##VIDEO ID:uOY1dS6yMWQ## e e e e e e 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] good evening I would like to call to order this Anoka henip and school board meeting for today November 25th 2024 uh please join the board in pledging our Allegiance stands Nation God indivisible our first order of business is to approve the board agenda is there a motion to approve the agenda as presented so move we have a motion from director Simon is there a second with a second from director adet any discussion hearing none all those in favor of approving the board agenda signify by saying I I any opposed say Nay with six in favor and zero opposed the agenda is approved approved members the next item on our agenda is item four the consent agenda as normal members can remove items for separate consideration and discussion if that is their desire that said is there a motion to accept the consent agenda as presented I would like thank you director Simon is there a second second thank you director Arco any discussion okay hearing none would all those in favor say I I I any opposed say Nay with six in favor zero opposed our consent agenda is approved our next agenda item is Communications delegations and petitions this is time for our 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 who want to speak the chair has a discretion to reduce the amount of time to allow uh comments from all and to keep our meeting on schedule during times of large community input we have been flexible in allowing the meeting to run late tonight we have seven cards so to keep the meeting on time I will ask individuals to keep their comments to three minutes um I will ask coair Arco to monitor a timer with me and if you run over time he will ask you to wrap up your comments quickly uh we would welcome any written testimony that you have if you have more to say than your time allows so if anyone else would like to speak please uh complete a yellow card and hand it to miss kovsky so that we can provide you a written followup after your comments a few procedural reminders our meeting participation procedures are in place to assure open and orderly public comments as Wells to protect the due process and the Privacy rights of individuals under the law if speakers use specific names of students staff or board members I will need to interrupt and ask that you stop please remember to direct your comments to the school board chair and members of the audience please listen respectfully so that we can hear the speakers if we cannot hear them we may have to reset the timer to allow them to be heard and audience members that disrupt this portion of the meeting may be asked to leave thank you with that I'll call up our first Speaker Leanne MOSI Clow thank you and welcome to the board thank you good evening I am a lifelong resident of Anoka hanapin a graduate of Anoka High School an Andover homeowner parent of two Anoka High School grads and a retired employee I am here to explain the significant Investments That voters made in our school libraries in 2017 and how that investment is now under threat due to a proposed elimination of a key leadership position at the ESC the position of the K12 media teaching and learning specialist this person serves as the district librarian in 2017 17 voters approved the fit for the future bonding bill which included funds for the redesign of all 42 of our school libraries I was one of two Librarians in the district technology department who spearheaded the effort to place this initiative on the ballot quote we are thrilled to have so much community support for our students and their future said David law Superintendent at the time the redesigns are now complete and every inoka high school student regardless of their zip code enjoys a revitalized War welcoming and well-designed Future Ready Library presenting Vital Information to the public on why libraries needed a redesign in the first place had a significant impact on the ability of our libraries to deliver improved programs services and resources to their students and staff without a K12 media teaching and learning specialist at the district office with this transformation a taxpayer investment in the millions of dollars have ever happened how important is the role to the success and smooth operation of an NOA uh libraries aside from the voter uh approved bonding Bill there are actual cost-saving justifications for why this position should be retained and why it should be held by a licensed teacher librarian here are just a few this position administers and maintains a massive K12 libraria library media and materials management system which every student uses to electronically check out library books curriculum materials textbooks computers even musical instruments any item that contains a barcode materials are loaned between schools reducing costs fines are tracked and collected the return on investment of utilizing the system cannot be overstated the expertise needed for the technical operation and organizational infrastructure of this Library System alone justifies the continuation of the position Point number two many people do not fully understand Schoolboard policies the K12 media teaching and learning specialist makes critical decisions about the library's Direction specifically ensuring that your board policies are adhered to this includes the age appropriate selection of materials guidance on copyright and the video policy behind the scenes this person often handles concerns from principles parents and teachers about the very policies improving communication and understanding finally there's really no need to eliminate a position that has funding available the new Minnesota K12 Omnibus Bill in section 134 356 provides funds that can be used for the salary and benefits of a licensed librarian when students choose what they want to read they read more and those who read more are more successful in school and life it's just that simple readers have higher reading achievement test scores making sure the book students desire time is just about up please finish your closing statements are available and giving them access to those books is the primary mission of school libraries libraries are Central to our launch long-term investment student learning in times of budget challenges we must ensure exceptional roles like this position continue and they are protected that's what the taxpayers want and deserve I urge you to use the available funding from the state of Minnesota to ensure that this position is not eliminated thank you for your time thank [Applause] you our next speaker is John wool hopter welcome to the board good evening co-chairs Arco desan board members superintendent McIntyre one of the most common Norms in meetings across the district is assume positive intent tonight as you make decisions about the budget and the future of our school district I assume you all have positive intentions to ensure the best outcomes for students the community and your employees on the question moving forward with a referendum I find it difficult to understand the arguments provided against giving community members the choice yes times are difficult and it is possible the levy might fail however only you as a board can give the community members this final say in the path moving forward at the work session on Saturday the arguments against a levy referendum all seemed Cent on political questions and hypotheticals and not on whether our community should have a direct say in what happens in our schools the district office realignments that are part of the discussions tonight seem counter to previously expressed statements by board members the reduction from the current 20 Halls to 10 coordinators in a learning and achievement department will make achieving board goals related to professional development and adherance to curriculum more difficult it is not possible for half as many people to do twice as much work the structure of these positions as coordinators Cuts teacher positions while adding administrative positions Each of which will cost the district approximately $10,000 more in salary and benefits than an equivalent teacher the savings of this staff reduction is further diminished as teachers who are currently talls return to the classroom and displace probationary staff for these reasons some of the choices in the proposed reignment are curious at best finally the new structure of the cabinet level positions will be increasingly focused on District Operations of the five cabinet level positions only the deputy superintendent is primarily focused on student outcomes rather than District Operations as compared to our current structure the addition of a deputy superintendent actually adds a layer of administration that further separates schools from the superintendent the decisions you face tonight as a group are not easy ones I am confident that that each of you brings the most positive intent possible to this meeting tonight thank you thank you our next speaker is Cherry wer welcome I never not get nervous coming up here my name is um Sher Walker I've had three daughters who have graduated from this District uh my grandchildren are not in this District now but about um three and a half years ago I decided um to start coming more on a regular basis and the purpose of my coming up here was is just to tell you um that I is a difficult thing going on here there's a lot of ideas um everybody's passionate about their ideas and um and I think you do uh an amazing job of working together as a school board and um superintendent and all the rest so the purpose of my coming up here up here is just to say uh thank you for all your hard work and um my prayer is that the wisdom of our God will help sort all these things out and um I just wanted to say thank you thank you our next speaker is Kathy Dvorak welcome thank you good evening superintendent McIntyre and school board members my name is Kathy Dvorak I am a first grade teacher with 32 years teaching primary grades in an NOA henpen and a parent of children who all attended our schools budget cuts are not easy and your work is much appreciated we value the success of all students we value relationships with families so we must keep staff and structures in place that help ensure the success of our youngest students especially those who need support and enrichment our math Specialists literacy Specialists literacy intervention teachers enrichment programs and volunteer service coordinators are incredible assets to our district at the elementary level any reduction in these areas will directly impact classrooms and our relationship with Anoka hanapin families these roles are especially critical in larger buildings and buildings that do not have title or supplemental support we value highly trained staff and volunteers so we have to continue to benefit from the Specialists who provide professional development to our staff at a savings to the district they also train parent volunteers um to provide resources to prek students and we've invested in resources such as science of reading and letters training eliminating a reducing literacy support roles will have a large impact in the Elementary classroom even though on the surface it looks like cuts are staying away from the classroom we also value effective curriculum so we must continue the momentum and exciting results with early reading skills from the K3 bridge to read from serve Minnesota the use of this free resource requires teachers to participate in monthly coaching which is done by our literacy Specialists and that ensures our best practices in teaching we also value multi-tiered system of supports and three chairs of instruction so we need to keep staff that are crucial to this model we also value continuous Improvement so keeping structures in place so our young students grow and are ready for their next steps we also value our Advanced Learners and they deserve enrichment programming we value collaboration efficiency and Effectiveness so we need to keep resources in place that allow for models that classroom teachers would have difficulties sustaining without support our LS and Ms train staff for Reliable data collection they help track data K5 and assist with intervention team meetings they monitor academic progress of students experiencing homelessness LS and their team of literacy intervention teachers use data to help students who need to make more academic gains enrichment program helps meet the unique needs of our more advanced Learners we are seeing great impacts we've invested time and money in these programs and so we need to continue them as I recently checked progress with my own students it was really gratifying to see the pride that they have in their growth and that's due to a collaborative team effort of all of the roles that I've mentioned just about it time please finish up your closing statements we value relationships engagement and a feeling of belonging for our communities and school families as well so we must continue to have volunteer service coordinators at the building level to support these values we don't want to take a step backward when we've taken so many steps forwards thank you for your time and consideration thank you our next our next speaker is Cindy Hilman welcome me my name is Cindy hman I'm a fifth grade teacher with 30 years of teaching experience 2 to in Anoka hanapin my children all went to Anoka hanapin we value Elementary level enrichment programs and volunteer service coordinators at the building level so we must find ways to continue to provide these Services as a fifth grade teacher I am so thankful for the service that our enrichment programs provide for our very Advanced learning Learners as Kathy mentioned previously we value continuous growth and Improvement for all students so we must continue to provide Talent Development opportunities for very advanced Learners they need these opportunities for Challenge and problem solving so they may reach May develop perseverance by working at a high level under the direction of a teacher who specializes in gifted and talented instruction we also Val value relationships and engagement with our communities and school families we value a sense of belonging for our students and their families so we must continue structures that support these values our volunteer service coordinators at the elementary level are critical to the relation ships we have with the families of our students organizing hundreds of volunteers for academic support and enrichment as well as school community events for our students is a huge undertaking they work closely with our literacy and math Specialists to help volunteers feel confident with their many hours of academic support and enrichment our volunteer service coordinators are experts at enlisting the talents of local volunteers to work with students connections with parents grandparents and high school students allow our VC to lead the way with challenge math and reading groups stock market game other Talent Development groups such as kindergarten events such as Kindergarten Roundup PTO meetings fundraisers Scooter World holiday gift shop arts and academic Expo music programs family fund nights field trips track and field day all help fill the need for belonging for students and families seeing the Joy on students and families faces as they enjoy school events is powerful it is clear evidence of the need for a feeling of belonging in our school communities the proposed five District central office positions to replace volunteer service coordinators would help with online tasks such as background checks but it's the strong relationships VC's have with volunteers that make the volunteer process and traditions shine school office staff admin and classroom teachers have an incredible amount on their plates volunteers help fill the gaps and bring families together to create a sense of belonging and safe our district money how would District level volunteer coordinators ever have the strong Connections in the caring way our local volunteer service coordinators do I am proud as an anoca henpen teacher of the resources services and events we offer students and their families I can't imagine how we could effectively fulfill the needs of our students families and Elementary classroom teachers without our math Specialists liter literacy Specialists literacy intervention teachers enrichment programming and volunteer service coordinators Cuts in these areas would be a giant step backward for the inoka henpen school district we need to find another way thank you thank you our next speaker is Shaina Johnson welcome thank you thanks for having me um my name is shaa Johnson and the reason that I am here today is to speak to you about an issue that recently impacted my family and my high school student at Champlin Park High School this issue is related to the criteria with which a student can make a schedule change um the guidelines are very narrow in scope and while I understand that guidelines are are important there is no provision in the current guidelines to improve make a change to improve improve optimize facilitate a learning opportunity that may be identified by a student and while I understand that speaking to you today will not likely impact the decision that was recently rendered for my student unfortunately I'm hoping that by speaking to you today you can take this under advisement and hopefully render what I think is an injustice to highly academic students looking to optimize their learning um the current criteria to change a class is that a student must fail a prere requisit there has to be a computer error they have to have an open Period to fill there has to be a medical reason documented by a doctor or it has to be an inappropriate placement now the definition of inappropriate placement is not defined in the guideline so let me take you through our situation so my students in the top 3% of GPA with a weighted GPA over 4.0 she takes all honors IB core classes in addition to some PSO she attempted to make a schedule change request to change a jewelry class which is slated in TR 2 for a yearbook class which is in Tri 3 just wanted to flipflop them in in trimesters and this was denied why did we want to make the