like that we're required to participate in the open enrollment okay got it um Statewide processes are all school districts but it's up to us whether we accept folks or not um we uh we can put limitations on and in some of the areas that I'd mention and the um we can also uh limit open enrollment applications to the Lesser of I've got to see if I do this right the lesser of 1% of the student population at a grade level which would essentially be 30 kids per grade level um the lesser of that or the number of open enrollment students that we have open enrolling out of the district so that's that's the a real broad thing that we can do in terms of limitation not confusing at all um so when we create criteria um about capacity for schools and then put them on this list that we're not going to accept open enrollment for them does the district have complete control over the criteria we set for capacity or does the state dictate how we do that we we have control over um we have control over criteria that are not statutorily prohibited okay so and I asked those questions to get to this point so we've heard um I think it was I think it was the in the Andover cluster families came to us and said from previous um boundary changes there were a certain neighborhood I think it was in a farm area certain area that was and over Elementary but then was going to go to a NOA Middle School I believe that was the scenario so my my question is um why could we not why wouldn't we we probably just haven't thought about but could we create a criteria that says now we know this these folks have called this out to us we're going to look at oakie middle school and say we these folks should go there if we say that these folks should go there because of this so now it's that capacity so we're not going to accept open enrollment there so I guess my question is that specific question but then in general can we look at other things in our criteria for capacity that protects a Noah henip in District students to be able to open enroll a little more flexible if that makes sense was that totally confusing or does that make sense um I I think it makes sense in what your intent in your your question is about I think mixing in District transfer students which are a Noah hanapin residents already with open enrollment students um the the statute doesn't apply to IND District transfer so students who may want to go to Oak viiew but they attended Rum River I think is the actual school that um that you may have heard from parents um if that were the case um the statutes are silent on how we work with our own resident students and my only question was you know we heard the concern from some and I don't know if it's true or not is that we accept open enrollment outside the district therefore we don't have seats for our IND District transfers so I was I was putting the two together to say that if that is true in any case we should protect those seats by using a different criteria to close schools to open enrollment um in my in my mind I would almost separate the two and say one one should be if if there is a desire to make a change to that should be done through a boundary process which which would actually I mean that that would stop what is the kind of the root question issue I think from from that which would be to put that boundary or change that boundary so that Oak View and that has other implications but yeah it does and we do boundaries at a certain date and have them set for a certain date so I mean we could the could always change that but I mean this is a way to potentially protect our IND District folks um and still stick to our boundary process I don't know I I'm just if we if if we have folks like that that want to do an IND District transfer at least this board member would like to honor that and if there are seats offer them to those folks as opposed to have um District folks come in and take those seats that's all I'm saying the other thing I would say too is I I am not sure that we have turned down in District transfers to go to Oakview um there are implications for students who do that within Athletics and I think that that is another component of the folks that you were talking to as long as they transfer schools there's an Athletics impact I can follow up on that make sure that we have I I will follow up and make sure that we know what has happened o in terms of applications for IND District transfer students and OES and I'll make sure that data is provided to the whole board director ad that thank you um and Mr Simon thanks for raising that concern I I I just want to point out that I uh my understanding for that specific case was that a an open enrollment transfer would not have remedied their situation um uh and that was was information I got uh from speaking with some of the people who are involved the there is a problem with the NC cased involved hockey with the way that the Youth Hockey League had set up their rules which said that no matter where you enroll you have to be you have to play hockey within the area where for the association that you are zoned in for your high school so in in that in that case what that meant even if those folks had enrolled open enrolled into the Andover system because they were based on District boundary placed in the anoa cluster they they had to play hockey over there and U that was uh that was kind of a pretty complicated thing for us so what we were they were really wanting us to do was change the boundary which of course was was uh yeah it comes with all you know we've talked about all all the difficulties of that so um but I do I think probably all of us agree with well I don't know if we all do I do agree with the the sentiment that you expressed as well that providing flexibility for the enrollment inside the district makes makes sense where we can do it um but in that specific case since it was brought up I don't think it would have fixed that problem um director langfeld is next unless okay just a clarification so in District transfer uh students would have priority over someone trying to open and roll into that same school for a slot is that accurate do they do our students have who live in our district have priority over students who are coming from outside the district and and coming into slots and schools in in this case the closing of this to open enrollment would would cause a prevention for all of those new open enrollment applications um we could still have the option of of having an in districts um transfer student place there right but if the school was not closed do our students have priority I'm just asking a general question usually we take both but yes I suppose if there was an instance where um we were really concerned uh about a particular grade level than the IND District transfers would be placed first okay that's what I need to know thank you so much director Simon yeah thanks yeah Matt I agree with you on that we cannot solve um outside of a Noah athletic things and we don't want to try to get involved in that I did hear those parents also say about their they had students within maybe not that neighborhood but a close neighborhood that were they wanted them to go to school with them too so that's mostly what I was kind but you're absolutely right we can't youth hockey that isn't controlled by no Anin nothing we can do there folks but um yeah thanks any other thoughts or comments from board members just uh board members just for your uh for help out this is all in alignment with policy 509 board policy so we're following those those um criteria that are laid out for both open enrollment and industri transfer so you're just what you're dealing with right now is a capacity issue at those three schools um making sure that we don't overcommit space with the limitations we have all right any other questions or comments all right if not members before as a resolution to close specific School sites for non-resident enrollments as presented in appendix K hearing no requests for discussion um the clerk will call the role please Simon votes I Hulan I AET i langenfeld i desane i Arco I with six in favor and zero opposed that resolution is approved thank you Joel thank you our next agenda item is item 9B the facilities update welcome Greg Cole chief operations officer and Ben Martinson director of buildings and grounds good evening chairs Arco and Des Shane superintendent McIntyre members of the school board I'm joined this evening by Ben Martinson director of buildings and grounds um we're going to try to accomplish a few things here first of all uh a little bit of a celebration we're celebrating the fact that we have completed all of the projects uh for the bond referendum that was passed in 2017 the $250 million Bond um it's been a pretty exciting process and uh I I can't say this enough and I'll probably repeat it uh we want to thank the voters of Anoka henpen for their support um the transformation has been amazing and uh we wanted to just provide an opportunity to review um what what that referendum was able to do for the students and staff and communities of Anoka henpen um and again to just showcase um what our kids are enjoying every day so just to to go back in time here uh some of the ideas behind the referendum was first and foremost to create safe and secure learning environments through the removal of portable classrooms we had portable classrooms on multip campuses throughout the district um and as a part of this process we no longer have any portable classrooms in an oah hanapin any longer which is a huge safety Improvement um that we're thankful for um we did need to construct additional schools and classroom space where student populations are significantly growing while our enrollment has remained fairly steady over the last decade our populations have shifted and you'll kind of see how we've had to um adjust to that over time um solutions for maintaining quality schools by improving science labs media centers and flexible learning areas throughout the school district and then addressing class sizes at all levels elementary middle and high school again in some of the areas that we've received heavier pressure um because of enrollment increases in construction in in various parts of the school district in terms of our ongoing philosophy that came out of that um these are these are the things when I say our are buildings and grounds departments and how we prioritize projects in conjunction with uh Schoolboard strategic priorities um expand and upgrade flexible learning spaces we we do look at our spaces in terms of 25 years out um we want them to be able to last that long at least so flexibility is the key knowing that things are going to change over the next couple of decades and we want to be sure that um our Future Leaders don't have to expend millions of dollars to make adjustments on things because of poor planning so we really try to create that opportunity for flexible spaces increased opportunities for our students you'll see how that's uh played out in a variety of ways and as I said accommodate the shifting demographics of our school district um we we have seen kind of a push toward the the borders of our school district over the the last 5 to 10 years an increase in security we've been able to make tremendous uh strides in this area that we'll point out to you and then fiscal stewardship it's it's just so important to us that we maximized and stretch those dollars to the greatest extent that we possibly could um a lot of that has to do with partnering with our buildings strategizing with regard to how we use our funds that qualify for particular things in order to maximize and uh and move projects forward as best we possibly can two new elementary schools is a part of that Brookside Elementary School in Ramsey and Sunrise Elementary School in Blaine were the two new elementaries to address some of those population shifts that I talked about um as a part of that as well we did actually put an addition on Sunrise to accommodate that uh changing demographic in the Blaine area uh I I am happy to report uh the housing starts have eased uh quite a bit in the Blaine area so we feel pretty good about uh the space that we have in conjunction with the boundary changes that occurred uh a couple of years ago to accommodate that uh unprecedented growth in Blaine so with that I'm going to turn it over to Ben who's going to talk about uh some of the specific things that uh happened in to begin with at our high schools thank you Greg and good evening co-chairs Arco and Des Shane superintendent McIntyre members of the board so in addition to the uh work complete of the two elementaries we have made significant improvements to the five Flagship high schools these included classroom renovation expansions fitness center additions upgrades and expansions to the front offices office remodels and enhanced security features and of course the removal of all the Portables classrooms here are just a couple of the uh upgraded uh entrances to K Rapids High School Anoka High School and Blaine High School here are a couple of the fitness centers at champ champ Park High School and and high school can I just say with regard to the fitness centers these new fitness centers at all five high schools rival uh many of the small colleges in the state of Minnesota if not are better than them so these facilities are heavily used by multiple athletes and um physical education courses throughout the day and uh we're they're they're we're very proud of them okay so much like the high schools we also completed classroom Renovations and additions security upgrades cafeteria improvements gym expansions and removal of portable