switch it certainly was not to switch teachers she loves the teachers it wasn't to get an easier class we're not asking to change the classes we're asking to reorganize where the classes are placed in our schedule it wasn't to be with friends and and it certainly wasn't to take a different class why did she request this change because she has a really strong interest in journalism and it is something that she's considering upon graduation she identified that in the yearbook class based on some participation last year in TR 2 there's going to be a lot more creative writing interviewing um journalis journalistic construction of things that go into the yearbook and while some of that may carry into Tri three the majority of Tri 3 is likely going to be on constructing graphic design placement of pages distribution not maybe the core things that she would find most value added in her current academic interest why was this denied because she doesn't fit into one of those bullets and I I just am dumbfounded that that is the hill that we're going to die on for an academic student who's identifying a way to optimize their learning this is not a student- centered approach this was not a decision that had to be made this way with the lack of a definition for inappropriate placement and while I understand that the lens by at Champlin Park is looking at inappropriate they're looking at it as though a student who maybe English as a second language is taking primary English you know High honors English that's inappropriate one could say that an inappropriate placement is a placement for a student who doesn't offer the academic challenge or growth or learning opport as they have defined so thank you for taking this under advisement for those coming after my student thank you thank you our next speaker is Kathy tingle stad welcome good evening co-chairs board members superintendent um I welcome this opportunity to speak before you tonight my name is Kathy tanglad from Rapids my husband and I had our two sons graduated from an Noah hopen uh schools and I previously served as a state legislator for 12 years and also I'm a retired Noah hanapin Schoolboard member so I was in these very chairs more than a decade ago and that was one of the toughest times for our school district as we were just coming out of the recession and we had to make some major budget cuts I tell you when I look at the size of those cuts then compared to what you're looking at now your problems are very minor so in other words I know you can do it because our cuts that we made were much bigger more than a decade ago I'm also here to talk to you about taxes most of your constituents received this statement in the mail in the last couple of days and we're probably not very happy um a third of it the our local taxes goes to the uh Anoka hanapin school district and of course you get a lot of money from the uh state of Minnesota but um this past year there's been some major uh tax increases Anoka County is going up almost 177% um Andover is going up about 133% um and uh uh Blaine is one of the big ones with about 177% so those people are looking at increased taxes on on their home and tonight you have a question before you of if you're going to make Cuts or if you're going to go to the public for a referendum to increase their taxes I know that you had some public input I was at one of the meetings I know they were very sparsely attended you know probably not not a lot of input from residents but when you're talking about increasing people's taxes or even giving them the opportunity to increase their taxes they will notice and they won't like it and especially when they have confidence in you as a board you know you have balanced power so you should be able to work together and um figure out uh the small number of cuts that need to be made compared to what we did over a decade ago so I encourage you I'm confident in you and I know that you can do it and um think of our taxpayers and U before I walked in the room here tonight I checked the uh uh results of the recent election and for the county of Anoka all the households in our County uh Trump did win 51% so keep that in mind when you're trying to decide if you really want to uh look at increasing taxes for our public and make the tough choices of making the cuts thank you thank you our next speaker is Stan osmanson welcome superintendent McIntyre board uh hopefully I'm not too disjointed here this evening I had not decided whether to speak or not uh till probably a couple hours ago um I have been a classroom teacher for uh 45 actually 47 years uh accounting subbing 26 fulltime in the enoa hennipin district and uh have a number of colleagues who are presently teaching and are recently retired and I've talked to them about where can we cut what should be the criteria and it's very difficult I'm behind me are a lot of people very vested in your decisions and uh just to give you some ideas of where I think in talking to a number of people we possibilities do exist to do some cutting and that is I did some research on two high schools two middle schools two elementaries and the research numers based on who are classroom teachers well it's very easy first second English physics those are classroom teachers in every building all six buildings less than 50% of the staff are classroom teachers some down in the 30s a test that you could use as far as essential employees and I know it hurts to cut when I first came here in 1980 to an elementary school called Wilson I was red slipped three years in a row and had three small children but I'm here I was rehired a test of essential staff could be this when you walk into that secretary's office that morning of a school day and the secretary says we got to get us sub we got to get a sub that that's a classroom teacher that's a teacher with a classroom that's going to come into that room and be taught now the rest of the staff that may have great arguments to be in their building and very valuable maybe the staff at that building level can make that decision that would be a very fair decision yes we want this person we want this resource but to just have all these people there's a tremendous amount of people out there working in these buildings who you don't have to have a sub they're not essential so I would say look at that and you're just about near your time please finish with your closing thoughts I'm about done I'm about out of what I'm going to say so uh thank you for your time just thoughts just thoughts thank you thank you okay members that concludes our public comment section our next agenda item is uh Board calendar and District updates so I'll turn it to superintendent McIntyre thank you coair and members of the board tonight I will pres ite of interest toties and events that we in our district do to Cate our students sta commers who are contri to the hopefully I was speaking loud enough there we go um I'll I'll kind of start over here so it gets caught up on on the recording tonight I'll be presenting some items of interest for our board and Community regarding activities and events that we are proud of in our district and we do this to celebrate our students staff and community members who are contributing to the accomplishment of our mission which is to effectively educate each of our students for success so to start things off planning for the 2526 school year starts with students considering school choice enrollment options an Noah henpen students are assigned a school based on their home address however the District offers Family Choice for students with 12 unique specialty and magnet school options specialty in magnet programming includes opportunities to focus such as uh focus on things like the Arts science technology engineering and math we often refer to that as stem or steam programs as well as biomedical sciences and international borate programming many of these schools are offering information nights and open houses in the coming weeks for families to learn more about the programs that are available application deadlines to enroll for the 2526 school year are approaching quickly with priority deadlines as soon as December 31st for magnet schools families can visit ahschools.us backsp specialty magnet to explore all the options available in anahin the third consecutive education employment and enlistment palooza is set for December 14th at Chaplan Park High School so questions like how do I pay for college and what is the right fit for me what are the options in the trades or an apprenticeship is the military a good option for me students who are asking these questions and other questions about their future uh and the pathways available to them should consider attending this free event set for Saturday December 14th at 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. again at champan Park High School the College and Career Fair will feature 37 employers and apprenticeship representatives and over 40 colleges universities and Military recruiters this helpful event is organized by High School col career counseling staff in the district and we appreciate all their efforts I hate to bring it up but we all felt it today winter weather is here we've reached a point in time where the severe weather options and uh events can impact our ability to ensure students and staff can safely go to to and from school fortunately with the immediate coverage of the weather it's rare that anyone is uninformed about potential weather challenges the school district will make a decision not to hold School in person based on our ability to safely transport students with the critical times being between 830 excuse me 6:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. in the in the morning and and home between 2: and 5:00 p.m. the SN snowfall prevents safe travel during these windows of time or extreme cold makes walking unsafe for 20 minutes or less we a weather related closure our goal is to always keep school open and due to that safely and to give our parents students and staff as much lead time as possible should the district need to close again as a reminder the district will not have an asynchronous learning or distance learning option should the District close for weather also the district has implemented an early release system for high school and middle school students on days where afternoon travel can become an issue we've already had one of those days this year the goal with early release is to is to give buses the extra time needed so that elementary students are home at their expected time the goal for the district is to make a decision about an early early release before 10: a.m. if possible on the days where that's being considered okay the fall Athletics season has brought some great success for Noah hennipin and our our teams a number of our football teams had a great fall season an NOA emerged in into the state semi-final round Blaine also earned a spot in the state tournament both Andover in Champlin Park also played in section finals in volleyball congratulations to both Champlin Park High School and a NOA high school for advancing to the state tournament the rebels took home hardware with a second place finish want to say special congratulations to Rebel student athletes Katherine Adler Ree axus and Carly gilk for making the all tournament team Carly gilk was also named the Star Tribune's all Minnesota player of the year year for the swim and dive teams 15 student athletes Advanced representing in Noah hanapin high schools at the state meet there were two top 10 finishes to report an noa's Ali deal turned in the top finish for the district competitors with a sixth place finish in the 110 meter butterfly Champlain Parks High School 200 medley relay team of Sophie norstead Sierra Emery Lilia helor and Laura Des Shan swam in an eighth place finish the inoka henpen Mustangs made their 20th appearance at the Minesota state tournament this year having a strong showing before losing in the consolation championship of the adapted soccer physical impairment division so as you can hear overall was a very successful fall season for a number of our teams athletes and coaches and their F and our student uh athletes and their families and certainly U huge cause to sell celebrate all those accomplishments this fall season congratulations coair desan that concludes by superintendent's report this evening thank you thank you members any questions for superintendent McIntyre all right so our next agenda item is elementary and secondary education item 7A Phase 2 budget reductions we'll turn it back to superintendent McIntyre all right thank you co-chair Des Shane and and board members um just kind of point out as you've been hearing and we've been listening over the course of the past few months and weeks uh really months of sharing analysis input and discussion you taking action on phase two of the budget reduction realignment process that's been happening since really last February and in full swing for phase two since July um kind of set the stage with the process here uh as as we move towards your discussion and decision for this evening the information in this presentation tonight is consistent with the previous board meetings and Community sessions and outlines the process for the decision- making for phase two reductions and realignments after completing phase one reductions and realignments this past spring the information in the presentation includes an explanation of factors that led to our situation a quick review of phase one reductions and a review of the phase two recommendations along with um a review of summary Community feedback that was received we'll wrap up with a just brief look at the timeline and then move into your conversation this evening so as shared at previous board meetings and at all five of the community meetings we're here due to a convergence of factors coming together at the same time it's not just one thing driving this need to make budget reductions and there's a number of things and just quickly to point out um enrollment funding that is ending after uh the federal pandemic relief funds provided to District districts contract settlements inflation and higher operational costs exceeding expenditures and the anticipation or at least no Assurance of any new or additional Revenue along with several new unfunded and underfunded mandates so as result in February of this year we initiated quickly and announced a two-phase budget reduction process for your decision making for the next school year so for the 2526 school year as we also adopted in June the budget for this school year here so if we just quickly review The Phase One reduction reignment plan that occurred between February and April the goal was to reduce um as much as we can early on imp planning head for this budget District leadership made an immediate budget reduction in the spring reducing administrative staff by 5.1 million which is about 50 positions at the central office in additional 1.1 million of non U personnel reductions in the areas of transportation and District technology were included the goal of phase one was to reduce and realign the central office and District administration to um an effort to really impact or minimize the the reductions at the school level as we moved into phase two if you go on the next slide phase two the the budget reduction process really started in July with a Target U which was initially 2016 million but after the 5 million in Phase One reset uh at 21 million for the new Target preliminary recommendations were provided to the school board at the September 23rd school board meeting and again shared at the October 28th board meeting these recommendations were provided to the community and staff for feedback and review and a series of five Community meetings were held open sty open house sty meetings in an online survey process for those um who want to participate happened in late September and early October throughout the phase two process we worked through using um a number of planning parameters just to highlight a few uh that kind of guided our work in in prioritizing the reductions strategic priorities student enrollment making sure we at a phase uh process looking at the central office and administrative reductions looking back at past reductions and those impacts the restricted and unrestricted funding that we are provided with federally and at by the state considering our fund balance looking at class size making sure we're optimizing operations looking at school schedules uh looking at teacher instructional and collaboration time and lastly legal and financial compliance so after collecting input from building and District level leadership over the summer the administration developed and discussed with you five options at the September 9th work session also at that work session I provided the board with two recommendations for the board to consider as we move through the process first a recommendation to make all the reductions immediately for the 2526 school year and a second recommendation for an option to do a bridge reduction in realignment along with an operating referendum to take to the voters of the district in November of 2025 so the next slide reflects that first recommendation as you know we've modified this as we work through the process together and this reflects a if you look at recommendation number one includes $12.25 million at the elementary middle and high school levels and it also includes now over $14 million at the central office again to try to minimize that impact at the sites this next slide we've reviewed a number of times it provides additional details for recommendation number one in addition um the central office reductions um are included here as we move through after this slide as well and again we've spent many uh work session and board meeting um in discussion around these particular items this next slide is just a we've added a little more details we've gone through the process and tonight you have the added uh detail on the District administration reduction that was a target of $1 million coming in at 1.23 7 million for a total of 6,1 121,000 now um op option one in total includes 360 positions being proposed for reduction that's in addition to the 