classrooms at the following locations the river Trails Center at L Jacob that also got an addition uh NOA Middle School for the Arts Fred Mor Fred Moore campus the Washington campus and of course Champlin Park AC CH champ B Park Academy here's a couple of the uh exterior Renovations and additions to both Anoka Middle School for the Arts Fred Moore campus and then Champlin Brooklyn Park Academy um 33 libraries were renovated including McKinley Elementary as shown above and Northdale Middle School uh we also completed significant upgrades to several science classrooms at Anoka Blain Rapids and champ Park high schools here's just some more pictures of Andover Elementary School library and then the Oak Middle School library we also recently completed um in the first wave there were still some changes in the the naming Convention of whether it's IMC or Library so the first wave didn't get uh Library letters so we actually got that finish this recently where they are all now identified as Library outside there so that's a kind of fun just close that one up so the fit for the future process I I just want to remind folks how that came about um there were task forces um that were formed with community members District staff Schoolboard members um they were heavy lifts in terms of G uh gathering information from all corners of the school district in order to come up with these projects uh that collaborative effort I think um was tremendously successful uh given the fact that uh we were able to pass it the the bond uh with tremendous voter support and um we're here today too to let folks know that we delivered on everything that we promised um within budget and on time and it's something that we're really proud of um but again that that couldn't have happened without the community vent members and our voting public our Schoolboard members over the course of uh the last six years and then district and building staff there's a tremendous amount of collaboration that occurred and as a result of that it impacted um many of the practices uh that Ben and his team lead with regard to how we uh determine projects moving forward uh you'll hear about the Aesthetics uh initiative from the School Board where we were able to improve a lot of our other buildings that didn't benefit from the bond um over the last couple of years and uh that process involved the buildings and grounds team meeting with every single administrative team in the school district uh to make those priorities it was a a heavy lift but it was well worth it and we learned a lot um about many of our schools needs but that collaborative process is key how are projects determined um and and we're kind of moving in away from the bond here and just how we we determine projects in general Schoolboard strategic priorities are obviously a huge driver uh student achievement opportunity and access for our students we want our spaces to improve student learning and opportunities for them to participate in all sorts of different things safe and welcoming spaces it is really hard to be safe and welcoming at the same time um but with our visitor management system and then also our uh new particularly at the high schools but all of our schools we have vestibules now with uh pretty secured uh entrances and just the way that we're having families and kids move throughout the building is is controlled but also welcoming at the same time um and that's that was a priority and a lot of thought went into how we would do that uh in order to not people make people feel like you know it's hard to get into school and see their kids or to visit with their teachers um and then as I mentioned before flexible learning spaces yeah so some of the things that I've been kind of uh spearheaded with is the sustainability portion of the district and some of that is you know looking into solar panels as we've done at two pilot locations our elementaries uh looking at offset agreements um doing energy audits with um some uh vendors of choice and then re participating rebate programs with our Utility Partners as far as aate holder input like uh Greg said um we met individually as team with typ bait leadership during the Aesthetics initiative uh last year I also launched of a facilities committee made up of around 40 various stakeholders and various departments across the district we meet quarterly to talk about various things that are facility based to kind of get a recommendation so that me and my team aren't making unilateral decisions in a silo for you know site based stuff when we're not as close to it as some sometimes you can imagine um we also I also have weekly B&G meetings for me and my team where we talk about ongoing projects things in in a district and just you know areas and opportunities in which we can collaborate and solve problems and issues um I meet weekly with uh Greg and Tim colus who is our business fin analyst as far as um just again getting some of that stakeholder involvement asking them about projects go no goes funding mechanism stuff like that um as far as the facility condition index is concerned um I'm working with my our uh design teams to update that yearly with all major projects completed so we have a real life you know in as close as we can in time snapshot of what's going on and what our condition is of our facilities and all of our equipment and assets districtwide um also Consulting with my various teams and Consultants on sites to see what has evaluated on on that list when we're talking about funding again uh you know I'm meeting with you know Greg and Tim colus and we're looking at various sources to finance projects stretch opportunities and dollars and overall scope of work needed so how can we get most bang for a buck how can we leverage economies at scale when can when we're already in a building to have it offline for various other reasons what can we do we're there to just get multiple bids and quotes to just you know crash the net on it a little bit so with regard to funding too the one thing that I would uh point out is um uh we do manage uh projects in house that's not something most districts do um that equates to about 3% of all projects so if you do the math on the bond that's about $7.5 million that we were able to use on projects that most districts would have to spend on on that management fee so um Ben's team does a tremendous job in making sure that our contractors follow the contract do what they're supposed to be doing don't ask for uh unreasonable change orders and those sorts of things so you need to know the contract documents well in order to be able to pull that off we're going kind of fast to if you have any questions along the road just you know throw up a a wing you know so so one of the big uh initiatives as well that has had school board Support over the years is moving from least spaces into