50 from phase one so between phase one and two you're now well over 400 positions being affected and um just at the central office level is put in there that's about 250 positions in addition to the reductions if we move on to the this thank you this slide here um back one more thank you if you can go backwards please thank you just want to make sure I pointed this out there's a also realignments to help the general fund shortfall by about uh 2.9 Million so these are not additional Staffing Cuts but instead a shift in how things are paid for we're allowable in those restricted funding areas all right next slide thank you so recommendation number two provides an option for an operating referendum in the fall of 2025 this provides the board with a strategy to bridge the $26 million in reductions and reallocations with a smaller reduction and an operational referendum campaign for in the fall again of 2025 so um this initially we talked about this maintains a 6% fund balance we now have based on our conversation on Saturday we know that's closer to 8% just a tad over 8% um knowing that we have um our policy that aims for 10% um it includes an the elimination of onetime money in strategic Investments and it now includes the reduction of $9 million in phase two at the central office that would need to be um happening here to make sure those can be on time for a staffing process as stated before in previous meetings this recommendation um the referendum would those dollars if you were to go to referendum would come for the 26 27 school year and should that not be successful the district would be looking to make additional budget reductions so if you move on to the next slide this is the change from our last meeting at the board work session on November 4th we had a conversation about um potential additional options and this recommendation three represents that discussion so this recommendation is a central office reduction and reallocation with no referendum this option delays reductions at the elementary middle and high school sites utilizes a portion of the fund balance does maintain the fund balance at just slightly above 8% it means maintain strategic Investments for one more year for 2526 used for instructional coaches in student intervention and behavior supports and then REM reduces the remaining 5 million for 2627 it does include the reduction of the 9 04 just a little over $9 million in District and central office reductions with a total of those uh adding up to 14 million for phase one and two this option has no plan for an operating referendum in 2025 the board has the option as time moves forward to consider referendum options at a later date I did leave in the community survey feedback in the slides that you reviewed last meeting so I'll just kind of highlight these at a um kind of a high level won't go to a ton of detail here um but this was for um community members who want to participate by sharing their own ideas and suggestions on how we can find efficiencies as we approach that $21 million Target for phase two for the community members who were not able to attend the first meeting was live streamed and recorded and um shared again through our YouTube channel through the website through our Communications we raised awareness by many we had uh feedback for those who were able to attend and had interest in weighing in to provide their thoughts um can and you can see the dates there that on that last SL of where we held those meetings this slide here just represents the results of who who participated in the survey and we reviewed this in detail last month so I will not go into the detail again but you can see we had parent staff members community members and students that were a part of that process on the next slide here this represents the fact that um those who participated in the online survey lived where they lived and really just reflects we had feedback from each sector or part of our district on the next slide uh this was really kind of the themes of the of the people that participated in the survey and um in essence uh showing an interest in a referendum concerns about changes to class size school schedules and Staffing changes are the key themes this is the uh timeline that we've looked at many times and we are now at that November 24 uh phase two approval for tonight's meeting so I just wanted to point out what kind of we've been through that timeline starting back in June of 24 and now arriving at um the phase two um action of the board so these are the three recommendations proposed recommendation one is a full reduction of the 21 million in phase two um made now for the 2526 school year recommendation two is a district reduction really be a partial reduction in reallocation with a fall 2025 referendum and recommendation three would be a partial District reduction and reallocation with no referendum uh throughout the process we've continued to add information to our website at ahschools.us budget and um we've also been communicating out through our monthly District e newsletter the focus which people can find on our website for that um information so before I turn it back to co-chair Des Shan for the board discussion and action just a couple thoughts first um I think everyone that's spoke on this has pointed out something important it's challenging it's difficult I know you all are here because you want to do what's best for our students and and there's definitely a range of perspectives but I do want to take time to thank all those who have participated in this process all the way back to February um I want to thank our staff our community I want to thank our administrative team who's worked tirelessly on this the past few months it is extremely hard to bring forward items for reduction and realignment because it can really be argued that they all bring value to our district yet hard decisions have to be made board members I would like to thank you as well after months of information sharing analysis thoughtful discussion just a ton of hard work I want to recognize your dedication that each of you have shown and the the serious uh effort and Care you've brought to throughout the process you each bring different priorities interests expectations and perspectives to the table uh it's hard to meet them all but I think that is the richness of this board and it really doesn't andure we're looking at it from every angle I know the work's been stressful as you've considered very passionate feedback from so many voices in our school communities and while the challenges are real and the decisions are difficult we must move forward with a balanced budget that serves the best interest of our Stu students and staff achieving this will require compromise among you a shared commitment to our district priorities is what it will require you directed me to bring forward my recommendations and those of the administration based on the process process in the expertise and and work of our team and with these recommendations I now trust you and your Collective wisdom as a board to make a decision that despite all the different perspectives you have reflects the the shared values of our district that will move us to a stronger future whatever your decision is I will along with our administrative team wholeheartedly move that forward and move that into implementation while continuing to always be a evaluating ways to help us get better so thank you for giving me that time to share that and co-chair desan I'll turn it back to you to facilitate the board discussion and board action thank you superintendent McIntyre um I think just a few opening kind of remarks as we begin this discussion I know we have all been with each other and had a long uh many long discussions about this and I think we've all been clear throughout as a majority that we want the district office to take kind of that aggressive start of the cuts with that phase one five $5 million and now uh what Corey has outlined in the additional 9 million where those changes are as far away from the classroom as as they can be that was sort of Direction and discussion that we had provided uh and I think we can see through the outline that that uh intent was uh respected by Corey and the team you know he's communicated to the people that it that it will impact I think listening to our community feedback that's in alignment with the community's interests as well on this topic so just some some kind of original uh starting remarks as we as we get this discussion going you know I think the first two options that we had been considering led us through conversation to open consideration to the to the third op option that's now in our packet um for discussion and conversation so with that I will open it up if there are any board member discussions that we want to have before we uh dive into any details uh director Simon I think I'm on now thank you Casey um I agree with um your statement about the central office cuts and the the board direction to keep to maximize District level cuts to minimize the effect on the buildings in the classroom so I agree with that uh my comments go more towards um the options about whether to go to referendum or not or the third opt option so um that's where I'm going to spend my time um and I this won't be a surprise to any board members I mean my first um my first choice is the bridge cut and referendum and I am not in favor of cut cutting everything immediately right now um you know these cuts are they're real they're deep they affect the classroom and I think at least in my opinion it is very true and we heard inflation is hurting people it's absolutely right and there is absolutely no guarantee for a successful referendum but um I think when when cuts of these level happen that it's only right for us to give a a direct voice to the community um it was mentioned in one of our meetings talking about um not going to referendum because the community has spoken to they they elected us to make these decisions and therefore they've already spoken but I I think at least for me to be um to be intellectually honest and consistent is that we also had a discussion about when the legislature gave local boards the right to um to renew levies without going back to the community and at least myself and one other board member said that doesn't seem fair we should give the voice to the community so again for me to be intellectually honest and consistent I I think I need to stick with uh that is my philosophy on that issue and that is my philosophy on referendum when we're talking about cuts too so that's why I um why I support that um and then you know during our our board discussions um I came to the conclusion that there were not four votes for a referendum so instead of just being a person that votes no on things I wanted to try to be a solution and a compromise so I know I talk to each member about that third option right and at least in my mind that third option is um um is is right in the middle uh between option one and option two where it seemed like we had three votes on each um and because because that option will cut everything on that list just over two years instead of all at once unless our situation changes so it's it's that's why I believe it's right in the middle of both of those and I think that it also and I communicated this room but um you know I want to make sure the public hears it is that I think that that option although it's not my first choice um not ideal for me and what I believe I think that it gives some additional benefits besides um seeing if our situation changes next year and that is uh we will have a legislative session coming up and we can specifically talk to our legislators about the situation we're in if you do all the cuts up front you're in a different situation if you're holding off on all of the cuts to be able to talk to the legislators and tell your story um I think that is a better place to be in for our community and our schools and then also um you know we don't control what the legislators do they may or may not um uh react to our story that is absolutely true um but one key thing this board has and is in complete control of is in negotiations and we will be going to into negotiations with all of our bargaining units and the discussion depending on what the legislature does comes down to uh how are we going to settle those contracts and how much will we have to cut or won't we have to cut so there are some very direct things for this board to be able to do if we take option three and um and don't cut the bildings it gives us time uh one other thing that I think is really important is that the central office Cuts in my op opinion are very very deep and they're going to directly affect the building therefore it will give us time to live with those central office Cuts without further disruption to the buildings um so we can make sure that that is going to be able to support our buildings directly um now and I know I'm going a little long- winded but I talked to three middle schools multiple elementary schools and multiples leaders today because during our Saturday discussion and maybe the problem with being the first person to bring a compromise forward is that that now becomes the starting point for negotiations potentially and in Saturday it was proposed that that third option be modified to um do not do any cuts to classroom teachers but to cut everything else and that everything else we as we worked through it on the B Saturday board session came down to 27 FTE at the school building 12 positions at the middle school and 15 positions at the elementary schools and so one thing that I mentioned a few things about what these folks do but one thing that I guess kind of surprised me is that uh the folks that wanted to cut these never asked what they do what do these people do and are they essential are they not um so I talked to like I said the middle schools today the elementary schools uh in uh District leaders also to make sure that what I what I was communicating tonight was accurate and um the reasons given on Saturday and and my takeaways from previous negotiation or budget conversations were that we want to cut these to keep our fund balance higher and that a a general philosophy of things I've heard at um at other budget meetings is that things like we spend too much money on public education we should cut the budget every year we should add more building Administration to the cuts um most people in the school building besides the teachers are non-essential it's a philosophy that at least in my opinion that our district leaders people who that who are experts who have dedicated their lives to educating children constantly um trying to do and doing extra professional development and and um improving themselves that they created a system full of waste or maybe even worse yet that we created a system dedicated to indoctrinating kids into critical race Theory and I just do not believe that um but that was brought forward and I didn't want to just dig my heels in and not thoughtfully consider the modifications so like I said I talked to all the middle schools not all many of the Middle Schools elementary schools and the leaders and um this is what I learned about those 27 positions in the elementary the 15 coaches they're instructional coaches for our teachers math Specialists and literacy Specialists described by one building as an integral part of instruction and able to help increase rigor for our students they work with teachers for best practice instruction and classroom management planning modeling and classroom co- teing they provide best practice resources a specific example of that that an elementary gave me is that a fifth grader new to our school came in at a second grade reading level new to the state new to our school three levels behind this coach was able to work directly with the teacher already has 25 to 30 kids in their class to implement to not only provide uh resources and the data proven resources to help this child get up to reading level but also help the teacher Implement them in instruction um one main thing is that these coaches help teachers to reduce classroom Behavior as we all have heard administrators would love to be the instructional coaches we want them to be but they're pulled away from that um dealing with uh student behavior these um coaches are able to provide that daytoday instructional leadership that we need in our schools and it uh reduces it reduces behavior in classroom which reduces strain on our administrators also it creates less teacher burnout and turnover um they do direct intervention with students and groups of students just one example at Hamilton Elementary who I spoke with remember they have a demographic of 74% poverty in their school they noted that the coaching model they have in place created a night and day transition and it and they credited it in great part to the results of a 10% increase in Reading achievement in one year on the Middle School very similar we're talking about losing or cutting in that modified approach to option three five coaches that will reduce coaching in Middle every Middle School we have 33 to 50% um they are instructional leaders like I said um the teachers that participate in that coaching is voluntary so I've heard from the community that uh these coaches reduce morale with teachers because they're in there evaluating them and that is absolutely not true it is voluntary and one sign that it's valuable to them is that 100% of our coach's time is filled up and one Middle School said we could use more not less we talked about or I talked about Administration being pulled away day-to-day instructional leaders and that is maybe doubly uh true in the middle schools that I've talked to and specifically these coaches have a connection to the building they're in one Middle School told me that they understand the school and the kids and when you're talking about a middle school with very high poverty the burnout for new teachers is very um high and they are able to provide that mentorship and that support to um really understand the building and the kids and help those teachers in those uh classrooms they're constantly inside classrooms they engage with kids one-on-one regarding grades and behavior also so that's just not a complete list but I'm taking up too much time so in general enal option three for me with with the modification that we proposed will create less instructional leadership day-to-day with our schools Less Direct support for teachers in instruction classroom behavior and special circumstances like I mentioned with the Elementary School uh fifth grader coming in at second grade reading level um generally not as many adults in the building to positively impact student Behavior less mentorship for teachers um create we talk about how the central office Cuts or I guess I do about how that is going to push down into the schools and cutting these folks will create two things the central office potential cuts are um will bump people out of the central office that will have rights at our schools and we bump potentially bump teachers and other folks from our schools directly cutting these 27 folks will increase that quite a bit um which is a big concern that I hear from teachers right now um one thing in the central office specifically is in the curriculum area that um I have shared concern about that we are going to more of a uh we from more of a specific specialist to a K12 generalist curriculum um and if you think about that other school districts I've been told um have a similar structure to that but they have a hundred or more more people not on that or chart behind the scenes at their district office supporting that curriculum structure we have none so when we talk about how this is going to impact schools these specific 27 Cuts we're talking about specifically the coaches um at least in my mind and this is just me no uh no administrator has told me that this would be the case but it will these generalists I believe will have to lean heavily on our school experts they'll have to lean on our teacher experts our department lead experts and yes our coach experts to help get the curiculum delivered the way we need it to be so in conclusion I guess sorry that was so long- winded but um the decision comes down to me for I do believe those positions are essential I believe that not cutting and leaving the buildings uh whole on option three where we do not do any further Cuts in the building gives us time to share our story with legislators and through negotiations to save as many folks as possible again it is completely honest it may be that we have to make all of these Cuts or some of these Cuts next year absolutely but keeping the school buildings whole for at least one more year will allow at least for the least disruption as we work through the central office cuts and how those impact school buildings especially in the the curriculum area one last thing that I'm going to throw in there that we have not talked about as a board is that part of keeping the buildings whole and this is comes from a support on a discussion that uh Casey brought to me about the volunteer service coordinators is that part of keeping the schools whole is that I am actually also going to Advocate like Casey that we keep the volunteer service coordinators for at least one more year to be able to continue um to analyze that spot I do think there's some improvement needed to that system I agree with um Administration but it will give us another year to analyze and research the best structure and best practices the last thing that was talked about is fund balance I want to make sure everyone is perfectly clear if we cut the 27 positions in the modified option three the fund pance will be 88.5% if we keep those 27 positions our fund balance will be 88.2% if we add back in the volunteer service coordinators our fund balance will be over 88.1% so what we're talking about is a.3 to 4% of reduction in fund balance to keep our buildings whole for one more year so that's a lot sorry but thank you thank you uh other members there I got it did it go I have a point of order okay director adette um and I I didn't I didn't want to make it while my colleague was speaking because I don't I don't think we landed here intentionally but to for us to have any level of debate we need to have something on the table to be discussing so we do not have we have not yet had a motion of any sort um put forward for discussion and that really does need to happen otherwise I think we could go on you know inde definitely and I don't I don't think that was by any way intentional so sort of held on making that but I really think what we should do to get on track is we need a we need a motion to act on something and a second that would then open up uh for a discussion which we we could go we could go on back and forth to do that and then and then go from there yeah I think I had an open discussion after the presentation just ahead of making the motions so you're right on the debate thing director Simon did you have something to add you but I mean for us to open discussion there needs there needs to be we need to have business in front of us what what what business is in front of us in in just opening discussion it it was the recap of of where we've been and then we'll get into the Motions for where we're going okay well that's my point of order that that really isn't proper procedure to do that okay director Simon then I'll sorry there I just want to answer that um so my comments were off of superintendent McIntyre's presentation she opened it up for discussion or comment on superintendent superintendent McIntyre presentation and that's what I made comment on he went through all of the options and then I made comment on them so I think that's proper for anybody director AR no okay so so so I I would think I mean if there's others that would like to have discussion on the presentation recap certainly I think we should continue to allow for that right director Simon had a turn I I don't know if any others would like a turn uh if there's no interest in having discussion on that kind of recap of the discussion then uh I would definitely entertain a motion based on the recommendations that are available for us to have a debate and discussion director AET thanks uh I I I concede that point I think fair enough I it's good I um I I don't have a Long Point of discussion on it generally but I did want to raise one issue that that I think really came through uh as as really more of a of a mistake uh which was we have one item in the it's in the central office Cuts included which is the closure of the Oak viiew Middle School pool and um uh which is a pretty significant decision that I know I had previously communicated that that I wanted to handle separately and um and I sort of thought that we would handle it separately and so um and really just the the rationale being and we talked about it at some point earlier this year had a fair amount of uh of input from folks all around the community but um although I do recognize it it does present a savings opportunity that is way from the classroom I I would like to appeal to the group because I think it would be great if that could be pulled aside separately and considered on its own doesn't have to be tonight could be at another time um I I don't I don't want to hold up the proceeding on that account but if others have interest perhaps uh you could comment and we then might be able to to make a motion to pull that aside for a separate consideration away from here just be given given U the impact that it will have so I just wanted to put that forward yeah thank you director adet um any any comments from anyone uh director Simon and then I'll come to you Cory I I mean I think that I don't think that needs to hold up things I'd be supportive to uh pull that out and have that discussion I think that's I think it's fair so I'm okay with that yeah superintendent m board members if it helps making sure this is on um we plan the facilities presentation for December 9th because we were not able to get to that at our work session Saturday so you could have the option to table that so that you have time to consider that particular item as you hear more about the current projects and future projects that brings implications into that discussion knowing that we set aside time for that on December 9th so just putting that out there know we have that facilities discussion already planned for next month okay that seems fair to me I I would be supportive of that director AET um I don't know we kind of get a nod from others that are okay okay if I may so will we need to take a formal action on that uh I I would be happy to make that motion to REM separate that from consideration from the central office Cuts in all three of the options so it will not be part of what we would vote on and it will be discussed at a later date so that's my motion okay okay so the motion before us board by director adet is to remove the Oak viw Pool decision from all three options that we're discussing here today uh and put it forward to a separate discussion at a at a future date which we can decide later is there a second for that motion second thank you co-chair Arco uh any discussion uh director Simon so I'm in support of it but I have a question because I we talked about this a little bit Saturday and I don't know how this proceeding is going to go so during our Saturday meeting we we kind of separated out central office and option one two three of you know what I mean of whatever and we talked about do we need to vote on central office Cuts separately or whatever I thought on Saturday we said that the central office cuts are we may not have said it this way but this how I took it that there a management restructuring and that vote would come through through cons agenda as we hire new positions or or eliminate new positions is that is that not everyone's understanding or are we doing something different I guess I'm confused uh director AET uh that's not quite how I mean I think we had that discussion what I recall was saying when it when it finally came to actually you know making the different moves that would come through a consent agenda but I think what we're intending to vote on here is essentially the options as they're proposed or if uh you know there was some discussion about potentially amending one if we do if we choose to do that we make an amendment but I I think the mo most likely course of action is that uh someone ought to make motion to one of the options uh then we could have that discussion about it and and vote and there could be other motions after that but director Aro so just to maybe help clarify at least how I had envisioned this and how I had kind of planned to say things was I figured we were going to and I think we are going to do this um essentially have a vote on the three options and then for like each of them a separate vote and then I at least had prepared some comments for each of the three possibilities that I was planning on giving at the time of discussion for each of the separate considerations so at least that's how it was structured in my mind just a logistical thing but um the way I was envisioning it too was kind of just the at least starting right now the proposals as they stand so like the central office Cuts you know just as they're packaged in option one two and three I so they're that's just how how I envisioned it so perhap director lingenfeld there it is all right thank you um just wanting to clarify can we address the pool can we do that first and then it's a good point okay thanks just he just wanted oh yeah no I I get that yeah and and to that point I think that's that's actually probably our next logical step right is to consider any modifications or removals to the central office piece of this conversation including the pool right saying we've got the motion on the table to pull that for separate discussion we can decide on that if there's any other motions or discussion for moving or changing anything off of that central office you know the as presented we can go through that and then we can go through the detailed options as a way to continue moving forward any further discussion on the motion as presented okay uh all those just one so ju just to clarify just so we're all on the same page so if this motion passes then for all three options currently packages they are the one item of the pool will now be removed from all three options as we consider them okay perfect yes that is how I understood the stating of the motion in the second yes okay any further discussion members uh all those in favor of this motion say I I any opposed say nay okay with six in favor and zero opposed that motion passes so board now we have the newly identified central office Cuts minus the Oakview pool would there be any interest in any other motions or discussions on it a specific detail like that before we get into discussions on the broader package director langenfeld just um point the of discussion and I'm not exactly sure where it would fit but it goes back to the volunteer service coordinators as a separate item I think one of the things that as a as a former principal in the district and also a currently a volunteer in our schools I I see such huge benefit not only to supporting our teachers and our schools but also that Outreach to our community um I was recently at Adams Elementary at a ribbon cutting for an outdoor facility and uh the engagement of uh that rich Community coming forward together has a lot to do with the volunteer service coordinator bringing people together for a wonderful community events in partnership with the schools so I I think it warrants some pretty rich discussion um and I know that there's a cost involved but again as I I I went back and looked and our our volunteer service coordinator position if you go out online and look every year there's a large check that comes forward um and the district is very proud of the fact that our volunteer service coordinators last year we had 9,276 people volunteering in our schools with more than 17 almost 18,000 hours of volunteer work and when they characterized that and put it into a dollar value was $ 5,792 so I I I'd like further discussions somewhere on that but I don't know where that fits tonight but if it means pulling it off I would I would certainly support that um I believe the volunteer service coordinators are part of the central office cut so if you would like to make a motion to pull that for separate discussion and consideration similar to the pool I think that that we could make the same motion and take a vote uh on that I I would like to pull it off and then have a vote at a later time at a later discussion to as we as we look forward as long as we don't need to make that move today I I'm looking at the superintendent because it does involve people I want to respectful so I encourage you to make a decision today about any employee uh positions okay the pool and other facilities is a different issue we have Staffing timelines that literally start tomorrow so I'm just encouraging the board to make any Personnel decisions this evening and lean into that conversation thank you uh director Simon so I think this is appropriate because it's still off of Michelle's question so hopefully I'm not out of order but um potentially on the volunteer service coordinator if there is an option out there that you like you could potentially modify it removing them so you could potentially do it that way and ask for a vote on it that's the only other way I I think it might work so just an idea so uh would you like to make a motion now to remove it for consideration which if it passes would be a decision for Staffing that that position would not be included in the central office cuts at this point in time I I would and I want to make sure that I'm in the right space when I do that that's what I kept saying where where do we put it I would assume it goes with option three that that would be the appropriate place to have further conversation for us this evening so when that conversation comes up I would like to have that understood okay thank you okay members any further discussion before we move into entertaining a motion on recommendation one which is the total reduction in reallocation made today okay board is there any um I would entertain a motion for recommendation one uh director hulman sorry excuse me I move that the board take up the vote for phase two recommendations option one director hulman is there a second thank you director adet uh any discussions on recommendation one director hulman um is our current real reality that like many districts across Minnesota we're faced with a significant budget shortfall um the Care Management and control of independent school districts is vested in a board of directors and it is within our responsibility to provide sound educational opportunities within the constraint of the budget of with the funds available this board should act now to reduce expenses and operate within the budget um of the 360 positions that were listed 109 our classroom teachers um we've worked hard to minimize the impacts and ensure the district and work to meet the critical needs um of our students and also carefully plan for the future uh acting now helps to prevent the passing on of these costs to the hardworking families businesses and community members who are already overburdened this is a difficult Choice there are many challenges um but I believe it is the responsible course of action and I will continue to work diligently to ensure that our schools remain strong and our financial Outlook is stable thank you thank you members any other comment or discussion uh director AET thank you um yeah I think uh what I would like to acknowledge is just the yeah the situation that we're in which is obviously difficult um but at a time like this there also needs to just be consideration for um uh acting in a way that uh is is you know most I guess what I want to say is fiscally with with fiscal responsibility here the the only thing that is certain is that we find ourselves in this shortfall uh the superintendent laid out a number of reasons why that has occurred and we're all well familiar with what they are but proposals for referendums or to work with the legislature are inherently risky um because we clearly don't know what will happen and to leave the district in a position