spaces that we own which is is um resulted into into some repurposing the basic premise there is that we were trying to move students into spaces that were designed for students and move them out of spaces that were designed for adults that have been retrofitted to work for students and as time has passed with regard to some of these spaces and our changing population um it became increasingly clear that these spaces were insufficient to meet their needs I'm speaking specifically um one example is our bridges program um for some of our uh most uh physically uh disabled students uh that became a real challenge over time just because of the proximity uh to a parking lot and other businesses so we were able to uh repurpose Franklin Elementary School and merge two programs the bridges and Pathways programs into that as you know the uh two rivers uh um opened up at Franklin uh this fall the dedication ceremony was this fall uh very excited about that space in addition to that over a year ago if you remember um we were able to move uh Regional High School out of aast space in Rapids uh into this facility here at Samberg forming Samberg Regional High School um and that was in response to two big things that the students told us that they didn't have at the previous facility that they really wanted one was a gym which they now have um they have access to daily and then also just a a wider variety of electives so starting this year we weren't able to do it the first year but starting this year they'll have access to uh tech ed courses um we were also able to move the team uh program that was over and and over which uh provided opportunity for uh students in our district to sell Goods they're now selling it out of uh this facility as well and I think there's a little more foot traffic we're hoping that uh we'll get better business with with regard to that um but using these these historic buildings um retrofitting them and changing them sharing them with the Schoolboard space which we thank you for that we're able to put a high school here and also still hold our board meetings I think that makes us better I think it's uh I think it's it communicates a lot to our community too about these shared spaces and these are historic spaces that we've tried to maintain and that's just a couple of pictures here of the two River's dedication and then um s BR so the Aesthetics initiative was a initiative that was board driven to enhance curb appeal and address some of the projects that couldn't be prioritized with other funding sources due to the government rules or availability or they weren't really Bond you know they didn't see a whole lot of love from the bond um the project included office upgrades additional irrigation painting various areas playground upgrades signage and more as mentioned in previous slides um my team the team and I met with each site's administrative team to listen to their concerns and better understand their needs from a site specific perspective we also are keeping their feedback and wish list to better help us inform the FCI and ltfm and capital planning moving forward so basically we we took heard their concerns figure out what we could do in real time with the dollars we had but also keeping that ledger so that when we do have other funds available or when we are coming back out to their buildings for various other projects whether it's ltf and whatever we can ask them hey when you brought this up at the meeting is that still a priority because we can probably wrap rope that into here because it's adjacent to the space and again we can leverage some of those better dollars because we're just on site and can get better quotes and bids so Safety and Security um we're currently upgrading our Access Control hardware and software districtwide this includes the impl implementation of new single use ID cards replacing the fobs along with the alerts and mobile applications featured previous previously as featured on the slide um we aim to complete this process by summer with a full roll out in the fall additionally um datton Elementary is halfway through its interior wall buildout which will eliminate the open concept and address the Safety and Security challenges that that presented and I just want to chime in just so the public is aware these are strategic initiatives approved by the school board uh separate from the bond so these two things are really important uh specifically with regard to Safety and Security the other thing that we just want you to be aware of with regard to this is uh um I want to give a shout out to Tim forer and Jess borgland they work together to uh write a uh Federal cops Grant um which allows us uh greater security measures for all of our schools and we were awarded that Grant it's a $300,000 Federal grant to improve School site security um our part is to match uh $100,000 for a $400,000 project and they will uh those funds will be going toward further securing uh access points at all of our schools particularly those that you know we see as as maybe having higher vulnerabilities in certain areas again 10 uh Synthetic Turf Fields was another part of what we were able to accomplish in this time frame um and I I would just say that um everything we hope for I think has come to fruition with regard to these um these these tense Synthetic Turf fields are used by thousands of kids a day whether it's physical education class marching band multiple Boys and Girls Athletic teams um I think it's important to note too that we get an an additional two months of use per year out of these fields than we would grass so our our kids are getting on to them more frequently and more of them are able to use Ed them uh they've also been used pretty heavily by by our communities just a couple of pictures there of Blaine and Champlin Park uh those are their Stadium Fields okay so now we're going to kind of roll into our 2026 major projects in ltfm respect um we are in phase two of the three summer phase of dehumidification at Eisenhower affecting 14 classrooms uh we are in the final fave of of San Creek Elementary for deification so we wrapping that one up which would be nice we're also in the Final Phase of the Champlin Park High School hydronics piping um and then phase three of four of that date and Elementary um classroom Remodel and wall buildup which has a little bit of an ltfm [Applause] portion some future needs and some things that we're just kind of you know considering and want to kind of raise some attention to um here's a snapshot of the items on the horizon these are ones are typically larger D ride systems and come with significant price tags that will need to be addressed and planned in the coming years so C certainly uh tennis court resurfacing at the high schools and middle schools and that can be approximately about 3.5 million all all in this