where we are operating at a deficit um is is something that I wouldn't take lightly and so I do think for that reason it's worthy of serious consideration that we could cut now we stabilize the financial position we still can move forward and consider those other options but we do that with having taken certain action so I think that's important I think that's what people expect us to do is to live within our means um even despite the fact that you know we can make good Arguments for why the situation we're in is to a certain degree not fair because you could uh it's pretty easy to point to uh other places that are responsible for our funding and in some cases put mandates on school boards that require us to um do certain things and that has without question contributed to the situation that we're in so thank you thank you director Arco thank you co-chair to Shane so yeah um just to provide some context and I know we saw the slides but you know the consideration of what to do with the with the budget has been an ongoing conversation for many months now um and option one is kind of the basic option of you know just as director ad that said live within your means um one thing that I've been very encouraged by along the way is you know just throughout the board meetings and work sessions the board I would say a majority of the board provided direction to Cory and his team and that direction I believe has been Faithfully followed and there has been a lot of common ground we found um so package one as it's considered um I do think fits with what at least how I perceived everything going or playing out with what a majority of the board had asked to see so I I appreciate that Corey and everything that you and your team put together um just to name a couple of those considerations so early on there's a possibility that we're we were going to do a middle school schedule change that idea actually had a lot of Merit to it but a majority of the board had decided to not necessarily dispense with that but just not consider it at the moment so we set that aside for now another one and I know this has been mentioned but it's worth mentioning again um the will of the board was to keep the cuts as far away from the classroom as possible and in fact perhaps even a little bit more specifically to preserve those foundational years at the elementary school and to try to minimize the impact at the elementary schools specifically because of how important those formative years are I think that was Faithfully followed as well and then of course as you know director Des Shane and others have mentioned just like a focus on the district office again Faithfully followed so I think as painful as option one is I do think it it's been a a process that's built out over the last couple months with guidance and even agreement from a majority of the board that being said um it's still a miserable choice to make no one wants to be in this position as Court had stated all of these positions are value added nobody wants to get rid of anything myself included um and while this is probably obvious as worth saying I don't like every single detail of option one but as an individual board member I don't have the right nor should I have the right to go in there and fine-tune everything according to how I see fit you do need a majority of the board to do that so while I do believe that option one captures what a majority of the board hope to see and I'm satisfied with it overall dissatisfied with certain details um I do think it makes sense just given the the context that we're in so and the so and just the reason for why at least for me option one is compelling is again kind of direct to director odette's Point there's a lot of uncertainties facing us but really the only thing that is certain is that we do need to stay within the budget that we have and there is an option to look into the fund balance or the emergency fund so to speak but that fund balance and we do use it as needed keep in mind that fund balance is the only bulwark we have against all of the crazy stuff that has happened and can happen we just got through Co um we got through the last legislative session which did have as superintendent McIntyre pointed out unfunded and underfunded mandates that that's what that exists to do is to absorb those impacts in a way that allows us to deal with them on our terms and in our timing and in the best way possible despite being really miserable choices I and it it allows us to not have to make the decisions in a forced way not on our timing you know when reality kind of imposes itself upon us so I I think that it it's done a fantastic job protecting the district um and allowing us to make the best possible Choice amongst all of the painful choices that we have to make so I just appreciate the collaboration that the board had I appreciate Cory and his team for putting forward um option one and at least you know for this initial round of voting I'll be voting for option one director langenfeld as I listen carefully and have studied this for many many hours and worked in partnership with all of you I kept going back to a quote that I used to use when I was leading schools with difficult decisions the measure of who we are is what we do with what we have and it's from Vince Lombardi and I think about that in our work tonight and our work that we've been presenting with the fact that we have um coming out of a pandemic a really difficult place in space to be right now and I always look for opportunities and options because I think as we've set our board priorities around literacy and engagement and making sure that we recruit and retain it's looking for places and spaces to give people voice to determine if we need to go this deep of cut at this time I understand the fiscal responsibility that's been shared I absolutely recognize that understand it and respect it I respect and appreciate all the work that the superintendent has engaged in with his staff and I also see though that there is a Pathways forward that we have not considered and that would be a referendum which I have from day one um talked about as being an option and I know when we were out Gathering data from community and talking with people in their trenches that that was something that people wanted us to at least entertain or talk about and then the other piece is looking even forward to that third option and saying um we will cut central office as at this time and give ourselves more time and opportunity to look more deeply into what else we can move forward I look at where we're at and we heard some great testimony this evening from staff talking about their experiences particularly around literacy and Bridge to read and the read Act and the impact of the literacy specialists in the schools to support learning and I know that is a shared board priority for all of us as student achievement and I appreciated director hulman your comment and commitment to saying we will go forward with the best we can and so as we look forward at this and and taking this vote because we have other options that I think could keep our schools whole and support our children through our district priorities I would not be in favor of cutting everything this evening and I will vote that way thank you director Simon I've already talked way too long I'm sure so I'll be very brief this time sorry about that um so I think that um people are right that you know our our current reality was when option one was given to us but our current reality changed when we had 11 million more dollars than we thought we had right so when you talk about fiscal responsibility um going cut doing all of the cuts right now versus doing them over two years um saves a very minimal fund balance increase so I think that I think any option is fiscally responsible I think this one would be and I think others would be the reason I think this one isn't the best option is that um you have have to balance I think I have to balance my board service with for with information and I don't think we have all the information some of it is not completely in our control what the legislature does but some of it is 100% totally in the board's control on what we do with negotiations so um you know it's almost like do all of these Cuts now let's you know let's cut deep let's cut fast faster we do it the better it feels like and I don't agree with that I think that um whether you do the cuts over one year or twoe you maintain your fiscal responsibility and you have more information to make a better uh choice and um the thought of doing all the cuts up front and that if our reality changes we can build back I've seen where this board in the past has um cut and added cut and added and that uh whipsaws a system whether it's education or business it whipsaws a system and does not create um a good environment for our employees or our clients which are our students so that's my added thanks thank you I I just have a brief comment as well on this option um and then we can move to a vote I think option one of making all of the cuts now makes a hard situation harder at the cost of our students our budget our means includes our fund balance um none of these options we're talking about today include deficit spending the cuts would all um be within the budget that we have the funding the money that we have right now and to director Simon's point at a small percentage of a fund balance decrease temporarily um and to be clear all of these options include all of the cuts eventually over the next two years it's not some uh Magic decision to delay those and then they will go away we have to be honest about that and the reality is the cuts are expected and I think cutting all of the the proposals today is a higher risk to students um the pandemic recovery you know you mentioned director Arco I think continuing the supports that are in place closest to when the students experienced those potential learning needs or learning losses is logical so for for those reasons I would not support uh recommendation one of making all the cuts now any further discussion from the board before we move to a vote on the motion before us to consider option one okay hearing none all those in favor say I I all those opposed say Nay Nay Nay so with uh three in favor and three opposed that motion fails so board before us uh I would consider a motion on recommendation two which is a reduction and reallocation with a referendum in 2025 director Simon M me you you may have to tell me can I ask a clarifying question before I make a motion is that okay or not for Robert RS I don't know if it's okay or not um clarifying question on that uh option that option I believe in my mind if I would move it means the central office Cuts including volunteer service coordinators is the bridge cut and then we will go to referendum that that is what I believe it is but I just want to make sure people agree with that before I move that is accurate volunteer service coordinators are still included in the central office cuts yes director Simon so can I modify that I'm not sure exactly how to do it can I I'd like to make a motion on option two with a modification that volunteer service coordinators are removed from those central office C uh is there a second second thank you director langenfeld uh any discussion on the motion as presented by director Simon Okay I I'll go first uh in the discussion on this option so I think as we reflect upon the financial situation that the district is in for this year and looking ahead to the next uh year before us listening to the community feedback that we have received both in person from members who attended our listening sessions and discussions openhouse meetings as well as through the online survey feedback it's clear uh 90% almost of those participants would like for us to consider going to a referendum to give our community of Voters a voice in this conversation I think our role as board members is to represent and to ensure we bring the voice of the community into these discussions I can see no better way for for us to bring that voice into these discussions than going for a referendum vote knowing that that is not a guarantee knowing that counties cities other municipalities that have the ability to raise their property taxes without a vote have done so and it's putting a strain on our voters and that would likely play into their their decisions about supporting or not supporting a referendum question should it appear on their ballot next year I still think that it's the right choice to bring that forward to them so that they can weigh in and give us their feedback um having that additional year to feel the impact of the central office cuts that we are talking about see how that relates to our teachers in their classrooms the buildings the buildings that are being supported um just buys us more information that that time buys us information so for those reasons I would support as my First Choice um option two reducing and going to referendum to our public director adette chair Des Shane just to comment if I'm understanding your comments right they relate to the broader uh option two but we have the motion on the table right now just to modify it just to so the motion was and it was seconded to modify it so what we should do I think is vote on that motion either to modify it with the volunteer service coordinators or not then after we've done that whatever the outcome then then we can take up the broader thing got it okay I had heard option two with the modification like as allinone kind of a deal but if if it's intended to be that's what I heard stated I apologize I did not hear it that way so if if that's the cas so so we can pause a minute again so what I heard from the motion is opt to as presented with the modification of the removal of the volunteer service coordinators from the central office Cuts it's exactly correct fair enough I stand correct okay sorry that's no problem I want to make sure we all are very clear on on what we're discussing um I my remarks are concluded at any rate uh does anyone else have discussion that they'd like to offer on that since I already have the mic on if I if I may so thank you um I just just some thoughts here with again with respect to how we arrive here and a lot of people share a lot of ideas but reality is the school board uh we have to work not directly but somewhat in conjunction with with our with our state government who provides the Lion Share of the funding uh for the district so we went through coming up to the last legislative cycle and as we worked through it um the district anticipated uh inflation and inflationary impacts um to be significant um our superintendent and other education leaders from around the state went down to the capital many times to speak um a number of times both uh speak formally in front of the the whole body and other times individually with members and and from what I understood many did uh and they all were sharing a similar message which was inflationary impacts are going to be real and schools are going to need uh higher than normal levels of of State appropriated funds in order to balance our budgets in addition and I think this came on the heels of at least several legislative Cycles where and it might have gone on for a long time where uh there's something called unfunded mandates continue to come up where state government will impose a mandate on a school district and they won't provide funding for it so uh as an example a really significant one that that was mandated through the last legislative session was to pay unemployment compensation to uh folks who who I'm going to call them part-time that might not be quite the right term but it's it's it's the portion of our staff who doesn't work for instance normally work through the summer uh which these positions have been this way for years but in the last legislative cycle a decision or a law was passed uh required IR iring school districts to pay unemployment compensation uh for workers in that situation but they did not provide any funding for it uh there was a whole laundry list of things that state government mandated on schools and didn't Fund in addition to not giving enough funding for what was clearly inflationary in increases that the whole economy was feeling and you know what we what we all St saw instead which was frankly probably the most irresponsible legislative session in that we've ever seen in Minnesota uh they wasted 19 million1 19 billion dolls in Surplus money allocated it for lots of different things but when school leaders from across the state came forward and said if you don't give us the additional funding we're going to find our school districts in deficit and we're going to have to make cuts the legislature heard it they either some didn't believe it and we definitely had legislators in our sphere talking to us suggesting we were hiding money our superintendent went forward said no we're not and here we are today so the problem that we Face yes it was due to contracts that we had to settle uh for folks that were feeling the effects of inflation and needed and deserved a raise and yes at that time we did absolutely know that it could result in us having to do cuts but to to to consider forcing now our local community to to have a referendum in order to pay for mandates that the state put in place that they didn't fund and to fail to fund adequately inflationary things and other expenditures that were known to be out there and for us to then have to come forward and the suggestion that we would go into our local community where we all live we had a member bring forward tax statement today we all got ours um I've had stories as I've been out talking with people I'm aware of people in our community who are literally liquidating their Assets in order to stay in their homes and at this point we come forward with a suggestion that we could do a referendum I think that the right action here is to force the state government to do their job and to fund the most important things which they frequently lecture us about which is our schools and obviously everybody who's in this room certainly at this table agrees this is a super important thing but they really need to put the money where their mouth is and give us the funding we need to go go forward and so uh for me I cannot support a referendum based upon that principle Alone um and I hope that we can resolve the situation in a better way than that so thank you just a quick like comment back to your comments because I I agree it is fr it is frustrating and I can hear that coming out for you and I think we've all shared those comments as we've sat at this board table and had this discussion um it's clear we we can't raise our prices we don't make widgets right we're we're dependent upon the funding that comes to us in order to run the public education system for an Noah henpen and I think from my perspective respecting yours as well having option two which is Some Cuts now option for a referendum and potential cuts later next year if that referendum doesn't pass kind of gives us that opportunity gives us one more crack at that conversation right to communicate that reality communicate this frustration work in partnership with our community with our parent groups with those that will feel the impact of these Cuts uh to to raise and Elevate that conversation again uh one one more time not counting on any difference being made not counting on any additional funds or changes happening but with our current Financial reality it just buys us that year to to raise those frustrating elements one more time members any other discussion or comments director Simon just in case legislators are listening I agree with Matt unfunded mandates have been happening forever and they are not good for public education in Noah hanapin we've talked about about that every time I think this whole board would agree with that I know Casey gave verbal I just wanted to make sure I supported that because it is true we have to we have to have um the discussion and we have we have to continue to have the discussion of if you're going to give funding let local control decide where that funding goes because we know what's best for our communities so I completely agree with that obviously I'm I made the motion so I'm uh for referendum and just and I long-winded said why before but I'll just reiterate that um no one bringing in my mind bringing a question to the public does not force anyone to give us more money it it asks them for a vote and what they want their public education to be what they want a Noah hennipin to be they can absolutely say no and we've been very transparent I think about what will the cuts be if it doesn't pass if we if we get there right so I think that's all we can do and again um I I me to being at least for myself being intellectually honest if if I'm not going to support if I'm going to say that we should go against the legislature and bring um they gave us power to just approve or reapproved voter approved levies and I say no I think we should ask our public because they should have a vote in it I think that bringing a vote when we have Cuts is is logical and intellectually honest thanks director lingenfeld thank you and I also agree unfunded mandates are very problematic and one of the pieces of concern for me greatly is the read Act without the resources that are needed so um the literacy uh Specialists that we're using in our schools are so vitally important and they should be clearly funded um because as we bring into the science of reading into all of our schools across many many schools middle and El Elementary and high school we need those resources for me going out for referendum as a possibility I'd like to keep it on the table because I truly believe that if we find ourselves in a space in a place where our legislators are not listening it lifts up a really vitally important conversation underfunding of public education is of grave concern to me personally and has been for many years in my various roles and part of it has to do with the fact that often uh people do the very best they can and in Noah henpen has been and I've served in this District as a principal we do more with less over and over and over again and we have wonderful outcomes for our kids because why people are so very dedicated but there comes a Tipping Point and what we saw with the children coming back after the pandemic is that the needs for many children are great and we are in places and spaces that we maybe haven't been in the past in terms of needs for resources so I I believe a referendum brings everyone into the conversation and affords people voice and I believe that this next year um putting this uh forward and spending some time really looking more deeply into what we need and having those really tough conversations with our community and bringing parent voice into the conversation not only about referendum but in Partnership to our legislators will matter and so I I would like to have that conversation around a referendum um not because I believe that um we should continue going to the taxpayers for this but to lift up that conversation about the underfunding of schools and unfunded mandates that continues uh for public education thank you thank you members any other discussion on option two director Aro thank you coach here to Shane um so again just to provide some context I I believe the sentiment was echoed and I agree with it the Anoka Henman district has historically done more with less um from everything I've seen we have historically been a fiscally responsible district and um we have managed our finances very well so I applaud that very grateful for it um I also find myself for the consideration of of sorry of a referendum at this time I find myself in the position of kind of again some of the sentiments that have been echoed which is you know there's a variety of reasons we're in this situation and one of the ones that has been the most impactful is um the underfunded and unfunded mandates of the state and it's true we can't do anything about that right they're going to the state's going to do what they're going to do um we don't make widgets we don't make money in any way so what that leaves us with is we have to just do the best with what we have and a referendum certainly is an option um but it's one that would leave a very bitter taste in my mouth knowing that at least from my vantage point the only reason we would have to even ask the question in the first place is because of let's just call it the mismanagement of the state and the underfunded and funded mandates I think it is critically important that um obviously we take care of this the district first but we also send the appropriate feedback to the state and say look you know we're trying we're doing the best job that we can possibly do but you guys also have to up uphold your end of the bargain if you're going to require something you need to pay for it and they can they can honestly mandate whatever they want but they do need to pay for it and until that message is sent and that concern is rest I think it is premature and I would even say inappropriate to ask the taxpayers to pay for something that honestly a lot of people will never connect the dots I know board meetings are recorded and they're forever out there but the reality is a lot of people don't fully understand the in intricacies of kind of why we got to where we're at and how all the dots connect they don't and it's nobody's fault it's complicated there's a lot to it you can only pay attention to so many things but I I just I don't I don't think it's appropriate to ask the taxpayers to fund the errors of the state and so at this time as much as I am for the district and want to do as good for the district as is possible I think it's better to um just do the best with what we got and send the appropriate feedback to the state and let them correct the errors that they've made director hulman um director Arco had some sentiment that I was exactly going to State um the state those unfunded mandates many of them are absurd and to ask the taxpayers to um open their pocketbooks to support the mistakes um the probably well-meaning but the intent um has landed on our shoulders to absorb the cost that's not been properly funded and um I just think it's more responsible for us to act and make certain um that we're not putting this responsibility once again on the taxpayers and for that reason I do not support a referendum at this time Simon so I think it's also important for our board to uh look beyond the moment in time and consider a NOA hen's future whether that's in 5 10 years when maybe none of us will be on this board and what we will for future boards and as part of the referendum whether it doesn't seem like it's going to pass the day today but um one thing for this board to think about it's not just what the state does to us it's not just the unfunded mandates um it's also about our surrounding districts and what um what what communities are supporting where we have some some districts surrounding districts that we compete with teachers that receive double the referendum we receive so I understand about the burden for the taxpayer I'm one of them I receive that sheet of paper um so I get that but just in the future of an Noah hanapin doesn't sound like it'll sound the day but I would just I would urge all board members to understand um our compet local competition and what we are competing with regardless of what the state does thanks thank you uh any further discussion okay so members before us I'll just recap is a motion for recommendation two which is a district reduction and reallocation with referendum with the modification of volunteer service coordinators not being part of the central office cuts it was motioned by director Simon seconded by director langfeld would all those in favor say I I all those opposed say nay Nay with three in favor and three opposed that motion fails so board before us is recommendation three which is um as has been mentioned kind of a compromise recommendation that includes District reductions in reallocations with no plans to go for referendum making the two cut the the two phases of cuts some this year and some the year after uh members would I would entertain a motion to consider recommendation three sure to yeah director I I I just I'm prepared I'm prepared to make a motion to consider it uh but I somewhere we've got a little bit caught up in these amendments so I I would enter I I would like to say that I would that I would uh be willing to make a motion to amend this option slightly from what was included in the uh in the description um and that would be to do all of the cuts as stated but when it when it gets to the the part about the five million in strategic Investments I would I would add back in some of the Strategic Investments so I would uh I would allow us to fund the literacy intervention teachers the math intervention teachers the TD Talent Development uh teachers that were included and there were English language intervention teachers and so the the thought there that I have is if if we're going to look at uh minimizing some of the cuts we've we've clearly this option excludes the cuts to classroom teachers these specific positions are very classroom teacher like in terms of the impact they have on kids because they have that direct intervention with children um and in particular at a time when our kids really need it and so um I guess I wanted to say I could I could amend it I don't know how others are feeling about that um but before we move forward I want I wanted to point that out I'm gonna just ask a clarifying question on what you stated to make sure I have the correct understanding so you said the amendment that you would propose is under the second section the maintained strategic Investments where it says maintain the $5 million onetime use of funds um you would instead of maintaining the 5 million you would retain some of the 5 million but cut some of is that what that's correct I mean I think we we' we've had some discussion about this uh I believe the the remainder that would be left if we did that would be the literacy or would be the different coaches I think it's literacy and math coaches I believe were the the positions um and again the thought process at least for me just being here you've got this group of folks that have that I'm going to call it classroom like classroom teacher like impact um to kids they work directly with kids and um and I you know I feel like in light of where we already are it makes some sense to to do that if we're going to uh limit some of those cuts but at the same time you can't it doesn't Force us to go on forever adding adding additional positions that you know we probably could we could probably make good Arguments for many others but anyhow okay so I think um the only other piece of information that we have was director langenfeld sharing she had wanted to bring the VC conversation into each of these uh as also as an amendment um rather than trying to do two amendments would you have any openness to including that in your proposed amendment for this option that you were referencing the VC's the volunteer service coordinator I I I did not have an intent to include them now and I haven't I haven't I guess I haven't technically amended anything yet either right that's what I'm asking is if you would consider including them in the one Amendment since I know director langenfeld had wanted that so that we're not doing two different amendments gotcha but director Arco I was just going to say should we let um director langfeld just make the comment she wanted to make about it and then revisit certainly yeah certainly but before I do that I want to be sure I'm understanding what uh director adet just said in terms of the positions that we're talking about in the Strategic Investments and I'm looking at them right now um if I'm not mistaken with included in there are the the literacy Specialists is that accurate including there would be seven Elementary and five Middle School positions in there as well I think I understood director ett's um position is keep everything but the I think there's 15 elementary coaches and five Middle School coaches and seven Paras so there's 27 positions that I believe you yeah you need to help me with that yeah I I run into sort of the similar problem with her and you so I attempted to Define it by listing specifically the ones that I wanted to include but I believe and if we get into the numbers of them I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna fall but um but yes I I was intending to exclude the coaches I was intending to exclude the Paras okay does that clarify it enough and there's five million of um so those are positions were not including in strategic Investments and this know those are ongoing Cuts right so I think we just said the same thing in a different way probably so I think we've had that problem number of times and we've talked about it director Simon I I I just want to clarify in my mind too so to both of you um on Saturday we talked about those 27 positions which included uh 15 elementary coaches five Middle School coaches and seven pars that's 27 those are ongo those are just positions I believe just permanent positions and then the Strategic Investments if you want to cut more out of that it would be in addition to the 27 I don't know if that's what you meant or just the 27 so I'm asking for clarification yeah so I I uh every time we tried to do that we we get we get here I intended to say uh so the option three it read as it read it right and it was it was a list of things that were going to be cut N9 Point some million at the district office it was a a list of strategic or it was a of strategic Investments and and some other things I just came back forward and said look I'm proposing to narrow that a bit and the things that I would retain would be obviously all of the classroom teachers we talked about the literacy intervention teachers the math intervention teachers the talent development instructors the English learner intervention teachers whether they're Strategic investment or not uh I was attempting to enumerate it that way director Simon Cory I don't know if we need clarification on this I I think that would mean the 27 positions we talked about plus probably most of the five million is strategic initiatives for next year I believe it would include most of that I'm not sure but I believe it would because they're they're not necessarily classroom teachers they're interventionists and student Behavior Support and things like that I believe let me take my best shot at this so I think um so first of all the 27 positions you talked about those are a part of the elementary reductions they're in the recommendation one right those are not Strategic investment positions right then there's another $5 million of in each of the next two years that in recommendation three it says hang on to this next year's five million and then it eliminates the next five the next year's five million the following year 26 27 so I it would keep the 27 I'm sorry it would um it eliminate the 27 but it would keep the REM remain any of those that are any positions in the five million because that's just all of them that's each year that's a $5 million cost what you know the board previous board committed four years two years ago but for four years hey yeah different buckets director add that did you yeah I mean uh I guess I thought we were probably GNA have some of this uh ironed out but but I don't I don't I I don't know how to mix because I don't we don't have the documents in front of us that specified at all so I in my opinion the clearest thing I can say is the way the way that I've said it it the assumption would be anything that isn't in those buckets would be cut the buckets that I listed director lingenfeld so if I'm understanding this accurately um the literacy specialists at Elementary in particular but also middle there would be seven positions in elementary and five in the middle schools that are um not funded by the re Act um but our positions that are so vitally important as we Implement a new curriculum is one of our district priorities is literacy um I I have grave concerns about eliminating that position for at least not carrying it for one more year um as we do the implementation of the new Ela curriculum in addition to the bridge to read one