is uh one we'll probably be coming back to you just with some some direction and guidance on um we have two high schools where um you know the use is heavy with regard to physical education classes and competition that being at Andover High School and C Rapids High School Middle Schools it's a little bit different circumstance so more to come on that Roof Systems another thing that's uh kind of been just not really addressed at least my shortterm time here um we do have about a 10year cost about $100 million that's something we we routinely get inspected and checked with vendors you know to check feasibility understand okay is it you know needed or is it can we stretch it or can we do some patching you know or do a mill not a millon oil but just a a re you know section rero so HVAC and control systems um the HVAC systems is in most of our buildings are still original and they are in need of significant maintenance upgrades the control systems in particular are at the end of life cycle and are failing uh these control systems are crucial as they allow us to automate building operations including temperature regulation and scheduling without these updates we risk increased energy inefficiencies and reduce comfort for our students and staff upgrading HVAC and control systems will be a key priority to ensuring reliable and efficient operation moving forward forward that one has a pretty rough you know robust price tag as well so some of the other things that our you know areas of concern in with about2 to $300 million price tag is security and Technology infrastructure that that involves like adding it service space and redundancy um interior and exterior upgrades that's like stuff like painting drywall we have a lot of schools with the mbls out there that I know are problematic and we we'd like to get rid of those and go to stud and gy um tuck pointing Windows building envelope is all stuff that you know is not you know it's just just need to be kind of taken care of eventually Plumbing again all original and age of building needs a building and need replacement electrical we're looking at replacement of various distribution components panels Breakers pull new wires low voltage and sound systems we have Master clocks PA systems cameras again uh lighting you know just we should really be converting to LED there is a ball band that will start to affect this this January is the last year they're going to stop making them I think and then we have one year stop selling them so we had got to get get on front of that but we have some thoughts on that uh parking lot and some driveways asphalt and concrete is very expensive to repair and I know you guys get a lot of you know heartburn over the potholes and some of the the uh various driveways and areas so then athletic fields and that's not the turfs that's talking about stadiums retaining walls bleachers bathroom concession stands some of those have some significant you know end of life cycle issues and then pools but we'll be talking about that here in a minute [Applause] so so we wanted to just paint a picture of uh what the future holds um also let you know why prioritization is so important um because certainly the needs outweigh the the funding over the next uh 10 years unless something changes dramatically so that's our responsibility is to continue to bring this information to you um make Rec recommendations based on uh board priorities and then how we you know have learned to make priorities uh in in and based on our collaborations with our school buildings and our school leaders and District leadership um but we do have challenge challenges facing us uh as as we look forward into the future and it's uh our responsibility to make sure that that we're looking out 10 to 20 years and what we need to do so with that before we uh no pun intended dive into pools um we would take any comments or questions from the school board thank you for the presentation any comments or questions from the board uh director Simon okay thanks Zach um thank you for the presentation and thank you for the work you do you guys um do an awesome job managing that when I see in my head I added up $650 million over the next 10 years that's wonderful to here but um thank you for managing all of that and on the um it is wonderful to see an and come to the 2017 Bond um again yes I agree with you thank you to the voters of an Noah hanapin for approving that um hopefully they all have been able to get into our buildings and see our fields and things like that on what they supported because it's wonderful for our students and our whole Community um Beyond you folks and your team managing that um building Administration was heavily leaned upon during that time and I just want to thank them too because that was sometimes outside of their comfort zone to help manage those things and I think they did a great job along with you f your leadership so thank you can I just respond I I really thank you for bringing that up um most as as someone who came up through education and went to principal school and so forth uh managing a construction project is not something that you're taught uh and so you're right our leaders were really faced with a lot of challenging decision- making on the Fly um and Shout out too to building supervisors and custodial staff who are on the ground often times dealing with multiple vendors doing some pretty heavy work and uh just just being our eyes and ears on the ground but you're right it's pretty stressful um situation for many of them one thing too I want to remind you there is a board briefing attached to this on there we um listed all the funding sources for all the projects and if you have any question questions about any of those Projects please let us know but you'll see that most of them have multiple funding sources um that that's a part of the strategy that was Ben was talking about uh when we try to figure out how we're going to pay for things in a most effective way good to go any other thoughts or comments from board members all right well I appreciate the presentation as well it's one of the least controversial things that it's presented and we're trying it's nice to see the update so thank you okay um all right uh this so this was a board update and does not require board action so we are going to move on to our next agenda item which is item 9C facilities pool facility utilization and repairs welcome again Greg Cole and Ben Martinson all right thank you um so back in June we uh provided you an update on the condition of our pools uh districtwide um as you know that the pools uh tend to be pretty expensive things um and and some of our pools have been around a long time and they've actually done quite well for decades so that that's a celebration I would say uh but many of them are are reaching their their end of life um at