of the things and I know one of the speakers spoke about it this evening is the fact that with Bridge to read which is a free curriculum coming from serve Minnesota to the state from the state um Minnesota for um students around the science of reading the reality is we are seeing significant impact but a lot of that has to do with the fact that teachers are taking on new learning with letters training and as a result of the work it does require from what I understand a component of having uh support from from uh someone in a school to be able to do that um I think that there are resources that may be able to do it in some smaller ways in schools but to get to the Fidelity of implementation of our new curriculum and also the right now it's under pilot but that would be that implementation next year and also the the implementation of the react uh or not the react bridge to read um would require some additional literacy Specialists for this period of time and hopefully then we can determine if there's additional resources and I know that I had a conversation I know that um when our superintendent and his team did their Cuts in central office there was a deeper cut than had anticipated a few more extra dollars close to 300,000 and also um possibly ways to get some additional reductions so to offset um that particular expenditure for a year I I just feel it's so vitally important at this time and I think of a I'm going to tell a story there was a fourth grade teacher who uh got moved to second grade which can happen very frequently in our elementary schools they wish to stay in their school and for that teacher the the difference between what a fourth grade teacher is required to teach versus a second grade teacher is pretty profound from what I understand understand and the teacher um really benefited from having that support of the literacy specialist as they made that transition to be a very successful uh teacher in that sense of efficacy which so vitally important to teachers so I don't know if I can amend yours or add uh at least the seven Elementary and I would propose also to try to add the the five um middle school I know that would be a huge benefit but I'm I'm very concerned concerned about that elementary level for the next school year as well without cutting that position in some way sh perform Dro did you have a com okay so I think um some of that clarification was helpful so that if you would like to formulate a motion to amend maybe we all have a better understanding of what your what it means I could try to formulate it so um and I think I I hear what director lingenfeld is saying so if I if I gather what you said you would at least one form of it would be everything I said and she would add literacy Specialists for K through three that would be the elementary literacy specialists at this time that would be my priority obviously there are five at the middle school but Elementary would be certainly where we need to to be for sure so so I would be open to adding that and I would and I would make that motion I don't know if we I don't know exactly how to do that on the on the spot but perhaps we could get a little help with formulating it but it would be what I said plus K through three literacy Specialists so your proposed Amendment would be change recommendation three yes to mean what it states with the we'll call it a carve out with the car yeah the carve out of coaches and the retention of literary literary Specialists or literary interventionists math interventionists Talent Development teachers English language teachers and the elementary literary Specialists lit yes literacy Specialists yeah was it also the Middle School literacy specialist and she talked about narrowing that scope to that K through3 Group which made sense to me it so it's a it's a narrower band and again everything she said makes sense with react supporting that Etc so I think that might so verify for me that's seven positions right out of the 27s that leaves the 20 remaining that sounds right does it not director langel is that how you saw that yeah that's how I see it I I do think that the five at Middle School matter too um you can make a very strong case for that as well and they're still in there correct yeah they they're cut in that modification I didn't have them in there what I just did was proposed to add back the K through three okay so the elementary and then the the secondary would be by I don't know if there's consideration for that what the cost on those five would be 400,000 correct roughly and then if we have some resource to offset the seven which we may want to consider um I I do think those those inter the resource around these literacy Specialists right now at this time is vitally important for our district and priorities your positions would continue is that accurate which ones the the ones that you're proposing are continuing yeah and I'm proposing at this point one year for the literacy piece if yeah I mean all of these carve outs and continuations are only for one year that's all we're talking about is for one year it's either you cut them all now or you cut some of them now and then cut the rest in one year with this option right so yeah depending on the situation so the theory being right that we were going to go forward into the legislature through our channels where we do that and and bring Clarity to what we all of what we have cut the little bit we've reserved the reason why we did which ultimately comes down to directly teachers in classrooms and and you know request that change so that that's the logic I guess we're operating off of and again it takes it would take that 27 that would be a total of 12 literacy interventionists or Specialists five elementary and or seven Elementary and five middle if we kept them did I do the math right yeah director Simon I think I know what Michelle's saying but I'm just going to say it and I don't think Matt has agreed to all of that yet so I'm G to say what I think you're asking sorry if I'm jumping in but Matt's was to keep the list of folks he wanted to keep and what that meant we learned on Saturday were 27 posi full-time positions right that was again um um seven pairs at the middle school five coaches at the middle school and 15 coaches at the elementary school that's the 27 but Matt also said if in the five million Strate correct me if I'm wrong if in the five million of strategic initiatives there's not teachers or these literary Specialists which I believe there's none I don't believe there's any maybe we need to get clarification on that because I know a lot of them are uh like I said intervention specialists at the High School level the Middle School level at every level I think mostly secondary but we could get clarification but I believe that would be cut the 27 and 5 million and then Michelle said would you agree to add seven of the K through3 literary folks back in so we're only cutting 20 Now Matt said yes to that but then Michelle asked another would you add back in five more Middle School coaches and Matt hasn't answered that yet right that would be accurate and again with the Assumption however that those seven could potentially be offset not within in other means is well and I think it's an important distinction right because the five million one-time Strategic investment conversation was not a part of Saturday's conversation that we that we had so that's a new piece to this so I you know what we had originally talked about right those like 27 positions created like 1% difference on the fund balance that's what we were talking about delaying it for one year created a 1% change to the fund balance and the five million difference now that's a whole another conversation um would you like to continue clarify yeah there's I didn't add anything new to it to previous discussion um every time we've tried to talk about this we've had some confusion which is troubling but uh the the the best way and I and I am not able to I was probably looking for Edmund to help us here but there it's not new information what I was proposing to change it was it was those spec was say no I'm not open to leaving all the Strategic Investments and all of that in I'm open to leaving in those specific enumerated positions she added K through three I like to add K through three I'm not in favor of adding the additional beyond that trying to keep that pretty narrow why don't we call um Michelle Vargas up and direct Jennifer Cherry to offer any clarifications to that so we can be be clear thank you for joining us chair D Shane superintendent M entire members of the board my recollection from Saturday was option three but you were adding back in from the level cuts that were not part of it all the positions that were not classroom positions so they weren't holding them off or another you were adding them in so it's option three plus those positions that were coaches and those were the 27 positions that we talked about the Paras the elementary coaches and the Middle School coaches those were to add to option three option three was the Central and then we were going to cut the second year of the Strategic investment to add it back into fund balance that was the percentage of the fund balance and then add those additional cuts from the level Cuts in order to get those positions that were not classroom teachers that was my understanding from Saturday yeah I it it sounds like we had our wires crossed then because the intent really was just to say do the district office cuts at nine some odd million when we got into schools maintain classroom teachers maintain literacy intervention teachers maintain math intervention teachers maintain TD elel intervention teachers that was it it was a modification to that point it wasn't it wasn't accept all of it was modifying the option three um in that specific spe ific way and then and then again she added a few others that I was open to that wasn't what the intent was regardless how it got recorded in our minds director Simon to be fair to Matt I think that's absolutely correct uh he did explain it that way I didn't and I don't think any of us connected that that would mean getting rid of this the first year of strategic we didn't talk about that specifically so I didn't connect that that that'd be part of it so I think that is a fair description director Aro um well I guess is there still confusion then everybody okay so would you um be making a motion to amend the option and then we would take a consideration of a motion to vote on the amended option or do you want it all in one I might recommend we separate it but I would leave that uh for your consideration I think the thought had been that we should take a motion to amend that option the way it was presented so that everybody knew what what the amended option was and then uh assume if if if that that if that passes then we could take a vote on it okay so would you like to make your motion to amend as we've been discussing uh oh one comment sorry I add one thing for you mat So within the Strategic investment then if we were going back to what you were eliminating there within Strategic investment what I had shared during that um meeting it shows um 14.73% um and 3.42 Paras everything else in the Strategic Investments are classroom and intervention teachers so those will be the ones that I think that you're adding to the reduction is that is that clear that was the misunderstand I didn't understand that we were talking about the Strategic investments in addition to the other ones so it would have been those 27 positions plus what was in Strategic investment that didn't meet your criteria which I'm saying is 14.73% the the dollars that were involved and it it seemed to make some sense at the time okay director Simon Michelle just a question I didn't get the number of Paras that were in that strategic Investments there's 3.42 Paras and 14.7 coaches is what was shared 3.42 so then total coaches go 14.3 1.73 plus the 1520 no that we're in I that we're in the rig I'm not sure where we're at with the different changes um there were the the 20 20 and now strategic of estimat is plus 14.7 yeah that is true and then last clarification on this where are those coaches and Pa is located do you know if they're middle high school or Elementary School I don't have that on you don't have I'm sorry I just have the totals yeah will we put you on the spot so thanks okay so I think for us you would like to make that motion for amending yeah I'd like to move to amend option three I believe such that it would read um you know if I if I if I looked if I went to the summary that we had up there it said the option said delay some reductions and utilize fund balance um for clarity I said delay reductions in classroom teachers at all levels and then it said I think it said maintain strategic Investments uh or something to that effect my proposal would sort of wash that out and it would say in addition to the classroom teachers at all levels maintain literacy intervention teachers math intervention teachers Talent Development teachers English learner intervention teachers and I added in the K through three lit uh the K through three coaches that were specific to literacy and then it would also of course reduce the 9.04 million in The District central offices that is a motion okay so members before us is a motion from director adet is there a second second okay seconded by coacher Arco is there any discussion director langenfeld so if I'm if I'm looking at this accurately the Strategic Investments um that we were provided on Saturday 39.4 one everyone should have that Michelle had sent that to us during the meeting um there are interventionists in there literacy intervention there's math intervention in addition to coaches um there's um English teacher math teacher science teacher social studies academic support which I'm sure it's direct support and student support there's the academic support is the larger one my question is they fit the profile of what we just talked about how I I I'm just confused that's all because all the time I thought we were looking at this document that I think what I heard was The Proposal is to um reduce the coaches out of that group which is which is 1473 in addition to the 20 other positions so that's 34.7 three I think that's what I heard Sor I think my math is right you're kind I think partially right so in the Strategic initiatives all of the things that you just talked about Michelle didn't say would be cut the only thing out of the Strategic initiative or strategic initiatives that would be cut under man's proposal are an additional 1473 coaches we don't know at what level they're at and 3.42 Paras so Matt has modified you guys correct me if I'm wrong Matt has given you your seven El K through three people so now we're up to 14.73% 73 coaches would be eliminated under this proposal and Paras would be up to the 3.42 in strategic initiatives plus the original Seven 10.42 Paris so that's what that we would be voting on I believe did I get any of that wrong I think maybe can I just verify so the initial number Jeff was 27 and you back seven out leaving 20 20 Coes there was 20 seven positions including seven Paris he added the seven to the 10 at the pars at the end he was just talking coaches okay 20 coaches minus seven and then took the seven paas plus the additional 3.42 so that sounds like verification to me are we in discussion we are in discussion yes director Simon so I've gone through what what I think is important about our um our coaches uh math and literacy coaches and and and losing them um so I'm definitely not for this and I just want to make sure make sure that what we're voting on is to do all of the central office Cuts including the volunteer service coordinators cutting all of those cutting 27.7 three coaches out of our schools which includes five Middle School coaches and 10 at least Elementary coaches plus coaches we don't know where they are and 10.42 pairs which I think will put an unbelievable strain on our system while we're doing the um central office cuts and all of that work gets pushed down to buildings I think that will just create so much disruption that I would not be for that thanks members any other discussion on this amended resolution um I'll just I'll just add we have had many conversations about this I think there's been movement and consideration from all on you know our preferred or first choices to try to arrive at a compromised position that um a majority of the board can get behind so that we can keep this moving forward I don't think that it's helpful or necessary for us to continue doing the small refinements to this option for us to have a financially responsible responsive plan for our students and staff um which is already represented in most of recommendation 3 as it as it stands without being modified um so I I will also not support the modification any other discussion on the modification okay hearing none oh director langfeld just a just a a point that I'm trying to understand in terms of the the the discussion on the table without the modification we will go back then and take a vote on on is there another vote after I'm trying to figure out how that works just in terms of a process please yes that's what I had clarified with director adet is that we're making a modification first we can vote on that if the modification passes then we'll take a vote on that newly modified recommendation three if it does not pass then we're back to we have recommendation three left to us we could talk about further modifications or we could take a vote without modifications on option three so right now we are just voting on an amendment but then we would have to go back and vote on the whole package that's right I I think I'm still confused so if you could explain it one more time in a different way please I just want to make sure there's Clarity so in this vote for the um the last modification we made I believe it was to option two the only vote taken my understanding was mod um option two with modification so and I'm not saying this is how it's going to be but if we had followed suit then presumably the only vote we would take now is option three with modification but it sounds like you're saying that if and