that time uh we made a recommendation to uh pull Oak views pool offline um because uh we were unable to continue to keep it limping along the the existing system our vendors were no longer willing to uh do the repairs that we were asking for and so we were faced with um a $750,000 to $1 million upgrade uh to the HVAC system uh that supports that pool um so a decision was made to kind of put that on hold until the fall uh with the looming budget cuts is kind of something that you know was a part of the consideration for that type of an expenditure um during that process uh we did make a recommendation to include keeping Oakview Middle School offline um and I do want to make a distinction between I think the language was closed um and and that's probably not language I I should have used I proba probably should have said offlin because close kind of maybe implies you fill it in and get rid of it and it's gone forever as opposed to offline uh which is the condition that that pool was in from 2001 to 2018 when it re it was closed during or offline during that time um so the main thing there was to take it offline not do the repairs and then we would uh essentially realize a savings of $100,000 a year for maintenance and uh upkeep of a pool so um just a little history with regard to our pools um Anoka Middle School Fred Moore pool and Northdale uh pool are the really the biggest facilities uh they've been around for nearly 50 years both of them um and for the last 24 plus years uh for competition uh Andover High School and Anoka High School competed at and still continue to compete at the Fred Moore pool and Blaine High School and Rapids High School compete at the Northdale pool Champlin bark High School competes at Jackson's pool um well while Oakview was open um for a short period of time o the Oakview Middle School opened in 1996 and Andover High School opened in 2002 so there was a short period of time where um uh that pool was used uh for a practice facility for Andover High School swim and dive it has not been used as a competition facility only a practice facility because it's not really large enough to accommodate maybe more than one team I know I talked with Eric Leola the the athletic director at Andover and they thought maybe they could try something but essentially most pool meets involve a lot more swimmers and teams than that and um that facility just wasn't big enough to accommodate a swim meet which is why Andover has always competed at uh Fred Moore um but it did serve for some time as a uh uh practice facility mainly the bulk of that was between uh 2018 when it was resurrected um for use until uh last year when we ended up taking it offline again um Jackson Middle School as I said is is used for uh competition and practice for Champlin Park High School and then Roosevelt is primarily used by Community Education although during this past year while Oakview has been offline for and over practice and over in Anoka High Schools uh use that facility one day a week for practices different days so the biggest uh pool repairs that we're facing in addition to Oak viiew are really at Northdale and Fred Moore uh Northdale we're anticipating uh fairly soon it it's still making it but it's looking more and more like this is something we're going to have to do in the next year or two A2 to $2.5 million upgrade um and then the Fred MO pool is going to require A4 and a half to5 million upgrade um and again uh you can see the current uses for those two facilities the P plus C there is pla practice plus competition what those are used for um but both of these pools the reason why we're recommending that we're keeping those uh pools going is they can accommodate both practices and meats uh because of their size and scope in terms of Oak View uh as I mentioned the the the issue that we face at this point is an estimated 750,000 to $1 million um repair cost um it is currently offline so this season uh Andover swimm and dive has been at least in the fall season here was uh practicing at uh Anoka Middle School uh with with the Anoka High Schools team they worked out a schedule and then as I said one day a week we at Roosevelt uh for both those schools uh the annual con cost of maintaining uh uh to keep the pool operating uh would be $100,000 um and this the pool was offline for 17 years before it was reopened in 2018 um and as I said you see where it it's been used for uh practices for Andover High School so we see a couple of options obviously we're open to other options if board members have other options we you'd like us to consider um but it seems to boil down to two uh one would be to repair the OMS pool and place it back online and essentially keep the $100,000 that had been included in the reductions um out of those reductions um because the the the 1 million isn't really a reduction when it's a one-time cost the $100,000 is the ongoing cost in terms of a reduction or option two is to keep the MS pool offline and monitor uh enrollment and ltfn funding the reason I say enrollment the part I haven't mentioned is um we did get a report from Hazel Reinhardt a few months ago with regard to enrollment projections for the school district uh there's a few schools that we're keeping an eye on three of them today were taking offline um for the rest of the year for uh open enrollment because of just enrollment pressures on Champlin Park bla and Dayton Elementary School but BR is another school that uh she she noted in a report that um her her prediction was that the enrollment would uh jump above uh300 students I think uh within the next couple of years um we don't necessarily have any indication that that's going to happen in that time frame but we're keeping an eye on it if it were to exceed its current capacity this is a space we were looking at as a possibility uh to accommodate up to seven classrooms um if we were able to do that it would be about half the cost of putting on an addition that would accommodate the seven same seven classrooms so that's part of the reason that um you know we we just want to bring up looking at that space is is taking it offline um essentially kicking the can down the road a little bit to see what enrollment does um and uh be before making a decision about doing those uh major repairs so we are a asking for uh action U from you tonight um we are recommending option two which would take the Oak viiew Pool offline and back to its status from 2001 to 2018 um this would postpone the decision to invest that money in the HVAC replacement provides time to determine whether the pool space would be better suited to accommodate a potential enrollment increases and then we would realize those $100,000 savings as part of the uh budget reductions that were brought up at the November 25th meeting so with that we take any comments or questions from the board thank you for the presentation board members there any questions director Adat thank you I don't have any questions just some comments um the decision to take a pool offline or close it or whatever it is is a is a it's a difficult one because um yeah you look at it on the one hand and it's expensive to maintain these pools there's huge price TS on all of them um but then they are also sort of long-term assets that we've uh through through Bond or or whatever we've um we've placed in out out in the community and they they are utilized to some degree by I'm just going to say the community at large right not every one of us I've never well actually I have been in our in our pools was a long time ago where I learned to swim at fedore so I guess that's my point right I mean and you can you can easily uh I think make a a strong case to you know forego the expense and to uh you know off offset some of the ongoing costs it would be great to do it um you could probably do that with any any number of things related to our facilities or or to the activities that we you know we make available to to our students many of which come at you know a huge investment and I think it I think it's kind of dangerous for for us to dangerous is not a good word I I don't like the idea of us comparing you know one activity to another and its Associated costs and expense and I mean it's great whenever we can have something like the turf fields which we can say hey look how many kids benefit from it right they do it in fied they multiple Sports play on them th those are awesome when you can do that but not all of the types of fac facilities that are required to uh to um provide the the broad scope of activities that we provide are they're not all possible to do that and I think we need to recognize that so um I I as kind of challenging as it is to come up with the funds to repair the pool and put it back online and to maintain it and operate it uh year over- year um I'm also you know based on the presentation you guys just gave super confident that if we asked you to do it you could do it and um in fact I know you could do it um and so for me that that's going to be my ask is that we fix the pool and put it back online any other questions or comments uh director langenfeld I believe I saw first uh just a question or a point of consideration I would am I accurate in assuming that you would uh address the needs of the competition pools where we can have both competition and practice so Northdale and and those and that is how many millions of dollars is that five and 2.5 right right it's 6.5 to 7.5 so they would take priority and this particular um allocation of resources coming out of the entire where does the resour come specifically there isn't the pool fund I wouldn't assume so it it's ltfm funds it is we are able to use correct so so everything we talked about earlier is all in that same so roofs parking lots and all of those most as long as it's repair replacement yes that's the criteria for ltf right yep yes of existing infrastructure thank you for that clarification director thank you uh one thing that I think about when I think of pools kind of goes back to director adet point and that he did take swim lessons at Fred Moore as have many many of our community members and that's a really important thing in my opinion in the state of Minnesota the Land of 10,000 lakes um to offer our community the opportunity to get their kids swimming lessons and whenever we take a pool offline that's one less place that our kids can learn how to swim and I that's just every year um in the summer we hear those tragic reports of of kids um drowning in our lakes and rivers and every time you know you listed out um least to swim schools and Roosevelt is for Aquatics so certainly these pools are being used for um swim teams but also those opportunities the more we can provide our community um the ability to teach their kids how to swim I think think that's just an important life skill and really goes to the root of what the school district is about is creating educational opportunities so I think that's an important thing to consider thank you any other thoughts or comments um oh oh go ahead go ahead um my general take is I I like the recommendation I think it would be great to get the pool up and running you know when we can probably in the midst of the budget cuts that we just had and we'll probably have ongoing um it'll have to be thoughtfully worked into just how to do it so at least for the time being I'm perfectly fine with the recommendation so those are my thoughts um superintendent M I was just going to add thank you I was just going to add that what the team will do is you you get an annual ltfm plan they'll just have to rep prioritize there's more projects and funds there always is right so that's they just need direction if you want to invest in not only this pool but other pools they need the courtesy of just being able to begin to plan ahead um for for the cost that you saw there and and they'll just reshuffle that 10-year plan um now it's not I make it sound easy because I know it's not because there's requirements and there's timelines and there's things that can't wait right correct but that's I think as director Odette said they'll rework the puzzle and and re re you know the dollars are in the ltfm um budget that is not operating in the same way we were looking at people when we made Cuts earlier a couple weeks ago other than the the operating costs that's small operating cost so um the sooner the board's clear on that then then sooner they can get to work on reorganizing those projects right and those timelines director Simon thanks Zach um maybe a question for you when you said you're okay with the recommendation did you mean that administrator recommendations or Matt's recommendation the uh the one to keep it closed for the time being but keep it closed got it yeah okay thank you clarification um so I think that if I'm remembering back the original um presentations also in addition to this one it was um I think you guys did a great job a thoughtful job and a detailed job in looking at if it's best to keep it offline for now or bring it back on board for now um and I think about so it was it has been offline so I don't think we're going to um certainly the opportunity if you opened it for swimming lessons might be there I'm not sure that this pool will use that but certainly not this year as it's offline um and then I think about our specific schools and um two high Blaine and Rapids have always shared a pool right and I think that Andover and Anoka used to share a pool until it was back online and now are sharing a pool again um so that seems Equitable Champlain Park gets their own that's kind of nice being on that side of the river I guess but um but it it it was I thought it was thoughtful and I