maybe now I'm getting lost in the details um you're saying that if that vote if I'm stating it correctly fails then we just go back and vote on option three as it is so I had asked director AET to clarify if he intended to do the same thing that we did for option two which was a modified option and vote on the option as modified allinone or if we wanted to separate it out to be a modification first vote on the modification and then come back for a motion on the newly modified or not newly modified recommendation and and he agreed that it would be a motion to modify which would then require us to have another vote on the modified recommendation or if it fails the recommendation would stand without modification for continued discussion and vote director correct yeah that that's that's correct the the the proposed modification if it could get the support of at least four members it could pass then then we could vote on the on the modified option three members is there are there any other questions for Clarity on on what we're voting on Coach I I guess my only question directed it Dr langenfeld now that all the discussions have happened is everything clear that's my only question clear as mud yeah I think that's my concern is that I I wasn't necessarily understanding that it would be this the 20 and the 27 and then all of these other pieces would stay put so I I'm I'm still contemplating what what is really going on in terms of where those 20 positions they are already recommended being cut is it just a point of clarification there no those positions are in the level cuts that are not part of option three the that was the modification was to accelerate those ones they're they're the future to accelerate that right okay dror Simon I I just I don't know if this will be helpful or not it's helpful for me to say it so I'm going to say it and maybe it'll be helpful I'm just going to refer back to Saturday because we all knew what we I think what we were talking about on Saturday and those were permanent positions at the middle school and elementary school as a potential at least our modification discussion we had on Saturday um and they included those 27 positions at that right right so that's what that's what we were talking about Saturday right the the amendment modification whatever we're calling it maintains those less the seven that you asked for yes you would get the seven Elementary back the K through three yes but it now adds things we didn't talk about at Saturday which are the Strategic investment pieces which are 14.73% so that's where you get the numbers added onto it I agree Matt did state it exactly like he stated it today I don't think it just connected with all of us but um but that at least for me and for others maybe that piece is new to us that it's it's more Cuts than we thought on Saturday does that at least that yeah that that's what I was trying to clarify it was bigger than I thought okay any further discussion if not members before us we have a motion to modify recommendation three to delay the reduction of class teachers at all levels in addition to maintaining literacy and math interventionists Talent Development teachers English language Learners and the elementary literacy coaches the 7 K3 Elementary literacy coaches and continue with the central office reductions with no plan for a referendum this vote is on the modification only not on the acceptance of that newly modified recommendation to be very clear okay all those in favor say I I all those opposed say Nay n nay so with three in favor and three opposed that modification fails so uh director Simon I think then we're going to move on and I would like to offer a modification for option three so and again I think it's such follow suit on what Matt did is vote on the modification as we did right so my modification is that option three stands as it is buildings are held completely harmless um we do the central office cuts and the modification is central office Cuts less volunteer service coordinators it's the only modification not a lot of numbers or anything so central office but we keep the I think it's $230,000 of the volunteer service coordinators 350 $350,000 of volunteer service coordinators and we do not do anything else to buildings I think that modification truly holds um at least my thought of holding the buildings harmless for one year um because volunteer service coordinators even though it's listed in the central office directly impact school buildings is there a second to that motion for modification from director Simon second okay uh any discussion so I think that as I have stated before using the third option with the volunteer service coordinators retained for a year gives us several things it maintains financial responsibility because we are spending within our budget and using a very small portion of our fund F balance to reduce the chaos of all Cuts coming at the exact same time in our system it preserves the connection and relationship with our volunteer communities at each of our site levels for one year to allow us the chance to reimagine that role and talk about what could it look like how could we retain that level of Engagement and support into our buildings at a time when it's going to be vitally important and needed given the cuts we know will come in that second year of this Choice it allows us to have clear information to share with our legislative uh members it allows us to respect the community voice of minimizing impact at the school level for one more year while we react to changes that are happening to allow for that at the central office and I you know I don't want it to be lost I think Corey was telling us that's over 400 jobs and those are our community members our neighbors our family our friends that are impacted by those job losses already in in this equation um and all of these decisions right are between kind of bad and worse I think this is the most respectful and compromised solution that that we have have before us director Simon still in discussion correct um just to be clear this option keeping um keeping those positions um the fund balance would be at 8.2 adding back in the amended volunteer service coordinators would put our fund balance at over 8.1 so it's a less than a 0.1% of fund balance for this option any other discussion on this proposed modification to recommendation three okay all of the uh so before us we have a modification to recommendation three to add back the volunteer service coordinators from the central cuts for one year um we will now take a vote this is again not a vote on that option as the final option just on the modification all those in favor say I I all those opposed say Nay Nay with three in favor and three opposed that modification uh fails CH to Shan director AET first of all I want to tell you that I'm I have the whole meeting not been able to get any of this information on my computer so I can't I don't know what's malfunctioning but I'm incapable of being able to pull it up any of the options the way that they were written so I wanted to ask could we would you like us to get you a paper copy before we continue great yes um and then perhaps if I could ask superintendent to review what is in option three the way you wrote it and contemplating whether I will just move to approve it and direct they're grabbing a paper copy for you right now and I can the slides are in there so they'll put up on the screen as well so this is recommendation three so um the key components of this are maintaining that fund balance I believe it's eight Michelle you can verify 8.2 is the fund balance um 8.2 whatever is after the two after y yep it maintains a five we we just we don't cut the Strategic Investments for another year we but it does reduce them in the final year 2627 and then it's all the central office cuts of 9 million plus and lastly no plan for referendum good yeah so I mean seeing it this way is super helpful so I'm frustrated that I didn't have it but I mean what I just for the record what I was attempting to do it's just narrow it a bit it's what we talked about for hours and that was all I was attempting to do is narrow it a bit from what we had to say the coaches do not directly interact with children they don't they interact with staff so the thought process was or they are there for the benefit of Staff okay they're they're the they're there to help to instruct staff on the teaching methodologies associated with the various things so that being the case the thought process was going back to the beginning I was intending to preserve that direct instruction we added a little bit of direct instruction in through the various intervention teachers and stuff that that was it I I don't really know how we came forward and started talking about modifications from that because there weren't any but in light of the fact that I made that motion and didn't pass if we look at what's there before us now the difference between what I was proposing and what is in your proposal simply would add it would maintain all of the all of the coaches that that would be the difference the ones that I was talking about taking out would stay would stay in and I believe the rest of what I talked about would already be in so if in other words I think if we maintain strategic Investments as written we will have the literacy intervention teachers we will have the math intervention teachers we will have the TD teachers we will have the El intervention teachers and rather than K through three coaches rather than some Co we'll have all the coaches at all the levels that's the difference the number of coaches in total was how many well 22 not in I'm sorry 25 not in strategic Investments and another 14 that are that are in it was so a total of 25 and 14 I believe so right 25 30 39 my proposal would have just kept seven so the difference between the two is uh 32 I believe hate to do math in public said that before I believe it's 32 so uh so you'd be cutting 32 no nope uh they're they're all here now because we're not we're not talking about mine I'm I'm trying to clarify because part of the discussion we had is something was added something something was taken away it was not was not but now here we are we're if we'd like to move forward uh I'm I'm saying that there will be 32 additional positions that will be kept based upon the superintendent's original model that was the Delta from from my ultimate amended proposal is that correct does that sound accurate for at least another year yeah y so if we so if we moved superintendent option three as written that will be the net effect off of what I had proposed if I can just clarify yeah thanks the redu the only reductions you're doing are the central office yeah Cuts that's what it amounts to so I would move option three as written by the superintendent thank you director adet we have a motion for option three as written do we have a second second thank you director Simon uh any discussion director hulman um first it's been a lot of um work that we're doing here and I think that's because we do care about kids we're trying to find the best solution in a difficult situation um thinking about these details and why it might seem to the public watching um that how are we going back and forth so much um the real key is that for me and anyway I want to ensure that we're being as responsible as possible to make certain that we are not well we are overspending we're going to be spending more than the revenue indicates that we have um so that's a concern and I just want to make certain that we're putting the district in the best possible scenario for us to move forward and provide those essential services that we give to kids uh thank you thank you director hulman any other discussion uh director infeld and thank you for that um as as far as as my understanding this there was a lot of confusion here and I think I still go back to the fact that I had conflated um information around the Strategic directions um Investments versus in the in and and I apologize for that because it it created a different mindset for me but the reality is um I would I would offer that as we look at the Strategic Investments to really think about um our priorities within that framework and if we find ourselves I mean I think that this process needs to um we need to look very carefully and deeply at all of these positions um again I go back to the literacy piece being our top priority um in this in this space and wanting to make sure we have those individuals as as coaches or specialists in this space um and so I I again I apologize for the confusion um I was not I conflated those two buckets of resource and that's perhaps why when I've had conversation I'm looking at uh Michelle Vargas I was confused and and obviously was till I came to this table tonight so anyway any but we do want to do the best we can for our kids so any further discussion so I I'll just I'll just offer I think this is clearly not a perfect solution for everybody it does not include all of the interests you know that we may have all had for for our personal decisions but I do think that it's a way forward for us to um to do what's best for all of our students we know cuts are coming I feel like I'm repeating that as a broken record but I just want to make sure it's very clear that that a option three as before us does not mean there are no future cuts that that that those future cuts are still coming so that conversation will still be continuing I just think that's so important that it's very very clear any other commentary before we move to a vote on recommendation three as presented okay members all those in favor of the motion to approve recommendation three as written say I I all those opposed say Nay with six in favor and zero opposed that motion passes thank you Bard greatly for that robust discussion and conversation about these difficult decisions we are near to our last board agenda item board correspondence and Communications members this is our opportunity to share happenings in our communities any committee assignments we have to report on or any other items of interest does anyone have anything that they would like to share director Simon um I just want to share that I I think a lot of us have been but maybe to the community too um I've been to a high school play a high school music um concert a middle school play and it they are absolutely wonderful so just to I know board members also attend all of those things um just to the public if you can go to our middle school or High School performances they are amazing and you will not be disappointed um the last thing is in um the superintensive report about um how our Sports were um so successful I heard a familiar last name on one of those students out there uh happen to be Des Shan so just congratulations to your family members director adet um I just wanted to say I had the opportunity and it really was an honor to speak on behalf of veterans at the Veterans Day ceremony at Andover Elementary and um it was a really great experience I know for all the veterans who are there but also for all the kids and um kids just did a really really great job of singing the National Anthem and um and some other songs and just uh veterans were honored and really good and a I just felt like a really good way and not because of my remarks but just because they were and um it was my honor to be able to speak so I wanted to thank them and congratulate him on a good job yeah those Veterans Day Celebrations across our district are so special special director langenfeld I thank you for your service director adette and um had the privilege to attend a couple of really uh great events of to honor our veterans too I director Simon and I were over at Rapids High School and their school resource officer was the keynote um and and provided uh his his service and he continued service so it was a really really um powerful event and then went over to Adam's Elementary and we may not know people may not know but their principal is is currently a member of the National Guard and and um it it it was really powerful to hear students really speak um and support our our veterans and I think often times people don't recognize how much respect and and support our community has for our veterans so I'm very grateful uh to watch our schools really honor and recognize and and to have our youth understand the the freedoms we have because of the service that people have afforded us over these years so doing that and I Echo uh What uh director Simon said about our musicals and our shows just a extraordinary so I tended a few as well yeah I also brought my play play bills from something rotten junor at Jackson Middle School which I was lucky enough to attend this past weekend they did an excellent job and also the music man at Champlin Park and if you haven't watched The Music Man or seen it before um I think you should all of us would probably find it very interesting um they face uh a school board that can't agree on anything and um they they really find out in the end that they have more similarities than differen and um you know I think that's something we're sort of maybe finding uh with this board right and that we're hopeful to demonstrate to our community um the one way that they found some common ground is by becoming a singing quartet so I don't know if any of you have singing voices but something to consider as we uh try to keep working together going forward but congratulations to all of those in the crew the orchestras the the casts all the parents and and faculty that help make those possible they are very special anybody else have anything to report on uh director Arco yeah I got to visit um Jefferson Elementary um just got to go there in the morning meet the teachers meet the principal and just see the daily operations and it was just wonderful staff and I just really enjoyed getting to know everybody so thank you okay members uh with that our last item is to adjourn do we have a motion to adjourn thank you director adet second with director Simon um any discussion all those in favor say I I I any opposed say Nay with six in favor and zero opposed we are adjourned thank you [Music] so I'll be right this tonight I'll toor I think I should be pretty