I will go with that recommendation but the recommendation to keep it closed at this time but I I I agree that when you take the step of losing a pool like we did at Rapids Middle School you never get that pool back so I'm not at the point of saying I ever and I know you're not asking that but I'm just saying for everyone I'm not at the point of saying I want to lose the pool for sure I'm okay keeping it offline for now as we continue to analyze that can I just interject that obviously if if that were the decision we wouldn't do anything without coming back to you first so yeah I I think that's obvious but I just wanted to be reassure everybody that that yeah uh director h just one more comment to attach to that um a thing about the pools is that some of our pools are old and then they have issues and so when we have only three running pools that really affects the competition possibilities for any um pool I remember um probably 5 years ago or so Fred Moore pool had some serious filter filtering issues and that was closed and then it those two teams had to find new ways to practice so um my recommendation what I hope that we can consider is to actually open the pool and get it up and running so that the next season we have some more flexibility and um the community can look for opportunities to get their kids some Aquatics education director I yeah uh thanks um yeah I guess I I thought I am clear I I I also want to do that I think um the reprioritization that we're talking about could could take place now um to open it um we spoke to some of the different sharing that's gone on that has been that has been a challenge for for the swim teams in both of the communities as it is now um we certainly heard a lot from those who participate in that which is logical those are going to be the people that are going to uh contact us because they have you know currently the most knowledge of sort what the situation is but I think that director hulman made a good point um and I given that we're looking at two major repairs on a couple of our other pools now you'll be now you'll be down those pools will be down for some period of time as well so I don't know I guess I'm just looking for an opportunity to um see if we can't get that pool going again and then uh I had somebody just contact me today said there there are there is at least one uh local swimming type I don't know if they offer lessons or what who is looking for space to do that and you know that could offset we don't know how much we don't we don't even know if they would would want to do it at our pool but it just uh when you don't have a working pool you can't really evaluate those options you know pre-co we talked about we opened this pool we found somebody who wanted to do it it fell apart during the pandemic um you know perhaps we're back to a point where if we had a pool offer um we would be able to turn it into something that could be used by more people um through lessons or otherwise so um yeah I guess I would like to strongly Advocate that we do that open the pool back up fix it get it working again any other thoughts or questions from board members all right is there a motion to approve the recommendation as presented in appendix o the recommendation I believe keep it offline for now pending further conversations so mov thank you director Simon is there a second thank you director langenfeld um is there any further discussion hearing none um will all those in favor say I I will all those opposed say Nay n nay all right the motion passes with four in favor and two opposed thank you thank you very much all right we are nearing our last board agenda item item 10 board correspondence and communication members this is your opportunity to share happenings in your community report on committee assignments or other items of interest does anyone have anything to share so I guess I'll speak um well it wasn't just me it was a number of board members we attended the ribbon cutting ceremony at the team site and the alley plus Avenue um store that was moved over to sber Regional High School last week so that was pretty neat to attend that and just see what they had set up there um and then as I had mentioned previously I also got to attend the msba delegate assembly thank you director lingenfeld for inviting me to that so that was I think that was why I didn't know much about the SBA now I know quite a bit more so I I just really appreciate the invite uh director dese thank you uh just want to share a quick thank you to really all of our athletic um organizations across the district there was a a a student death in Champlin Parks Community the hockey community and at each sporting event district schools um and over specifically really came together with the Champlin Park Community to honor that student and show respect um I think it was just a really good show of the the kind of community Spirit we can feel as an entire District um when something happens in one of our one of our school sites so thank [Music] you anybody else director langenfeld should be repaired I'm serious anyway um thank you just a just a comment too um I was able to attend the amsd meeting on Friday I heard a great presentation around assessments and what is measured um counts and uh Eden Prairie's got a model out there that extends far beyond the MCAS and so took a deep dive into that so that may be something we want to peek a little further at as we talk about the metrics that we're interested in moving forward as well uh to measure and monitor more carefully and closely um in addition to that um we heard a budget forecast and I know there's more coming out on that and I'm assuming they'll be able to see that recording if uh to hear that as well um it's not Rosy um and so just to to reference that and um director Aro also talked about we heard a similar forecast with at the School Board Association as well and then the final thing is I had the privilege to um attend a Champlin Park High School basketball game it was the evening that the student was being honored and um I also had the opportunity to to watch all the students participate uh during this game and honoring this student in addition to that uh the alumni Women's Basketball team also came out and and played and um our own co-chair uh co-chair Des Shan uh was part of that team and and most of all I think she impressed her daughter in terms of taking the pictures I didn't I expected her to play well and she did so anyway it was great so thank you for that anyone else all right we are near oh sorry got lost here so the last agenda item is item 11 to adjourn do we have a motion to adjourn thank you director Simon do we have a second thank you director adet is there any discussion hearing none will all in favor say I I any opposed say Nay with six in favor and zero opposed we are adjourned [Music] for